Fantasy Booking WWE SummerSlam 2015

SummerSlam is without question the second most important event on the WWE calendar each year.

Most of the time when a discussion on the length of WWE shows comes up during a conversation with other fans the opinions swing pretty hard to the negative side, however adding a fourth hour to SummerSlam was absolutely the right move.

If granted the decision making power to do so, I would cut Monday Night Raw and the non-major Pay-Per-Views—Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, Money in the Bank, SummerSlam and Survivor Series being the majors—all back to two hours each, but I do like the decision to add an extra hour to SummerSlam.

If Wrestlemania is the “Grand Daddy of Them All,” then SummerSlam is at least the “Daddy” so to speak and should get treated with more prestige than the remaining 10 to 11 PPV’s each year.

Wrestlemania and SummerSlam should be the two shows every year that are slowly built towards for several months with a big payoff on the current story lines followed by a transition into something new.

For better or worse the WWE has shifted away from a slow burn pace to their story lines over the last two decades in favor of rivalries that start quick with an immediate match and then repeat over the following PPV’s, but regardless SummerSlam is important enough to warrant an extra hour and the use of the biggest matches available instead of saving them for a later PPV.

Quick aside, some of you under 25 may not know what I meant in reference to a “slow-burn” style of building a story line, but rivalries didn’t always start and finish as quickly as they do now. The best example of this style that I can think of from the modern era would be the rivalry between The Undertaker and Kane.

Paul Bearer—Undertaker’s ex-manager at the time—started cutting promos about this deep, dark, sinister secret that Undertaker had in either April or May of 1997 right after he defeated Syco Sid at Wrestlemania 13 for the WWF Title. The story was that Bearer—who had previously betrayed Undertaker in favor of Mankind—was going to blackmail him in order to work with the WWF champ.

That arrangement eventually broke down and Bearer finally introduced the Kane character at the October PPV in 1997, so already we’re talking about over five months from the time the story line began to the first time we actually saw Kane on a WWF program.

As I’m sure nearly all of you know, Kane ripped off the door during the first ever Hell in a Cell match and cost Undertaker a match against Shawn Michaels at that October 1997 PPV called “Bad Blood”. Despite that and countless other attacks that would follow, the Undertaker didn’t face Kane until Wrestlemania the following year.

Wrestlemania 14 in 1998 took place on March 29th, so there was nearly a full calendar year between the start of the story line and the pay-off of their first match. In today’s WWE they would have had three or four matches and ended the feud completely in just the time between when the story line began to when Kane first arrived, not to even mention the time it took for them to actually meet in the ring.

Anyway, back to this year’s SummerSlam which should be more intriguing than most years in terms of the decisions WWE creative makes with where to take their story lines.

SummerSlam is always interesting, but picking who should win or lose each match this year seems more difficult because you could argue that several matches including the two main events don’t have a wrong answer. They could certainly screw up how each match finishes and/or the follow up story over the next month, but legitimate arguments can be made on either side when discussing who should win the match.

I’ve been critical on here and on Twitter with some of their short-sighted booking in terms of handing younger talents like Rusev, Kevin Owens and others unnecessary losses, but picking winners and losers for this card will hinge more on preference and for which side creative has a better plan for afterwards instead of clear and obvious choices.

Quick note: These picks are what I would do as the WWE booker, not a prediction on what I think they will do; though in some cases they are the same. Also the order in which the matches are listed is the order I would place them in with thought given to pacing out the entire card with ups and downs and putting lighter matches in between the big, serious matches to give the audience a mental break.

That being said I’m going to take a stab at answering some of the tough booking decisions for this year’s SummerSlam; send your angry comments to me on Twitter @sackedbybmac.

 

Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro

This should be a great match.

I like the idea of a program between these two for several reasons, but first and foremost is simply because both guys are tremendous workers inside the ring. Few guys in the WWE are able to execute their moves with more precision than Cesaro or Owens and I would argue that no one tops either superstar’s moveset in terms of being new, innovative and unique.

In addition to the excitement this match will bring inside the ring, it will be a good opportunity for both performers to establish who their characters really are on the baby face/heel scale. Cesaro has flipped back and forth for a while now with WWE creative seemingly still not sure on how to market him. On the other hand Owens has been a heel during his entire run with WWE, but because his first and so far only program has been with the polarizing John Cena, he still ended up getting baby face pops and reactions.

