Up to date WWE SummerSlam 2023 Match Card Predictions Earlier than Go-House Uncooked
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Credit score: WWE.com
WWE rolls into Detroit’s Ford Subject Saturday night time for SummerSlam 2023, one of many firm’s premier premium dwell occasions and the fruits of a few of its most heated rivalries.
Jey Uso challenges Roman Reigns for each the Undisputed WWE Common Championship and standing as The Tribal Chief in a single foremost occasion whereas Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar settle their months-long rivalry within the third match of a blockbuster trilogy.
Who will emerge from these two marquee bouts and which Superstars will be a part of them with their arms raised in victory?
Discover out with these previews and predictions for every of the August 5 broadcast’s eight marketed matches forward of Monday’s go-home episode of WWE Uncooked.
SummerSlam Battle Royal
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Credit score: WWE.com
Prediction: LA Knight
With no different Superstars formally introduced for this late addition to the cardboard, it will seem as if this can be a star car for Knight. He has been denied a significant push up to now, regardless of unimaginable reputation however after being the primary competitor to throw his title within the subject, followers have motive to imagine Saturday will be the subsequent step in his transfer up the cardboard.
In fact, the match is prone to embody different opponents not already introduced for the present, reminiscent of AJ Kinds, Karrion Kross, Sheamus, Dominik Mysterio and others. Most of whom have had stronger, extra constant pushes or presences on tv.
Nonetheless, regardless of the presence of larger stars and former world champions, this appears like Knight’s to win and if he doesn’t, followers can be justified of their perception that he could by no means get the chance his simple reputation suggests he would.
Logan Paul vs. Ricochet
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Credit score: WWE.com
Prediction: Paul
It is a make-good for Paul, who has misplaced his final 4 matches.
The Social Media Megastar has wowed followers up to now, a greater wrestler than anybody may have imagined for somebody with lower than 10 matches to his title. He has tallied two Match of the 12 months candidates towards two high stars in Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins and ignited social media with a few of his higher-risk spots.
Two of which got here towards Ricochet.
The 2 stole the present within the 2023 Royal Rumble with a double springboard crossbody and, once more, at Cash within the Financial institution, with a Spanish Fly from the center rope and thru a desk at ringside that didn’t go in line with plan.
At SummerSlam, they’ll showcase their uncooked athleticism and possibly create a buzzworthy social media second or two, however it is going to be the self-proclaimed “Maverick” that picks up his first win since defeating The Miz finally yr’s summertime spectacular.
Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler
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Credit score: WWE.com
Prediction: Baszler
Rousey is reportedly on her way out of WWE and placing over Shayna Baszler appears like the proper method to depart.
The feud between the well-established greatest associates has been rushed, with the random flip of Baszler at Cash within the Financial institution and the following interactions since, leaving followers to query what might need been had issues had time to develop and be correctly executed.
Whereas it isn’t the high-profile feud or the dream match it ought to have been, the bout provides WWE a chance to warmth The Queen of Spades again up after years of questionable reserving.
A decisive victory over Rousey, who doesn’t lose usually and nonetheless carries a sure legitimacy, could be a step in the fitting course for somebody who was as soon as essentially the most unstoppable pressure in ladies’s wrestling.
Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar
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Credit score: WWE.com
Prediction: Rhodes
Rhodes and Lesnar wrap up their blockbuster trilogy with a rubber match that needs to be essentially the most bodily and dramatic of the bunch, with The American Nightmare warding off The Beast Incarnate to win the sequence 2-1.
Lesnar represented the primary hurdle for Rhodes to clear following his WrestleMania 39 loss to Roman Reigns.
Rhodes did simply that, countering The Beast’s fury together with his wrestling acumen, rolling him up whereas trapped within the kimura to attain the win within the first encounter at Backlash. Lesnar exploited an arm harm he prompted days earlier to win through referee stoppage at Evening of Champions.
This, the third encounter, actually ought to carry some kind of stipulation or gimmick however up to now, nothing has been introduced. Regardless, Rhodes will win and do one in every of two issues: return his focus to the Undisputed WWE Common Championship or face one other impediment en path to a second, consecutive WrestleMania foremost occasion look.
