WWE World Cup Plans Change as Tournament Begins, GUNTHER’s Title Defense, Next Matches

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PWMania.com Staff
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(Photo Credit: WWE)

During this week’s episode of SmackDown on FOX, the WWE SmackDown World Cup Tournament began.

Santos Escobar represented Mexico, Shinsuke Nakamura represented Japan, Braun Strowman represented the United States, Jinder Mahal represented India, Butch represented England, Sami Zayn represented Canada, Mustafa Ali represented Pakistan, and Ricochet represented the United States in the eight-man tournament.

Earlier, it was reported that Rey Mysterio was a planned World Cup participant as of 12pm ET, but plans apparently changed as he was replaced by Ali. There has been no word on why WWE made the change.

Escobar defeated Nakamura to advance to the semi-finals on this week’s SmackDown from Indianapolis, while Strowman defeated Mahal to advance to the semi-finals.

To close out the first round, next week’s SmackDown from Hartford will feature Zayn vs. Butch and Ali vs. Ricochet.

As of this writing, WWE had not released the World Cup brackets, so it was unclear who Strowman and Escobar would face in the semi-finals, whether it would be Zayn, Butch, Ali, or Ricochet.

On commentary, Michael Cole mentioned that the SmackDown World Cup Tournament will take place over three weeks, including this week. The finals appear to be set for the November 25 SmackDown from the Amica Mutual Pavilion in Providence, RI, which serves as the Survivor Series go-home show. The winner would almost certainly face WWE Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER on the Survivor Series card.

The tournament winner will receive the World Cup trophy, as seen below, as well as a future title shot from GUNTHER. During a backstage segment on SmackDown, the leader of Imperium confronted Ricochet, as seen below.

Here are a few World Cup-related shots and clips from tonight’s SmackDown:

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