SmackDown Opens With Two Major Additions From Raw

There might’ve been a feeling following Raw that SmackDown had been gutted on the first night of the Superstar Shakeup, but the opening of the Tuesday night show proved that the blue brand won’t be lacking for talent in the coming year.

Kevin Owens opened the show, confirming as we expected that he would be bringing the United States Championship to SmackDown. After some creative insults toward America, KO was interrupted by longtime rival–and frequent SmackDown trade pick–Sami Zay, who announced he would also be joining the blue brand.

They were then joined by Baron Corbin and AJ Styles, who confirmed he would be remaining on SmackDown.

Daniel Bryan announced that Kevin Owens would have his scheduled defense of the US Title at Payback against Chris Jericho, and the winner of that match would be the one joining SmackDown. Additionally, a triple threat match between Baron Corbin, AJ Styles, and Sami Zayn would determine the #1 contender against whoever the champion may be.

Stick with us for details on the roster changes tonight! We’ll have a full rundown of all the roster changes after the show.