{"id":61277,"date":"2018-06-12T12:50:16","date_gmt":"2018-06-12T17:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=61277"},"modified":"2018-06-12T12:50:16","modified_gmt":"2018-06-12T17:50:16","slug":"wwe-smackdown-primer-6-12-a-womens-summit-and-twitter-wars-taken-to-the-ring-final-mitb-hype-bryan-vs-shelton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/06\/12\/wwe-smackdown-primer-6-12-a-womens-summit-and-twitter-wars-taken-to-the-ring-final-mitb-hype-bryan-vs-shelton\/","title":{"rendered":"WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER 6\/12: A Women&#8217;s Summit and Twitter Wars taken to the ring, final MITB hype, Bryan vs. Shelton"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-200103306\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><h3><b>WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER<br \/>\nJUNE 12, 2018<br \/>\nMEMPHIS, TENN. AT FEDEX FORUM<br \/>\nAIRS LIVE ON USA NETWORK<br \/>\nPREVIEW BY FRANK PETEANI, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR<\/b><\/h3>\n<h3><b>Arena<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>This evening for the first time since January 2017, the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn. will host WWE Smackdown.\u00a0 We get ready to wrap up the Smackdown side of the build towards this Sunday\u2019s WWE Network\/PPV event Money in the Bank.\u00a0 A summit and two matches have been announced by WWE and confirmed on their website.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Summit: Smackdown Participants of Women\u2019s Money in the Bank Ladder Match Hosted by G.M. Paige<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>As announced last week, G.M. Paige will host a summit with the women of the Smackdown roster taking part in the MITB ladder match which includes Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, Naomi, and Lana.\u00a0 WWE.com is acknowledging that this will take place in the ring.<\/p>\n<p>Lana and Naomi have been at it recently in different ways.\u00a0 They had a \u201cdance-off\u201d a few weeks ago and took part in a mixed tag match last week which saw Naomi and her husband Jimmy Uso defeat Lana and Aiden English.\u00a0 Other than touting their respective merchandise on Twitter, there hasn\u2019t been any chatter to speak of between these two this week.\u00a0 We\u2019ll see how they come across towards each other this evening.<\/p>\n<p>Becky and Charlotte had a one-on-one match last week which saw Charlotte tap out to Becky\u2019s \u201cDis-arm-her.\u201d\u00a0 It was a much-needed victory for Becky, who\u2019s push has been stagnant at best in recent memory.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t call the match their best work, but it wasn\u2019t terrible and could be planting a seed for something else down the line.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s nothing specific about the particulars of this summit, but I\u2019m certain there will be tension and a war of words from all parties.\u00a0 If there\u2019s any physical activity, it will be interesting to see what spots they do especially with Paige in the ring.\u00a0 With her being forced into retirement due to injury, I can\u2019t imagine WWE putting her in any kind of harm\u2019s way.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Daniel Bryan vs. Shelton Benjamin<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>Last week in an interview with Renee Young, Big Cass talked about his MITB opponent Daniel Bryan.\u00a0 He talked about how he was shocked Bryan became WWE World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania 30, how he had never been in the ring with someone as big or educated as him or a \u201cstar of his magnitude,\u201d and how \u201ca good big man will always beat a good little man.\u201d\u00a0 (Backlash must have been a dream, I suppose.)\u00a0 At any rate, Bryan had a spirited response\/rant on WWE.com later in the evening.\u00a0 He called Cass \u201centitled and lazy,\u201d talked about how he\u2019s survived through the years in WWE and promised to make him tap out in their upcoming match at MITB.\u00a0 He even dug out an old favorite line in \u201cyou can\u2019t teach that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A few days later Shelton Benjamin weighed in on Twitter pertaining to Bryan\u2019s rant.\u00a0 He talked about how he\u2019s worked for companies and won championships \u201caround the globe,\u201d and that it\u2019s not enough to just be good on Smackdown.\u00a0 Yesterday on her Twitter account, Paige acknowledged this and announced a match between Shelton and Bryan for tonight.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s good to see Shelton being used in this capacity as he\u2019s been on and off the card since WWE split him from Chad Gable, now of Raw.\u00a0 There is truth to his statement; however, he\u2019s never reached the top of the mountain as Bryan has in WWE.\u00a0 I look to see if he cuts any sort of worthwhile promo tonight and delivers in the ring in a way that makes us want to see him featured more on the show and perhaps on PPVs going forward.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-619728763\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<h3><b>Non-Title Match: U.S. Champion Jeff Hardy vs. Shinsuke Nakamura<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>I grew up in a time where if a single\u2019s champion faced someone and the respective title wasn\u2019t on the line, the announcers acknowledged that factor.\u00a0 I will continue that practice as I feel it is important, especially when tonight\u2019s match involves a champion holding a title first belonging to WWE Hall of Famer Harley Race.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, Shinsuke Nakamura tweeted a picture of he and U.S. Champion Jeff Hardy standing in the ring not necessarily looking at each other.\u00a0 He said he would \u201cwrite a caption for this later&#8230; maybe.\u201d\u00a0 Hardy responded saying he should caption a picture of WWE Champion A.J. Styles being the last man standing after their match this coming Sunday.\u00a0 According to WWE.com, the Twitter war continued until G.M. Paige made a match between Hardy and Nakamura for tonight.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s interesting to see these two go at it.\u00a0 I may be jumping a few steps here but, I wonder if it\u2019s a tell Nakamura won\u2019t be winning the WWE Championship Sunday but rather may move on to a feud with Hardy which will eventually see Nakamura win the U.S. Championship.\u00a0 While on a certain level it\u2019s disappointing not to see Nakamura reach the top of the mountain, winning the U.S. Championship eventually would present programs we\u2019d be interested in seeing.<\/p>\n<h3><b>Other Items<\/b><\/h3>\n<p>\u2022In a backstage interview with Sin Cara, Zelina Vega stormed in and said Andrade \u201cCien\u201d Almas requested a match with Cara for tonight.\u00a0 Almas then attacked Cara from behind.\u00a0 As far as a match is concerned, nothing is showing on WWE.com; however, Almas yesterday tweeted \u201csee you tomorrow\u201d to Cara.\u00a0 There was also some trash talking by Vega in a separate tweet.\u00a0 It\u2019s hard to say what this all means, but a match could be on tap for tonight or the pre-show this coming Sunday at MITB.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022A.J. Styles got physical with Shinuske Nakamura in their contract signing last week for their Last Man Standing match at MITB for the WWE Championship.\u00a0 Styles is not earmarked for anything specific, but he\u2019s advertised for the show and I can\u2019t imagine us not hearing from the champ in the run-up to Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022New Day was victorious over The Miz, Samoa Joe, and Rusev in the main event of last week\u2019s show.\u00a0 Joe and Rusev walked out on Miz following his accidental toss of pancakes in their face.\u00a0 (While I can\u2019t be 100 percent, I\u2019m confident there was no syrup or butter involved in which case it could have gotten real \u201csticky.\u201d).\u00a0 Miz, Joe, and Rusev are all in the men\u2019s MITB ladder match, so we\u2019ll look for follow-up on that situation.\u00a0 New Day has yet to choose who (Who!? Who!?) will partake in MITB.\u00a0 It\u2019s possible, not certain though, we still won\u2019t find out tonight and it\u2019s not out of the realm of possibility that they all participate this Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022Asuka defeated Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville in a handicap match last week after Smackdown Women\u2019s Champion Carmella \u201cexposed\u201d Asuka.\u00a0 She pointed out her WrestleMania loss to Charlotte, and losing a tag match on Smackdown, as well as getting beaten up afterwards.\u00a0 Carmella defends her title this Sunday at MITB against Asuka so, we should expect something between these two rivals.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022Karl Anderson defeated Luke Harper of The Bludgeon Brothers in three minutes.\u00a0 Anderson and Luke Gallows will challenge Harper and Erick Rowan for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship this coming Sunday at MITB.\u00a0 I don\u2019t rule out the possibility we get Gallows vs. Rowan tonight.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-1609147944\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>\u2022It\u2019s been a few weeks since we heard from the IIconics, Peyton Royce and Billie Kay.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022Sanity has yet to make their debut.\u00a0 I can\u2019t be sure, but it\u2019s possible they\u2019re being held out to interfere in the championship match between Gallows &amp; Anderson vs. The Bludgeon Brothers at MITB or possibly show up at the following Smackdown.<\/p>\n<p><b>Wrestlers Advertised\/Dark Match<\/b><\/p>\n<p>On their website, the FedEx Forum is advertising A.J. Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, The New Day, \u201cRusev Day,\u201d Samoa Joe, Sheamus &amp; Cesaro, Charlotte Flair, Asuka, and \u201cmore.\u201d\u00a0 Randy Orton has been out with a knee injury and there\u2019s not a definitive timetable for his return.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s no dark match advertised on the site.\u00a0 I was unsuccessful in reaching the arena to find out if anything is planned for just the live crowd.\u00a0 They show a start of 6:45 p.m. local time.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><i>Follow me on Twitter @FrankPeteani<\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>NOW CHECK OUT LAST WEEK&#8217;S SMACKDOWN REPORT:<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/06\/05\/mayles-wwe-smackdown-report-6-5-alt-perspective-detailed-report-on-latest-money-in-the-bank-hype\/\">MAYLE\u2019S WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT 6\/5: Alt-perspective detailed report on latest Money in the Bank hype<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-904175983\"><div id=\"pwtor-3382479029\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER JUNE 12, 2018 MEMPHIS, TENN. AT FEDEX FORUM AIRS LIVE ON USA NETWORK PREVIEW BY FRANK PETEANI, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR Arena This evening for the first time since January 2017, the FedEx Forum <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2018\/06\/12\/wwe-smackdown-primer-6-12-a-womens-summit-and-twitter-wars-taken-to-the-ring-final-mitb-hype-bryan-vs-shelton\/\" title=\"WWE SMACKDOWN PRIMER 6\/12: A Women&#8217;s Summit and Twitter Wars taken to the ring, final MITB hype, Bryan vs. Shelton\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,4403,27,5893],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opnionandanalysis","category-smackdown-primer","category-specialists","category-tvprimers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/PaigeWK2_3x2_600.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61277"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61279,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61277\/revisions\/61279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}