Why Sports Podcast - Summerslam 2023 Preview

The speaker discusses the upcoming SummerSlam event and shares their thoughts on the matches and storylines. They express anticipation for the event, particularly the matches between Cody Rhodes and Brock Lesnar, Seth Rollins and Finn Balor, and Asuka, Charlotte Flair, and Bianca Belair. They also highlight the main event between Roman Reigns and Jey Uso as a significant and emotional match. The speaker predicts that Cody Rhodes will win his match, Finn Balor will become the World Heavyweight Champion, Asuka will retain her title, and Roman Reigns will remain the Universal Champion. They also mention the potential future storylines and the importance of Cody Rhodes' overall storyline. And welcome back to the Y Sports podcast, I'm your host Alvin Spain and today we talk SummerSlam 2023. It happened in two weeks on August the 5th in Detroit, Michigan, home of Ford Fields, home of the Steelers winning Super Bowl 40. Don't that has nothing to do with the SummerSlam. I just thought it was relevant enough to say it anyway because it's my team, dammit. But all seriousness, all kidding aside, SummerSlam 2023 is absolutely shaping up to being one of the best events ever and usually, I tell you what, the WWE when they go to Detroit man, something special happens. Of course, that is the place where Hogan slams Andre the Giant at WrestleMania 3, one of the best WrestleMania matches took place there as Shawn Michaels and John Cena had an unbelievable match at Ford Fields at WrestleMania 23. It's an amazing venue for the WWE but this match, this card has the potential of being absolutely something special. And of course, I just mentioned the Detroit man event, one of the greatest matches the world has ever seen. It's going to be a great place and it's going to be a great event and I can't believe I get to say this, I'm going to be there live and it's even cooler for me to say this, I'm going to take my daughter with me as part of her 16th birthday gift and I did not realize how big of a fan she was, she's actually the one that really got me back in wrestling along with my nephew. They were playing the video game and they were still watching the storylines and still, I was pretty much kind of done and it was kind of frustrating watching the WWE but they brought me back and man, I'm so glad they did because this has been an unbelievable time for not just the WWE but wrestling in general. It really hasn't had this much interest maybe since the Attitude era back in the late 90s, early 2000s, led by The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple H, The Undertaker, Van Kine, again, you could not have asked for a better stretch of wrestling back then. Of course, the Monday Night War is very much a big key in that as well but now we fast forward all the way here to 2023 and brother, it's all about the Tribal Chief. It's all about Roman Reigns and we'll hit this matchup as the way it's meant to be. We'll hit it last, that is the main event of SummerSlam. Now, there's only four advertised matches and boy, what a four advertised matches they are but we're going to also include in this matches we are expecting to take place as well and so we do know, of course, the card is subject to change but before we, and again, I'll bring out the four advertised matches. Cody Rhodes versus Brock Lesnar, I'm pretty sure a stipulation will be added there. Seth Rollins and Finn Balor for the World Championship, what a story. They've had seven years ago and the fact that they can bring that back to light here, I'm looking so forward to that. Lesnar, Money in the Bank, Damian Priest lurking around. A triple threat match which quite frankly could be on the levels of The Rock, Undertaker and Kurt Angle in 2002 for the WWE Women's Championship, Asuka versus Charlotte Flair versus Bianca Belair and of all the matches, I can honestly tell you that is not the main event. I am looking forward to that match more than anything. I cannot wait for that match to take place and of course, the main event, the undisputed WWE Universal Heavyweight Championship and the right to be called the Tribal Chief as tribal combat takes place between the champion Roman Reigns and main event Jey Uso but we'll cover all those later but let's start at the top with the World Women's Championship which we anticipate will be Rhea Ripley and Raquel Gonzalez. Rhea Ripley, she may be the MVP of 2023. Um, her and Dominique Mysterio may be the best act in wrestling that's not named the bloodline and I tell you ever since she has won that championship against Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania, she was already peaking at another level and but now you are seeing her swagger, her skills all rolled up into one. I think she has the potential of not only closing out 2023 as champion but quite frankly, I'm not sure who's going to take the title from her as we even enter 2024. This has a good chance of being a one-year reign, um, for Rhea Ripley. Uh, Raquel, great