No confusion here, the baby face and heel have been clearly defined; it will interesting to see how both guys embrace and run with a more defined role.

Cesaro has received a bit of a push recently with a clean win over Rusev—only the second person ever to do so—and a couple great matches on Raw as part of the US Title Open Challenge. So far the fans have reacted to it positively, so it’s good to see him being put back in the spotlight with a singles match on a major PPV once again.

So who wins the match? If creative has this designed as a one-off feud then picking a winner will be tricky. Who would they be more likely to push after the match? Vince McMahon and creative seem to have doubts about both performers, so your guess is as good as mine as to who they would pick in that situation.

These guys should produce some very high quality matches and neither guy seems to figure into the title picture at this point, so my gut feeling is that this feud will continue after SummerSlam with at least one but possibly a couple more matches over the upcoming PPV’s.

With that in mind, Owens should win this matchup.

He lost two matches in a row to Cena on PPV, got pinned on the July 30th edition of Smackdown by Cesaro, and came up short in the triple-threat No. 1 contenders match against Randy Orton and Cesaro on the August 10th edition of Raw; he needs a big win to avoid falling into the Wade Barrett jobber category.

Owens’ momentum from his victory over Cena at Elimination Chamber back in May is gone; he needs this win. Plus writing a comeback story for a baby face in a rematch would be easier than having Owens make another weird “I’ve got a family” excuse like they used after he tapped out to Cena at Battleground. Seriously, who wrote that crap?

Winner: Owens by pinfall after a Pop-Up Powerbomb

 

Neville and Stephen Amell vs. Stardust and King Barrett

If we’re assuming—and I think it’s pretty safe to do so—that this is just a one-time deal with Stephen Amell competing as a wrestler, then picking the winner here is pretty easy.

Having already picked one heel to win with more to come, having at least one feel-good baby face triumph is necessary and this is a good spot to pick one since the story line won’t be moving forward. That’s not a knock against Stardust who has done a tremendous job with his promos since returning after the death of his father; it’s just that Neville and Amell have to win.

If the match is just a one-off having the heels win would leave the story and feud with a feeling of being incomplete. I have no issue with the bad guys winning the first match, but if there’s never a rematch to give the good guys a chance for redemption—especially since the superstar WWE creative should be trying to elevate with this match is Neville—then the baby faces need to get over in this match at SummerSlam.

That being said there is no way I’d let Amell actually secure the victory. Amell from all appearances is a good athlete, so having him get a pinfall wouldn’t rise to Jay Leno or David Arquette travesty levels—look it up teens—but it still wouldn’t be a good look and is something I would avoid.

Planning this match out should be easy: Let Neville start, tag in Amell after a minute or two, have Amell get in a couple moves to get the crowd excited and let the announcers go crazy with “this guy can actually wrestle” before the heels start to dominate. After about five minutes of the heels controlling the match while also building up sympathy for Amell, have Amell make the classic hot tag to Neville who goes nuts with an offensive rampage to get the crowd back on their feet before eventually hitting the Red Arrow finisher for the pinfall.

Easy stuff and could be fun if the performers pull it off.

Winner: Neville and Stephen Amell by pinfall after a Red Arrow

 

Randy Orton vs. Sheamus

Didn’t think these two needed a rematch after their match at Battleground, but with four hours to fill it was probably all hands on deck. Don’t mind seeing them face off again because both are great performers, but wish something had been added to their match to give it some extra significance; there’s no excitement or buzz right now for me.

If they had put in a stipulation where the Money in the Bank briefcase was on the line in a ladder match or made it a steel cage match or something else like that, that would grab my attention. Right now though this feels like a “get up and grab a snack” match. Unless something changes last minute, of the 10 matches on the card only the Triple Threat match for the Intercontinental Title is no DQ; the second biggest show of the year should have more.

Going out of this match it doesn’t seem like this will provide much forward momentum for either performer. As a heel Sheamus won’t cash in for real on another heel like Seth Rollins and will likely wait until a baby face wins the title—hope it’s not Cena—while Orton just seems to be floating around without much of a plan from creative.

If the company doesn’t have any plans to put the WWE title back on Orton anytime soon then I’d like to see him get in the mix for either the Intercontinental Title or United States Championship. I have another idea that I’d prefer for the IC Title that I’ll discuss later, but with that belt struggling to find momentum while attached to injured champions, giving it to Orton could certainly accomplish the goal of elevating the title like they tried to do back at Wrestlemania.

