WWE Reveals Upcoming World Cup Tournament

WWE has confirmed an 8-person tournament for the first-ever "WWE SmackDown World Cup." The announcement came during the 11/4 "WWE SmackDown" where the announcers noted that the tourney will get underway on next week's show in Indianapolis, Indiana. No other details were provided.

Last month, WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H revealed plans for WWE to introduce certain "World Cup-type scenarios" on WWE programming going forward. However, it was assumed that the tourney would feature brands such as "NXT" and the soon-to-be-launched "NXT Europe" competing against WWE's main roster brands in a World Cup featuring Superstars from various nationalities. It appears the eight Superstars competing in the "SmackDown" tourney could be representing eight different countries, but that's purely speculation at this point. 

Some of the global Superstars on the "WWE SmackDown" brand include Drew McIntyre (Scotland), Sheamus (Republic of Ireland), Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER (Austria), Santos Escobar (Mexico), Sami Zayn (Canada) and Shinsuke Nakamura (Japan). On the women's side of the roster, some of the international representation comes from Natalya (Canada), Xia Li (China) and Emma (Australia). 

Besides the start of the "SmackDown World Cup," next week's lineup includes Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Santos Escobar in a singles match, and The New Day's Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston challenging for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles. The New Day will challenge the winner of The Usos vs. Brawling Brutes title match scheduled for Saturday's Crown Jewel premium live event.