What. A. Card! WWE SummerSlam 2016 looks like the mega show we all imagined it would be.
We’re all going to witness a dream match that’s been 15 years in the making: Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton. RAW’s putting on a huge championship bout that will crown the first ever Universal Champion: Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins. SmackDown’s anarchy loving WWE World Champion Dean Ambrose will take on the showstopper known as Dolph Ziggler. And Roman Reigns will focus on capturing the United States Championship when he locks horns with the “Bulgarian Brute,” Rusev (CRUSH!). And finally, Apollo Crews will do his best to take the Intercontinental Championship away from the Hollywood C-Lister, The Miz.
These are our predictions for the entire lineup of awesome matchups from SummerSlam 2016.
American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable), The Hype Bros (Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley) and The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) vs. Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze), The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) and The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch)(12-Man Tag Team Match)
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Predictions & Winners: The Blue Brand has actually put together a great set of tag teams. We’re still waiting to see when Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon will unveil their tag team titles, but we’re cool with seeing matches like this in the meantime. We already saw this mega duo brawl go down on an episode of SD, but we’re willing to see it go down once more. The good guys took the win during that past encounter, so we think it’s just fair to see the heels take the win this time. Expect to see that go down here. Any member of Breezango will probably nab the sneaky win for their whole team here.
Sami Zayn & Neville vs. The Dudley Boyz
Predictions & Winners: Neville’s back! And he’s made some slight adjustments to his offense to make sure he stays off the injury list. But he’s still throwing out his impressive array of top rope maneuvers. Samy Zayn will join up with him to go head to head with the legendary Dudley Boyz. This one’s easy to predict since the former Team 3D seems to be allergic to winning these days. The win obviously goes to Sami Zayn and Neville here. For some reason, we feel like this match is showcasing two future members of RAW’s upcoming Cruiserweight Division. Zayn should be above that due to his big wins over the past couple months, but we feel like he’ll give this new division a go when it finally arrives.
Carmella, Becky Lynch, and Naomi vs. Natalya, Alexa Bliss and ??? (Six-Woman Tag Team Match)
Predictions & Winners: Not only does SmackDown have a very promising Tag Team Division, they also house a strong group of quality female wrestlers. Carmella and Alexa Bliss have gotten the call-up from NXT, Becky Lynch has stepped up as the show’s main women’s wrestler, Naomi gained a new entrance/competitive fire and Natalya’s gone full heel. The babyface ladies will do battle with the heel ladies during this SmackDown Six-Woman Tag Team Match. We’re hooking our anchor to the good girls here, who need the win more than their rivals. We have no clue who the replacement for Eva Marie could possibly be, but we don’t think it will make much of a difference.
Cesaro vs. Sheamus (First Match in a Best of Seven Series)
Predictions & Winner: If there’s one thing we love, it’s a “Best of” series between two major rivals. Any old school WCW fan should be prepared for a set of matches that will get better as they go on. Cesaro and Sheamus have expressed their hatred for each other ever since the RAW brand drafted them both to their roster. At SummerSlam 2016, they will meet up in the first meeting that’s a part of this Best of Seven series. We know this one will be a hard fought encounter since both competitors know how to get real brutal on the big stage. We think the first win will go to Sheamus, who will use some of his best cheating methods to steal the win.
Rusev (c) (with Lana) vs. Roman Reigns (WWE United States Championship)
Predictions & Winner: Due to Reigns’ Wellness Violation, he’s been knocked down a peg on the WWE totem pole. But it really hasn’t hurt ’em that much. As a matter of fact, it’s helped him a bit more with the fans since he’s not being thrown in their face so much. Now they can stomach him a bit more. Rusev’s gone back to his glory days as a contender killer alongside his manager/wife, Lana. His hold over the US Championship has been unbreakable for a while now, but his SummerSlam challenge comes in the form of Reigns. We get the feeling that this match might end up being a dark horse contender for MOTN since both men are pretty damned impressive in the ring. We see this going one way and one way only: Reigns laying out Rusev with his one-two combo of a Superman Punch/Spear and leaving with the US Title.
Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens
Predictions & Winners: RAW has been immensely entertaining thanks to the exclusive signings of these four fast talkers. Enzo and Cass have done great since getting the call up from NXT. Jericho is on his whole “Drink it in maaaaaan” ish right now and Owens is still the lovable jerk we’ve grown in love with. Enzo and Cass are heading to the big city they call their backyard for a tag team grudge match with the two Canadians who have given ’em hell. This one should turn out a solid matchup that hopefully gets rolling with some pre-match promos. We’ve always peeped how the WWE doesn’t really allow its Superstars to prosper on the regular when they’re in their hometown. We think that’s gonna be the case here. Don’t be shocked to see Y2J and Owens pull off a victory through nefarious Canadian means.
