Sunday, 14 August 2011

WWE Summerslam 2011 Predictions.

WWE’s ‘second biggest PPV’ is upon us once again. This years event has had its fair share of critics due to only 5 feature matches being announced, including a Divas match. Summerslam has seemingly been built around one match and one storyline… the situation with the WWE championship and while that’s all well and good, it would have been nice to see a little more thought put into the rest of the card.

A saving grace however, is the fact that the card is intriguing. Each match is hard to predict as all the participants either need a win or deserve a win. Anyway, no more wasting time…


Daniel Bryan vs Wade Barrett

The intrigue starts. Having won the Money in the Bank, it was clear Daniel Bryan was going to need a solid couple of months in order to be built up in the average WWE fan’s eyes. Daniel Bryan was a tremendous independent wrestler and has had some fantastic matches in the WWE with the likes of Dolph Ziggler and The Miz. However, to be a contender for the World Championship, he’s going to need some legitimisation. Wade Barrett set the WWE on fire with the original Nexus invasion and his main event run with John Cena but his hot streak was doused with his draft to Smackdown and his ‘just there to fill the void’ run with The Corre. I would argue that both men need the win here and both men COULD come out with victory. However, I think Daniel Bryan needs it more and Wade Barrett is the one to begin his legitimisation. This has the potential to be a great ‘hot opener’ with the hopes of a solid, technical, back and forth match. After multiple near falls, I’d look for Daniel Bryan to get the win in an incredibly hard fought victory.

Winner: Daniel Bryan

It must really suck to be WWE’s midcard right now. I really do think that we’ll get a Cody Rhodes vs Ezekiel Jackson rematch OR a Dolph Ziggler vs Kofi Kingston – United States Title match thrown into the mix. The question is, why the hell weren’t they announced? Way to treat your titles, WWE.

Sheamus vs Mark Henry

This isn’t going to be pretty. It’s not going to be full of finesse and technique. What it is going to be is an out and out brawl between two monstrous men. What I like about this match is that Sheamus can actually move, unlike Henry’s previous PPV opponent The Big Show. This is another match where both men need the win. Sheamus has begun a fresh face turn and needs the win to solidify the turn. Mark Henry on the other hand has been booked to be a dominant monster heel who destroys everything in his path, a loss here could dent that. Personally, I think Sheamus gets the win whether it be by disqualification or by pinfall. Mark Henry will pull some sort of stunt after the match, either by beating down Sheamus or someone/something else to gain back some heat.

Winner: Sheamus

Kelly Kelly vs Beth Phoenix for the Diva’s Title.

Kudo’s go out to the WWE for their Phoenix and Natalya heel turns and for making me care just a little bit for a Diva’s match. Honestly, I hope Beth annihilates Kelly Kelly and ushers in a new era for the Diva’s where wrestling ability and technique counts for something. Sure the Diva’s may be great to look at, but once they’ve made their entrances, no one gives a crap. Beth Phoenix needs and deserves the win.

Winner: Beth Phoenix

Christian vs Randy Orton in a no holds barred match for the World Heavyweight Championship

This feud has been great. It reminds me of old school feuds, you know, where rivalries actually lasted longer than a couple of weeks! This will be the 4th PPV they’ve had a one on one encounter and I’m expecting a similar level of quality from this match. It’s interesting to note that ever since Orton won the title from Christian, the Smackdown ratings (in the US) went down, down, down. However, since Christian won back the title, the ratings have risen to heights usually seen around the time of Wrestlemania. Coincidence? Maybe, but it would be interesting to see what would happen if Randy Orton won back the title once more. Again, this is hard to predict. Do WWE want to play it safe and put the title back around the waist of their supposed Smackdown golden boy, or, do they want to give Christian what he deserves? A title reign that lasts longer than a month! There is a lot of speculation surrounding Christian's comments to end this week's episode of Smackdown, where he said he just found something out, and all of a sudden went from being really worried about the match to being really confident about it. He then said that he has the "best thing going." Does this mean we’ll see Edge help out either Orton or Christian at Summerslam? I’m HOPING for a Christian win and a feud with Sheamus in the future. Fingers crossed.

Winner: Christian

CM Punk vs John Cena (w/ special referee Triple H) to become Undisputed WWE Champion.

This is the match everyone will be ordering the PPV for. CM Punk’s meteoric rise to well deserved prominence has (in my opinion) took the WWE by surprise. According to reports, their creative plans for the foreseeable future have been changed and re-drafted and Punk has become a huge face superstar. The Money in the Bank match the two had was a fantastic five-star match. Give them 35-40 minutes to work with once again. They have more than proved they have some great chemistry together and can put on a classic match. The only gripe I have with this match is the fact that Triple H is the special referee. Ever since his introduction as ‘Chief Operating Officer’ he’s been all over. Hogging up at least 20 minutes of Raw with his dull announcements, sometimes longer. Hogging Smackdown. It’s eerily reminiscent of his early 2000’s days. The match screams SCREWJOB. You can see it coming, but you don’t know who’s going to be on the receiving end. One outcome that CANNOT happen is John Cena winning cleanly, more or less destroying any momentum that CM Punk has built up. In a similar vein, I don’t think WWE will have CM Punk win cleanly over John Cena. This reinforces the screwjob theory, Triple H will get involved in someway and cost one of the two men the title. My prediction? Through hook or crook, CM Punk gets the win.

Winner: CM Punk.

Will Alberto Del Rio cash in? My gut feeling says yes.

I think the opening game of Man Utd’s premier league season affected the latter half of this blog’s coherence. Hopefully you got the gist though. As one of WWE’s ‘big four’ I’ve ordered this PPV live, I hope I won’t regret it like I did with WM 27.

Let me know your predictions in the comments, on facebook (www.facebook.com/richard.mcmaster3) or twitter www.twitter.com/crapminitweets

Thank You for reading and join me tomorrow for a full Summerslam review and thoughts.

Lets Talk Wrestling.

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