WWE SmackDown: Potential Spoilers, News and Preview for Aug. 1

It will certainly feel like SummerSlam season on Tuesday's WWE SmackDown.

AJ Styles and Kevin Owens will collide again for the United States Championship. John Cena and Shinsuke Nakamura will meet in a dream match to determine the next No. 1 contender for the WWE Championship.

Those bouts would be at home on a pay-per-view but will be used here to pave the way for SummerSlam.

Raw already has three matches lined up for that marquee event. It's the blue brand's turn now to decide who will challenge its champs.

Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena will also welcome Rusev, SmackDown's women champ Naomi and others. Who is set to show up on the latest episode? What matches are on the card?

Let's turn to news updates, the SmackDown preview on WWE.com and storyline analysis ahead of the show for answers. SmackDown will then kick off on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network.

News, Potential Spoilers

Great Khali returned at Battleground to help Jinder Mahal retain the WWE title. Chris Jericho came back for last week's SmackDown with the U.S. title on his mind. But the last two surprise entrants to the blue brand's stage may not be around Tuesday night.

Dave Meltzer noted on the Figure Four Online daily update, "Great Khali and Chris Jericho are not advertised for anything including TV."

Cena will be there, but his future schedule threatens to affect his current booking.

Raj Giri of WrestlingInc reported, "Cena will actually stop working SmackDown televised events with the SummerSlam go-home show on Tuesday, August 15th. After that, he is only scheduled to work Monday Night Raw tapings and Raw pay-per-views."

In addition, the 16-time world champ is set to star in a Transformers spinoff, per Rebecca Ford of The Hollywood Reporter.

That all decreases his chances of winning the WWE Championship. That's good news for either Mahal or Nakamura.

UFC fighter Cris Cyborg continues to tangle with Becky Lynch online. She recently issued a SummerSlam challenge as part of their ongoing Twitter rivalry:

If that's going to happen, things need to start rolling soon. The PPV is fast approaching.

As for whether SmackDown's commissioner, Shane McMahon, will compete at the event, a former WWE star provided some insight.

While co-hosting WZ Daily, Sean Waltman discussed the recent rumors that McMahon could face Owens at SummerSlam. Waltman said, "About two weeks ago when I saw Shane on TV I said, 'He's getting ready for a match.' I could tell by looking at him. He's back in the kind of similar shape he was in at WrestleMania."

SmackDown Streaks

Nakamura's march toward contention hasn't come out of nowhere a la Mahal. The King of Strong Style has piled up wins since his arrival.

His latest victory came against Baron Corbin last Tuesday. That moved him to 5-0 in one-on-one matches on the main roster, per CageMatch.net. 

None of those wins, though, compare to the one he could claim Tuesday.

Lana, on the other hand, has been positioned as a cellar-dweller.

After dropping a tag team bout to Lynch and Charlotte Flair last week, Lana is now 0-6 on TV and PPV, per CageMatch.net. She has lost all three of her matches on SmackDown so far.

It's not clear what WWE's plan for her is, but she's moving toward enhancement-talent territory at the moment.

Setting up SummerSlam

The U.S. title will once again be up for grabs.

Owens won it back from Styles at Battleground. The Phenomenal One reclaimed the gold just two days later. Another go-around between these two is now on the docket.

One would assume the winner here will head into SummerSlam with the U.S. Championship, and WWE can begin to build toward a title match in the coming weeks.

The SmackDown Women's Championship match is already set—Naomi will defend against Natalya. Before that showdown, the rivals will meet in tag team action. The champ will team up with Lynch to face Natalya and Carmella. 

Credit: WWE.com

Tuesday night will also see a former tag team champion continue his solo run.

Per the WWE.com SmackDown preview, Chad Gable will take on Rusev in Cleveland. Neither man has a current feud, so this could easily be the start of one between them.

The night's main event will have huge SummerSlam implications.

The winner of Cena vs. Nakamura will face Mahal for the WWE Championship at the PPV. This is a first-time meeting between these two, a PPV-worthy match itself.

Should this get some decent time, Cena and Nakamura are likely to produce one of the best TV matches of 2017. 

Cena enters as the favorite even with the uncertainty surrounding his schedule. He's the all-American babyface that would make a fitting foil for the foreign menace that is Mahal.

A Nakamura-Mahal title bout, though, would be just the kind of curveball SmackDown has made its name on of late.