SummerSlam 2018
Match 1: Intercontinental Championship Match - Seth Rollins def. Dolph Ziggler (c) (22:01)
The best way they could’ve started the show to be honest. This was hot off of Dean Ambrose’s return on Raw. He was in Seth’s corner, to keep Drew McIntyre, who was in Dolph’s corner, in line at ringside. The story in this match was very well told. Despite that Dean was down there, Seth’s attention was pretty focused on Drew, and that allowed Dolph to take control of the match early. He goes after the bad knee of Rollins and starts grounding him on the mat. The beginning of the match is nothing special, but when Seth clotheslines Dolph to the outside, it’s like a switch gets flipped, and the pace begins to pick up. Seth suicide dives Dolph and sends him back in the ring. Not much longer later, they wind up on the apron, where Dolph spikes Seth with a DDT. Seth barely makes it back in the ring in time, and as he starts to get up, Dolph attempts a Zig Zag, but Seth hangs on to the ropes and flings Dolph off. Seth superkicks Dolph and goes up for a frog splash, but Ziggler gets the knees up and rolls Seth up for a 2 count. There’s a moment where Dolph is on the top rope, facing away from the ring. Seth leaps up, pulls Ziggler up for an inverted superplex followed by a 1916. Dean also happened to be on that side of the ring and even he couldn’t believe what he just saw! The way he sells it with his face is great. Seth sets up a Curb Stomp, but Drew throws Dean into the steel steps and it distracts Seth just long enough for Dolph to recover. Seth runs at Dolph and hits the turnbuckle as Dolph sidesteps. Dolph hits the Zig Zag, covers Seth, who kicks out and is now bleeding. The ref puts on his gloves and thankfully, I think Seth said no. A few rollups and Seth picks Dolph off the mat and throws him in the corner with a buckle bomb! Drew gets on the apron, but doesn’t see Dean coming from behind. He yanks Drew off the apron and drops him with the Dirty Deeds. Seth sees this happen, but not Dolph who is back on his feet. But Seth was ready for him and when he turned his head, he struck first with the superkick and then finished Dolph off with a Curb Stomp. 1, 2, 3. Great match to start off the PPV! I loved it.
My Rating: ****
Match 2: SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match - The New Day (Big E. & Xavier) def. The Bludgeon Brothers (c) via DQ (9:27)
A really fun match. I wouldn’t have minded seeing this go even longer, with the way these guys were working. It’s just a shame it had such a lame finish. Right off the bat, Rowan and Harper start picking apart The New Day. They drop Woods to the mat and shove Big E. off the apron. Despite the rocky start New Day gets off to, they manage a comeback, with Xavier managing to distance himself from the Bludgeons and reach Big E. for the tag. Rowan comes around and gets a belly to belly from Big E. Then Harper comes to the apron. He leaps off, gets caught by E and takes a scary belly to belly where he was thankfully okay where he lands on his head. E and Harper are the legal men and as they’re going at it in the ring, Woods, dives onto Rowan on the outside. Harper hits Big E. with a superkick, and goes outside, hits a black hole slam on Woods. He gets back on the apron and Big E. hits his signature spear off the apron. But then Rowan comes off the apron with a crossbody on E. They take Big E. Woods manages to get tagged and after he kicks out of a powerbomb from Harper, Kofi starts celebrating outside, trying to get the crowd hyped. Harper and Rowan see Kofi celebrating and decide he has to pay I guess. Rowan back drops Kofi on the floor. Big E. takes Rowan out with a Big Ending on the floor. He gets on the apron and drops Harper off into Woods’ knees on the outside. They take Harper back in the ring where Xavier sets up an elbow from the top rope. Harper rolls to the outside and Woods, the insane man that he, probably does permanent damage to his hip by dropping an elbow to the outside! They set up Harper in the ring for the Midnight Hour, but Rowan gets on the apron and knocks Woods off with one of their mallets, causing the DQ finish. Boooooo. Man, this match was going so well and they had to ruin it with that. At the time, I was very surprised because at this point, nobody had presented a challenge to the Bludgeon Brothers, but New Day were so close to beating them here.
