WWE SummerSlam 2018: Preview and predictions

WWE Championship Match

AJ Styles (c) vs. Samoa Joe

Just look for some Total Nonstop Action in this one. See what I did there? Too easy? Yeah, you’re probably right. But seriously, tell me 10 years ago that AJ Styles and Samoa Joe would be battling for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam in 2018 and I would have called you a liar right to your face. But this is finally happening and this is going to be phenomenal. Okay, I’ll stop with the jokes now.

Honestly, though, the build for this really has been great. Feuds are always a little better when things get personal, and given the long relationship between these two long before their time in WWE, I like the direction they took here. They haven’t crossed paths much in their time here, and I know I’m not the only one that’s been waiting for this. Things have gotten heated over the past few weeks with sneak attacks and personal attacks, and this match is going to be explosive and could easily be the match of the night.

For those who haven’t read my previews and predictions before, this is usually the place where I complain about AJ Styles not being in the main event, and I’m going to go ahead and do that once again. The guy has been WWE Champion for more than 280 days in this current reign and constantly gets pushed out of the final match of the night for one reason or another. But that hasn’t stopped him from stealing the show and likely won’t again on Sunday night. This is probably the match I’m most looking forward to.

Prediction: A leaked advertisement says that Samoa Joe and AJ Styles are scheduled to meet again at Hell in a Cell, so that could indicate that Joe is ready to win his first WWE Championship. Of course, Shinsuke Nakamura got so many title chances and never won so maybe that’s reading too much into that. This is a tough call. There’s been talk that WWE wants the belt on Styles when the new video game is released, but that’s not until early October and Styles could win the belt back next month if he loses it. But with all of the title changes I’m expecting already, it’s hard to go with another one, so I’ll go with AJ here. Joe then snaps a bit and continues his onslaught over the next few Tuesday nights and we go again at HIAC.