Father and son wrestling fans Chris and Cole Casuccio return to Biff Bam Pop! with their preview of this weekend’s WWE SummerSlam!
Summer is the best! No school, not much quality work being done, lots of adventures, endless
gelato, and best of all, nothing we HAVE to do — that is, apart from watching the biggest party
of the summer — SummerSlam!
This year’s card is strange, somehow perfectly booked and poorly booked at the same time, but
we’ll get into that as we go.
As usual, I’m joined by my son Cole, who has been planning our SummerSlam weekend for
months.
Diving right in!
Chris: So, we have the full card for this two night extravaganza almost fully booked. What are
your initial feelings about where we landed, and which builds have come together in a satisfying
way?
Cole: SummerSlam this year is an interesting creature indeed. Certain matches, like CM Punk
vs Cody Rhodes and Oba Femi vs Brock Lesnar, have been excellently booked and leave me
steeped in anticipation about what will go down in Minnesota. But then we get to the undercard.
For the most part, this is a solid SummerSlam card, filled with matches that have been set up for
weeks, months, and in some cases, years. However, I am shocked at how people like Baron
Corbin and Jacy Jayne have managed to get a match at SummerSlam, while hard-working,
talented wrestlers like Ethan Page, Rey Mysterio, and Je’von Evans have been left off the card.
Chris: Yeah, that’s kind of what I was getting at. The top of the card is wonderful, with a
combination of new match-ups and huge pay-offs, but who they chose to populate the
undercard vs who they left in catering is somewhat befuddling. As you say, Je’von is a future
star, and has been presented very strongly. Page has transitioned from AEW to NXT to RAW
just about as smoothly as one can, and had a match with Rey last night that would have fit
beautifully into the Corbin slot this weekend, as would Sol Ruca’s battle with Raquel. I have no
clue why they were relegated to the RBSS.
On top of the young stars who would really benefit from the SummerSlam exposure, stars like
Orton, Drew, Becky and AJ Lee are nowhere to be seen, let alone Bron Breakker, who looked
like a future champion six months ago.
This is a two-night event, not a 5-match-HHH special, so there was room, but instead of adding
in a bit more star power, we’re left with Baron Corbin, who is about as interesting as a real
estate seminar, the Bellas and Paige vs. Team STD, or whatever their legal name is, and a
Human Monies on a Pole match that would have made a wonderful SBSS match. I just don’t get
it. But glass half full, the rest of the event looks stellar, with some WrestleMania-level matches.
Let’s break down the two nights!
Cole: SummerSlam Saturday will likely be kicked off with Oba Femi vs Brock Lesnar, with their
third match taking place inside of Hell in a Cell. I see Oba winning this match and retiring Brock
permanently in front of his hometown crowd, like they should have done at WrestleMania to
begin with.
I see this match as the curtain jerker for night 1 because I feel it will get people invested in the
rest of the show, as well as allowing Oba to focus on the world title match and Brock to begin his
long, lonely trip home to Saskatchewan.
Chris: This is one of the top matches I am looking forward to. They have had two really strong
matches (well, as strong as a modern Brock match can be), and Lesnar seems very invested in
making Oba a star. As much as I hated the loss at Clash, it is never shameful to lose to a beast
like Brock. But yes, this has to end now, and Oba needs to clearly be the better man. This is the
ultimate pay-off to Brock ending The Streak — the final and justified way to truly pay it forward (I
don’t count all of the Roman garbage — that was forced and awful.)
I’m also very keen on Punk vs Cody. We called this as a dream WrestleMania match a year ago,
so I’m somewhat surprised to see this fast-tracked. I think the build has been strong so far, but
with Punk on the mic, how could it not be? This doesn’t feel like an ongoing feud for the rest of
the summer to me, though. I think this is a one-off for now, with them circling back at Mania,
after a victorious Punk enjoys his summer facing off with guys like Balor, Priest, Zayn and
Gunther. Too many fun feuds out there to saddle him with one horse. But I think the match will
be solid and whet our appetite for more.
