The bulk of SummerSlam isn’t my cup of tea. There are a few points I wanted to see because I did anticipate a good match or an interesting moment/angle. But the show itself had virtually no build up because the WWE keeps shoving these PPVs too quickly for me to really care nor keep up. I think this show was given a two week build at best so there was little to really get invested into outside of what had been sprinkled throughout the year. But I really don’t want to dive too deep into these shows because most of the matches themselves weren’t really that great.
Roman Reigns and Jey Uso vs Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed
There’s two people I wanted to see take on each other and two others I didn’t really care about. The crowd was almost aligned with my assessment except they still like Jey Uso. A bizarre opener for night 1 but I suspect this was done to give the crowd some stars to cheer for. Reigns nearly killed himself doing an insane tope type of thing and almost completely overshot his target. Bron legit hurt himself possibly when he first crashed onto one of the announcing desks. Later on, he was seen hobbling and by the end of the show, his right leg was taped up heavily. Yeesh. He still managed to get through the match but Jey ended up picking up the pin with a spear after Roman took one from Bron to save Jey. Heyman crawled (or rolled) to the back with a “you haven’t seen the last of me!” type of look (well kinda hard when you’re that voluminous).
The Judgment Day vs Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss
Tag team title match. Main story is can Flair and Bliss work together (and to a lesser degree Roxanne and Raquel). Charlotte got a bit of a pop for her entrance but Roxanne and Raquel have no heat. Match really didn’t have much rhythm to it which is partly why I think it was dead for the crowd. Alexa just isn’t good to me but the crowd likes her. I prefer Roxanne from the munchkins but I think legitimately she probably has some confidence issues in front of a large crowd. She performs well but doesn’t really have a large presence (for good reason but I’m talking personality-wise). Raquel is the person I’m also keeping my eye on. I like her; she’s been wrestling more like a big person after apparently taking Kevin Nash’s advice to heart. The match didn’t matter until Alexa accidentally decked Charlotte. So the story finally came in where it seemed her mistake would cost them. Eventually, Alexa got Roxanne into her spot with Charlotte in the background looking as though she was going to get revenge. But the camera angle prevented us from seeing how she was going to defend her little buddy. Didn’t we just see this shit with Roman Reigns and Jey Uso? But Alexa got the pin and we have new tag team champions. Poor Raquel and Roxanne.
Sami Zayn vs Karrion Kross
Match that had the crowd apathetic again. Whatever social media buzz Kross managed to pick up was DOA here. Match had Kross involved so it was super bland. Sami isn’t a miracle worker either so adios muchachos to Kross. Read that might’ve been Kross’ farewell in the WWE. I mean, let’s be honest, the in ring work just wasn’t there so if that’s his last hurrah, there’s no real big loss.
Tiffany Stratton vs. Jade Cargill
This was one of those morbid curiosity matches that I wanted to see just because neither are experienced enough nor have good ring psychology to pull off a good match. Pretty much this was a spot fest with nothing terribly offensive in terms of botches, Jade did pretty good for herself and Tiffany only got blown up towards the end (she couldn’t land in the corner as I suspect she was supposed to). All things considered, this wasn’t a bad match. It wasn’t a great match but this could’ve been a real disaster that could’ve gone sideways. I think if both had more experience and better psychology, they could actually have a good match because it’s a classic power vs high flying confrontation. I will say this probably was Jade’s second best match in her career where her best was with Liv Morgan.
Randy Orton & Jelly Roll vs Drew McIntyre & Logan Paul
Sami Zayn vs Kross wasn’t great but at least it looked like a professional match. This was god awful. I mean when Logan Paul is expected to carry Blimp Blob then you know what a shitshow you’re watching. Just out of sheer hatred for Blimp Blob, I cheered Paul whenever Blimp Blob took punishment because he clearly had zero business being in the ring. While Randy’s career is slowly petering out, I still think Drew really has more to give and being involved in this match seemed to really waste his talents. I really don’t understand why they allowed this match to happen. It was not only embarrassing, it was worse than when Jay Leno got involved in a match. Worse yet they made Blimp Blob a fucking face. Why? He’s a phat phuck with shitty music who belongs in a pig pen slopping with the rest of the oinkers. I don’t care how much weight this lard ass lost; he should be put on a treadmill and stay there until the sun goes super nova. There is nothing I can see likeable about that jackoff. Maybe this is the only way to turn Logan Paul face. But holy fuck please no more. This was torture. As bad as I detest what Logan Paul stands for, I will give him enough credit where he’s managed to get enough of the pro-wrestling business and actually looks like he belongs.
