411 PPV Roundtable Preview – WWE SummerSlam 2012

Introduction

This Sunday, it’s time for the biggest party of the summer, and WWE’s alleged second-biggest PPV of the year, SummerSlam 2012. WWE tends to stack this card likes it’s nobody’s business, and on paper, this year is no exception. In the undercard, Daniel Bryan continues to earn the wrath of Raw’s GM, AJ Lee, and as a result must face the Big Red Monster, Kane. Meanwhile, Dolph Ziggler looks to prove once and for all that Chris Jericho has lost his touch as he squares off with Y2J. Plus, Kofi Kingston and R-Truth try to retain their WWE Tag Team titles one more time against the Prime Time Players, and The Miz puts his Intercontinental title up for grabs against the newly-returned Rey Mysterio.

And in the main events, World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus faces the Mexican Aristocrat Alberto Del Rio yet again, while CM Punk defends both his beliefs and his WWE Title against John Cena and The Big Show in a massive Triple Threat match. And finally, after months of build, Triple H will get his hands on Brock Lesnar, but after Lesnar destroyed his best friend Shawn Michaels last week on Raw, will Triple H be feeling his potential mortality?

With such a gigantic event, the 411 Staff must also be present, offering their thoughts on the show you’ll see this Sunday. Let’s get to their picks.

The Staff

Stephen Randle, The Wrestling News Experience

TJ Hawke, Views From The Hawke’s Nest

Michael Weyer, Shining A Spotlight

Robert S. Leighty Jr, From The Bowery

Jack Bramma, Ring Crew Reviews

Greg DeMarco, The Wrestling 5&1

James Wright, The Heel Report

Santino Marella © vs Antonio Cesaro
WWE United States Championship
YouTube Pre-Show Match

Stephen Randle: So the worry is that Cesaro isn’t “showing them anything” despite him not being booked to do anything in particular, so you’d think this would be where they put the belt on him and see if he gets over that way (because that’s how you book titles, right?) However, tapings for Saturday Morning Slam have Santino with the belt. So, which is more important, getting new talent over, or consistency in their throwaway new kid-friendly wrestling show that features absolutely no “targeting the neck” whatsoever? Come on, you know the answer to that.

Winner: Santino Marella

TJ Hawke: Antonio Cesaro is a huge (in a good way) man that can walk and work main event style matches very effectively. He is the true definition of a blue-chip prospect. And he is about to job to the dude who wears a snake sock on his arm.

Winner: Santino

Michael Weyer: I like Santino as champ, really do, he’s goofy but able to carry the belt well. I don’t see them dropping it just yet, certainly not on a match not seen on the big show. So he’ll find a way to retain but still let Antonio get a bit of a rub to set up future battles.

Winner and STILL US Champion: Santino Marella

Robert S. Leighty Jr: Pulling for Cesaro for simple fact that a title change may at least get the US Title some mention on WWE programming. However, I can’t see title changing hands on YouTube, or maybe I can. What the hell, I will go with the mild upset.

Winner: Antonio Cesaro

Jack Bramma: Very European Claudio deserves better. The KOW and Claudio as a singles guy were one of the best acts in wrestling in the late 2000s, but I digress. Hopefully, he gets some momentum going, but I don’t see it happening yet.

Winner: Santino

Greg DeMarco: Will the WWE actually give away the United States Championship title change for free? One could argue that far less people will see it on Sunday (despite being on YouTube, Facebook, and WWE.com), versus running it Monday or Friday. But the WWE is hell bent on becoming the leader in social media, so I think that argument is moot. In fact, they put the tag team titles on The Smoking Guns on the Free For All airing as part of WrestleMania XII. So the precedent is there.

As for the match itself, we tend to forget that Santino can wrestle when called upon to do so. And I think he’ll impress some of us who have in fact forgotten with this match. I really think Cesaro has a bright future in the WWE, but the time is now for them to elevate him. And I think they will, starting with SummerSlam. Cesaro for the win.

