WWE SummerSlam 2020
August 23, 2020
Amway Center
Orlando, Florida

Watch: WWE Network

Meet our previewers

Rich Kraetsch: Supposedly this is the biggest party of the summer but I couldn’t get anyone to attend. I apologize in advance for any SummerFest references I make. Co-host of the VOW Flagship Podcast and currently doing a SummerSlam retrospective series on VoicesofWrestling.com/Patreon.

Jeff Hawkins:  Rich told me if no one volunteered, I had to do this or my show was canceled. So I’m here just so I don’t get fined. Co-host of Shake Them Ropes and occasional guest on other VOW shows, Fightful, and AfterBuzzTV. @Crapgame13 for my nonsense. 

Hair vs. Hair Match
Mandy Rose vs. Sonya Deville

Rich: This match took on much greatest importance and meaning earlier this week due to the frightening kidnapping attempt that occurred at Deville’s home. Reports later came out that Mandy Rose was the friend who accompanied and helped Deville escape. Now obviously pro wrestling is fake (sorry to break it to you) so you can just as easily ignore it and have your little match blowoff but with something as publicized and as harrowing as what happened to Deville and Rose, it’s hard to get into the mindset of “okay now let’s see them fight!” I assume WWE will just go on business as usual but the original plan of Deville losing her hair (or at I least I assume that was the plan), may get changed given Deville’s already a stress-filled week. I’m not sure where you go with this, to be honest. It stinks because of all the SummerSlam matches this one has been one of the more well-built and oddly anticipated. I’ll stick with Deville losing and getting her haircut but I feel like confident about that pick than I did this time last week. Prediction: Sonya Deville 

Jeff: While there have been hair vs. hair matches in the WWE, prior to the terrible talking hair segment, it hasn’t really been used as a prop since Shaska Whatley brandishing Jimmy Valiant’s ponytail and proudly called Valiant a bald headed geek. There’s no real crowd (other than the Thunderdome) so I just don’t see the value in chopping off Sonya’s locks (though I think that’s the likely outcome). I’m going to go against the grain and think Vince has a morality play in mind where Mandy is “made ugly” but the love of Otis shows us all that we can overcome our superficiality and be made stronger, which will enrage Sonya more. I’d also guess a few meat jokes thrown in to boot. Prediction: Sonya Deville

WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship
Bayley © vs. Asuka

Rich: This will be the 10th straight television show or PPV where Asuka will face one of Sasha Banks or Bayley. To say they’ve driven this feud into the ground and now into the earth’s molten core would be an understatement. I want to be excited about a match between two of the best women on the roster but given WWE’s propensity for fuck finishes with Bayley and Sasha, it’s hard to really sink your teeth into the meat of a match involving them. One of Sasha or Bayley is losing their titles at SummerSlam and I tend to think they’ll be more protective of Bayley’s championship so she can continue to extend her already lengthy run. My stone-cold lock prediction is they have a decent match trending towards best match of the night then there’s a ref bump, Sasha comes out, helps Bayley win. You know the score. Prediction: Bayley

Jeff:  Those of you know I’ve loved AUNT PAM ™ and sassy Sasha and screaming Asuka and all the ridiculousness therein (as I call it “the nonsense”). Double duty from Asuka? Here for it. Matches against Bayley and Sasha? Also here for it. WWE storytelling? Eh, guess I need to enjoy it for what it is, and this to me screams “planting seeds of dissent” amongst the friendship of the Golden Role Models. One is retaining and one is losing in my opinion. Since I think Bayley will end up being the heel of the two, she finally overcomes her nemesis Asuka by Sasha interference (or gets DQ’d) and becomes more obnoxious for it…and it will be awesome. Prediction Bayley (or she at least retains)

