WWE came up with a unique and never before seen tournament to keep up with the ongoing craze of Football. The initiative conceived under Triple H’s creative regime; the tournament started on WWE’s blue brand. The tournament came to be known as the SmackDown World Cup. The 8-person single elimination tournament is a direct homage to the on-going 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
The tournament featured eight competitors in a single-elimination knockout tournament. All the competitors selected to compete represented different countries, similar to the format of the original Football extravaganza. It featured 8 of the brightest talent on the blue side with a shot at Gunther’s WWE Intercontinental championship hanging in the balance.
Last week’s semi-final matches featured Ricochet battling the Monster of All Monsters Braun Strowman in the first bout. The other match featured Santos Escobar competing against the Brawling Brute Butch.
Both matches delivered stellar performances by all four superstars. The end of matches saw the high-flying Ricochet and Santos Escobar defeat Braun Strowman and Butch respectively to advance to the finals of the tournament. The finals of the SmackDown World Cup is set to take place at this week’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown on FS1.
Los 8 luchadores de la #SmackDown World Cup:
🇺🇸 – Ricochet
🇺🇸 – Braun Strowman
🇲🇽 – Santos Escobar
🏴 – Butch
🇨🇦 – Sami Zayn
🇮🇳 – Jinder Mahal
🇯🇵 – Shinsuke Nakamura
🇵🇰 – Mustafa AliAdvertisementSami debe de ser el máximo favorito. Y echo de menos alguna nacionalidad más. pic.twitter.com/SEC16aHLo1
— Luigi (@LuigiWrestling) November 12, 2022
WWE SmackDown World Cup Predictions: Who will win in the Finals?
Ricochet has found some career resurgence by lasting till the end of the World Cup tournament. Many had expected him to be eliminated in the first round itself. But WWE’s resident Superhero overcame the toughest odds to make it to the finals.
THIS FRIDAY#SmackDown comes to @FS1
Feel the fallout of #SurvivorSeries #WarGames.
AdvertisementPLUS @KingRicochet vs. @EscobarWWE in the #SmackDown World Cup Finals! Who will earn an #ICTitle opportunity against @Gunther_AUT? pic.twitter.com/FFpzWHRZTB
— WWE (@WWE) November 29, 2022
However, the rise of Santos Escobar as the leader of Legado Del Fantasma with Joaquin Wilde, Cruz Del Toro and Zelina Vega has been remarkable and promising. Moreover, Ricochet finds himself outnumbered to the antics of the group to lead Escobar to the World Cup. Therefore, all signs point towards a win for Escobar which will cement his status as one of the fastest rising star on SmackDown.
WWE SmackDown World Cup Predictions for who will win Ricochet vs Santos Escobar match – Santos Escobar to defeat Ricochet.
