WWE Smackdown Live results and observations (8/15/17): Baron Corbin fails to cash in

SummerSlam came early for Raw Monday and Smackdown Live went in a similar direction Tuesday, as it threw a lot at its fans merely days before the second-biggest of the year.

No, I am not talking about the John Cena-Jinder Mahal match, which was foolishly hyped as one of the biggest matches in Smackdown history.

What I am talking about, however, are a couple of things that people expected to see at the upcoming pay-per-view, but instead got to see Tuesday night.

Unlike Raw, I could see the logic behind what Smackdown Live did Tuesday and I thought it made for a decent show.

Before I go any further, here are the match results from the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence, R.I.:

- Natalya def. Becky Lynch

- Rusev vs. Chad Gable ended in a double count out

- The Usos def. The New Day (Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston)

- John Cena def. Jinder Mahal via disqualification

- WWE championship – Jinder Mahal def. Baron Corbin

Damn, Baron Corbin

A lot of fans suspected Corbin to cash in his Money in the Bank contract at SummerSlam.

I was not among them, as I predicted he would wait until the September pay-per-view to cash it in.

It turned out all of us were wrong, as WWE had Corbin cash in his WWE championship opportunity Tuesday night — and lose.

That's right, joined very exclusive company in becoming only the third person to fail to capture the championship after cashing in his Money in the Bank contract, joining only Cena and former WWE superstar Damien Sandow.

Corbin's failure came after Cena and Mahal competed against each other in the main event. Cena looked to have had the match won when he delivered an attitude adjustment to Mahal from the middle rope, but Corbin broke up the ensuing pin attempt with the briefcase.

Corbin then hit Cena with the briefcase and walked away from the ring only to double back and inform the official that he was cashing in the contract on Mahal.

Just as the bell rang to officially begin the match, Cena jumped on the ring apron to distract Corbin, which provided Mahal with just enough time to roll him up for the win.

And just like that, Corbin's WWE title hopes went up in smoke. Poof. Gone.

When the cash-in attempt happened is irrelevant to me, as it was never advertised to happen on pay-per-view. That would have been dumb anyway.

The result is what really warrants attention, as Corbin is no longer in position to get the company's top prize.

I know the failed cash-in will only validate some people's opinions of Corbin not being quite ready for the position of being WWE champion or flat-out not being good enough, but this feels a little different to me.

That is because Corbin has a big match Sunday against Cena and a victory over the face of the company could quickly help him rebound from such a swift fall from the top of the food chain.

Cena did gloat over the fact Corbin lost his impromptu title match, which I would assume would make Corbin a lot more aggressive in the match at SummerSlam.

But a loss to Cena Sunday and … I wouldn't know what to make of Corbin.

Corbin losing his cash-in attempt in quick fashion is not an indicator that WWE has completely given up on Corbin as champion.

It is not a ringing endorsement either, but I do think it is too soon to judge whether Corbin has completely fallen out of favor with the power that be in WWE. There are always other opportunities to make Corbin into champion.

That opportunity is just not going to by way of the Money in the Bank contract.

The Usos defeated The New Day's speed lineup

The Usos beat The New Day Tuesday, which on the surface sounds silly because the two teams will face other at SummerSlam.

But when you consider that The Usos defeated the combination of Woods and Kingston and will face Woods and Big E at the pay-per-view, I guess it wasn't technically giving away the title match.

But let's face it, the match at SummerSlam is not going to be all that different from what we saw Tuesday, which brings me to a larger point about Smackdown Live and WWE's tag team division in general: It is severely lacking depth.

Before the brand extension, the tag team division was already kind of shallow. It helped that WWE called up teams like American Alpha and eventually The Revival, but splitting the division in two only weakened the depth in a division that was already lacking it to begin with.

Fast-forward to present day and the problem is even more glaring and most of it is WWE's fault.

Sure, WWE can do nothing about the injury bug that has bitten The Revival and The Colons recently, but the company also broke up two of its best tag teams in American Alpha and the team of Enzo Amore and Big Cass.

Other than The Usos, The New Day and Breezango, I can only name one other team on Smackdown Live and that's the Ascension.

Breezango and the Ascension are fine teams, but they're not in the ring. Instead, they're doing backstage comedy segments, which are hilarious, but they still aren't in the ring.

On Raw, you have Heath Slater and Rhyno not being used.

When you have that issue, you get The Usos facing a variation of The New Day less than a week ahead of the pay-per-view.

Shane McMahon gets in the way again

Smackdown Live commissioner can't seem to get out of the way of AJ Styles and Kevin Owens.

Last week, McMahon was kicked in the head by Styles. This week, McMahon was the victim of a super kick from Owens that was intended for Styles.

For McMahon's sake, I am glad SummerSlam is this Sunday, because I am not sure how many more kicks to the head McMahon could take.

Vaughn Johnson has a podcast with Nick Piccone called the Straight Shooters on WildfireRadio.com. Check it out here HERE.