Pantoja’s WWE SummerSlam 2023 Review

WWE SummerSlam

August 5^th, 2023 | Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan | Attendance: 59.194

Logan Paul vs. Ricochet

Honestly, this is a great match to book because it should be fun and it gets Logan a victory after rightfully losing to Seth and Roman. This opened with a feeling out process as they traded feats of athleticism and when Paul found himself in some trouble, he resorted to underhanded tactics. When Logan got into the personality stuff, he really shined. He’s an unlikable dude in the eyes of most people so he’s ideal for a heel wrestler. He made sure to taunt Samantha Irvin, talk smack to the crowd, and even steal Ricochet’s partner’s powerslam. They did flub the Spanish Fly to the outside spot but made up for it with a better one that followed. Logan legitimately did a Buckshot Lariat to the OUTSIDE. Madness. Ricochet got going for a while but he ate knees on his Shooting Star Press attempt, leading to a near fall. Ricochet avoided the right hand with a superkick but then missed the 630. One of Logan’s buddies gave him brass knuckles, which he used to knock out and defeat Ricochet in 17:58. A hell of a way to start the show. They flubbed a spot here or there but Logan Paul has just nailed pro wrestling. Like, I don’t believe anyone has ever been this good with less than 10 matches under their belt. [***¾]

Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes

Cody attacked Brock before the bell and got the jump on him. However, his advantage didn’t last long. Brock started pulverizing him to the point where Cody could barely stand. It was kind of what we’ve come to expect from Brock. He kept yelling for Cody to stay down and even take a countout loss. That included hitting an F5 out there. When Cody got up and fought back, he took a huge German and an F5 through the announce table for his troubles. A barrage of Cody Cutters changed momentum but then Cody got caught in the Kimura for a while. Cody survived and sent Brock into an exposed turnbuckle. He then put on his own Kimura and turned that into three Cross Rhodes to win in 17:28. That was a well told story though like a lot of similar Brock matches, the portion with him dominating isn’t all that interesting, especially since it has been done better in the past. [***¼]

Cody and Brock shook hands out of respect after the bell.

Slim Jim SummerSlam Battle Royal

The ring was loaded here. As soon as the bell rang, MVP interrupted to introduce Omos. He took his time getting to the ring. Most of this was standard battle royal fare with little rivalries sprinkled in like Nakamura against Ciampa or Imperium messing with Alpha Academy. Meanwhile, Omos played the role of the monster dominating the majority of a battle royal and racking up the eliminations. Everybody had to jump him and then team up to toss him over the top. Waller and Miz did a rolling cutter into the Skull Crushing Finale and liked the idea of working together. The final four guys were Styles, Sheamus, Knight, and Reed. The crowd favorite was obviously Knight and he eliminated Reed the way Big Show went out in the ’04 Rumble. Kross pulled Styles out and that left it down to Sheamus and Knight. We got a big belly to belly off the top by Knight and then he clotheslined Sheamus over to win in 12:48. Standard battle royal here with the right winner. [**½]

MMA Rules: Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler

I liked the little touch here of the referee offering a glove touch before the bell and Ronda offered it, which she apparently never did in MMA. Yet Shayna declined it. They did some MMA stuff with strikes, grappling, and some close calls on knockouts but the crowd was pretty subdued for this and you could hear a pin drop in the stadium. Shayna choked out Ronda with the Kirifuda Clutch in 7:25 to win. This didn’t work and unless they actually do something with Shayna coming off of this, it meant nothing. [*]

 

WWE Intercontinental Championship: Gunther [c] vs. Drew McIntyre

BIG MEATY MEN BUMPING MEAT. This was the war we expected from the start, with the two throwing big chops and bombs at each other. They had each other well scouted, managing to avoid some of the biggest bits of offense from the other like Gunther ducking Claymore. Even after losing weight, everything Gunther does looks so vicious and legit. I loved Drew avoiding the powerbomb and hitting one of his own before using Future Shock (which is how he won the title in 2009 I believe) for a near fall. Gunther survived it and again avoided the Claymore before getting his own two count on a powerbomb. They continued to trade blows until they fought up top and Gunther sent Drew to the mat. He followed with a splash and a pair of powerbombs to retain in 13:39. I didn’t write a ton there because I was hooked on the hard hitting action. Just fantastic pro wrestling here. [****¼]

