For next Friday’s post-Crown Jewel edition of SmackDown on FOX, the start of the inaugural WWE SmackDown World Cup, a title match, and more have been announced.
On next week’s SmackDown, The New Day will face the winner of Saturday’s Crown Jewel match – either current champions The Usos or their challengers, The Brawling Brutes – for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles.
On this week’s episode of SmackDown, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods interrupted The Usos’ promo, saying they were rooting for Ridge Holland and Butch at Crown Jewel, but if The Usos retained, they’d be there to defend their title reign record. The Usos were attacked from behind by Holland and Butch, and the two babyface teams continued to beat on them until Sami Zayn and Solo Sikoa made the save.
Next Friday’s SmackDown will also feature Santos Escobar vs. Shinsuke Nakamura.
The show this week included a backstage segment with Legado del Fantasma. Nakamura stated that he has always thought Nakamura was smart, but his decision to side with Hit Row last week leaves him with no choice but to make an example of Nakamura next week. Zelina Vega also warned Nakamura that the time for talking has passed and that the Legado del Fantasma empire is unstoppable. Escobar, Vega, Cruz Del Toro, and Joaquin Wilde toast their success at the end of the segment.
The first SmackDown World Cup will also begin next week, though no matches have been announced as of this writing.
The first-ever SmackDown World Cup trophy will be awarded to the winner of the eight-man tournament. WWE is expected to reveal the participants within the next week. The most recent WWE World Cup was an 8-man tournament held in Saudi Arabia at Crown Jewel 2018. Shane McMahon took The Miz’s place in the finals and went on to win the tournament by defeating Dolph Ziggler and taking home the World Cup trophy. That tournament featured four RAW Superstars and four SmackDown Superstars, but the SmackDown World Cup appears to only feature blue brand competitors.
As of this writing, WWE has not officially announced Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns for next week’s SmackDown, but The Usos, Sami Zayn, Drew McIntyre, and Liv Morgan are being advertised by the official WWE Events website. Reigns, The Usos, McIntyre, Braun Strowman, and SmackDown Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey are all advertised by the arena. The arena is also advertising a dark main event featuring RAW Superstars Matt Riddle vs. Damian Priest.
The current lineup for next week’s live SmackDown from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN, is listed below, along with related shots from this week’s show:
* Fallout from Crown Jewel
* Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Santos Escobar
* The New Day challenges either The Brawling Brutes or The Usos for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles
* The 8-man SmackDown World Cup tournament kicks off
NEXT WEEK on #SmackDown we get a good one!@ShinsukeN vs. @EscobarWWE pic.twitter.com/aRYIPFvWo6
— WWE (@WWE) November 5, 2022
The #SmackDown World Cup begins NEXT WEEK! pic.twitter.com/30Osjp0xCI
— WWE (@WWE) November 5, 2022
NEXT WEEK on #SmackDown
The #NewDay take on either The #BrawlingBrutes or The #Usos for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship! pic.twitter.com/wVb5JrY2tv
— WWE (@WWE) November 5, 2022