WWE RAW Women’s Championship
Sasha Banks © vs. Asuka

Rich: *Tape rewind noise* This will be the 10th straight television show or PPV where Asuka will face one of Sasha Banks or Bayley. To say they’ve driven this feud into the ground and now into the earth’s molten core would be an understatement. I want to be excited about a match between two of the best women on the roster but given WWE’s propensity for fuck finishes with Bayley and Sasha, it’s hard to really sink your teeth into the meat of a match involving them. One of Sasha or Bayley is losing their titles at SummerSlam and I tend to think they’ll be more protective of Bayley’s championship so she can continue to extend her already lengthy run. My stone-cold lock prediction is they have a decent match trending towards best match of the night then there’s a ref bump, Bayley comes out, tries to help Sasha win but fails and Asuka wins the title, beginning the breakup for Sasha and Bayley win. Prediction: Asuka

Jeff: Now for the flipside. The other truism involved in this angle besides “Bayley can’t beat Asuka” is that “Sasha can’t defend a title.” We’re going to go hard into the skid here and she’s going to lose again, either because Bayley can’t help (I’m thinking Shayna Baszler and friends) or doesn’t help (the better of the two options). Now if Sasha is going to be the heel she will break her losing streak and become more obnoxious and then not be able to/chooses not to help Bayley. But in my opinion, Asuka moves on to Shayna and Jessamyn Duke/Marina Shafir (or as @ChrisNovembrino calls them “Fight and Play”). Prediction: Asuka

Powered by RedCircle

Street Fight
Dominik Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins

Rich: An utterly ridiculous build to a match that I cannot even fathom being invested in or caring about. WWE has spent more time promoting DOMINIK than most of their home-grown or acquired talents. Numerous far more talented men and women have fallen by the wayside, been forgotten or otherwise ignored yet we need to find a way to get DOMINIK in a top spot at SummerSlam? Honestly, I don’t really care if DOMINIK gets his ass kicked by the Monday Night Messiah? I don’t really care that he’s avenging his father’s eye. I don’t care. The match itself will probably be fine because despite being the dork of all dorks, Rollins is still an exceptional pro wrestler but DOMINIK is probably baseline good given his bloodlines. I’m just at a loss for who could honestly give a shit about this story or this match. Prediction: Seth Rollins

Jeff: The most intriguing story is behind the scenes, as AEW has allegedly offered to match WWE’s offer for Rey Mysterio. When this gets uploaded, that might have been resolved, but I think the smart money is Rey stays with WWE, if for no other reason, fathers aren’t going screw up future business for their sons. Streetfight means Rey is doing some wrestling, but Vince booking is whoever got the upper hand on the go-home show proceeds to lose the match. Dad can then get revenge. Cane Dominik, then cane Dewey, just for good measure. Prediction: Seth Rollins

WWE United States Championship
Apollo Crews © vs. MVP

Rich: Second only to Seth Rollins in dorkness, Apollo got punked out on RAW and took a visual pinfall from Bobby Lashley. Sunday, he’s going to lose to MVP. Along the way, he’s probably going to get turned on by one of his friends. Maybe the lights will flicker a few times. Hey, can you believe that MVP, at age 46, has been one of the key figures in 2020 WWE television? Wild times. Prediction: MVP

Jeff: WWE mysteries aren’t hard: it’s either the guy you think it is, or something out of left field that makes no sense (a second Erik Rowan for example). Cedric Alexander is kind of going down the Dakota Kai road, and they’ve teased it with an MVP “pep talk.” Look, when was the last time everything wasn’t dumbed down in a WWE mystery? Remember the “who jumped Ciampa” mystery? The first guy we saw was Johnny Gargano. Who was the culprit? Johnny Gargano. There is never a cool Keyser Soze reveal with bread crumbs where you should have known the whole time but then get blown away (I’m no fun, I knew as soon as I saw Spacey smoking a cigarette in a European fashion after the lineup he wasn’t who he said he was). So Cedric is probably turning. But the other options would have no reason and be out of left field, so if Ali turns, he’ll come out and say “you people never supported me.” Apollo’s probably losing the title, Cedric joins the Hurt Business, and then he and Shelton battle for a piece of MVP’s affection for Bobby Lashley while going 50-50 with the small quick guys. Prediction: MVP