My Rating: ***1/4
Match 3: Singles Match for the Money in the Bank Briefcase - Braun Strowman (MITB) def. Kevin Owens (1:55)
The first of 3, (yes, 3) squash matches on this show. Like, the production team put a video package together for this match. Only for the match to be shorter than the video itself. Right away, Braun squashes Kevin in the corner, he does his round the world shoulder tackle. Kevin sells it like he just got hit by a car. Kevin gets one move in this match, and it doesn’t even phase Strowman. Braun grabs Kevin and chokeslams him on the steel rampway, before dragging him back into the ring and drops him with a running Powerslam to retain the briefcase.
Match 4: SmackDown Women’s Championship Triple Threat Match - Charlotte Flair def. Carmella (c) & Becky Lynch (14:42)
This is one of those matches that became historic with hindsight. This match was the catalyst for Becky Lynch to become the star that she is today. And I was wondering before this match began if any of it would’ve happened if Becky had won. If Charlotte had lost. Makes you think honestly. But as for the match itself, it was decent. I mean, Becky and Charlotte had to carry it, because well ya know. I thought Carmella got too much offense in if I’m being honest. She was supposed to be a weak champion. The first half of the match is that. Becky and Charlotte don’t go at it a whole lot, but they work their magic when they do. Carmella hits the Trish Stratus, head scissors thing on Becky, and she tries to do the same on Charlotte, but Charlotte grabs her and comes off the turnbuckle to put her in the boston crab. Carmella rolls through to escape, but Charlotte transitions it in the Figure 8. Becky breaks up the Figure 8 with a legdrop from the ropes. And I’ll give Carmella credit for trying something new (unless she had done it before, but I don’t think I saw her do this before.) She dives through the ropes onto Becky, only for Charlotte to hit one of her moonsaults from the top rope onto both women… Well, Carmella at least, Becky was a little out of position. Charlotte takes Becky back in the ring and tries for a Natural Selection, but Becky reverses it into a Dis-Arm-Her. That’s broken up by Carmella. Carmella drops Becky with a superkick, but Becky gets Carmella in the Dis-Arm-Her. Carmella reaches the ropes, but Becky brings her back to the center where she puts it back on her. But she’s facing away from Charlotte as she does and doesn’t see her come back in. Charlotte hits Natural Selection and pins Becky, causing the crowd to boo. Boo, Charlotte, boo. Becky and Charlotte hug each other in the ring, the crowd says “Boooooo.” No hard feelings though between Becky and- oh wait, Becky slaps Charlotte to the mat! And the crowd fucking erupts! Becky puts the boots to Charlotte to the cheers from the crowd. Becky leaves with some extra swagger in her step, the crowd applauds her and then they start chanting “You deserve it.” Assumedly, directed at Charlotte. If Becky had won this match, I don’t think she would be in the position she’s at today. It’s funny how the butterfly effect works. I’m not going to give this hindsight points though, because Becky becoming a megastar was not in WWE’s plans at all. They really wanted us to cheer Charlotte over Becky. I think not sir.
My Rating: ***1/4
Match 5: WWE Championship Match - Samoa Joe def. AJ Styles (c) via DQ (22:44)
Another good match ruined by dumb ahhh DQ finish. If you don’t recall this storyline, Samoa Joe brought AJ’s family into it, and he became, just… creepy as hell. TNA chants at the start of this match. This match builds up towards the bigger picture towards the end, so the beginning isn’t a whole lot to talk about. Very clearly though, Samoa Joe is in AJ’s head. It looks like there could be a new champion. Joe takes control of the match and starts to wear Styles down. He kicks AJ’s leg out from under him and AJ hits the apron hard. But later in the match, Styles starts to come back, and picks up the pace slightly. But AJ makes a mistake of picking Joe up and dropping him over his knee. Styles starts selling his knee after that. Styles then goes out to the apron and sets up for the Phenomenal Forearm, but Joe dodges and Styles lands on his feet, but runs into a quick as lightning powerslam from Joe. Styles superkicks Joe and drops him with a Styles Clash. But Joe kicks out of that. AJ gets Joe in the Calf Crusher, and Joe escapes it by bouncing AJ’s head off the mat like a basketball, and then puts Styles in the Coquina Clutch. Styles manages to reach with one foot on the bottom rope. Joe then indicates he’s about to go for the Muscle Buster. Joe puts Styles up on the top rope, and Styles fights Joe off, only for Joe to throw a kick that sends AJ out of the ring. Joe throws AJ into the steel steps which cuts AJ open. And then Joe grabs a mic, stands up on one of the announce tables and says and looks at AJ’s wife and daughter and says “I told you daddy was coming home, it looks like he’s not. But I’ll be your new daddy. This (understandably) sends AJ into a rage and he tackles Joe off the table through the barricade, which would’ve been cool if it didn’t lead to a DQ finish. AJ grabs a steel chair and begins going to town on Joe with it. What’s crazier about this to me, is that they copied and pasted the same fucking finish for the WWE Title Match at the next year’s SummerSlam too!
