The Usos vs. Breezango (Kickoff Match): The top tag team on the new SmackDown brand, The Usos need to be built up and not buried here. This would make for a natural feud right at the start, which would allow American Alpha -- the incoming team from NXT -- to start their natural rivalry with The Vaudevillians. That's right, there's only four tag teams on the entire show. Prediction: The Usos win
Becky Lynch vs. Natalya: On a similar note, Lynch and Natalya are the top two women on the new SmackDown brand, which added two from NXT but not any of the big names fans expected to see during the draft. While the title and two (maybe three? more on that below) most over female competitors are on Raw, Lynch and Natalya are basically being asked to carry the entire division. If they're going to continue this into SummerSlam, Natalya should go over to give Lynch something to fight back against over the next month. Prediction: Natalya wins
United States Championship -- Rusev (c) vs. Zack Ryder: WWE continues to do a poor job with its secondary titles, and it's never been as obvious as the challengers competing for the belts at this pay-per-view. Nothing against these two but there was a time where these titles meant something and people actually cared about the outcomes when the championships were contested. Instead, you have this. Rusev looks to be on his way to being built back as a strong heel who could drop his title to a fan favorite at SummerSlam, so it would make sense to keep the strap on him here. Prediction: Rusev wins and retains
Intercontinental Championship -- The Miz (c) vs. Darren Young: Rant, continued. Consider the importance of these two belts when the champions were drafted 16th and 17th behind four guys in their late 30s. The Miz, a former world heavyweight champion, has seen his character revived a bit now that his wife, Maryse, has been brought into the fold. But he's also been off of television as of late filming a movie. Young has not received the response WWE obviously hoped for with this return, despite having the legendary Bob Backlund by his side, and this match has basically no build whatsoever. I could see WWE putting the strap on Young for any number of reasons, but ultimately keeping the title on SmackDown with The Miz and allowing some legitimately important programs to develop there is what's best. Prediction: The Miz wins and retains
Sasha Banks & Unknown Partner vs. Charlotte & Dana Brooke: The only real interest surrounding this match is Banks' mystery partner and whether the outcome will develop the storyline everyone is waiting for with SummerSlam a month away. Many are hoping that WWE calls up Bayley from NXT to partner with Banks, but I just don't see it after they had the potential to make her a focal point in the draft and she looks primed for another title program in NXT. So I'd expect Banks to wind up with someone from the Raw brand, maybe a returning Paige, to throw some weight behind the women's division. The other option could be NXT call-up Nia Jax but that would be a strange face-heel pairing. The goal here needs to be putting Banks over either Charlotte or Brooke to set up the title match everyone is waiting for in a month. Prediction: Banks/Partner win
The New Day vs. The Wyatt Family: A six-man tag team match is the perfect opportunity to have New Day lose without dropping the belts. The problem? There's no good reason to give The Wyatts a win. WWE just split up the three members among two brands -- the second time it has broken up the "family" after failing to book them as a formidable and truly dominant title-winning group -- and a win would do nothing to strengthen them. If The Wyatts were still together, they would have been an easy favorite to get a win here, but I just don't see it with WWE building up the tag team accolades of New Day and SummerSlam around the corner. Prediction: The New Day wins
Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn: What was supposed to be the end of a long-running feud that began in NXT may be just another match in the middle. Why? WWE had a great opportunity to split up these two up-and-coming stars among its brands but instead just threw them both on Raw. So what motivation is there to end this feud with a regular singles match when a stipulation match can be booked just one month from now? There's going to have to be some controversy in the finish -- or Zayn going over with a win -- to keep this thing going. An Owens victory would be too clean of an end unless WWE actually fulfills the build and goes that way. Prediction: Zayn wins and the feud continues
John Cena, Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. The Club: This is not so much predicting who will win -- that's obvious -- but rather where WWE goes with these six competitors. Cena's short-lived partnership with Enzo & Cass is one-and-done with them set to go their separate ways following the draft. The Club is being also being split up across brands as WWE ends its newest faction, one which was just starting to gain some traction. This would make a good spot for the main-roster debut of Finn Balor with Gallows & Anderson turning on A.J. Styles, but WWE may want to build him up as a singles performer. Plus, Balor is way over as a face and turning Styles face would be all kinds of wrong now that he's finally connecting with the audience on the mic as a heel. So yeah, what WWE is doing is anyone's guess. The outcome of this match, though, should be obvious. Prediction: Cena, Enzo & Cass win
World Heavyweight Championship -- Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns: How the heck this thing ends is anyone's guess. The champion is on SmackDown, while both challengers are on Raw, meaning any title change would flip the belt across brand lines. Nearly every other brand split included two top-tier titles, so a championship split almost seems too obvious following a controversial or no-decision finish. Stephanie McMahon is the perfect heel authority figure to disregard any logic and simply create a championship for her star player, Rollins, so ultimately I think the title as it is now remains with Ambrose and on SmackDown. What's strange is that this match could legitimately have headlined SummerSlam (and maybe a version of it still will with a title split coming at that point). Instead, it's featured on Battleground, five days after a brand split with one of the three competitors coming off a 30-day wellness policy suspension. Prediction: Ambrose wins and retains
pics (c) wwe
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen