Welcome to another edition of FANTASY BOOKING where we discuss what we would do if we were given the power to control what happens when it comes to WWE Creative and the planning of events.
As it's the second-biggest event of the year, our next event to rewrite the book for is WWE SummerSlam 2020.
What would you do if you were in charge of creative control and could pick the matches scheduled for the biggest party of the summer?
The Rules:
1) You need to justify your choices within a reasonable mindset of what WWE has in store. Just because someone is a favorite of yours does not mean WWE would be pushing them to the title in any realistic fashion.
2) You cannot include people who are not a member of the roster, whether they are retired, working for another company, or obviously deceased. You can, however, work under the assumption that injured stars might possibly return in time for certain events (if it is within reason). That means no people from New Japan Pro Wrestling, All Elite Wrestling, Impact Wrestling, Ring of Honor or elsewhere. You're only working with Raw, SmackDown, 205 Live, NXT, NXT UK and the Performance Center with a tiny bit of leeway for legends.
3) Be realistic when it comes to bringing up NXT stars to the main roster. WWE never brings up 30 people in a year, so don't flood the market.
4) The earliest time frame you can begin planning from as a reference point is the night after this year's WrestleMania.
5) The brand split cannot be undone.
5) Keep time constraints in mind. This cannot be a 14-hour single-day event. When it comes to my setup down below, "Hour 1" is a rough estimate. There is obviously a bleed into each hour, or in some cases, the next match starts while the previous hour is still going on.
SUMMERSLAM 2020 MATCH MAKER
Note: I had originally planned to do this right after WrestleMania so that I could work in my own plans for Money in the Bank. Everything was too busy for me to be able to work with that and get this done at that time. Keeping that in mind, I'm treating this as if I still have the ability to undo the build to Money in the Bank and I have the benefit of hindsight to know what WWE's operating mentality is during this COVID-19 situation, which was also an unknown at that time.
Also, I'm working with the assumption that we can use some people, but not some other people. It's pretty much entirely unknown who can wrestle, who would want to wrestle, and all that. It'd be impossible for me to book a true, perfect card without having that insider information.
PRE-SHOW
This is a one-hour pre-show that consists entirely of promos, recaps, video packages, panel analysis and all the information you'd need to know to get caught up to speed about the card. NONE of that pops up on the actual card itself, other than potentially a very, very short video package for each match if you want to give people quick reminders. Even that is a stretch and is only useful for bathroom breaks. I maintain my philosophy that if fans watch Raw and SmackDown, they shouldn't have to watch the same footage on the kickoff for 2 hours and then on the show itself. If you watch the TV, you don't have to watch the kickoff. If you don't watch the TV, watch the kickoff to get caught up. If you don't watch either of those, then it's your fault that you don't know what's going on, as these stories aren't that complicated.
HOUR 1
United States Championship Match: Andrade (c) vs. Kevin Owens
Andrade goes in as champion and drops the title. That way, Owens can be regularly a top guy on the brand, but doesn't have to get in the way of Drew McIntyre. Eventually, Owens loses the title, possibly at WrestleMania 37, to a heel Samoa Joe.
~ 15-20 minutes
Women's Biggest Party Battle Royal Match: Bianca Belair vs. Liv Morgan vs. Nia Jax vs. Natalya vs. Carmella vs. Lacey Evans vs. Mandy Rose vs. Sonya Deville vs. Naomi vs. Dana Brooke
In past years, I added a SummerSlam Scramble Match to my card to fill the role of the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and such. Since we didn't get WrestleMania battle royals this year, I figured this could be a good alternative. It doesn't have to stick around, nor does it have to include everyone missing on the card. Maybe 5 from each roster, or a maximum of 15?
The point is that it would get people on the card and it would be for a future title opportunity. Not MITB style, but just a future title shot in some fashion, likely at the next event or so.
Pick and choose, rearrange some people, add/subtract some of the people...it doesn't really matter. I'd probably go with Deville winning, just for the hell of it.
~ 15 minutes
Mustafa Ali vs. Dolph Ziggler
As the hacker, Mustafa Ali reveals that he's the one who screwed things up for Dolph Ziggler by revealing the backstage footage. Justice is served. Ali beats Ziggler.
~ 15-20 minutes
HOUR 2
SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day vs. The Forgotten Sons vs. John Morrison and The Miz
Frankly, I don't know what to do with this belt. There aren't a lot of options and I'd like to get people on the card. I was considering putting Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura here, pairing up Mojo Rawley with Shorty G or other alternatives. So this is just whatever, and it's one of the weakest things of my card. Guaranteed, if I had access to future plans of what WWE had in mind for certain people, who was able to perform and didn't want to show up, etc...and could go back in time and stop this match (with Lucha House Party) from happening at MITB, it wouldn't seem quite as lazy of a choice like it does here.
~ 15-20 minutes
SmackDown Women's Championship Match: Bayley (c) vs. Sasha Banks
Just. Pull. The. Damn. Trigger. Already.
