10 Expectations Vs. Reality For WWE SummerSlam 2020

1. What Shawn Michaels Will Do?

Bray Wyatt Braun Strowman
WWE.com

Expectation:

Shawn Michaels heavily teased his involvement in Sunday's WWE Championship match. He said on Monday's RAW that a Claymore or a Sweet Chin Music might end Orton's night at SummerSlam.

The Punt he suffered should preclude this - it's a storyline write-off - but he didn't much sell it. Perhaps he was sat on his hands in gorilla before appearing in the segment, those hands went numb, he momentarily forgot they were a part of his body, and as a result, he had nothing to stare at. His primary acting weapon neutralised, Michaels broke character. This is as foreshadow-y as WWE tends to get, so Michaels will be there. Maybe he'll inadvertently cost McIntyre the title, when Orton ducks the Sweet Chin Music, in a nod to SummerSlam '97.

You trolls say WWE doesn't do long-term storytelling, but they've been working on that for 23 years!

Reality:

Payback is a week after SummerSlam. It's the 2020 version of This Tuesday In Texas - a naked grab necessitated in storylines by f*ckery on Sunday - and yes, a cloudy finish will happen as desperate pretext to ramp up those Network viewing figures.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!