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With Extreme Rules in the rearview mirror, we can now look forward to SummerSlam, which takes place August 19th at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. SummerSlam is quickly becoming WWE's summer version of WrestleMania, with it being just as long as WrestleMania now.
Only Sportskeeda gives you the latest Wrestling News, rumors and updates.
Expect a big show with lots of twists and turns along the way and for WWE to put on a summer spectacle. While no matches have been announced yet, let's take a look at five bold predictions for the Biggest Party Of The Summer.
#5 Becky Lynch will become Smackdown Women's Champion again
After retaining the Smackdown Women's Championship once again against Asuka at Extreme Rules, Carmella will most likely need a new challenger for the title at Summerslam, and Becky Lynch in the perfect woman for that role.
Over the past few weeks, Lynch has slowly been gaining momentum with multiple victories, and is the only babyface woman on the Smackdown roster with enough credibility to face Carmella, and ultimately win the belt at Summerslam.
Charlotte is still recovering from surgery and might not be back by August, and even if she is, we just had a Carmella-Charlotte feud, which Carmella won so there's no reason to rehash that story.
Naomi is the only other babyface on Smackdown, and she hasn't done much since dropping the title last year, so Lynch is clearly the only choice here. It's also worth noting that Lynch pinned Carmella to win the Smackdown Women's Championship at Backlash in 2016.
Speaking of Charlotte, if Lynch does go on to win the belt at Summerslam and Charlotte returns soon after, we can have a feud between the two, which has been long awaited and Charlotte can go back to being a heel, which she is better at.
#4 Ronda Rousey will become RAW Women's Champion
It was clear as day heading into Extreme Rules that Alexa Bliss would retain the RAW Women's Championship, and that Ronda Rousey would also get involved. Both of those things happened, and it looks like it will be Bliss v. Rousey at Summerslam next month.
Even if it will be just her second singles match, both of which will have been title matches, I see Rousey pulling off the win.
In her two matches to date, Rousey has had great matches and has exceeded anyone's expectations. At WrestleMania, she arguably had the match of the night in the mixed tag team match.
At Extreme Rules, she and Nia Jax put on a good match last month at Money in the Bank. I don't know what kind of chemistry Rousey and Bliss will have, but I'm sure that they will put on a good match none the less.
Alexa Bliss has been in the Women's Championship picture on both brands for the better half of two years now, and it is time for her to take a step back and for others to be in the title picture. Is it too early for Rousey to become champion?
One can make the argument for either side, but I feel like Rousey is ready for the belt, and WWE may want to put the title on her because of all of the mainstream publicity it will get them.
#3 Samoa Joe will challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Championship
After another successful WWE Championship defence at Extreme Rules, the assumption is that Styles will move on to bigger things heading into SummerSlam, and that bigger thing will be Samoa Joe.
There really aren't any main event level heels on Smackdown at the moment. Nakamura had numerous chances to win the belt and failed and is now United States Champion. The Miz has no direction at the moment as he waits to begin his feud with Daniel Bryan.
That leaves Samoa Joe, who also has had no direction, but he teased a match with Styles a couple of months ago, and in the #1 Contender Gauntlet Match, he lost to Daniel Bryan via count-out, which I believe was done to keep Jow strong for a future WWE title program.
Rumors have been swirling that Styles will not be dropping the belt anytime soon and that he will be having major programs with Samoa Joe and Daniel Bryan, and at this moment in time, the Styles-Joe feud looks to be kicking that off. I see Styles retaining at SummerSlam, but it won't be a decisive finish so that WWE can continue their feud heading into the fall.
#2 Brock Lesnar will retain the Universal Championship
While it wasn't official, the general consensus last night was that the winner of the Roman Reigns v. Bobby Lashley match would face Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam for the Universal Championship. Lashley won the match clean, and will now most likely go on to face Lesnar.
Kurt Angle gave Lesnar the ultimatum that either he shows up to RAW and commits to a title defense, or be stripped of the title. I expect Lesnar and Paul Heyman to show up on RAW, but not commit to a title defence. That is until Lashley comes out and challenges Lesnar at SummerSlam. Lesnar will decline, but Lashley will attack him and the match will be made official down the line.
As for the match itself, I expect it to be a hard-hitting and physical one. The crowd will be into it more than the Lesnar and Reigns matches. After about a 15-20 minute match, I expect Lesnar to hit an F5 and retain.
This will make fans in attendance upset thinking Lesnar is going to leave the WWE and go to UFC and take the title with him, but the night won't be over yet...
#1 Braun Strowman will cash in his Money in the Bank contract to become the New Universal Champion
Just when it seems like all hope will be lost and that Lesnar will be leaving with the belt, we will hear the familiar sound of Braun Strowman's theme song as he makes his way to the ring.
He'll tell the referee that he is cashing in on Lesnar, who will be exhausted from his match with Lashley. The bell rings and Strowman picks up Lesnar for the bodyslam and gets the pinfall and becomes the new Universal Champion.
This is the best case scenario for everyone. It gets the belt off of Lesnar, who the fans have grown tired of, and he can go do his thing in UFC. It gives Strowman, arguably the most over babyface on the RAW roster, the belt that he deserves.
It automatically sets up a Lashley-Strowman feud, which might give us heel Lashley, which he is better at. Also, it keeps Roman Reigns out of the title picture for a while, which will also make the fans happy.
