Views From The Turnbuckle: SummerSlam Preview; WWE Loaded For Most Exciting Show Of The Year

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In the wake of the brand split, WWE is promoting their biggest show of the summer with an oversized edition of their second biggest PPV of the year, SummerSlam. Despite the fact that the brand split required WWE to hastily assemble a card with only a few weeks of build for some of the biggest matches on the card, this is a very large event indeed with four matches that could main event any other show of the year anchoring what should be a really interesting show.

It’s hard to figure out what match will close the show, but we will start with the traditional WWE Championship match between Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler. The brand extension required WWE to push different guys into the main event picture, and Ziggler so far has been the greatest beneficiary of that situation. Ziggler has been largely forgotten in WWE for at least the past year and while it looked like his ship had sailed as far as him ever being a top star, he gets a golden opportunity to be the number one contender for the WWE Championship. Although he had been booked into oblivion by WWE leading up to this opportunity, Ziggler has still flashed the ability to be a top name during this program. His promos have been very good and now that he is working more as the heel against Ambrose it is allowing his more arrogant side to be presented. Some fans will still find it hard to believe that Ziggler is the number one contender, but I think he has done the best he can do in the last few weeks to come across as a credible challenger.

Ambrose has thankfully gotten a chance to really run with WWE Championship and it’s clear that he has what it takes to be a good babyface champion over the long term. His unique appeal, from his promos to his in-ring work make him so different from everyone else on the roster that the fans are attracted to him in a way that they never could be towards Roman Reigns. This match screams that Ambrose is going to retain the championship, but probably in controversial fashion which will lead to a full-fledged Ziggler heel turn and a continuation of their program heading into September.

After making an incredibly big deal about Ambrose (and therefore SmackDown) keeping the WWE Championship at the last event and RAW being without a world title, that issue was quickly thrown out the window in favor of WWE creating a new world title just for RAW, the WWE Universal Championship (because the universe is bigger than the world) and it will see Seth Rollins and Finn Balor battle for the vacant championship. Unlike the WWE Championship feud, I haven’t been that big of a fan of the build-up for this match. Seth has been pretty good, but I think the RAW writers are struggling to work with Finn, which isn’t surprising since he has only been on the show for a couple of weeks. His promos have felt over-scripted and I’m worried that they don’t have a total grasp on his Demon character, to the point that I think it might end up being more hokey than badass. That being said the match at SummerSlam should be terrific because both guys are great workers and have a similar style and the New York crowd will be really hot for them. Rollins has clearly …

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