SmackDown: AJ Styles faces Singh Brothers in handicap match
Wednesday 29 November 2017 07:34, UK
WWE Champion AJ Styles faces a two-against-one disadvantage on tonight's Smackdown, live on Sky Sports Arena at 1am.
The Phenomenal One takes the next step on the road to his title defence against Jinder Mahal - which could take place at December's Clash of Champions pay-per-view - by taking on the Maharajah's acolytes in a handicap match.
Live WWE Late Night Smackdown
The contest means the common feature of a Mahal match, namely interference from the Singhs, is reversed, with the former champion the man looking on from the outside.
The duo attacked Styles on last week's episode and were briefly on top before the champ overwhelmed them and delivered a brutal Styles Clash for good measure.
Owens takes on Orton
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn held on to their SmackDown jobs by the skin of their teeth... or did they? General manager Daniel Bryan said at the end of the show that he never had any intention of firing the pair despite instructions from his boss Shane McMahon to do so.
So what's going on with Bryan and Shane? And how do Zayn and Owens fit into that storyline? Things should become slightly clearer this week but not before Owens' latest 'punishment' - a match against Randy Orton.
Orton was too upset with Zayn and Owens to even attend SmackDown last week and will be keen to get his hands on the former WWE champion.
What next for the NXT invaders?
The Raw trio of invading women named themselves this week, with Paige, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville becoming known as Absolution.
Whether the SmackDown arrivistes will align themselves with that group remains to be seen, but Ruby Riot, Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan enjoyed a high-impact debut last week and it will be interesting to see how they follow that up.