athlete. Again, she has the great back and she jokes with you all the time. Looking forward to that match. Again, it's like a physically imposing matchup between two of the biggest and toughest women on Monday Night Raw. I do anticipate Rhea Ripley winning that match but again, anybody who has stepped in the ring with her, it's going to be a big match. I look at the match she had with Natalya a couple of weeks ago and it just goes on to show her, you know, her being physical and having the right partner means she can make music and just go. She's just been absolutely amazing. Like I said, she's, she's my MVP of 2023 and I hope and her man, Dirty Dom, the new NXT North American champion will be with her, excuse me, at ringside. So, again, I do anticipate Rhea Ripley staying champion on, on this, on this night. Then we have what we anticipate will be the Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship between Guta and Drew McIntyre. Um, all I got to say is when these two get together, I mean, then get, get ready to hear some earthquakes and these brothers hit each other. Um, their matches, um, the triple threat match at WrestleMania, um, one of my favorite matches on that entire card along with Sheamus, but to see these guys go one-on-one and Drew came back, money in the bank, um, Guta is the longest reigning Intercontinental champion of the modern era. I anticipated him having this title. Oh, you know, I'm passing the honky tonk man's record and I tell you, whoever beats Guta, there's going to be, there's going to be a line at something and I tell you the day Guta drops the Intercontinental title, whoever the world's heavyweight champion is, you are officially on alert. The second he drops that title, you are on alert because there's only one thing Guta needs or wants and it's that world title. But right now he's, he's gotta be the Intercontinental champion and be the best Intercontinental champion in a very long time. I do anticipate him winning that match against Drew McIntyre and a very, very physical matchup. A matchup that would probably be cooler in the octagon, but we get it in the squared circle and that's Ronda Rousey versus Shayna Baszler. Um, if you believe the rumors, uh, I, I don't necessarily do, but it's all about Ronda wanting to get a break, either just a step away from the WWE or possibly go back to UFC. Um, Shayna Baszler needs a victory. I, um, she was, her last high profile match was back, I want to say was Wrestlemania 36 or 37, the pandemic one, when she faced Becky Lynch, uh, for the Raw Women's Championship. Um, she did not win and quite frankly, has never been the same since. This could be the most important match of her career to date. And who knows if things turned out, that could be Rhea Ripley's next big rivalry. I know they're both on SmackDown, but really what's the brand split about anyway? Um, I do look forward to that match because there's a lot of names. There's a bigger, big names and there's history in this matchup. I think this could be Ronda, Rowdy's best match in the WWE. Um, again, I think it's going to be a great, it's going to be a great match. I actually am looking forward to it. I do believe Shayna Baszler does come out with the victory and I think it'll be very interesting to see what the next step, uh, truly is for her. Now, uh, we also wanted to cover the United States Heavyweight Championship. Now I did not, I'm not clear on this because I'm not sure if it's going to be defending the Raw or the SmackDown before SummerSlam or if it's going to be before SummerSlam, but right now the winners of the two, um, uh, 4-4 matches are Santos Escobar and Rey Mysterio. And the winner of that will face, um, um, oh God, I forgot, Austin Theory. That doesn't bode well for his title reign as far as I viewed it. But, um, everybody thought this was going to be LA Knight's moment. I love LA Knight. I've loved him since he was Eli Drake in Impact Wrestling. I, and on a quick side note before I go on further, I'll probably get on this later. I hope LA Knight isn't the next Rusev in the WWE where everybody loves him except the people that need to love him and they find ways to not push him. Rusev Day was one of the coolest things ever, but it never got pushed. I really hope LA Knight does not fall into that category. That being said, I really do like Santos Escobar. I, I, I am intrigued to see this match with Rey Mysterio only to see where this will go from there. Um, I do think the US Championship does need a refresher. Um, credit to Austin Theory for taking it as far as he has, but it just, and maybe it's been the switch to SmackDown too. Not sure, but it just doesn't feel like it's gone to the level it should. But again, for Santos Escobar, former NXT champion, or no, North, uh, North America, excuse me. Yes. Um, this, um, this is going to be his biggest profile match against, uh, legit me. He's a Hall of Famer, uh, Rey Mysterio, um, brothers of the LWO. So I'm very intrigued, uh, to see how that match goes. I mean, they got a lot of love ever since Backlash and Rey Mysterio drives moving forward with this, um, and really helping these young guys coming up, uh, the former Legado del Fantasma. Um, I'm really looking forward to it. I do think Santos picks up the win. It'll be interesting to see if he does, you know, maybe he goes on the dark side about it, but I do anticipate Santos winning. And dare I say, I'm calling either of this the night before the night of, I think he'll be the United States heavyweight champion. Um, it could be a cool moment. Uh, but either way, if it's not him and if LA Knight can find his way into the picture, I'm all about that too. Again, I'm going to Detroit. