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Credit: WWE.com
WWE rolls into Nashville Saturday night for SummerSlam, an epic summertime spectacular headlined by yet another showdown between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.
With championship clashes and grudge matches making up the rest of the card, and a very public change at the top of the company behind the scenes, interest in the premium live event will be at a high.
What does the card look like ahead of the go-home episode of Raw and who should fans expect to see win the night’s top matches?
Take a look with this preview of the Peacock broadcast.
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Logan Paul may be a social media superstar, and his in-ring work at WrestleMania 38 may have taken the wrestling world by surprise, but there is very little about his feud with The Miz that has fans eagerly anticipating their showdown on July 30.
Both are showmen and are likely to lean on that aspect of their performance to deliver a contest that keeps fans engaged and lives up to the hype that is sure to accompany it, but that is no certainty.
Especially taking into consideration a die-hard WWE fan base that will like be unlikely to embrace Paul as the favorite in the match.
What is unquestionable is the outcome. Paul did not come back to lose his second match with WWE and Miz is largely bulletproof from a heat perspective at this point in his career. The Hollywood A-Lister will lose to the YouTube star-turned-pro boxer and everyone will happily move on to the next match.
Prediction: Paul
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Riddle and Seth Rollins may be victims of circumstance, left to compete against each other only after there was nothing better for either of them to do, but fans should expect The Original Bro and The Visionary to have one of the better matches on the SummerSlam card, if not completely steal the show.
Neither man can really afford a loss at this point but if one has to, Riddle should probably eat the pin. He is a comedic babyface who can ramp up the intensity when necessary but his connection with the audience is one that does not necessarily need a boatload of victories to work.
Rollins, on the other hand, has spent entirely too much time looking up at the lights here in 2022 for a guy that was seconds away from beating Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship back at the Royal Rumble.
In a company still grasping for any legitimate star power it can get its hands on, sacrificing Rollins in a throwaway match would be a massive misstep. With Triple H and Stephanie McMahon in power positions, and their connection to Rollins dating back to his days in NXT well documented, expect him to get back to his winning ways here.
Prediction: Rollins
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For the second time this year, Bianca Belair and Becky Lynch will battle in a stadium setting with the Raw Women’s Championship at stake.
Their rivalry began a year ago at this event, with the surprise return of Lynch and a humiliating 26-second defeat of Belair. The EST may have defeated Big Time Becks at WrestleMania, but the mental hurdle of doing it again, at the event in which her first reign as champion ended so quickly and emphatically will be an entirely different challenge for her to overcome.
There is reason to believe Lynch will dethrone Belair again, especially after the apparent downfall that she suffered before clawing her way back into title contention. This is a different Belair, though. She is smarter, more experienced and knowledgeable of the shortcuts the heel will try to take in order to dethrone her.
In short, she is better prepared than she was when Lynch stunned the world with her unadvertised comeback last year in Vegas.
That will be the difference. Belair wins here, retains her title and moves on to a different challenger as soon as Monday night. What that means for Lynch and her role on the show for the immediate future remains to be seen.
Prediction: Belair retains
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Pat McAfee will defeat Happy Corbin in Nashville.
That much is not up for debate.
What is, though, is just how good the match will be.
The intensity has been off-the-charts and the physicality to this point has been more significant than expected for a match featuring an untrained celebrity and color commentator. Given their history and the audience’s love for McAfee, there is every reason to believe that the competitors will be met with a red-hot crowd that will fuel them to have one of the surprise bouts of the card.
Corbin will be just fine in defeat. He is a masterful heel who knows how to get under the skin of the WWE Universe and will resume doing the following Friday. McAfee will run his in-ring win-loss record to 2-0, with several more to come if his performance lives up to what he accomplished last Spring at WrestleMania.
Prediction: McAfee
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The Usos and Street Profits tore the house down in Las Vegas earlier this month in an Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship Match that stole the show out from under the namesake Money in the Bank bouts.
It was a red-hot, highly dramatic match that had fans inside the historic MGM Grand Garden Arena on the edge of their seats, thanks to some expertly timed near-falls and high spots. Look for more of the same in Nashville, with the added element of Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett as the special guest referee.
There is no real reason for Double J to be involved other than to give him the hometown exposure, but he is a grizzled vet who has been in his own fair share of outstanding championship matches. He will likely add to the match in some regard, while potentially taking away from it simply by giving fans another body to keep track of.
Regardless, the match should still be extraordinary. Both teams have a track record of showing up and showing out in big-match situations and, as one of the top-billed contests on the card, this is certainly one of them.
Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins are headed toward a split that will see them go their separate ways while The Usos make up two-thirds of the top main event act in the company. Jimmy and Jey retain here while the tag team division for them to work with becomes smaller sooner rather than later.
Prediction: The Usos retain
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There is no match on the card colder than Bobby Lashley’s defense of the United States Championship against Theory. That is through no fault of either man, it is simply the result of WWE Creative focusing too much attention on the heel potentially cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase and almost none on his chase of the title he lost just a four weeks earlier.
Throw in side feuds with Madcap Moss and Dolph Ziggler and it appears as though Theory has his attention on everyone but Lashley.
That makes the outcome of this particular title bout that much less dramatic.
Theory is on the fast track to the main event and does not need the United States title to get there, nor does he need a win over The All Mighty. He is an insufferable heel with the ace of spades in his back pocket in the form of the Money in the Bank briefcase.
He will lose to Lashley, maybe even by disqualification, but he will recover nicely and possibly even factor into the closing moments of the premium live event broadcast.
Prediction: Lashley retains
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Liv Morgan’s magical cash-in of the Money in the Bank briefcase and resulting SmackDown Women’s Championship victory came at the expense of Ronda Rousey. At SummerSlam, they clash once more for title, with a decided lack of build or anticipation for the bout.
In fact, there is a sense of dread hanging over the match surrounding the very real potential that Rousey will simply tap Morgan out and take back her title just in time for the impending return of Charlotte Flair and the renewal of a rivalry no one wants to see.
Fear not, though, as it appears WWE is genuinely invested in Morgan and the response to her title win by its fans has been overwhelmingly positive. If anything, do not be surprised to see management utilize this match to ignite a Rousey heel turn that will only serve to enhance Morgan’s status as lead babyface on Friday nights.
Even if there is no heel turn by The Baddest Woman on the Planet, Morgan wins.
Prediction: Morgan retains
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Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar as cleanly as one could possibly imagine at WrestleMania 38, unifying the WWE and Universal Championships in hopes of presenting one champion across both brands.
Then, Reigns signed a new contract for less dates.
Saturday’s match marks just the second championship defense by Reigns since beating The Beast at on April 3. The match? Last Man Standing, which should help the overall quality of the match-up.
Too often, Lesnar and Reigns rely on repeated use of their trademark and finishing maneuvers. They will be able to mix in some brawling in a match that will likely spill to the floor, maybe even into the stands, while even utilizing The Usos and Paul Heyman as storytelling devices.
And don’t forget about Theory, who has vowed to cash in and leave Nashville with the unified titles.
In the end, though, it still very much feels like Reigns will retain and continue his historic run as champion as WWE keeps alive the hopes and dreams of a WrestleMania 39 showdown against The Rock.
Prediction: Reigns retains
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