By Don Murphy, ProWrestling.net Contributor (@DonThePredictor)
If you can’t get enough wrestling after AEW All In Texas and NXT Great American Bash, WWE presents Saturday Night’s Main Event from Atlanta, Georgia, at State Farm Arena. As I said in my All In prediction piece, this weekend’s influx of shows as WWE seeks to counter-program is good for the industry, even if it’s forcing part of the fanbase to choose sides. This particular show brings the nostalgia for fans of a certain age, like myself, and also promises to be newsworthy coming out of it. Whether the news is positive or negative depends on your point of view. Another side note – while Jesse Ventura hasn’t been advertised, he will likely sit in on a match as he’s done since the show re-launched. This will be interesting on a couple of fronts. First, he doesn’t follow the current product closely, so you never know what he’s going to say. Second, I am curious to see who is partnered with Michael Cole, assuming it’s not Pat McAfee. McAfee is a Ventura mark, so he would generally let him say whatever he wanted, even if it was counter to the story they were trying to tell. I can’t get a good read on Wade Barrett and if he would take the same approach, but if it’s Corey Graves, he’s called out partners in the past when they’ve strayed from the main story. So there could be an interesting dynamic on commentary if Jesse decides to go rogue again. With that out of the way, let’s run down the card!
Gunther vs. Goldberg for the World Heavyweight Championship. In 1998, I was as big a Goldberg fan as anyone, and I love nostalgia as much as the next person. That being said, WWE has one of the top talents in the industry today in Gunther. They had him tap out to Jey Uso at WrestleMania. They had him give up a decent amount of offense to the color commentator (McAfee) and had him show respect after the match. In my opinion, having him lose the title to a 58-year old legacy star who doesn’t have the same body of work of guys from that era would, in my opinion, be a disgrace. And no…having him beat Gunther only to have Seth Rollins immediately cash in after doesn’t make it any better. This is being billed as Goldberg’s retirement match, so I am holding out hope that we get the greatest hits followed by a decisive Gunther win. We can then put all of this behind us and move on.
Don Predicts: Gunther retains the World Heavyweight Championship.
Solo Sikoa vs. Jimmy Uso for the U.S. Championship. If you watched Saturday Night’s Main Event back in the ’80s, they always threw in a filler match near the end of the show. This is that match. It will be fine, and I’m sure we’ll get some interference from the new Bloodline and Jacob Fatu to further that story and start to establish whatever they’re doing with them at SummerSlam.
Don Predicts: Solo Sikoa retains the U.S. Championship.
Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre. After the events on Smackdown, Jelly Roll will be in Randy Orton’s corner, and you can expect that Logan Paul will make an appearance on McIntyre’s behalf. This will very likely set up a tag team showdown at SummerSlam. I’m very interested to see how the NY/NJ crowd takes to Jelly Roll, but that’s for another time. The match itself should be fine, and McIntyre has the opportunity to become a top babyface down the line without even actually turning. His “telling the truth” persona is getting over, and all he has to do is start going at the heels. Also, if this is the match Jesse Ventura sits in on, we could be in for a lot of fun sound bites.
Don Predicts: Drew McIntyre defeats Randy Orton.
Seth Rollins vs. LA Knight. If this match opens the show, there’s a good chance an attempted cash-in will be coming at the end, assuming Goldberg and Gunther main events. I think you’ll see Rollins take a few losses before he cashes in, so that challengers are lined up to face him and can point to the past defeat. I definitely think Knight fits that criteria. The company is high on him, and he’s over with the fans. They’re likely going to keep him relevant, and I can see him being a challenger to Rollins down the road. My only concern is how they give Knight the win. Ideally, you want him to surprise Rollins with a roll-up or a small package. A decisive win might downplay the impact of the beatings he took at the hands of Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed. The company is trying to sell them as monsters who cause injuries. Since they just took out Knight on Smackdown, a strong win over Rollins might negate some of that.
Don Predicts: LA Knight defeats Seth Rollins.
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