WWE SmackDown Predictions: John Cena Will Replace Edge

3.) Liv Morgan vs. Sonya Deville [Women’s MITB Qualification Match]

On WWE SmackDown, Sonya Deville has been announcing each SmackDown contestant of the Women’s MITB Ladder Match. She is expected to announce the last contestant on this week’s episode. Since the fans are in attendance, it would make sense to announce a big star like Sasha Banks or Becky Lynch to get the epic pop. It would also add starpower to the Women’s MITB Ladder Match. Even an NXT call up like Toni Storm, who has been teased to show up on SmackDown soon, could be the big surprise. However, it looks like a swerve is coming instead.

Sonya Deville will announce herself in the Women’s MITB Ladder Match as a way of announcing her in-ring return. It seems that her first feud would be with Liv Morgan since she has been meddling with Morgan’s MITB aspirations in the past few weeks. Liv Morgan will likely challenge Deville to a match since she would see it as unfair for her to abuse her power and enter the match without earning it in the ring. Unlike the other MITB contestants, Deville will defeat Morgan to show that she deserves to be in MITB and crush Morgan’s dreams when she wins it this Sunday.

Prediction: Sonya Deville

2.) Bianca Belair (c) vs. Carmella [SmackDown Women’s Championship]

Since Bianca Belair (c) vs. Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Title in an “I Quit” Match was cancelled due to Bayley’s unexpected knee injury, Bianca Belair is now scheduled to defend her SmackDown Women’s Title against Carmella on this week’s go-home episode of SmackDown. Clearly, this title match was neither big enough nor built well enough to warrant a spot on the PPV this Sunday. However, the WWE could have at least booked a dream match of sorts rather than handing a title opportunity to Carmella, who has had lackluster momentum in recent months.

Bianca Belair vs. Toni Storm, perhaps? That would have been a better idea. Belair and Storm have never battled one on one in the WWE. It would have been a neat rub for Storm on the main roster if she delivered in a title match with Belair. That rub would then set up Storm as a rising star who has to go to the back of line and rebuild her momentum enough to get another title opportunity against Belair down the line and finally be the one to dethrone her. That’s a fundamental feature of long term storytelling that the WWE continuously neglects.

Nonetheless, Carmella is indeed Bayley’s best friend from NXT and she is technically a ‘suitable’ replacement for Bayley. She is just not the ‘ideal’ replacement for Bayley mostly because she has not won half her matches recently. The tier system is eminently skewed in this company. In order to reach the higher echelons of the title scene, superstars must win matches. Wins and losses must matter in order to book a convincing division. That is why Carmella is not a credible threat to Belair’s title reign and Belair will inevitably retain.

Sasha Banks will then make a surprise return to set up her SummerSlam title match with Belair by attacking Belair after the match.

Prediction: Bianca Belair