This Sunday, WWE will be holding its biggest party of the summer in Toronto. With a card that has an interesting mix of styles and clashes, let’s preview each match one by one to see who will emerge from the 2nd biggest PPV of the year victorious.
Becky Lynch (C) vs. Natalya – RAW Women’s Championship (Submission Match)
The only reason why Natalya is in this match is because she is from the same country Summerslam is taking place from. If we are being honest here, Natalya doesn’t really have a chance here and there is no way that she should be the one to end the reign of Becky. I wouldn’t put it past Natalya to try and get some sort of screwjob in to pretend as though she won, but assuming that this match is called right down the middle, I’m fairly confident The Man will walk out of Summerslam with the title in hand.
Winner: Becky Lynch
Goldberg vs. Dolph Ziggler
If we are being honest here, this match for Goldberg is nothing more than a way to remove the memory of his trainwreck against Undertaker from out of our minds. I don’t know if this means if he will get something resembling a match out of Ziggler or if it will be a squash. Either way, I think it’s safe to say he will humble Dolph, and do it quickly. I don’t think Goldberg has had a match that has gone over 5 minutes, and I don’t expect that to change this Sunday.
Winner: Goldberg
Bayley (C) vs. Ember Moon – Smackdown Women’s Championship
The booking for this match is so weird, especially for Ember Moon. She pins Charlotte Flair in, like, 30 seconds, then she takes a pin from Alexa Bliss a couple of weeks afterwards, and then she looks weak in front of the challenger for the opposite brand’s women’s title and her opponent has to come to her aide to make sure she’s okay? Wasn’t Bayley the same one who gave her a Belly to Belly just last week? I don’t know. The only thing this match has going for it is that it’s different and that this will be Ember Moon’s first singles match for a women’s title since getting called up last year. However, the booking has been less than ideal. I suspect Bayley will retain and I wouldn’t rule out a Moon heel turn.
Winner: Bayley
AJ Styles (C) vs. Ricochet – United States Championship
This match is hard to judge by since they’ve milked these two in the ring a great deal for the past month and a half. WWE likes having factions holding all the titles, and since Gallows and Anderson don’t have a title defense in store this Sunday, it may be likely that AJ will go past Summerslam with the US title still in hand. But this is probably one of the tougher matches to predict since AJ has gotten the better of Ricochet more often, and there’s a decent chance that Ricochet gets retribution and gets the title back. However, my gut tells me AJ will retain one way or the other.
Winner: AJ Styles
Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon – If Kevin Loses, He Quits
I have never taken Shane McMahon seriously as a singles competitor, and I never will. The odds are pretty likely that Shane will have some help accompany him in this match in the form of either Elias, Drew McIntyre, or both. Owens certainly isn’t losing because common sense, but do not underestimate what WWE is willing to do. They had Shane McMahon pin Roman Reigns in a singles match and after that, I am willing to believe they will do anything. However, I do think that Kevin has a victory safely in the bag here.
The only thing that concerns me is what happens to Shane may not change even if he loses. I mean, think about it. Shane was supposed to be able to control RAW and Smckdown if he defeated Undertaker at WrestleMania 32. He lost, but ended up getting what he wants anyway because he’s a McMahon. He’s not quitting if he loses this match, so what really gives? It’s not like Shane is going to just go away if he loses. He’s a McMahon and can do things in this company just because he says so. I’d be more intrigued if I knew for a fact that Shane would be off my television for good, but since I know they’ll probably have Shane just shake off the loss as lucky or whatever, I’m sour here.
Winner: Kevin Owens
Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt
Bray’s character has been fantastic and the Firefly Fun House with his multiple personality disorder has been the icing on the cake. Initially, I was disappointed that we weren’t getting The Demon vs. The Fiend for Summerslam, but I also understand that you don’t want to give The Demon an early loss and give away Bray defeating Finn at his best too early.
Anyways, I’m pretty sure Bray is going to win here and I’d probably bet my college tuition on that too.
Winner: Bray Wyatt
Charlotte Flair vs. Trish Stratus
This is supposed to be built as a dream, once-in-a-lifetime kind of match, but I haven’t been invested in this nearly as I probably should. Maybe it’s because the promo work, especially from Charlotte, has been especially lackluster. The build to this match has kind of been tepid at best as well. This match was built because Trish returned from literally out of nowhere and Charlotte was mad that she didn’t have a match at Summerslam. Makes you think why every superstar doesn’t just come out and demand a Summerslam challenge, huh?
Realistically speaking, Charlotte, who is more accomplished, faster, stronger, more athletic and 10 years younger than Trish should destroy her, but we will likely get a match that will make us believe Trish is still on her level. I’m hoping they have a great back and forth affair, but of course, Trish’s age has to be considered. This bout goes to Charlotte.
Winner: Charlotte Flair
Kofi Kingston (C) vs. Randy Orton – WWE Championship
This is the match I will be looking most forward to for the night because of the historical context of this match and what it would mean for both men. I am currently writing an article on the history behind these two, so stay tuned for that. Anyways, this is pretty difficult for me to predict. A part of me wants to say that Kofi Kingston will pick up the biggest win of his title reign and prove to himself that he is the real deal as WWE Champion. Another part of me also thinks that Randy Orton, who is the bigger star, will represent Smackdown as WWE Champion as they move towards the FOX network.
It’s honestly a toss-up, and if you were to ask me today, I would say that Randy Orton would win by nefarious means. I don’t want to say Kofi has hit his ceiling as champion, but I think Orton winning the title would open up new possibilities for new face challengers to get a shot at the title. However, this is incredibly close. My mind is telling me that Kofi fully earns the trust of WWE going into the fall, but my heart tells me that The Viper will reign victorious. The WWE Championship hasn’t changed hands at Summerslam since 2014, and I think Randy breaks that five year streak.
Winner: Randy Orton
Brock Lesnar (C) vs. Seth Rollins – Universal Championship
What this feud has shown me is that if it’s a fair fight, Seth Rollins has little chance of beating Brock. When he won at WrestleMania, it’s because he got himself an advantage through a ref bump and a low blow. When Seth and Brock have had a fair fight, Brock has destoryed him time and time again. I respect what Seth was going for this past Monday night on RAW, but what he did was more stupid than brave. Seth was hobbling with abdominal tape on his way to the ring and carried a chair which we all knew was going to eventually be used against him.
I was Seth Rollins’ biggest stan last year, but he’s fallen off considerably this year, both in terms of the quality of his matches and in his character. I honestly believe he is better suited as a mid-carder work horse, because his Universal Title reign just wasn’t working at all. It’s crazy for me to think that Seth being champion over Brock wouldn’t be a great alternative for once. In the context of the feud, Brock should be able to defeat Seth since he has taken him out when he’s already hurt, and I am going into Summerslam with the expectation that Brock will walk out the same way he came in.
Winner: Brock Lesnar
