WWE’s second-biggest pay-per-view of the year returns this Sunday as SummerSlam will take place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
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The show features half a dozen title matches, the return of two legends in Goldberg and Trish Stratus, the debut of Bray Wyatt’s heavily hyped new persona “The Fiend” and a number of grudge matches, most notably Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon.
Once again we’ve assembled ComicBook’s wrestling experts — Connor Casey, Ryan Droste and Matt Aguilar — to break down the biggest questions heading into Sunday’s event and pick who will win the headlining matches. Check out their predictions below!
Scale of 1-10, How hyped are you for this show?
Connor: I’m at about a 7. I love that we’re getting Kofi vs. Orton as a callback to their 2009 feud, AJ vs. Ricochet again should be fun, Goldberg is probably going to demolish Ziggler and I’m pumped for The Fiend’s debut. But the top of the card feels a little lacking. I don’t care nearly as much about Rollins vs. Lesnar this time around and Becky vs. Natalya doesn’t feel must-see (even though their video promos have been pretty solid). But if the undercard delivers and they pull off something fun with the ongoing Roman Reigns saga, we could have a pretty solid show on our hands.
Matt: I’m actually at about an 8 now, though the build to SummerSlam was a lot quieter than previous years. It’s shaped up though in the last two weeks quite a bit however, and if you look at the card there’s some substance here and some cool unexpected matches (i.e. Goldberg vs Ziggler, Charlotte vs Trish Stratus).
Ryan: I’d say about a 7. Looking at the card from the outside, there are is some good potential: AJ/Ricochet, Kofi/Orton, and Drew/Oney should all be excellent. I’m into the Becky/Natalya match mostly due to the great videos each have put out on social media, and it’s refreshing to see them trying to rebuild Natalya into a serious force in the women’s division. On the flip side, Seth/Brock isn’t doing anything for me this time around and Dolph/Goldberg is doing even less.
How do you feel about Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar now compared to their WrestleMania match?
Matt: I’m all about the idea that Rollins becomes Superman’s kryptonite so to speak, so if they continue to let Rollins pull out wins against Lesnar they can probably even get one more big pay-per-view match from this feud, though not right away. I kind of like the idea of doing this every so often, as Lesnar tries to conquer the one WWE superstar he keeps losing against when it matters. I still would rather have Rollins feud with someone else, but I’m not as down on this matchup as I once was.
Connor: Rollins’ victory over Lesnar back at Mania, while unconventional, should have been where this feud ended. He overcame the odds, he slayed “The Beast,” he had the happy ending — that should’ve been the end of it. But WWE just can’t seem to quit Lesnar and now a one-match storyline has been stretched out to five months. At this point I don’t care who wins, I just want something new with the Universal title.
Ryan: Bingo, Connor. The build toward the WrestleMania match, though it lost some heat at points because the build was so long, was more interesting. Another Brock Lesnar title reign has done nothing to help the product and the lackluster crowd in Pittsburgh on Monday night during the go-home show certainly didn’t help the hype for the match.
Should Goldberg’s match with Dolph Ziggler go longer than one minute?
Connor: On the one hand I can understand why Goldberg would want a five-to-six minute match, as it gives him a chance to redeem himself for what happened against Undertaker. But at the same time Goldberg is at his best when he plays the hits — walk out to the ring, stand under the sparklers on the stage, hit a spear, then a Jackhammer and win the match. It doesn’t need to be any more than that, so let this clock in at about 30 seconds.
Matt: Yes, though if you had asked me before Super Showdown I would’ve been fine with a squash. Like Undertaker did at Extreme Rules, Goldberg needs to wipe the bad taste out of fan’s mouths from that stinker at Showdown, so would really prefer this to at least 7 minutes so that there can be some actual back and forth. That’s doable too, as Ziggerl is much more able to carry a match than Undertaker is at this point in their careers. Ziggler is one of the best sellers in the business, so he can make Goldberg shine. Let the match breathe a little.
Ryan: Since Kevin Owens beat Dolph in 17 seconds at Extreme Rules, I’m going to say probably not. Let’s get it over with; this match does absolutely nothing for me.
We’ve got six title matches on the card — how many actually change hands?
Connor: I’ll go with one. Brock (much to my dismay), Becky, Bayley, Kofi and Gulak all retain, but WWE lets Ricochet get his win back by taking the US title off of Styles.
Matt: I’m going with 2, but as to who those will be, I’m really not sure. They could have Kofi fall to Orton so that Kofi can then have an arc where he tries to bounce back and conquer Orton once and for all at at a later pay-per-view, but I’m not sure they will take the belt off him right now. I could also see scenarios where Bayley, Lesnar, and Styles all lose their belts, but just don’t feel confident in any particular one.
Ryan: I’m in the minority in that I think there’s a chance Natalya emerges victorious. You have two Canadian heroes on the card at SummerSlam, and it’s hard to imagine Charlotte (who has been out of the title picture) losing to Trish Stratus as she transitions, we would assume, back into the title picture. Unless they plan on doing a return match, in which case Trish could eek out a victory. WWE would certainly want one of the Canadian women to win in Toronto. The AJ and Seth matches are the most likely. I’ll set my number at two between the possibilities listed here.
What can Becky Lynch do to keep building her momentum against Natalya?
Connor: Like it or not, Becky has lost a lot of momentum since winning at WrestleMania. Her dueling video promos with Natalya have helped a bit, but a stellar performance against Natalya could go a long way to building her back up. She absolutely has to win via Disarmer, but if they tease a finish similar to the famous Austin vs. Hart WrestleMania 13 match it could do wonders for her.
Matt: I think the main way she can continue to add fuel is by hitting the Rousey’s little puppet angle, which would allow Natalya more opportunities to showcase that she’s not in matches and in promos and also allow for the eventual return of Rousey if that’s something she’s interested in doing. The rivalry between Rousey and Lynch outside the ring was just as entertaining as the in-ring stuff, and allowing Lynch to work some of that into her rivalry with Natalya will only make it better.
Ryan: Lose the title. Hear me out. Becky’s momentum has felt stalled in recent months. She’s clearly the most over female star on the roster, but I feel like having her chase would freshen the character up a bit after it all has started to feel the same. That feud with Lacey Evans didn’t do much for her momentum. Becky retaining and moving on to something else isn’t as interesting to me right now as her trying to get title back. And a Ronda Rousey feud seems like it’s a long ways away from being an option.
What’s the match of the night?
Connor Casey: If you’re answer is anything other than Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton then clearly you learned nothing from WrestleMania.
Matt: I’m tried to talk myself out of it since it could very well be a squash match, but I’m going with Finn Balor vs The Fiend Bray Wyatt. If it’s not a squash showing how formidable the new Bray is, this could be a really great match, but there’s a high chance that it could a few minutes long and barely count as a match. If I had to pick a second match of the night, it would be Bayley vs Ember Moon. Think this match will put Ember back where she belongs as far as fan’s radars.
Ryan: I expect Kofi and Randy to put on something very good, but I’m also expecting AJ and Ricochet to go out and try to steal the show. To me, those two are heads and shoulders above everything else on the show as far as having a highly rated match goes. I’ll go with AJ and Ricochet.
Which NXT TakeOver: Toronto match outshines the whole card?
Matt: I mean the easy pick here is Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano, but the one I’m personally looking forward to most is Velveteen Dream vs Pete Dunne vs Roderick Strong which could end up being one of the strongest of the night.
Connor: Please inject Velveteen Dream vs. Pete Dunne vs. Roderick Strong directly into my veins.
Ryan: Dream vs. Dunne vs. Strong. No contest.
