Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts

WWE Friday Night Smackdown preview and schedule: July 17, 2020

WWE will present the Firiday Night SmackDown go-home episode for The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, tonight with the main focus being all the final buildup for the pay-per-view.

By Raja
AJ Styles vs Matt Riddle title match set for Smackdown (image courtesy WWE.com)

Bengaluru, July 17: WWE will present the Firiday Night SmackDown go-home episode for The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, tonight with the main focus being all the final buildup for the pay-per-view.

We expect all hype for the existing matches from the PPV card as well as a couple of new match announcements for the upcoming show on tonight's show which takes place at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.

The main event of this week's SmackDown will feature an Intercontinental Championship match as AJ Styles defends his belt against the newest inductee to the brand from NXT. Plus, Alexa Bliss will host her talk-show segment with an anonymous guest, while Bray Wyatt returns with an edition of Firefly Funhouse ahead of Wyatt Swamp Fight when tonight's show airs.



A few weeks ago, Matt Riddle made his grand SmackDown debut and made an emphatic statement as he defeated AJ Styles via clean pinfall. At that time, The Phenomenal One would only grant a non-title matchup for the debutant, and he was distracted by then-rival Daniel Bryan, who was at ringside along with other blue brand superstars.



Moving on from that bitter experience, AJ Styles is back on the winning track as he dismantled Drew Gulak, two weeks ago as he successfully defended the IC title for the very first time.

Now he will look forward to doing it again when he faces The Original Bro on SmackDown. The reigning champion promised that this time things will be different as there won't be any distractions at play.



We have seen an organic buildup towards the Swamp Fight at Extreme Rules between Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman, the pair who have had a long history. There will be one final stop before The Horror Show on SmackDown when Bray Wyatt returns with an all-new episode of “Firefly Fun House”. Wyatt tried to wake up the black-sheep persona of Strowman in the recent past and he will try this again to get the upper hand ahead for their fight.



Last week, SmackDown went off the air with Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura standing tall against the tag team champions The New Day. The heel duo put both the champions through the table to make an emphatic statement during the title match which didn't produce any outcome. So, the expectation is that WWE might sanction another fight between these two teams at Extreme Rules with an added stipulation.



A special attraction for tonight's SmackDown will feature The Goddess of WWE's A Moment of Bliss talk-show. But this time around WWE.com didn't announce her guest to maintain the suspense.

"Alexa Bliss will roll out the red carpet for a marquee guest on “A Moment of Bliss” this Friday night. The identity of the guest remains a mystery but promises to have the blue brand abuzz. Who will Bliss reveal as the mystery guest for the much-anticipated episode of “A Moment of Bliss?” Tune in to Friday Night SmackDown on FOX at 8/7 C to find out who will join the always controversial talk show."

There's no update on who will join Little Miss Bliss as her guest on SmackDown. It could perhaps be her tag team partner Nikki Cross before her Extreme Rules title match against Bayley or it could be someone else from the women’s roster to set up a match against Bliss at the PPV. More on this will be revealed when the latest episode of WWE’s blue brand airs.
Story first published: Friday, July 17, 2020, 14:12 [IST]
Other articles published on Jul 17, 2020