WWE RAW Tag Team Championship
The Street Profits © vs. Andrade & Angel Garza

Rich: No match better represents that I dislike about modern WWE storytelling than the build to The Street Profits vs. Andrade & Angel Garza. It’s not enough to have two very good tag teams with opposing women managers battle to prove who is better. It’s not enough to have singles matches building to a tag match or even have both teams go on big win streaks before they finally met at the big pay-per-view. Nope, you need someone to get poisoned on the show. You need the most obvious person in the universe to be revealed as the poisoning mastermind weeks after we all knew who it was. Wrestling is not that hard but WWE continues to find ways to overcomplicate it. Instead of being excited to watch two tremendous teams battle it out for tag team supremacy, I need to be hit over the head with Montez Ford’s poisoning and a bunch of camera shots of Zelina Vega while these two teams bust their ass for no real purpose. It’s not that hard! Prediction: The Street Profits

Jeff: See above. Of course, it was Zelina who poisoned Montez after denying it. Street Profits get revenge. Bianca gets a spot against Zelina. Pretty straight ahead. Prediction: The Street Profits

WWE Universal Championship
Braun Strowman © vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt

Rich: Kill me now. Cinematic horseshit (most likely) and D-level acting that our good friends at r/SquaredCircle will consider Academy Award level because they clearly don’t consume any other forms of media but World Wrestling Entertainment Sports Entertainment. Prediction: The fucking rabbit or something who cares

Jeff: Who cares? This is going to be overdramatic and wrought with hyperbole. Something’s going to happen with Alexa and Braun will probably have to choose between friendship or his humanity. They’ve been teasing Braun going down the heel path for a while, and I assume Alexa will be redemption. I just don’t know if he lays down for Bray or if he’s merely going to go down the path until the love of a good woman shows him the light. Let’s go with Braun being the puppet when Bray lies down for him. Prediction: Braun Strowman

WWE Championship
Drew McIntyre © vs. Randy Orton

Rich: For all of the things I dislike about modern WWE, this has been a build that connects with me. It’s simple, logical, point a to point b to point c booking. Drew McIntyre is defending his title against the cagey veteran Randy Orton. Things have been a little too trope-y over the last few weeks as Orton has taken out both Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels, two guys that have been used in similar roles for what seems like a decade now. While I didn’t need the legend killer taking out legends, it hasn’t taken me out of the story or make me any less excited for the match itself. The problem is, the Flair “punt” where the lights went out at impact seemed all too convenient. The obvious idea is that Flair can’t actually bump so they used Retributions light tricks at the perfect time so that Flair could get destroyed but didn’t actually have to take a hit. That’s well and good but I’m thinking there’s something bigger at hand. My first thought is Orton is the leader or aligned with Retribution and the lights out was a ruse leading to Flair turning on and costing McIntyre the title. Maybe not. Maybe Drew defies the odds and just beats Orton but from the moment this match was announced I felt Orton was walking out of SummerSlam as champion and now more than ever I’m in that direction. The specifics of how it happens I’m not sure just yet but Orton will be holding that title high above his head at the conclusion of SummerSlam. Prediction: Randy Orton

Jeff: Randy Orton has grown on me and in many ways, I’m here for grizzled “give no fucks” Orton much like I was for Batista. I don’t understand the praise for certain aspects of this story. Ric Flair doesn’t get sympathy from me anymore, mostly because he’s been so overused in the “does something heelish but is then sent away” it doesn’t move the needle for me anymore. I half expect Flair to reappear to cheer on Drew and punch him the nuts. Maybe Sting comes back to help Drew. Do you take the title off of Drew? I don’t think so. Will this feud continue? Probably. Drew gets the win but gets destroyed after the match. God help us if Randy is the secret leader of Retribution. Prediction: Drew McIntyre