WWE SmackDown Preview – Karrion Kross, Rey Mysterio, and More!
SmackDown airs tonight (July 28) with a live show from Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. This is the fourth episode of SmackDown during the five week build towards SummerSlam, which takes place on August 5.
WWE isn’t quitting Karrion Kross just yet
Karrion Kross was an unstoppable force in his NXT days, but that success has yet to translate on the main roster.
His earliest days on Raw included a debut loss to Jeff Hardy (and no Scarlett by his side) before Vince McMahon turned him into a dollar store Super Shredder with a piece of shit helmet. This run was such a giant failure that Kross was fired from WWE by the end of 2021.
Karrion’s second run on the main roster began when Triple H brought him back almost exactly one year ago during an early August episode of SmackDown. This current run has been better due to the lack of dumb helmets and inclusion of Scarlett, but Kross hasn’t been able to escape mid-card status. He isn’t that over and has lost key matches in feuds against babyfaces like Drew McIntyre, Rey Mysterio, Shinsuke Nakamura, and AJ Styles.
Speaking of The Phenomenal One, it looked like his story with Kross might be over after a rushed two minute match resulted in a win for AJ at Madison Square Garden earlier this month. But Karrion’s push isn’t finished quite yet, as he recently attacked The O.C. backstage, leading to AJ’s loss in the United States Championship Invitational.
As a result of that angle, Kross is scheduled to face Karl Anderson in a singles match tonight. It looks like a situation where WWE is setting up Karrion for a win on TV in order to give him some momentum for another rematch with Styles. In other words, WWE isn’t quitting Karrion Kross just yet, despite his lackluster results over the last year.
Will things work out any better for Kross if he can get Styles in the ring one more time? Or is this just WWE’s way of giving longtime upper card star Styles something to do with SummerSlam weekend approaching?
The title scene
Rey Mysterio takes on Santos Escobar tonight in the final match of the United States Championship Invitational. The winner earns a future title match against United States Champion Austin Theory, of course. Will the LWO be in one piece coming out of this fight, or will there be a sore loser who can’t handle defeat?
WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Jey Uso are busy preparing for Tribal Combat at SummerSlam. How will Solo Sikoa react one week after his Tribal Chief stopped him from delivering the Samoan Spike to Jey?
Bianca Belair and Charlotte Flair should probably stop assuming they will beat Asuka for the WWE women’s championship, especially since IYO SKY is the one who holds the Money in the Bank contract. What’s the next move on the chess board between these four women with the SummerSlam triple threat title match only one