My Rating: ***3/4
Match 6: The Miz def. Daniel Bryan (23:26)
8 years in the making. This match was 8 years in the making and while it wasn’t a classic, it sure damn delivered. An honest underrated gem. This was Bryan’s first match since he returned to the ring that I thought was truly great. Bryan waited 2 years to punch Miz in the face and of course, that’s one of the first things he does in this match, while Miz of course, uses the moves he stole from Bryan. Miz uses Bryan’s surfboard submission, but Bryan pretty easily escages and then uses it himself, showing Miz how its done. Miz soon takes control of the match and starts grounding Bryan, wearing him down, yada yada. But Bryan starts to come back and out classes The Miz. Bryan dives on Miz from the top rope to the outside, gives Miz a back drop off the top rope. There’s a sequence of events halfway through which was fantastic. Bryan starts kicking Miz’s chest, but Miz ducks under the kick to the head, kicks Bryan in the knee and drops him with a DDT. So Miz starts kicking Bryan in the chest, and Bryan says “weak sauce.” He leans in to the kicks Miz is giving him and catches his foot, just starts slapping the hell out of Miz, dragon screw and then the kick to the head he was going for earlier. Miz is able to avoid a running knee by catching Bryan and trying to apply the Figure 4, but Bryan tries bringing Miz down to the the mat for the Yes Lock. Miz escapes and slingshots Bryan into the corner, then drops him with a Skull Crushing Finale. But Bryan kicks out of it. These two wind up on the apron and Miz dodges a kick from Bryan, which cause Bryan to hit the led ring post. Miz takes advantage of that with a Figure 4. But Bryan rolls them over on their bellies. Bryan starts throwing full on elbows to the side of Miz’s face before he puts him in the Yes Lock. As Miz is crawling to the ropes, he bites Bryan to try and escape. And Bryan responds by punching Miz in the back of the head. Miz winds up grabbing the rope to escape and he pretty much stumbles over to Maryse, who not so subtly hands Miz something. Referee can’t see what it is as Miz slips it onto his hand. Pretty clear he has brass knuckles and as Bryan goes to suicide dive Miz, Miz cold clocks Bryan and stumbles over to Maryse, throwing the knucks back over in the process before he goes back in the ring and pins Bryan to win this great match. Not a 5 star classic, but for sure a match that doesn’t get talked about enough.
My Rating: ****1/4
Match 7: Finn Balor def. Baron Corbin (1:31)
The 2nd of 3 squash matches of the evening. Finn Balor comes out, all painted up, looking cool as hell with his dope ass entrance. I got the vibe this was more about humiliating and embarrassing Corbin than it was about “needing to tap into the other side” or something. Finn dropkicks Corbin in the ring, outside the ring, dives on him, dropkicks him in the corner, comes off the ropes and drives his feet into Corbin’s chest to win the match. Corbin doesn’t hit a single move. It’s such a shame Vince didn’t know how to properly utilize the demon though. He won’t bring it out against Brock Lesnar or the Fiend, but the demon will come out to fight Baron Corbin. Okay, sure.
Match 8: United States Championship Match - Shinsuke Nakamura (c) def. Jeff Hardy (10:58)
An okay match, nothing grand or special about it. Just an average match. I thought it was an intriguing matchup, but I don’t think they had chemistry. Pretty early in the match, Nakamura starts to ground Hardy. Hardy starts to come back. Like I said, just a match you should see on TV. Jeff Hardy hits a whisper in the wind and goes up for a Swanton, but Nakamura kicks Jeff’s legs out, laying him out across the ropes, and Shinsuke drives his knee into his torso. Hardy goes for a twist of fate, but Shinsuke twists out of it and tries to low blow Jeff, because that was his gimmick now for some reason. Jeff finally hits the Twist of Fate and hits a Swanton, but Shinsuke grabs the bottom rope. Jeff hits another Twist of Fate, and Jeff goes back up for another Swanton. But Nakamura rolls out to the apron, and Hardy decides to do something stupid. He goes for the Swanton on the apron. Nakamura rolls out of the way and Jeff’s back makes a loud thud as he hits the apron. Nakamura rolls Hardy back in and hits a Kinshasa to retain. And then, because Jeff Hardy was feuding with Randy Orton. Orton comes out and… that’s all he does, he comes out, and leaves. Man, if they had told to fly out just to do that, I would’ve been like “Are you fucking joking.”
