WWE is holding their “Biggest Party of the Summer” on Saturday, 3rd August with the 37th annual SummerSlam taking place from the stadium of NFL AFC North Division team Cleveland Browns in Cleveland, Ohio.
The fourth of the ‘Big Five’ premium live events for 2024 and the final SummerSlam to be hosted on the WWE Network, which is still live outside the United States’ before all international WWE content moves to Netflix in January 2025.
A stacked card has been locked in for the event which includes six championship bouts. Alongside these a seventh grudge match between CM Punk and Drew McIntyre has been added; this bout has been brewing since the Royal Rumble match which had taken place back in January of this year. Here I will be offering a preview and prediction for each bout that will take place.
Rhea Ripley vs Liv Morgan – WWE Women’s World Championship
The most enthralling storyline in all of WWE currently, the Women’s World Title match between these two women will not be their last for the year as I predict this to be the first of a trilogy. This story has a wealth of history between Ripley and Morgan going back to their days as a tag team, however, this has not been built upon yet.
Mainly this story is one of revenge going back to Liv Morgan’s real shoulder injury suffered in 2023 where Ripley was responsible for her long absence from our screens. Returning at the Royal Rumble, Morgan vowed to seek revenge on Ripley starting off the “Liv Morgan Revenge Tour” where she would take her championship, her friends, and her on-screen partner Dominik Mysterio, trying to destroy her life.
Morgan in a backstage brawl was blamed for returning the favour of a shoulder injury putting Ripley on the shelf for four months and forcing her to relinquish her Women’s World Title, Becky Lynch would win the vacant belt but lost it quickly to Morgan who won it finally at ‘King and Queen of the Ring’ which took place in Saudi Arabia. She would set off on part two of her plan to seduce Mysterio which she almost succeeded in however, Rhea Ripley would triumphantly return in July 2024 setting the stage for their SummerSlam bout.
WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan
This match has very real grievances in a storyline with both women having fan support behind them with different perspectives on what has happened. Some see Ripley as the villain costing Morgan a chunk of her career and Morgan can be seen as the villain trying to make it personal with her opponent.
I predict that Morgan will win this first bout. She has to win to cement her place as a true main event star in a Monday Night Raw roster which was crying out for legitimate threats to Ripley who did not have a relevant threat to her title during 2023. This made any title bout against her a foregone conclusion before the bell rang, even though the matches were entertaining nobody believed she could be beaten. Morgan also has to win to set up the trilogy I mentioned earlier which could end at ‘Bad Blood’ in October and could be settled inside of ‘Hell in a Cell’ or my favourite idea a ‘Three Stages of Hell’ match given the vitriol of the feud.
WWE SummerSlam 2024: Rhea Ripley
There also is guaranteed to be ‘Judgement Day’ shenanigans as there have been various easter eggs hinting that Liv Morgan may not have wanted Dominik Mysterio at all and has been working with old ally Finn Bálor instead. This is to break up the group and begin a new faction where they lead both as champions. This match promises to have major consequences for the product going forward and is definitely the most amount of investment I have in a current story outside of NXT.
Gunther vs Damian Priest – WWE World Heavyweight Championship
King of the Ring Gunther enters his crowning match against World Heavyweight Champion Damian Priest. Priest has had a decent reign thus far with defences against Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins but both have ended with interference making it difficult to judge his strength as a Champion.
This feud has had classic themes building off Priest’s real-life hardships to fight for his position compared to the privileged Gunther who has had all the advantages to turn him into one of the best the World has to offer. However, the classic dynamic would have Priest as the underdog fighting for a championship which is not the case here as he is attempting to prove himself in a fight where nobody will come to interfere. Priest, allied with the villainous ‘Judgement Day’ has become a good guy in the eyes of the crowd as Gunther uses classist language to get under his skin and play mind games, the crowd can relate to Priest’s story making him a natural hero.
WWE SummerSlam 2024: Damian Priest swings at Gunther
I predict Gunther does beat Damian Priest in this bout, the prizefighting ‘Ring General’ is primed to be a World Champion and despite him being Austrian, WWE hosting a show in Berlin with a central European Champion will increase business in the region. It will also allow Gunther to reach the pinnacle of a long career in which the man has worked extremely hard.
Nia Jax vs Bayley – WWE Women’s Championship
Queen of the Ring, Nia Jax is receiving her title bout after a stellar run since her return to the company in September 2023. A talent who was labelled as dangerous in her first run has sharpened her in-ring skills, look at the Queen of the Ring match vs Lyra Valkyria, and has sharpened her character work; she has become a deserving challenger for the top prize in the company. Simple things about her character like pretending to hive-five kids then pulling her hand away is the sign of a student of the game, alongside this she has been trusted to do a circuit of non-televised events with Maxxine Dupri who is still learning how to wrestle safely showing a 180 on her perception within the business. These things are contributing to my thought process that she will walk out of SummerSlam the new WWE Women’s Champion.
WWE SummerSlam 2024: Bayley performing a diving elbow on Nia Jax
Bayley has been WWE Women’s Champion since WrestleMania following a match of the year candidate vs Iyo Sky. Unfortunately, since then no stories have followed before Nia Jax won the Queen of the Ring tournament, this is a reflection on the booking of the women in WWE as Piper Niven became a candidate only three weeks before Clash at the Castle in Glasgow, then nothing followed for her. This does not take away from Bayley’s in-ring ability, Saturday’s match is going to be fantastic. However, there is mileage in a story brewing between a Champion Nia Jax and Money in the Bank holder Tiffany Stratton and how they will be friends with the tensions of a title match at any time and any place that Stratton chooses.