Winner: Antonio Cesaro (NEW United States Champion)

James Wright: Since there have apparently been concern over Cesaro needing a ‘break out moment’ you would think that he would be going on to beat Santino in this pre-show match. But then again apparently on the taping for the new Saturday morning show, Santino came out to commentate on a match and he had the US belt, seemingly showing that he is going to win on Sunday. Now conjecture aside I think that Cesaro should win this match, as if he doesn’t it will kill his momentum dead. The only exception would be if his actions on last week’s Smackdown when he attacked Christian after their match will lead to a feud between the two. Then you could argue that it is better that he doesn’t pick up the belt as really at this point the US title is just dead weight anyway. So with that optimism in mind, I’ll pull for Santino.

Winner: Santino

Daniel Bryan vs Kane

Stephen Randle: Well, we know Kane’s not going to tap out. Also, I’d assume that AJ gets involved, so Daniel Bryan must eat some humiliation. Bet you’re all glad we get this match and Del Rio in the main event instead of the most over guy in WWE getting a World title, right?

Winner: Kane

TJ Hawke: I’ve seen a lot of hate for this match, but as long as this is not a squash, I expect this to be quite the good match. Based on crowd reactions, I see no reason for Bryan to lose this match, but that’s probably wishful thinking on my part.

Winner: Kane

Michael Weyer: The storyline has been rough but it’s Bryan so it should be a good match nonetheless. Look for Kane to batter him around for a while but in the end, Bryan manages a pin although I expect a Kane beat-down afterward to continue this pain for us all.

Winner: Daniel Bryan

Robert S. Leighty Jr: Bryan is becoming a staple in the Main Event scene, and Kane I guess is turning face? I actually think this could be a solid match as Bryan can work a good big man/little man match, and Kane can go when he is motivated.

Winner: Daniel Bryan

Jack Bramma: Strange feud here. Dragon has had exactly one interaction with Kane that I can think of since the 1000th episode and that was a very brief interlude where Kane accosted him after DB had a psychiatric evaluation. If you want to give the WWE credit, you can see this as a continuation of the Bryan/Punk/Kane/AJ stuff that was going on a few months ago, but that’s a stretch at best. WWE has been mostly teasing Dragon getting involved in the Cena/Punk/Show match and turning it into a four-way but that hasn’t happened either. Instead, we’re left with DB getting shuffled between many segments and feuds with AJ, Kane, Punk, Show, Cena, and sanity and going from serious to comedic and just generally carrying the entertainment value of the show on his back. Still, for some reason, WWE has decided to cool Bryan off by jobbing him back to back on consecutive RAWs (after several months of losing to Sheamus and Punk on PPV). It would fit with the pattern if they feed him to Kane as well, but I think Bryan has to go over.

Winner: Daniel Bryan

Greg DeMarco: As The World Turns, so does AJ and Daniel Bryan’s relational rivalry. This time, The Big Red Machine is involved, and it actually makes total sense. He was involved in the AJ storyline before, including the triple threat match with Bryan and Punk. Plus, he’s a monster—the perfect selection for AJ when looking for D-Bry’s opposition. I’d love to see Daniel Bryan overcome the monster, but I simply don’t see it happening on this night.

Winner: Kane

James Wright: I’m not really interested in this match, it seems like it has just been put on the card to give Daniel Bryan something to do, although that alone is an interesting idea when considering the company’s former stance on ol’ Goat Face. I would have liked it a lot more if we were getting a Fatal Four Way for the WWE title since that could be very interesting. Still here Bryan better win as Kane has no real chance of recapturing his former run as world champion so it would mean nothing, then again he managed to beat Orton at Mania, so maybe he is Vince’s outlet for his perverse urges to let guys score meaningless wins on purpose, let’s hope not.