My Rating: **3/4
Match 9: Raw Women’s Championship Match - Ronda Rousey def. Alexa Bliss (c) (4:39)
Here we are, our last squash match. Gotta say, this one might be the roughest just because it’s dragged out a little longer than the other 2. I mean, it’s pretty much what I expected from it going into it. Alexa stays out of the ring for the first minute or so. Ronda turns her back to Bliss and even shuts her eyes. Bliss comes in from behind and tries to put a chokehold on Ronda, who makes that grr face she became known for. And then she just proceeds to kill Alexa Bliss. She ragdolls this woman. She finally puts Alexa out of her misery with an armbar. Alexa taps immediately. And then Ronda celebrates like Eddie Guerrero did when he won the WWE Title.
Main Event: Universal Championship Match - Roman Reigns def. Brock Lesnar (c) (6:08)
Pro: Brock Lesnar lost the Universal Title. Cons: It was to Roman Reigns and they made Braun Strowman look a total fucking chump. I have absolutely no fucking clue what WWE was trying to do by booking this the way that they did. Obviously they wanted Roman to be cheered. But they had been trying to do that for years and this sure as fuck wasn’t gonna do it. First of all, nobody wanted this match. Not a single living soul on the planet asked for this. But the fact that they made Braun Strowman, one of their favorites at the time, look like an absolute joke. Yeah, you can forget about getting Roman over bud. So after they announce champion and challenger, Braun Strowman’s music hits and the crowd goes wild. They go nuts, myself included. I was excited. I thought a savior was on his way. We were all thinking the same thing “He’s gonna cash in!” They hand Strowman a mic and he says “I refuse to be a coward and cash this in when my opponent’s back is turned.” I’m going “Yes!” And then he says “I’m gonna cash in, after the match on whoever wins.” And I’m like …Oh… okay. Um. So what I’m getting at here is that it’s not at all cowardly to cash in after your opponent has been weakened. By the way, when people cash in the briefcase, their music typically hits first so the champion knows they’re coming. Their back isn’t turned at all so why…? Who fucking wrote this garbage?! But whatever, Braun’s gonna cash in after the match. That’s still good. As long as the champ isn’t Brock or Roman at the end, who cares. So Roman starts out hot right out of the gate. He drops Brock with several superman punches and a couple Spears. One the last Spear, Brock puts Roman in a guillotine. He tosses Roman around with suplexes and sets up an F5. But Roman slides off and goes for a Spear, but Brock sidesteps and Roman goes through the ropes, onto Strowman on the outside. So Brock goes outside next and picks Braun up, drops him with an F5 and throws Roman back in the ring. Then beats Braun with his own briefcase before tossing it up the stage. Then Brock beats Strowman with a chair. Brock gets back in the ring, still holding the chair and turns around into a Spear from Reigns, who pins Brock to win the Universal Title to a standing boo. But it’s okay, because Braun is still cash in right? He’s tanked worse than what Brock gave him right? He’s gonna go pick up the briefcase right?! He’s gonna win the title right?!?! That show graphic popping up at the bottom of the screen is to fake us out right?!?!?!?!
My Rating: *1/2
He’s not cashing in. I’ll ask again. WHO! WROTE! THIS! GARBAGE!
Cagematch Rating: 6.37
My Rating: 6.5/10
This show was so close. Oh, so very close to being one of the best SummerSlams of all time. This show for the most part was very good. 3 very good matches on this show, a couple decent ones. Match quality wise, this was a great show. But just like every show with great wrestling for the last 10 years Vince was in charge, he has to book it in the dumbest way he possibly can. 2 DQ for good matches. The Becky thing actually worked out, but I’m not going to give it points for hindsight because nothing that happened after was part of the plan. And just every fucking thing that had to do with that main event made me wanna put my head through a wall. Pretty much the only things on this card that went on without a hitch were the opener and Miz vs Bryan. That’s it.