World Heavyweight Championship: Seth Rollins [c] vs. Finn Bálor

The crowd was firmly behind Seth at the start but Finn had a smart gameplan and basically took them out of it. He held serve, working Seth over at every turn and keeping on the offensive, slowing the champion’s game to a halt. He scored a measure of revenge by doing the running powerbomb into the guardrail on Seth, which you knew had to be coming considering the seven years thing they’ve been hyping. Seth did the babyface rally afterward, hitting things like the Frog Splash. Damian Priest showed up for a closer look as he did at Money in the Bank. He also called for Dom and Rhea to add more help. However, Judgment had some communication issues as Priest made a signal either to cash in or for Finn to use the briefcase as a weapon, which allowed Seth to get two on the Curb Stomp. Seth spent some time taking out the members of Judgment Day to give way to a Finn Coup de Grace but it only got two. More communication problems led to Finn eating a Curb Stomp on the briefcase for the finish at the 18:10 mark. Another great match and my favorite between them. [****¼]

WWE Women’s Championship: Asuka [c] vs. Bianca Belair vs. Charlotte Flair

Triple Threat matches often follow a formula and we got that here. A lot of one-on-one interactions with someone being tossed aside for a few and then sprinkling in some spots that allow all three competitors to be part of it. They really hammered home how evenly matched these women are, with nobody really gaining a clear upper hand or standing out as stronger than the rest. They progressed to the bigger spots like some signature moves and Asuka busting out a diving DDT. It’s wild to see Asuka doing new stuff, even if it didn’t come off cleanly. Down the stretch, Bianca hurt her knee and was helped to the back by officials, leaving Charlotte along with the woman whose unbeaten streak she snapped years ago. Alas, Bianca returned and used a 450 splash to break up the Figure Eight, though it only got a near fall on Charlotte. They kept going and Charlotte had Bianca in the Figure Eight only for Asuka to spit mist at Charlotte. Bianca then pulled Asuka into an inside cradle to win the title in 20:44. A really good match though there were a few minutes where I thought it peaked and it kept going on. [***½]

IYO SKY, flanked by Bayley, ran out to try and cash in on Bianca and her bad knee. Bianca laid out Bayley and IYO hit Bianca with the briefcase.

WWE Women’s Championship: Bianca Belair [c] vs. IYO SKY

IYO immediately hit the moonsault and won the title in about 0:09. [NR]

I’m so happy with this result. IYO more than deserves to be on top. And to make the moment better, Dakota Kai joined them in the ring to celebrate. One of my favorite moments of the year.

Undisputed WWE Universal Championship Tribal Warfare Match: Roman Reigns [c] vs. Jey Uso

This felt like the biggest match of Roman’s run next to the Cody one. Jey’s new back tattoo is pretty sick. This got off to a start that didn’t work well for Jey as Roman was on the offensive, taking the crowd out of it, and beating down his cousin. Jey’s rally got them back into it but hi attempt at using a table saw Roman cut him off and take back over. That was the focal point of this for a while but when Jey really got going, Paul Heyman began taking it to the next level. He pleaded with Jey not to continue and not to deliver the final blow. Jey ignored him and littered the ring with steel chairs. Jey also put Roman through a table with a Samoan Drop off the apron in a great spot. They fought into the crowd where I could clearly hear Greg Miller yelling. Solo Sikoa showed up and took Jey out with a uranage through a table. Solo took him back to the ring and added more offense but Jey pulled Solo in the way of a Roman Spear and got some life back. Jey came close with a Spear and he added another one through the guardrail after Solo and Roman had an awkward interaction. Jey had it won with the big splash only for someone in a hood to pull him out of the pin. He revealed himself to be Jimmy Uso.  He stared down at his brother for a long time before hitting a superkick. Jey got sent inside and then Roman hit the Spear through a table in the corner to retain in 36:01. A disappointing main event. Not for the result (which I expected) but because the match itself didn’t deliver the way these guys have in the past. It was overly long, plodding at points, and drawn out. There was good in here but it was surrounded by too much stuff I didn’t like to make it anything better than just good. Also, the Jimmy turn feels like the moment where this storyline has jumped the shark. [***]

7.0

The final score: review Good

The 411

WWE has kind of been on an all-time great run with PLEs in 2023. Like, they haven’t had a bad major show all year as even the worst one (Mania night 2) had good matches and questionable booking. This is about on par with that. A show with some very good to great stuff and some stuff that really didn’t work that brought it down.