Cody Rhodes prepares for Night of Champions amidst SmackDown buildup

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SmackDown airs tonight (June 26) with a taped show (spoilers here) emanating from The O2 in London, England. This is the final episode of SmackDown during the four week build to Night of Champions, which takes place tomorrow (Sat., June 27) in Saudi Arabia. The biggest threats to Cody Rhodes’ WWE title reign are all on a different roster Cody Rhodes retained the WWE championship in a rematch against GUNTHER last week on SmackDown. It was an overbooked mess that included a very fast count from special guest referee Sami Zayn. That’s why GUNTHER is getting one more shot at the belt this weekend at Night of Champions. Rhodes proved that he really is the law in WWE when he somehow convinced GM Nick Aldis to reward Zayn with a title shot too, even though Aldis blamed Sami for ruining the WWE title match. Therefore it’s Rhodes vs. GUNTHER vs. Zayn in a triple threat title match on Saturday’s PLE. There is at least a small chance that Rhodes’ title reign will go up in smoke in a little over 24 hours, but the main takeaway for me after watching last week’s show is that GUNTHER is a huge dumbass for choosing Sami as the ref. I don’t really see why things will go any differently at Night of Champions thanks to GUNTHER’s frequent dumbassery and Zayn never being able to win the big one. The biggest threats to Cody’s WWE title reign are actually none of these guys on the SmackDown roster. Just look at what’s happening over on Monday Night Raw, where either free agent Oba Femi or a Bloodline-backed Jey Uso are on the verge of becoming the next King of the Ring. CM Punk and World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns are two more Raw stars who also stand a much better chance of ending Cody’s current title reign than these two dopes in GUNTHER and Zayn. Tonight is the go home show for Night of Champions, where GUNTHER and Zayn will surely try their best to convince the WWE audience and themselves that they are going end Rhodes’ story in Saudi Arabia this weekend. However, I’m far more interested in seeing what happens if Oba Femi or Jey Uso decide to crash the blue brand to send a warning message to the champ about SummerSlam, before possibly attacking each other. Will Cody stay focused on GUNTHER and Zayn tonight, or does he sense the bigger danger that’s coming his way from Raw? Tune into SmackDown to find out. The rest of the card WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Paige hasn’t wrestled a singles match in WWE since her last run in 2017, but that changes tonight when she goes one-on-one with Jacy Jayne. Is Fatal Influence going to ruin Paige’s return to her home country, or will Brie Mode prove to be too much for the heels to handle at ringside? The mid card mega powers explode tonight when Giulia and Kiana James finally fight each other in a singles match on SmackDown. Will Kiana seek out help from a new friend if that’s what it takes to put down her former business partner? Jade Cargill vs. Chelsea Green is booked on SmackDown. This looks like a tune up match of sorts for Jade before she challenges United States Champion Tiffany Stratton at Night of Champions. Will Stratton provide backup for Green if Michin and B-Fab eventually join Jade for a 3-on-1 beatdown on her? Or is Tiffy Time better off looking out for herself and reading up on what SGT means? AAA Cruiserweight Champion Rey Fenix vs. Nathan Frazer is also scheduled for tonight’s broadcast. Fenix might as well complete his sweep of Fraxiom after beating Axiom a couple weeks ago. There will be plenty of Cool Moves in this bout, that’s for sure. Other stuff to keep an eye on – Does WWE have anything new to say about the status and return timeline of injured WWE Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley? – Is Roman Reigns sending his lap dog personal assassin Jacob Fatu back to SmackDown to come for Solo Sikoa’s head after Solo showed up on Raw to attack Jimmy Uso? How will MFTs Tama Tonga and Talla Tonga react after Solo blatantly defied their wish for him to stay out of their WWE tag team championship match last week? Where does Royce Keys fit into all of this? – What does Ricky Saints have to say to United States Champion Trick Williams now that they are fighting over the gold at Night of Champions? Will Saints try to get under Williams’ skin by taking out Lil Yachty? – Unlike Los Garza, Matt Cardona has made the wise career choice of getting on Danhausen’s good side. Will Danhausen send his mindless electrocuted drones Miz and Kit Wilson to beat up Los Garza, or is that a job for Cardona and himself? – Is there anything R-Truth can do to get his partner Damian Priest to lighten up when it comes to trusting his former Judgment Day stablemate, Finn Balor? Has Truth figured out who AAA World Tag Team Champions War Raiders are yet? – How will Alexa Bliss try to get revenge on Jade Cargill, Michin, and B-Fab after they injured Charlotte Flair last week? – Blake Monroe has been coming for more than two months. Does she have what it takes to beat Veer Mahaan’s record for coming? – Where the f*** is Ilja Dragunov? He hasn’t wrestled a match since the night before WrestleMania 42 in April. What will you be looking for on SmackDown?