WWE rumors, news ahead of June 3 episode of Friday Night Smackdown

An eventful week for the WWE is coming to a close as the company sits just two days away from the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view in Chicago. As always, the rumor mill was on fire this week and we’ll share a few noteworthy tidbits ahead of tonight’s episode of Friday Night Smackdown from Columbus, OH.

• After winning a championship contender’s match against the Usos on Monday Night Raw this week, Riddle and Shinsuke Nakamura are slated the face the unified tag champs for the belts in the future. Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio noted on his show this week that the match is being penciled in not for Sunday’s Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, but Money in the Bank next month. It’s a curious decision considering how light the HIAC card is and how there’s currently no Smackdown matches announced for the show.
• Also on Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez indicated that the proposed tournament for the vacant WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship may be “dead in the water”. The company first announced the tournament following the suspension of Sasha Banks and Naomi but there has been no progress made on WWE television to get it going. Given how the titles are put on the backburner for half the year, it wouldn’t be a surprise for the company to quietly disband the title.
• Bray Wyatt is back to tweeting cryptic things from his Twitter account, once again raising speculation of a possible return to the ring in the near future. The former Universal Champion was released by the WWE last July but one would imagine a star of his magnitude being on speed dial to be brought back should they decide. We’ll see what all this about eventually.
• Earlier in the week, Wade Keller of the PWTorch reported that WWE officials view MJF as a top commodity to the point where Vince McMahon would be willing to make him a lucrative offer. The contract situation between MJF and AEW exploded last weekend and carried over into a fiery “worked shoot” promo by the rising star on Dynamite this past Wednesday. We do not know if MJF and AEW president Tony Khan have resolved their issues backstage.