10 Worst Case Booking Scenarios For WWE SummerSlam 2023
James Austin Fans like to play booker; they all want to book the WWE product their way, just like they do in WWE 2K23, especially when it comes to big events like SummerSlam. Every fan has their ideal scenarios for SummerSlam, who wins, who loses, who becomes champion, who returns, but there are some scenarios that seem so right that many fans agree.
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Likewise, there are cases of booking scenarios that seem terrible and that don't obey logic, that don't make sense in terms of kayfabe, or that just aren't what the fans want. Let's take a look at the worst case booking scenarios for SummerSlam 2023.
10 Becky Lynch Losing To Trish Stratus
Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus have had an excellent feud, a generational clash that could well determine who is the greatest female wrestler of all time. The only correct outcome is for Stratus to put Lynch over. That may be the last match of Stratus' career, and she doesn't need that win. Lynch, on the other hand, needs to win to build momentum and focus on a title, perhaps the Women's World Title, to have a must-watch feud with Rhea Ripley. If Becky Lynch loses to Trish Stratus it would be a questionable booking decision, to say the least.
9 Rhea Ripley Dropping The Women’s World Title
Rhea Ripley was having a perfect heel run and, until WrestleMania 39, she had a case to be WWE MVP in 2023. However, since she became champion, she has lost her spotlight. Admittedly, title reign has been lackluster, mainly due to booking, but it's not too late to fix it.
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There is still time to book Ripley as a dominant champion, and for that she needs a resounding victory at SummerSlam. It looks like the challenger will be Raquel Rodriguez, an ideal opponent for Ripley. On the other hand, if Ripley loses the title, her entire heel run and well-built momentum would have been for naught.
8 Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens Splitting Up
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn have been real-life friends for many years, but despite that they had been mainly on-screen rivals, but they finally won the Tag Team Titles together at WrestleMania 39, dethroning The Usos. They are having an excellent title reign so far, with excellent defenses against Imperium, Pretty Deadly and Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa, but best of all are their segments together, which are extremely entertaining. That's precisely why one of the worst case scenarios for SummerSlam is their split.
7 LA Knight Left Off The Card
LA Knight is the most over wrestler in the world right now, and no, that's not an exaggeration. Fans know very well whose game it is, and it's LA Knight's. YEAH. It's just incredible to see the fans erupt wherever he goes. That's why it would be a huge mistake to leave him off the SummerSlam card, but it's a possibility, as he didn't appear at WrestleMania 39 and so far, has no feud for The Biggest Party Of The Summer.
6 Gunther Dropping The Intercontinental Title
Gunther has been the best Intercontinental Champion of the past few years, and he has the arguments to be the best of all time. He brought prestige back to the title and has left body and soul in each of his excellent defenses.
So, "Der Ringgeneral" deserves to have the longest Intercontinental Title reign in history, he only needs a little less than two months to surpass The Honky Tonk Man's 454-day reign. Drew McIntyre is an excellent choice to dethrone Gunther, but SummerSlam is not the right place, for the reasons stated above.
5 Charlotte Flair Winning The Women’s Championship
Charlotte Flair has won every Women's Title that exists in WWE, and you can bet she's going to win the Women's World Title and the WWE Women's Title. It is inevitable. But it would be great if for once Charlotte builds momentum and has a proper storyline on her way to her championship win, because she's used to getting opportunities out of nowhere and winning just like that. So, we'll most likely see a Triple Threat match between Asuka, Charlotte Flair and Bianca Belair, and if The Queen wins that would be a terrible scenario.
4 IYO SKY Failing To Cash-In Her Money In The Bank Contract
That scenario in which Charlotte Flair wins the WWE Women’s Championship would be slightly better if IYO SKY cashes in her Money In The Bank Contract and becomes Champion. In fact, the ideal scenario is for IYO SKY to walk out of SummerSlam as the new WWE Women’s Champion, no matter who wins the Triple Threat match. However, if IYO SKY becomes the first woman to fail her MITB cash-in, it would suck.
3 Cody Rhodes Losing To Brock Lesnar
Cody Rhodes returned to WWE with a crystal-clear goal, to finish his and his father's story by winning the WWE Championship. Perhaps the perfect time was at WrestleMania 39, but for some reason Roman Reigns retained the title. Rhodes has partially forgotten about Roman and has been in a feud with Brock Lesnar, which should end at SummerSlam 2023.
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"The American Nightmare" has to win cleanly to continue his path to the WWE Championship. But if Cody loses, it would hurt his momentum, and frankly Lesnar doesn't need that win, which is why that would be one of the worst case booking scenarios for SummerSlam.
2 Jey Uso Dethroning Roman Reigns
The Bloodline’s storyline has been absolutely brilliant, one of the best storylines in wrestling history. It seems we are in the final stretch, and everyone wants a perfect finish, but there’s no way to make everyone happy. Jey Uso dethroning Roman Reigns at SummerSlam 2023 would be the right call story-wise, but it would be a bad scenario from other perspectives.
Jey Uso has never won a singles title in WWE, he has never been more than a midcard wrestler, and now he is going to defeat the most dominant champion of the 21st century? It doesn’t make sense. If Edge, Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Cesaro, Goldberg, Cody Rhodes, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Drew McIntyre, Rey Mysterio and Finn Balor couldn’t defeat The Tribal Chief, Jey shouldn’t be the one to do it either.
1 Jimmy Uso Turning On Jey Uso
An even worse scenario than Jey Uso dethroning Roman Reigns would be Jimmy betraying his brother. For some reason fans are talking about it on Twitter and want it to happen. Certainly, that would be a mind-blowing plot twist, but it really wouldn't make sense at all. Jimmy has no reason to betray his brother, as they have always been inseparable and have each other's backs. Besides, Jimmy was the one who stood up to Roman Reigns in the first place, and Roman and Solo Sikoa left him on a stretcher, so it wouldn't make sense for Jimmy to cost his brother the match.