Kevin’s WWE SummerSlam Review

WWE SummerSlam
August 19th, 2018 | Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York | Attendance: 16,169

Andrade Almas and Zelina Vega vs. Lana and Rusev
It’s the most attractive tag team match in the history of anything. Rusev and Almas continued to have strong interactions together. Their chemistry has been better than expected and I say this as a huge fan of both. They worked through the obligatory Kickoff Show commercial. Zelina cut off the tag to Lana more than once. When Lana came in, she showed more improvement, though a few moves looked weak. An Almas distraction helped Zelina pick up the win with a rollup at 7:01. It was a lame finish because Zelina was too short to get her feet on the ropes for leverage. However, it made sense to continue the struggles for Rusev Day. The match was mostly fun, had a hot crowd, and did what it had to. [***]

WWE Cruiserweight Championship: Cedric Alexander [c] vs. Drew Gulak
205 Live is basically the wrestling show to go to for consistently solid wrestling (along with NXT). Alexander is unbeaten in 2018 and has several wins over Gulak, but this is a refocused challenger with a mean streak. Gulak used that to take the advantage early on. He seemed to have Alexander’s number. It wasn’t until the champion started showing a mean streak that the tide was turned. Still, Gulak is meaner, and he showed it with a brutal looking dragon sleeper on the ropes. Down the stretch, the pace picked up for some great near falls. In fact, it was Cedric turning a Gulak pinning combination into one of his own that got him the win at 10:39. A banger of a match. Gulak had his number, but Cedric was resilient and found a way to retain, even though the challenger had his number. Watch 205 Live, because stuff like this happens almost weekly. [***½]

WWE Raw Tag Team Championship: The B-Team [c] vs. The Revival
The B-Team was fun but they don’t need a long run. It’s time to pull the trigger on the Revival. The challengers used their tag team knowhow to take control. With Dallas as the legal man, they took out Axel with a Shatter Machine. Lots of tandem offense, isolation, and trash talk by the confident Revival. Unfortunately, once Axel got the tag, things went downhill. He was stuck in a small package, Dallas took a jawbreaker, and fell onto the pin, turning it over and giving Axel the three at 6:10. The finish was rather creative and the Revival dominated. They’re so good at what they do, having them in control made for something entertaining. [**¼]

Time for the main show.

WWE Intercontinental Championship: Dolph Ziggler [c] w/ Drew McIntyre vs. Seth Rollins w/ Dean Ambrose
Everyone in this match is good, though Dolph is bland. The Dolph/Seth series hasn’t produced the way you’d hope, outside of a strong Raw main event. For the first half or so of this match, most of the focus was on Dean and Drew. They kept coming face to face, but nothing more. Dean feels like a more subdued version of himself. In the past, he would’ve just taken out Drew and worried about consequences later. Dolph was in control and bored us to tears with a chinlock. I understand the point of those, but there are ways to do it without putting the fans to sleep. It picked up following a Seth frog splash. That included him doing an inverted superplex into a deadlift PAROXYSM! As a fan since his Tyler Black days, I popped. The move itself was outstanding. Seth survived a Zig Zag, cut off a superkick with one of his own, and won back the title with the Curb Stomp at 22:01. It took a while to get going, but once it did, it was rad. The closing minutes were great. [***½]

Backstage, the Bella Twins were interviewed for their first appearance in months. They plugged their show and YouTube channel, but said they were here to have fun. Nikki said she wanted to see Ronda Rousey make history and they just may be a part of Evolution.

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship: The Bludgeon Brothers [c] vs. The New Day w/ Kofi Kingston
The Hammer Perverts have dominated since winning the titles at Mania. New Day are the most successful tag team of the past few years. Going with Xavier Woods was an interesting choice for New Day. He’s the smallest member of his team. The champions took advantage of that, isolating him from the opening bell. His eventual hot tag to Big E led to a great sequence. Big E has truly found his calling in this role. Everything from that point on delivered in a big way. Woods saved Big E from a Bludgeon combo and then kicked out of one of his own. The fans were into this and Kofi was doing his best Flavor Flav hype man impersonation at ringside. New Day tried a wild tandem move from the apron, but mistimed it and it never fully connected. Woods impressed by hitting his Limit Breaker elbow to the outside and New Day was on the verge of a win. Then, Rowan attacked them with a hammer for a DQ at 9:29. That was hella fun and the finish made sense. I know some will complain, but the dominant champs finally found a true threat and was unsure of how to handle it. That sets up an even better rematch. [***½]

Jon Stewart was shown in the crowd.

