WWE Clash in Italy – Predictions
Mamma Mia! Itsa time for WWE aclasha ina Italia!
This Sunday, WWE will head over to the Beautiful Boot to host its first-ever PLE in Italy. What better way to treat all their die-hard Italian fans who’ve waited their whole lives for this than by giving them the usual stacked card featuring only five matches? Maybe they’ll summon the ghost of Bruno Sammartino to give them a little something extra. Either way, if WWE is back on ESPN for a Premium Live event, then we here at Talent Alone are back on the web for more predictions. This is the third show in our latest year-long competition. Just a couple of weeks ago, we predicted AEW’s Double or Nothing, which is the perfect name for an event that had twice as many matches as a WWE PLE. Your’s truly went a perfect 9-0, correctly calling the winner of every single match at DON, while Adam went a respectable 5-4. The total score now sits at Mike 13-1 and Adam 9-5.
WWE CLASH IN ITALY - PREDICTIONS
Oba Femi vs Brock Lesnar
MIKE: If you enjoy watching WWE reaction content creators on social media over act to cartoonish levels, then Lesnar’s surprise return attack on Femi was a gold mine. Were we really buying that he retired? Not saying the company didn’t do a solid job selling it, but if Brock really was calling it a career, you know WWE would hype the hell out of it being his last match ahead of time and then give him a tinker tape parade on the way out. This match has the same thing working in its favor that it did back at Mania, the stories simple. It’s just about two alphas battling to prove who’s the better man. Dare I say, this match is all about who wins and loses? What a novel idea. Anyways, Oba has clearly had a rocket strapped onto his back as the company pushes him as the big star of the not-so-distant future. Doubling down by having him pin Lesnar clean again is the right call.
OBA FEMI
ADAM: How many times can they use the “Lesner puts the young guy over and NOW that guy is legit” until he’s just Kassius Ohno with a legal writ to tell his neighbors when he moves in. There are A LOT of matches that look chalk on this card, and at some point I’ll have to pick against consensus because if the law of it’s a swerve bro, might as well make that pick with my heart.
OBA FEMI
WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship:
Becky Lynch(c) VS Sol Ruca
ADAM: It’s so weird, but I have this feeling that I already saw this match recently. Sol Ruca has had a lot of non-finishes recently, and my first inclination was a non-finish, but I think Becky has a program lined up after, and they need to do something with the Sol Ruca push.
SOL RUCA
MIKE: I am going to take this opportunity to once again rant about how unnecessarily convoluted and dumb the Sol Snatcher is. When are we going to stop the evolution and bastardization of the cutter as a move? Diamond Dallas Page started all this by making the diamond cutter his finish before Randy Orton came along and perfected it with the RKO. Could’ve stopped there, but noooooo, everybodies gotta be extra. Cody Rhodes decides to up the ante by jumping backwards off the middle rope for the Cody Cutter, and then Will Ospreay comes along and is all like, “Oi Bruv! You fink that move is a real banger and mash? Well check out my Oscutter mate. I’m gonna flip forward into the ropes and then ricochet off and do a back handspring into a cutter for the queen.” Now Sol Ruca shows up and the craziest thing starts to happen. Every match her opponent just happens to end up bent over facing the corner for a suspect amount of time so Ruca can run in, kick off the turnbuckle and do a flippy cutter.
Why? What are we even doing anymore? Have we completely forgotten the beauty of the cutter lies in its simplicity?!
Hey I just came up with a cool new move. It’s the called the McF*cker Cutter. You pants your opponent and then punch them square in the face. While they are dazed spinning around like a Mortal Kombat character, you do cartwheels around the ring, drop to the mat and break dance like that girl from the Summer Olympics, before jumping up and hitting a cutter. Now chant this is awesome for me you sheep!!!
What was I supposed to be talking about? Oh yeah, Becky Retains.
BECKY LYNCH
WWE Women's Championship:
Rhea Ripley(c) vs Jade Cargill
MIKE: I’m usually not a fan of doing notable WrestleMania rematches so soon after mania, but I’ll let it slide this time. Ripley v. Cargill’s first match didn’t quite hit the bar I set for it, so here’s to hoping it impresses more this time around. The company has an opportunity to really build this up as a long rivalry between two top women that they can periodically come back to multiple times in the future. That would make the case for why you would have Cargill reclaim the title on Sunday. However, the belt is finally back on Rhea and I think it would do more harm than good to have her drop it so soon. Also, as I’m contractually obligated to remind you every time we do predictions, Mamí is always on top. YEW
RHEA RIPLEY
ADAM: I’m going to agree and disagree with Mike here. I think the Ripley/Cargill was exactly as good as it could be. Maybe I’ve quietly sold my Cargill stock. Don’t get me wrong, I think she is a very good wrestler and an absolute 99th percentile athlete, but I don’t think shes ever gonna be big with the smark dork ass nerds. I still think this match will be very good and if placed correctly could keep the crowd hot when we expect a lul. Not betting against Rhea this century tho.
RHEA RIPLEY
MIKE: How do you manage a crowd lul on a five match card?
ADAM: Is this a trick question or did you not watch Night 1 if Wrestlemania?
WWE World Heavyweight Championship:
Roman Reigns(c) vs Jacob Fatu
ADAM: Tribal combat: Italian Edition. Something is bound to happen here and either way I expect we don’t see Roman until SummerSlam. My main question is who, if anyone, gets involved? I feel like my default for a long time was that there would be some outside chicanery in a bloodline match but WWE have moved away from that. Maybe it’s all just to surprise us more? I’m gonna go with the defending champ because I can’t predict the interference.
ROMAN REIGNS
MIKE: If Vince really was shadow booking right now, this would be a Sicily Street Fight or Leaning Tower of Pissa Ladder Match. No matter how unhinged Fatu acts or how many Tongan Death grips he slaps on Reigns, I just can’t buy into the possibility of him winning the belt right now.
ROMAN REIGNS
Undisputed WWE Championship:
Cody Rhodes(c) vs Gunther
MIKE: I think this match is going to be an away game for Cody, and the European crowd will be more behind Gunther. It’s always fun to see how crowds outside of the U.S. that don’t get big shows as often react to the wrestlers. Gunther is definitely a credible challenger that will make many consider if a title change will take place, however when you consider broader aspects, it’s unlikely. The Cody/Randy Orton story is still unfinished after the cliffhanger ending to night one of Mania, where Orton attacked Rhodes post match and hit the first punt kick we’ve seen on WWE TV in over a decade. Gunther challenging for the belt on this show may be an audible to fill time while Orton recovered from his back injury. Audible or not, it opens the door for a more interesting match compared to another singles contest between Cody and Randy. My prediction is that we see Orton return and interfere in the match to cause a DQ. Keep in mind it’s been announced that this match is opening the show, so going with what’s usually an unsatisfying finish wouldn’t be a problem. With Orton back in the mix, WWE could then build to a triple threat match between the three at next month’s Night of Champions show taking place in Riyadh.
ADRENALINE IN MY SOUL CODY RHODES KEEPING THE TITLE.
ADAM: Mike used up our prediction text allotment in his blurb so I’ll just tell everyone that I always sing “Adrenaline in my soul / Oh My God that’s Cody Rhodes!”
GUNTHER
Five WWE PLE Matches in Italy and Mike and I disagree on two. Mike has only gotten one match wrong all year so far, can he keep that pace up? Should he be betting on these matches? Should anyone? Don’t gamble on professional wrestling kids.
Anyways, come back after the PLE to tell us how dumb we are and try to take away the final shreds of Mike’s dignity. And as always, come back next time for the next edition of our predictions!
