What an eventful few days for the WWE. With NXT Takeover on Saturday, SummerSlam on Sunday and Monday Night Raw, all in Brooklyn, this was no doubt an important weekend. I thought then that it would be a good idea to have a sort of general review.
The WWE portrayed SummerSlam as their pinnacle event, not only of this weekend but of the summer. They really went out on a limb by dubbing the main event of Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker as the “the rematch too big for WrestleMania.” That is a very, very big statement, as it immediately puts in people’s minds that the entire card will at least be on the level of WrestleMania.
I won’t sit here and bore you with a in depth match by match review of the PPV as this was a 10 match card. So here are a few things I would consider highlights from event:
The Undertaker Tapped Out
Something that I never thought I would see, is The Dead Man tapping out to Brock Lesnar. The Undertaker still won the match as the referee did not see the tap out (for those who have yet to watch the match – if this is you, seriously?!). The creative team really went out their way to make The Undertaker look desperate for revenge and at the same time setup a rematch for what will inevitably be the final round between The Beast and The Phenom.
Don’t get me wrong, this match fully lived up to my expectations, and in many ways, the ending was perfect – i.e. Brock giving Taker the middle finger before passing out to Hells Gate. I just didn’t expect to see Taker openly tapping. For younger fans, could you imagine John Cena tapping out in 15 years time?
Sheamus Did Not Cash In
WWE really put themselves in a difficult situation after making the match between John Cena and Seth Rollins a winner take all, title for title match. After watching Raw this week, it does look like Cena will never match the record of Ric Flair (thank god for that). Flair did say he feels the record will be broken at some stage and personally I would rather have Randy Orton be that man, not Flair.
So how did it end? Well John Stewart comes out and hits Cena with a chair before Rollins lands the pedigree for the win. Smart booking? No. This doesn’t feel like a long term thought process. Instead having Cena hit an AA on Stewart on Raw, something that should be forgotten about in a couple of weeks (unless they shove it down our throats), why not have Sheamus attempt to cash in?
I mean I get they want to keep the title on Rollins, to face Sting at Night of Champions, the booking of which was nothing short of excellent on Raw. However, this was at the expense of a poor finish between Cena and Rollins. More down to the longevity between Stewart and Cena.
I would have loved to have seen Sheamus cash in, and cash in successfully. Let’s hope there’s more to the story and I will probably go back and say Sting vs. Rollins was worth it.
Ryback Needs A Meaningful Feud
The match for the Intercontinental Title at SummerSlam was definitely my least favourite. It seemed setup to give Ryback someone to face at SummerSlam rather than anything meaningful. It was obvious Ryback would retain due to the opposition.
Ryback needs a long term meaningful feud, making me think he could drop the title any minute, and thus his retention is all the more powerful. A back and forth between the likes of Kevin Owens or Rusev would do just that.
The Divas Revolution Needs More Time
I guess here I’m being overly critical. The divas have been dominating since their new found revolution. All I think is that given more time, this is only going to get bigger and better.
There are rumours of a potential split up of PCB, which in my opinion is definitely way too early. Treat each team like The Shield and the results will speak for themselves.
The Tag Team Division Has Hope
Finally, we come to the tag team division. The fatal four way match at SummerSlam wasn’t particularly special in terms of previous matches of this kind. But what it showed us is that given the right time and push, all participants can raise their game and deliver.
The New Day have come into their own and really taken their gimmick in stride now, and PTP still look amazing. Add all this to the fact that The Dudley Boys are back provides a tasty future for the tag team division. Not only will they have great matches but they can help the younger teams get better and better.
Recent Comments