SUMMERSLAM LIVE COVERAGE THIS SUNDAY
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SEScoops’ Official Summerslam Preview & Predictions
by The Solomonster (thesolomonster@gmail.com)
WWE’s 23rd annual Summerslam will emanate this Sunday, August 15th, from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, it’s home the last two years and likely for many years to come. Summerslam has had its share of great matches and memorable moments over the last several years, but I can’t help but think the event has lost much of the luster it once had. On top of that, WWE pay-per-view buyrates have hit near rockbottom lows these past few months. On a positive note, we’ve also had a focused, lengthy storyline that revolves around a bunch of fresh faces in the main event picture, which has been a welcome change. But now, these rookies need to actually, you know… work a real match, and a PPV main event at that.
Will Summerslam mark the end of the Nexus storyline, or do they have an ace up their sleeve and a way to drag this out for another couple of months while keeping them strong with a victory? Let’s run down the card with some predictions:
Dolph Ziggler (c) v. Kofi Kingston for the Intercontinental Title
Congrats to Dolph, who while he can’t sing for shit, finally won the big one when he defeated Kofi Kingston for the IC title. Of course, when you keep feeding title shots to the same person over and over, he’s bound to win one at some point. Hence why titles mean nothing. Regardless, it would be ridiculous to take the title off Ziggler so soon after finally capturing it, so he has my vote to retain.
Big Show vs. CM Punk, Luke Gallows and Joey Mercury, 3-on-1 Handicap Match
CM Punk has been fantastic these past few months, in spite of his elbow injury, and his facials during the unmasking a few weeks back on Smackdown was a true gem. That said, I know he’s been hurt, but it makes me sad to see where Punk is on the card this year relative to where he was just one year ago, winning the World title from Jeff Hardy in a fantastic TLC Match. It would be far worse to see he and his Straight Edge Society squashed 3-on-1 by Big Show in this match. They may not be made to look strong, but I can’t see them losing in the end, so I predict victory for the SES. For the love of god, re-hire Colt “Don’t Call Me Scotty Goldman” Cabana and have him interfere as the newest member of Punk’s crew because, shaved head or not, he deserves the chance and is to Punk what Abbott was to Costello. What an act those two would make.
Alicia Fox (c) v. Melina for the Divas Championship
Melina made her triumphant return to Raw two weeks ago and was immediately thrust into a non-title match with the champion… on free TV one week before the PPV. Alrighty then. Now the title is on the line and Melina has her hands full in trying to avoid Alicia’s AXE KICK OF DEATH, which has overtaken Randy Orton’s punt as the most dangerous maneuver in WWE (at least in terms of the way it is executed). I honestly believe she is going to accidentally decapitate someone one of these days with that kick and heads are going to roll… literally, roll right out of the ring and onto the floor. Anyway, Melina just came back and they really don’t have another big name diva for her to feud with just yet unless they turn Eve heel, so my bet is that Alicia retains here.
Kane (c) v. Rey Mysterio for the World Heavyweight Championship
Kane fans rejoice, he has held on to the World title for longer than 24 hours… eat that, Stone Cold! With that out of the way, I don’t think anyone expects Rey Mysterio to cleanly defeat Kane for his THIRD World title reign. Note my use of the word “clean” – it’s painfully obvious that VEGETABLE UNDERTAKER will (sprout?) from the grave once more and make his presence felt either during or after this match. Does he have to be there in the flesh? Of course not. We’ve seen Kane get flummoxed before just by the sound of his brother’s dong (boy, poor choice of words there) or the sight of a spooky TitanTron video, so perhaps a well-placed distraction allows Mysterio to cradle Kane for the victory. Or maybe Undertaker does, in fact, show up and beats the piss out of his younger brother. I predict Undertaker WILL make his presence felt in some way, shape or form, which is hardly a shocking prediction. However, I say Kane retains the title. I didn’t say he wins the match, per se, but no way he drops the strap here. It’s just too soon and dammit, he deserves more time before Undertaker obliterates him!
