Veteran NFL writer and Pat McAfee Show correspondent Mark Kaboly gives his predictions for Saturday Night’s Main Event being held at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta and airing live on NBC and streaming on Peacock at 8 ET/7 CT
World Heavyweight Champion Gunther vs. Goldberg
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Who’s next? For perhaps this one final time, it’s Gunther.
Goldberg plowed his way through the WCW roster over 15 months in the late 1990s, going a remarkable 173-0. Now at age 58, he’ll stand toe-to-toe with a Superstar who most closely embodies that 90’s Goldberg-level dominance in the modern era. Gunther lost his title to Sami Zayn and Jey Uso in back-to-back WrestleManias despite losing only a handful of televised matches since joining the main roster a little more than three years ago. Can it be possible that The Ring General loses the World Heavyweight Championship against someone who is staring down what could be the final match of his career? Goldberg is more than 20 years older than Gunther and hasn’t been in the ring in nearly 41 months. Including Saturday, six of Goldberg’s last seven matches were/will be for a championship. He has won one match over that span. That’s it. There’s no way that Goldberg can hang with Gunther, regardless of it being his retirement match. You can make the argument of Goldberg winning and either push his retirement match to SummerSlam or even have Seth Rollins cash in his Money in the Bank contract to rip the belt from him, but history should tell you everything. Retirement matches don’t usually work out well for the retiring Superstar. Why would this be different?
Prediction: Gunther def. Goldberg
Randy Orton vs. Drew McIntyre
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You can come up with a dozen reasons why McIntyre will win this match and a dozen more for Orton. It’s that close. To me, there have been way too many indications for my liking to ignore that Orton is close to snapping. It all came to a head on the Fourth of July when McIntyre pointed out incidents where The Viper hesitated in recent matches, and it cost him. He basically mocked the new version of Orton and said The Viper is dead, especially since the original Viper never hesitated and that’s all this one does. The voices in Orton’s head might not be all the way back to his heyday, but they are definitely creeping in there. Orton could soon be returning to what he does best. McIntyre might not be the right opponent for Orton to turn to the dark side, but he does have a long history against The Scottish Warrior, and getting back in the mix for the first time in two months will allow McIntyre to absorb a loss and still go after what he’s been after for two decades – a title match against Cody Rhodes. Orton might not win the match, but there will be no denying The Viper will be back and as disturbed as ever. The question is how far will The Viper go?
Prediction: Randy Orton def. Drew McIntyre
Seth Rollins vs. LA Knight
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Knight needs the win more than Rollins, but Rollins has Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed and Paul Heyman backing him up. The odds are stacked against The Megastar. Rollins is on a major run to the top of the company by having the Money in the Bank contract that puts gold within his grasp, so a loss to Knight would be unexpected… unless. Everything points toward Rollins and CM Punk facing off at SummerSlam, and what better way to get to that point than Punk screwing Rollins even with some backup from Rollins’ heavies? If Rollins is going to lose this one, shenanigans have to occur. It’s way too soon for Heyman to betray Rollins, but he better keep his eyes open just in case. With Punk’s year not going as well as he might have expected, he can erase all that with a strategically timed GTS… and maybe some help from “The Oracle.”
Prediction: LA Knight def. Seth Rollins
United States Champion Solo Sikoa vs. Jimmy Uso
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After the beating Uso took from the new version of Sikoa’s group on SmackDown on the Fourth of July, it is a surprise that “Big Jim” will be in any kind of shape to take on his younger brother. A late edition to the card has to mean something, right? With SummerSlam being three weeks away, we keep waiting for Roman Reigns to make an appearance. Now, his return might not have anything to do with the family drama, but it’s hard to ignore it if you are Reigns. It’s an hour flight for Reigns from his hometown, and he played football five minutes down the street from State Farm Arena. It makes too much sense to see the return of The OTC.Prediction: Solo Sikoa def. Jimmy Uso
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