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What’s the story?
According to the Australian promotion company tegdainty.com, WWE may have inadvertently revealed the outcomes to several of their biggest matches for SummerSlam. Raw tours Australia in September and the announced lineup appears to include several huge spoilers.
In case you didn’t know…
On September 14th-16th, WWE's Raw brand will be packing up and crossing the Pacific Ocean to invade the Australian cities of Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. These three days feature a loaded roster that includes the likes of Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Sasha Banks, and Finn Balor. Keep in mind that the date for SummerSlam is August 20th, 2017 - almost a full month prior to this international tour.
The heart of the matter
The biggest match announced for SummerSlam from the Raw brand is a mammoth Fatal 4-Way Match for the WWE Universal Championship. Champion Brock Lesnar defends his title against Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, and Samoa Joe. For Australia, Reigns and Strowman are currently advertised at the top of the card in a Street Fight. If anyone is to take the title off of Brock, it will likely be one of them. As for the fourth man in that SummerSlam main event, Samoa Joe, he's advertised to compete in a Battle Royal for the chance to face the Intercontinental Champion, The Miz. The chances that he'll compete in that battle royal as the Universal Champion is extremely low.
As for the Tag Team division, Sheamus & Cesaro are advertised to defend Raw Tag titles against Heath Slater & Rhyno. Neither The Hardyz, The Revival, or The Club are currently announced anywhere for this Australian tour. The Bar may very well get raised even higher in the land down under.
Other important matchups listed are Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt, Big Show vs. Big Cass, and Akira Tozawa vs. Neville. All three of those contests reflect current rivalries, which means that none of these feuds could reach their finality at The Biggest Party of the Summer.
What’s next?
Whether or not these September matches are accurate is something that wrestling fans will have to find out as it plays out on screen. SummerSlam comes first. There are a plethora of variables that could change the creative direction of the company in a moment.
Author’s take
It's always important to note the 'Card Subject to Change' clause that's always found in the fine print. Plus, Vince McMahon is notorious to change his mind a lot. While I do believe Samoa Joe is the least likely combatant to walk out of SummerSlam as Universal Champion, it's not an impossibility.