Match 1: Intercontinental Championship Match - Seth Rollins def. Dolph Ziggler (c) (22:01)
The best way they could’ve started the show to be honest. This was hot off of Dean Ambrose’s return on Raw. He was in Seth’s corner, to keep Drew McIntyre, who was in Dolph’s corner, in line at ringside. The story in this match was very well told. Despite that Dean was down there, Seth’s attention was pretty focused on Drew, and that allowed Dolph to take control of the match early. He goes after the bad knee of Rollins and starts grounding him on the mat. The beginning of the match is nothing special, but when Seth clotheslines Dolph to the outside, it’s like a switch gets flipped, and the pace begins to pick up. Seth suicide dives Dolph and sends him back in the ring. Not much longer later, they wind up on the apron, where Dolph spikes Seth with a DDT. Seth barely makes it back in the ring in time, and as he starts to get up, Dolph attempts a Zig Zag, but Seth hangs on to the ropes and flings Dolph off. Seth superkicks Dolph and goes up for a frog splash, but Ziggler gets the knees up and rolls Seth up for a 2 count. There’s a moment where Dolph is on the top rope, facing away from the ring. Seth leaps up, pulls Ziggler up for an inverted superplex followed by a 1916. Dean also happened to be on that side of the ring and even he couldn’t believe what he just saw! The way he sells it with his face is great. Seth sets up a Curb Stomp, but Drew throws Dean into the steel steps and it distracts Seth just long enough for Dolph to recover. Seth runs at Dolph and hits the turnbuckle as Dolph sidesteps. Dolph hits the Zig Zag, covers Seth, who kicks out and is now bleeding. The ref puts on his gloves and thankfully, I think Seth said no. A few rollups and Seth picks Dolph off the mat and throws him in the corner with a buckle bomb! Drew gets on the apron, but doesn’t see Dean coming from behind. He yanks Drew off the apron and drops him with the Dirty Deeds. Seth sees this happen, but not Dolph who is back on his feet. But Seth was ready for him and when he turned his head, he struck first with the superkick and then finished Dolph off with a Curb Stomp. 1, 2, 3. Great match to start off the PPV! I loved it.
My Rating: ****
Match 2: SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match - The New Day (Big E. & Xavier) def. The Bludgeon Brothers (c) via DQ (9:27)
A really fun match. I wouldn’t have minded seeing this go even longer, with the way these guys were working. It’s just a shame it had such a lame finish. Right off the bat, Rowan and Harper start picking apart The New Day. They drop Woods to the mat and shove Big E. off the apron. Despite the rocky start New Day gets off to, they manage a comeback, with Xavier managing to distance himself from the Bludgeons and reach Big E. for the tag. Rowan comes around and gets a belly to belly from Big E. Then Harper comes to the apron. He leaps off, gets caught by E and takes a scary belly to belly where he was thankfully okay where he lands on his head. E and Harper are the legal men and as they’re going at it in the ring, Woods, dives onto Rowan on the outside. Harper hits Big E. with a superkick, and goes outside, hits a black hole slam on Woods. He gets back on the apron and Big E. hits his signature spear off the apron. But then Rowan comes off the apron with a crossbody on E. They take Big E. Woods manages to get tagged and after he kicks out of a powerbomb from Harper, Kofi starts celebrating outside, trying to get the crowd hyped. Harper and Rowan see Kofi celebrating and decide he has to pay I guess. Rowan back drops Kofi on the floor. Big E. takes Rowan out with a Big Ending on the floor. He gets on the apron and drops Harper off into Woods’ knees on the outside. They take Harper back in the ring where Xavier sets up an elbow from the top rope. Harper rolls to the outside and Woods, the insane man that he, probably does permanent damage to his hip by dropping an elbow to the outside! They set up Harper in the ring for the Midnight Hour, but Rowan gets on the apron and knocks Woods off with one of their mallets, causing the DQ finish. Boooooo. Man, this match was going so well and they had to ruin it with that. At the time, I was very surprised because at this point, nobody had presented a challenge to the Bludgeon Brothers, but New Day were so close to beating them here.