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna hear that loud. I want to hear that man's pop. It's good. Uh, seeing on TV is one thing, but being in that stadium is going to be another. Um, looking forward to it. But again, my official pick, rolling with Santos, that's far to not only be very mysterious, but to also be Austin Theory to become the new United States heavyweight champion. Now let's talk about the advertised matches. Um, for SummerSlam, we'll start off with Cody and Brock. Um, it started with Brock setting up Cody the night after WrestleMania and say, I'll be your partner. And then he just beat the crap out of him. And they have split matches. Uh, Cody won, uh, at backlash. Um, Brock won the night after the pay-per-view after the night of champions. And this is the rubber match. I, I anticipate this match being something cage match. I think a lot of people will call a lot of people are calling for the dog collar match, but either way, this is going to be a very, very good match. Um, it closes out this trilogy here. And I hope this is the last one, um, for Cody Rose. If this story leads to him winning at WrestleMania against Roman Reigns with his current reign as champion, this will go down as one of the best stories. For a single wrestler. From the torn peck he had at Hell in the Cell, to his Royal Rumble win, to his defeat against Roman, for him to then overcome Brock Lesnar, finally with, finally using himself to restart his run to be world champion and to finish it off. This has the makings of one of the best stories in wrestling history. He first has to get through Brock Lesnar. And I will point out what I said earlier, beating Roman Reigns in this current reign might be a spoiler for my prediction later, but I, it's going to, it will be very interesting to see how they want the story to end compared to how will Cody's story end or at the very least how this particular chapter ends. Um, I did my pick is Cody Rose. Um, my match. I'll go with everybody else. I say Don Collin. Let it be. But then, you know, for Brock Lesnar to be that close to you and you can't really run away from him. Good luck, Cody. Next, we have the World Heavyweight Championship between Seth Rollins and Finn Balor. SummerSlam 2016, Finn Balor, the number one draft pick, I think, um, coming to, coming to Raw. And he won the world title that same night though. And so Sam, he is, um, he, he messed up his shoulder. He had a relinquished title. The man who he beat was Seth Rollins. It's not very often the WWE can pull back from a story those years later and make it work now. And boy, I mean, either by accident or by unmaking storytelling, here we are seven years later and they are competing for the World Heavyweight Championship. And I tell you, you got Senor Money in the Bank, Damian Priest waiting. But I do believe this is Finn Balor's night. I do, but I believe it. I, I don't know why. I don't know why. Uh, because all things would tell me Seth Rollins will, should, would, would, would win and then Priest cashes in on him. And then that you, then you really got to name your Finn Balor. But it almost, you know, I think for Judgment Day, it almost feels like, you know, it's a, it almost feels like this just feels like the next big step for them. They have been, if, if Rhea Ripley's the MVP, the MVP statue is a, is a Judgment Day. And can you imagine they come into the ring? Finn Balor is World Champion. Dominic Mysterio, the NXT North American Champion. Rhea Ripley, the Women's World Champion. And then you got Senor Money in the Banks. Wow. Oh, what an interest that's going to be that following that on Raw. I think Seth, Seth Rollins, he's done yeoman's work with that belt. He's done everything you could have ever asked for him with this new reincarnation of the World Heavyweight Championship. He's done a great job with his magic. He's told great stories. I do believe though, this is Finn Balor's time. I think he becomes the new World Heavyweight Champion. So that takes us to, excuse me, the match I have been waiting for. Asuka, Charlotte Flair, Bianca Belair for the WWE Women's Championship. Earlier I equated this could possibly be, um, I believe it was, uh, oh, I forget the pay-per-view. It was in 2002, The Rock, The Undertaker, and Kurt Angle for the WWE Championship was at that time, one