WWE SummerSlam 2018 matches, ranked

Summerslam is upon us again. With it comes the culmination of the years-long Daniel Bryan-Miz feud, AJ Styles and Samoa Joe beating the tar out of each other, a Ronda Rousey title match, and, uh, another Roman Reigns-Brock Lesnar match.

So, they won’t all be winners on Sunday, but a stacked 13-match card should provide enough quality showdowns and big moments to send most people home happy. Nine of 2018’s contests will feature a championship belt, and one more — Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens — puts the Money in the Bank briefcase up for grabs. With that many bouts on the docket, which priority viewing on the six-hour broadcast?

Here’s how that lineup looks, moving from least entertaining to most:

The B-Team is ...fine. Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel are good at playing likable dorks. But the Revival are great as unlikable dorks who look and wrestle like they were raised by absentee parents with access to the Jim Crockett video library. They are living proof WWE has no idea what to do with the tag teams coming out of NXT (see also: the Ascension, the Authors of Pain, American Alpha). Stomping 50 percent of the Social Outcasts would go a long way in re-establishing their badass bonafides.

Geez, Nakamura’s stock has fallen, huh? In the past year, he’s gone from an interminably long feud with a 2000s staple of American wrestling predicated on testicle-bashing to ...an interminably long feud with a 2000s staple of American wrestling predicated on testicle-bashing.

These two are capable of putting on a top-tier match, but Hardy is reportedly working through injury and Nakamura’s program with A.J. Styles failed to maximize his potential. Factor in the 100% odds of Randy Orton sneaking in at some point to RKO one or both men, and you’ve got the makings of a forgettable, but probably still entertaining, match.

Baron Corbin’s new schtick is “guy who recently discovered the mall/hates small indie wrestlers.” It’s much different than his previous gimmick of “biker, maybe?/hates small indie wrestlers.” Balor’s role has been more “handsome champion of human rights and CostCo baby oil purchaser.” They’re both capable in-ring performers, but this feud has been an uninteresting mess.

Here we have three accomplished in-ring performers and Lana, who is also a wrestler (to be fair, she’s getting better). This has the potential to be a fun clash of styles (Rusev’s meaty hoss-ness vs. Almas’s polished lucha roots) between streaking talents, but the WWE’s version of mixed tags often turn into over-thought, over-produced slogs if Ronda Rousey isn’t there. If Rusev and Almas beat the tar out of each other for 12 minutes before turning the stage over to the former Thea Trinidad to 100% murk her Russian(esque) counterpart, this match shoots way up the rankings.

Being stashed away on 205 Live has helped Alexander avoid the personality trap into which most of Vince McMahon’s black wrestlers are forced. The former Ring of Honor star is a mean, complex ball of energy in the ring, stringing together long chains of frenetic action that make him a perfect showcase for the seven minutes of stage time the cruiserweights will get on the preshow. Gulak, who has been great as a no-fun, overly literal heel, is a solid base for him to play off of. And if Gulak pulls off the win, we can expect Powerpoint presentations dedicated to his reign, so... pretty good.

41-year-old Brock Lesnar is YOUR No. 1 contender for the UFC heavyweight title (unofficially), which is ...not great for either the UFC or WWE. An unmotivated Lesnar has all the presence of someone learning to play a wrestling video game. He can suss out 3-4 moves but has no idea what to do with pinning situations, there’s a lot of standing around while he reads the manual, and no one’s quite sure what’s going on.

He’ll face Reigns for approximately the 35th time with the title on the line. In the background, McMahon will determine whether this is the time the crowd finally sees his grand vision for the underdog handsome college football star who has overcome the WWE’s oppression of constant championship opportunities. Roman’s final triumph over Lesnar seems all but assured, but his latest title reign may not last depending on the status of the Money in the Bank briefcase (see below).

The New Day continues to kill it both inside and outside the ring. The Bludgeon Brothers have been stuck in neutral as monster heels who are still running jobber squashes months into their title reign. This match will be as great as the WWE allows it to be, especially if we get a steady dose of Luke Harper and Big E smashing into each other like malfunctioning satellites.

Rousey’s lifetime of combat sports has made her a pro wrestling prodigy. She may not have the mic skills of her counterparts, but her reign as the first women’s UFC champion is enough to sell any feud she’s in. Bliss is capable of picking up where Rousey drops off in the storytelling department. While she’s not one of the women’s division’s top in-ring performers, she’ll be a double-jointed ragdoll in a match that’ll be, at worst, a spectacle.

WWE’s preferred method of Nerfing Rousey’s mixed martial arts badassery has been to slow her down with outside interference. The company’s preferred method of keeping Bliss credible as a champion despite being half the size of her opponents has been to dose her matches with screwy finishes. I think I know how this one’s going to play out. It’ll be fun getting there, though.

The WWE has downgraded Owens from “prizefighter” to “terrified loser,” stretching Strowman’s Money in the Bank revenge on the former champion out to two whole months. Strowman has spent much of the summer making Owens look like a turd and torpedoing his win/loss record just to throw his challenger off or through large things.

