Xavier Woods vs. Jinder Mahal: Latest Rumors, Preview for WWE SmackDown Jan. 16

The United States Championship will take center stage on Tuesday's WWE SmackDown.

The tournament to crown a new champion after Dolph Ziggler vacated the title will continue with a pair of semifinal matchups in Laredo, Texas.

Xavier Woods will take on Jinder Mahal in one of those bouts. For Woods, he's seeking his first title as a singles star. The Maharaja, meanwhile, wants to wear gold again after spending much of last year as WWE champ. 

In addition to deciding the U.S. title tournament finalists, Tuesday's SmackDown is sure to focus on building toward the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.

The blue brand has a Tag Team Championship match and WWE title bout to hype. More Superstars will enter the two Royal Rumble matches. And the growing tension between SmackDown's commissioner and general manager is poised to be a big story once more.

News updates, WWE.com's SmackDown preview and storyline projections help provide an early look at the show before it airs on Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET on USA Network.

News, Rumors

Kevin Owens is the latest Superstar dealing with an injury.

PWInsider's Mike Johnson reported that WWE pulled Owens from recent live events as a result of an existing issue the former universal champ has been working through. KO may not be asked to compete Tuesday, either.

"All signs are Owens will appear in some capacity at tonight's Smackdown Live taping, but similar to Jason Jordan on Raw, he may be relegated to a non-physical role," Johnson wrote. 

Credit: WWE.com

The Colons, on the other hand, are fully healthy but remain off TV for some reason.

Primo and Epico have been working the house show circuit, including the live event Sunday in Hidalgo, Texas. As seen at Figure Four Online, The Colons battled in eight-man action that night.

The U.S. title tournament will move along faster than first planned.

As Jason Powell of ProWrestling.net noted, WWE originally advertised the finals as part of the Royal Rumble PPV, but "the new listing by WWE shows that it will be held next week at the SmackDown taping in Washington, D.C." In that case, we should see a showdown of some sort between the two finalists to hype the match in a hurry.

SmackDown Streaks

After rolling over The Ascension last Tuesday, The Bludgeon Brothers remain undefeated since their gimmick change. Harper and Rowan are 6-0-1 as The Bludgeon Brothers, per CageMatch.net.

SmackDown has made a clear commitment to build those bruisers up. In a short time, they look like legit title contenders. That's sure to continue in the short term, making them one of the surest bets on the roster for the moment.

Rusev and Aiden English, on the other hand, are moving in the opposite direction on the tag team ladder.

Breezango upset them last week to extend a bad stretch for the duo. Rusev Day is now in the midst of a four-match losing streak, per CageMatch.net.

This feels like a case of WWE not recognizing what it has in this popular team. Hopefully, a string of defeats doesn't curtail their momentum.

Preview

After her loss to Becky Lynch on the most recent SmackDown, Ruby Riott seethed. She wants now to strike back against The Irish Lass Kicker and the rest of the blue brand's babyfaces.

She'll get her wish. Riott and her crew will face Naomi, Charlotte Flair and Lynch in southern Texas.

The Riott Squad could use some of the booking Absolution has received over on Raw. On Monday night, Sonya Deville got folks talking with a quick, decisive win over Sasha Banks. It's Riott, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan's turn to further establish themselves.

The U.S. title tourney should take up a big chunk of Tuesday's SmackDown as four Superstars look to make their way to the finals.

Woods earned his spot by defeating English. Mahal pushed past Tye Dillinger. The New Day member will now take on the former WWE champ as the underdog. 

In the other second-round matchup, Mojo Rawley will face Bobby Roode.

Rawley has been transformed and energized since his heel turn late last year. WWE would be smart to take full advantage of that with a deep run in this tournament. With enough time, Roode is likely to lead Rawley to his best solo effort to date.

Tuesday night also promises to deliver plenty of drama as the saga of SmackDown's authority figures continues.

Last week, Owens and Sami Zayn found themselves in a handicap match against Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles. Commissioner Shane McMahon restarted the match twice to make sure the heels got their comeuppance.

That's sure to have a ripple effect.

McMahon's actions have irked general manager Daniel Bryan and vice versa, and KO and Zayn have been mighty frustrated with McMahan's bias against them. 

The pace of the story so far suggests we'll only see baby steps Tuesday. SmackDown will offer only teases of whatever explosion WWE is building toward.