I like Sheamus, but giving him the Money in the Bank briefcase was a waste of time. He’s not a box office draw, he’s not a young rising star, his character isn’t on fire right now; what does he bring to the table to justify giving him the title? Right now for me Sheamus is a mid-card heel that should be challenging baby face champions a couple times a year for the IC Title, United States Championship or acting as a stepping stone to elevate young talents, but definitely not in a spot to become WWE Champion.

Back to their match at SummerSlam: I could make an argument either way, but the win should go to Sheamus.

While I disagree with the decision to do so, he is the Money in the Bank winner and shouldn’t lose to the same person two PPV’s in a row. Orton got over in his hometown last month at Battleground, now it’s time for Sheamus to get a win before hopefully moving on to a different feud.

I wouldn’t make it a clean victory however. As a heel, cheating to win will help get Sheamus some heat, while also protecting Orton as a guy that rarely loses by clean pinfall.

Winner: Sheamus by pinfall after using the Money in the Bank briefcase behind the refs back or while the ref is knocked out.

 

Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper vs. Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose

Regardless of who wins between John Cena and Seth Rollins in the Champion vs. Champion match, my guess is there will be a rematch for both belts at Night of Champions next month. That being the case, that means unless someone turns heel both Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose will be out of the title picture for all three singles belts going into next month.

If that remains true, then this “family feud” between the Wyatt Family and the Reigns Brothers(?) will likely roll into September with possibly another match at Night of Champions. If they do that, hope they’re able to add another member to both sides or maybe up the ante by making it a street fight, no DQ, tables match, etc to make it different than what they do this month.

Since Bray Wyatt got the better of Roman Reigns last month at Battleground after a surprise attack from Luke Harper, it seems right and pretty obvious that Reigns and Ambrose will and should be victorious in this match. The interference from Harper started this whole family vs. family angle to the feud, so Ambrose should return the favor by assisting Reigns with a win.

Plus to extend this feud out the series should be even going into a third match.

This story line isn’t as juicy as it could be with a belt on the line or even as much as last month with Bray Wyatt going all creepy with the pictures of Roman Reign’s daughter, but I like the performers involved and it should be a pretty good match. In particular I believe Luke Harper is an underrated talent with what he’s able to do inside the ring; his match against Reigns on the final Raw before SummerSlam was excellent.

Harper is another performer with a versatile and innovative moveset like I mentioned with Cesaro and Owens earlier.

One more thing on this feud and story line: I’d like to see more time given to explaining why Wyatt says “Anyone but you Roman”. It’s been hinted at that Wyatt resents Reigns because he feels Reigns has been anointed the chosen one but hasn’t earned the attention he receives, but as great as Wyatt’s promos are the story line and reason behind the feud feels underdeveloped.

Bring Reign’s family into it with the Usos and the Rock. Bring up the fan reaction to him winning the Royal Rumble. Bring up that Wyatt wasn’t included in the Money in the Bank match while the undeserving favorite child was picked as the favorite in the match; just give me more.

Winner: Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns by pinfall after a spear from Reigns

 

Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Title: Ryback vs. Big Show vs. The Miz

Pretty easy match to pick here; would you really put the Intercontinental Title on The Miz or Big Show at this point?

If the idea coming out of Wrestlemania was to elevate that title once again, putting it on The Miz or Big Show would certainly finish off the buzzkill that injuries to Daniel Bryan and Ryback started. Hell fans chant “Please Retire” at Big Show and The Miz is a part-time performer at best; you can’t put the Intercontinental Title on either one.

The Miz is a great heel, one of the few that fully commits to being completely unlikable, but putting the title on him would be a mistake.

Ryback—or The Ryback as Daniel Bryan oddly calls him—wouldn’t be my first or even second choice to wear that belt, but he without a doubt has more forward momentum than either one of his opponents in this match. I’m not a big fan of Ryback and believe that the pops he receives are more because people like chanting “Feed Me More” than them actually being entertained by his matches or promos, but he’s WWE’s only option in this match.

Not sure how quickly you could transition to this with the current story lines, but I’d like to see the IC Title put on Dean Ambrose for an extended run. He easily gets one of the top two baby face pops every show and could help bring back some meaning to the IC Title once again.