The good news is both men are appointment viewing. Strowman is a one-of-a-kind physical marvel with unlimited potential. Owens as a more complete wrestler who embodies the “you’re not wrong, you’re just an asshole” ethos. The winner will probably be called on to keep Reigns’, uh, reign mercifully brief later in the evening with the MITB briefcase.

Flair and Lynch are both magic in the ring, and while Carmella’s mat skills are ...lacking, she won’t have to carry as much weight in this three-way match. Having an extra person in the ring means ‘Mella can be an opportunistic jackass, soak up some poorly-sold offense, and play a supporting role for two of the world’s best wrestlers. Lynch has to prove she’s worthy of breaking out from the persistent “little sister” role in which she’s been cast. Charlotte will have the chance to play this one straight, but since her last name is Flair there’s no limit to the underhanded shit she can pull off.

There are a few different ways this can unfold, and the combination of story and in-ring performance should make this memorable. Unless James Ellsworth shows up and tricks Charlotte into a distraction roll-up by dressing up like Ric Flair.

TNA NEVER DIE. 10 years ago these two were working for Dixie Carter (and our own Steven Godfrey). Now they’ve got a chance to put on the best match at the WWE’s second-biggest event of the year.

Joe has been a bad-ass wrecking ball since arriving on the main roster, reaping souls in the ring and on the mic, where he legitimately sounds like a guy who will murder your entire family over perceived slights.

This is bad news for Styles, because as his chest tattoo suggests, he’s got a large family.

Styles’ star was dimmed by the seemingly years-long Nakamura feud, but he remains one of the top workers in the world thanks to his willingness to fling his body at anything that hovers into his field of vision. He’s now the longest reigning champion in Smackdown history, which means it could be time for Joe to hold the bag and add another bolded entry to a loaded resume. But you could have said that last part about Nakamura, so there’s a chance this is just the first chapter in a long and frustrating tale between two top-tier performers who never quite find their range together.

Everything about this feud — the in-ring performances, the social media storytelling, the multi-year world building — has been incredible. But it’s the crown jewel of Saturday’s NXT Takeover show, so it doesn’t count. Similar praise, but on a smaller scope, for EC3 and Velveteen Dream. If you want to skip the first five or six matches on this list Sunday and just watch Takeover again, I wouldn’t blame you.

Ziggler has reached his top gear as a wrestler at a few different stages in his 14-year WWE career, but keeps kicking back to the mid-tier thanks to underwhelming performances and regrettable storylines. Rollins was briefly in danger of falling into a similar wormhole, but his new “burn it down” attitude has dialed up the intensity of his character and resulted in some A+ in-ring performances.

On Sunday, they’ll have the chance to come together and create a showcase that secures their spots in the upper echelon. Pairing Rollins with Ziggler again gives two of the WWE’s most talented wrestlers the chance to top the 30-minute ironman match that Pittsburgh fans deemed less interesting than counting.

Then you’ve got two returning champions at ringside. Drew McIntyre’s resurgence has wiped the 3MB stink from his hands and allowed him to be the massive Scottish wrecking ball the company pegged him as back in 2010. Dean Ambrose has returned and looks like the Petey Williams to Triple H’s Scott Steiner, but it’s better than the “confused Hot Topic part-timer” look he’d perfected early in his WWE career.

This whole rivalry has yet to feature a clean finish. Having Ambrose there to cancel out McIntyre should give us a definitive ending — or it could give Ambrose the chance to turn heel, free Rollins up to chase a well-deserved bigger title, and prevent all three members of the Shield from being crowd favorites at the same time.

Speaking of multi-year storylines, Bryan and Miz have been building to their Summerslam match since 2010 when a babyfaced 11-year veteran of the sport was paired with a former reality show on the second season of NXT — then more of a game show than the developmental federation we’ve come to know and love.

Bryan worked his way into the spotlight with his in-ring performances. Miz got there with an all-world presence and an assist from MTV before it became a network about drunk moms. The two never got a satisfying NXT send-off, and the rivalry simmered while Miz worked his way to the mountaintop, won the WWE title, headlined a Wrestlemania ...and then faded to the midcard.

While Miz was stuck filming The Marine sequels and winning Intercontinental belts, Bryan rose up to become the company’s top underdog, won the WWE and world championship belts in an all-time great Wrestlemania performance ...and then dealt with neck and head injuries that forced him into retirement not long after. The company kept him around as the commissioner of Smackdown, forcing the Miz back into his orbit and creating one of the greatest promos in wrestling history:

That was nearly two years ago, and it seemed Bryan’s injury issues would prevent the two from ever sorting out their differences in the squared circle. But Bryan was cleared to return to the ring this March, and Miz was traded to the Smackdown brand weeks later to reunite the rivals. Now they’re finally ready to settle this slow build with an explosion, and it’s going to be awesome.