Winner: Daniel Bryan

Chris Jericho vs Dolph Ziggler

Stephen Randle: So, have we determined if Jericho’s staying past SummerSlam or not? And don’t go on what Jericho says, he lies to us for fun and we keep falling for it. If Jericho’s going on break to tour with Fozzy or whatever, then it’s a no-brainer that he’ll put Ziggler over, because he’s the one guy in wrestling right now who knows that you have to actually use your old stars to put over new stars. I actually want this to be an extended feud, but if this is all we get, c’est la vie. On the other hand, there’s so much focus on Jericho not winning, and WWE does tend to have MITB Winners go on fairly big losing streaks before cashing. To hell with it, I know what I want.

Winner: Chris Jericho

TJ Hawke: Much like the rest of the show, the story of the match doesn’t interest me much, but I am expecting a potentially great match to happen here. These two have had some great performances this year, and I see no reason for them to not have a great match together. I see no reason for Jericho to win this match.

Winner: Dolph

Michael Weyer: Despite a fast set-up, this should be good as they’re both great on the mic and promises a fun battle. It’s easy to say Ziggler wins to give him more of a push but Jericho needs a win again and it is SummerSlam so I’ll give it to him this time around. But still should be a good match to let Ziggler flex himself more.

Winner: Chris Jericho

Robert S. Leighty Jr: This should be the best pure wrestling match on the card, and expectations are high for this one. Jericho has basically used his latest run to put guys over (and seems to be his choice), and I expect the same here.

Winner: Dolph Ziggler

Jack Bramma: I know Jericho’s months-long PPV win drought has almost become a meme at this point, but that’s the beauty of it for me. An old internet writer used to have a phrase for such a place where Jericho exists; it was called Mount Perpetually Over. It was the blanket term used to describe a wrestler who was so over by virtue of years of hard work, fan appreciation, quality matches, quality promos, charisma, etc. that regardless of his actions, he would be a face and would be cheered as one. Jericho, especially in this run, has tried really hard to be a heel, going so far as to troll Punk about his family and their substance abuse problems and the whole thing only merited him some mild heat. But the glow in the dark jacket, the Liontamer (when done correctly) are things that almost instantly elicit a pop. Why? Because Y2J is on Mount Perpetually Over. Smartly, WWE has ran with this for now and turned him face against the eminently, dickish Dolph Ziggler who’s trying to recreate Jericho’s feud with Steamboat a few years ago except with Dolph in Jericho’s role. The endgame logic to all of this though is that even if Jericho loses again to Ziggler he’s still on MPO and doesn’t need the win, whereas Dolph has some momentum and the briefcase and would really take a blow if he lost to Jericho on his way out. I say Ziggler wins via nefarious means of the MITB as a weapon.

Winner: Dolph Ziggler

Greg DeMarco: And we’ve come to the match that I am most excited about. I fully expect this match to steal the show—as many do. In fact, we’re running the risk of having too lofty of a set of expectations, setting these gentlemen up for failure. But I expect them to deliver and deliver big time. Chris Jericho recently surprised me in an interview saying he didn’t ask to work with Ziggler, a perspective that was incorrectly reported, speculatively, in the recent past. Regardless of the motives of either wrestler, this feud has been great from day one, and Ziggler is really coming off like a big time star.

As for the match itself, I do expect it to steal the show. Jericho is more than capable of working a great match, and his psychology is unmatched at this stage in his career. Ziggler is a man who has grown from the bust bump in the WWE to the best all-around wrestler in the WWE. He can sell, his offense is legit, he can talk, and he has an insane amount of charisma. Plus, he has that Money in the Bank briefcase that we all expect will lead to his first (real) world championship win. On top of all that, Chris Jericho is gone after SummerSlam, back on tour with Fozzy.

Winner: Dolph Ziggler

James Wright: You have to know that Jericho would want to go out with a bang, but being Y2J that bang won’t be a big win but instead a fantastic match. If the WWE gives this one the time it deserves we could really see Dolph Ziggler transcend to the next level if he just has a straight awesome match with Jericho and gets over clean at the end of it all. Imagine Michaels vs. Hogan, except with the right finish and not ten years too late. This could easily be match of the night and I just hope that Ziggler gets to cash in later in the night. That is unless Sheamus’ match comes before his, which is actually pretty likely.

