Originally published on Trevor Trove on August 16, 2017
Man, this week’s Raw and Smackdown have thrown some curve balls into the mix for this weekend’s SummerSlam Pay-Per-View. A couple of big moments shuffled up what these predictions may have looked like a week ago but here we go.
Raw Matches:
Big Show vs. Big Cass (w/ Enzo Amore in a Shark Cage)
Cass went out of his way this week to bring in Gallows and Anderson to “break Big Show’s hand” by slamming it in the shark cage door. This effectively takes out his big KO punch and paves the way for a Cass win and lets the Big Show save some face. And also, the rumors about the locker room really hating Enzo make “dangling above a ring in a shark cage” one of the stupidest hazing punishments of all time.
Prediction: Big Cass
Akira Tozawa vs. Neville (WWE Cruiserweight Championship)
When Tozawa beat Neville for the championship suddenly on this week’s Raw, I figured that had to mean they were bumping this match from the card for time. But it still seems to be in play, just with the Champion-Challenger dynamic swapped. I don’t think it’d make much sense from a booking perspective to take the belt from Neville only to give it right back to him less than a week later but they did this kind of weird stuff with the US belt so who knows? But my gut say Titus O’Neill interferes in some way leading to Tozawa retaining the title.
Prediction: Tozawa retains the Cruiserweight Championship (but may lose the match via DQ)
Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt
Between making a big deal about bringing back Balor’s Demon persona and SummerSlam representing the anniversary of his big win as the 1st Universal Champion before having to rehab his injuries, I think Balor takes this.
Prediction: The Demon reclaims his throne and becomes the Demon King once again with a win over Wyatt.
Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks (WWE Raw Women’s Championship)
Before Bayley’s injury, I would have assumed this was going to be the start of her road to redemption winning the title back. With her benched, creative scrambled and threw Banks in as the alternate choice. I’d’ve still preferred to see Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss to pay-off that faux friendship and start giving Jax her due as a dominant champ. But, since they went with Banks, maybe they put the belt on her and let her feud with Bliss and Jax instead.
Prediction: Sasha Banks wins the Raw Women’s Championship
Sheamus and Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose (WWE Raw Tag Team Championship)
The Shield reunion would have been a whole lot of setup for nothing if they don’t walk out of SummerSlam the champs.
Prediction: Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose leave SummerSlam as the new Raw Tag Team Champions
Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe vs. Braun Strowman (WWE Universal Championship Fatal Four-way)
As much as I want them to put the belt on Joe and let him have some fun as a fighting champ for awhile, I think Lesnar still has too much time on his contract to lose and have him and Heyman “leave the WWE.”
Prediction: Lesnar retains the WWE Universal Championship
Smackdown Matches:
Rusev vs. Randy Orton
Cass and Big Show is probably the only match on the card I care about less than this one because the build has been almost non-existent. So based pretty much solely on the theories of 50-50 booking and reverse momentum, I think Rusev taking the RKO on Tuesday means he wins the match on Sunday…for whatever that gets him.
Prediction: Rusev wins.
Baron Corbin vs. John Cena
So here’s the biggest change in my predictions based on this week’s action. Originally, I’d have predicted a loss here but a cash-in later after Nakamura beat Jinder. But Corbin’s failed Money in the Bank cash-in on Smackdown means he HAS to win here, right? Otherwise, he’s just a huge joke getting buried. So my theory is that he’ll be so enraged that Cena cost him his title shot that he just brutally beats the hell out of Cena, puts him out of commission, and leaves SummerSlam a huge heel. This has the added bonus of writing Cena off if he needs to go film that Transformers Bumblebee movie (even if they made a big deal about him coming back a month and a half ago to be a free agent between the brands).
Prediction: Corbin wins (because he pretty much couldn’t show his face after a one-two punch of losing a MITB cash-in and SummerSlam loss).
Naomi vs. Natalya (WWE Smackdown Live Women’s Championship)
With the men’s Money in the Bank cash-in off the table now, I’m guessing we see Carmella cash-in here after Natalya weakens Naomi but doesn’t quite seal the deal herself. Two cash-ins in one week would be a bit of a waste in my eyes but that seems to be what WWE is heading towards.
Prediction: Naomi retains over Natalya but then loses to Carmella via Money in the Bank cash-in.
The New Day vs. The Usos (WWE Smackdown Live Tag Team Championship)
The New Day vs. The Usos was pretty much the only good match from Battleground. I think they’ll deliver another good bout here and I feel like the clean win over New Day this week pretty much cemented that the champs will actually retain at SummerSlam.
Prediction: The New Day retains their <cue gyrating hips> WWE Smackdown Live Tag Team Championships.
AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens (WWE United States Championship with Shane McMahon as Special Guest Referee)
Match of the night potential here as it’s a pretty safe assumption the feud has been building to SummerSlam and then they can go their separate ways. I think Styles retains and Owens finds a new gimmick to get him away from the “new face of America” schtick.
Prediction: AJ Styles retains the US Championship.
Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (WWE Championship)
Well a week ago I would have predicted a Nakamura win with Corbin immediately cashing-in his Money in the Bank and leaving SummerSlam the champ. But nope. So from a business sense I don’t see any reason to take the belt of Jinder here. I still don’t think Jinder is anything special and this whole feud has only shown how stupid the “you hate me because I’m different” gimmick is when the guy getting cheered opposite you is just as different. So they’ll burn through it and probably put him up against a super-heel Corbin who will make a play saying he doesn’t need the briefcase to deserve a number one contender spot or something. Ultimately, putting the belt on Nakamura makes no sense, Because then you’d have a champion who suffers on the mic from the language barrier AND you have to find something for Jinder to do.
Prediction: Jinder retains the WWE Championship, probably with some help from the Singh brothers since that’s their only reason for being.