WWE Announces Shocking News Ahead of SummerSlam

Randy Orton has been unleashing the brutal “legend killer” gimmick in his rivalry with WWE Champion Drew McIntyre. The Viper has garnered a lot of attention for this feud after his vicious attacks on WWE Hall of Famers Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels.

Finally, the two are ready to take on each other for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. However, a recent development has fans worried about the future of this rivalry.

That’s because of a very rare scenario that faces the company. WWE has a pay-per-view lined up just one week after the biggest show of the summer! WWE Payback is all set to air on August 30.

Will WWE Make Titles Change At SummerSlam?

Right now, WWE has scheduled the Payback pay-per-view only one week after SummerSlam. The former only has one title match announced – the Women’s Tag Team Championships will be on the line. The contenders for this title match or any other title match, in general, are yet to be announced.

The first question that comes to mind is – why is WWE rushing its events? The reason seems really interesting as Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Newsletter points out –

Still, making title matches on new rivalries in a week is not child’s play. A buildup is necessary for any match. Obviously,the speculations are that WWE is going to cash in on existing rivalries to headline Payback.

Bayley and Sasha Banks are not likely to extend their title matches/rematches with Asuka till PayBack. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt and Universal Champion Braun Strowman already hinted at an alliance this past SmackDown.

Dominik and Seth Rollins‘ rivalry is already two months in the making. After SummerSlam, the company is unlikely to stretch it beyond its breaking point.

That leaves only one possible option. Payback will be the big stage for Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre.

The possible outcomes Of the big match

WWE can make Drew retain the title only to drop it to Orton the next week. This way, Randy Orton will win the title for the 14th time.

However, this seems really predictable. In a time where the company pushes (or tries to) the “new” talents, it will be generic to hand Orton the title again.

Another way could be to make Randy Orton the WWE Champion and defeat Drew McIntyre next week. This possibility also seems silly on the company’s part. Drew is inarguably one of the top guys of WWE. He had an amazing run last year and won the title at WrestleMania. However, Drew is yet to truly gain momentum among the fans.

Possibilities are that the match at SummerSlam will get postponed, maybe with an interruption or two, and it will shift to PayBack. There will be some loss of importance but as said before, it is almost impossible to conjure up a new title feud within one week.

WWE SummerSlam will be streamed live from WWE ThunderDome in the Amway Centre, Orlando. The event will be available on the WWE Network.