Opening with the Raw tag team title match made sense to get the fans off to a hot start, with some of the big names (everybody except Omos) competing in the match. The faces getting the win to really keep the mood up further dictates to me that this was a good choice for the opener. I thought the arrogance of AJ was done well, continuing on with his budding issues with Omos. The idea of Omos leaving without checking on AJ after the match says they'll most likely reach breaking point really soon. I'm okay with all of this, and Orton/Riddle should be fun tag champs. I am intrigued to see how you go about fleshing out the division more, but either way, this was a fine start. In terms of match writing, this was okay. There was a weird moment where AJ ran into the ring illegally to "yank" Orton off the apron, sending him into the stairs, which didn't make sense to me. I'm not sure how AJ can yank him off the apron and into the steps from inside the ring. I also had one critique with the ending where it felt to me like Orton recovered way to quickly to hit the RKO after just receiving the Phenomenal Forearm. A few points but this was fine overall, and I'm happy with the booking, which is more important than the writing anyway.
I enjoyed the interaction between the GM's. I've always felt like the roster split feels better when it feels like the shows are in competition with each other. So I'm all for this type of thing continuing long term. The MVP interruption to demand Lashley being announced the winner was a fun touch to.
Crews/Nak was okay. I never really could buy into Crews as an IC Champion, this whole gimmick never really resonated with me. Nak is the better option, although I couldn't help but cringe a little due to the Boogz involvement. Another gimmick I never brought into lol. By no means is this a knock on your booking, more of just a personal preference thing. I think the title change was probably the right call from a booking standpoint, and utilising both men's seconds just makes a lot of sense. Due to the recapped nature of the match (which I'm completely okay with), I don't really have much feedback on the match writing. Seemed fine.
If I remember right, there was a tease of this on the pre show, but the Ceasar's Palace segment for the 24/7 title was awesome. Utilising the casino, and then incorporating DiBiase is such a WWE type comedy move. Really enjoyed this, and it doesn't feel forced or contrived, considering this is the same ridiculousness that happens with the 24/7 title every week. Nice work.
I don't know if it's biasedness because of how much I enjoyed the angle in real life, but I'm a sucker for The Bloodline in BTB right now. Meaning I am absolutely a fan of The Usos retaining here. I think on top of The Usos being my preferred act here, you nailed the psychology here. The whole story of Dom failing once, and determined not to fail again, only to then ultimately fail again was really well told. I assume this is going to lead to some fun character work from Dom moving forward, but for now, this was good.
There seemed to be some errors in the commentary after the tag title match with Michael Cole telling us numerous times what a night it has been in Las Vegas, and then a whole block of dialogue was just repeated again at the end with no real context. In a way, you both should take it as a compliment that I noticed this. It means I enjoy your commentary and actually read it, when majority of the time I find commentary boring.
No issues with the highlighting of all the celebrities in attendance. A nice added detail which gives this show that authentic WWE feel.
Alright, two out of three falls. The first fall honestly caught me off guard. I think I just assumed that Charlotte working on the leg meant that there'd be a callback to that at some point. I think the recapped nature maybe hurt this one a little. It seems we went from Charlotte dominating with leg work, to then Charlotte landing awesome Sunset Flip Bomb and getting the win. Really made it seem dominant, like Rhea barely fired a shot and considering the first fall went eight minutes, I'm going to assume that wasn't your intention. I thought the second fall was a lot more fun with Rhea firing up. Felt like smart psychology for Charlotte to look for a breather again, as it worked so well in the first fall. The idea of Rhea learning her lesson and not giving Charlotte time to recuperate is one that I like. No issues with the Riptide levelling things up at 1-1. Third fall got interesting, and flowed well. I must admit you caught me off guard with the false finish with the Figure Eight. I didn't expect that. All the interference was fine, but Kay Lee Ray getting involved was unexpected. I'm not sure how I feel about it. As in, I like the idea of KLR getting a chance to feud with Charlotte, but feels like this 2/3 falls match between Rhea/Charlotte should have been their definitive ending, but now it feels a bit 'unfinished' with the cheap finish.
