The WWE has four major shows every year. It all starts off in August with SummerSlam and then moves on to Survivor Series in November, the Royal Rumble in January, and the biggest show of the year with WrestleMania in April/May. It is time to start that journey as SummerSlam takes place this weekend from Brooklyn.
Here is a breakdown of the WWE SummerSlam card.
WWE world title matches
There are two WWE world title matches on this show. The WWE Universal Championship will see Brock Lesnar defending his title in a Fatal Four-Way against Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman.
The winner is the man who gets the first pin or submission, which means Lesnar could lose the title without getting pinned.
This match sees Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns in a blood feud and Samoa Joe wanting to avenge his loss to Brock Lesnar at the Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view. The WWE rumors indicate that Lesnar will lose the title but not get pinned. While Roman Reigns always seems like the man on top, I expect Samoa Joe or Braun Strowman to get their first world title reign at SummerSlam.
The second world title match is the WWE Championship as Jinder Mahal defends his belt against Shinsuke Nakamura. This is a tough one to call. Mahal is not the best champion but he has a ton of heat.
However, Shinsuke needs the title to prove he is worthy of his spot on the main roster. This is a toss-up but Nakamura is a good bet.
The SummerSlam mid-card title matches
Both the Raw and SmackDown women's titles are on the line at SummerSlam this year. In the SmackDown match, Naomi will defend her title against Natalya. This is a complete shock.
Natalya deserves the spot after years of work but seeing her in the match instead of Charlotte is strange. Regardless, I see Naomi winning and maybe Carmella cashing in her Money in the Bank and stealing the title.
On the Raw women's side, Alexa Bliss is defending her title against Sasha Banks. This was supposed to be a title defense against Bayley but Bayley is injured and Sasha took her place.
As a result, I see Alexa Bliss holding onto her title and continuing to rule the Raw women.
Only one of the two secondary titles are on the line at SummerSlam. AJ Styles is the United States Champion and will defend his title against Kevin Owens. These two men fought at the last SmackDown Live pay-per-view and Owens won. After that AJ won the title at a WWE house show. Now, they fight again and Shane McMahon is the guest referee. Styles should win and Shane will move into a feud with Owens.
Both tag team titles are on the line as well. On Raw, the reunited Shield tandem of Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins will take on Cesaro and Sheamus. Expect The Shield to win unless the WWE wants to make them feud again.
On SmackDown, it is New Day defending their titles against the Usos. New Day just won the titles and will probably win here and hold them a while longer.
Finally, the WWE Cruiserweight title is on the line at SummerSlam as new champion Akira Tozawa will defend his belt against Neville. Tozawa just won the title this past week but expect a short title reign as Neville is just too great as a champion to go without the title.
Other SummerSlam matches
John Cena is wrestling at SummerSlam and he isn't in a title match. Instead, Cena will fight Baron Corbin, who just failed when he tried to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase. Rumors are that the WWE is not pushing Corbin as hard as they were before and Cena should win here.
Randy Orton, the only active star that is close to John Cena when it comes to world title reigns, is also wrestling at SummerSlam in a non-title match. He battles Rusev. This is a tough match to guess, as Orton almost always wins or loses by shenanigans while Rusev needs the win. It would be nice to see Rusev get the push here but don't expect it.
Bray Wyatt just beat Finn Balor on Raw but now he gets to battle Finn as the former NXT champion calls on his Demon persona to fight. This is only the second time that Finn has called on the Demon since his main roster debut and he won last year at SummerSlam against Seth Rollins. Expect Finn Balor to get a huge pop as The Demon and to win again.
There was also a match added to the Wwe Summerslam pre-show where Intercontinental champion The Miz will team up with Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel to battle the Hardy Boyz and Jason Jordan.
Hopefully, the Hardy Boyz will give a little more Broken Matt personalities and Jason Jordan can get the pin on The Miz to further their feud.
The final match is a Sharkcage match, which means that Enzo Amore is put in a cage above the ring while his new friend Big Show battles his old partner Big Cass. There are rumors that the WWE wants to reunite Big Cass and Enzo Amore, so this could be a way for Enzo to drop something to the ring for Cass to use. Big Show will lose at SummerSlam as he seems intent on putting people over in his final year as a professional wrestler.