An Ambrose vs. Ryback feud with two baby faces probably wouldn’t work, so before Ambrose challenges for and wins the title I’d like to see Kevin Owens win the belt from Ryback at Night of Champions. Then have Owens retain it in a rematch at Hell in a Cell before ultimately losing it to Ambrose at Survivor Series with Ambrose carrying the belt to at least Wrestlemania.

I’ve discussed other ideas for the IC title during this article, but what I just mentioned with Owens and Ambrose would be my “Plan A”.

Winner: Ryback by pinfall after a Shell Shock to The Miz

 

Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev

Was a little surprised that this wasn’t booked as a mixed-tag with Summer Rae and Lana involved as well since they’ve had several scuffles near the ring and inside the ring, but haven’t met in a match. My best guess as to why it was booked as just a singles match is because the WWE plans for this feud to continue past SummerSlam and will use this singles match as a way to setup a mixed tag in the near future; probably at Night of Champions.

Booking a finish around that premise is pretty easy: While Ziggler is in control of the match Summer Rae and Lana get into a scuffle near the ring, Ziggler starts to leave the ring to help out Lana which gives Rusev the chance to sneak up from behind and take advantage of the distraction to secure a win.

Even without a scuffle between Lana and Summer Rae, Ziggler could still fall victim to the distraction of Summer Rae getting up on the apron with Rusev attacking him from behind before eventually winning by causing Ziggler to pass out in his submission move.

Regardless of the specifics, to set up another match Summer Rae needs to assist Rusev in picking up a cheap, undeserved victory. That easily gives Lana reason enough to step into the ring and sets up a great redemption story for the baby faces next month.

Winner: Rusev by submission with the help of distraction from Summer Rae

 

Fatal 4-Way for the Tag Team Titles: Primetime Players vs. The New Day vs. Lucha Dragons vs. Los Matadores

Let’s take Los Matadores out of the conversation because we all know they have no chance in hell of winning the match and becoming tag team champions. They’re essentially the R-Truth or Zach Ryder of the tag team division; only there as a warm body to put over other talents.

I wouldn’t have a problem with any of the remaining teams winning the match, however it is very clear for me who should win this match.

When The New Day was first introduced as a baby face group with seemingly no gimmick I absolutely hated them. Well not them as individual performers, but more the idea of the group and obvious lack of thought that went into whatever their gimmick was suppose to be.

However, my feelings towards The New Day changed as they started to embrace the negativity and use it to their advantage as annoying heels instead of trying to fight against it as do-gooder baby faces. They play the role of a heel tag group perfectly with that annoying skip and clap thing Kofi does all the way down the ramp and especially with how much Xavier Woods runs his mouth at ringside during their matches.

They’ve figured out how to get under the skin of the audience and work those angles to perfection each night. I’ve gained a lot of respect for them as performers for being able to turn an all-time awful baby face gimmick into one of the top heel gimmicks currently going.

Of every group involved, they’re the only ones who consistently get a reaction from the crowd. Sure fans like to chant Lucha and whatever Titus O’Neil says in the corner before doing the running splash, but the only group that evokes a significant emotional reaction either positive or negative is The New Day.

As the only group getting a consistent reaction, they should hold the belts and let the baby face tag teams chase them each month until a group emerges—perhaps from NXT—that really excites the crowd. That group could also come in the form of the Usos once Jey Uso is healthy enough to perform.

Regardless of whom, until a baby face team emerges that excites the crowd with more than just chants, I would let The New Day hold the belts.

In terms of booking the finish, I would go with the classic gimmick of the baby face paying too much attention to a distraction outside the ring—likely Xavier Woods—while Kofi or Big E sneaks up and hits someone with their finisher. That type of finish would keep the heat on the heels for basically cheating to win while giving the baby faces a legit excuse and a reason to request a rematch.

Winner: The New Day by pinfall with the help/distraction from the third member not in the match

 

Title vs. Title: WWE Champion Seth Rollins vs. United States Champion John Cena

Forget anyone but Reigns, let’s start the anyone but Cena campaign.

I’m a fan of Rollins, but I’m fine with him losing the title before Wrestlemania; just please don’t have him lose it to “Super Cena”.

2015 has been Cena’s version of “Sherman’s March to the Sea” with him burning bright young stars like Rusev and Kevin Owens to the ground; please WWE don’t add Seth Rollins to that list.

Has Cena’s brand dropped off at all over the last year while he wasn’t the WWE Champion? Sure doesn’t seem like it, so why hurt the brand of your top young star? Cena could easily move on to another feud and perhaps even be added to the list of guys going for the Intercontinental Title to give that belt a boost like he did for the United States Championship.

