WWE SummerSlam 2018: 5 most likely title changes

All nine of WWE’s main-roster championships will be on the line at this Sunday’s SummerSlam event in Brooklyn, New York.

From the Raw brand, Roman Reigns will challenge Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship and Seth Rollins will do battle with Dolph Ziggler over the Intercontinental Championship, while Ronda Rousey will face Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women’s Championship and The B-Team will put their Raw Tag Team Championships on the line against The Revival.

From the SmackDown Live brand, AJ Styles and Samoa Joe will go head-to-head for the WWE Championship and Jeff Hardy will get his rematch against Shinsuke Nakamura for the United States Championship, while The New Day will challenge The Bludgeon Brothers for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships and Carmella will defend the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.

Elsewhere, Drew Gulak will get his long-awaited opportunity against Cedric Alexander for the Cruiserweight Championship, and Sunday's non-title matches will include Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens (Money In The Bank contract match) and Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz.

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In this article, let’s rank the five most probable title changes that could take place at this year’s “Biggest Party of the Summer”.

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#5 WWE Championship

Samoa Joe will challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Championship

It’s crazy to think that AJ Styles has held the WWE Championship since November 2017 but he is yet to defend the title in the main event of a dual-brand pay-per-view, with the Universal Championship (and even Intercontinental Championship) headlining ahead of SmackDown Live’s top prize in recent months.

For that reason, it feels like Styles’ WWE title reign – the 14th longest in history – hasn’t been quite as ‘phenomenal’ as the man himself.

After victories over Jinder Mahal, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev over the last nine months, as well as John Cena, Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin in a multi-man match at Fastlane, Styles faces arguably his toughest challenge yet when he takes on Samoa Joe at SummerSlam.

“The Destroyer” is yet to win gold on the main roster but he is ready-made for a lengthy run with one of the company’s top titles, so don’t count out seeing Styles’ reign end at 285 days on Sunday.

#4 Intercontinental Championship

Dolph Ziggler won the Intercontinental title on Raw in June

Credit to WWE – SummerSlam is very difficult to predict this year. The Intercontinental Championship match is especially tough to gauge due to the return of Dean Ambrose, which could prove either a help or hindrance to Seth Rollins.

“The Kingslayer” has been screwed out of several matches in recent weeks following interference from Dolph Ziggler and/or Drew McIntyre, and this Sunday is probably going to be his final opportunity to regain the IC title from Dolph.

With Ambrose in his corner, there’s a chance that Rollins’ night goes horribly wrong and he ends up on the receiving end of an attack from his fellow Shield member, but that doesn’t mean he can’t also win the IC title!

#3 Raw Tag Team Championships

Will The Revival finally win the tag titles on Sunday?

Heading into the most recent episode of Monday Night Raw, it looked like WWE could produce another pre-SummerSlam title change – Akira Tozawa defeated Neville for the Cruiserweight Championship last year – when The B-Team were forced to defend their Raw Tag Team titles against The Revival and The Deleters of Worlds.

As it turned out, Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas were able to escape with the victory, retaining their titles in the process, but will they be so lucky when they take on The Revival again this Sunday?

While The B-Team’s short title reign has been fun, Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder look like the favourites to win this kickoff show match.

#2 Universal Championship

Brock Lesnar attacked Paul Heyman on Raw recently

You’ve probably heard a ton of times that the Universal Championship is likely to change hands before a pay-per-view and it hasn’t happened, right? Well, on this occasion, the odds are well and truly stacked against Brock Lesnar and it seems more realistic now than ever that the UFC-bound star could finally lose his title.

Would WWE really book this unwanted match for the third time in four months if it’s going to result in the same outcome as the two previous meetings? Is Paul Heyman really sticking by Lesnar after his actions two weeks ago? And will there be a Money In The Bank cash-in?

However you look at it, there are so many ways that Lesnar could lose his title on Sunday.

#1 Raw Women’s Championship

Ronda Rousey failed to defeat Nia Jax for the title at Money In The Bank

Given the number of Superstars loosely involved in the Raw Women’s Championship storyline right now, it’s not impossible that somebody could cause a distraction to cost Ronda Rousey from defeating Alexa Bliss at SummerSlam.

But, in all likelihood, and with plenty of media appearances set to take place in the build-up to WWE’s first women’s PPV, Evolution, in October, the obvious favourite to walk out of Brooklyn with the title has to be “The Baddest Woman On The Planet”.

Besides, Alexa has faced almost everyone there is to face on Raw, while Ronda is just getting started and could have marquee matches against Sasha Banks, Bayley and plenty of others in the next few months as champion.