Nearly thirty years after Cleveland hosted a very weird SummerSlam in 1996, WWE’s second biggest premium live event of the year is finally set to return. This time, instead of Shawn Michaels and Vader, we’ll likely get Cody Rhodes and Solo Sikoa for The WWE Championship in the hammer slot, which makes a whole lot more sense if Roman Reigns returns than if he doesn’t. In addition, we’re currently scheduled to get another half dozen matches, five of which are for major championships and the other of which is CM Punk and Drew McIntyre, arguably the hottest feud going in all of wrestling.
Despite all the championship matches, however, fans are a bit divided on whether they think the card is worthy of a SummerSlam. A couple of the matches have been set up by lackluster feuds, and the likely main event, Cody Rhodes and Solo Sikoa, feels more like something that would close a Backlash than a SummerSlam. So, yeah, there’s reason for concern, but there’s also plenty of reason for optimism given CM Punk and Drew McIntyre is one of the hottest non-title feuds ever , Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley is all kinds of awesome, and Gunther and Damian Priest has really over-delivered so far.
Before we get into my specific predictions for the event, however, here’s a look at my how my predictions have been going lately, with some notes on key recent events, as well as an overall score for how I’ve done since I started these educated guesses. I’ve now done every single PLE since WrestleMania 38 and have no plans on stopping.
Damian Priest (Champion) Vs Gunther For The World Heavyweight Championship
I don’t think there’s anyone on WWE’s roster that’s improving at a faster rate than Damian Priest. He was obviously great as the muscle in Judgment Day and had an epic cash-in at WrestleMania 40 , but you can really tell how much confidence he’s gained over the past few months, both on the microphone and in how he carries himself. He’s starting to really feel like a world champion.
Unfortunately for him, Gunther is the best new wrestler WWE has had in years. He’s a throwback that also feels modern, a towering and vicious badass that gets ring psychology perfectly and can also adapt to work with performers of varying styles. With all due respect to The Miz, Mr Perfect and others, he’s the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all-time , and he deserves a run on top as World Heavyweight Champion sooner rather than later.
So, yeah, Gunther is going to win this belt. The only real question is whether he wins it at SummerSlam or whether he loses this match in some kind of flukey manner and then wins a rematch at Bash In Berlin at the end of August. My guess is WWE is going to go with the latter. That would give Priest almost another month as World Champion. It would give us an obvious main event for the new PPV, and it would allow Gunther, who is from Austria, to win it a short distance from where he grew up.
Predicted Winner: Damian Priest
Logan Paul (Champion) Vs LA Knight For The United States Championship
Wrestling fans have been waiting for LA Knight to get his big moment for more than a year, and it would be a pretty big surprise if he didn’t finally get it here. He’s still very over with the crowd, but people need to see some forward progress. As charismatic as he is, a performer needs to win some big matches and the occasional title to maintain their buzz, or else people move on to something newer and shinier. Now is the time to take him to the next level and see if he can cook as a midcard champion.
Plus, it’s time to take the belt off Logan Paul. I love Logan. It took me all of 30 seconds to completely change my opinion of him during his WrestleMania 38 tag team match alongside The Miz . He’s great, and his run has generated a ton of mainstream press and positive publicity. But SmackDown is really lagging behind Raw right now creatively. It needs a champion that’s present every week and working a consistent storyline. That’s just not going to be Logan Paul right now. So, while I’m still high on the social megastar and would be very open to another title run in the future, I’m also ready to try someone else.
Predicted Winner: LA Knight
Bayley (Champion) Vs Nia Jax For The WWE Women’s Championship
With all due respect to Bayley, who is an obvious Hall Of Famer, I’m frustrated with her current title run, and I don’t really understand what she’s doing with her character. Leading up to The Royal Rumble and later WrestleMania 40, she did a great job of showing vulnerability. It was easy to root for her against Damage CTRL, as they schemed around her and kicked her out of her own group. The resulting match with Iyo Sky at ‘Mania was one of the weekend’s best, and it seemed to set Bayley up for something special, given how over she was with fans.
But we haven’t really seen that vulnerability since. Instead, she’s mostly just delivered generic promos and occasionally comes off like she’s still playing a heel character. To be honest, the most memorable part of her run so far has probably been Nia Jax accusing her of having a Brazilian Butt Lift, which set off quite a lively discussion on social media. That’s not to say she can’t quickly turn things around with the right feud, but she might not get that chance.
Bayley is definitely vulnerable. She could lose the belt at SummerSlam, partially because the buzz she had is mostly gone and partially because Triple H may want to reward Nia Jax for how good she’s been since returning. She’s night and day better than she was when she left WWE for the first time, and even her biggest haters are coming around to how valuable she’s been as a monster heel.
Because of all that, I think it’s likely Nia will pick up the win, but don’t expect it to be clean. The writers have really telegraphed that Tiffany Stratton and her Money In The Bank briefcase will be involved in the finish. She’s mostly been portrayed as Nia’s BFF, but there have been hints she could betray her and cash in herself. So, expect someone to get hit with the briefcase.
