It’s that time of year.  The time where we have the most dangerous match of the year but where the ropes feature the Komen pink.  It’s a strange time of year.  Anyway, It’s time to kick this off.  Hopefully this is better than No Mercy.

Kickoff Match:  Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable Vs. The Hype Bros

Jeremy:  There’s no way they are halting Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable’s streak at the moment.  And a loss here to lead to the impending Hype Bros implosion.  Chad Gable gets the pinfall.

Matt:  I read a rumor the other day that they may just have The Hype Bros go heel together rather than splitting them, so I’m going to go with that possibility here.  I think Mojo utilizes a weapon of some kind breaking up what would be another losing pinfall.  Gable-Benjamin via DQ.

The Main Card

Bobby Roode Vs. Ziggler

Jeremy:  It’s hard to imagine this going any other way than Ziggler losing.  It seems counterproductive to keep Roode in a mid card feud for several months.  However, I could see them giving it to Ziggler to get heat on him.  This is the most likely to have a “Dusty” finish on the card.  I’m still going to bet safe and say that The Glorious One hit a Glorious DDT for the pinfall.

Matt:  I expect this one to be a pretty quick match, probably quicker than the combined entrances of the two, both of which should be epic.  I’m going to have to agree on the finish though, as Bobby Roode will pick up a win here.

Randy Orton Vs. Rusev

Jeremy:  They revitalized Randy Orton just to start putting him in all the same boring feuds that made him lose interest in the first place.  I’m guessing that Rusev pulls of the victory here, perhaps with help from Aiden English.

Matt:  Along the same lines as what Jeremy said, they’ve got to quit doing this to Orton.  When his heart is in it, Randy Orton is one of the greatest pure talents on the roster.  I want there to be something exciting here if there’s interference, because I don’t really get excited about Aiden English because I know it’s never going to go anywhere.  Just to play the contrarian, I’m going to have RKO Outta Nowhere, probably on both English and Rusev.  

Baron Corbin Vs. AJ Styles for the US Championship

Jeremy:  The Baron Corbin train has slowed way down.  There’s no way that AJ doesn’t easily win this bout.  Hopefully it’s a little bit more competitive than Corbin’s outing with Cena.  Styles Clash for AJ to retain.

Matt:  For some reason I want Corbin to attack Dillinger in the back early in the show and get added to this match.  It seems weird to me, of all the things they’ve done lately, that they didn’t go that route already, or have Dillinger given this opportunity and Corbin destroy him on the go home show, with AJ agreeing to this match out of pride.  In any event, I do think AJ leaves with this belt, and if he doesn’t, I would assume it is because he’s going to move into something with Shinsuke or Jinder following the close of tonight’s broadcast.  AJ retains.

Shinsuke Nakamura Vs. Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship

Jeremy:  There’s an India tour in December.  The pessimistic thought here is that Jinder is going to retain and hold onto the Championship until then.  I really hope not.  So, I’m going to predict that Shinsuke hits his finisher on everyone, even The Great Khali if he returns, to become your new WWE Champion.  Unlikely, I know but this Jinder experiment isn’t working.

Matt:  I want to believe that tonight is Shinsuke’s night, mostly because we have to get away from this feud quickly to leave the bad taste of the racist jokes in the rear view.  There’s a lot more they can do with Shinsuke, especially with Survivor Series, Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania all in the next six months.  People are going to be a hell of a lot more excited if we can work towards a Shinsuke-AJ feud as the co-main event for Mania than they are for the perceived Lesnar-Reigns match.  I’m going to take the underdog here, and predict Shinsuke Nakamura is the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

Charlotte Vs. Natalya for the SmackDown Women’s Championship

Jeremy:  This could be the dark horse match of the evening.  These ladies have had a great feud in NXT before.  Tonight, they reignite that feud with both women way more skilled and confident than their last outing.  I do think that Natalya is going to maintain.  I do think this match could be so good that no one will really be that upset.  We are going to want to see Charlotte take the title off Natalya at Survivor Series.  Natalya retains with a Sharpshooter.

Matt:  No way.  There is no way that the Queen doesn’t capitalize on all the goodwill to claim the belt, maybe even just for the sake of her immediately losing it with a cash in.  They’re most definitely not going to shortchange this one like they do most of the women’s matches, but I think we get a new champion, maybe two, before the end of the night.  Carmella is the new Smackdown Women’s Champion.

The Usos Vs The New Day for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship – Hell in a Cell

Jeremy:  It was arguably the best match at Summerslam.  I think the ladies are going to try, but The New Day and The Usos are going to tear it up.  Literally.  I think it’s the entire reason that the main event is a Falls Count Anywhere match.  These two teams are going to create so many holes that it’s almost going to be a joke.  I think Xavier is going to be somewhat active in this match to help New Day retain their championship!

Matt:  I need The New Day to win this one for the sake of ending this lingering feud for a while.  They’re literally going to have to kill each other inside that cage to go one bigger on the Summerslam Preshow Match that stole the weekend for me.  It was the first main roster match in a long time that wasn’t overshadowed by the NXT Takeover from the evening before.  I’m curious to know if Xavier will actually be inside the cage when it starts, and honestly, I want Kofi and E to get the win clean, otherwise this will just continue to be the only thing going on in a flush tag team division.  But since I like to pick well outside the normal realm of expected outcomes, I think that The Authors of Pain rip the door off the cage and destroy all five of these guys, leading to a triple threat at Survivor Series, and I’d really like it to be a Ladder Match.  New Day most likely retains.

Shane McMahon Vs. Kevin Owens in a Falls Count Anywhere Hell In A Cell Match

Jeremy:  The Falls Count Anywhere stip is definitely going to come into play.  I think this will be one of the few times where KO will make some kind of chair pyramid or table contraption and he won’t go through it.  Shane will.  The real surprising thing is if Shane doesn’t jump off of something.  All-in-all, KO wins with a Powerbomb off the side of the stage after they’ve been everywhere else.  Shane is taken away on a stretcher but opens the show on a Tuesday with only a black eye.

Matt:  KO is going to get all that Shane has, including a ridiculous elbow drop off something and he’s going to go Coast-to-Coast, but it’ll only get him a two count.  I almost wonder if the Falls Count Anywhere stipulation could lead to Shane getting an assist, I mean Vince did take a beating and got carted off a TV broadcast, so I could see him getting his moment to put on the black tanktop and puff his chest out for a bit.  Smart money is on KO, and I think once he’s beaten Shane he’s going to get moved back to Raw.

Everything Else

The Fashion Files Return!

Jeremy:  All the rumors point to us finally having a payoff on who kidnapped Fandango/trashed their office.  I kind of never want a payoff.  I guess a reworked team of Harper and Rowan would be for the best.  I do want Luke Harper to come back.  He’s one of the best underused guys on the roster.  I hope what might be the final episode is epic.

Matt:  I like the idea of getting Harper back, but I don’t know how I feel about inexplicably putting Rowan back with him.  I’m a stickler for consistency, which I know is a dumb ass approach for a wrestling fan, but it does matter to me.  I worry that they’re going to close this series out prematurely, and with a lackluster payoff to all the great work these two have put into The Fashion Files.

Crazy Predictions

Jeremy:  It’s sad that my “crazy prediction” is that this is going to be better than No Mercy.

Matt:  There’s no way this card isn’t better than No Mercy, but honestly, there’s not a lot here you haven’t already seen a number of times.  I think this could be a great point to make clean breaks on some of these feuds and get these guys into new, fresh stories.  I’ll go crazy with this one, and project an NXT Invasion to set up for some cross promotional stuff at Survivor Series.