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WWE Summerslam 2017 Review: No, This Isn’t NXT

August 23, 2017 | Posted by Justin Watry
Jinder Mahal WWE SummerSlam

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Backstory

This is going to be my WWE Summerslam 2017 review. When it comes to NXT Takeover Brooklyn III from Saturday night and that brilliant event, stay tuned for later in the week (on another website).

WWE Summerslam 2017: No, This Isn’t NXT

The Miz, Curtis Axel, and Bo Dallas over The Hardyz and Jason Jordan – The Miz deserves so much more. He was on fire in 2016, got rewarded with a nice WrestleMania spot with John Cena, and then he was inexplicably moved to Raw in April. Most of us recognized that was a terrible move at the time, and it has proven to be true. Now here he is at Summerslam working the Kickoff opening match in a meaningless six man tag. Disappointing to say the least. It was a pleasant to see his team win, but that speaks more about Jason Jordan than anything. The fact that Kurt Angle’s ‘son’ couldn’t even win this is…worrisome. Time will tell where we go from here and that whole story line. I don’t have a good feeling about it though. As for the live crowd still filing in, meh. Whatever, a complete non-story if you ask me. It was a sold out show in a packed arena; that trumps all.

Neville over Akira Tozawa for the Cruiserweight Title – Yep, on the Kickoff show as predicted and another title change. It was so refreshing to have the Cruiserweight Championship on ONE person for a long stretch of time. For some reason, that came to an abrupt end on Monday night, and I instantly said it would last all of six days. Well, at Summerslam, that theory was correct. Neville got his title back, and Tozawa can go back to making noises with Titus Worldwide. I like the guy and am a fan, but Neville should not have lost the belt. Swerve for the sake of a swerve.

The Usos over The New Day for the Smackdown Tag Team Titles – Now, we are talking! Rejoice people! The New Day lost the titles! It was a glorious decision by all. Like the Cruiserweight Championship flip flop, this one also never should have happened. The Usos were doing the best work of their entire careers, until somebody made the call to go back to Yester Day. Bad move. Luckily, it was rectified on Sunday night. Very entertaining bout. This may have been the best Kickoff Show ever for a pay-per-view, certainly most noteworthy. Top notch drama during the match and the correct finish.

John Cena over Baron Corbin – Cena opening a PPV is not something that happens often, but it has happened a few times during his main event run. Nothing wrong with switching up the card once in a blue moon. As is very evident, his role in 2017 is much different than prior years. I have no problem with this beginning the actual PPV portion. Technically, it was the fourth match on the card and already two hours in. After the entrances though, that was all she wrote. I texted my buddy during Summerslam that this thing was telegraphed early when Cena went outside, started joking around and put on JBL’s hat. What did you think was going to happen after that? Happy go luck, easy victory for the 16-time WWE World Champion. My guess remains the ‘free agent’ now heads to RAW where Samoa Joe awaits. Lots of other fresh feuds do too.

Natalya over Naomi for the Smackdown Womens Title – Good thing we have solid reporting that tells us Naomi will hold the belt for the rest of 2017. I doubt the decision makers have next week planned, much less through December, but clicks are clicks. No accountability whatsoever. I figured Nattie would just be a placeholder name here for the champ to defeat. I admit. I gave Natalya zero shot. Considering she follows me on Twitter (I don’t follow any wrestlers), I should have given her more of a chance. Either way, it was a total shock that she is the new title holder. Naomi had some momentum…kinda. It simply felt like all of this build was for Carmella more than anything. Lots of teasing but no follow through. With Baron Corbin just using his briefcase, WWE may want to hold out on that cash in. Congrats to the new champ – I better see your cat in the ring celebrating on Tuesday night!

Big Cass over Big Show – Screw Sami Zayn. Screw Tye Dillinger. Screw Becky Lynch. Screw Charlotte. Screw Mike and Maria. Remember them? At least Elias got to sing some tunes on the Kickoff Show. SO many talented performers on the main roster. Yet, we had to deal with Enzo and another one of his wacky promos. I know he is a ball of energy and has charisma, but can we please get one joke that I actually understand the meaning of? I am okay with the company wanting Big Cass to beat a legend in Big Show on a major pay-per-view. That is what SHOULD happen in 2017! However, the whole Enzo routine falling flat and seeing him rub oil on himself and stripping down just to get kicked in the head and lay there is not worth the shark cage gimmick. A mess.

Randy Orton over Rusev – Yeah, if you follow me on Twitter, you knew my prediction was that one match on this card was going to get the short end of the stick. You can’t have this many big bouts crammed into four hours without one losing time. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your point of view), Mr. RKO got the nod in mere seconds. After losing to Jinder Mahal on PPV for three months and dealing with the spooky haunted house match versus Bray Wyatt, I get it.

