IMG Credit: WWE

Too little too late?

Dang this would have had fans drooling a few years ago. Now though, Zayn is banged up and more annoying than anything else but it’s still nice to see him finally get a title reign like this. At the same time you have the rather interesting Bryan/Drew Gulak pairing, which could go in a few different and entertaining directions. This match could as well, but I think I know which it is.

Remember that after this show is over, WWE is going to have some TV time to fill. Over on Smackdown, I think there might be some mileage out of having Bryan, as the new Intercontinental Champion, pick an opponent and go out there to fill in twenty or so minutes every week. He’ll have to win the title in the first place here though and I think that is what happens here.

IMG Credit: WWE

They’re the new generation.

The deeper we get into this the more difficult they become. Back in November/December of last year, they had no choice but to make Ripley into the star. She was over, she was nailing the matches and there was nothing to hold her back. That should be the case again in the biggest match of her career, but there is one problem: it’s Charlotte, who gets more pushes and title reigns than any woman in history, seemingly because she’s Charlotte. She’s better than most women, but we have seen it so many times now (including with the NXT Women’s Title) that I don’t think we need to see it again.

For once I’ll give WWE the benefit of the doubt and hope that they will go with what makes sense, which would be Ripley retaining. Charlotte absolutely does not need this title and while Ripley got the big win over Baszler, having her lose to Charlotte here would take a lot of that status away. It doesn’t make sense to do that and while I’m sure WWE will be tempted to do so, I think they’ll do the right thing and keep the title on Ripley.

IMG Credit: WWE

Three out of six ain’t bad?

So here we have a scheduling issue as the match is already going to be changed to something else, but since I’m putting this together early, the best I can do is go off of spoilers. The word on the street is that the triple threat tag team ladder match turns into a triple threat singles ladder match for the titles. The good thing is that doesn’t change my pick.

The champs retain here because that’s one of WWE’s favorite booking tropes: have the champs lost over and over and over but hey they win in the title match so everything else is forgotten. At the same time, the Usos and New Day have been champions so many times already and neither of them need the belts again. Let Miz and Morrison win, and then have them win a few more times on top of that so they can look like champions for a bit.

IMG Credit: WWE

No, it won’t be Tamina.

This is another instance where the champ has cleaned out the division but in this case I could buy most of the challengers taking the title. WWE would be crazy to not try and push Evans at some point, Naomi has been pushed before, Banks and Bayley are joined at the hip forever and then there’s that other person in the match who seems to have video of Vince tickling a judge with a rubber duck. I’m not sure where this goes and that’s a nice feeling.

For some reason I want to say Evans wins here, but this seems like a setup for another Bayley vs. Banks feud so I’ll take Bayley retaining. Maybe she stabs Banks in the back to win it or maybe it’s the opposite, but for the sake of this I’ll say Bayley keeps the belt. It won’t be for much longer though as she needs something else to do, but she has gotten something out of this reign and that’s a good thing.

IMG Credit: WWE

Hang on a second though.

Yeah let’s just get this one out of the way early. It’s one of those matches that you have nightmares about but at the same time, I’m almost curious to see how bad this can actually be. This is your nightmare show of the year and my goodness it could be incredible in one way or….well ok there isn’t another on there because this isn’t going to work, but that might be the case for another reason.

I don’t think Elias is working this match. They did the big injury angle last week and I think you know where this is going: Rob Gronkowski takes his place and gets his win over Corbin. As much as I could go for seeing Corbin lose, I think Gronkowski might be even more annoying. This is something that we’re just going to have to get through because Gronkowski has personality, which is code for he’s one of those people you want to see get tasered and throw off a bridge in Louisiana. Somehow this might be worse, but at least this should be short.

IMG Credit: WWE

Your random match of the year.

Now we have one of the most confusing matches on the whole thing. On one hand, I can go with the idea of showcasing the two of them on the biggest show of the year. On the other hand though, I’m not big on adding more matches to the already crazy bloated card for the sake of putting them on the card. That doesn’t often work well, but a good performance here would be a big deal for both.

Black winning here is really the only thing that makes sense as Lashley has nothing going on at the moment. I’d go with Black winning here because he seems to have more potential, though I’m not sure I could see Lashley losing after everything he has done in recent months. You could go either way here, but the logical pick seems to be Black.

IMG Credit: WWE

This one changed a bit.

This is a match I didn’t think I would actually see but it is the kind of thing that has been built up well. Otis has gone from what should be a goofy character to a goofy character with a purpose. The fans are into him and while I don’t think he’s going to be able to last long term at the top of the card, but you would think this is where Mandy Rose sides with Otis and dumps Ziggler. If nothing else there were certainly hints at Ziggler having some kind of a plan with Sonya Deville last week.

In the other prediction I’m sure I’ll get wrong, I’ll take Otis here, though for the life of me I can’t picture Ziggler losing to him. It seems like a situation where no matter how much sense something makes, Vince McMahon would wind up saying that no one would believe Otis wins the match and Rose chooses him. I hope I’m wrong because it would be so annoying, but it isn’t out of the question. Otis wins and mixed tag rematches abound, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

IMG Credit: WWE

A year to be a champion, that’s a long time.

I’m not used to this. One of the longest running statements that I would make in these things would be “Baszler has to lose this time” and then be horribly wrong more often than not. This time around she’s challenging though and I’m not sure how to take that. Somehow it has been a year since Lynch won the title in the first place but the problem is she has run out of serious challengers. That’s where Baszler comes in.

I’ll go with Baszler winning because otherwise, what is she supposed to do? She dominated NXT at a level that rivaled Asuka and losing would just make her look like she choked (different than when she chokes people out of course). At the same time, Lynch needs ANYTHING else to do at the moment. She’s still over and on fire but at some point you have to reset things a bit. Lynch may be the biggest female star ever and a loss after a year as champion isn’t going to do any career ending damage.

IMG Credit: WWE

They just can’t get away from each other.

Now we’ll get to something interesting for a chance with a rather intense feud. These two have the potential to beat the living heck out of each other and that could make for a very good brawl. It’s a personal rivalry and that’s one of the best things that you can get. I’m curious to see if Beth Phoenix is going to interfere here, as it would certainly fit in the story they have at the moment.

I think I’ll take Edge here, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m wrong on this one. Orton winning in the end with an RKO or two would make a lot of sense, but Edge winning and getting his revenge feels like the right idea. Edge has a much better story to tell at the moment and having Orton win doesn’t make a ton of sense. I’ll go with Edge, but I’m not convinced.

IMG Credit: WWE

These still matter, right?

Can we just go ahead and call this the worst title in recent memory? They haven’t actually been defended on TV since December and I don’t think many people really care. There is nowhere near enough depth for something like this and it shows worse and worse every single week. The Warriors are the third champions and I’m not sure they even have three challengers right now.

Bliss and Cross win the titles here and they’re not going to be able to do much with them anyway. At the end of the day, there is just nothing going on with the titles and there is no need for them. Having the titles defended on all three brands helps a bit, but when you’re not defending them on any brand, what difference does it make? Just go with the title change as the titles die a little more each day.