WWE World Title Tournament: Updated Brackets After SmackDown

Following Thursday night's edition of WWE SmackDown, the first round of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tournament is done and in the books. To recap, here are the results of all of the first round championship tournament matches:

Roman Reigns defeated Big Show Kevin Owens defeated Titus O'Neil Dolph Ziggler defeated The Miz Cesaro defeated Sheamus Dean Ambrose defeated Tyler Breeze Neville defeated King Barrett Kalisto defeated Ryback Alberto Del Rio defeated Stardust

The quarterfinal (second round) matches are scheduled to take place next week during RAW. The matches will be as follows:

Roman Reigns vs. Cesaro Dolph Ziggler vs. Dean Ambrose Kevin Owens vs. Neville Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio

Despite the predictability of the first round bouts, these second round matches shape up to be some very solid wrestling matches. Though some of the winners may still be predictable, Reigns and Cesaro should be a very good match on RAW. It would be a shock if Cesaro won the match, and we don't expect that to happen, but it is an exciting and fresh match for a change. Similarly, Owens/Neville, Ziggler/Ambrose, and Kalisto/Del Rio all have the potential to be excellent matches. One would think that WWE is saving an Ambrose/Reigns title match for a major PPV down the line, so don't expect them to meet up in the finals of the tournament at Survivor Series. Therefore, an upset of Ambrose seems likely in the second round or semi-finals. The likely scenario would seem to be Ambrose and Owens matching up in the semi-finals, with Owens getting the victory. This would save a potential Reigns/Ambrose championship match for a later date, while also continuing to put over Kevin Owens as a top level heel (something the company is badly in need of with Seth Rollins out for several months).