Pretty Much the Entire SmackDown Card Is Booked for Tonight

WWE has a serious habit of making their weekly cards up seemingly on the spot. Raw last night had two title matches that got no prior advertisement. But just about the entire SmackDown card is already out and available.

The headline contest is a singles match between John Cena and Randy Orton. While the “first time ever!” ads are more than a little questionable in this instance, it is very significant that the WWE Champion is facing off against the Royal Rumble winner with months to go until WrestleMania.

We don’t expect Cena to walk out of Elimination Chamber as champion, but we do expect a good match between him and Orton tonight. Even if we’ve seen it before, it has been quite a while.

There’s also 12-man tag team action, with every competitor in Sunday’s Elimination Chamber match squaring off to establish dominance ahead of the upcoming turmoil. There are only a handful of SmackDown tag teams that feel like legitimate competitors, but hopefully tonight can add a little momentum to the division.

Finally, Dolph Ziggler will take on Apollo Crews in a contest to determine if Ziggler can actually convince anybody to boo him. I kid, I kid. While Ziggler’s heel turn hasn’t been a slam dunk new direction, it is a much-needed change in the Show-Off’s character. Here’s hoping tonight can provide a little more heat.

Mind-blowing card? Nah. But knowing what’s coming adds a little air of anticipation to the proceedings.

SmackDown takes place tonight at the Keyarena in Seattle, Washington, broadcast live on the USA Network at 8PM Eastern/7PM Central. We’ll have live coverage as always, so stick with us here, on Twitter, and on Facebook for all the latest as it happens!