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Ever since WrestleMania 34, the WWE Universe has been speculating about which matches we could witness at the next ‘Big 4’ pay-per-view of the year, SummerSlam, in Brooklyn on 19 August.
So far, six matches have been announced for the event, including Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns (Universal Championship), AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe (WWE Championship) and Alexa Bliss vs. Ronda Rousey (Raw Women’s Championship).
Elsewhere on the card, Dolph Ziggler will defend the Intercontinental Championship against Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens will challenge Braun Strowman for his Money In The Bank contract, and Becky Lynch will attempt to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship from Carmella.
Overall, despite some criticisms from fans about too many rematches happening on the show, the SummerSlam card is shaping up quite nicely, especially considering that Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz also looks set to be added to the event.
But, as ever with big WWE shows, there are quite a few matches that were initially rumoured to happen at this year’s “Biggest Party of the Summer” that will definitely not take place, so let’s take a look at five of them.
#5 The Deleters of Worlds vs. The Authors of Pain
The Authors of Pain’s stop-start beginning to main-roster life looked to be heading in the right direction following two victories over Titus Worldwide on Monday Night Raw, with many fans expecting the monstrous duo to enter the Raw Tag Team Championship picture.
At the same time, The Deleters of Worlds were performing well as a tag team, defeating The Bar at the Greatest Royal Rumble before picking up multiple wins on Raw against the likes of The Revival and The Ascension, but they then surprisingly lost their tag titles to The B-Team at Extreme Rules.
Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt have already lost their rematch for the titles, so it’s safe to say that a Raw Tag Team Championship encounter with AOP at SummerSlam can now be officially ruled out.
#4 The Bludgeon Brothers vs. SAnitY
As soon as SAnitY was called up to SmackDown Live in the Superstar Shake-Up, the trio looked destined to challenge the equally menacing Bludgeon Brothers for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships in the not-too-distant future.
However, despite some impressive moments in their first couple of months on the blue brand, SAnitY hasn’t won as many matches as expected and they were defeated by The New Day in the tag team #1 contender tournament this past Tuesday.
Long-term, we’re bound to see Harper & Rowan collide with Killian Dain & Alexander Wolfe (w/Eric Young) at some point in a title match, but it certainly won’t be happening at SummerSlam.
#3 Brock Lesnar vs. Bobby Lashley
When Bobby Lashley was linked with a return to WWE in early 2018, several reports suggested that he was being brought back to the company so he could face Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.
As early as this past Monday, that ‘dream’ match looked like it could still be on the cards, but Roman Reigns’ victory over “The Dominator” on Raw means Lesnar vs. Lashley will definitely not happen at this year’s event.
With “The Beast” seemingly set to return to UFC in early 2019, there isn’t much time left for WWE to book this never-before-seen match.
#2 Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins
Four months ago, we wrote a similar article about five rumoured matches that were no longer going to happen at WrestleMania 34, with Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins appearing at the top of the list.
Well, four months on and with “The Lunatic Fringe” yet to make his return to WWE television, we can safely say that this long-awaited battle between the two Shield members definitely won’t take place at SummerSlam.
Rollins is already scheduled to face Dolph Ziggler in a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship, while the only realistic chance of Ambrose coming back before the event was this week on Raw in his hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, but he didn’t make an appearance.
#1 Sasha Banks vs. Bayley
Things can change very quickly in the crazy world of WWE, so unlike the rest of the matches on this list, there’s still a very small chance that the much-anticipated encounter between Sasha Banks and Bayley could still happen at SummerSlam.
But, in all likelihood, the two frenemies finally look set to be on the same page following their counselling session and after Sasha opened up to Bayley about how she really feels about her best friend, so it doesn’t look like WWE is going to push ahead with this rivalry just yet.
It’s much more likely that the two will stay together at least until the Evolution PPV in October or until WWE decides to introduce Women’s Tag Team Championships at some point down the line.
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