My Rating: ***1/4
Match 3: Singles Match for the Money in the Bank Briefcase - Braun Strowman (MITB) def. Kevin Owens (1:55)
The first of 3, (yes, 3) squash matches on this show. Like, the production team put a video package together for this match. Only for the match to be shorter than the video itself. Right away, Braun squashes Kevin in the corner, he does his round the world shoulder tackle. Kevin sells it like he just got hit by a car. Kevin gets one move in this match, and it doesn’t even phase Strowman. Braun grabs Kevin and chokeslams him on the steel rampway, before dragging him back into the ring and drops him with a running Powerslam to retain the briefcase.
Match 4: SmackDown Women’s Championship Triple Threat Match - Charlotte Flair def. Carmella (c) & Becky Lynch (14:42)
This is one of those matches that became historic with hindsight. This match was the catalyst for Becky Lynch to become the star that she is today. And I was wondering before this match began if any of it would’ve happened if Becky had won. If Charlotte had lost. Makes you think honestly. But as for the match itself, it was decent. I mean, Becky and Charlotte had to carry it, because well ya know. I thought Carmella got too much offense in if I’m being honest. She was supposed to be a weak champion. The first half of the match is that. Becky and Charlotte don’t go at it a whole lot, but they work their magic when they do. Carmella hits the Trish Stratus, head scissors thing on Becky, and she tries to do the same on Charlotte, but Charlotte grabs her and comes off the turnbuckle to put her in the boston crab. Carmella rolls through to escape, but Charlotte transitions it in the Figure 8. Becky breaks up the Figure 8 with a legdrop from the ropes. And I’ll give Carmella credit for trying something new (unless she had done it before, but I don’t think I saw her do this before.) She dives through the ropes onto Becky, only for Charlotte to hit one of her moonsaults from the top rope onto both women… Well, Carmella at least, Becky was a little out of position. Charlotte takes Becky back in the ring and tries for a Natural Selection, but Becky reverses it into a Dis-Arm-Her. That’s broken up by Carmella. Carmella drops Becky with a superkick, but Becky gets Carmella in the Dis-Arm-Her. Carmella reaches the ropes, but Becky brings her back to the center where she puts it back on her. But she’s facing away from Charlotte as she does and doesn’t see her come back in. Charlotte hits Natural Selection and pins Becky, causing the crowd to boo. Boo, Charlotte, boo. Becky and Charlotte hug each other in the ring, the crowd says “Boooooo.” No hard feelings though between Becky and- oh wait, Becky slaps Charlotte to the mat! And the crowd fucking erupts! Becky puts the boots to Charlotte to the cheers from the crowd. Becky leaves with some extra swagger in her step, the crowd applauds her and then they start chanting “You deserve it.” Assumedly, directed at Charlotte. If Becky had won this match, I don’t think she would be in the position she’s at today. It’s funny how the butterfly effect works. I’m not going to give this hindsight points though, because Becky becoming a megastar was not in WWE’s plans at all. They really wanted us to cheer Charlotte over Becky. I think not sir.
My Rating: ***1/4
Match 5: WWE Championship Match - Samoa Joe def. AJ Styles (c) via DQ (22:44)
Another good match ruined by dumb ahhh DQ finish. If you don’t recall this storyline, Samoa Joe brought AJ’s family into it, and he became, just… creepy as hell. TNA chants at the start of this match. This match builds up towards the bigger picture towards the end, so the beginning isn’t a whole lot to talk about. Very clearly though, Samoa Joe is in AJ’s head. It looks like there could be a new champion. Joe takes control of the match and starts to wear Styles down. He kicks AJ’s leg out from under him and AJ hits the apron hard. But later in the match, Styles starts to come back, and picks up the pace slightly. But AJ makes a mistake of picking Joe up and dropping him over his knee. Styles starts selling his knee after that. Styles then goes out to the apron and sets up for the Phenomenal Forearm, but Joe dodges and Styles lands on his feet, but runs into a quick as lightning powerslam from Joe. Styles superkicks Joe and drops him with a Styles Clash. But Joe kicks out of that. AJ gets Joe in the Calf Crusher, and Joe escapes it by bouncing AJ’s head off the mat like a basketball, and then puts Styles in the Coquina Clutch. Styles manages to reach with one foot on the bottom rope. Joe then indicates he’s about to go for the Muscle Buster. Joe puts Styles up on the top rope, and Styles fights Joe off, only for Joe to throw a kick that sends AJ out of the ring. Joe throws AJ into the steel steps which cuts AJ open. And then Joe grabs a mic, stands up on one of the announce tables and says and looks at AJ’s wife and daughter and says “I told you daddy was coming home, it looks like he’s not. But I’ll be your new daddy. This (understandably) sends AJ into a rage and he tackles Joe off the table through the barricade, which would’ve been cool if it didn’t lead to a DQ finish. AJ grabs a steel chair and begins going to town on Joe with it. What’s crazier about this to me, is that they copied and pasted the same fucking finish for the WWE Title Match at the next year’s SummerSlam too!
