WWE SummerSlam 2016

[tiger_rick]

Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton

A match 15 years in the making WWE tell us and they're sort of right. This hasn't happened in a big time setting before. They were either on different brands during Lesnar's first run or Orton was injured. Since Lesnar returned, he's either had a better program available or Orton has been injured. When this was announced, it was a bit "meh" but orton has been superb since his return and that killer angle where he "invaded" Raw set it up beautifully. WWE have produced one of their superb packages to sell us on this:

SummerSlam history - Brock Lesnar 4-1. Randy Orton 6-4.

Both men won their first World title at SummerSlam. Brock beat The Rock in 2002. Orton beat ***** ****** in 2004.

Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins (Universal Title)

This is for the vacant "Raw World Title" with the stupid name. Rollins got a bye into the "final", Balor beat Rusev, Cesaro and Kevin Owens in his Raw debut on July 26th and then pinned Roman Reigns to earn this shot. The build has been underwhelming. The highlight being this excellent promo from Balor explaining the history of his Demon character.

They then gave away an appearance by the Demon on Raw last week. Again, underwhelming. I can't see beyond a Rollins win here and it fucking pains me.

SS history - Seth Rollins 2-0. Balor's debut.

Rollins beat John Cena at last year's SummerSlam to hold both the World Title and US Title. With help from Jon Stewart.

Rusev vs. Roman Reigns (US Title)

Easily the best built match on the Raw side. This is Reigns' demotion since his wellness fuck-up. For some very strange reason, they gave it away on Raw on Monday with Reigns winning which suggests to me that Rusev takes it at the PPV. Should be a very good match (again) and they've done a fine job of building it off the back of Rusev and Lana's wedding celebration with the classic "Bride's face goes in the cake" pay-off. Reigns interference in that angle made him a bit of a dick and I hoped it was leading somewhere (HEEL TURN!) but his smiley routine this week suggests otherwise. His work on the mic has been good but it's just not that interesting.

SS history - Roman Reigns 1-0 (2-0 if you count tags). Rusev 1-0-1.

Easy to forget this time last year Rusev was busy having the mystique kicked out of him with that interminable feud with Ziggles.

Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte (Women's Title)

This will be a good match but I can't say I'm that fussed for it. I still think they should have held off Sasha's title win. Sure, it was a good segment on a good Raw but it'll be forgotten in a few months. This could have been "a happening" as Gorilla would have said.

SS history - Both ladies singles debut having been part of that triple threat between Team BAD, Team Bella and Team PCB (Ugh) last year. Diva's revolution and all that.

New Day vs. Gallows and Anderson (Tag Titles)

This has lost all it's steam for me. It was going along nicely until G&A beat and then battered the fuck out of the New Day on August 1st. Big E injured his ballsack after the match and that's led to the atrocious Dr. skits that have killed this feud. Ugly WWE comedy on two guys who look the business and could be anything but "Same old WWE".

SS history - G&A debut. This marks a whole year of New Day as Tag Champs since winning a fatal 4 way over PTP, Lucha Dragons and Los Matadores at last year's SS. And you thought Smackdown's tag roster was weak now?

Enzo and Big Cass vs. Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens

I've loved all of their exchanges and look forward to this more than most on the show. I'm hoping they stick with this and build it past the comedy into a real grudge. The funny stiff is good but I think we'll get even better promos out of Enzo, Jericho & Owens if they turn it up a notch.

SS history - Another debut for Enzo & Cass. Owens is 1-0 having beaten Cesaro last year. Chris Jericho 4-6.

Cesaro vs. Sheamus (First match in Best of Seven Series)

Fuck this shit. At least it should only be on the pre-show.

Dean Ambrose © vs. Dolph Ziggler (World Title)

They've done a good job building this. It looked weak as shit when Ziggler earned the title shot against Baron Corbin, John Cena, AJ Styles, Bray Wyatt and Apollo Crews in that six-pack challenge on the first post-brand split Smackdown in July but the last two weaks they've both delivered on the mic and they've added some intrigue by delivering their finishers on each other. I still can't see anything other than an Ambrose win but at least I care a little bit.

SS history - Dean Ambrose 0-2 (in singles). Dolph Ziggler 2-2-1.

A rare SummerSlam where Ziggler doesn't have a woman by his side. He's been with Vickie Guerrero, Kaitlyn and Lana in previous years.

John Cena vs. AJ Styles

Another feud that's running on fumes but will deliver another great match at SummerSlam. It lost steam after the brand-split as they've not really known how to sell AJ on his own. The dynamic with "The Club" was working nicely. I think AJ has to go over here. Otherwise he becomes just another guy who loses 2-1 to Cena.

SS history - John Cena 4-8. Styles debut.

Cena has faced former ROH champions at 3 of the last 4 SummerSlams. They should have called up Joe just to keep this going!