Cena is at a point in his career where he can do just about anything and have a feud with anyone without worrying about his status taking a hit. On the other hand, Rollins losing this match and going on to feud with someone else who would obviously have lesser credentials than Cena would seem like a demotion to many.

That’s not to say that Rollins would become a jobber, but it would be at least a temporary step back in comparison to what else he’s done this year. Other than to say he tied Ric Flair—which he undoubtedly will get eventually—what would Cena gain from this victory? A lot less than what it would say about WWE’s belief in Rollins to give him this historic victory.

I’ll learn to accept Cena eventually tying and then passing Ric Flair for the most World Titles won, but not right now and not this way. Think about the long term money; why cut off the momentum of a star in his 20’s for one who could be nearing the end of his run?

By all means protect Cena by having Rollins cheat or at least win off a distraction, but keep the belt on Rollins and stay with him for a while. Going forward I would book a rematch between the two for Night of Champions with Rollins once again retaining, followed by a return to his feud with Roman Reigns at Hell in a Cell and then possibly losing his belt at Survivor Series.

That’s the earliest I would consider booking Rollins to lose with a follow-up plan to either have him win the belt back at the Royal Rumble or enter and win the Royal Rumble to set up the main event at Wrestlemania.

That’s looking pretty far ahead, so getting back to booking this match I would have Triple H help Rollins win in some way after what Cena said about him during the last episode about Raw. Find it hard to believe that Cena’s promo talking about Triple H’s legacy being tied to Rollins wasn’t some sort of foreshadowing and a hint of sorts as to what might happen at SummerSlam.

Don’t think Triple H will or should get as aggressively involved as he did at last year’s Survivor Series, but he should be involved in the outcome somehow.

Winner: Seth Rollins by pinfall with the help of a distraction

 

Divas Elimination Tag: Team B.A.D. vs. PCB vs. Team Bella

Team Bella can’t win, but after that there isn’t a wrong answer between picking Team B.A.D. or PCB.

Regardless of the winner, this match should start the transition from team story lines to story lines driven more by singles matches and one-on-one feuds.

One of the major parts of this “Divas Revolution” was to see one of the newcomers from NXT eventually win the Divas Championship away from Nikki Bella. More than just crowning a new champion, that would signify a shift away from the women’s division being treated only as a promotional tool for the “Total Divas” reality show to something that focused on the athletic competition in the ring.

Nikki Bella can’t lose her belt in a tag match, so that part of the plan can’t take place with team-driven story lines.

The future money seems to be with Charlotte and Sasha Banks going forward, but more so with Charlotte. Fair or not, who her father is certainly plays a role here which is part of why PCB should win this match with the idea of pushing Charlotte into a singles run going forward.

Let me just say this: I love the work, promo skills and character of Sasha Banks, but the first shot at the Divas Title should go to Charlotte. With how I would book it, once Charlotte—spoiler alert—wins the title from Nikki Bella I would quickly transition her into a long feud with Banks and have no issue with putting the title on Banks at some point.

With this match being an elimination style tag, I would have Nikki eliminate either Tamina or Naomi—protecting Banks—to set up a showdown between Charlotte and Nikki Bella with Charlotte forcing the Divas Champion to tap out from her figure-eight submission move. Securing the win for her team over Nikki Bella would easily setup a promo the next night on RAW with Charlotte challenging Nikki to a match at Night of Champions or possibly Stephanie McMahon naming Charlotte the No. 1 contender for the Divas Championship.

Continuing this story line I would have Charlotte defeat Nikki Bella at Night of Champions while Sasha Banks starts a short feud with Paige.

In what is no way a coincidence, if Nikki Bella loses her title at Night of Champions like I think she will, her reign by my count would have lasted for 301 days; about a week longer than AJ Lee. Hope WWE wouldn’t think like this, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if they wanted to make sure Nikki Bella surpassed CM Punk’s wife as the longest reigning champion before she passed on the belt to the new performers.

Anyone else find it odd that the Divas Championship won’t be on the line for a second straight PPV? Last time Nikki Bella defended the belt at a PPV was at June’s Money in the Bank. Certainly the Divas revolution has become a bigger story line than the actual title, but I’m sure the benefit of keeping the belt on Nikki without the pressure of speeding up a title change wasn’t an accident by Vince McMahon and creative.

