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What’s the story?
After last night’s Raw and today's SmackDown, the SummerSlam match card for this Sunday has begun to take fuller shape as a further two matches were confirmed for the event on Monday night.
No additions were made on this week's SmackDown Live.
In case you didn’t know...
Sasha Banks defeated Nia Jax in a number one contender’s match for the Raw Women’s Championship and will, therefore, go on to face reigning Champion, Alexa Bliss, for the gold at the ‘Biggest Party of the Summer’.
Elsewhere, the tease of a partial Shield reunion continued on Raw and led to Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins finally getting on the same page and uniting for the iconic Shield fist bump pose. General Manager, Kurt Angle, would go on to announce that Ambrose & Rollins will challenge Cesaro & Sheamus for the Raw Tag Team Titles this Sunday.
The heart of the matter
These additions have taken the number of matches currently announced for SummerSlam up to 11, or possibly 12 if Neville receives his contractual rematch after losing his Cruiserweight Championship to Akira Tozawa last night.
The Raw brand has confirmed the following matches for this Sunday:
Brock Lesnar (C) vs. Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe vs. Braun Strowman – WWE Universal Championship match
Alexa Bliss (C) vs. Sasha Banks – WWE Raw Women’s Championship match
Big Show vs. Big Cass – With Enzo Amore suspended above the ring in a shark cage
‘The Demon’ Finn Bálor vs. Bray Wyatt
Cesaro & Sheamus (C) vs. Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins – WWE Raw Tag Team Championship match
Meanwhile on Smackdown Live, prior to Tuesday’s go-home show, the following matches have been announced for Sunday:
Jinder Mahal (C) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – WWE Championship match
Naomi (C) vs. Natalya – WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship match
AJ Styles (C) vs. Kevin Owens – WWE United States Championship match (with Shane McMahon as special guest referee)
Randy Orton vs. Rusev
The New Day (C) vs. The Usos – WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship match
John Cena vs. Baron Corbin
What’s next?
SummerSlam will take place this Sunday, August 20th, from Brooklyn, New York and it is scheduled to be a 4-hour event.
Author’s take
The match card for this Sunday is looking strong and has been built well, particularly on Raw’s side of things.
The main event match of Lesnar vs. Joe vs. Reigns vs. Strowman is capable of headlining any event and is the clear marquee match for this year’s SummerSlam. Add to that the Ambrose/Rollins story and the return of Finn Bálor’s ‘Demon’ character and there is plenty to look forward to from the red brand this weekend.
As for Smackdown Live, their side looks significantly weaker and they will have to pull out something pretty special on tonight’s go-home show to rival Raw in terms of anticipation for SummerSlam.
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