We’ve got SummerSlam tonight and I do not have a ton of time to do this preview here so let’s just get right to it!
WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Randy Orton
This is essentially the culmination of all the terrible things Orton has done this year. As usual being bad pays off in WWE and it’s led him to this title match. Given the year he’s had, Randy Orton becoming WWE Champion wouldn’t be at all strange. And McIntyre really seems to have been the right guy at the wrong time with this reign.
Honestly there might be some value in having Orton win through some dastardly means and having McIntyre chase him when the fans return. That could work out for the best. Sadly, because of Payback coming next week, most people expect that some big controversies coming out of this show that would force a rematch a week later. And while I personally think it’d be smarter to just do the other half of what a major SummerSlam card might have been on Payback, so as to do a five hour show in two and a half hour chunks or something akin to that, I do think they’re likely correct. Shnozz finish here seems likely.
WWE Universal Championship: Braun Strowman (c) vs. The Fiend
It’s never a good sign when people can’t remember who a champion is, and I’m not sure if there’s a champion in wrestling that people forget more frequently than Braun. That’s kinda been the case for most of his reign. He won the title because of circumstance and I think he’s probably held it long enough. The Fiend over.
Street Fight: Seth Rollins vs. Dominick Mysterio
After what feels like years of build-up and training, Dominick finally steps into the ring in his first match. I expect this to be real good honestly. It should do a lot to make Dominick regardless of what happens. In theory, he doesn’t really have to win to make a good impression, in there with one of WWE’s top guys. Buuuut they really want Rey to re-sign with them, soooo… I’m actually gonna say Dominick gets the upset win here.
Asuka’s Title Conquest vs. Sasha Banks and Bayley
Combining these two matches just makes sense, as they’ll be concurrent and share a build. Asuka will be facing Bayley first and Sasha last. This seems like it’ll be a key part of their years-old split tease so I think what happens here is Asuka defeats Bayley in a hard fought match, but is so worn down afterwards that she can’t beat Sasha.
No DQ Loser Leaves WWE: Mandy Rose vs. Sonya Deville
This was gonna be Hair vs. Hair until the past week threw everything into disarray and injected some unwelcome reality into this angle. So now it’s suddenly loser leaves town… it kinda seems like Sonya Deville might just wanna leave wrestling now and that’s sad but understandable. Mandy Rose over.
WWE Raw Tag Team Championships: The Street Profits (c) vs. Angel Garza & Andrade
Montez recovered from his poisoning pretty well so I don’t expect it to affect him here. It’s always seemed uncertain how far they want to go with Angel and Andrade as a team. I guess to be safe I’ll say Profits retain but this could go either way.