This is normally the part of the article where I’d excitedly talk about how you should be pumped for SummerSlam because it’s one of the biggest upcoming events on WWE’s calendar. In all honesty, though, the biggest reason I’m excited for SummerSlam this year is because it’s the first premium live event without Vince McMahon. Regardless of how you feel about the departed WWE founder, that’s exciting because none of us have any idea what’s about to happen. He’s had the final say on which performers to push and which performers to bury for the entirety of WWE’s historic run. Now Triple H is in charge of where things are going, and he’s going to see the same ring from a different perspective.
As a fan, I’m incredibly fired up. Setting aside the upsetting sexual misconduct allegations and purely looking at the in-ring product, I tend to come down in the middle on Vince McMahon. He’s been involved in or responsible for booking many of the greatest moments in the history of this business, but he also very clearly has a specific style and prefers certain wrestlers, even if better storylines could have been told elsewhere. Now we have someone new in charge who is going to see things in an entirely different way, which means the expected outcomes are out the window.
As a premium live event prediction writer, I’m terrified. Since I started doing these every month with WrestleMania 38, I’ve successfully picked 26 matches and only missed 8. That’s pretty damn good, especially considering two of my misses were Theory being added to the Money In The Bank match right before it happened and that New Day vs Sheamus and Ridge match which lasted about 90 seconds because of time issues at ‘Mania. But that was me trying to think like Vince and Bruce Prichard. I’m not really sure how to think like Triple H, especially since I’m only an occasional NXT viewer. But there’s no point in whining, complaining or making excuses. I’ve got more forecaster hat on, and I’m ready to get to it…
The Usos (Champions) Vs The Street Profits For The Undisputed Tag Team Titles
There’s nothing people love more than talking about how Montez Ford is a rising star. Even Angelo Dawkins said the other day that he’ll be a world champion at some point, but in order for that to happen, he needs to have some forward momentum. It’s great to see The Street Profits in prominent positions on TV every week, but some sort of forward progress needs to be made here. They can’t just be tag team contenders for another year.
So, in my opinion, the logical thing to do is either have The Street Profits win the belts and extend the feud with The Usos or they should lose and break up. One of them should blame the other, and they should move on to singles careers. It would be a nightmare if they fell down the card and were having dance-offs with Jinder Mahal and Shanky (no offense to them).
Given, if they were going to break up, I would think WWE would tease it a bit more, I’m going to go with them winning the title here, with The Usos finally dropping the belts. If that does happen, though, huge shoutout to The Usos. They've been tremendous during this entire run and need to remain in prominent positions regardless.
Predicted Winner: The Street Profits
Pat McAfee Vs Happy Corbin
A lot of these matches are hard to predict. This one is not. Pat McAfee is all kinds of over with the crowd. I’m not saying he’s mid-80s Hulk Hogan or prime Stone Cold, but he’s the most over full-time announcer I can ever remember. Add that to the fact that people love booing Happy Corbin, and it seems pretty obvious what WWE needs to do.
Putting McAfee over here, especially in a fun way, would be a huge injection of momentum into the crowd. It would give them a reason to cheer (and sing along if he comes out to “Seven Nation Army”), and a loss would be very deflating, especially since Vince McMahon booked himself to beat McAfee at ‘Mania as a way to set up the Austin surprise.
That’s not to say I advocate making every booking decision based on the crowd. Sometimes you need to swerve, but swerves are best when they help achieve a long-term goal. Happy Corbin just lost to Madcap Moss. He seems destined to stick around the mid-card. A win here does nothing for him. So, expect McAfee in a fun match the crowd is really into.
Predicted Winner: Pat McAfee
Bobby Lashley (Champion) Vs Theory For The United States Championship
I have no idea who will be most affected by Triple H running the show. What I do know, however, is that on paper, no character should be more affected by Vince McMahon’s departure than Theory. For months, he’s been painted as Vince’s henchman and the next golden child. Roman Reigns referenced this on Monday Night Raw when he said Theory’s “daddy” is gone. Whether Triple H sees the same thing in the incredibly talented twenty-four year old is an open question.
