WWE SummerSlam 2023 preview: WWE is going viral thanks to Logan Paul

WWE SummerSlam 2023 takes place tonight (Sat., Aug. 5) from Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. The show begins at 8 pm ET, live on Peacock (in the U.S.) and WWE Network (everywhere else).

WWE is going viral thanks to Logan Paul

Part-time WWE star and full-time douchebag Logan Paul hasn’t won a wrestling match in WWE since last year’s SummerSlam event, when he beat mid-carder The Miz.

The main reason why Logan hasn’t won a match since then is because he’s faced main event stars like Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. But the YouTuber drops back down to the mid-card tonight for a fight against Ricochet.

Despite his inexperience in pro wrestling, Logan has proven to be ridiculously talented in the ring. One of the reasons why this match is happening is because of the incredible athleticism of both wrestlers. This all started back at Royal Rumble when Ricochet and Paul had a mid-air collision that went viral. They tried to go for another viral moment at Money in the Bank, and it led to a nasty table bump on a Spanish Fly gone awry.

Paul has promised another viral moment tonight at SummerSlam, which means WWE is planning some kind of crazy and ambitious spot that is designed to have us all talking well after the event is over. And we won’t have to wait long to see what this viral moment(s?) is all about, because Ricochet vs. Paul is the opening match of the night.

If viral moments aren’t your cup of tea, then perhaps you are more interested in the way Paul made things personal with Ricochet on the go home episode of Raw. Logan said he hopes there will be no hard feelings when Ricochet’s fiancee, Samantha Irvin, has to announce his name as the winner after the match is over.

What will Samantha Irvin do if Logan Paul actually wins?

The rest of the card

Here are the seven remaining matches that are currently advertised for SummerSlam:

Roman Reigns (c) vs. Jey Uso for the WWE Universal championship in Tribal Combat

Jey Uso proved he can beat Roman Reigns last month at Money In the Bank when he became the first wrestler in more than three years to pin the Tribal Chief. But that was in a tag team match. Jey will have to do it again tonight one-on-one in Tribal Combat if he wants to win the WWE Universal Championship and become the new Tribal Chief.

Roman and Solo Sikoa responded to the shocking defeat by viciously attacking Jimmy Uso and sending him to the hospital. They keep asserting that what happened to Jimmy is all Jey’s fault, and it’s going to be a long time until we see Jimmy again.

That means Jimmy is showing up tonight, right?

Asuka (c) vs. Bianca Belair vs. Charlotte Flair for the WWE women’s championship

Charlotte Flair returned to WWE two months ago and immediately cut the line in front of Bianca Belair for a championship match against Asuka. The EST of WWE realized Adam Pearce has no idea what he’s doing, so she took matters into her own hands and got involved in Flair’s title match, causing a disqualification. Flair returned the favor a couple weeks later when Belair challenged Asuka for the belt. So now we have a triple threat match with all three women, where there cannot be a DQ. The extra wrinkle here is that IYO SKY has the Money in the Bank contract and she may very well cash in on whoever walks out of this fight as the champion.

Seth Rollins (c) vs. Finn Balor for the World heavyweight championship

Finn Balor has been waiting for seven long years to get revenge on Seth Rollins. Finn had a chance to take the World heavyweight championship away from Seth last month at Money in the Bank, but a miscommunication with his stablemate Damian Priest led to Seth retaining the gold. Balor gets one more shot at the champ at SummerSlam. But can he trust that Priest won’t ruin his quest for revenge again by cashing in the Money in the Bank contract?

GUNTHER (c) vs. Drew McIntyre for the Intercontinental championship

Drew McIntyre returned to WWE last month at Money in the Bank and immediately set his sights on GUNTHER, who pinned Drew earlier this year at WrestleMania. The Ring General is closing in on the longest Intercontinental championship reign of all-time, but Drew now has a chance to prevent GUNTHER from reaching that milestone.

Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar turned on Cody Rhodes on the Raw after WrestleMania 39. It’s not clear why Lesnar did this, but it’s naturally led to a series of matches against Rhodes. Cody won the first match with a fluke roll up, and Brock won the rematch after breaking Cody’s arm. Tonight is the rubber match, where Cody is looking to prove that he can actually finish a story in WWE.

Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler in MMA Rules

Shayna turned on Ronda out of nowhere at Money in the Bank, bringing their short reign as WWE women’s tag team champions to an abrupt halt. Baszler has since explained that Ronda is an entitled narcissist who never paid her dues, and Shayna is sick of Ronda hogging the spotlight. These two former best friends won’t be able to settle this deeply personal issue in a basic wrestling match. No, this one will instead be contested under MMA Rules. In WWE-speak, that means the match has to be won via submission, knock out, or pass out. Ronda is reportedly leaving WWE soon, so she might be putting Shayna over on her way out the door.

SummerSlam Battle Royal presented by Slim Jim

LA Knight is one of the most popular stars in WWE today, but he didn’t have a direction for SummerSlam. That all changed when Adam Pearce announced the SummerSlam Battle Royal presented by Slim Jim. Knight joins a field that also includes the likes of AJ Styles, Sheamus, Karrion Kross, The Miz, Shinsuke Nakamura, Santos Escobar, Matt Riddle, Chad Gable, Tommaso Ciampa, and Grayson Waller, to name a few. This match feels like it was designed to get Knight a win on PPV so the live audience can lose their minds in celebration.

Summary

A lot of the talk this week about SummerSlam has been focused on Becky Lynch and Rhea Ripley not making the cut, perhaps due to time constraints. So it will be more interesting than usual to keep track of how this show is timed out, to see if there really is no room for them.

As far as the eight advertised matches are concerned, there’s a lot to look forward to. Both Money in the Bank contracts could be in play, LA Knight is going to get a massive pop in front of 50K+ fans in attendance, Drew McIntyre and GUNTHER will almost certainly have a banger, Cody and Brock finally finish their feud, Logan Paul and Ricochet will go viral, and there’s at least a sliver of a chance that Roman Reigns loses his status as the Tribal Chief to Jey Uso. Add it all up, and wrestling fans are in store for a heck of a good time at WWE’s biggest party of the summer.

What will you be looking for at SummerSlam?