of the greatest triple threat matches ever. And just listen to the names of that. Kurt Angle, The Rock, and The Undertaker. You have three of the most dominant women in the history of WWE. Asuka with the greatest undefeated streak of all time. Charlotte Flair is the most world champion. Bianca Belair is the most unbelievable athlete, man or woman. You have main eventers of WrestleMania in this matchup. I have never looked forward to a triple threat match, a women's triple threat match ever like this, but this has the potential of being something so special. My pick here is Asuka. As badly as Charlotte Flair and Bianca Belair are just amazing wrestlers and champions. It almost feels like this is the one Asuka needs. Ever since she's been on the main roster, she's had success, but not, she hasn't had a signature win. She hasn't had a signature moment. Charlotte Flair has literally blocked her from every signature moment she can possibly have. And her big win against Bianca was amazing and not a champion. But if Asuka can come into SummerSlam as champion and beat these two phenomenal women in this matchup, then again, you are looking at the WWE's probably their three, I shouldn't even say their best, there's Rhea's obviously there too, but you have three of their top performers in this matchup here. And I think if you go in the WWE women's library now, you're looking at any combination of one, two, or three, or two, three, and four in this matchup. I cannot wait for this matchup. I think Asuka, there's a, there's a, there's really a swag at all three of these ladies that's going to be phenomenal, but I do believe Asuka gets her signature win. It's a signature win and beat Charlotte Flair, beats Bianca Belair at SummerSlam to retain the WWE Women's Championship. And that takes me finally to the main event, the best story the WWE has told ever. You look at stories like Macho Man and Hogan. You look at stories like The Corporation and Stone Cold Steve Austin. You know, those are some of the best stories the WWE has put on. You look at The Hart Brothers, Owen and Bray. Again, beautiful storytelling. What you've seen here with The Bloodline has been nothing short of a masterpiece. As a wrestling fan, again, being out of it for a while, this story brought me back. And then to see Roman Reigns, who's had this title now for three years, be as dominant of a champion as you can ever imagine. He has brought his family for this ride and he has, he has humiliated them. He has humbled them. He has helped them. He has berated them. And now it feels like all of his sins come to the forefront at SummerSlam. When he faces Jey Uso. Now, again, I'm not sure if you saw on Friday, where, you know, when Roman got the contract and just, you know, having this point, a little Jey, what are you going to do? And then it was Jey Uso who told him this is tribal combat. And when you saw Roman's face, it almost felt like, uh-oh, we're not, this is not normal. We're in a different game. We're in a different game. I expect every member that can of the Samoan dynasty around ringside. This is a matchup that is, it's, you know, the other, I remember the Ultimate Warrior back in WrestleMania 7. He had these trunks. He was going against the Macho Man Randy Savage in a career-ending match. And on the back of his trunks, it said, it means more than this. And what this was, was the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. This matchup feels even bigger than the Universal Championship. This feels, this is family. There have been great family matches over the years. Great brother matches, great cousin matches. Again, I talked about Brett and Owen, phenomenal matches. These, this has the potential of being one of the greatest seven. And I have been so grateful to be so invested in this ride to see this. This is the biggest, this is the biggest chapter of the bloodline. They had their civil war. Roman got pinned. Now can Roman lose everything? And he, for him to have this match here, even the elders felt like it was too far. When he, when he and Soto took out Jimmy Uso. The emotion, the passion, everything you could ever ask for is in this match. I cannot wait for this match. That being said, I expect some shenanigans. I do expect that the winner of this match. And still Universal Champion Roman Reigns. And then you start to wonder what's next. What's next for Jimmy? What's next for Jay? What's next for Soto? What's next for Roman? I cannot wait. Like I said, this story has had the set. It has included Jamie Vayne. It has concluded the Kevin Owens. It's had more games. It's had everything you could ever ask for. A dominant champion, a dominant tag champion. People out of the family invested coming in, being part of the family. So now you're having the civil war. You can't ask for anything better than a wrestling fan. Than this match up here at SummerSlam for the undisputed WWE Universal Championship. So then that takes me to the point I said earlier about Cody Rhodes. What is Cody Rhodes' end