AJ Styles vs. Baron Corbin: Latest Rumors and Preview for WWE SmackDown Sept. 19

The United States Championship will again take center stage on WWE SmackDown as AJ Styles looks to fend off Baron Corbin. 

A week after The Phenomenal One successfully defended the title during a packed show in Las Vegas, Styles will put his championship on the line against a man who has yet to taste gold. Can Styles keep up his winning ways or will the blue brand crown a new champ for the second straight show?

Tuesday's SmackDown will also address the pay-per-view on the horizon—Hell in a Cell. The Oct. 8 event has just two bouts booked thus far.

Expect that card to grow after everything unfolds inside the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.

Will there be any surprise guests? What's WWE's plan for the tag team title picture? How will SmackDown build on the huge momentum it created last time out?

Backstage news, storyline analysis and the SmackDown preview on WWE.com help provide answers ahead of the latest episode, which will air on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on USA Network.

News, Rumors

Luke Harper and Erick Rowan may emerge from the shadows transformed to some degree. 

The former members of The Wyatt Family haven't been on TV in weeks, but WWE could be cooking up plans for a reunion and repackage. PWInsider.com's Mike Johnson wrote: "There has been talk that the company has been working on coming up with a new look and gimmick for the team."

That would give The New Day a fresh set of foes to face once the trio is done battling The Usos.

And speaking of those tag team rivals, Ryan Satin of Pro Wrestling Sheet noted that he has heard WWE is planning on booking a Hell in a Cell match between The Usos vs. The New Day:

Despite rumblings about a potential Kofi Kingston injury, the tag team champ is apparently fine. Dave Meltzer noted for Figure Four Online: "Kofi Kingston, who was limping and needed help after his match on the Hawaii show earlier in the week, as noted by WWE, worked the shows after in Japan and China."

SmackDown Streaks

When Styles outlasted Tye Dillinger last week in Las Vegas, he extended his current streak to six consecutive wins, per CageMatch.net.  

All of those victories have been in title bouts. Styles has avoided the usual "book the midcard champ to lose non-title action" scheduling. Instead, he has gone on a tear and helped to make the U.S. title scene fun again.

The Hype Bros haven't been nearly as successful of late.

And looking at the numbers, one can understand Zack Ryder's frustration about falling to Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable last Tuesday. The Hype Bros have now lost three in a row, per CageMatch.net. The duo hasn't won since June, and they have only one victory on their resume for the whole year.

It's looking more and more like Ryder and Mojo Rawley are set to go their separate ways, their losing ways pushing them apart.

Preview

As incensed as Shane McMahon got when Kevin Owens brought up his kids, it's hard to imagine what his mental state is after KO bloodied his father last Tuesday.

The WWE.com SmackDown preview stated that McMahon will address what Owens did to the WWE chairman. That's sure to be an emotional moment. Whether Owens gets punished or punched in the mouth, the McMahon-Owens Hell in a Cell match is going to be the beneficiary.

Natalya will enter Tuesday's SmackDown in a far better mood than Shane-O-Mac.

She is fresh off retaining the SmackDown Women's Championship against Naomi. And now she's ready to deliver a "Celebration of Women." 

Credit: WWE.com

The SmackDown preview on WWE.com noted: "What exactly that entails is yet to be revealed, but expect the rest of the SmackDown women's division to keep a close eye on the titleholder."

The New Day will be in celebration mode as the group reclaimed the SmackDown tag team titles in a Street Fight against The Usos last Tuesday.

This time out, Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods are sure to give the audience an idea of what's next for them. This is potentially where a Hell in a Cell bout is set up to end the rivalry with The Usos for good.

And by the end of the night, The Lone Wolf could join Natalya and The New Day as titleholders as Corbin will get his shot to dethrone Styles.

This has been a long time coming as Corbin has inserted himself into Styles' past open challenges. He ambushed Dillinger before a title bout, and Corbin followed that up with an attack on the champ.

A feud between the two is clearly brewing, and it's set to take a big step with the gold on the line.

Corbin will be hoping for this to be a key moment in a comeback from a summer to forget. After failing to win the WWE title when he cashed in his Money in the Bank contract, he lost a disappointing SummerSlam clash against John Cena. A U.S. title run would sure help counter those blows.