I don't think this New Day segment playing PS5 is just product placement. Get the feeling if Big E loses tonight, he might blame his buddies for not letting him focus. Safe to say I am watching this space with excitement...
Outside of Pearce forgetting how to count and skipping from 3 to 8 the tease of Keith Lee forfeiting, even though it was super obvious he wouldn't, was done well enough. The injury of sorts gives Lee an out if he loses as well, which I guess he didn't need with the dodgy finish here. The match was good enough, with the Spear sending both men outside the ring seeming like a nice spot. I'll get into all the shenanigans in a minute, I think the one glaringly obvious thing I would have changed is that after two Spirit Bombs in a row, Lashley was first to his feet. That's just not going to happen... Outside of that, this was all and whilst I think I've mentioned previously, the Shelton drama hasn't worked for me and felt rushed, I like the idea of him trying to make things right here. That swerve leading to Omos joining is something I'm a big time fan of. Omos having MVP as a mouth piece is a smart move, and I feel even more excitingly, like this sets up an epic AJ Styles face run against THB. Looking forward to it all, and this is probably the best booking of the night so far.
I did just want to take a moment to comment on something I've noticed as reading. I think that's 3 out of 5 matches so far which have been decided by or been riddled by interference. I'm kind of hoping we don't get anymore on the show, it's probably to much already, especially all happening so early on in the show. They should have been spaced out better at the very least.
Oh hey, High Stakes hype, although it definitely feels backwards since the shows haven't been posted in chronological order. What are you guys? The Marvel universe.
From a SD side, the matches had been pretty basically recapped up until now. Kross/Edge was really well done and I think it delivered big time. I must admit I'm not huge on a match just being made a Street Fight for no reason like that. I mean, it works for a weekly show, but not necessarily for a PPV in my opinion. Outside of that though, this delivered in spades. Plenty of weapon use throughout which was fun, but more than anything, I was impressed with the use of Scarlett. She was heavily involved throughout, and really was the difference in the end. Especially after that epic Spear through the table spot. The only minor critique I picked up was after Edge almost won with the Spear, Scarlett had time to struggle to get a table, also get a kendo stick and then hit Edge. I would have thought adrenaline would have hit for Edge and after Scarlett stopped the ref from counting three, he would have been up well before then because he would have been pissed off. Anyway, from a booking perspective, this is easily the biggest win of Kross's career to this point, and it's just smart booking. Give the guy a win on the second biggest PPV of the year over an established legend. Really feels like you could strap a rocket to Kross from here, really well done.
Some more WWE 2K22 product placement. Wooooooooooo.
It had less details than some of the other matches on the Raw side so I don't have a lot to say about Sheamus/Priest. From a match writing perspective, all seemed fine. And even from a booking perspective, I think crowning Priest as the new champ is solid enough, and at this point, this feels like the biggest moment in his career which is appropriate for a show such as Summerslam.
Laundry cart Tozawa for the win. Being an Attitude Era kid, I marked out for the appearance of The Godfather and the offer of a swap. That was an epic moment for sure. The rest of the stuff with Truth, Jinder, and The APA getting involved was all pretty good to. Again, I just have to give credit for these 24/7 segments. They are mainly throw away and a break from the real action, but they've been written exceptionally throughout Summerslam.
Can't have a big moment in WWE women's wrestling without Stephanie McMahon somehow being involved lol... Again, can't really fault this. A very typical WWE thing to do.
Bianca/Sasha would have obviously been a really good match, with strength vs. speed being a big theme throughout what you've written. I think that was the right way to go about the match to. No dramas with both women ending their periods of success with near falls off of high risk, with Sasha landing a Frog Splash and Bianca hitting a 450. One thing just for future reference, referring to them as Bianca and Banks for most of the match did sometimes feel a little hard to distinguish as a reader as they are very similar. Had to really concentrate. Please just use Sasha next time the two names are so similar. Anyway, match was fine and the ending with Bianca showing off that strength to hit the KOD worked well. Solid work.