As it pertains to this particular match, however, I think there’s a pretty obvious outcome, whether McMahon is here or not. Theory has signaled very directly for weeks that he’s going to cash in his Money In The Bank contract after the Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar match against whoever wins, which will be at the end of SummerSlam. When he does that, I don’t think it makes sense for him to have the United States Championship. I know WWE has been consolidating a lot of the belts, but it would be wild to put the United States Championship, the WWE Championship and the Universal Championship all on Theory. He’s not 1998 Goldberg.
So, I think, for purely storyline purposes, it makes the most sense for Theory to charge to the ring with his contract without the United States Championship. Plus, I just really don’t see WWE wanting Lashley to take a clean loss to Austin Theory. I see how talented he is. I believe in him long-term, but he’s like a hundred pounds lighter and way too much of a sniveling heel at this point.
Predicted Winner: Bobby Lashley
Liv Morgan (Champion) Vs Ronda Rousey For The Smackdown Women’s Championship
Were all the cheers when Liv Morgan ran down to the ring at Money In The Bank because people wanted to see her finally become champion or were they because people were ready to see Ronda Rousey lose? I think it was a little of both, and that presents a big problem for Triple H and the writers to solve moving forward. Something needs to change about Ronda Rousey’s presentation. She can’t be a main event face and be getting openly rooted against, even in a face versus face match-up. It’s okay for the crowd to be split, but from the sound of it, they weren’t very split at all at Money In The Bank. 90% or more of the crowd was rooting for Liv.
But that shouldn’t come as a shock given how indifferent fans have been to most of her promos.
Let’s just be honest. Ronda hasn’t connected in the way anyone hoped since she returned at the Royal Rumble in January, but there is still time to fix this. It takes most people a few tries to really connect with the crowd. Just ask Roman Reigns or John Cena. She needs a manager. Or she needs a different visual presentation, or, in my opinion, she needs to turn heel, possibly with a manager. I predict that’s going to happen here. I think Liv Morgan makes it a better than expected match. I think she starts getting the crowd on her side. I think she starts getting the upper hand and Ronda cheats in some kind of meaningful way to win. Maybe she cuts a promo afterwards telling the fans off and saying she’s gonna do whatever she wants? That’s my hope anyway.
Predicted Winner: Ronda Rousey
Logan Paul Vs The Miz
Logan Paul is going to beat The Miz because this win does nothing for The Miz and it does everything to establish Logan Paul as a serious player in WWE over the next few years. The Miz has moved up and down the card for a decade and a half. He’ll be fine losing here, especially considering how famous Logan Paul is.
What I’m far more interested in is whether Logan Paul leaves his match as a heel or a face. Right now, he’s supposed to be a baby face, which makes about as much sense as trying to make a late 80s Bobby Heenan a baby face. Some guys are born to wear the black hat. To me, he’s the cheating, smirking embodiment of a heel. It’s just so obvious. Look at this insane motion graphic he made earlier this week. Heel. Heel. Heel. It’s hard to imagine WWE fans fully embracing him with cheers anytime in the near future.
Maybe Triple H gets that. Maybe he’ll use this opportunity to solidify Logan Paul as a heel and give him some real jerk store momentum coming out of it. Or maybe they’re determined to power through and try to eventually get him over. I don’t know. Regardless, I feel confident he’ll walk out as a winner hopefully in a fun match.
Predicted Winner: Logan Paul
The Mysterios Vs The Judgment Day
This all comes down to what the future of Judgment Day is going to look like. Two months ago, they were an incredibly hot stable that seemed destined for big things. Then Edge got thrown out and replaced by Finn Balor in a move that’s confusing from both a real and kayfabe perspective. Then Rhea Ripley was off television for what felt like a month, and suddenly, Damian Priest and Balor were feuding with the Mysterios in lower card action. Life comes at you fast.
I still think The Judgment Day can and should be a kick-ass stable. All three of the performers can wrestle really well. They’ve got a pretty cool look. I want WWE to keep fighting through, but there seem to be plenty of others on the internet who think the writers should wash their hands with it and let all three performers go back to doing their own things. How Triple H feels is anyone’s guess. If he wants to wash his hands of it, the best thing to do would be for the team to lose clean to the Mysterios.
