Let's see what's cooking with SummerSlam.
I'm kind of split on the presentation, if I'm honest. I feel like the old format looked a lot better and was far more visually appealing. I suspect you write from WordPad, then screenshot and crop for posting on the forum.
On the Kickoff Show, Team Kick getting the next opportunity at the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship made the most sense of the four teams in here. It was nice to see Dominik Mysterio get to make his debut, but feels bad to see them squandered in the pre-show match. Nonetheless, it can build to better things. It's nice seeing Nathan Frazier in the mix of Seth Rollins' Church. I've no doubt that Swerve Strickland and Ricochet would have a killer fast-paced match, and it worked well in the finite slot on the show preluding SummerSlam. The right man won, but hopefully you can figure something out for Ricochet in the future.
On the main card, really nice idea to have the WWE United States Championship match go on first. Chad Gable and Finn Bálor is a match I would never have even thought of, but can just tell it would have been a strong opening contest to the main show. Intrigued by Finn's affiliation with Buddy Murphy, but anticipate it has something to do with your version of the Club perhaps.
It was nice to see the New Day get another WWE Tag Team Championship reign over Cesaro and Ilja Dragunov. It read really nicely, like a chase had paid off in victory.
Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns have their track record of great matches, and this was probably no exception. I liked the Viking Raiders being involved here to counterbalance Reigns having the Usos with him. It's unique to see Roman adopt the Head of the Table gimmick so early. I'm just glad it went shy of ten minutes.
The WWE Women's Universal Championship match was framed perfectly, with Beth Phoenix having pre-match comments with Edge in the concerned husband role. Shayna Baszler looks like a killer alongside the Four Horsewomen, and her being responsible for ending Beth's in-ring career was really nicely done. Natalya coming to her aid makes sense, and being in Canada there's double the positive - but with that said, I don't know how credible I think Nattie is to be the one to dethrone Shayna.
Ooft, Sami Zayn and Randy Orton would have been awesome. It read like a great WWE Intercontinental Championship match, and perhaps the more surprising thing was reading Sami got the win. The finish sounded neckbreaking, which is disastrous for Orton. Either way, it protected him pretty well and served Sami's persona even better.
Aleister Black's promo for Seth Rollins was well written.
Bayley recapturing the WWE Women's World Championship was great, and I think she and Ember Moon would have had an excellent match. I don't know if I dig it going as long as it did, but it made the title feel all the more important, regardless.
Brock Lesnar and Samoa Joe had a strong match at Great Balls of Fire 2017, and I'll bet this was no different. Was shocked to see Joe beat Brock, almost like this was some sort of passing of the torch. I do think there are legs to Brock having a face run looking to make Joe tap out, though. Realistic? Maybe not. But it's compelling! The time was realistic, anyway.
Sasha Banks beating Trish Stratus sounded like a hoot, and again reiterated the fact that we're in a new era. It's a night of surprising finishes, especially with SummerSlam being in Canada.
Drew McIntyre retaining the WWE World Championship against Andrade Almas was a fine decision. Fun fact, I actually pegged this match myself for SummerSlam 2020 initially. It did read overbooked, but considering the story, I don't think that's necessarily of detriment. It read like the main event, is all I'll say.
An epic write-up for the main event, which read almost like the WWE World Championship match. Edge leaving SummerSlam in his home country as WWE Universal Champion worked well and was deserving of headlining the show, even when it came with the help of Christian. The low-hanging fruit is there when it comes to the long-term for Christian and Edge, but hopefully you don't go down that route. Aleister Black and Seth Rollins being also in this mix is spicy, and the top of the card on SmackDown just looks so appealing right now.
Overall, SummerSlam had many, many highlights and was a great Big 4 event. I feel like the match ordering could have been laid out a little different, but that aside it served its' purpose and blew off a handful of angles.