Intercontinental Championship Match: Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre
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Credit score: WWE.com
Prediction: Gunther retains
This can be essentially the most tough match to foretell on the whole SummerSlam card, because of the place each males at the moment discover themselves in.
Gunther is nearing historical past because the longest-reigning Intercontinental champion in WWE historical past. For 35 years, Honky Tonk Man has held that distinction however The Ring Common can be simply over a month away from eclipsing the basic villain’s document. To do this, he has to get previous McIntyre.
Besides, The Scottish Warrior is recent off a momentous return at Cash within the Financial institution and dropping this rapidly would halt a number of the momentum he has loved since then.
WWE is at the moment on a kick of rewriting the historical past books, pushing its trendy stars to interchange the opponents of a bygone period in an try to shine a extra favorable mild on this period of Superstars, as now we have seen with Roman Reigns, The Usos and Bianca Belair all eclipsing earlier milestones over the past yr.
That alone enhances the chance that Gunther retains, presumably with some help from Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser.
WWE Girls’s Championship Match: Asuka vs. Bianca Belair vs. Charlotte Aptitude
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Credit score: WWE.com
Prediction: Asuka retains
Historical past would recommend Charlotte Aptitude would win right here as a result of, effectively, it is what she does. She has made a profession of profitable championships on large levels, even when it may not seem as if artistic wants would dictate the title change.
That didn’t seem to vary earlier this yr underneath Triple H, although the argument will be made that The Queen received solely to arrange her WrestleMania 39 loss to Rhea Ripley.
There may be motive to suppose that might proceed, particularly with the continued teases of a one-on-one showdown between Aptitude and Belair. Assuming that match is the plan for WrestleMania 40 in Philadelphia, there’s nonetheless loads of time to get there.
Asuka retaining the title in a very good, aggressive match that’s influenced by Harm CTRL’s Bayley and the reigning Ms. Cash within the Financial institution, Iyo Sky, appears like the fitting selection.
If, for no different motive that it retains alive the chance for just a few Asuka-Sky matches, that are dream matches for individuals who have paid even a modicum of consideration to the in-ring exploits of each ladies.
Past that, it throws a curveball into issues and permits stress to construct between Aptitude and Belair earlier than they lastly conflict.
World Heavyweight Championship Match: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
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Credit score: WWE.com
Prediction: Rollins retains
The potential for Damian Priest to money in his Cash within the Financial institution briefcase may be very actual right here, particularly given the teases of dissension between him and Finn Balor.
Regardless of what needs to be a artistic temptation, this appears like Rollins’ match to win.
It was at this occasion in 2016 that Rollins noticed his alternative to make historical past go up in flames as Balor defeated him to turn out to be the primary Common champion. Not solely is retribution at stake, however so is The Visionary’s legacy as champion.
Rollins’ most spectacular title run, just below a decade in the past, ended with a devastating knee harm that sidelined him for months. Since then, he has received the WWE and Common Championship however has not had that definitive reign that’s reflective of his reputation or the standard of his ring work.
Dropping right here could be an abrupt finish to a run that was well-earned by way of exhausting work, persistence and his potential to get any variety of personas over with followers.
He deserves higher than that, even when Judgment Day is a red-hot act at this cut-off date.
Undisputed WWE Common Championship Match: Jey Uso vs. Roman Reigns
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Credit score: WWE.com
Prediction: Reigns retains
In an ideal world, Uso would defeat Reigns and repay a narrative that started three years in the past, when he stood as much as The Tribal Chief in defiance of his new perspective. After years of being manipulated and gaslit by his cousin, Uso would pin him and take his title earlier than a grand celebration that ushered in a brand new period in WWE.
This isn’t an ideal world.
Reigns goes to win at SummerSlam as a result of that is his story and it is not over but.
The Tribal Chief has alienated his household and at the moment finds himself with out The Usos by his aspect. Whereas it’s unlikely to explode fully Saturday night time in Detroit, Solo Sikoa is subsequent. The Enforcer will inevitably break up from Reigns, leaving The Tribal Chief to go it alone in time for WrestleMania 40 and the rematch with Rhodes.
The Head of the Desk stays simply that by means of a slim win over his cousin and high contender, however the stress to succeed with out his total supporting forged will proceed to mount.