I don’t think that’s going to happen. My guess is either Rhea Ripley will interfere and win the match for Judgment Day or Edge will make a surprise return and screw over Judgment Day, as their inevitable confrontation is coming at some point. Without a ton of confidence, I’ll go with Edge showing up, which would launch a feud between him and probably Balor moving forward.
Predicted Winner: The Mysterios
Bianca Belair (Champion) vs Becky Lynch For The Raw Women’s Championship
I’m so freaking excited for this match. Both of these women are generational talents and somehow still improving every month. Their chemistry together is really fluid and natural, and with all due respect to Cody Rhodes and Seth Freakin Rollins, their match at WrestleMania was the best of the entire event for my money. We’re so lucky to be able to watch them slug it out again.
Now, what’s going to happen is anyone’s guess. They’re without question the top two women in the entire division. Either could go on a two year long run with the belt and totally deserve it. So, the question is really which of the two spectacular options does Triple H want to take. If he keeps the belt on Bianca, I think he needs to move Lynch to Smackdown and let her grab the title from Ronda or Liv or push her into some sort of other compelling feud worthy of her talent.
If she wins, then Bianca is obviously going to need a rematch, and this feud is just going to continue. On the one hand, I would love that. On the other hand, it would be nice to see them do other things, especially since Charlotte and Bayley are going to return at some point, Alexa Bliss seems to ready to jump back into the main event picture and with Vince McMahon gone, it’s possible we could get Sasha and/ or Naomi back. For those reasons, I think Bianca is going to win, and we’re going to move on from this feud for a bit.
Predicted Winner: Bianca Belair
Roman Reigns (Champion) Vs Brock Lesnar For The Undisputed WWE Universal Championship
I have mixed feelings on doing Roman and Brock again. I don’t mind it so much from a purely watching the match standpoint. In fact, I’m kind of excited. It’s not going to be Kurt Angle and Bret Hart, but it’s always compelling in an Andre The Giant and Hulk Hogan kind of way. Plus, I’d rather have an opponent for Roman that could actually win. If he was wrestling Riddle or Kevin Owens or whoever, there wouldn’t be much doubt about the match’s outcome. No offense to those dudes, who are great, but WWE isn’t going to put two belts on them.
The reason I’m not more excited, however, at least beyond we just saw this at WrestleMania 38, is that I don’t want either one of these guys taking a loss. It undermines Brock’s character to have him take a second consecutive L to Roman Reigns on a big stage, and it’s kind of stupid, in my opinion, to keep the belt on Roman for two years and then drop it to a part-timer like Lesnar. This should have been Cody’s moment or maybe Randy Orton or maybe Bray Wyatt in a surprise return.
So, who is going to win? Well, considering both Roman and Brock are essentially part-timers right now, let me reframe this question. Who does WWE want to face Drew McIntyre (or Sheamus but really, Drew McIntyre) in the main event at Clash At The Castle? It’s hard for me not to think that answer is Roman Reigns, and while I don’t love Drew being the one to end Roman’s run, him winning the belt in Europe would be such a great callback moment to British Bulldog in 1992. So, I’m going to say Roman retrains, but I’m not confident.
Predicted Winner: Roman Reigns
Whoever Wins (Champion) Vs Theory For The Undisputed WWE Universal Championship
It’s not just that WWE has been teasing this cash-in for weeks. They’ve been outright saying it. Theory has made it very clear he’s going to cash in as soon as this match is over, assumedly on a winner that’s just gotten the hell beaten out of them. As we know, Money In The Bank cash-ins succeed an overwhelming majority of the time.
This one is going to fail. I know Theory is a rising star. He’s done a great job of generating heat with this contract. His future is really bright, but Clash At The Castle needs a main event of either Roman Reigns vs Drew McIntyre or Brock Lesnar vs Drew McIntyre. Theory is just not at that point in his career. Besides, the audience loves to hate him, and watching him try to cash-in and lose would be such a great way to end SummerSlam.
Predicted Winner: Cash-In Fails And Either Roman Reigns Or Brock Lesnar Retains.
