The 8 Ball: Top 8 Takeaways From SummerSlam

Top 8 Takeaways from SummerSlam

Got back from vacation just in time to see SummerSlam. Admittedly, I was not terribly into the build to it. The WWE weekly product has been tough to watch for the past year and a half, but a wrestling card is a good fit for a lazy Sunday night. As for the SummerSlam 2015 edition, it’s not going down as a classic, but I found it enjoyable. It featured effort and talent. It was a somewhat encouraging effort and hopefully the WWE builds on the positive aspects of the card.

So without further ado, let’s shake the Magic 8-Ball and see what the most important lessons are that we learned from SummerSlam.

8. Can’t Fight Father Time

Credit to whomever produced the Undertaker-Lesnar match. They spaced it out nicely, let Brock have a few furious bursts of energy, let the Undertaker throw hands and hit a bunch of his signature moves. The finish was terrible, but they squeezed every ounce out of Taker in the ring (supposedly he collapsed afterward). Therein lies the problem. Taker’s a 50 year-old man and he looks slow. His moves have lost their snap. He needs significant rest time during his matches. Michael Cole and JBL can proclaim Undertaker is back to his early 2000s form until their teeth pop out their gums, he doesn’t pass the eye test. In his prime, Taker was an outright freak. Men that big shouldn’t be that fluid. He’d still kick ass if wrestling had a senior division, but he can’t live up to the impossible standards he set for himself. Undertaker-Lesnar was all it could be. Unfortunately it was far short of epic.

7. New Day Rising

Good to see the WWE put the tag titles back on its best (active) team. New Day is an almost perfect contrast team, at least the Big E-Kofi pairing. You’ve got an explosive powerhouse and a premium athlete. It’s thunder plus lightning. Add in Xavier Woods, who is a spectacular agitator, and you’ve got a unit that could be at the core of the WWE tag division for the next few years. They’re really good. As of Monday night, it looks like they’ll be tussling with the Dudley Boyz in the coming months. Excellent. This is a team that that can go toe-to-toe with Bubba Ray and D-Von. Eventually, if the wrestling gods are kind, we should be treated to a New Day-Usos war. That could be the clash that defines this generation of WWE tag teams.

6. Rated XX

The three-team divas match had its share of flaws. The Bellas are never going to be top shelf ring performers. They’ve been surpassed by the women coming in from NXT. A perfect example during the Sunday match was Sasha Banks and Naomi hitting spectacular tope suicidas only for the Bellas to follow up with lesser versions a minute later. But nitpicking is the wrong reaction to this match. This bigger takeaway is that the WWE let a group of women participate in a full-throttle wrestling match. They pushed the pace, went for high impact and accentuated the physicality. They need to do better in the future, but the important thing is this wasn’t a catfight or divas filler. The WWE let the girls play the same game as the boys. Keep doing that and the matches will start to deliver.

5. Give Hate a Chance

Man, does New York hate itself some Roman Reigns. Almost got whiplash from the rapidly shifting between wild cheers for Dean Ambrose and cascading boos for Reigns. Didn’t matter that they were on the same team. I’m sure some will want to write it off as New York being a smark town. Yep. Sure is. It also happens to be homebase for the WWE. From its foothold in New York, the WWE conquered the wrestling world. Also, Philly is a smark town, which booed Reigns like crazy at the Royal Rumble. And San Francisco is a smark town, which booed Reigns like crazy at WrestleMania. He doesn’t fare any better in Boston, Montreal or Chicago. The man is unpopular with too many dedicated WWE fans. Really, it’s not that people don’t like Reigns on a personal level, but they don’t like him being forced down their throats before he’s earned his place. At some point the customer needs to be right on this one. Embrace the darkside Roman. It’s beckoning you with open arms.

4. 16 the Hard Way

John Stewart made a spectacular argument Monday night for why he cost John Cena his shot at a 16th title: just couldn’t stomach Cena tying Flair’s record. They ought to build on that theme. Some day John Cena should get #16 and after that he should get #17. I say that as someone who has never been a fan of Cena’s. Thing is, the story is too good not to tell it. However, that story needs to involve Cena crawling over a mile of broken glass, tasting repeated disappointments and having it seem like it’s never going to happen for him. It should be a long story, War and Peace Part II. If Cena climbs to the top of the mountain at Hell in a Cell or Survivor Series, they’ve given away a killer storyline. The video package of John Cena’s near misses at #16 should run about 10 minutes before he actually wins it. I’m not saying Cena has to pull a heel turn (not that I’d be against it), but he needs to experience some Charlie-Brown-trying-to-kick-that-football frustration. The quest for #16 should take him places he’s never been. It should break him in half and then break his halves in half, forcing him to put himself back together … and then break him in half again. His next WWE title win should be harder than the previous 15 combined.

