Any thoughts/predictions/etc. I give are not informed in any way by betting odds, and for those who know what's going on in the betting market, I'm under the impression that most of us hope you'll confine that talk to the NVG spoiler thread; certainly I do.

Main Event, I Guess? Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton



This seems like it's getting top billing on the show over the two biggest title matches, and my guess is that it may go on last. The background is that WWE announced this match when neither dude was around, so then they started randomly attacking each other. No matter how worthless this match seemed when announced, and no matter how generic the build has been, I actually find myself invested in it for no articulable reason.

Currently-Vacant Univeral Title - Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor



Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns let Dean Ambrose win the WWE Title and keep it on Smackdown, and their punishment was that they had to create a new World Title with an embarrassing name. Rollins was given an auto-bid into this match, whereas Balor got in by winning a couple of satellites. The build has involved Seth Rollins (not his real name) accusing Finn Balor of not really being named Finn Balor. Also Balor explained why he's actually a demon or whatever. This build has been especially horrendous, but Rollins can carry lesser men than Balor to greatness, so I'm still somewhat hopeful that this is at least really good. A Balor win feels like a foregone conclusion to me though.

WWE Title - Dean Ambrose (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler



Dolph Ziggler also satellited his way into this match, which seemed like a horrendous joke at the time, but these two have actually done some great work on the mic, and this match has ended up having the most intriguing hype on the card, leaving me looking forward to this match more than most. Hard for me to imagine Ziggler actually shipping this tonight, but that doesn't preclude the possibility of starting something interesting with his character. (I look forward to burying my head in my hands later after the no-swerve babyface handshake/hug.)

Women's Title - Sasha Banks (c) vs. Charlotte



Sasha wrestled the title away from Charlotte in a great match on the first post-split Raw. This is our return match. If they can approach the level of quality they put into that Raw match then we'll be in for a treat, but since the "Sasha finally breaks through and wins the title" moment has been used up, it's unlikely to feel as special or as important tonight. Still, match has potential.

John Cena vs. AJ Styles



We've done the first prong of the usual non-title John Cena feud: Cena puts his opponent over dirty. This match would usually mark Cena getting his win back for the first time before winning several prove-it matches to really make sure that the opponent can't retain any sort of rub from the first win. Somehow, as usual, we in the Smarkiverse have at least a few shreds of reason to believe that THIS TIME IS DIFFERENT and that Styles will actually be able to win the rematch. On paper these two seem like they should be able to put on an amazing match together...their first one was a letdown, but hopefully that makes this one a sleeper tonight? I would hope that it's at least better than Part I. The only thing that's truly certain about this match is that there will be at least two finisher kickouts.

US Title - Rusev (c) vs. Roman Reigns



Roman challenged Rusev for the title. Rusev said no. Then Mick Foley just made Rusev put up the title anyway. The feud has consisted of the usual WWE stuff in this era...Roman interrupts Rusev's wedding reception for no apparent reason and calls his new wife a mail-order bride. Fisticuffs ensue. While Roman has clearly gotten de-pushed to an extent since his drug suspension, I still wouldn't bet against him here. This is another that at least has potential to be a great match, even if totally unsupported by its uninteresting build.

Tag Team Titles - New Day (c) vs. Gallows & Anderson



So yeah, especially without Big E in the match, this is where the run of "this could be a great match" finally stops. Big E suffered some sort of legit testicular injury or something, which is mostly what Gallows and Anderson have used to hype this match. New Day are worse as faces (shocker) and far worse without Big E. It will be a pleasant surprise if this doesn't suck.

Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. JeriKO



Jericho and Owens are great together, and this build has been at least mildly amusing. I'm not sure I can actually find much investment in how this one goes, but it could be pretty good. Not really sure if Enzo and Cass are just going over the makeshift team to continue their push, or if JeriKO are going to be a long-term (read: four-month) alliance. All we know for sure is that Cass will shoehorn his catchphrase in.

IC Title - Miz (c) vs. Apollo Crews



Miz has been pretty great for a while now. Crews isn't terrible, but he's so bland and boring that I'm not sure that it's that much better than being terrible. Miz should just dispatch of this match with a win and send Crews on his way until he can go find a persona that actually connects with the audience, but the cupboards on Smackdown are woefully bare, and it wouldn't be too shocking for Crews to unfortunately go over here in a futile attempt to build a star who isn't ready to be a star yet.

