I really like Finn Balor and I always appreciate seeing the Demon, but I just can't get into this. Everything involving Bray Wyatt ultimately feels hollow and meaningless. He had a months long feud with Randy Orton that did nothing. Same for his short feud with Seth Rollins. This feud honestly feels like it's only here to give us a reason to see the Demon for the first time in a year. Bray won on Raw, so I don't think he beats the Demon as well.
Winner: Finn Balor
Rusev deserves so much better. He should be in Jinder Mahal's spot. He's good in the ring and incredibly charismatic. Anyway, Randy Orton has been giving unmotivated performances in almost every match since the Luke Harper and AJ Styles ones before WrestleMania. Naturally, that means Rusev should win here. He lost to John Cena in a brutally bad match at Battleground and could stand to regain momentum. But, Orton's lost at four straight PPVs. He's not gonna lose in five straight. Poor Rusev.
Winner: Randy Orton
WWE taking the briefcase off Baron Corbin was disappointing. He's a much more entertaining and better overall heel than the current champion. That makes this match a bit tougher to predict. With the briefcase, he could lose and still have that in his pocket, which the WWE loves to do with MITB holders. Without it, a loss to Cena following what happened on Smackdown could be fatal. Cena legitimately hasn't won at SummerSlam since the Team Nexus debacle in 2010 and hasn't won a singles match at the PPV since 2007 (lost to Batista in 08, Orton in 09, Punk in 11, Punk in 12, Bryan in 13, Brock in 14, Seth in 15, AJ in 16). I say Cena wins before heading to Raw. Big Banter flounders unless he goes to Raw and gets a win back.
Winner: Big Match John
Holy shit. This sounds bad. Cass is wildly uninteresting. At least they tried something with the hand injury on Raw, even if it's completely unoriginal. I'm gonna say Big Cass wins and Enzo does something to make him look like a fool, because the WWE seems to love that.
Winner: Big Ass
They stole the show at Battleground, having the best WWE PPV match since the Elimination Chamber. At least off the top of my head. With Big E replacing Kofi Kingston, I don't think it'll be quite as good, since the smaller New Day guys worked so well with the Usos last time. That being said, it should still be very good. Their chemistry is great and, if given time, this could steal the show again. Part of me sees a title swap, but part of me thinks New Day retains. I'll go with that.
Winners: The New Day
I don't understand WWE booking sometimes. Why give this away on Raw before SummerSlam? I know the title switch gave Raw a cool moment, but it's just dumb. Their GBOF match was good and Raw was a bit better. If this is on the main card, I worry it doesn't get the time to fully develop. If it's on the Kickoff Show, it could pull an Aries/Neville from Mania and be great. I have a sinking suspicion that Neville regains the gold/silver here.
Winner: The King
If the WWE is doing long term thinking (they're probably not), they could set this Dean/Seth up all the way to Mania. A friend of mine brought it up a few weeks ago but they should win the titles and hold them until the end of the year when the Revival can hopefully return and dethrone them. Then, maybe Dean turns heel (it would be fresh for him) and it leads to the first Dean/Seth match in quite some time at WrestleMania. However, they've probably only planned things out until Raw after SummerSlam. Either way, I'm gonna say Dean and Seth win the straps here. Shame for Cesaro and Sheamus, because they're awesome.
Winners: The Discount Shield
Smackdown has been quite the shit show lately, hasn't it? They've even fumbled most of this storyline and the matches haven't lived up to the hype. That's not say they've been bad matches (though the Battleground one wasn't good), but the ones with potential have been killed by the finishes. They've made up for it a bit with the Shane stuff over the past few weeks and hopefully, this time they deliver the greatness they're capable of. I'm going with AJ retaining, to give him a proper reign, and set up an angry Owens to feud with Shane McMahon. Maybe a match at Hell in a Cell?
Winner: AJ Styles
Honestly, I'm happier we got this match over Bliss/Bayley. Bayley has been Bliss' best opponent, but the Sasha match at the last PPV was good before the countout finish. There was an intensity to it that we don't often get from women's matches. Though Sasha never got a good reign in 2016, this is not the time for her. She's been very mediocre lately and babyface Sasha just doesn't work at all. Alexa should retain and hopefully they call up Asuka, who can take the title off her and run through the division.
Winner: Alexa Bliss
Smackdowns' equivalent to Cass/Show. I can't imagine anyone caring about this. I'm admittedly not a Naomi fan, but Natalya is one of the worst possible opponents for her. I can't stand Charlotte at all, but at least she has name value and it would've been a bigger match fitting of SummerSlam. I love Becky and a battle of Smackdown's two pure babyface women could've worked too. This is gonna suck something fierce. As always, Natalya will do relatively crisp offense, but fill in time with horrible character work. Naomi wins. Just put the damn title on Carmella already. Carmella vs. Becky is easily the best possible women's program on Smackdown.
Winner: Naomi
Imagine a world where Nakamura's first title win should come over Jinder Mahal. I don't think Nakamura is ready to be WWE Champion yet, but Jinder Mahal wasn't back in May, so what the hell do I know? Part of me thinks Nakamura wins to please the fans, but apparently the WWE is coming to India in September. I see Jinder as champion that night. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Jinder retains through nefarious terms. He's already been champion for far too long, so why not just keep it going?
Winner: Jinder Mahal
Forget almost everything else on this card. This is what I'm waiting for. Four bad motherfuckers just going to war. This has potential to be incredible. There are only two options that I accept coming out of this. A Universal Title reign for Samoa Joe or Braun Strowman. Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar can fuck off. Brock can do something else and come back, away from the title picture. Though I'm pulling for joe or Braun, I'm going with Roman. If Brock really is heading to the UFC, that puts a rush on the Roman/Brock idea. Plus, I never vote against the big dog.
Winner: BIG DOG GOTTA EAT
2017 Prediction Record: 43-28
2016 Prediction Record: 72-41
2015 Prediction Record: 60-35