Bron Breakker vs Sami Zayn – Intercontinental Championship
A rematch from Money in the Bank in Toronto, Canada. Breakker comes into this a hot favourite being positioned as the next big thing and I expect him to win on Saturday quickly. This will be a ‘squash match’ where Breakker will win in under two minutes against the veteran Zayn.
A story is being told of an inexperienced Bron Breakker not taking Zayn seriously in their previous bout which will not happen this time out, whereas Zayn is banking on his experience and the fact he has beaten Breakker before to carry him through the match. This is the perfect stage to crown Bron Breakker and is the easiest call of the night with a simple story and simple execution. I expect this to lead to another Gunther-type reign which lasts years or will lead to a feud with the brilliant Ilja Dragunov for the iconic work-horse title.
Bron Breakker and Sami Zayn face off
LA Knight vs Logan Paul – United States Championship
Logan Paul won the United States Championship in November 2023 during WWE Crown Jewel in a match against Rey Mysterio. Eight months ago, he has defended his title twice. LA Knight has to beat him.
This match has been built upon internet beefing as Logan Paul rarely shows up on WWE TV meaning most of the heat has been seen on Twitter and a video which took place at Paul’s home in Puerto Rico. Knight will be a visible fighting champion which is desperately needed, as I often find myself having to think about who holds this belt. It has become forgettable and the build for this match has struggled due to the champion. I am done with his reign. YEAH!
WWE SummerSlam 2024: Logan Paul stands tall above LA Knight
Drew McIntyre vs CM Punk – Seth Rollins as Special Guest Referee
The biggest blood feud in the industry currently these two have hated each other since McIntyre injured Punk during the Royal Rumble in January. Punk suffered a torn triceps which takes roughly eight months to heal so he is ahead of schedule, slightly worrying due to his recent injury record. Given no real combat could take place there has been a series of tit-for-tat attacks between the two men over the months which has ramped up recently with Punk costing McIntyre the World Heavyweight Championship on three separate occasions, saying McIntyre will never hold gold again as long as he’s around. McIntyre has responded by making it personal, bringing Punk’s wife and dog into the feud and leaving him in a pool of his blood following the second championship sabotage during Clash at the Castle in Glasgow.
CM Punk
During Punk’s third involvement in a McIntyre title charge at Money in the Bank, he inadvertently cost Seth Rollins his title shot against Damian Priest a match with a ruling that if he did lose he could never challenge again for the title as long as Priest held it. This is where Rollins was re-inserted into the feud and will be the referee on Saturday. Rollins is the only man willing to referee as McIntyre has been assaulting the officials who he claims keep allowing Punk to cost him championships.
This match should be gloriously violent given the time it has spent in the slow cooker developing its flavour. I expect Rollins to allow the rules to fly out the window and weapons to be involved. I do expect like Ripley vs Morgan this to only be the start not the end. Whilst McIntyre should win, I expect Rollins to factor into the finish of the match making the win unclean and will add to the vehement disdain the men have for each other resulting in future matches.
Drew McIntyre, CM Punk and Special Guest Referee Seth Rollins
Solo Sikoa vs Cody Rhodes – WWE Championship
Guaranteed to be the main event on the night the match between Sikoa and Rhodes has been thought about since Roman Reigns’ loss at WrestleMania and a lot has happened since then. Roman has disappeared from the company with Solo claiming he has been anointed the ‘Tribal Chief’ of ‘The Bloodline’ faction. Here he has recruited; Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa and most excitingly Jacob Fatu. Solo has banished Jimmy Uso from the groups and ‘The Wiseman’ Paul Heyman sending him through a table on an episode of WWE Smackdown, alongside this he and his new Bloodline have also destroyed Randy Orton and Kevin Owens using the same method, with Cody Rhodes being the most recent victim of the table.
The Bloodline: Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, Solo Sikoa and Jacob Fatu
This new Bloodline is the result of fraudulence, I believe this is the perfect opportunity to have Roman Reigns return with Paul Heyman to put a stop to this faction which will impact Survivor Series: War Games the traditional event in November. The circumstance in which he does return puzzles me because for impact Roman would return against a victorious Solo who had just won the WWE title putting a stop to his tyranny on Friday nights. However, Cody Rhodes losing does not seem realistic.
Cody Rhodes has been the ultimate fighting champion and I had the privilege to witness his world tour following his WrestleMania victory when he came to Belfast to defend against Shinsuke Nakamura in April. He has since had many great matches mainly against AJ Styles. His reign has been one of an old-school babyface cutting promos and winning on live events whilst making people happy. I think it would be premature to end his reign now with a ready-made story between him and Randy Orton for the WWE Championship. This is why I pick Cody to retain his title which creates the dilemma of Roman returning to target a beaten Solo Sikoa.
WWE SummerSlam 2024: WWE Champion, Cody Rhodes
This card will be impactful for the wider product that we see with multiple high-level stories being advanced as a result here. Some matches are truly unpredictable which is the ideal scenario for professional wrestling and the arguments I have put forward here are what I want to happen. The event is scheduled for 7 pm Eastern Standard Time, that is 1 am British Summer Time for all viewers across the Atlantic and is available on TNT Box Office or the WWE Network in the UK and Ireland.