Cole: I am excited for this match, too. I think that Punk retains the title against Cody and goes on to
have a series of excellent matches for the rest of the year. I agree with your view on the future
of the feud, with the two potentially going at it again at WrestleMania 43. I have been looking
forward to this match for a long time, and would hate to see Punk and Cody’s only encounter
have a rushed build.
As for the rest of the matches on night one, I see Iyo Sky defeating Liv Morgan to become the
new Women’s World Champion and Gunther defeating Nick Aldis. As for the two seemingly
pointless trios matches on Saturday, I think The Bloodline will defeat the team of LA Knight,
Royce Keys, and Solo Sikoa and that Fatal Influence will defeat Paige and the Bellas.
Chris: Yes, the less said about that final match, the better. Not going to be good! I agree that Iyo, if
they are intent on not booking Liv in actual matches between PPVs, is the better champ, and that
Gunther should beat Aldis is what I’m betting is a surprisingly good match. Aldis is only 39,
younger than all four men in the main events, and is a physical specimen. If Gunther can make
Pat McAfee look strong, Aldis will come out of this just fine. As for the trios, Solo is funny as hell
and Jacob is a monster. I’m watching for that, and think team Roman comes out on top.
Night two feels lighter to me. I think Balor beats Zayn to become number one contender and set
up a summer feud with Punk. The loss will further Zayn’s mania and hopefully lead somewhere
interesting. I think Trick beats Corbin (please god!), Danhausen keeps his human monies with
lots of shenanigans, and that Charlotte wins the ladder match, and adds the title to her
upcoming endlessly hinted at Jade feud.
The big matches on night two are Roman vs Seth and Penta vs Chad. What do you think
happens with those two?
Cole: First of all, I agree with all of your picks for night two so far. I feel that the second night of
SummerSlam is something of a mess, as Baron Corbin and Chad Gable are getting championship matches that they arguably don’t deserve and Danhausen and Dom are squaring off in a match straight from the brain of Vince Russo. Moving on, I think (as much as it pains me to say this) that Chad Gable defeats Penta to win the Intercontinental Championship. I get that SummerSlam is in Gable’s home state of Minnesota, but I feel that everything he’s done since being unmasked in AAA has been lacklustre and that he shouldn’t be fighting someone as over as Penta on a stage as big as SummerSlam.
In the main event of SummerSlam Sunday, Roman Reigns will be defending his World
Heavyweight Championship against Seth Rollins. This is the match I care the least about over
the whole weekend. The buildup has been weak, repetitive, and unbelievably boring, and the
match itself will likely be nothing to write home about. I think Triple H won’t be able to help
himself and will have Roman Reigns win this match between the second and third best
members of the Shield.
Chris: Yeah, I think everything, except Chad’s go-home video package, has been weak, post-mask vs
mask. Coming back to the main roster to apologize humbly, get dissed by Maxxine, and start a
strange overhead-clap routine doesn’t reek of awesomeness. Penta is a house favourite. I
hate having him lose here to a guy already at his high point. Mexican fans are dramatically
different from American fans. Gable will never be as hot as he was there north of the border, no
matter how hard they try. In the hearts of North American fans, he’ll never be grand; he’ll always
just be Shorty G.
And Seth/Roman. They have built this like a one-time-only battle of the legends. It doesn’t feel
like that to me. This feels more like a, ‘let’s get this in before Seth loses a leg’ kind of thing. Both
are terrible faces and terrible heels at the same time. They are part of the HHH school of, I want
to be the top face, but also cooler and smarter than everyone else, and never lose and fight
dirty. Not cool, not fun. So, yeah, I think Roman wins and whatever. We’ll see him at Mania when he chooses another family member to beat.
Overall though, a strong enough card with enough time to snack and pee. At a certain age, that
is more attractive than a five-hour AEW card of all bangers. Enjoy the show!