The Miz vs. Apollo Crews (IC Title)

The angle for this match on SD last week was "during the commercial break". Says it all. Yawn.

Carmella, Becky Lynch and Naomi vs. Natalya and Alexa Bliss (Handicap match)

Why? I have no earthly idea.

 

It says everything that SS doesn't even have a thread on here three days out! I thought I'd try and build excitement a bit. I didn't mean to rip off Wand's MMA show threads but I sort of have. Apologies pal, it's a compliment. And yours are miles better.

[Ambulance Chaser]

Your preview has been better than anything on WWE TV in a month, kudos.

 

To be honest I am very much looking forward to Orton/Lesnar, just to see the dynamic, how the match plays out and the personalities mesh. Assuming Brock is buggering off I'm of the strong opinion I want Orton to win this, then let's try and get a decent run out of him on the back of it.

 

AJ and the Club have lost so much steam coming off the draft, boy were they a cracking trio, AJ stood in the middle of the ring flanked by the 2 henchmen, running his mouth was a highlight of Raw, now everyone seems lost. The club are dicking about in doctor coats and couldn't be less intimidating and AJ is feuding with Cena over well, I don't even know what any more.

 

Rusev/Reigns should be a good old fashioned dust up.

 

Rollins/Balor has done nothing at all for me.

[The Gaffer]

Your post makes that card look much better than what I thought it was. I won't be staying up live but it should be a solid way to wolf down a pizza on a Monday evening.

 

When Rollins wins and cuts his "hahaha I KNEW I was the best, right Steph?" promo on Raw I'm definitely going to stop watching WWE forever. Probably.

[ColinBollocks]

The fact this thread was only created now I think speaks of our collective enthusiasm for this show.

 

Cena v AJ will be excellent, though.

[Porkchopcash]

When i hear Balor refer the the Demon King, i can't help but think of The Some Mothers do Ave em episode of Frank Spencer as a delivery person on his motorbike. I guess you have to have seen it.

[Love-Wilcox]

In hindsight I'd rather they'd elevated the US title to main event status than introduce a belt with no history or lineage but it is what it is and there's no going back now.

 

The build going into Summerslam may have been underwhelming but there's six or seven potentially great matches to look forward to. I'm mainly invested in AJ/Cena and Charlotte/Sasha, I'm sure both will deliver and everything else is just a bonus for me. Something will have to go drastically wrong for me to come away from this this event disappointed.

 

That women handicap match seems bizarre though, surely a heel will intervene to make it a 3v3 ?

[Yakashi]

Your post makes that card look much better than what I thought it was. I won't be staying up live but it should be a solid way to wolf down a pizza on a Monday evening.

 

When Rollins wins and cuts his "hahaha I KNEW I was the best, right Steph?" promo on Raw I'm definitely going to stop watching WWE forever. Probably.

Until the next show anyway.

[The Gaffer]

The thing about the universal championship having zero lineage is interesting because it'll probably die that way as well. Can anyone honestly see it lasting? I'm dubious this brand split lasts the same amount as the last one did to begin with. And even if it did I could see them doing some reunification thing further down the line. Either way at some point in the next few years it's going to be the belt that's dropped, I reckon. And it'll probably wind up on Smackdown whilst the proper title goes to Raw before then.

 

And it further muddies the idea of a top prize, and muddies it up good. How many of us stopped counting championship reigns when it came to the world championship? And now there's another sort-of-top-prize to contend with. It's like creating belts with funny names for your weird create a wrestlers. It's just so diluted. What a shit championship, already.

[TildeGuy~!]

Looking forward to Takeover Brooklyn II more then this but here's my picks...

 

Lesnar, Balor, Ambrose, Rusev, Banks, Enzo and Cass, Sheamus, Styles, The Miz

[tiger_rick]

How many of us stopped counting championship reigns when it came to the world championship?

I stopped counting when The Rock and Steve Austin were adding a reign every other month.

[Jackpot]

Is the SmackDown women's match confirmed as a handicapped match now? I was expecting this to be an opportunity to bring somebody else up from NXT or maybe reintroduce Emma (if she's ready to wrestle yet). Or just fuck it, just throw Maryse in there. A handicap match where the advantage is on the side of the babyfaces just seems extremely odd. Carmella to get the win over Natalya

 

The Miz and Apollo should be a bigger deal than it is. The Miz is one of the few people who can still get a genuine heel reaction and Apollo is entertaining enough in the ring to make fans cheer. They've just put absolutely no effort into it. Whereas RAW is building it's shows around it's secondary title (maybe due to the absence of an actual primary title), SmackDown's midcard title is ignored. Miz to retain and continue his never ending world tour.

 

Cena and Styles as a feud was red-hot. It's just gone nowhere since their six man tag at Battleground. AJ wins after Gallows and Anderson get involved and wipe out Cena. It gives Cena some time away to do whatever latest venture he wants, gives Bryan and Shane an excuse to have a go at RAW saying they've sent The Club down to put their biggest star on the shelf - which Styles revokes and says he's the biggest star on SmackDown. Setting up a feud between him and Ambrose.