Sasha Banks over Alexa Bliss for the RAW Womens Title – Another shocking outcome. Another title change. I don’t know what the right word was to describe this showdown. The only one I can come up with is ‘flat.’ The feud was good for their first meeting, but that was weeks ago. This one was thrown together six days before the event due to Bayley’s untimely injury. The crowd was flat. The match was flat. The ending was extremely flat, and thus, the entire title reign for Bliss has now ended flat. The highlight of the evening for her was that wicked No Mercy promo. Banks holding the belt again brings back some bad memories to her run in 2016. Finally getting that feud with Bayley next? No doubt was that going to be her moment at Summerslam had it not been for a messed up shoulder…

Finn Balor over Bray Wyatt – Thanks to THE DEMON, this was worth watching. I honestly do not have a lot of thoughts about this. My belief is Finn Balor is destined for more on the red brand. A match with Brock Lesnar for the Universal Title may not be a horrible idea. It was certainly rumored during the summer. To kill some time during the winter months, why not Balor vs. Brock? Paul Heyman sure seems to be in love with the idea. I am all for it.

Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose over Sheamus and Cesaro for the RAW Tag Team Titles – Nothing wrong with this at all. Cesaro gets the standing ovation of the night for going into the crowd and popping the beach ball. A hero to us all for that. The title change was cool and should be a good boost to the under card of Raw for the Fall. Keep them busy until early 2018 when Dean ends up turning on Seth. Roman Reigns can even get involved at some point for WWE make some money off a brief reunion of The Shield. All of that is fine to stall until WrestleMania 34 in New Orleans.

AJ Styles over Kevin Owens for the United States Title – Shane McMahon was the special guest referee and did a good job. He did his thing when the time called for it but stayed out of the way for the most part. AJ Styles ‘wins’ not only the match but also concludes the feud on a high note. That is two big Summerslam victories for the Phenomenal One. Owens vs. Shane is currently penciled in for the October PPV, so we will see how that develops. It is said a lot by yours truly (on another website), but can we get the Open Challenge to return now? I mean, AJ did specifically mention it on worldwide TV. It’s not like I am just rambling for no reason here…

Jinder Mahal over Shinsuke Nakamura for the WWE Title – Well, well, well. That was definitely a match. I don’t know. The pre-match video package was amazing. The special entrances were cool as always. Even the staredown to start felt big. Then the bell rang. Not quite what I had in mind for the WWE Championship match at the second biggest event on the calendar. I picked Nakamura to win due to his clean victory over Cena two weeks ago, but I have a hunch deep down, all of us knew the India tour and the Mahal experiment was of more importance right now. Key words there – “right now.” Do not weep for Nakamura. He will be just fine everybody. It was his first freakin’ loss in WWE. Good grief. He will be alright. I would go as far as to say he will still be the man to dethrone Mahal. However, you never know with these things. JBL held the gold from June 2004-April 2005 must we all forget. Amazing run that started off rocky but got better with time. No whining or complaining about the outcome from yours truly. Only a little bit of disappointment WWE didn’t complete pull the trigger on Nakamura at this moment and the realization that we could be in for a looooong Fall season for the blue brand…

…but hey, at least our lovely new source confirmed a new champion was going to be crowned just hours before the event. We always have that going for us.

Brock Lesnar over Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, and Samoa Joe for the Universal Title – The main event of the evening. I argued that Nakamura winning the WWE Title should have closed the show. Of course, once you saw that was not ending the night, you knew shenanigans were coming for a cheap Mahal win. Oh well, moving on, this was the right way to end Summerslam. Brock Lesnar, Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, and Samoa Joe just tearing into each other! The first five minutes were off the charts intense and an easy way to wake up anybody who may have been losing interest at that point in the six hour marathon. WWE wisely teased the “Lesnar is leaving for UFC” stuff by doing the stretcher exit early. I loved that. Braun was a monster as expected. Roman got, by far, the biggest reactions for anything he did, and Samoa Joe was just kinda there. Still hanging around the main event due to his impressive showing in July. Little pat on the back from management to include him. Brock retaining was always the end game. In fact, I stated that of the entire weekend, this match was the most predictable. The NXT card had a bunch of unpredictable matches. Same with Summerslam…minus the fatal four way. Lesnar winning was never in doubt. The surprise was Reigns taking the loss. Shoots another lovely internet conspiracy in the foot by all of his clean losses. He is a ‘made man’ regardless. Joe and Braun are heels being set up for more down the road. Reigns can lose and come out of it unscathed. Great main event. Up next: No Mercy!

SUMMARY: I am going to give the show a passing grade. Maybe a B- or so. The main takeaway from the event was the company wanting to reset a lot of the divisions. There has been a rumored shakeup coming. Perhaps that has something to do with it? Or maybe WWE just knows that the Fall lull is right around the corner and wanted to make some saves now before it is too late. Either way, six hours was obviously too long but still, they had a stacked card delivered. No, wasn’t Takeover…and no, it also was not two hours based off a weekly television show. It was a six hour spectacle stemming from five hours of weekly television. You just can’t keep comparing the two. NXT will win nearly every single time. Sorry. You are setting yourself up for disappointment with that mentality. NXT is NXT. WWE is WWE. That’s it. Summerslam was just fine folks creating many headlines and putting on a memorable main event.

NRW: The Match

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Story behind NRW: https://noahwatry.tv/2017/07/09/the-lessons-of-backyard-wrestling/

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article topics :

NXT, Summerslam, WWE, Justin Watry