WWE SummerSlam 2015: Predicting Winners for All Projected Title Matches

WWE has booked three entertaining match formats for SummerSlam in two weeks: a Fatal 4-Way match for the tag team belts, a Triple Threat match for the Intercontinental Championship and a Title vs. Title match featuring the two most important titles in the company today.

Dig into the details, though, and you can see why some fans might be a little less excited than they should be.

The tag team match includes two teams that have no business being in a championship match. The IC title bout features a storyline that should have fizzled out two months ago. Pitting two champions against each other denies wrestlers worthy of a title match the chance to do so.

Additionally, another WWE title—the Divas Championship—isn’t even being defended, as the company instead opted for a multi-team tag match with nine women who could have instead wrestled to determine a true No. 1 contender.

The title matches for WWE SummerSlam appear set barring any late changes (always a possibility with Vince McMahon at the helm). Whether you’re excited about those matches depends on your perspective.

Fatal 4-Way Match for Tag Team Championship

When The New Day became champions at Extreme Rules, they were the perfect team to hold the title—a fresh heel team that was hitting its stride at the right time. Even with the injuries that have rocked the company’s most promising tag team contenders, The New Day was able to keep this division afloat.

Since being dethroned by Titus O’Neil and Darren Young, The New Day—Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods—has gotten even better. Their heel characters are more defiant, more brazen, but still grounded in the gimmick of positivity.

Their chase to retrieve the gold has been the best story in the tag division, as it’s made the team more sinister. I don’t want that story to end. Having The New Day lose but not be the team to get pinned would be the way to keep them in contention. If you’re a betting man, put your money on The Prime Time Players to walk out of the Barclays Center in Brooklyn with the belts.

However, if you like a dark horse, watch out for The Lucha Dragons. When Kalisto and Sin Cara won the NXT Tag Team titles in September 2014, it was a surprise to many. They’re the most exciting team in a division that sorely needs a new injection of life.

If you like throwing your money away, bet on Los Matadores.

Prediction: Prime Time Players

Triple Threat Match for Intercontinental Championship

An angle that should have never lived can hopefully die a quick death at SummerSlam.

There’s only one option for a winner here, and it’s Ryback. His appearance on Raw this week suggests he’s healthy enough to go and that the match at SummerSlam won’t simply be an opportunity for him to drop the title in an effort to heal.

His competitors—Big Show and The Miz—have been made to look so weak throughout this feud that believing one of them could actually carry the belt, let alone represent it well, is foolish.

It’s par for the course when you consider Ryback’s championship reign as a whole. First, he won the title at Elimination Chamber in a match that was so disorganized Mark Henry was included at the very last minute. Then, the very next night, Ryback was booked in a feud with Big Show instead of someone who could help legitimize the newly crowned champ. To top it off, WWE included The Miz because, well, someone had to be the punching bag for these two behemoths.

Finally, when the WWE Universe thought it was about to have closure to this story, Ryback gets a staph infection. That brings us to SummerSlam, where these three will finally have the match they were supposed to at Battleground, and we can finally all move past this terrible episode in IC title history.

Prediction: Ryback

Title vs. Title Match for WWE Heavyweight and United States Championships

Seth Rollins vs. John Cena in a title-for-title match would headline any other pay-per-view. At SummerSlam, it’s an appetizer.

That’s the main problem with this booking. This match could have been the main event at Night of Champions, and it would have made sense. Champion vs. champion at a pay-per-view featuring champions? It’s a no-brainer.

Instead, it’s a secondary match. Based on the 2015 track record for WWE pay-per-views, secondary matches steal the show. This match will likely continue that trend. WWE sees gold in this matchup, which is why neither title will change hands. Expect some shenanigans to result in a disqualification, leading to a rematch at the next pay-per-view.

If we were to fantasy book the finish of this match, an even better outcome would be to allow Rollins to win clean, claiming both titles in the process. Sheamus could then cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase to claim the WWE Heavyweight title, leaving Rollins as the United States champion.

Doing this would give all three men two titles to shoot for and could allow for an unprecedented Triple Threat match at Night of Champions with both titles on the line.

Prediction: John Cena via disqualification