Becky Lynch, Carmella, & Naomi vs. Natalya, Alexa Bliss, & Not Eva Marie



Eva Marie is suspended for a failed wellness test, so she's no longer scheduled for this match. For kayfabe reasons she probably wasn't going to wrestle in it anyway, but now we know that for sure. I dunno if that means a mystery partner or what...it doesn't fit to put Bayley in with the heel team, so who the hell knows. Smart money is probably on them pissing on the brand split and calling on Nia Jax or something. Anyway, this match does not belong on the main card when the likes of Sami Zayn and Cesaro are on the pre-show, but they're keeping up the pretense that the Smackdown women's division is actually going to be taken seriously.

Pre-Show
Match #1 in Best of 7 series with nothing at all on the line - Cesaro vs. Sheamus
Sami Zayn & Neville vs. Dudleys
American Alpha/Hype Brothers/Usos vs. Breezango/Vaudevillains/Ascension

The top six matches on the show provide a lot of potential, and the card definitely feels SummerSlam-worthy. Hopefully the bookers get the **** out of their own way, and hopefully the workers deliver.

I'm actually in for this

I'm in, I'll regret it at work tomorrow though....

AJ Styles has hair that I usually find attractive on aged 39-46 year old MILFs. I'm conflicted.

Wait Dilf is in a title match at a big 4 ppv?

How did this happen?

So pumped!!!! Going to my first ever PPV, and it only cost me $385!

Didn't love the build-up for a few of these matches, but the card is so stacked I couldn't resist.

Really hoping Rusev goes over, he's been tremendous and deserves a main event push.

Balor/Rollins cena/styles and Roman/rusev seem like they should be great matches

Bork/Orton's gonna suck and I got it as a near certainty they botch the f5 into rkooutofnowhere reversal

Trying to time this right. Are there going to be pre-show matches before 7pm? Or is 7pm th pre-show?

7pm Main card.

5pm pre show.

Well, that certainly ****s up my day planning.

so many good matches on this card, lots of potential here. my predictions:

cesaro
zayn & neville
AAlpha
Lesnar
Balor
Ambrose
Styles
Rusev
Sasha
Club
Enzo & Cass
Miz

Smackdown got almost nothing but table scraps in the brand split, so by necessity people needed to be elevated. Hotshotting Dolph seemed ridiculous, but the promo work since they did it has been pretty great.

I wonder(ed) how a guy who they had losing every match on TV is now fighting for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Because it otherwise made a ton of sense.

Wow that was an elite promo.

If you're talking about Ziggler/Ambrose, watch this one as well.

Ziggler/Ambrose has gotten the best build by far. Ambrose has been really good since the split. He had an interview recently where he said that being the champion means no goofball stuff and you have to be taken serious, which has resulted in a nice improvement of his on screen character. Ziggler has been just as good.

Speaking of the split, Smackdown's creative team is doing a really good job. The main title picture is exciting, they've woven multiple stories together there with the Wyatts being involved a bit and then Rowans apparent banishment from the family along with MizTV, pretty much everyone is given some on air time, and the Talking Smack show is really good as well. Raw has the better roster by far (and that will only increase when they get the cruiserweights) but it's reverted back to just feeling like it used to for me already while Smackdown feels fresh. Excited to see where everything shakes out tonight.

based on build Ambrose vs Ziggler should be the main event or at the very least 2nd last behind the Bork crap

Zayn is on the preshow? That's disheartening.

Looks like it'll be a great show. I still gotta catch up on last nights show before watching though so I don't get spoiled

I'm gonna be in for all 6 hours to get caught up on the storylines. Alcohol pretty much required

Pregaming at the BWW across from Barclays......they're randomly playing entrance music and Reigns's just came on to loud boos and a long "You can't wrestle" chant.

I hate that chant.

It's based on more than build though, since the build sort of happened in the dark. Certainly it seems like Ambrose should defend his title after Rollins since Ambrose just bested Rollins twice in the past month, but I'll be surprised if it goes that way.

Have fun man, I agree that the chant sucks but the atmosphere still sounds like a good time.

It is especially bad when the person is a quality in ring wrestler like Reigns. It makes the fans look clueless. "You can't babyface" or maybe "You can't charisma" would be less bad.

have a great night redirk...ended up not going tonight

didnt want to deal with 45mins of finding a parking space again!

might go to raw tomorrow when i can take the subway straight from work though

Thanks guys, I'll be taking pics/videos/bunch of snapchats when I can...maybe a trip report if I'm not lazy and anyone would give a ****.

Disko, I may go to raw too if tonight doesn't disappoint and I'm not dead tomorrow.