It's been 2+ years. Have the match, get it over with, and let's see what Banks can do with a proper title reign that doesn't end on the first defense.
~ 20 minutes
Bray Wyatt vs. Jeff Hardy
This is your gimmicky match of the night. Jeff Hardy claims he has a bunch of creative ideas. Let's see what he's got. Would it be a cinematic match or a normal one? Maybe a hybrid. Wyatt wins.
~ 15 minutes
HOUR 3
Raw Tag Team Championship Match: The Street Profits vs. The Viking Raiders vs. Cedric Alexander and Ricochet vs. Humberto Carillo and Angel Garza
Just like the SmackDown tag title match, I didn't put a ton of effort into this. However, that was for a different reason, as there were too many options to go with.
I like Garza with Andrade, but I think Carrillo needs to turn heel and should've been the other member of that squad, rather than Austin Theory.
I like Austin Theory working with Seth Rollins and Murphy—at least, in theory (no pun intended)—but I'd rather Theory be by himself.
~ 15-20 minutes
Intercontinental Championship Match: Daniel Bryan vs. (Sheamus / King Corbin)
Bryan's challenger depends on who is fighting Braun Strowman later on the card. If it's Roman Reigns, it could be either person. If Strowman is fighting Corbin or Sheamus, the other fights Bryan.
Ideally, I'd like Sheamus to be a challenger for Strowman, but lose, then beat Bryan for the Intercontinental Championship. However, that brings up a question of who fights Strowman for the Universal title down the line in response. I'd need more of a committment from WWE about the whole roster, who is leaving/staying, etc before making some of these calls and this is one of them.
~ 20 minutes
Men's Biggest Party Battle Royal Match: AJ Styles vs. Austin Theory vs. R-Truth vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Otis vs. Elias vs. Cesaro or Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Shorty G or Mojo Rawley vs. Bobby Lashley vs. Sheamus/Corbin/x
Again, pick and choose your people. My philosophy with this list was somewhat straightforward, with a bit of oddball stuff.
Styles, Theory, R-Truth, Rey Mysterio, Otis (who isn't Mr. Money in the Bank in my fantasy booking), Elias, and Bobby Lashley are just in the match as they're big enough names to put in there.
Sheamus/Corbin/x depends on the other matches. If both are busy in the Intercontinental and Universal title matches, someone else gets put in there. If not, and Reigns is available, for instance, slot in whoever isn't in the IC title match.
Cesaro/Nakamura and Shorty G/Rawley could maybe be based on a tag team feud. Maybe Gable and Rawley are a new team, feuding with Cesaro and Nakamura, and they have qualifying matches with one of each team getting into the match (ie, Cesaro and Gable)
~ 20 minutes
HOUR 4
Aleister Black vs. Randy Orton
Just a feud that I think would be good. Not much more than that. Black loses, but only by Orton cheating in some fashion. This feud can be stretched out a bit more.
~ 20 minutes
Women's Tag Team Championship Match: Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross vs. The IIconics vs. Kairi Sane and Io Shirai
Sure. Why not? Let's move Shirai up to Raw to replace Asuka as a Kabuki Warrior, for example.
~ 15-20 minutes
WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Jinder Mahal
Nuff said. It's a shame Heath Slater can't be the special guest referee.
~ 20 minutes
HOUR 5
Raw Women's Championship Match: Asuka (c) vs. Shayna Baszler
The Queen of Spades wins the title.
~ 15-20 minutes
Edge vs. Seth Rollins
The Monday Night Messiah takes umbrage with The Rated-R Superstar's popularity and the support he's gained since his return. Let these two figure out the feud for themselves. I'm not going to get in their way other than to suggest the match itself and let their creative juices fly.
~ 25 minutes
Universal Championship No Disqualification Match: Braun Strowman vs. (King Corbin / Roman Reigns / Sheamus)
If you can have Strowman beat Reigns, do that. If Roman's still not wrestling, pick and choose between Corbin and Sheamus. Both work as challengers and it's only a question of whether or not you want either of those as intercontinental champion or potentially the next universal champion. I don't think Strowman should drop the title here to any of them, though. Too many title changes already on this card.
~ 15 minutes
WRAP UP THOUGHTS:
Admittedly, this is so haphazard and I wish I could do a better job. Things are just too hectic and chaotic to try to figure out what the hell is going on. Do you put on a card that has someone like Brock Lesnar or not? Who is able to show up and who wants to stay home? Who can you push and who is WWE just going to fire in a week? I would've had Drew Gulak on this card, for instance, and couldn't do that anymore. It's all too crazy and without having more solid information, it makes for a messy card. Hopefully, by the time SummerSlam actually comes around, we'll have a better idea of what we're working with for when I do my Fantasy Booking WrestleMania 37 card.
HOW WOULD YOU BOOK SUMMERSLAM THIS YEAR?
LEAVE YOUR THOUGHTS IN THE COMMENTS BELOW!
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