Winner: Dolph Ziggler

The Miz © vs Rey Mysterio
WWE Intercontinental Championship

Stephen Randle: This reeks of “get these guys on the card”, and Mysterio has no real need of the IC Title, while Miz still needs all the help he can get.

Winner: The Miz

TJ Hawke: The Miz is someone that I am just flat-out not interested in these days. He’s not horrible at any one thing, but there are just so many more interesting performers that could be getting his push. This match should be good, but Rey has good matches with pretty much everyone.

Winner: The Miz

Michael Weyer: Tricky to pick here. The Miz’s win was fast and he doesn’t really need the rub of a belt. Rey is coming back from a long abscence and a title win off the bat can help him out. I’m tempted to say Miz retains but I’ll bow to the history of SummerSlam’s IC title changes and believe Rey gets the belt once more to help push his return.

Winner and NEW Intercontinental Champion: Rey Mysterio

Robert S. Leighty Jr: These two could produce a solid match, but no reason for Miz to drop the title yet, so I expect Rey to win by count-out or DQ.

Winner: Rey Mysterio via count-out or DQ

Jack Bramma: I honestly have little idea why Miz has the belt. All dirtsheet signs point to the fed being high on Miz and seeing him as one of the future pillars of the company, but then he gets squashed by Kane and inserted into every random Twitter vote and loses all of them and just generally appears useless other than as an inconsequential heat magnet. Mysterio, on the other hand, has come back since his suspension and floundered a bit directionless as well. But lately the IC strap has been the “returning veteran’s” belt as Christian won it his first night back at Over the Limit, Miz won it soon after returning, and now Mysterio will probably do the same.

Winner: Rey Mysterio

Greg DeMarco: I keep hearing people complain about this match. “Why is Rey getting a shot?” “There’s been no build?” Maybe I’m just too old school, dating back to “SummerSlam Control Center” the days where a match would be announced, then the guys would have a reason to feud. They couldn’t build it this week on RAW with Rey out of town, and The Miz was extremely effective in his participation in Piper’s Pit and the triple threat that followed.

This will be a good match, as both men have showed good chemistry in the past. I also expect it to open the show, with Rey popping the crowd as the “hometown” hero. I don’t expect that hero to prevail, however. The Miz will do what he does best, pull off a sneaky, albeit clean, win.

Winner: The Miz

James Wright: I really hope that Mysterio doesn’t win this one, the IC title has bounced around so much over the past few months and has completely lost any meaning that Cody Rhodes added to it by drawing attention to the belt, the worst part of which is that Rhodes has done nothing since losing the belt! Miz pulling off a victory here would make him look a hell of a lot better, and if he loses he will be reverted back to jobber status since he already lost clean to both Kane and Mysterio as champion, champion! On the other hand if Mysterio had the belt we might actually have a mid-card champion who doesn’t lose all the time.

Winner: The Miz

Kofi Kingston and R-Truth © vs The Prime Time Players
WWE Tag Team Championship

Stephen Randle: I don’t think losing AW will have any effect on what the intended result was here. There’s just more options with the PTP as champions.

Winners: The Prime Time Players

TJ Hawke: I am not interested in any of these men at the moment. I’m sure people are excited to read that HHH wants tag team wrestling to be booked better, but we are still very far away from the tag division meaning anything.

Winner: Kofi and R-Truth

Michael Weyer: WWE really seems serious about building the tag division back up and it’s doing a good job with the setup here. It’s easy to say the champs retain but the fact both Players have made singles wins over Kofi and Truth adds drama to it. I’m going to say no title change yet but the Players will give it pretty good to set up a rematch and so when they do win the belts, it means more. Either way, good to see the tag titles meaningful again.

