WWE Championship: Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena
This match is sort of judged by proximity. If you compare it to the potential that they could have given us something different for once, then I’m disappointed and I couldn’t care less. If you compare it to how it’s at least not Orton/HHH, then I’m ecstatic and I can’t wait for it. Cena and Orton work well together and they seem to have a lot of fun feuding, so they shouldn't end up giving us a crapfest, but I’m just not excited, as I’ve seen these two do the same thing week by week. Sure, it wasn’t against each other, but they never really change their act. Orton does the same with all of his opponents and Cena does the same thing to all of his. “But Tony, that’s their character! They wouldn’t be acting different!” I agree, but you shouldn’t be BORED with it. The last thing I want to see when I turn on Raw is another Legacy beat down followed by Cena “suddenly powering out” and standing tall. I’m tired of it. Hopefully, if this feud continues, they give us something different. As far as this match goes, it’ll do its job, but it won’t be anything to talk about. It will simply be “a match between two of the biggest stars” and completely indistinguishable from anything else. Good, but not great…bad, but not horrible…essentially just mediocre in the long run. I’m expecting Orton to retain here as our next ppv is Breaking Point and if it’s true that the championships will be defended in submission matches, then Cena will win the title by making Orton tap out. I hope if that’s the plan, that they don’t give Cena the title here, as it does no harm for Orton to retain here and lose next month, but if he loses both in a row, it’ll be unnecessary.
PREDICTION: Randy Orton retains through DQ or a quick RKO.
World Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Hardy (c) vs. CM Punk
The one match that I'm really looking forward to. So far, I have loved the feud between these two. Not only has Hardy stepped up his game, but Punk has stepped up to a whole new level. He's just excelling so well at his new heel character and its great that they still were able to have Hardy feud with him while he was still here. What better way to get Punk over as a heel than to put him against someone who is such a fan favorite? And with that, what better way to really seal the deal than to have Punk put Jeff Hardy out of action while he's away? It isn't official that that will happen, but I'd be surprised if it didn't, especially since this is a TLC match. Jeff excels in these extreme environments, and Punk has shown himself formidable in ladder matches, so I'm guessing this will be the crown jewel of the pay-per-view as well as the match everyone will talk about the next day.
PREDICTION: CM Punk wins the title back and "injures" Hardy.
ECW Championship: Christian (c) vs. William Regal
"Wait, we have no ECW title match! Uh...Regal, stat!" This really was thrown together at the last minute, wasn't it? I for one find Regal to be overrated, much like Finlay. Both men can put on a basic wrestling performance, but neither impresses me. Because of that, I really would rather not see Regal become champion. I don't see it happening now, anyway, because of the lack of build and how frequently Christian just won the title back anyway. This will probably open the show and be very generic and forgotten about as quickly as.....what was that thing again?
PREDICTION: Christian retains via pinfall.
MVP vs. Jack Swagger
I'd have preferred Kofi Kingston defending his title against the Miz, but that wasn't built up as much as these two - even though these two have not had quite a stellar build as it is. Oddly enough, there's a reversal going on in my mind about these two. I'm slowly starting to disbelieve in MVP's potential for main event status whereas Swagger is slowly starting to win me over. Their previous matches didn't impress me, and I doubt this will be much different, although I'm hoping they prove me wrong. It just doesn't feel like this is a SummerSlam worthy match to me, but a big portion of that is attributed to the writers on Raw but not really giving them any focus lately.
PREDICTION: Jack Swagger dominates the match but loses at the end so he can keep his credibility.
DX vs. Legacy
I'll go on record time and time again with my point of view being that HBK is the greatest wrestler in history, so I'm extremely excited about seeing my all-time favorite back in the squared circle. HHH, I could do without, as always, but he's far more tolerable when thrust into a DX environment than when he just goes out as himself. When this match seemed to be booked, I groaned at first. Yet another way for Legacy to lose and take another step down the ladder. I was surprised with the spot this Monday night where Legacy truly did get the leg up on BOTH members of DX, as I expected the typical random attack with the heroes standing tall. I'm a bit afraid that after SummerSlam, we'll be forced to see repetitive singles matches between these four...
PREDICTION: HBK superkicks Cody Rhodes, who turns around to receive a kick to the gut, a Pedigree, and the loss, unfortunately.
Intercontinental Championship: Rey Mysterio (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
Mysterio claims that he wants a long title reign, and although I think the IC title is the perfect belt for him to bring prestige to (outside of the ECW title, but he's not on that show), I think its Ziggler's time to win it here. I don't necessarily feel that Ziggler is ready, but in comparison to the rest of the heels on the brand, he's the best suited to carry that task. Plus, Ziggler winning the IC title can give us some feuds with Finlay, R-Truth, and Matt Hardy, whereas Mysterio can move up to have a short feud with Punk to add even more to his status. This feud is doing wonders for Ziggler and I have a feeling these two will pull off a rather fun match to get the crowd riled up around half-time, so to speak.
PREDICTION: Dolph Ziggler wins the IC title.
Kane vs. The Great Khali
Does anyone want to see this? *crickets* Didn’t think so. The winner of this solely depends on what their plans are - although it doesn’t seem like they really have a plan. If I had it my way, Kane would utterly squash Khali and completely destroy the character, which would lead to his release. Kane needs a credibility boost as he’s been floundering for months on end with no value. I say have Kane absolutely desecrate Khali and then use that momentum to put him in a feud where he puts Morrison over. But, then again, that's if I had my way, not what I think the WWE will necessarily do. We don't have a women's division match to use as a bathroom break, so WWE gave us this instead.
PREDICTION: Someone gets disqualified.
Unified Tag Team Championship: Chris Jericho & The Big Show (c) vs. Cryme Tyme
No way Cryme Tyme is winning this, unless someone backstage convinces them that if the title switches, the sheer shock value will be “good storytelling”. We know that someone in Creative thinks that blindly, as we see it too much already, so I wouldn’t be too shocked. For any sane and logical people out there, though, JeriShow should be retaining and keeping the belts for a few more months. The trouble is, who do they feud with when you have no other face tag teams in the WWE?
PREDICTION: Big Show pins Big Shad.
SummerSlam is a tough ppv to call, seeing as how this is usually the first of two events (Survivor Series being the other) that determines where the WWE will try to go for WrestleMania. Last year, we had Punk/JBL as a title match and those two weren't even close to the main event at WrestleMania, so who knows? We'll have a better idea Sunday night, and that alone is worthy of paying attention to this card.
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