Sheamus (c) v. Randy Orton for the WWE Championship
The stipulation here is that if anyone interferes in the match on the champion’s behalf, they will be suspended. Conversely, if Orton should lose, he gets no rematch and moves back down to the bottom of the food chain. And really, why not? If you are the challenger to the title and you fall short, what entitles you to a rematch, anyway? I must say, their first singles encounter earlier this year at the Royal Rumble did not blow me away, but it wasn’t a bad match. Sheamus has improved a great deal since that time and I think this could be the sleeper match of the show. He and Orton shined big time during their segment on Raw this past Monday, which essentially was just each man saying he’s going to beat the other because the title means that much to them. Quite a simple formula, no? Sheamus retains, perhaps on some sort of flukey DQ finish that allows Orton to get a rematch anyway at the Night of Champions PPV.
7-on-6 Elimination Match
Team WWE (John Cena, Bret Hart, Edge, Chris Jericho, John Morrison, R-Truth and ?) vs. Nexus (Wade Barrett, David Otunga, Michael Tarver, Skip Sheffield, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater and Darren Young)
Survivor Series comes early with this rare elimination tag bout that may have big-time storyline repercussions, unless they kill it dead. This will be a huge test for Nexus, who find themselves in the biggest match of their lives. Barrett has clearly been the standout performer on the mic, and from what we’ve seen of him inside the ring, he’s acceptable. But the rest of the group is a big question mark. Fortunately, any weaknesses they may have can more easily be hidden in a format like this.
Meanwhile, after weeks of falling apart at the seams, Team WWE appeared united at the end of Raw this past Monday. Bret “Batman” Hart takes the place of an injured Ricky Steamboat as the resident legend on this team, and while he won’t be able to do much, he still brings some added starpower to this match. The question is, unless his team wins and he is one of the lone survivors (which would be a mistake), how do you eliminate him? A count-out or DQ of some sort would seem to make sense. Unless of course, Bret were to cost his team the match and go heel. General consensus seems to be that someone is turning heel this Sunday, which doesn’t mean it will happen, but it would certainly add intrigue to things and give Nexus the win they need to keep this storyline going for a few more months. For what it’s worth, I don’t believe it will be Bret Hart. If anyone’s going heel, it’s John Morrison. As if the scruffy beard on Monday wasn’t a sign, it’s painfully obvious that when it comes to promos at least, Morrison is much better as a heel. Would Cena screw over his own team? That would hardly make sense, and while I’d love to see him go heel, it doesn’t seem like the right time for it.
Which brings us to the seventh man. Last Monday, Nexus became babyfaces (to me anyway) by taking The Great Khali out of this match by attacking his knee. That leaves Team WWE at a disadvantage and the question is who, if anyone, will fill Khali’s shoes? Well, literally, nobody can fill his shoes, but I do expect Miz to play into this. Whether he actually accepts the spot or not, he should be there and deserves to be there. It makes for an interesting little twist, regardless of who it turns out to be, and it should be fun to see how they handle this. Remember, Evan Bourne doesn’t have a match on Sunday… just saying.
This entire Nexus angle appears to be building to something bigger, and before Triple H went down with yet another injury, there was serious talk of either he or John Cena going heel to align with the group. That could still happen, but it’s unlikely to happen on Sunday. Whatever happens, Nexus HAS to win this match. This show should do a far better buyrate than their most recent PPV offerings and there is more money to be made if they play their cards right. Remember, Team WWF got screwed over by Steve Austin and lost to Team WCW/ECW at the Invasion PPV back in 2001 (a show that did the company’s biggest buyrate ever for a non-Mania show). Granted, they greatly bungled the invasion storyline after that, but they were able to keep things going through Survivor Series that year. Being that they’re already giving away the elimination match, why not build to a WAR GAMES match in November? Make it happen!
So, what do YOU think will happen this Sunday at Summerslam? Will you be ordering the event and why? Leave your comments below and let your voice be heard!
