Sunday, June 18, 2017

WWE Money in the Bank Predictions


Considering Jinder Mahal won the goddamn WWE Title, nothing's easy to predict on Smackdown. Technically, Lana shouldn't have a chance here. She's wrestled one televised match in her career and that was a multi-person tag at WrestleMania last year. Naomi's never been quite good enough to be champion in my eyes, but I guess she's the better choice now. I could see WWE pulling the surprise result like they did at Backlash, but I think Naomi retains. The Smackdown Women's Title has been traded too often already.

Winner: Naomi

The Usos have been great in their new heel personas, while The New Day can help make the tag team division relevant. Since their arrival on Smackdown, the division has been featured much more heavily, which is a good thing. I don't want to see the Usos' reign end and I don't think it does here. I say either they retain by cheating or The New Day wins via DQ or something. I'm gonna go with a cheap Usos win to set up a rematch in July and maybe a multi-team match at SummerSlam.

Winners: The Usos

Tamina is absolute trash and it's scary how uninteresting Natalya is. That leaves best female babyface Becky Lynch, best female heel (not named Alexa Bliss) Carmella and lady big dog herself, Charlotte. The best play would be for Carmella to win. She's done very well in recent months and is so good at playing the heel. Her partnership with James Ellsworth has worked way better than it ever should have. Plus, a heel with the briefcase has always been the better play. The briefcase on Becky just wouldn't seem right. That being said, I never bet against the female Roman Reigns. She didn't get to the best woman to hold the Raw and Smackdown titles, so I can imagine how much the WWE wants her to hold this accolade.

Winner: Charlotte

A tough one to call. Dolph Ziggler shouldn't be anywhere near the WWE Title at this point, but again, Jinder has it, so who knows anymore? Everyone else feels like fair game. Sami Zayn could use it to help complete his redemption story after losing so much, but he's beaten Corbin so often lately, that might be enough for now. Kevin Owens has the US Title and seems to still be feuding with AJ Styles, so I don't think either wins it. That leaves Shinsuke Nakamura and Baron Corbin. Similar to Carmella, I think Corbin with the briefcase is the better route, but I could see them giving it to Nakamura. Maybe Nakamura loses and still gets a high profile SummerSlam match. In the end, I say Big Banter takes it.

Winner: Baron Corbin

This feud has sucked. Randy Orton's 2017, other than the matches with AJ Styles and Luke Harper, has been pretty terrible. The match with Jinder at Backlash wasn't very good and I expect more of the same this time. The promos from both men since then have been lackluster and I just can't bring myself to care. Jinder retains because he has a better nickname.

Winner: Jinder Mahal

2017 Prediction Record: 29-21
2016 Prediction Record: 72-41
2015 Prediction Record: 60-35