Friday Night Smackdown preview: Three questions heading into June 17 episode

WWE Friday Night Smackdown comes live from the Target Center in Minneapolis and the company is beginning the march towards Money in the Bank next month.

Whether it’s an extremely important episode or a completely throwaway show that will be forgotten about in two weeks, there’s always questions that surround each edition of Friday Night Smackdown. I’ll ask a few pertaining to tonight’s episode.

Will we Roman Reigns’ title reign come to an end tonight?

After a month away from television, undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns will return tonight to put his title on the line against Riddle. Reigns was last seen helping the Usos defeat RK-Bro to unify the tag titles and Riddle has made his aspirations to take down the “Tribal Chief” loud and clear.

Heading into tonight’s showdown, the big question is if the WWE will actually pull the trigger and anoint Riddle as the new champ. With Reigns rumored SummerSlam opponent Randy Orton reportedly on the shelf for the rest of the year, their big plans for the next six weeks have been blown up. And with the “Head of the Table” taking time off and working less dates, both Raw and Smackdown have suffered with a lack of a men’s champion at the top of the show. We’ve seen unexpected title changes on Smackdown before and we’ll see if Riddle is the one who dethrones Reigns.

Who will else will punch their ticket to Money in the Bank?

We’re 15 days away from the Money in the Bank pay-per-view and we have superstars qualifying for both the men’s and women’s ladder matches. On the women’s side, Lacey Evans, Liv Morgan, and Alexa Bliss, have qualified while Seth Rollins is the lone men’s qualifier so far. Who else will join them tonight?

Who will be revealed as the first client for Maximum Male Models?

Max Dupri, formerly known as L.A. Knight in NXT, made his debut on Smackdown a few weeks ago and revealed that he will be starting a group called “Maximum Male Models”. After weeks of teases, he will reveal his first client for the group and one has to wonder who it could be. Prior to his television debut, Dupri did a few dark segments where he trial ran the likes of Mace and Mansoor as potential members. We’ll see who will get the nod tonight.