Fels: We can honestly eliminate anyone from Smackdown, because there’s NO CHANCE IN HELL that they’ll take the title off Roman from a cash-in. It would be great, and they might need to figure out how to give everyone a break from Roman soon and that would be the best way, but I just can’t see it. While there’s no less Drew McIntyre fatigue, I can’t escape the feeling this is how they get him the moment he never got after winning the Royal Rumble in 2020. He wins the briefcase, and wouldn’t be shocked if he cashes it in that same night on Bobby Lashley after he beats Kofi Kingston.

Fonseca: The safe money should be on McIntyre, but hopefully not. Let’s give him a break from the title picture, a scene he’s dominated since his 2020 Royal Rumble victory. MITB is historically a star-building event more often than not, but it feels like this one’s geared toward returning McIntyre or Seth Rollins into the title picture. Riddle has an outside chance of getting the victory and cashing it on well down the line after a long carry, perhaps next year’s WrestleMania. Still, McIntyre seems too obvious, and Big E, I’ll get to shortly … but I’ll pick Rollins. Rollins could feud with anyone of the possible champions to emerge. Edge likely won’t defeat Roman Reigns, but if he does, and even if he doesn’t, Rollins vs. Reigns or Edge (shit, even both) sells itself. Unlikely that he’d go to the Raw route of Lashley or Kingston, but you could easily make that work as well, since Rollins is as good as anyone there and has been for a few years.

Fels: WWE is running real low on big time babyfaces, which would be the perfect reason to let Big E win it and go after Roman. You already have the built-in history with the New Day and the Usos (assuming none of the Usos are arrested for DUI again), and can envision some killer trios matches in a Roman-Big E program. Big E is the exact opposite of Roman, using his “family” to build himself up instead of just doing his bidding. The stories write themselves. If Kofi isn’t going to get another title run, Big E should (and would arguably be the better choice anyway). Doing it soon would give WWE time to get the strap back to Roman before next year’s Mania, which we know they want. But having him carry it straight through for nearly two years has a high risk of fatigue. Big E is the biggest breath of fresh air.

Fonseca: I’ve been freestyling a “Big E wins the briefcase and cashes in on Kofi Kingston” idea for a few weeks. The old adage, after all, is “anything could happen in the WWE,” right? Let’s have Kingston shock Lashley, and Big E come out to congratulate and celebrate with him and Xavier Woods, reunited in the ring, and then, boom, the most epic heel turn of the year, and your new monster heel WWE Champion, Big E.

Now, I’m not sure if I even love this personally, because Lashley’s run is one of my favorite things going at the moment, but if we do get Lashley vs. Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam as some rumors suggest, he won’t need the title for that anyway. Big E and Kingston could embark on a feud that could carry for the rest of the year, and possibly even to WrestleMania depending on how it’s booked. Woods would obviously roll with Kingston throughout this as Big E embraces this villainous persona. Do I think this will happen, though? Nah.

Fels: I’d like to see Naomi or Nikki Cross get a run, but this is so obviously going to be someone who cashes in on Bianca Belair to expose her “lack of experience.” They’ve done the Carmella thing before, but she’s been getting a lot of screen time lately and that’s where this one is trending and she was a better than expected transitional champ when they did. Carmella is a safe bet for a transitional run before giving it back to Bianca or a returning Sasha Banks. Hard to believe that they would do SummerSlam with Carmella as champ, but they did it before and it launched the greatest run any woman has ever had in the company (more on this in a sec…)

Fonseca: We still haven’t gotten the Sasha Banks and Bianca Belair WrestleMania rematch, although they did just share an ESPY victory for Best WWE Moment. Banks hasn’t competed since, but was recently spotted at the Performance Center, giving indication she could be on her way back in time for SummerSlam next month, if not this weekend. It’s the obvious choice since there is no obvious choice. Belair had been in a heated feud with Bayley, who was in the midst of doing her best career work before suffering a long-term injury that will reportedly keep her out for nine months. Gimme Belair retaining, Banks returning, and then revisiting their feud in time for SummerSlam.

Fels: This is tough because WWE hasn’t done much at all of building these characters up. Asuka has been neutered again, which is a crime. Liv Morgan could do everything that Carmella could, though as a face and would probably have to be switched to Raw, so I don’t see that happening. Zelina would be an interesting call after everything that’s happened with her release and re-hire and she certainly could do the best promo work of any of the candidates with the briefcase in tow. Let’s go with that for lack of better options.

Fonseca: I’d still roll with Banks for the reasons outlined previously, but let’s venture elsewhere here. I love love LOVE the idea of fellow Puerto Rican Zelina Vega returning to win this. She was mostly a manager in her previous WWE run, and is actually a superior wrestler to most of her counterparts. It just feels like she hasn’t quite had an extended opportunity to showcase how good she is to the majority of WWE fans, and she’s a star in the making if given the proper push. Vega is women’s championship worthy and would provide a top-two most interesting scenario regarding potential outcomes for this match, with the other being a Banks return. Though, at least with Vega, it would be fresh. Glad to see her back, now let’s see her win.

Fels: It won’t be that big of a surprise, as you can see this one from a mile away. Rhea Ripley and Charlotte headline this show, which means only one ending: Charlotte wins, the lights immediately go bright, and the PA blasts “WHOAA OH OH OH OH!” and Becky Lynch comes sauntering down the aisle to point out she never lost that title. Charlotte-Becky at SummerSlam. Done and done.

Fonseca: Well, I already went into Banks returning, which counts as a surprise, as does the fantasy booking of a Big E MITB win and swerve on Kingston. Lesnar could confront Lashley one way or another even as reports suggest that might not happen for SummerSlam, because in wrestling, you don’t truly know until you get there. Sam just went the Becky Lynch route, which has to go down at some point and would be the perfect ending to the show. What else is there to—hmm …

You know, this might not be as entertaining to some as the Lynch angle, but Toni Storm is coming to SmackDown, at last. The WWE Draft will happen sometime this fall, and there are two TBD entrants in the women’s MITB match, after all. Storm had a legitimately fantastic rivalry with current Raw Women’s Champion Rhea Ripley while the two were rising stars on the NXT UK and NXT brands. Perhaps it’s something worth revisiting with some seeds planted here. They could connect the dots between whose face, heel, what brand, whether or not there’s a title, and all that, but the division could use intense rivalries, and this is one that may be worth revisiting now. Both of them could use it for a strong ending to 2021.