My Rating: ***3/4
Match 6: The Miz def. Daniel Bryan (23:26)
8 years in the making. This match was 8 years in the making and while it wasn’t a classic, it sure damn delivered. An honest underrated gem. This was Bryan’s first match since he returned to the ring that I thought was truly great. Bryan waited 2 years to punch Miz in the face and of course, that’s one of the first things he does in this match, while Miz of course, uses the moves he stole from Bryan. Miz uses Bryan’s surfboard submission, but Bryan pretty easily escages and then uses it himself, showing Miz how its done. Miz soon takes control of the match and starts grounding Bryan, wearing him down, yada yada. But Bryan starts to come back and out classes The Miz. Bryan dives on Miz from the top rope to the outside, gives Miz a back drop off the top rope. There’s a sequence of events halfway through which was fantastic. Bryan starts kicking Miz’s chest, but Miz ducks under the kick to the head, kicks Bryan in the knee and drops him with a DDT. So Miz starts kicking Bryan in the chest, and Bryan says “weak sauce.” He leans in to the kicks Miz is giving him and catches his foot, just starts slapping the hell out of Miz, dragon screw and then the kick to the head he was going for earlier. Miz is able to avoid a running knee by catching Bryan and trying to apply the Figure 4, but Bryan tries bringing Miz down to the the mat for the Yes Lock. Miz escapes and slingshots Bryan into the corner, then drops him with a Skull Crushing Finale. But Bryan kicks out of it. These two wind up on the apron and Miz dodges a kick from Bryan, which cause Bryan to hit the led ring post. Miz takes advantage of that with a Figure 4. But Bryan rolls them over on their bellies. Bryan starts throwing full on elbows to the side of Miz’s face before he puts him in the Yes Lock. As Miz is crawling to the ropes, he bites Bryan to try and escape. And Bryan responds by punching Miz in the back of the head. Miz winds up grabbing the rope to escape and he pretty much stumbles over to Maryse, who not so subtly hands Miz something. Referee can’t see what it is as Miz slips it onto his hand. Pretty clear he has brass knuckles and as Bryan goes to suicide dive Miz, Miz cold clocks Bryan and stumbles over to Maryse, throwing the knucks back over in the process before he goes back in the ring and pins Bryan to win this great match. Not a 5 star classic, but for sure a match that doesn’t get talked about enough.
My Rating: ****1/4
Match 7: Finn Balor def. Baron Corbin (1:31)
The 2nd of 3 squash matches of the evening. Finn Balor comes out, all painted up, looking cool as hell with his dope ass entrance. I got the vibe this was more about humiliating and embarrassing Corbin than it was about “needing to tap into the other side” or something. Finn dropkicks Corbin in the ring, outside the ring, dives on him, dropkicks him in the corner, comes off the ropes and drives his feet into Corbin’s chest to win the match. Corbin doesn’t hit a single move. It’s such a shame Vince didn’t know how to properly utilize the demon though. He won’t bring it out against Brock Lesnar or the Fiend, but the demon will come out to fight Baron Corbin. Okay, sure.
Match 8: United States Championship Match - Shinsuke Nakamura (c) def. Jeff Hardy (10:58)
An okay match, nothing grand or special about it. Just an average match. I thought it was an intriguing matchup, but I don’t think they had chemistry. Pretty early in the match, Nakamura starts to ground Hardy. Hardy starts to come back. Like I said, just a match you should see on TV. Jeff Hardy hits a whisper in the wind and goes up for a Swanton, but Nakamura kicks Jeff’s legs out, laying him out across the ropes, and Shinsuke drives his knee into his torso. Hardy goes for a twist of fate, but Shinsuke twists out of it and tries to low blow Jeff, because that was his gimmick now for some reason. Jeff finally hits the Twist of Fate and hits a Swanton, but Shinsuke grabs the bottom rope. Jeff hits another Twist of Fate, and Jeff goes back up for another Swanton. But Nakamura rolls out to the apron, and Hardy decides to do something stupid. He goes for the Swanton on the apron. Nakamura rolls out of the way and Jeff’s back makes a loud thud as he hits the apron. Nakamura rolls Hardy back in and hits a Kinshasa to retain. And then, because Jeff Hardy was feuding with Randy Orton. Orton comes out and… that’s all he does, he comes out, and leaves. Man, if they had told to fly out just to do that, I would’ve been like “Are you fucking joking.”
