411’s WWE SummerSlam 2020 Preview

Hello 411maniacs, and welcome to 411’s WWE SummerSlam 2020 preview! I’m Jeremy Thomas as always, and tonight we’re going to take a look at WWE’s big summer PPV in SummerSlam. WWE has spiced up what looks to be a solid card with nothing less than THE THUNDERDOME, which made its debut at Smackdown. Whatever your thoughts on how it looked, I think we can all degree that there was not nearly enough shocking of the roster by any cages. Hopefully we can get that situation resolved soon.

Anyway, we have a host of matches tonight including both brands’ main event titles, Asuka in two (count ’em, TWO) title matches, Mandy Rose battling Sonya Deville and more! And if that’s not enough, there’s also another PPV in Payback taking place just next week! There’s a lot going on here, so let’s not dawdle and get right into it.

Raw Tag Team Championship Match
The Street Profits vs. Andrade & Angel Garza

WWE is viewed as the place where tag team wrestling goes to die — and certainly there’s some truth to that — but it must be said that there are some teams doing their best to keep it alive in the company. The Street Profits and the team of Andrade and Angel Garza are among those teams, and they’ll clash at SummerSlam for the Profits’ championships. The story for this feud has been fairly dumb, with Zelina Vega actually poisoning Montez Ford on Raw. That’s legitimately “Samoa Joe’s gonna stab someone” levels of stupid. But once we get into the ring, this should be a solid go. WWE has been behind Andrade for a while and Garza has a ton of potential, but WWE seems to think of them more as potential singles guys and I haven’t seen a lot of faith in them as a team. The poisoning thing doesn’t seem like something that the heels would be allowed to turn into a win (but then who knows at this point), so I’m leaning toward the champs retaining.

WINNER: The Street Profits (STILL Raw Tag Team Champions)

United States Championship Match
Apollo Crews vs. MVP

Here’s another undercard match with some solid potential, and one that’s actually been built up fairly decently over a bit of time. We’re fairly well past the idea that WWE is looking to depush Crews, and though that doesn’t mean he’s safe by any measure MVP really works better as the manager he is at this point. He’s been great as the man behind The Hurt Business and I would be a lot more behind a title change here if this was Shelton Benjamin or Bobby Lashley. All in all, I think we see Crews holding onto the title for now.

WINNER: Apollo Crews (STILL WWE United States Champion)

No Disqualification Loser Leaves WWE Match
Mandy Rose vs. Sonya Deville

There was perhaps some question as to how this would turn out before Friday. I think it’s always been clear that Rose was going to come out of this match with a win, having been the aggrieved babyface whose hair was attacked. However, after the disturbing-as-shit events of the past weekend regarding Deville’s attempted kidnapping, things changed and the match was made a No DQ Loser Leaves WWE match. This stipulation seems to come out of nowhere in terms of the storyline, but when you factor in the real-world aspect there’s no question to me that it was changed so Deville could take time away from the camera. It’s deeply unfortunate because Deville has been stellar in her role, and her promo on Smackdown in particular was pure fire. But her safety and peace of mind come first, and unless WWE has some serious curveballs planned here this suddenly became the easiest pick on the card.

WINNER: Mandy Rose

SmackDown Women’s Championship Match
Bayley vs. Asuka

Asuka has double the work on Summerslam as she takes on first Bayley, then Asuka, for the Smackdown and Raw Women’s Championships. The story of Bayley and Banks’ reigns at the top has been one of the more engaging and fun stories in WWE, with fans waiting for them to inevitably fall apart. We saw hints of that on Friday on Smackdown, as they argued over who would face Asuka first, and it seems likely to continue here. If anyone on the active women’s roster can be trusted to work two matches it’s Asuka, and she’s put forth great efforts against both Bayley and Banks. So I expect some good matches, though the first one might be mitigated a touch by Asuka needing to save something for Banks. I think the smart money has Asuka winning one of the titles and while Bayley’s run has been longer, she’s also the more important title reign and should continue. That means she wins here, perhaps by Banks interference.

WINNER: Bayley (Still Smackdown Women’s Champion)

Raw Women’s Championship Match
Sasha Banks vs. Asuka

And that brings us to Asuka and Banks for the Raw Women’s Championship. This match has a ton of potential if they give it time and don’t put too much overbooking into it. There’s not a lot more to say here, except that I think a loss is in the cards for The Boss. Bayley perhaps tries to help and screws it up, or maybe she leaves the ring after an argument and Banks loses that way (which would be the preferred of the two). That will lead into the Banks/Bayley feud and leaves Asuka as Women’s Champion on the Red Brand, likely to feud with Shayna Baszler.

WINNER: Asuka (NEW Raw Women’s Champion)

Street Fight
Dominik Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins

While I was not in any way, shape or form a fan of the Eye For an Eye match, I think that this continuation of the feud has been surprisingly good in how it’s played out. It’s not perfect by any means; Dominik is green both on the mic and in the ring obviously, and there have been a couple of cringe-worthy performances in particular in his promos. But the potential is there and the story has played out decently, right up to Rey Mysterio returning and vowing to be in his son’s corner. I think that while the story on its face would suggest Dominik gets revenge on Seth for his dad’s sake, the smarter play (especially with Payback in a week) is that Rollins wins and it leads into Rey vs. Rollins once and for all to settle the matter.

WINNER: Seth Rollins

WWE Championship Match
Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton

The main event title matches have a lot of intrigue around them, not the least of which is the idea of Payback taking place next weekend. If that wasn’t the case, I’d be picking Randy Orton to win here. McIntyre has had a strong run as champion, but WWE has been building Orton up big-time and all indications have been that they’re going to put the title on him. I think that would be a mistake because I think McIntyre still has a lot to offer in his current reign, but the thinking seems to be that McIntyre should get another WWE Championship win with an audience there in order to seal his moment — perhaps at WrestleMania 37. I don’t know how necessary that is, but c’est la vie. McIntyre and Orton have been looked great as of late and they should deliver nicely here. With Payback next weekend, I think that Drew retains in some way, setting up a rematch at Payback that Orton probably wins.

WINNER: Drew McIntyre (STILL WWE Champion)

Falls Count Anywhere Universal Championship Match
Braun Strowman vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt

While the Payback factor also adds some intrigue to the Universal Championship match, it’s far less potent here. The writing does seem to be on the wall for a Fiend win with all the storyline wackiness that has been going on. And listen, I like Strowman in a general sense. I like Wyatt in a specific sense. But they haven’t given us a great match yet as a duo, and while the story between them is strong (not necessarily the narrative, but the connection) Wyatt seems far more likely to walk away with the win here. Alexa Bliss’ involvement seems likely and I’m very curious as a big fan of hers to see what it means for her character. Regardless, The Fiend wins to give us a new main event champion on Smackdown.

WINNER: Bray Wyatt (NEW WWE Universal Champion)

And that’s all we have for SummerSlam 2020! This is actually a very solid card on paper, and it’s just about what WWE does to give the performers their chances to shine. I don’t think Payback is doing them any favors here by airing just a week later, but we should at least get some good wrestling out of this. As long as that happens, I’ll be perfectly happy.

Thanks once again for reading, and remember that we will have live coverage of WWE SummerSlam right here on 411mania.com. I’d better go before Braun and The Fiend start attacking me…