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It’s the Biggest Party of the Summer and you’re all invited! WWE will send the summer season off with a bang as this Sunday WWE SummerSlam 2020 will emulate live on the WWE Network from the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida.
Not only will this be the first major WWE event held outside of the Performance Center since March, but it will be the first one with actual fans in attendance, albeit not physically. This is all thanks to the new WWE Thunderdome experience.
SummerSlam is one of WWE's important PPVs of the year. With ratings in a bit of a slump and major sports officially back in full swing, expect WWE to put on a show that fans won’t forget. As of now, there are eight matches currently scheduled for this Sunday's show.
On the RAW side of the card, Apollo Crews will defend the United States Championship against MVP, with the stipulation being that the Hurt Business is banned from ringside.
Sasha Banks will put the RAW Women’s Championship against Asuka. Dominik Mysterio will make his in-ring debut as he takes on Seth Rollins in a Street Fight.
The Street Profits will defend the RAW Tag Team Championships against Andrade and Angel Garza. In the main event for the Red brand, Drew McIntyre faces his greatest challenge yet, as he takes on Randy Orton with the WWE Championship up for grabs.
On the SmackDown side of the card, Mandy Rose will take on Sonya Deville in a Hair v. Hair match. Bayley will defend the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Asuka, who will be pulling double duty at SummerSlam. In the main event for the Blue brand, Braun Strowman will put the Universal Championship on the line against 'The Fiend' Bray Wyatt.
With that being said, here are five things that can happen at WWE SummerSlam 2020. What are your thoughts and predictions? Leave them in the comments below and make sure to stay tuned to Sportskeeda for the latest breaking news and rumors as SummerSlam draws near.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the article belong to the writer and doesn't necessarily represent Sportskeeda's stand.
#5 Braun Strowman and The Fiend will pull off a double turn at SummerSlam
After facing Firefly Fun House and “Eater of Worlds” versions of Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman faces his toughest challenge to date, as he faces off with The Fiend at SummerSlam for the Univeral Championship.
Strowman made fairly easy work of Firefly Fun House Bray back at Money in the Bank, while Wyatt was the last man standing at Extreme Rules in their Swamp Match. Now, The Fiend has been unleashed and he is coming for Strowman’s Universal Championship. However, there is a new interesting twist to this story and that is Alexa Bliss.
The Fiend put the Mandible Claw on Bliss a few weeks ago in an attempt to get Strowman’s attention. She then appeared with him in what appears to be a trance. However, Strowman, the babyface in this story, said that he “doesn’t give a damn about Alexa” in what was a surprisingly heelish type promo. This has led some to question if there is another twist coming, and that could be a double turn at SummerSlam. This was fueled even further last week on SmackDown when Bliss confronted Strowman and he acted like a heel once again and even manhandled The Goddess before The Fiend appeared.
The story for the double turn can be simple as well. The Fiend transforms anyone he feuds with, sans Goldberg, back to their former characters.
The Fiend can change Strowman back to a heel at SummerSlam. The Monster Among Men did some of his best work as a heel, especially during his feud with Roman Reigns in 2017. It can also be explained that the Fiend is “healing” Alexa Bliss and trying to protect her from Strowman, who doesn’t seem to care about her.
The last time WWE had a memorable double turn was back in 2013 with Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio, so it’s been a while since we’ve seen one. This one at SummerSlam would also be more impactful and interesting because Strowman would be back in his element as a heel, and we would get a babyface version of The Fiend, which would be very interesting to see.
It will be interesting to see if WWE would be able to pull this off at SummerSlam.
#4 Ric Flair will help Randy Orton win the WWE Championship at SummerSlam
On last week’s edition of RAW, we saw Randy Orton take his latest run to the next level as he Punt Kicked Ric Flair, after an emotional promo between the two. However, was this all just a major setup between the two for SummerSlam to catch WWE Champion, Drew McIntyre, off guard?
The major thing to note about the segment on RAW was that the lights kept flickering and went off right as Orton was about to hit the Punt Kick on Flair. However, WWE can use this as a way to explain that Flair never took the Punt Kick and realign him with Orton.
A scenario that can happen is that Orton is about to win at SummerSlam and the referee is down. Flair can then come down to the ring and people will think he is about to cost Orton the match. Instead, The Nature Boy will assist The Viper and help him capture his 14th World Championship at SummerSlam. This way, you have a new champion in Orton, while at the same time, keeping McIntyre looks strong as he didn’t lose cleanly.
The major question is what, if any, role the new stable Retribution will play during this feud at SummerSlam. The lights flickering and going out was their job, but the question is why would it be done during the Orton/Flair segment when Retribution has no specific target? Only time will tell.
#3 Aleister Black will turn heel and join Seth Rollins' stable at SummerSlam
Aleister Black has been in a bit of a pickle lately. Not only has he finally lost his first singles match since coming to RAW, but he has been on the receiving ends of brutal beatdowns. They say pain changes a person, so could this be leading to a change in character for Black at SummerSlam?
