WWE SummerSlam 2016 Match Card and predictions

by Daniel Falconer | 19 August 2016

WWE SummerSlam is this year a four-hour event, with a huge match card and lots of drama expected. The first Universal Champion will be decided, whilst all other belts are also on the line.

Credit: WWE

SummerSlam 2016 Match Card

Carmella, Becky Lynch and Naomi vs. Natalya, Eva Marie and Alexa Bliss
Cesaro vs. Sheamus; first in best-of-seven series
The Miz (C) [with Maryse] vs. Apollo Crews for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens
The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) (C) vs. The Club (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) for the WWE Tag Team Championship
Sasha Banks (C) vs. Charlotte for the WWE Women's Championship
Rusev (C) [With Lana] vs. Roman Reigns for the WWE United States Championship
John Cena vs. AJ Styles
Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) vs. Randy Orton
Dean Ambrose (C) vs. Dolph Ziggler for the WWE World Championship
Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE Universal Championship

Predictions

There's no word on how the three-on-three women's match will play out now that Eva Marie has been served a suspension following a violation of the WWE Wellness Policy. The match may become a three-on-two handicap match or another female wrestler could come in to act in Eva's place. Nia Jax would be a good fit, but with her being on the Raw brand and all these women being on SmackDown, it's extremely unlikely that'll happen. Whatever the case may be, it's likely the face women will gain a win here.
Cesaro and Sheamus have started a rivalry which is sure to go on for some time, with seven matches scheduled and the first one kicking off at this pay-per-view. Sheamus may pick up the first win here so that Cesaro can get on somewhat of a roll. We know the series will end with the men three wins apiece - and hopefully some interesting types of matches will come into play in the future.
Apollo Crews is an incredible force and upon his debut up on the main roster, he was being used extremely well. Now though he seems to have fallen to the wayside. He needs the win here more than anybody, but with Maryse at ringside ready to help her man retain the belt, we think The Miz walks away champion here. This rivalry is just getting started.
Jericho and Owens are amazing together. I can't wait to read all about their partnering up in Chris' inevitable next book, because I'm sure they get up to all sorts of interesting antics behind-the-scenes. With such big egos though, they may implode and turn on one another, allowing one of the leaders of the tag division - Enzo and Big Cass - to walk away stronger than ever before, arms raised.
The Club are picking up steam and now that The New Day have broken the Tag Team Championships record, they could drop their titles at any time. New Day are so over that a loss wouldn't hurt them and The Club could do with this big push. We're saying creative give it them at SummerSlam.
Sasha Banks is retaining here. There's no two ways about it. It's likely this was going to be the place she picked up the title for the first time, but the first episode of new era Raw needed to be exciting and history-making, so she was given the bump a little earlier than expected. With Dana Brooke backstage, Sasha walks away victorious and a new challenger to the title could be ushered in. Nia Jax, perhaps? With her squash matches, we wouldn't be surprised.
Roman shouldn't be rewarded so quickly after his violation. Rusev is a great US Champion and could become the one the crowd are cheering for here. Despite Roman being 'The Guy', he's fallen down the ranks. Rusev is the best choice here, and I think WWE know it.
Cena looks to be toning down his appearances, so expect a lot of his big matches to be victories going ahead - that, or him putting younger stars over. AJ however doesn't need Cena to be over with the crowd, so here we think Cena will be walking away victorious.
Brock is in a bit of a tough spot. The roster is likely pissed that he's been let off with drug testing following his UFC drama, so it's very possible that Randy could here take him down and remove that 'invincibility' Brock seems to have. However, we think WWE have too much in Brock to let him lose at this point. We'd be shocked if he did go down to The Viper.
Dean beating Dolph is the only way this match can go. He's not been champion long enough to drop to someone like Dolph. Don't get me wrong, there's few more deserving of a shot at the title than Ziggler, and this could very well be his last chance for a long while - but we just don't see the Lunatic Fringe going down this early.
Seth is the future of the WWE. It's something that's been hammered into us since he joined 'the dark side'. The WWE Universal Championship is the future of Raw. Marrying the two together makes perfect sense. Finn would be an amazing champion, but if he picked up the belt this early on into his main roster career, it'd be hard to see where he goes next.