Winners and STILL WWE Tag Team Champions: Kofi and R-Truth

Robert S. Leighty Jr: PTP need a new manager following the AW firing, but I suspect they will tread water until then. I could see the WWE pulling the switch here to start get the ball rolling on rebuilding the division, but I will still go with the Champs here.

Winner: Air Truth

Jack Bramma: Another inconsistent build as the tag champs aren’t doing much defending and the number 1 contenders have been mostly losing since earning this shot two months ago at No Way Out. Maybe, the WWE was high on the PTP-ers anyway but then AW makes a bad joke and gets fired, so who knows how this will go down. Personally, I like the PTP-ers, even though I’m not sure they are very good especially without their manager. But they have some personality and are just different which is a virtue given the current crop of monotony. While again the word is that Trips wants to rebuild the division, that’s the same talk we’ve been hearing for a while just as recently Air Boom being champs. Maybe some fresh build will jumpstart things, but this is another match I could see going either way.

Winner: Kofi and R-Truth

Greg DeMarco: It’s time to take the belts off of Truth & Kofi here, as neither is accomplishing much as a tag team wrestler. Kofi deserves a push, and I’d love to see him in a feud with either The Miz over the Intercontinental Championship or Antonio Cesaro (hopefully) over the United States Championship. Plus, Vince can be a very, very spiteful man. I’m willing to bet he thinks Brian Josie is telling people that the PTPers are less formidable without him. Meaning Vince will then immediately put the tag team championships on Titus & Darren.

Winners: The Prime Time Players are NEW WWE Tag Team Champions

James Wright: With the absence of AW at ringside things will certainly be quieter. The WWE has three tag teams right now and each one is relatively new, so having the belts pass between them on a regular basis isn’t actually a bad idea as it might make the matches between them more personal. The problem is that when you have the same people face each other over and over again with no over-arching storyline people start to complain about it being the same old stuff. So basically what I’m saying is that the PTP should win this one but that there should also be a more personal aspect to the win as the feud goes on. Take a leaf out of Daniel Bryan’s book and lay out Little Jimmy or something like that. If the WWE really wants to be more tag team focused then they need to develop the personal rivalries between these three teams, the AW thing has been a bust between Epico & Primo and the PTP so now they have to find something new. Just do something!

Winner: The Prime Time Players

Sheamus © vs Alberto Del Rio
World Heavyweight Championship

Stephen Randle: For the love of God, make this end!

Winner: Sheamus

TJ Hawke: These guys had an OK match at the last PPV, so I’m hoping that they really step it up here and try to have a great match. I like Del Rio more than Sheamus, but I’m fine with Sheamus continuing as champ for a while longer.

Winner: Sheamus

Michael Weyer: Okay, Del Rio has improved a bit but we all remember how poor his first title run was. Sheamus on the other hand, is proving himself as a great champ and the crowds are backing him totally. It’ll be a good battle but Sheamus retains in the end and hopefully move onto another challenger soon.

Winner and STILL World Heavyweight Champion: Sheamus

Robert S. Leighty Jr: This match can go either way in terms of quality and crowd reaction. I wouldn’t be shocked if they stole the show, and I won’t be stunned if they bore the crowd to tears. Sheamus has found his groove as champion, so no need to screw that up.

Winner: Sheamus

Jack Bramma: This is probably the only match I feel positive about predicting. Sheamus hasn’t lost since Survivor Series and that was a DQ in the middle of an elimination match for exceeding the 5 count. Before that, his last loss was last Summerslam and that was a countout loss to Mizark. Put another way, the guy ain’t losing. Del Rio on the other hand has had his promised single’s feud delayed THREE TIMES — Over the Limit was changed to 4-way, No Way Out switched because of his concussion, and now this. I like Del Rio probably as much as anyone on the site, but they really need to find a new dimension to his character or just get solidly behind him. It’s nice and all that he can armbar Santino into incapacitation twice a month regularly, but let’s get him something to do because we’re wasting one of the great talents of the new generation.