Predicted Winner: Nia Jax
Sami Zayn (Champion) Vs Bron Breakker For The Intercontinental Championship
I predicted Bron Breakker would beat Sami Zayn at Money In The Bank . He ultimately lost, and the story we’ve gotten since is that he didn’t take the match seriously enough. Now he’s refocused and ready to win his first main roster title. I remain convinced he’ll get the job done. It just makes too much sense.
First, it’s unlikely Bron would get a third shot at Zayn’s title if he lost again. That wouldn’t make any sense from a fairness standpoint. Second, WWE seems intent on making Bron Breakker look at dominant as possible, and two consecutive losses to Sami Zayn, as over as he might be with the crowd, is going to put a big dent in his reputation. Third, there’s probably going to be a more important story to tell that Zayn is about to be a part of.
Whether Roman Reigns returns at SummerSlam or not, almost everyone agrees a Bloodline Civil War is coming . Zayn obviously has an extensive history with The Bloodline, once getting cheered like a prime Stone Cold , and it would be a shock if he didn’t factor into the story whenever it’s told. In recent weeks, we’ve seen him paired with his longtime frenemy Jey Uso, and it’s likely that’s where his personal plot is going, which would be a lot simpler if he didn’t have the Intercontinental Championship.
Predicted Winner: Bron Breakker
Liv Morgan (Champion) Vs Rhea Ripley For The Women’s World Championship
You could make a strong case that no woman in the history of professional wrestling has ever been as over as Rhea Ripley. She is going to win this title and get the better of Liv Morgan long-term, but there’s so much heat on this feud, I have a hard time believing WWE isn’t going to play it out a little longer, especially with so much uncertainty around Rhea’s arm candy Dominik Mysterio and whose side he’s really on. He flirted pretty consistently with Morgan while Rhea was away with injury, but throughout, he maintained that he was loyal and would never leave his Mamí.
Many fans think the real traitor is Finn Bálor, and he’ll be the one to betray Rhea for Liv, leading to a big Judgment Day break-up in which he and JD McDonagh go one way and stay heels, while Rhea Ripley and her Terror Twin Damian Priest turn face and head another way ( leaving Dom in limbo ). I think something like that is probably going to happen down the road, but I think what’s more likely is we see Dominik interfere, leading to a Liv victory and making everyone wonder whether he did it on purpose. That would provide another month of Raw storylines and leave the question about Finn unanswered at this point.
Predicted Winner: Liv Morgan
CM Punk Vs Drew McIntyre (With Seth Rollins As Ref)
Can this epic feud once and for all put to rest the stupid notion that matches need to have a championship to matter? This fight is for nothing but bragging rights, and if there was any justice in the world, it would be the main event of SummerSlam. It’s been that good - so good, in fact, that neither man deserves to lose.
Fortunately for whoever does lose, Seth Rollins will almost certainly play a major part in it, and whatever happens will set up a spinoff feud or a triple threat match between everyone involved, given the alleged real life hostility and how invested fans are. There’s just no way anyone is going down clean with his back on the mat, and there’s just no way WWE will go away from this feud after one match.
I’ve been going back and forth on who might win, but I keep going back to one thing: CM Punk hasn’t won a televised match since his WWE return. He was injured at Royal Rumble and has mostly just been used for mic work and surprise ref appearances in the time since. He really needs to remind everyone he’s capable of huge wins, and given McIntyre’s entire story lately has been getting screwed out of victories, it probably makes sense for him to take the L here.
Predicted Winner: CM Punk
Cody Rhodes (Champion) Vs Solo Sikoa For The WWE Championship
Solo Sikoa is not winning the WWE Championship. He’s been playing his role well and starting to come into his own since Roman and The Rock took extended breaks after WrestleMania, but he’s just not at the level of a WWE Champion yet. So, while it’s possible he could win this match by like countout or something that doesn’t result in the title changing hands, it’s almost certain he’s going to lose.
That being said, how he loses and what happens in this match is a lot more intriguing than the outcome. The new Tribal Chief (at least according to himself) hsa been publicly disrespecting Roman for weeks. He systematically threw his closest family members out of The Bloodline and put his longtime advisor Paul Heyman out of action with a vicious attack. Has he gone rogue and is making decisions himself? Is he operating under orders from The Rock? Is there something larger that we don’t know about going on here?
I don’t know. But my guess is we’ll see Jacob Fatu, Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa (with his new eye patch) attack Rhodes on behalf of Solo Sikoa. Before he wins the match, however, we’ll see Roman Reigns return, probably alongside Heyman, and that’ll result in Solo taking an L. Costing his own family member the title won’t sit well with The Rock, and that’ll likely cause long-term problems between those two that may lead directly to a WrestleMania 41 match . Maybe. I’m not entirely sure about all this, but I am sure Cody is going to walk out still with The WWE Championship.
Predicted Winner: Cody Rhodes
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