3. More John Stewart, Please

While I could have done without Stewart getting physically involved in what was an outstanding match, I’ve really enjoyed his WWE appearances. His work with Seth Rollins earlier this year was a blast. The promo he cut Sunday night about WrestleMania XXX fans buying their tickets to see perfection and being sent home crushed was fantastic. Loved his full-throated fanboy argument that Ric Flair should stand alone, too. The man clearly is a fan. He’s also a seasoned standup comedian and television personality. I’d make him part of each of the Big Four PPVs. Give him segments, put him at the announce desk, work him into the build for the events. He’s someone who can kick the broadcast up a notch, make the supposedly special events live up to their billing. And I don’t care about his politics. Same way I don’t care about Linda McMahon’s politics or Kane’s politics or Donald Trump’s politics (if he happened to show up again in the WWE). It’s pro wrestling, not the Senate floor. Stewart can bring something fresh to the mix – a fan’s perspective and an acid wit. Gimme Stew. Come to think of it, I’m not even all that bothered by him getting involved in the title match. No way Cena was going to lose clean. So it was John Stewart with a chair after the ref bump.

2. The Future is Now

That’s the talking point they’re using for Seth Rollins (more on him in the next section), but it applies to the roster as a whole. Ambrose, Reigns, Wyatt and Harper demonstrated why they belong high up on the card. Neville is starting to realize his RVD-like potential. Cesaro and Kevin Owens may not be youngsters, but they had a sweet match. Owens and Finn Balor, who should be in the WWE before the end of the year, staged another brilliant match on Saturday night. Fans are prepared to go nuts for Sami Zayn when he returns. The matches we really want to see aren’t Attitude and Ruthless Aggression throwbacks. NXT really has taken over and its graduates are the most interesting properties in the WWE. The problem has been that Creative has been so focused on giving them personalities that it’s forgotten to give them stories. Rollins stands out because he’s the one with the most compelling story arc. Others need to join him. They need to take us along for a ride that has real surprises and big payoffs. SummerSlam served notice that they’re ready for bigger and better things.

1. Be the Man

Even if you hated the finish to the Rollins-Cena match, there’s no disputing just how much of a star performance Rollins put in at SummerSlam. It’s like he’s got three times as many clubs in his bag as everyone else. And he’s got quality as well as quantity. The frog splash he hit on Cena was unreal. He got so much height on it that he was still above the ropes when he finished his jackknife and reached the layout position. Literally may have been the best frog splash ever executed. Then he threw in power moves and counters in addition to the Air Rollins stuff. On top of that, he’s a world class seller. Every time they let Rollins off the leash, he’s special. That’s what makes it so annoying that they keep him on the leash in the first place. I want to see crazy talent on display, not kept under wraps. The Seth Rollins we saw at SummerSlam outclassed John Cena (who had a hell of a match). I’ve got no problem believing that Seth Rollins can straight up beat Brock Lesnar. That guy can go with anybody. He’s Ricky Steamboat good, Randy Savage good, Shawn Michaels good. He can play at that level. Hopefully the WWE recognizes at some point during his reign that it ought to be emphasizing just how amazing the champ is.

I’d also love to see him branch out a bit. How cool would the Ambrose/Reigns vs. the Wyatts battle be if Rollins got involved? They’d blow the roof off an arena if Rollins came to the rescue of his former stablemates. Maybe he just can’t sit by and watch the Wyatts beat the Shield. His likely brief run with the U.S. title also opens the door to fighting against guys like Cesaro, Owens and Neville. Mind you, Cena’s still got a rematch coming and I’m guessing that means Seth is doing double duty at Night of Champions. Cool. Turn the Rollins up to 11. Let him emerge from under Triple H and Stephanie’s skirts. Maybe pick a fight with Ryback so he can complete the set of having all three WWE singles titles at the same time. Time for Rollins to move to a more confident and in-your-face phase.

I take requests.. The purpose of this column is to look forward. What could be? What should be? What is and what should never be? What would make more sense? 411 has plenty of columns that count down and rank things that happened in the past. This is not one of those columns. The Magic 8-Ball is here to gaze into the future. If there’s someone or something you think should be given the 8-Ball treatment, mention it in the comments section. I might pick it up for future weeks.