Winner: Sheamus

Greg DeMarco: I am admittedly ready for this feud to end. In typical WWE fashion, the mega popular face champion is making all of the heel moves, including being a star and stealing a car. Del Rio is a monster heat machine, but I feel like the way he’s been treated he’s not the guy to carry the belt right now. Plus, nearly everyone expects Dolph to be the guy to eventually beat Sheamus for the title. The match should be a good one, even if we have a slight clash of styles that has some ugly potential. I fully expect Sheamus to walk out still World Heavyweight Champion here, and will be interested to see what each guy does next.

Winner: Sheamus

James Wright: At this point I haven’t seen this week’s Smackdown so in my mind this match is still off and I was hoping that Wade Barrett would take Del Rio’s place as Sheamus’ opponent. However if Barrett wins then Ziggler gets screwed, and if he loses then he would have no momentum going forward, so lets keep it as Del Rio vs. Sheamus for now. Sheamus is going to win, hands down. The only question is whether or not Del Rio will take Sheamus to the limit enough so that Ziggler can cash in his case and take the title, well he probably could have done that on last week’s Smackdown, but never mind about that. These two will probably end up opening the card though so it probably won’t mean anything and will be just another match to make Sheamus look like a strong champion, which isn’t the worst thing, but he has to lose at some point, after all Ziggler only has a year.

Winner: Sheamus

CM Punk © vs John Cena vs The Big Show
Triple Threat Match
WWE Championship

Stephen Randle: Well, the “big summer angle” is sure turning out to be…not so much, isn’t it? There’s no reason to have Punk drop the belt here when the real money is him dropping it to Cena one-on-one. Actually, the real money is in Punk-Rock at Rumble, but I can’t imagine a world where Cena doesn’t get a token title reign to inflate his count and break up Punk’s long reign in here. Anyway, that’ll happen next month, probably.

Winner: CM Punk

TJ Hawke: This match has a 500 pound anchor and that is pretty much holding it back from being something special. I’m sure this match will get laid out well so that the crowd is into all of it, but it’s just such an uninteresting story that it’s impossible for me to care.

Winner: CM Punk

Michael Weyer: It’s Punk and Cena so it’ll be a good match to be sure. Show is around just to beef things up but the two guys should be able to carry him well. It’s always tempting to say Cena gets the belt but if WWE wouldn’t let him cash in MITB, I don’t see him getting it here. And even WWE knows Show’s not the guy to unseat Punk. Hopefully a good three-way battle with Punk sneaking a pin on Cena to retain.

Winner and STILL WWE Champion: CM PUNK BABY!

Robert S. Leighty Jr: Punk finally gets Cena back in a Title Match on PPV, and it appears he still doesn’t get to close the show. Punk has had a massively long reign by today’s standards, and I personally hope he keeps the title until he faces Rock at the Rumble. Show and Cena with Edge produced an ok match at WM XXV, and I suspect similar things here with Punk taking Edge’s spot.

Winner: CM Punk

Jack Bramma: The optimist in me is glad that Punk has made it this far with the belt. He’s having one of the longest reigns in recent memory. He’s even turned heel and still kept the belt thus far even denying John Cena and causing him to be the first ever MITB loser. The even more optimistic person in me wants to say that Punk will hold the belt all the way until the Rumble before finally dropping it to the Rock after holding it roughly fourteen months. If they booked it right, it could draw their best non-Mania buyrate in years. But then I come back to reality and realize that most likely isn’t happening. Punk will most likely lose the belt before he gets to the RR, though he’ll probably win it back and still go on to face Rock. The question then becomes is this where Punk loses the belt (before winning it back)? I’ll be honest and say that I think the two main events have to be picked in tandem; only one heel has a chance of going over and it’s either Punk or Brock, but not both. WWE will probably fool me and both Cena and Trips will go over, but I’m operating under the assumption that some heel has to win one of the main events. Will it be Brock or Punk? It has to be Brock, right? Triple H wouldn’t beat him after Cena already did? Well, then again…

Winner: CM Punk

Greg DeMarco: As a huge indy wrestling fan, I still have to pinch myself when I see this match-up. Despite successfully defending the WWE Championship against Chris Jericho at WrestleMania, CM Punk is still ROH in so many ways (hell, he’s more ROH than ROH is now-a-days), and it’s unreal to see him carrying one of the longest reigns in recent memory. I do have to laugh at all of the wrestling websites that are listing this last on the card—keep dreaming. You wanted Cena out of the main event, now you got it.