Money in the Bank: Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens
This entire rivalry has been Strowman being a dick to Owens for no real reason. Like their Steel Cage match, this was all Braun. He kicked Owens’ ass as soon as the match opened, including slamming him onto the ramp and then winning with a powerslam in 1:55. Wow. That sucked. Braun is no longer interesting and KO deserves better. [DUD]

WWE Smackdown Women’s Championship: Carmella [c] vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte 
I’d say this feud was more interesting before dull Charlotte got added. It could’ve been the best heel against the best babyface. Carmella’s gear seemed inspired by Jim Neidhart. Right from the start, she got beat up, but did her best to play Becky against Charlotte. In fact, Carmella continued to shine. All I’ve seen online are people bashing her ring work. There are TONS of great wrestlers out there, but only a handful who can match Carmella for character work. It makes her special and it’s why she’s been so successful. Becky was a fantastic fiery underdog. Charlotte didn’t sell much because that’s Charlotte for you. In fact, I’d say Carmella outperformed Charlotte by a fair amount here and was right there with Becky. Charlotte came close with the Figure Eight, but Becky broke it up with a flying leg drop. Carmella busted out a tope suicida and Charlotte topped her with the corkscrew moonsault, though she missed both opponents. They told a wonderful story of Becky coming so close on so many occasions. As she had the Dis-Arm-Her locked in on Carmella, Charlotte hit her with Natural Selection to win in 14:40. That was a fun match that told a great story. Carmella shined brightly and was the star there. Of course, the title goes to Charlotte “Status Quo” Flair, who is the most boring choice for champion. [***¾]

Post-match, Charlotte hugged Becky, only to get slapped. The fans popped HARD for Becky destroying the perpetually bland Charlotte. They better not think Becky should be the heel in this thing. She’s the strongest booked PERSON on the roster. Yes, more than Roman Reigns. And she took Becky’s spotlight.

WWE Championship: AJ Styles [c] vs. Samoa Joe
Before the match, Joe pointed out that AJ’s family was in the crowd and told his daughter that, “Daddy’s coming home tonight.” Despite that, this got off to a slow start. AJ and Joe took to feeling each other out and having a basic wrestling match in the early stages. They should’ve gone right to war if this personal issue was the route the angle was going. Once AJ got to hitting the moonsault reverse DDT, the pace picked up and so did the match. However, it still struggled to reach the personal level it needed. Then, AJ got busted open and Joe made more comments towards AJ’s wife. AJ attacked him through the guardrail and beat up officials. He hit Joe with a chair for the DQ finish at 22:42. This had some great spots and was actually a very good wrestling match. However, there were several some glaring issues in terms of intensity. It never felt like the bitter battle it needed to be. Hopefully, that gets fixed in the expected Hell in a Cell rematch. Good, but it missed what it needed to for it to be great.[***¼]

Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz
I haven’t been this excited about a match in wrestling in years. Two of my five favorites of all time, having a match that is eight years in the making. Bryan brought his signature offense, but Miz was quick to use it back on him. It led to some great exchanges. I popped for Miz pulling out the Nigel clothesline, just like he did during their 2010 US Title match. There were so many great exchanges throughout, with Miz being a step ahead of Bryan in the early goings. Bryan started rallying and bringing the offensive style he became famous for. The style that separates him from the Miz. I loved when Miz started doing the “Yes” kicks, only for Bryan to lean into them. He was basically saying, “Your kicks are weak and mine are legit.” Great character stuff. The Skull Crushing Finale near fall was tremendous. Bryan missed a kick and hit the ring post, getting put right into the Figure Four. The idea that the wrestling master would tap to the reality TV star was so well done. Bryan survived and it led to more fantastic exchanges. Another great bit was seeing Bryan get vicious with the Yes Lock applied, straight up punching Miz in the back of the head. The same goes for the desperation of Miz biting Bryan’s hand to get closer to the ropes. In a simply perfect finish, Maryse handed Miz a foreign object. Bryan went for a tope suicida and Miz clocked him with the weapon to win in 23:22. Outstanding match and such a great finish. Miz beat Bryan with a punch to the face, which is what Bryan kept saying he wanted to do to the Miz. The “dangerous” wrestler took a risk and the “smart, safe” wrestler made him pay to steal it. Incredible. The match was fantastic, with so many top notch exchanges and storytelling that was so fitting of their history and feud. The best match of the weekend and probably of the entire month.[****½]

They ran an ad to hype Triple H vs. The Undertaker at WWE Super Showdown in Australia coming this October.

Baron Corbin vs. Finn Balor
THE DEMON! FINN BROUGHT OUT THE GODDAMN DEMON FOR THIS! It was a surprise and it worked. He took Baron off guard and dominated. I don’t think Corbin got in any offense and Finn won with the Coup de Grace in 1:29. Complete squash. The paint looked fantastic. [NR]

WWE United States Championship: Shinsuke Nakamura [c] vs. Jeff Hardy
Last time these two had a PPV match, it ended in about six seconds. Here, we got much more of a match and it worked. Heel Shinsuke has been far better than his bland babyface persona and it showed here. A ton of personality showed from him in this one and it worked so well. The spot where Hardy had the Twist of Fate countered and avoided the low blow was great. Jeff seemed to have the match in hand, but made a critical mistake. He went for the Swanton Bomb on the apron, only for Shinsuke to move. Seeing him crash and burn there was wild. Shinsuke rolled him back inside and hit Kinshasa to retain in 10:57. A solid match that played well off their personalities. [***]

WWE Raw Women’s Championship: Alexa Bliss [c] vs. Ronda Rousey
Natalya came out before the match and got a nice ovation from the crowd after her father’s passing this past week. Onto the match, Ronda came out with weird face paint, but a demeanor of a woman looking to destroy her opponent. That’s just what she did. This lasted 4:39, but only because Alexa stalled outside a bit. Ronda dominated her for our third squash of the night. It was needed. I like Alexa and consider her at the very top of the women’s division in terms of character and overall package. But, as the heel, you need to get what you deserve. That never happened against Nia. Here, she got wrecked and tapped out to an armbar. Great booking. Fun murder. [***]

WWE Universal Championship: Brock Lesnar [c] w/ Paul Heyman vs. Roman Reigns
They had a banger at WrestleMania 31, only to follow it up with shitty matches at WrestleMania 34 and the Greatest Royal Rumble. Before the match, Braun Strowman came out, seemingly to cash in and make it a Triple Threat match. Instead, he opted to wait until this was over. Roman came out with Spear after Spear. Brock started throwing his moves. “You both suck” chants. Same old, same old. Braun ended up taking an F5 and getting hit with his briefcase. Brock also threw the briefcase to the top of the stage. Brock got back in the ring with a chair and hit the Spear to finally win the Universal Title at 6:10. Meh. It was another one of their matches, but was kept short enough to not be awful. The finish felt kind of weak after everything they’ve been through, but I’ll take it over a finisher barrage. [**]

7.5

The final score: review Good

The 411

Usually, I’m very anti-long PPVs. This did suffer a bit from that, but it wasn’t front loaded the way others were. There was a consistent pace and a lot of good matches on the show. Miz/Bryan was a classic and needs to be seen, especially if you pay attention to their history. The only thing on the card that was flat out bad was Braun/Owen and it was over quick. The title is off Brock in a short match, we got Demon Finn wrecking shit, a great Bryan/Miz match, and a whole bunch of good, quality wrestling matches. I dig it.