The WWE is gearing up for its biggest SummerSlam event in years. The top matches have already been confirmed and an early indication of the buzz presents an event the magnitude of which makes the show on par with WrestleMania.
Coming out of WWE RAW on Monday night we all got a real good indication of top matches both confirmed and speculative. While some may still need some brewing, between television and reports, the card has all been confirmed and it’s a big one.
The Undertaker will wrestle his first SummerSlam in almost a decade as he returns to seek revenge against Brock Lesnar. I always thought that this match would be huge and while it would have been bigger at a WrestleMania, it will be plenty big at SummerSlam. Between the angles at Battleground and RAW, fans are already jacked up for the Mania 30 rematch. Again, the timing is odd in that Undertaker is working his first SummerSlam in almost ten years, yet the set up thus far has been nothing short of superb. A hot rumor floating around is that this won’t be the last we see of these two as they are expected to have a rubber match at WrestleMania 32.
In what is shaping up to be the number two match on the show, John Cena will challenge WWE world champion Seth Rollins for the world title. In an interesting note, this makes the third SummerSlam in a row that Cena is in the world title match. It should also be noted that Cena lost the world title at the previous two SummerSlams against Daniel Bryan and Brock Lesnar respectively.
While some are surprised and a bit disappointed to see Cena back in the top spot, I saw it coming weeks ago. After consecutive weeks of poor RAW ratings, Vince booked Cena back in the top spot to close the show against Cesaro on RAW. The second that happened I knew that Vince was going to lean on Cena to rehabilitate these ratings woes, especially with Monday Night Football on the horizon. As upset as some are at Kevin Owens tapping at Battleground, if Cena is coming in here to win the belt the finish makes sense.
There was a rumor at one point that Seth vs. Triple H was the planned SummerSlam match. If you remember back a few weeks ago, it certainly looked like the seeds were planted for it. Rollins was constantly interrupting Trips in the ring and at times came off as disobedient. Again, I think the last few weeks of ratings changed everything for Vince and the creative direction for Rollins and the title.
The card is loaded and while the rest of the show will probably be filler, Again, I still question the increase in the budget with the additions of Sting and Undertaker. Regardless, it should be an exciting event and probably one of the biggest SummerSlams we’ll see for the next few years.
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