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WWE SummerSlam is right around the corner. The younger sibling to WrestleMania has historically been the site of incredible matches, big returns, and tons of title changes. This year should be no different. Here are 10 things that must happen at WWE's mid-summer classic.\
#10 Finn Balor defeats Bray Wyatt
Bray Wyatt has been put into bad feud after bad feud. Not "bad" in the sense that they're meaningless, but "bad" in the sense that they will almost certainly do nothing but hurt him at the end of the day. And now he finds himself in a feud with one of WWE's biggest rising stars and a former and future Universal Champion, Finn Balor.
We've been singing the "Bray deserves better" tune for what feels like his entire career. But at SummerSlam, the oft-defeated Wyatt needs to add another loss to his resume. Finn Balor needs to continue rebuilding himself since returning from injury. After a lacklustre feud with Elias Sampson that didn't even lead to a PPV match (Balor was left off the Great Balls of Fire Card altogether), he needs to get back on track.
Balor's last PPV match was at Extreme Rules where he, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Bray Wyatt lost a fatal 5-way number one contender's match to Samoa Joe. Balor needs to make his triumphant return to PPV, ideally as the Demon, so he can contend with Bray's mind games and pick up a much-needed victory.
#9 The Big Show and Big Cass feud comes to an end
Needless to say, Enzo and Big Cass' breakup isn't exactly going smoothly. Although the breakup is only in its infancy, both men seem to be floundering and lacking any sort of direction. Enzo just rants and then gets his butt kicked, while Cass tries and fails to look threatening. His dead eyes during promos aren't helping either.
And maybe worst of all, Cass' first solo feud is against the Big Show. This isn't meant to be a knock on Show, he's having one of his better runs of late after putting on some great matches with Braun Strowman. He's come a long way from the "please retire" chants that he was peppered with during the Authority days. But as far as bringing the best out of Cass, Show is not the man for the job.
Cass thrives on throwing guys around that are smaller than him. He's not as entertaining as Strowman in the ring because he's not as strong or imposing, so he needs to go against guys that are a bit smaller that really accent his size. If Cass is going to be a major player in WWE now that he's on his own, he needs to move on to another feud. And fast.
#8 The New Day retain
The New Day are back on top of the tag team mountain after defeating the Usos for the titles at Battleground. This feud has been great with the gangster Usos coming out in full force, and it's been the perfect feud to spearhead the tag division for the time being. With that said, it shouldn't extend for much longer and the New Day should undoubtedly leave Brooklyn with the titles still around their waists.
Playing hot potato with championships has become a theme in WWE lately, and it usually doesn't do much to elevate it. Sure, AJ Styles and Kevin Owens are in a barn burner of a feud right now, but bouncing the title between the two of them a million times isn't the reason why. It just makes things unnecessarily complicated.
There needs to be some consistency in the tag team division, and that can be achieved by allowing a team to hold the titles for longer than one PPV. If the New Day lose at SummerSlam, not only will the feud be extended, but the longest reigning tag champs will be made to look a bit like tag chumps.
#7 Neville retains
Unlike the New Day and the Usos, the issue here is not hot potato-ing the title. In fact, Neville is the longest reigning champion on the main roster. But the reason he should retain is simple. Tozawa should not be the one to dethrone the King of the Cruiserweights.
Neville has become a sort of final boss of the Cruiserweight division. And while Tozawa is becoming quite popular, Neville's eventual title loss should come to someone who's truly worthy of taking the top spot. Tozawa is entertaining and the Titus Brand has been gold, but he's just not the guy.
To be perfectly honest, the right guy for the job may not even be on the roster or in the Cruiserweight division at this point. Much like Asuka, it just doesn't feel like anyone's even on Neville's level at this point (no "Neville level" pun intended). Eventually, he'll lose the strap, but it should not be at SummerSlam. With Neville looking stronger than virtually anyone on the main roster relative to his division, his eventual loss should be a much bigger deal.
#6 A Nikki Bella appearance
What's a big 4 PPV without a big return? At this year's SummerSlam, it may not be the most overwhelmingly exciting return, but there's a chance Nikki Bella makes an appearance. And if it's actually possible, it should absolutely happen.
Nikki actually made her last return at last year's SummerSlam, so there's a chance she doubles down in her return to Brooklyn. Is this just wild speculation? No. Although it isn't much, Nikki jumped in the middle of a Twitter beef between Baron Corbin and her man John Cena and indicated that at the very least she will be at the event.
Does this guarantee she'll be making an appearance other than just a quick camera cut to the front row? Nope, it doesn't. But it at least opens the door for the possibility, which was not the case prior to the tweet. Time will tell if the newly engaged Nikki shows up in Brooklyn next Sunday.
#5 Shane McMahon stays out of the Owens-Styles match
AJ Styles and Kevin Owens will continue their storied feud at SummerSlam. For what feels like the millionth time (although that's not a bad thing), these two will square off for the United States Championship. The twist: Shane McMahon will be the referee this time around.
