Latest Rumors, Preview for Final WWE SmackDown Before Clash of Champions 2017

Tuesday's WWE SmackDown will offer glimpses of what's to come at Clash of Champions 2017.

AJ Styles will stand in the same ring with Jinder Mahal, the man he's set to battle for the WWE Championship at Sunday's pay-per-view. Kevin Owens and Shinsuke Nakamura are headed for a showdown ahead of their tag team collision at the event. 

The go-home show will see The Riott Squad and the tag team champs step into the ring, too.

It all represents SmackDown's last chance to hype the Clash of Champions card. Bad blood will spill over. Threats will echo through the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati. 

Who will continue their rolls on the blue brand? Who will meet in warm-up bouts for the PPV? Read on for a full preview of Tuesdays' show with info culled from backstage news, SmackDown preview on WWE.com and storyline projections.

The final SmackDown before Clash of Champions is set to air at 8 p.m. ET on USA Network.

News, Rumors

It's hard to tell if Naomi will show up on SmackDown.

WWE wrote her off TV with multiple injuries (presumably kayfabe) on the post-Survivor Series show. She hasn't appeared on SmackDown since the attack, but she is featured in the promo pic for Sunday's lumberjack match:

McMahon and Daniel Bryan are clearly at odds of late, but whatever this narrative is leading to will likely not involve Bryan stepping between the ropes.

Speculation be damned, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted (h/t Marc Middleton of Wrestling Inc) that a Bryan vs. McMahon match is not in the works. The former WWE champ's situation has not changed and the company has still not cleared him.

When the blue brand's gladiators come marching down the ramp, things may sound a little different. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Randall Orton of Cageside Seats), there have been discussions about redoing some wrestlers' entrance music as the company did with Kane recently.

SmackDown Streaks

A new set of alpha males are rising up the tag team division. The Bludgeon Brothers have not been tested since WWE repackaged the former Wyatt Family.

When Harper and Rowan beat up a pair of jobbers last week, they pushed their record for the year to 3-0, per CageMatch.net. And they are winning these contests handily. None of those matches have gone past the three-minute mark.

Don't be surprised if they are challenging for the tag team belts before long.

Tamina, meanwhile, is miles away from a contender. Her latest loss came when she went up against Charlotte Flair last Tuesday. She has now lost five matches in a row, per CageMatch.net. Tamina's last win came against Tina Stock in August.

So much for Lana's managerial skills changing her fortunes.

Last Stretch of Clash of Champions Build

Before Owens and Nakamura meet at the PPV in tag team action, they will collide one-on-one.

Sami Zayn will accompany KO and Randy Orton will be at ringside in support of The King of Strong Style. That's a sure sign of Owens vs. Nakamura getting out of hand at some point.

Credit: WWE.com

And one can count on SmackDown commissioner Shane McMahon's presence during the proceedings, too. His bad blood with Owens and Zayn has been a prominent part of the show for weeks. His growing desire to punish the heels should bleed into the match as well as Clash of Champions.

The Riott Squad will also be in action in Cincy as the newly arrived crew will take on Carmella, Tamina and Lana.

All six women will surround the ring at Clash of Champions in the lumberjack match between Flair and Natalya. This contest offers a potential preview of the kind of brawling we can expect during that title bout.

Ahead of the Fatal 4-Way for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at the PPV, Aiden English and Rusev will get a crack at the champs.

English and Rusev will battle The Usos in a non-title match. This will be a chance to soften up the titleholders, scout The Usos and gain some momentum. It's a safe bet the four-team battle's other two squads, The New Day and Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable, will show up at some point, as well.

The WWE Championship match promises to get the lion's share of the hype on Tuesday's SmackDown.

Styles dethroned Mahal in Manchester weeks ago. The Maharaja has since been enraged at the idea that he is now sans gold. Now it's time to stir up their animosity as much as possible ahead of the PPV. Their faceoff will be an attempt to do just that.

The impending verbal showdown will be a test for Mahal, seeing if he can hang with an elite star like Styles on the mic. But history says the rivals won't be talking the whole time. The Maharaja is certain to attempt an ambush on the champ.