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Around the Ring with TCB “Summer Slam Edition”

By: Tom Block, contributor to Gut Wrench Radio SummerSlam, the WWE’s second biggest PPV, is descending on Brooklyn NY this Sunday evening. You have a kickoff show starting at 5 p.m. ET and the main show starting at 7 p.m. ET. There’s so many matches with this co-branding event, let’s get down to the matches and the predictions. Cruiserweight Championship — Akira Tozawa (c) vs. Neville (Kickoff Show) I’ll be honest, I’m one of those who doesn’t pay much attention to this division. Neville has done a tremendous job as the champion but it’s clear his time has come with the surprising decision to have Tozawa win on RAW. The rematch occurs and I can’t see a reason to do another title switch. I wouldn’t be surprised if Neville moves up the card. Prediction: Tozawa Jason Jordan & The Hardy Boyz vs. The Miz & The Miztourage (Kickoff Show) Strung together at the last minute since the Hardy’s had no challengers with Scott Dawson out with injury and you could tell Monday night on RAW this was probably going to happen. Make no mistake, Jason Jordan isn’t getting the rub WWE hoped for with this stupid Kurt Angle story. The Miztourage is too good to be in this match. WWE still wants to ride on this train with Hardy’s and Jason. Prediction: Hardy’s & Jordan SmackDown Tag Team Championship — The New Day (c) vs. The Usos (Kickoff Show) I love The New Day and the crowd loves The New Day. Don’t get me wrong, The Usos have very much stepped up into this role of being a great heel tag team but they just aren’t there yet for an extended run. You had them win clean against TND on Smackdown Live so I don’t see the title changing hands. The rivalry will continue though. Prediction: The New Day Big Show vs. Big Cass with Enzo Amore This is a match that should be on the kickoff show. The shark tank gimmick is stupid. Unless a heel turn from Amore is coming, I hope this is quick. Prediction: Big Cass and his big dumb entrance music Randy Orton vs. Rusev Remember when everyone thought Rusev would be a legit world title contender before his injury? Good times. Him and Lana have something in common in storylines, and that’s being losers and terrible gimmick’s. Orton isn’t jobbing on another PPV to someone who isn’t going anywhere currently. Prediction: Orton SmackDown Women’s Championship — Naomi (c) vs. Natalya Naomi has not been a great woman’s champ. The only GLOW I’ve been feeling is GET LANA OFF WRESLTING the champ for zero reason, which has set up where we are today. That and these multi-women matches for contenders. Anyway, Natalya wins and I don’t think Carmella comes out and cashes in her MITB. Seems too obvious but if she does I bet she Baron Corbin’s it. Prediction: Natalya John Cena vs. Baron Corbin Corbin got the LOL emoji’s after Tuesday night’s failed cash in. Corbin doesn’t excite me as a champion so I’m glad he doesn’t have that briefcase. If the rumor of Cena going to RAW is true, then give the win to Corbin for the heat as he “got rid of John Cena on SD Life” narrative. Prediction: Corbin Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt The demon king finally has been awoken for this match. He lost clean to Bray on Monday night so I see no reason to go for all this trouble in getting Balor in his makeup to loss again. I wouldn’t mind seeing this result create a new supernatural heel tag team. Prediction: Balor Raw Tag Team Championship — Sheamus & Cesaro (c) vs. Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins Sheamus and Cesaro have done a great job as tag champs. Probably far exceeding anything I ever expected when it first came up. That time has come for them to drop the titles. You’ve had a tremendous build up to Ambrose and Rollins reuniting. I don’t see the WWE throwing a curve after all that. 2/3’s Shield winning seems like the direction needed and the money draw would be fantastic. Prediction: Shield Reunion Raw Women’s Championship — Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Sasha Banks I’m happy this isn’t Bliss vs Bayley. I’m tired of Bayley. Her character is stale and watered down. This match is now the two best women on the Raw brand in a title match I really don’t know who to pick. I could see Bliss winning and staying as champ for a few more months and Banks getting her chance to really shine as champ. I just don’t see WWE done with Bliss in the spotlight but Banks wins in some fashion that keeps Alexa hunting her down. Prediction: Banks United States Championship — AJ Styles (c) vs. Kevin Owens with Shane McMahon as the special guest referee Here’s a wild statement – there will be controversy in this match. This will easily be the match of the night. And as much as I enjoy them, this is where the train needs to stop. AJ needs to retain and move on with KO probably fighting Shane in an upcoming PPV. Prediction: AJ WWE Championship — Jinder Mahal (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura Everyone who reads the dirt sheets, knows the WWE is coming up on a tour of India and the biggest draw for that money will be the Canadian Mahal. I love how Nakamura has been built up since his main roster debut. He deserves to be in the title spotlight but I can see Jinder continuing to sell the narrative that he needs to cheat to win. These two will continue on and I’m willing to bet after the India tour, the title will change. Prediction: Mahal Universal Championship — Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman vs. Samoa Joe I want nothing more than Samoa Joe to win this match. That’s a guy who has since day one on the main roster, done what has been needed to make him a legit top heel threat. I don’t see Lesnar losing and at the same time there’s too much money to be made on a Lesnar – Stowman match. Roman Reigns can go away. I feel bad for Joe in all of this because of how deserving he is. Prediction: Lesnar

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SummerSlam picks

We’ve got some different picks here

Matt: Big Cass, Rusev, Cena, Finn Balor, Cesaro/Sheamus, New Day, Tozawa, AJ Styles, Sasha Banks, Naomi, Nakamura, Brock 

Todd: Big Cass, Orton, Cena, Finn Balor, Rollins/Ambrose, New Day, Tozawa, AJ Styles, Alexa, Natalya(w/ Carmella cash-in),Nakamura, Brock

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NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III picks

We both picked the same winners: Johnny Wrestling, Aleister Black, Sanity, Ember Moon, Drew McIntyre

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Little unknown match from NXT back in the early days. You might have heard of these guys.

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#Battleground

Here’s our Battleground picks:

Matt: Tye, Kanellis, Usos, Shinsuke, Nattie, AJ, Cena, Mahal 

Todd:  Tye, Kanellis, New Day, Shinsuke, Nattie, AJ, Cena, Mahal

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Today’s match of the week

Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Eddie Guerrero - 10/26/1997

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#GreatBalls

Here are our picks for this Sunday’s perfectly named Great Balls of Fire: 

Matt: Neville, Cass, Rollins, Miz, Cesaro/Sheamus, Alexa, Roman, Brock

Todd: Tozawa, Cass, Rollins, Miz, Cesaro/Sheamus, Alexa, Braun, Brock

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I love this damn match. The two best wrestlers alive today! 

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Match of the Day featuring two of my absolute favorites. Enjoy friendos! -T$

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Damn I love this. Man, I would’ve marked out so hard if I was in that crowd for this. So funny watching Cabana try to get a chance on the mic and Punk keeps pushing him aside. -T$

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I never get tired of watching this promo. So raw, so real, so damn good. -T$

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Well Hello Friendos

Welcome to the new page for GutWrenchRadio! We hope to provide further analysis and insight beyond what we discuss on the podcast. We’ll post blogs, videos, lists and anything else we find interesting. Feel free to send us anything you find interesting, any questions or ideas you might have.