There have been rumblings of Black undergoing some type of character change, and to add fuel to those rumors he has been posting heel like posts on social media as of late. A possible heel turn for Black would make some sense as well.
It never did make sense for Black to defend Rey Mysterio and his son. It just doesn’t fit the dark character that he is supposed to be portraying. As mentioned before, Black has been on the wrong end of beatdowns lately, so why not join the winning side at SummerSlam?
Not only would a heel turn be a breath of fresh air to Black and his character, but a team between him and Murphy would be entertaining and immediate threats to the Tag Team titles.
A scenario that can happen is that Rollins and Murphy are beating down Dominik and Rey Mysterio when all of a sudden Black comes out to make the save but actually ends up hitting the Black Mass on Dominik and his father before walking away at SummerSlam.
#2 Asuka will win at least one of the Women's Titles at SummerSlam
The Golden Role Models will have their hands full at SummerSlam. Not only will Sasha Banks defend the RAW Women’s Championship against Asuka, but Bayley will defend the SmackDown Women’s Championship against The Empress Of Tomorrow as well.
This comes after Asuka won a Triple Branded Battle Royal for the right to challenge Bayley at Summerslam.
While it’s highly unlikely Asuka leaves SummerSlam with both belts, it seems like a guarantee that she will have one of them in her hands.
Sasha Banks just won the RAW Women’s Championship a few weeks ago after Bayley took out Kairi Sane and Asuka sacrificed the match to save her friend. Not only did she just win the title, but The Boss has had a track record of not successfully defending her Championships after she’s won them. Another short reign for Banks might cause fan backlash and sour fans on the brewing feud between The Golden Role Models.
Meanwhile, Bayley has held the SmackDown Women’s Championship since last October. She has pretty much run through every woman on the SmackDown roster from Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross to Lacey Evans. The fact that WWE had to have a triple brand Battle Royal and have Asuka win it shows the lack of competitors for the Role Model on the Blue brand. WWE can do the Banks and Bayley feud with just one title, and the RAW Women’s Championship would be the right one for it.
It’s safe to assume that the two title matches will either occur back to back or with some time in between them. The RAW Women’s title match should go first and that match should end with Bayley helping Banks retain. However, Asuka snaps and destroys Banks, which leaves The Role Model all alone.
Despite Bayley screaming for help, The Boss does not show up at SummerSlam to save her friend. With these results at SummerSlam, you can tease even more dissension between the two, which leads into their Tag Team title match at Payback. The Golden Role Models could drop the Tag Team titles and that would be the perfect place to trigger the feud between the two.
#1 Cedric Alexander will turn heel and joins the Hurt Business at SummerSlam
Ever since his return to WWE at the Royal Rumble, MVP has been one of the best things about the RAW brand, not to mention WWE as a whole. Not only has he been cutting great promos, but he has elevated Bobby Lashley to the next level and he is finally being booked the way fans wanted since he returned to WWE in 2018. He also made Shelton Benjamin relevant again and allowed The Gold Standard to finally have time on television. However, will they be adding a new member at SummerSlam?
For the past month and a half, MVP has been trying to recruit Ricochet and Cedric Alexander to join the Hurt Business. This was going on during the period where United States Champion Apollo Crews was off television. Both Ricochet and Alexander have declined the offer so far, but some interesting seeds were planted on RAW this past Monday.
Crews won a match against Benjamin, meaning that Lashley and Benjamin will be banned from ringside this Sunday during the United States Championship match. The Hurt Business then attacked Apollo until Ricochet, Alexander and Mustafa Ali made the save.
MVP then challenged Apollo and two others to a Six-man Elimination Tag Team match for later in the night. Apollo chose Ricochet and Ali but left out Alexander due to the former Cruiserweight Champion recovering from Lashley’s attack on him.
MVP talked to Alexander backstage, who was upset about being left out of the match. MVP then planted the seeds for Alexander to join the Hurt Business. During the match, Alexander came out to ringside and won the 24/7 Championship from Benjamin. However, his reign was short-lived as Benjamin won back the title from him later on in the night.
On his Twitter account, Alexander tweeted “Something needs to change”. Could this be teasing a heel turn at SummerSlam?
A scenario that can play out is that Apollo has MVP on the ropes before Lashley and Benjamin attempts to distract him while abiding by the banned from the ringside rule at SummerSlam. Ricochet, Ali, and Alexander can come out to help even the odds, but then the former Cruiserweight Champion shocks everyone and turns heel, costing Crews the United States Championship At SummerSlam.
A heel turn is much needed for Alexander, who is great in the ring, but lacks in promo skills.
As a heel and with MVP in his corner, this could elevate Alexander to the next level and fans can take him seriously.
It would be interesting to see this happen at SummerSlam as The Hurt Business could also use someone like Alexander in their ranks.
Teddy Long snaps when Swerve Strickland's race is brought up HERE
