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WWE's biggest party of the summer - SummerSlam - is just a few days away. While it is built as the second biggest show of the year, it can't be argued that this year's SummerSlam card looks a bit underwhelming.
However, there are plenty of matches that the fans are looking forward to, including Brock Lesnar vs Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens vs Shane McMahon.
As we had reported, as per WON, both the Tag Team Championships (RAW and SmackDown) will not be defended on the show, and neither will the Intercontinental Championship find a place on the card.
Let us take a look at 5 possible reasons that WWE decided to keep these Championships off the card:
#5 No time for a proper build
No matter how absurd they are at times, one of the key ingredients to the PPV matches on WWE is the build-up to the match on RAW and SmackDown.
WWE likes to put the focus on the story of a feud instead of announcing matches at random - especially for the bigger PPVs. Therefore, it is understandable that the company doesn't want to feature any match with a poor build on the card of the second biggest show of the year.
SummerSlam is less than a week away now, and with only one more episode of both RAW and SmackDown to go, it is unlikely that WWE will be able to come up with a propelling story to have these Championships defended at the show. Most of the TV time in recent weeks was also used to build top-tier matches.
The Wild Card rule also certainly did not help, as the same feuds continued to get a build for SummerSlam on both RAW and SmackDown in the run-up to SummerSlam.
Also Read: Retired 4-time WWE Champion set to return for SummerSlam
#4 Vince McMahon still sees the Tag Team division as secondary
WWE has certainly improved the Tag Team divisions of both the brands over recent years - thanks, in particular, to teams like The New Day and The Usos - who made Tag Team wrestling a must-watch after years of neglect. However, it is clear that the Chairman, who was never very fond of Tag Team wrestling, is still not sold on the popularity of the division.
While other promotions such as Impact Wrestling, AEW, and even WWE's own NXT place much significance on the tag team division, it is rather unfortunate that both the tag team belts will go undefended at the second biggest WWE PPV of the year.
The New Day and OC will certainly be a part SummerSlam, but will most likely only appear in the corner of their faction members Kofi Kingston and AJ Styles respectively for their matches.
#3 Still no major plans for Shinsuke Nakamura
Shinsuke Nakamura shocked the WWE Universe when he unceremoniously beat Finn Balor for the Intercontinental Championship on the pre-show of Extreme Rules. However, instead of building a program around the two former NJPW stars, WWE decided to make Finn Balor the first prey of The Fiend Bray Wyatt - and the two will be squaring off against each other at SummerSlam.
Meanwhile, Nakamura has had some stellar matches with Apollo Crews and Ali over the past few weeks, yet it doesn't look like creative has any major plans for him and the title win could merely be a consolation prize for re-signing with WWE.
#2 More time to build Ali
Ali defeated Shinsuke on the latest edition of SmackDown, making it clear that he will eventually get a shot at the IC Championship.
It is possible that Nakamura is merely a placeholder and WWE want to build Ali as a future megastar before the former cop goes onto win his first Championship in WWE by defeating the Japanese sensation.
#1 WWE doesn't want the show to go on for too long
While WWE has been delivering on the quality of the matches in the recent PPVs, one complaint the fans have had with the company is that the PPVs are way too long.
WrestleMania this year was a shocking 7 hours of continuous WWE action, and while the fans enjoyed the show, it was a bit too much. Even 'secondary' PPVs like Extreme Rules or HIAC cross the 3-hour mark which drains the energy of the fans by the time the main event rolls out.
It is quite possible that WWE don't want any such thing to happen at SummerSlam and thus don't want to clutter the card with unnecessary matches. This would ensure the matches on the card can average decent times.
It can be argued that talented Superstars like The New Day and Shinsuke Nakamura are being kept off the card only to make way for part-timers like Trish Stratus and possibly Goldberg, It must be noted that major Superstars returning always helps in generating more fan interest.