The reason for this is still a little unclear. Owens requested a better referee that wouldn't be knocked down by a gust of wind. First of all, if more superstars were that vocal about the fragility of referees, the entire current crop of refs would be fired. But I digress. Either way, Shane is the ref. And now that he is, he needs to stay out of the match as much as possible.
When special guest referees are implemented, there's almost always some kind of shenanigans that take place. But any shenanigans involving Shane would be a bad idea. He needs to remain an impartial Commissioner of SmackDown. The last thing we need is him screwing over either Styles or Owens and getting too involved in this or any other feud. Keep things the way they are and just let Shane officiate the match fairly.
#4 John Cena wins
This one seems strange to say, but yes. John Cena should defeat this young up-and-coming star at one of their biggest PPVs.
You might be asking yourself "Why? Why at this advanced stage of his career should Cena be racking up wins over guys who could use them much better than he could?" Well, it's basically because Cena isn't going anywhere anytime soon. And he also just lost clean to Shinsuke Nakamura on SmackDown. Losing clean yet again would begin to deteriorate his aura.
Cena is known as one of the most unstoppable forces in WWE. That's exactly why clean wins against him, like Nakamura's, feel like such a big deal. But if he accumulates his second clean loss in roughly a 3-week span, it won't feel like as big of a deal because the real story will be that Cena has lost a step.
Plus, Corbin is Mr Money in the Bank. Whether you agree with it or not, Mr MITB is typically not booked well leading up to his cash-in. But he doesn't really need to be as he'll likely be on top of the world in the near future. In this particular match, it makes more sense for Big Match John to come out on top than it does for the rising star Corbin.
#3 Nakamura wins and Corbin cashes in
Yeah, this one's a bit loaded. But the explanation will make sense.
First of all, Jinder Mahal's title reign has been okay at best. Although it's been fun to have someone new at the top of the mountain, and the Singh Bros and Great Khali added a dimension to it that no one expected, Mahal leaves much to be desired. He's decent on the mic but his athleticism leaves much to be desired. His matches are boring is what we're getting at here.
So it's probably time for him to drop the title. By the same token, Shinsuke Nakamura is on a meteoric rise and his first loss on the main roster should not come to Mahal, clean or otherwise. He should capture the WWE Championship in Brooklyn and let the crowd go insane for him.
And to wrap it up, Corbin should cash in on his longtime rival and become the new WWE Champion. Whether you believe Corbin is ready to be champion or not, there will be no more logical time for him to cash in than this. His rival who he hasn't finished with now has a chance to become WWE Champion, and Corbin could have the opportunity to rip that accomplishment from him immediately. It's perfect for him.
#2 Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose get on the same page and win the Raw tag team titles
This is probably the most compelling storyline going on in WWE right now. When Seth Rollins turned face, one of the things that got on most fans' nerves was the fact that Roman Reigns seemed to forgive or forget everything Rollins did to him. They were buddies, teaming together again, talking strategy, the whole nine yards.
But not Ambrose. Ambrose remembers that Rollins betrayed him and is making him earn his trust back. Finally, this past Monday on Raw, it appeared Rollins had finally done just that. But this time it was Rollins turn to refuse the reunion, seemingly upset about the fact that Ambrose made him jump through these hoops to prove his loyalty.
But this is clearly building toward an eventual reunion. And judging by the Toronto crowd's reaction to their near-reunion last week, when it does finally happen, it will be monumental. With SummerSlam as good a place as any for it to happen, and with these two currently lacking a match, they should reunite and capture the tag team titles from Cesaro and Sheamus.
Fans would be ecstatic for this semi Shield reunion, especially if these two ended up with gold around their waists. The Shield is one of the most legendary teams in WWE history, so any situation where they seem to be back together will elicit a reaction. SummerSlam is the place for this to happen.
#1 Brock loses the Universal title
What a main event. Raw will be grouping arguably their 4 biggest stars into one match at SummerSlam and they will be fighting over the brand's most coveted prize. Any one of these superstars would make an awesome champion, but only one can walk away with the gold at the end of the night. The only thing that's for sure is that it should not be Brock Lesnar who does so.
Everyone has heard the UFC rumours. Lesnar is back in the USADA drug testing pool and Jon Jones called him out and Lesnar responded. This all points toward an eventual Lesnar-Jones fight, likely in the somewhat near future. Allowing Lesnar to fight in UFC while under WWE contract is one thing, but having him as a champion is another. He can't keep the title if he's going to be training and occupied by UFC for months.
If Lesnar loses, Raw can have a champion that actually shows up week in and week out. And in the case of Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman, an exciting first-time champion. Plus, this way Lesnar can make a triumphant and unexpected return around Royal Rumble time and finish out his WWE contract between that and WrestleMania. Lesnar is an attraction, but his time is coming to an end. And that will likely be signalled by him losing the Universal title.
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