The Big Show is the x-factor in this match for me. While Punk and Cen have the natural rivalry dating back well over a year, Show has a weapon of mass destruction in his power of the punch. And I can’t shake my gut feeling that his punch will come into play, allowing him to walk out of this thing as a champion.

Winner: The Big Show (and NEW WWE Champion)

James Wright: I still maintain that the Big Show was added to this match simply to make it so it doesn’t have to be the main event. Think about how interested people would be if this was another Cena vs. Punk match with Punk as a partial heel, the whole will he cheat, won’t he cheat as being the hook. But instead you stick the Big Show in there and no one seems to care. The only thing I care about now is that Cena might take the title for a couple of months just for kicks and break up Punk’s long running title run. I really hope this doesn’t happen because Punk’s title run is actually compelling to me right now, simply because I want to see how far he can go and whose reigns he can beat. Since the winner won’t matter in terms of feuds and storyline I’m going to go with the sentimental pick on this one.

Winner: C.M. Punk

Triple H vs Brock Lesnar

Stephen Randle: I’ve said all I care to about this insanity. Let’s move on.

Winner: Triple H

TJ Hawke: I haven’t any WWE TV in a while, but I read that the build to this match has been a mixed bag. It’s not a matchup that excites me on paper, but Paul Heyman’s rant on Twitter convinced me it would be great. Wrestling is in a very weird place right now. I would like to think that Brock would win, but at this point it just seems unlikely. Oh well. Life moves on.

Winner: HHH

Michael Weyer: The psychology of this is great. Ten years after the SummerSlam that made him a star, Brock is back and ready to take on WWE’s big guy in a grudge match. The question of course is whether HHH is going to job or not. Most will automatically sniff he’ll book himself to win but I think even Hunter recognizes Lesnar needs a major win to validate the cost of signing him on. Call me foolish but I think HHH will end up losing, letting Brock have a nice bookend of SummerSlam wins and remind fans why he’s such a big deal.

Winner: Brock Lesnar

Robert S. Leighty Jr: I am most intrigued by this match because I suspect a physical, kick ass, fight. We got blood in Cena/Lesnar, and I would be shocked if Triple H isn’t bleeding at some point in this match. Most fear that Lesnar is just here to put over HHH, and while I am never shocked when HHH wins a match, I am going with Lesnar here. At some point the Monster has to get the upper hand, and what better way than crippling the man who will be King of the WWE.

Winner: Brock Lesnar

Jack Bramma: I want to believe that Triple H would do “what’s right for business” and for me that means, losing to Brock Lesnar clean as a sheet at Summerslam. I’m a big Triple H fan, huge even. But I’m also a realist — I remember him in 2001 going over Austin before Austin won the belt at Mania, I remember him and Stephanie making Jericho look like crap in 2002, I remember him and HBK not doing a lot of favors to the Spirit Squad or Legacy, I remember him coming back in 2007 and basically squashing the red hot King Booka and doing the same to Umaga, I remember him needing three matches in one night before he put over Orton in 2007, and I remember him coming back last year during the Summer of Punk II only to beat Punk and never let him get his win back. Now, I could make another list of times where Triple H has put people over to varying degrees (Batista, Cena, Jeff Hardy, etc.) but the point is if my only logic is, “Triple H wouldn’t do that, right?”, I have to admit that Triple H has done that before and worse. Plus, Cena’s already beat Lesnar so it’s easier to beat him again. I hope Lesnar wins but am expecting a miraculous HBK return to superkick Lesnar into a Pedigree.