My Rating: **3/4
Match 9: Raw Women’s Championship Match - Ronda Rousey def. Alexa Bliss (c) (4:39)
Here we are, our last squash match. Gotta say, this one might be the roughest just because it’s dragged out a little longer than the other 2. I mean, it’s pretty much what I expected from it going into it. Alexa stays out of the ring for the first minute or so. Ronda turns her back to Bliss and even shuts her eyes. Bliss comes in from behind and tries to put a chokehold on Ronda, who makes that grr face she became known for. And then she just proceeds to kill Alexa Bliss. She ragdolls this woman. She finally puts Alexa out of her misery with an armbar. Alexa taps immediately. And then Ronda celebrates like Eddie Guerrero did when he won the WWE Title.
Main Event: Universal Championship Match - Roman Reigns def. Brock Lesnar (c) (6:08)
Pro: Brock Lesnar lost the Universal Title. Cons: It was to Roman Reigns and they made Braun Strowman look a total fucking chump. I have absolutely no fucking clue what WWE was trying to do by booking this the way that they did. Obviously they wanted Roman to be cheered. But they had been trying to do that for years and this sure as fuck wasn’t gonna do it. First of all, nobody wanted this match. Not a single living soul on the planet asked for this. But the fact that they made Braun Strowman, one of their favorites at the time, look like an absolute joke. Yeah, you can forget about getting Roman over bud. So after they announce champion and challenger, Braun Strowman’s music hits and the crowd goes wild. They go nuts, myself included. I was excited. I thought a savior was on his way. We were all thinking the same thing “He’s gonna cash in!” They hand Strowman a mic and he says “I refuse to be a coward and cash this in when my opponent’s back is turned.” I’m going “Yes!” And then he says “I’m gonna cash in, after the match on whoever wins.” And I’m like …Oh… okay. Um. So what I’m getting at here is that it’s not at all cowardly to cash in after your opponent has been weakened. By the way, when people cash in the briefcase, their music typically hits first so the champion knows they’re coming. Their back isn’t turned at all so why…? Who fucking wrote this garbage?! But whatever, Braun’s gonna cash in after the match. That’s still good. As long as the champ isn’t Brock or Roman at the end, who cares. So Roman starts out hot right out of the gate. He drops Brock with several superman punches and a couple Spears. One the last Spear, Brock puts Roman in a guillotine. He tosses Roman around with suplexes and sets up an F5. But Roman slides off and goes for a Spear, but Brock sidesteps and Roman goes through the ropes, onto Strowman on the outside. So Brock goes outside next and picks Braun up, drops him with an F5 and throws Roman back in the ring. Then beats Braun with his own briefcase before tossing it up the stage. Then Brock beats Strowman with a chair. Brock gets back in the ring, still holding the chair and turns around into a Spear from Reigns, who pins Brock to win the Universal Title to a standing boo. But it’s okay, because Braun is still cash in right? He’s tanked worse than what Brock gave him right? He’s gonna go pick up the briefcase right?! He’s gonna win the title right?!?! That show graphic popping up at the bottom of the screen is to fake us out right?!?!?!?!
My Rating: *1/2
He’s not cashing in. I’ll ask again. WHO! WROTE! THIS! GARBAGE!
Cagematch Rating: 6.37
My Rating: 6.5/10
This show was so close. Oh, so very close to being one of the best SummerSlams of all time. This show for the most part was very good. 3 very good matches on this show, a couple decent ones. Match quality wise, this was a great show. But just like every show with great wrestling for the last 10 years Vince was in charge, he has to book it in the dumbest way he possibly can. 2 DQ for good matches. The Becky thing actually worked out, but I’m not going to give it points for hindsight because nothing that happened after was part of the plan. And just every fucking thing that had to do with that main event made me wanna put my head through a wall. Pretty much the only things on this card that went on without a hitch were the opener and Miz vs Bryan. That’s it.