The aftermath was super interesting as you caught me with the swerve. I honestly thought Liv was actually going to cash in, but using this moment to portray the respect Belair has earned from Sasha was a really clever move. I'm assuming Liv will be pretty mad at Sasha come SD so definitely keeping an eye on that to.
Alright, here we go, the big 5 on 5 match. Ricochet was definitely an interesting choice to start the match for Team Pearce. Anyway, Seth offering the olive branch was an intriguing way to open, and I loved how Ricochet declining and getting the Roll Up completely threw Seth off his game until he tagged out. The rest of this opening fall flowed along well enough, and no issues with Big E eliminating Gable the way he did. Clearly the tension between Rollins/Owens continues to build here, which is another fun dynamic to add to the match. Despite the drama there, KO and Sami sure did a number on Ford, until he made the tag to Dawkins. Again, thought the next elimination came across pretty nicely, levelling the score yet again. Seth stealing the pin was obviously a gun moment as well. Things exploding and KO being eliminated by Count Out worked well considering the situation. I was going to comment on the fact that I think the GM's emotions should have been highlighted more throughout the eliminations, so whilst this was an extreme circumstance, I'm glad Sonya was furious at KO here. I loved the escalation through next fall with all the action heading to the outside and everybody getting their chance to shine. Chaos erupted, and the barricade spot which lead to both Drew and Otis being unable to continue was brutal. Awesome stuff. On a side note, felt like Otis competed really well with all the big guns during this match, which makes me think he might be in line for a sustained push moving forward. I would be okay with that. The reset of sorts after the carnage made sense, and I didn't mind the way it went. A lot of ring time for Ford here, but I was surprised (not in a bad way) by how well Seth and Sami worked together here. The elimination of Ford with the Curb Stomp from the top was brutal to. Nice creativity. Well, looks like I was wrong about Big E losing tonight lol. I will say that you knew team Sonya was doomed the moment Seth refused to face Big E here, and just threw Sami to the wolves. The sequence of both Seth and Sami trying to show some fight worked, but yeah, felt inevitable at the end which is fine. Making a note of the fact that it's Ricochet who scored the winning fall, because that feels like a big deal for somebody like him. Well done, I thought this match was really good. My only concern is match placement on the show, after sitting through this for 47 minutes, how much are the fans going to have left in the tank for what's to come?
Priest's interview segment here was fine enough. A generic victory speech promo really, which was fine. The added element of the ladies waiting for him gives him the 'cool' factor I guess. Completely fine.
Backlash and No Mercy almost back to back? Sounds fun. Hopefully you guys can post them before 2030...
The segment between Roman and Lashley, or Bloodline and THB was easily my favourite interaction of the night. The tension, the arrogance, the confidence from both men. This was actually awesome, and has me all for a massive faction war at some point. Not sure if that would actually happen, but this was a great segment.
I thought the main event delivered what it probably was always going to. I'm not huge on the modern day style of spamming finishers for the entire match, but I guess at least you are sticking true to the art form that you're imitating. I thought the drama built well though, with the ref bump and then the interference. The interference made sense here, because it's The Bloodline, but just touching on my point earlier, it just feels like way too much interference throughout the course of the night... Anyway, good stuff and then Cena still fighting back from The Usos interference was a nice swerve before the eventual Guillotine win from Roman. A solid main event.
Credit to you both, this was a really good effort. I was VERY picky with some minor things, but in general, this really delivered big time. A great effort, and now having hit this milestone, and probably finished most the stories you were forced to adopt from real life, I'm excited to see what's next here. Well done to you, both, and about time, Jam.
Both Deco and I's go home shows have been finished for a bit now. We wanted some more time to write Summerslam, which we are determined to get to! If there are any errors on this show, be sure to point them out and I'll get to them eventually. In the meantime, thank you for your patience with all this. I hope you enjoy Raw's go home show!