story? Why did I say he has to be Roman Reigns in this ring? If Jay Uso comes and beats Roman Reigns, it will be a story for amazing. It will be epic. It will be real losers with the exception of Cody Rhodes. His story, Cody Rhodes has to truly feel like he has to, this is the underground. He's got to come up and be the dominant, dominant champion. Even if Roman Reigns gets the belt back that following month, hell, the following day. Or the Roman aura is gone. It's maybe not gone, but it's damaged. And it won't be the same as it is, as it was back in WrestleMania 39, or as it could be at WrestleMania 40. I don't know what the end game of Cody is, but it does feel like the ideal game is Cody Rhodes Cody Rhodes beats Roman Reigns to end the 1000 plus day streak. To beat the unbeatable champion, to pin him in the middle of that ring with the crossroads at WrestleMania 40 outside at Lincoln Bank Stadium. That story can't happen if Jey Uso beats Roman at SummerSlam. Now let me make this very clear. I don't care. I love this story. I love Jey Uso. I hope he wins. But it's now almost to what is the story that needs to be told for Cody Rhodes. That story needs to be him pinning Roman Reigns and ending this reign. He can't just end a reign of Roman Reigns. He has to end this one. He has to end this one. And it will be interesting to see the Monday after SummerSlam, the Friday after SummerSlam, what happens next. If we are still set on the road for WrestleMania 40 to have Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns for the WWE Championship. Who knows? There's been rumors of The Rock possibly flown about. If that's the case, what happens then? You know, where I really wanted to see The Rock and Roman at WrestleMania 39, I think I'm now invested more in this Cody story. I think I'm more invested in seeing Coleman and Roman than I am The Rock and Roman. And so I can't wait to see. I can't wait for SummerSlam. Those are our predictions. I cannot wait for the Monday night after. I can't wait for this on the Friday night after to see who walks out as champions and what stories get told. There's going to be some chapters that get closed and potential new ones that will begin. And I, again, as a wrestling fan, that's all you can ever ask for. You can't wait to see the one chapter end and you are just anticipating to see what's around the corner. Thank you all so much for listening to the SummerSlam Review Podcast. I've had so much fun. I cannot wait to watch this in Detroit, Michigan on August the 5th with my baby girl. Um, we plan to take a lot of pictures and just to have fun on that day. And it's going to be more so for her to light up that day and act like, oh my God, before I close this out, she would kill me if I did not mention this one. This one is not advertised, but we do anticipate it to happen. And Lonnie, if you're listening, daddy sorry. Daddy sorry he made you wait 30 minutes for this. What? So we still have to rummage. So let's just say this is, let's just say this is, oh, I can't even, I kind of messed up the order. So I actually forgot about this match. But Becky Lynch, which is Leilani's favorite wrestler, is going, um, probably going up against Trish Stratus, um, to potentially close that feud out as well. You've got two legends. I mean, and so take a step back here. There could be four featured women's matches at SummerSlam. That's phenomenal. I mean, you have the two championship matches. You have Shayna and Ronda. And you get Becky and Trish Stratus. You have the man versus the legend. I mean, you can't ask for anything more than that. I do pick Becky Lynch. And I think I said earlier, Shayna could be a challenge to Rhea. But if we had to be, if I had to be honest, it had to be thinking. The role of WrestleMania 40 feels like it's leading towards Becky and Rhea. Although for the, um, world women's championship. But so Leilani, honey, daddy, sorry. But I do want to make sure we, we call this out. Um, we are picking Becky Lynch over Trish Stratus at SummerSlam. Um, to wrap up our review special. So once again, and I, uh, this time I am really closing it out. I want to thank you all so much for listening. Uh, this has been great. I love talking sports, love talking wrestling. Um, so looking forward to doing this, even hopefully having a SummerSlam, um, preview show. And then also, as we mentioned earlier, um, in another podcast, we'll also be talking about the NFL season. As that comes up as well. But again, great time to be a wrestling fan. Um, kudos to the WWE, kudos to everyone who was just doing their thing here. And again, we look forward to SummerSlam. Look forward to the Motor City, baby. And cannot wait for tribal combat. Cannot wait for the triple threat. Just cannot wait for the magic that is looking to come at SummerSlam 2023. This has been Alex Spain. This has been the Why Sports podcast. And for those who asked why sports, we asked why not? Holla back. We'll talk to you soon and we'll see you at SummerSlam. Take care. Bye-bye.