Summerslam Preview: Can Daniel Bryan Dethrone John Cena?

Review Fix breaks down the entire Summerslam card and picks winners for each bout. Continue reading to find out who could come home the big winners and losers in the WWE’s annual summer pay-per-view extravaganza.

Matches:

Natalya Neidhart vs. Brie Bella: This could be considered a throwaway match, but it could be an important one considering how Neidhart has been due a real push for months. This could be the beginning of something new for her. A win here for Neidhart puts her right in the Divas title hunt.

Cody Rhodes vs. Damien Sandow: Sandow will be a future World Champion and Rhodes is far from a slouch as well. This will be one of the better matches of the night, a 15-minute, high-energy counter-fest that will end with a Sandow victory via some sort of trickery.

Dolph Ziggler and Kaitlyn vs. Big E. Langston and Divas Champion AJ Lee: Expect this to be one of the opening matches. While Ziggler is an amazing worker, this match is more about Kaitlyn and Lee. Expect Kaitlyn to get her redemption here. This sets up another match between Lee and Kaitlyn for the Divas title.

Kane vs. Bray Wyatt w/The Buzzards: This ring of fire encounter simply has to be won by Wyatt. Otherwise, all the momentum the family has gathered over the last month and half will be for nothing. A loss, done the right way, doesn’t hurt Kane’s character a bit and propels Wyatt higher up the card.

United States Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Rob Van Dam: Much like the Kane/Wyatt encounter, Rob Van Dam doesn’t lose anything here if he doesn’t win the U.S. title. Ambrose, on the other hand, needs this win big time. After his promo this week on RAW, where he put himself in the same league as CM Punk and John Cena, a win here helps him try to begin his legitimization process. A loss doesn’t help him at all.

World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian: Del Rio, in spite of his amazing skills in the ring, has run out of steam. A change of pace with a Christian title run makes sense. The fan favorite will also make a solid opponent for Sandow and the host of heel youngsters in the company. This match will be a long-drawn out one, with Christian overcoming a plethora of obstacles and kicks from Del Rio before earning the win.

CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman: This is going to be a war. Punk will have to deal with Lesnar, Heyman and Curtis Axel. It’s not a slight against Punk, but unless he gets some help, the deck may be stacked too much against him. If he wins, it’ll be a memorable Summerslam moment. If not, expect this battle to continue, all the way to Wrestlemania.

WWE Champion John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan: This match is eerily reminiscent of the Diamond Dallas Page/Goldberg encounter at Halloween Havoc in 1998. DDP had so much momentum and there were plenty of people that saw him coming out victorious, but even after a hell of a match, DDP didn’t have it in him to beat the undefeated Goldberg. The same appears to be the case for Bryan. Although it’s obvious now he could thrive as a WWE Champion, Cena’s seat on top of the WWE kingdom looks secure, for now. The added element of the McMahon’s and Triple H could change the outcome, but all signs still point to a Cena victory. A Bryan title reign would be pretty sweet though.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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