Gunther vs CM Punk
Easily, this was the best match of the night. It started off looking like an actual pro-wrestling match. How about that? I mentioned that Gunther is the best pro-wrestler in the world at the moment but CM Punk has the best psychology in the business right now. Why? Because he approaches each opponent differently and his matches make sense from start to finish. They aren’t carbon copy matches of one another, which you can say about a lot of wrestlers these days. Watch his match against Cena and then look at this one. Or his match with Drew McIntyre in Hell in a Cell. They can each stand on their own. This is a match I had been waiting to see on a big PPV for sometime and I’m glad we got it.
A lot of the match seemed one sided with Gunther beating the crap out of Punk. The main thing was for Punk to avoid Gunther’s strikes. The first one Punk took, he dropped hard and the crowd reacted. They started slow and worked their way through with Gunther heavily dominating. Gunther seemed invulnerable for most of the match and Punk’s chances seemed bleak. However, the key was when Gunther started gloating on the Spanish announcing table and Punk saw an opportunity to trip Gunther who rammed his face into the table. Gunther went behind while Punk recovered from hi beatings. I knew that Gunther would use the opportunity to bleed and he came out with a nice crimson mask. Gunther usually doesn’t bleed from the face so this situation was foreign to him and he was blinded. Immediately, Punk saw his chance and went on offense. He hit a G2S that staggered Gunther then a second one (which honestly missed by a mile) that took Gunther out for the win.
So Punk gained his first world title in over a decade. Of course, that wouldn’t last long since Seth came out, demonstrated the injury was fake (or at least less serious) and cashed in to win. Bleh.
Final Thoughts
Main event match was good (not off the charts) marred by a stupid ending. I mean it made sense but I hate the way it went down. I get Seth is a heel and he needed a title but what a shitty ending. Bron walked out with a taped up right leg (kinda ironic) and Seth’s group gloated.
For the rest of the show, most of the results felt right given the matches but I didn’t expect the various title changes that did happen. The tag team women’s match change was okay given the story but it just feels like poor Raquel and Roxanne are in perpetual purgatory and can’t build any momentum. I was a little surprised to see Jey/Roman win since Bron/Bronson need the push but Bron got injured so that might put that situation on hold. The Sami match was…it existed. Supposedly, Kross’ contract is coming up or passed, so this might be the last we see of him. Personally, I think it might’ve been a test to see whether to keep this guy but he got no reaction and the match was bland as fuck. So if he’s gone, no loss. Tiffany Stratton vs Jade wasn’t what I expected. It felt like a spot fest but Jade didn’t get much of a reaction. I just think fans don’t see much in her and Tiffany is still popular enough to make her opponents heels no matter what. There really wasn’t an issue outside of Jade getting a title shot so whatever. I think it was just a test to see how both of them could perform. The celebrity match stunk out the joint. The less said the better.
Tomorrow’s event honestly looks like dogshit. The only match worth caring for is Cody vs John Cena because they did a really bizarro angle that (seemingly) reset Cena’s character. Some people are saying a double turn is coming (or at least Cody will turn). Others say that Cena is playing his games against Cody. I say this sucks no matter what because none of it makes sense or is good story telling regardless of how you cut it. I only care about that match to see the outcome not the match itself because Cena can’t work much anymore and Cody isn’t a great worker against an opponent like Cena. It’s going to be a street fight so it’ll be stupid to cover up Cena’s problems and allow Cody to bump and do stupid things to compensate for Cena’s age and frailty. But holy hell does the WWE suck ass right now. Heck, just add all of pro-wrestling. It stinks and the few good things left are shrinking.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.