Tonight, on the With Spandex WWE Smackdown Live open discussion thread for August 15, 2017:
Just five days before SummerSlam, John Cena will battle WWE Champion Jinder Mahal in an epic non-title bout. Will The Modern-Day Maharaja be able to put his impending championship defense against Shinsuke Nakamura on the backburner and focus on the 16-time World Champion? Will Cena manage to direct his attention to Mahal with Baron Corbin waiting in the wings? See what happens when Cena and Mahal collide on SmackDown LIVE, tonight at 8/7 C on USA Network! — via WWE.com
Our five-point preview:
1. This is the actual go-home show for SummerSlam, and the card will be finalized after tonight. You know, except for all the changes they’re going to make and pre-show matches they’re going to add between now and Sunday. But go-home show!
2. John Cena gets a non-title match against Jinder Mahal tonight, so that Mahal will lose cleanly in non-title matches to Cena and Randy Orton in consecutive weeks before going on to beat Shinsuke Nakamura cleanly at SummerSlam. The circle of life!
3. Tonight is supposed to be the final episode of “Fashion Peaks,” which is maybe the saddest half-sentence I’ve had to type since Eva Marie left WWE. We hope it will be epic in scope and at least half as good as it has been in previous weeks, in which it has been the best thing on WWE television in years.
4. Natalya is still challenging for the Smackdown Women’s Championship at SummerSlam, so Becky Lynch gets to be her tune-up match on Smackdown Live. Sorry, Becky! Maybe Cris Cyborg will show up and you’ll get to have a confrontation segment with her on Sunday!
5. AJ Styles accidentally Pele kicked Shane McMahon last week, so he’ll have to apologize to the Smackdown Live commissioner or whatever Shane is this week. Will the drama be forced heading into a match where Styles is the babyface and Shane is the referee? YOU BET YOUR ASS IT WILL.
As always, we’re including 10 of the best comments from tonight’s open discussion thread in tomorrow’s Best and Worst of Smackdown Live report. Reply to your favorites with a +1 to nominate them for consideration, and share the open thread around so we can get some fresh voices and jokes in here. Enjoy the show!
