Choke's WWE Summerslam 2015 Predictions and Fantasy Season in Review
Posted by: choke Aug 22, 2015 | 1621 views | 0 comments
Hey guys, sorry for my absence this season in writing stories, but I thought it'd be good to do a wrap up story for the end of the season, and hope to be able to provide some content for the upcoming Fall and Wrestlemania Seasons!
Some thoughts on the season which is wrapping up tomorrow:
Biggest surprises:
1. Has to be PTP: Titus and Darren went in the 5th and 7th rounds in my league of 4 (18th and 26th respectively), and wound up 5th and 6th in total points only behind the Shield and Ryback. Can you say value? I didn't expect them to win the titles immediately when the season started, and I sure as heck didn't anticipate them holding them the entire time even when they did.
2. Ryback: The value of mid-card titles is again shown with Ryback. Even missing all the time he did due to injury didn't stop him from being 4th overall.
3. New blood (Neville, Owens, Charlotte, Sasha Banks): Drafting or picking up brand new wrestlers coming up from NXT to the main roster can be a risky proposition, but these last several seem to be setting a new trend that suggests that it might be wise to do so in the future. All have racked up several points in their time with the main roster, and seem to have bright futures to come. I certainly won't hesitate when Zayn makes his inevitable debut
Biggest Disappointments
1. Bray Wyatt: Another brutal season of points for Wyatt, who seems to be poised for a big season every time, but only pulled in 127 thus far and is no guarantee to win tomorrow. Naturally once everyone starts to doubt picking him up is when he'll probably take off in points. R-truth, each of the Lucha Dragons, and the Big Show all had more points. His partners Luke Harper and Erick Rowan also had awful seasons in points, probably mostly due to Rowan going out to injury.
2. Bad News Barrett: Another who seems to be poised for a breakout season every couple of months, and tends to disappoint. Tough to figure out what the future holds
3. John Cena: Still respectable points earner, as usual, but going into the season he was defending the US title almost weekly, and that ground to a halt fairly early on which limited his potential. Still always a solid first round pick, but maybe not as obviously in the top 2-3 as he usually would be.
Summerslam Predictions
1. New Day vs Los Matadores vs Lucha Dragons vs PTP for the Tag Team Titles: So I'm gonna go ahead and eliminate Matadores. Lucha I think would have a shot if they hadn't completely ignored them in the storyline the last few weeks. Seems like it's between the PTP/New Day, and I'm going to go with New Day to win back their titles as they've done a good job of building up heat for themselves over the last few months, and there's more money in a Lucha or PTP chasing the New Day than any other storyline. NEW DAY WIN THE TAG TITLES
2. Kevin Owens vs Cesaro: These two have had nothing but great matches this season, and I don't just mean against each other. It's hard to envision them topping what they've already done, but it should be a great match no matter what. I could see it going either way, but Owens just seems to have more momentum that I don't think should be killed with a loss against Cesaro at the moment. OWENS WINS
3. Miz vs Big Show vs Ryback in a 3-way dance for the IC title: So I'm going to go against my logic I used earlier in discounting the Lucha Dragons' chances, in that even though Miz has sort of taken a backseat to Big Show and Ryback in this feud, I have a feeling he sneaks out with the title. It helps that I have him on my team and need every point I can get. The one thing I really don't see happening is Big Show winning it. I mean what would really be the point MIZ WINS THE IC TITLE
4. Team Bella vs B.A.D vs PCB: Thank god for these NXT Divas. A completely stale division became one of the most exciting ones in wrestling to me overnight. The only outcome that seems unlikely is Team Bella going over. I think the money with this division is with Charlotte or Paige eventually winning the title and having one turn on the other. That eventual title change will just kick the division into overdrive with feud potential. I wish this was for the title in some respect, but it has to start somewhere. PCB WIN (WITH PAIGE AND/OR CHARLOTTE SURVIVING)
5. Randy Orton vs Sheamus: Doesn't seem very exciting from a story perspective, but hopefully it's a good match at least. I don't like MITB case holders typically in matches like this as the future cash-in tends to be enough hype for them to be able to drop some matches to other top or mid-carders. ORTON WINS
6. Stephen Amell and Neville vs Stardust and King Barrett: Can't come up with a scenario in which it makes sense to have the heels go over here unless Amell is going to put in more time in the ring in the future. RED AND GREEN ARROW WIN
7. Dolph Ziggler vs Rusev: Shame Ziggler hasn't been around much to help build this. I think it has the potential to be a good match but the build just hasn't been there without Dolph around. Summer and Lana clearly will mix it up and I think that will make the men's match feel secondary, potentially even ending in a DQ or double count out. There are mixed tag matches in our future. DOLPH WINS BY DQ
8. Wyatt/Harper vs Ambrose/Reigns: I've always figured the end of Rollins' reign as WWE Champ would end at the hands of the former Shield members he turned his back on, and I still believe that. There's a lot of speculation of an Ambrose or Reigns heel turn which I would enjoy because I enjoy all heel turns that aren't the Big Show. While one of them turning Wyatt Clan does seem somewhat interesting, I think I'd prefer it happening after this feud is settled. With Reigns the odds on favorite to eventually beat Rollins for the title eventually, I just don't see him taking a loss at the Summerslam before his probable Mania shot. AMBROSE/REIGNS WIN
9. Seth Rollins vs John Cena in a title vs title match: This would do nothing for me except for the fact it's for both titles, and that there's always the Sheamus potential. It just doesn't make sense to give Cena both titles at this juncture. I could see some shenanigans with Sheamus cashing in after Rollins wins and there being some discussion over which title Sheamus was using it for. I'm sure I'm overthinking it. I definitely think this feud continues through September and maybe even October, but the storyline works much better with a Rollins win to start it off. SETH ROLLINS RETAINS THE WWE TITLE AND WINS THE US TITLE.
10. Brock Lesnar vs Undertaker: This will be boring. Not the match, but my thoughts on it. I agree with almost every analysis of this match I've read. Odds are we see a third and final match between the two at Mania, and that only works if Undertaker gets his revenge tomorrow night. Clean? With Kane or Heyman's help? I dunno, but he should win. The only wildcard is Sting taking Taker out so that he moves on from Brock for Mania. I'm not the first to guess that by any means, and I won't be the last. There will be a guy at your PPV Viewing party saying the same thing. UNDERTAKER WINS