15 HUGE WWE SummerSlam 2018 Predictions You Need To Know

The Biggest (Ever) Party Of The Summer

The Rock Elias SummerSlam
WWE

'The Biggest Party Of The Summer' may be Brooklyn-based for the last time if one of several competing cities take 2019's SummerSlam away from the East Coast. Should it be the final year in 'The Big Apple' for the company, WWE should hang their heads for leaving pivotal performers from the past four years absent from a seven hour supercard.

Bayley, Sasha Banks, Asuka and Ember Moon won't feature, despite assembling match-of-the-year candidates in all prior NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn shows. It's a disrespect to the performers but also of the legacy of the company's relatively new relationship with the building itself. WWE'll be back in town for WrestleMania weekend next April, facing the bizarre scenario of competing with another event at former home base Madison Square Garden. It reflects a lack of care for prestige in the present product - the same lack of care that has resulted in Brock Lesnar's Universal Title reign reaching 500 days despite only offering out six televised defences.

SummerSlam debuted as WWE's second annual pay-per-view in 1988 in the same city - a point the company have perhaps intentionally neglected due to the aforementioned fractiousness with MSG. On that night, Andre The Giant was definitively toppled by Hulk Hogan as part of a tag team main event with Ted Dibiase and Randy Savage respectively. Will another 'Beast' at long last be slain on Sunday? The old stories are still the best, even if the company too often choose not to tell them...

15. Doubles Dispair

The Rock Elias SummerSlam
WWE

The B-Team isn't just a massive punchline that has since ceased to be funny - it's a mild bout of mirth that's spiralled beyond a joke.

Empty sentiment for the unlikely success aside, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel stand as representatives of everything wrong with WWE's malfunctioning creative machine. Failing upwards understates their trajectory since being binned by The Miz and bantered off by Roman Reigns en route to dethroning Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt.

The former Champions weren't much better, but at least there was some stock in their fresh union and - in Matt at least - a slither of audience investment. Bo and Curtis were fools-done-good, succeeding yet again where they should have technically failed (if their stupid name actually meant anything - if anything meant anything) on Monday's go-home show in a match that also featured pre-show foes The Revival.

Dash and Dawson were given their moniker for the rich vein of form they tapped into in late-2015 as a loving throwback to simpler tag team times. As it turns out, the main roster is too simple even for their tight offence to thrive. Gone are feuds that generate the matches they once perfected, and in turn any justification for them to win here.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett