It wouldn’t be WWE without a bit of drama.
Fans of professional wrestling are, in essence, fans of entertainment. So when the biggest events of the year — like SummerSlam — roll around, people want to be entertained. That means cameos from non-wrestlers, old wrestlers and everything in between. It also means upsets and surprise endings and hopefully a bunch of stuff you didn’t see happening, as well as a few happy endings everyone was rooting for.
That said, we can’t just look at Sunday night’s match card and expect a clean sweep for the favorites. Something, or someone, will shock us.
It’s in that spirit that NESN.com’s Pat Bradley (@PatBradley_) and Ricky Doyle (@TheRickyDoyle) took a shot at a few of their boldest predictions for the evening.
Bayley gets a permanent WWE call-up, starting at SummerSlam
After a thrilling championship rematch for the NXT women’s title Saturday night, Bayley took her sweet time leaving the ring and the arena — and with good cause. While soaking up some incredible applause and love from NXT fans, Bayley gave a few clues that Saturday’s loss was the final match of her NXT career.
We’ve already seen her debut at last month’s Battleground PPV when she teamed up with Sasha Banks, her old friend from NXT. Now, with Eva Marie suspended last week just days before she was scheduled to be a part of a six-woman tag match to kickoff the night, we think Bayley could have a surprise part to play. — Pat
The New Day finally loses their tag team championship
The New Day have held the belts for a long time, but it feels like they’re losing some steam. Although Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods remain wildly popular, the trio isn’t quite as over as it once was.
Anderson and Gallows have established themselves as a major force in the tag team division. Ever since they arrived in WWE, it has seemed like just a matter of time before they win gold. Big E has been sidelined with an injury as part of the storyline, so it’d be easy for WWE to have him turn on his partners, especially Woods, if they’re unable to retain the titles in his absence. — Ricky
Samoa Joe helps Seth Rollins defeat Finn Balor for Universal Championship
Samoa Joe and Finn Balor had a pretty exciting rivalry down in NXT, and it was Joe who ended Balor’s title reign in April at a house show in Lowell, Mass. Saturday night, Joe lost to Shinsuke Nakamura in a championship match at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II, and though we don’t think his days in NXT are over, it wouldn’t be shocking to see Joe run some interference that helps Rollins be the inaugural Universal champion.
Balor’s meteoric WWE rise over the past few weeks has been too easy, and while Balor should be a major player for years to come, Rollins is still the heir apparent as face of the company. Samoa Joe messing with the match just adds another wrinkle and sets up future storylines when he eventually gets called up. — Pat
Goldberg helps Randy Orton defeat Brock Lesnar
Conventional wisdom says Lesnar continues his reign of dominance and makes Orton his next victim. But Orton has been over with the crowd since coming back and needs to reassert himself. Plus, there’s the real-life situation involving Lesnar’s failed drug tests with UFC, so perhaps WWE could issue some punishment in the form of a loss.
Let’s get wild here and say Orton wins after Bill Goldberg interferes. Goldberg is supposed to be in Brooklyn doing stuff for the upcoming “WWE 2k17” video game. Maybe he’ll also become part of the show, and who better for him to go toe-to-toe with than the guy he last faced at WrestleMania XX? — Ricky
Conor McGregor makes a surprise appearance
It just makes too much sense. The UFC featherweight champion followed a bunch of notable WWE people and accounts on Twitter a few months ago, said Saturday night he would consider ventures in other sports, and might be the best trash talker in the game and has called out numerous WWE superstars in recent weeks, receiving heated responses from many of them.
He’s a polarizing, loud-mouthed figure, so maybe he could show up and go toe-to-toe with Smack Talker Skywalker himself, Enzo Amore. Of course, McGregor’s broken foot Saturday night could throw a wrench in this theory, but we aren’t giving up hope that this is the other half of the WWE/UFC deal that saw Lesnar return to the octagon at UFC 200. — Pat
Thumbnail photo via Twitter/@RollingStone / WWE