The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston) (c) vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson (WWE Tag Team Championship)
Predictions & Winners: The Club have taken their savagery to new levels now that they’re a part of the RAW brand. They came from Japan in hopes of acquiring some new tag team championships, which The New Day happens to keep around their wiggling waists. Big E’s been taken down and now both teams are evened out at two. The New Day have enjoyed a lengthy, historic and light hearted run at the top as the WWE Tag Team Champions. But we think it’s finally time for them to lose those championship belts. The fact that Big E’s been placed on the injured list means Gallows and Anderson’s chances of winning are even higher. So we’re placing our bets on AJ’s former running buddies getting the win here.
John Cena vs. AJ Styles
Predictions & Winner: Now this is the marquee match we’re really excited to see. Their initial meeting at MITB this year was great, but we know they can put on something even better. AJ as a heel who enjoys BEATING UP JOHN CENA has been so fun to watch unfold. Cena is as intense as ever and he’s ready to unleash his frustrations on his latest rival. This rematch is high on our prediction list as the one bout that will be MOTN. No question! AJ got one over on Cena when his boys helped him get the 1-2-3. But without his crew intact, we think Cena’s getting the fair victory here and tying their series at 1-1. Cena wins here, but they’ll lockup once again in a special stipulation bout at SmackDown’s exclusive special event Backlash.
The Miz (c) (with Maryse) vs. Apollo Crews (WWE Intercontinental Championship)
Predictions & Winner: Do we really need to delve into our projected winner for this title match? You guys all know who’s leaving the Barclays Center with the coveted Intercontinental Championship. The Miz’s run has been a decent one, but it’s about time that a fresh face gets a run with the title. And the fresh face happens to be Apollo Creed…excuse us, we mean Crews (HA! We had to do it to you, Daniel Bryan!).
Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte (WWE Women’s Championship; Dana Brooke is barred from ringside)
Predictions & Winner: When the big title switch for this feud went down on RAW, we were pretty shocked. We figured both of these wonderful women wrestlers were headed towards a monumental encounter at SummerSlam where Charlotte would still have the title. But to our surprise, Sasha Banks pulled away with the big win and title before this all took place. Now Charlotte is the one who’s walking into SummerSlam as the challenger. But without Dana Brooke and her Hall of Fame father by her side, Charlotte will fail once again, Banks will retain her newly won Women’s Championship and stay on top. So who’s gonna be her next challenger? The woman who’s not like most girls, Nia Jax.
Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler (WWE World Championship)
Predictions & Winner: We’re still pretty shocked at the fact that Dolph Ziggler’s the one who managed to become the #1 contender to Ambrose’s WWE World Championship. Just a few months back, Ziggler was eating pins on the regular from guys who’re lower on the card than him (he even took a pinfall from Heath Slater!). Ambrose and him have traded some scathing promos against each other that have made this feud worth getting invested in. Ambrose’s run as the top champ on SmackDown still feels fresh and not exactly worn in quite yet. But we’re used to seeing shocking wins involving Ziggler. This could go either way, but we’re going with the safe pick here. Count on Ambrose retaining his championship after an excellent and grueling matchup.
Finn Bálor vs. Seth Rollins (WWE Universal Championship)
Predictions & Winner: Since Reigns’ Wellness Violation took him to another part of the roster entirely, someone else has stepped in to take his top spot (for the time being). Finn Balor came fresh off his run in NXT straight to the main event slot on RAW. He’s going to have to silence his doubters as he takes on RAW’s Golden Child Seth Rollins. And for what, you ask? RAW’s brand new WWE Universal Championship. Rollins is back to full health and ready to put another title around his waist. But we think something insane is going to happen during this match that will end on a bad note for him. Expect a double turn! Balor’s NJPW running buddies The Club will come out and help screw Rollins, which will lead to a newly turned Balor winning the big one. “The Demon” will put his Balor Club in power and manage to turn Rollins into the face we’ve wanted to see during his main WWE run. This is a bold proclamation, but we think it will end up happening in the real.
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Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) vs. Randy Orton
Predictions & Winner: And now we have arrived at the big one. The main event that was once a pipe dream is finally becoming a reality. “The Mayor of Suplex City” vs. “The Viper.” Orton has returned after a long injury hiatus to contend with WWE’s resident beast. Orton has come a long way from getting treated like a scrub by Lesnar during their 2002 run on SmackDown. Both men have hit the main event level and are looking to prove who the better Superstar is. This dream match will be hotly contested and full of near falls that will elicit plenty of gasps from the crowd. We envision several RKO’s and F5’s being doled out. After all is said and done, we think the shocking win from Orton will be the last thing you see during this event. Lesnar may have not gotten punished offscreen for his MMA illegal substance bust by WWE. But you best believe he’ll get punished onscreen with a clean pinfall loss to Orton on PPV.