Winner: Triple H

Greg DeMarco: If you don’t think this is the main event, you haven’t been paying attention. There is very little that can be said about this match. In fact, the WWE said all it needed to say come RAW 1000, and has been treading water ever since. I could have done without the Shawn Michaels involvement, and that will be all but forgotten by Sunday. What I can’t do without is the marquee nature of this match. Triple H is a likely surprise Hall of Fame Inductee sometime in the next three years, and Brock Lesnar is still one of the biggest stars in all of combat sports. I fully expect Triple H to bring his A-game, and I know Brock will be looking to impress as well. With Triple H having his office role, I see him as a sacrificial lamb in this match. Brock goes over huge here. The question is…what does he do next?

Winner: Brock Lesnar

James Wright: Again a main event match that means nothing in the overall scheme of things. The WWE really seems to be in the toilet at the moment in terms of booking. I cant count the times in the last few years that something interesting has happened and gotten us all talking, only for nothing to come of it and for the WWE to mess things up for relatively no reason. It seems to me like since Batista’s face win as champion things have been pretty crappy in terms of booking, too many injuries, last minute title match changes, and the untimely death of Eddie Guerrero just seemed to scald the WWE and make them afraid to do any real long term booking in case they look foolish and have to change anything. The only long term booking they have really done since then is Cena vs. Rock at Wrestlemania, and that was just announcing one match a year down the line, and all that was in between didn’t seem all that heavily booked to me. I can’t think of a single match on this card that means anything in terms of storyline development, so this main event really sums it up, all I’ll say is that Lesnar better win, because otherwise this is just ridiculous. I’m begging them to actually have Lesnar ‘end Triple H’ he doesn’t need to be in the ring anymore and that could really save things, imagine the Brock-Cena match but without the terrible ending.

Winner: Brock Lesnar

Overall Thoughts

Stephen Randle: There’s a chance I could be pleasantly surprised, but the mediocre build and bad storytelling up until now has left me cold to the whole thing. I wouldn’t pay for this show, just because despite the fact that all the matchups look good on paper, absolutely nothing about the setups or potential payoffs has me interested at all.

Buy/No Buy: No Buy

TJ Hawke: This space intentionally left blank.

Buy/No Buy: No Buy

Michael Weyer: It’s SummerSlam, one of the major shows of the year and this looks promising. The main event is a huge deal and the title bouts look good with WWE actually giving the tag titles some major time. Overall, I say get it as it’ll shape the rest of WWE for the year and hopefully raise the company out of their current creative rut.

Buy/No Buy: Buy

Robert S. Leighty Jr: The fact we have this many matches announced before the PPV is amazing itself, and it’s kind of refreshing for a change. There is enough here to make this a very solid PPV with the chance of being very good if the stars align. I am most intrigued by what better be a violent fight with HHH and Brock, and I expect Dolph and Jericho to steal the show. Now as far as buying the PPV, that just doesn’t happen at my house. I will buy WM and maybe the Rumble, but just can’t spend money on any other PPV (I have to save money for a wedding next summer).

Buy/No Buy: No Buy

Jack Bramma: WWE has delivered on the in-ring product at almost every PPV this year. Until, they put out a stinker I’m in.

Buy/No Buy: Buy

Greg DeMarco: This is a good card, with some can’t miss matches (HHH-Brock, Ziggler-Jericho) and some potential history (triple theat, tag title, US title). I think this is worth your money, folks.

Buy/No Buy: Buy

James Wright: I already said that the matches on this card mean virtually nothing, so that’s not encouraging. What I would love is if the WWE have been sneaky and that ‘big angle’ they were promising wasn’t actually Punk’s “heel turn” but something else that will take place at the PPV. Still I’m not sure if it is enough to buy, if there wasn’t such a big emphasis on Lesnar simply being in a match then this whole card would feel like a filler PPV, certainly not the WWE’s second biggest event of the year. Something might happen, but probably not, and maybe it’s better to read about it on Monday.

Buy/No Buy: No Buy

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