 

Thankfully one feud on SmackDown has been worth watching and it's their main event. They seem to have thrown all their eggs into this basket and luckily for them, it's come up trumps. Ziggler has looked as good as he has in god knows how long. Ambrose is still stellar. The match should be an enjoyable watch. Ambrose to go over, leaving Ziggler to do some proper soul searching.

 

Orton and Lesnar has been the main focus for SummerSlam, just to hammer home that the New Era really is in full effect. You know the main event of their second (third in my opinion because I prefer the Rumble) biggest pay-per-view is built around a match 15 years in the making. For me though, Orton has to win, although it'll probably take more than just one RKO. Brock goes for an F5 and as he swings Orton round, he gets collared with a second or third RKO. Brock disappears again, Orton has some momentum to carry over on to SmackDown.

 

The first in the best of seven between Cesaro and Sheamus, coming just weeks after their second encounter in as many weeks. Cesaro won the previous two so Sheamus wins. Hopefully as the series goes on we get some more gimmick matches and a real goal at the end. Right now, it's just throwing two fellas together that they've got nowt else to do with. What a shame they couldn't find a spot for Sami Zayn but they could for this.

 

Enzo/Cass against JeriKO has been the highlight, mic wise, on Monday nights. Hopefully, and I imagine it will be, the in-ring action will be as good as the mic work has been. I'd love JeriKO to remain a team but think this has a Big Cass victory written all over it. Probably followed by Owens power bombing Jericho onto the ring apron, giving him a chance to take time off for Fozzy.

 

New Day have to lose the tag titles eventually and now is the right time, especially with Big E out of the picture. Kofi and Woods can continue to team together in the mean time but when Big E returns he should turn on them, saying how he always knew he was the one holding them together. This allows him to go on a tear as they build him up to the next level. New Tag Team champs are The Club.

 

Too early for Sasha to lose the Women's Title so she has to win although with very few credible options available to them, her next opponent is going to be a total downgrade. And given how little they've done to keep excitement into this feud, it's going to be even worse than this one. Fuck it, have Naitch be the one to cost Charlotte the match.

 

Rusev and Reigns has been enjoyable thus far, I still reckon they need to take Reigns off telly for a while. Just give fans a break from him and have him return as a surprise entrant in the Rumble, where he eliminates Rusev before being thrown out by a bunch of SmackDown's lot. And have him win the US Title, off Rusev, in his home state of Florida at WrestleMania. Reigns wins via DQ when Rusev just going fucking crazy on him.

 

Have they got an actual Universal Title yet? Balor has to take the title otherwise it's just been a pointless call up. The only valid reason for a loss would be to just have him as Finn then they could built the Demon King gimmick up. But if he's going into the match, already using that gimmick, and still loses then it's a waste of time. This can lead to Steph telling Rollins to fuck off and giving him a face turn to reinvigorate his character. Balor and Owens can feud for a while over the Universal Title.

[Guest]

I would've thought Sasha winning the title on Raw was the right move, had they put the 2 of them in a cage for this special event. Perfect time for a women's gimmick/bloodfeud match. Build up how Charlotte's dad has told her all about his battles in cage matches and that she's got the upper hand here

[Philjax]

I'm sure it will be a great couple of days of shows. I'll be more than hyped for it by the time the pre-shows roll around. End of the Olympics and the UFC show kinda come first.

[neil is brill]

I can see that prick Jon Stewart interfering in Rollins match again this year. It's almost a guarantee now that they confirmed Stewart as the guest host.

 

Edit: I also think Ambrose/Ziggler will end in a DQ, with Ziggler bringing "the big fight" and Ambrose being unable to put him away so ends up smacking him with the belt to retain. We're guaranteed a new Heavyweight Champion of the Universe so this shit finish can keep the belt on Ambrose, give him that "do anything to keep the title" vibe and will give Ziggler an excuse for a rematch.

[Doog]

Looking forward to this tbh - I zoned out of WWE again as soon as the draft was over but dipped back in this week and it's got me suitable hyped. Watching it live will help as well as I always tend to get a bit more of a buzz out of watching wrestling as it happens.

 

Orton/Lesnar feels quite big so im interested to see how that plays out. Bound to be the main event I would think so should have that big fight feel.

 

Title matches should be alright - interested more in Rollins/Balor - I can't see the Universal name sticking - it doesnt feel like a World Title name ironically so I dunno - hopefully the belt design is alright.

 

Card is quite mixed and most people who need to be on it are so it'll be a good mix of styles in the matches.

 

Couple of interesting out there happenings that could happen as well in regards to...

Undertaker dying his hair back to black (usually does this when he's returning and Goldberg being in town and having a mini war of words with Lesnar. Probaly 2k17 hype that one but you never know