WWE Great Balls of Fire Predictions

OK, so this isn’t anime, but what they hey … this is just one of those timing issue things more than anything. Anyway … it’s WWE PPV time! Great Balls of Fire 2017 runs tonight for the WWE RAW Brand, and it’s got a pretty stacked line-up. Let’s have a look at what’s going on and give some predictions, shall we?

 

Cruiserweight Title Match: Neville (c) vs. Akira Tozawa (w/Titus O’Neil)

I surely can’t be the only person who’s actually enjoying the Titus Brand stuff? Honestly, it’s made Titus a fair bit more interesting again for me. Apollo Crews was a good signing for that group, and now his former stablemate from Dragon Gate, Akira Tozawa is on board too! Excellent! Neville is one of the best parts of the Cruiserweight division right now and, while I do think Tozawa will take the title at some point, I don’t think that they’ll do it here on a pre-show bout. What I see happening is Neville taking the win in a really good DG style match. After that, I’d expect there to be some interaction with maybe Tozawa and Crews getting some tag matches in with Neville and whatever cohort he goes with at the time (maybe even a six-man tag with Titus plus one other), and eventually a title switch at a bigger show. Prediction: Neville retains

 

Tag Title – 30-Mintue Iron-Man Match: Cesaro/Sheamus (c) vs. The Hardy Boyz

This will be an interesting one as I do feel like these two teams have some great chemistry together. Cesaro and Sheamus have really run with their thrown-together team, and I see no reason for them to lose the belts just yet. As much as I like The Hardy Boyz, losing works better for them. If they can get the Broken Universe copyrights sorted, a loss here sets up bringing that in. If they can’t, then they can both move on to singles feuds. Prediction: Cesaro/Sheamus retain

 

Enzo Amore vs. Big Cass

Given that this feud is clearly set up to build Big Cass, you’d think that this would be an easy win for him. Here’s the thing though. Enzo’s promo at the last Raw set him up as far more of a challenge than I expected. Given some of WWE’s previous bookings too, I can see Cass losing. Prediction: Enzo Amore gets a lucky win and Cass beats him down after the match

 

IC Title Match: The Miz (c) vs. Dean Ambrose

I love Dean Ambrose. Ever since I saw him cutting scathing promos as Jon Moxley, I knew that he’d end up in WWE. At the same time, The Miz is easily one of the best things on Raw right now, and he is by far a more entertaining IC champ than Ambrose was. Really, I think that they need to turn Dean and let him cut loose a bit. Getting him back to being the scummy heel that Moxley was would work wonders for him. Even if that happens though, I don’t see him needing the belt to do it, as I’m expecting The Miz to move on to feuding with one of the Hardyz over the IC Title … just picture The Miz vs. Broken Matt Hardy. That’s microphone gold right there! Prediction: The Miz retains

 

Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt

Poor old Bray Wyatt. He’s the God that loses every time. At their best, these two could have a really intriguing match. Here’s hoping they both bring their A game, eh? Results-wise, I’d hope that WWE must know that a Wyatt loss would further cement the idea that he can’t win matches. Prediction: Bray Wyatt

 

Women’s Title: Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Sasha Banks

This is actually a tough one to choose because Sasha is great. At the same time though, Alexa has been better than anyone expected. What I want to happen is for Alexa to lose the title to a debuting Asuka and then have Sasha turn heel on Bayley before moving onto a title feud with Asuka. To that end, I’m going for another retention here. Prediction: Alexa Bliss retains

 

Ambulance Match: Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman

They already stated their intent of having Roman go on to headline Summerslam. Whether that’s a sign that they’ve lost faith in him headlining the next Wrestlemania remains to be seen though. I’m gonna say that they stick to the plan though. While the gimmick match could harm the match, these two work well together, so I’d expect something good from them. The match will go back and forth though, and neither of them will look bad by the end of it. Prediction: Roman Reigns

 

Universal Title: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Samoa Joe

This should have been an easy win for Brock Lesnar. Then Heyman apparently got involved with the booking, and we ended up with something far better. Joe is, in my opinion, doing his best work right now, and he and Lesnar cannot fail to get a good reaction from the crowd with this one. I foresee this one stealing the show and becoming one of the matches that you look at and start to wonder if it’s actually turned into a real fight at times. They brawl, they’ll roll around amateur style, they’ll throw each other, and it’ll all look really stiff and painful. And the result? Not what anyone would have expected it to be when the possibility of the match first materialised. Prediction: Draw (though I’m uncertain if it’ll be count-out, DQ or time limit)

 

So, there we have it. How about yourselves? Any thoughts on my predictions, or any predictions of your own?