Veteran NFL writer and “Pat McAfee Show” correspondent Mark Kaboly gives his predictions for the inaugural two-night SummerSlam, streaming live from MetLife Stadium on Saturday and Sunday at 6 ET/3 PT on Peacock in the United States and on Netflix everywhere else.
WWE World Heavyweight Champion Gunther (c) vs. CM Punk
As a PLE second only to WrestleMania, SummerSlam is truly The Biggest Event of the Summer. CM Punk fought his way through a Gauntlet Match to earn an opportunity to compete for the World Heavyweight Championship. Now, The Second City Saint is in for the fight of his life against one of the toughest Superstars on the roster, Gunther. At SummerSlam, Punk has the chance to get back to being one of the top players in WWE and begin the march toward main-eventing WrestleMania 42. Now, if we want to play the conspiracy theory card and suggest that Seth Rollins may hobble down to the ring and cash in his Money in the Bank contract after Gunther puts Punk to sleep after losing, we can do that … but I won’t. Too soon.
Prediction: Punk def. Gunther
WWE Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Jade Cargill
Tiffany Stratton vs. Jade Cargill is a difficult one to predict. Stratton has held the WWE Women’s Championship for more than 200 days now and is a crowd favorite in part because she’s been a fighting champion. SummerSlam will be the seventh time in a little more than six months she’s put the WWE Women’s Title on the line. Still, it just may simply be Cargill’s time. She’s been pretty much dominating since coming back from injury, and it should continue at SummerSlam. I am not predicting it will happen, but something tells me to keep an eye out for Bayley interfering in this match.
Prediction: Cargill def. Stratton
Roman Reigns & Jey Uso vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed
Roman Reigns and Jey Uso joining forces is designed for The OTC to get back at the former Wiseman Paul Heyman. Of course, nobody ever gets the best of The Oracle, so Heyman will play a significant role in the outcome of this match. I anticipate Reigns and Uso to win, but keep Breakker clean in the process so he can continue his meteoric rise to a championship, which is coming.
Prediction: Reigns & Uso def. Breakker & Reed
Randy Orton & Jelly Roll vs. Drew McIntyre & Logan Paul
Wrestling purists might have a problem with this match, but my advice to them: Chill out. Call me crazy, but I have an odd feeling that we are going to be impressed with Jelly Roll’s debut inside the ring. Logan Paul always delivers, and Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre are stars for a reason, so it’s going to be difficult for this to not be entertaining. Even if this is a one-off and we never see Jelly Roll in the ring again, it’s going to be a fun match that could spawn an Orton vs. Drew rivalry heading to Survivor Series. In a clean match, I’ll take Jelly Roll.
Prediction: Jelly Roll & Orton def. McIntyre & Paul.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez vs. Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss
What an odd tag team Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss have become, but it works. WWE has found a winning combination that fans are ready to fully embrace. Give Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez credit for keeping the titles in The Judgment Day with Liv Morgan on the shelf, but simply put, Flair and Bliss are too good not to win the titles.
Prediction: Flair & Bliss def. Rodriguez & Perez
Sami Zayn vs. Karrion Kross
Karrion Kross was right. Now, it’s time for Kross to take his newfound popularity to the next step by beating Sami Zayn. You can’t deny that Zayn is a fan favorite, but Kross might just be a click ahead of Zayn and that’s all his doing. Kross adding a stipulation that will force Zayn to stand in the middle of the ring and admit “Kross was right” adds a little extra zest and humiliation to this match. Why add that “stipulation” if it wasn’t going to happen?
Prediction: Kross def. Zayn
