Predicting the match order at SummerSlam 2022

It’s one thing to predict the winners and losers at SummerSlam 2022, but how about taking a guess at the match order for the event?

SummerSlam takes place tonight (Sat., July 30) at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, starting at 8:00 pm ET, live on Peacock (in the U.S.) and WWE Network (everywhere else).

WWE has announced eight different segments for the main card of this event. Here is my subjective view of how important each of these eight segments rank, ordered from most important to least important.

1. Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar
2. Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch
3. Liv Morgan vs. Ronda Rousey
4. The Usos vs. Street Profits
5. Logan Paul vs. The Miz
6. Pat McAfee vs. Happy Corbin
7. The Mysterios vs. The Judgment Day
8. Bobby Lashley vs. Theory

Main event

There’s no need to think too deeply about this one. The final match of the night is Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar. It would be shocking if any other bout closed out the card (excluding a Money in the Bank cash-in, of course).

Opening match

The opening match of the night is usually one of the mid-level attractions with good work rate that doesn’t require a dedicated video package ahead of time to hype it up.

The two tag team matches could work in this spot, and there’s an outside chance Belair and Lynch could go here if WWE wants to get right into a big match.

Given how the Usos and Street Profits stole the show earlier this month at Money in the Bank, and with special referee Jeff Jarrett as the home crowd favorite, I think the WWE tag team title match is the best choice to start the show hot.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: The Usos vs. Street Profits
Segment 2:
Segment 3:
Segment 4:
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7:
Segment 8: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar

First half of the show

This is a tough one to crack, so I’m going to divide the card into two halves. Each half will include a women’s title match, a tag team match, and either Pat McAfee or Logan Paul as the special attraction / celebrity match.

However, there’s one match that doesn’t fit into those groupings, and that’s Bobby Lashley vs. Theory. Putting it early in the night makes sense since it’s assumed Theory will make an appearance later during the main event. It’s also the least important match of the night, which has an increased chance of being placed in Segment 2. That’s exactly where I’m putting it.

I think that will be followed up with either Logan Paul or Pat McAfee in Segment 3. Paul’s first singles match is a bigger deal so I’m saving him for later in the night. That means McAfee and Corbin go in Segment 3.

I’ll cap off the first half of the show with one of the women’s championship matches. I think WWE will book this similarly to WrestleMania 38 night one, where Becky Lynch and Bianca Belair got the mid-card spot and Ronda Rousey’s match was held off until later in the night. Becky and Belair are a much safer bet to have a great match than Ronda and Morgan, so I think using it to carry the middle of the show can make sense.

That gives me the following card:

Segment 1: The Usos vs. Street Profits
Segment 2: Bobby Lashley vs. Theory
Segment 3: Pat McAfee vs. Happy Corbin
Segment 4: Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch
Segment 5:
Segment 6:
Segment 7:
Segment 8: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar

Second half of the show

Finding a good spot for The Mysterios match is tricky, because the importance of the match hinges on whether or not Edge is appearing. I’m not really sure where to put it, but I do know that I want to place a few Raw matches in a row following McAfee’s match in Segment 3; that will give him some time to recover and potentially come back to commentate Rousey and Lesnar’s match at the end of the night. Therefore I’m holding off Rousey and Morgan until right before the main event.

That leaves The Mysterios and Logan Paul for Segment 5 and Segment 6, in some order. If Edge doesn’t appear, it’s easier for me to put the Mysterios on earlier than Paul, so that’s what I’ll do.

How does a potential Seth Rollins match or segment fit into all of this? I have no idea! There’s potential for Logan Paul and Ronda Rousey’s matches to be underwhelming, so it can make some sense to break them up with whatever is planned for Rollins. That’s why I’m adding a segment to the show and putting Seth between those matches.

Finalized card

So here is my final prediction for the match order at SummerSlam, along with guesses on the bell-to-bell match times:

Segment 1: The Usos vs. Street Profits (16 minutes)
Segment 2: Bobby Lashley vs. Theory (7)
Segment 3: Pat McAfee vs. Happy Corbin (11)
Segment 4: Bianca Belair vs. Becky Lynch (18)
Segment 5: The Mysterios vs. The Judgment Day (13)
Segment 6: Logan Paul vs. The Miz (10)
Segment 7: Seth Rollins vs. ??? (14)
Segment 8: Liv Morgan vs. Ronda Rousey (11)
Segment 9: Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar (16)

These times add up to 116 minutes, which suggests the main card will run close to four hours.

That’s my prediction for the match order at SummerSlam. What’s yours?