Winner: Team PCB with Charlotte getting Nikki Bella to tap with the figure-eight submission.

 

The Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar

Before we get into who should win this match, I really hate the tagline “The match too big for Wrestlemania” that they’ve been using to promote Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar. Too big for Wrestlemania? That’s been your biggest show of the year for over 30 years; what the hell are you talking about?

This matchup has even taken place at a Wrestlemania; how is it “too big” for your biggest show but just right for a lesser one? SummerSlam is big, but it’s not close to Wrestlemania. Just thought that tagline was weird, but I’ll move on.

Tough match to pick here, think we could make compelling arguments either way.

My gut reaction when the match was first announced was that it had to be the Undertaker because there’s no way they’d bring him back early just to hand him another loss to an opponent he’s never defeated one on one. If this truly is Undertaker’s last run leading up to a retirement match at Wrestlemania 32 like many people have speculated about, then he deserves to get a win over Lesnar as part of his farewell tour and the celebration of an historic career.

Undertaker was professional enough to accept his streak ending to Lesnar, so Lesnar should be professional enough to give one back. Not that I’m doubting Lesnar’s professionalism, but if WWE decides to give the win to the Undertaker, there shouldn’t be any resistance from Lesnar’s side after Undertaker gave up his biggest accomplishment to give Lesnar a boost.

Doubt has started to creep in however.

When Undertaker got over on Lesnar at the end of the last Raw before SummerSlam it got my attention and forced me to believe that WWE is probably leaning towards picking Lesnar. Besides the pull-apart brawl that neither guy got the better of, Undertaker has now won both confrontations between the two leading up to this match.

Usually when that happens, the guy who got the worse of the confrontations ends up winning.

How the story is written and booked coming out of SummerSlam is possibly more important going forward to keep both guys on top, but should be pretty easy to write regardless of who wins.

If Undertaker wins then you talk about how revenge motivated him to get into the best shape he’s been in for over 10 years, about how this feud with Lesnar has re-energized him after years of low activity and about how he wants to go out on top with a couple more matches against other future Hall of Famers like Cena or Sting. On the Lesnar side of this scenario you obviously play up that this was the only person capable of defeating Lesnar, that Undertaker maybe got lucky and then on the follow up Raw have Lesnar snap and take out everyone he sees in the back, maybe interfere with a match or two and really reestablish that he’s the biggest badass in the company.

If Lesnar wins then he continues to be promoted as the unstoppable conqueror, the beast that no living man or dead man can defeat and gets back into the picture for the WWE title whenever he decides to return with a likely vacation coming up. On the Undertaker side of that you start to play up his age, how he’s lost two of his last three matches, how maybe he’s lost a step and have Undertaker step away for a while before returning and claiming he wants one last chance to see if he’s got anything left. Have him win that return match at Wrestlemania, retire and go into the Hall of Fame.

Same type of story line or discussion you hear talked about with aging athletes in other sports like Brett Favre or Michael Jordan at the end of their run. What do they have left? Can they muster up the greatness they once had for one final hurrah? How they want to come back for a chance to leave on their own terms and a winning note.

Not difficult to write either way.

Really the most difficult part about booking this match is that you have two baby faces who the crowd will both want to see win. Undertaker has been a crowd favorite for decades now, but Lesnar has been hot since the Royal Rumble and recently has been getting the biggest live audience pops in the company.

I know it was Lesnar’s home state, but how often do you hear the Undertaker booed like he was on the final Raw before SummerSlam?

With Undertaker going to the low blow for a second time maybe he’s trying to draw more heat and become the heel for this match, but I doubt many people—including myself—who have been fans of him for decades will ever be willing to root against him. Don’t think the classic match style of a heel dominating before feeding a comeback to the baby face will work in this match, so I imagine the offense will be pretty even.

Tough call here; I may change my mind 10 times after posting this article.

Undertaker deserves to pick up this specific win on his way out the door as I’ve said, but why would you sacrifice the momentum Lesnar has built up for a guy who might only wrestle once or twice more before retiring? As legendary as the Undertaker is and as much as the WWE owes him for staying loyal to the brand during the Monday Night Wars and giving up his streak to boost Lesnar, the future money is with Lesnar and logically that’s who should win.

I make this pick with deep regret…and I hope WWE goes the other way.

Winner: Brock Lesnar by pinfall after several F5’s.

 

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