Smackdown flies solo - looking forward to Backlash

Tomorrow night, the first benchmark of WWE's New Era will be reached when Smackdown has its first brand-exclusive special on the WWE Network. (Or on pay-per-view. I guess maybe some people are still doing that.) It will be interesting to see if they take the NXT route and focus on the six listed matches or if they plan to pad out the show with additional segments or surprise matches. Maybe Baron Corbin could have another match with Kalisto or have his first run-in with Kane?

Last month's challenger Dolph Ziggler gets a shot at Miz's intercontinental title. Personally, I think Miz will be keeping that belt for a while longer, especially with the added heat he has after his savage interview on Talking Smack a few Tuesdays ago. Ziggler is striving for relevancy here, even though he has been on fire lately. The KFC stuff and the weak title match at SummerSlam hasn't done him any favors. He's already wrestled Corbin a few times and there's nothing between him and Apollo Crews, so there isn't much of a place for him to land on Smackdown. Meanwhile, Miz is a greet heel right now and Maryse makes him the full villain package. Let him cheat and scheme his way to a long title run, a la Honky Tonk Man.

Randy Orton takes on Bray Wyatt in a match that has had a so-so build thus far. Like I said on my Smackdown review the other day, I'd like to see how Orton's rematch against Lesnar plays into this feud before I can really call it interesting; there's been nothing but the usual posturing and gimmicky threats so far. If they carry this into the fall and up to Hell in a Cell or something, I imagine they're holding back the physical stuff for later. This isn't the normal formula, but I think Orton should get the first win here and spark something in Wyatt. (Also, what happened to Eric Rowan?)

The Usos big heel turn and their attack on Chad Gable Tuesday has resulted in a semi-final match against the Hype Bros. in the Smackdown tag title tournament. I think if the tourney comes down to the Hype Bros. vs. Heath Slater and Rhyno in the finals then things will really fizzle out, so I think the Usos will beat Ryder and Mojo pretty soundly. Maybe Jordon (or Gable if he's done selling his leg) will intervene during the finals of the tournament. Slater and Rhyno as tag champs while their potential challengers are busy sabotaging each other could be a fun story, but the Usos will most likely win, resulting in either a heel turn by Slater or Rhyno, or a follow up match on Smackdown where they have to fight for their contract in a rematch. I dunno, there's a few ways they could go and they all seem fresh compared to the New Day/Gallows and Anderson stuff on Raw.

Six women will compete for the new Smackdown Women's title at Backlash, and out of the pack, Becky Lynch or Natalya have the momentum to become the inaugural champion. Nikki Bella is helping get Carmella over right now, and Naomi and Alexa Bliss aren't quite there yet. Lynch and Natalya can resume their current feud as a title feud to give this new belt a kick in the pants. Lynch is a fan favorite on the rise who can finally shine since Charlotte, Sasha, and Bayley are all on Raw. I guess she's in a similar situation to Dean Ambrose, who is now a show away from Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns.

Speaking of Dean . . .

Ambrose will take on AJ Styles for the WWE title in the first main event of the first Smackdown brand special. Styles is the best performer in the company right now and the only flaw to his character is that the fans love him too much to hate him, no matter how much he flaunts about his victory over Cena. Much like Ziggler, AJ is a challenger for Dean that will force him to keep up. The build to this match has been an exchange of solid promos and nut shots, but the potential for this to be a great match is much higher than if it'd been on the SummerSlam card. This is also why I'm in favor of keeping the card small--this match could be a barn burner if they let it breathe. I'm expecting Ambrose to retain and for this feud to continue.

Just some quick predictions for Sunday's show as I'm looking forward to it quite a bit. Who do you think is going over? Let me know on Twitter @ChrisBComics. Thanks for reading!