Hi everyone, Bryan Here…

One of the biggest pay-per-views of the year is ‘Summerslam‘, only second to ‘WRESTLEMANIA‘. This ‘Summerslam‘ marks the 28th Summerslam event for the WWE Corp, and featured quite the card. There were some excellent matches throughout the night, however, some of them ended unfavorably, but each WWE superstar put on an excellent show last night even if there were some mis-steps.

Sheamus defeated Randy Orton 

To start the night, the Money in the Bank (MITB) holder Sheamus and Randy Orton got in the ring and fought it out. Even while the crowd was chanting “You Look Stupid” to Sheamus, the Irish ninja still managed to get the best of Randy Orton with tons of boots to the face. Orton did manage to go vintage Orton on Sheamus along with an RKO, however Sheamus was smart enough to roll out of the ring before he got pinned. This left Sheamus to recover and score the win. It was a fine match to start the night out, however I wouldn’t say it was totally action-packed. Orton doesn’t have a strong storyline right now, and with Sheamus being in the upcoming ‘TMNT’ sequel, I’m not sure where this ‘MITB’ match will put him. Hopefully not in the Champion Belt yet. I wish Orton had a better storyline going into ‘Summerslam’, but hopefully for Wrestlemania or the Royal Rumble, we’ll see these two fight it out again with Orton winning.

The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) (with Xavier Woods) defeated The Prime Time Players(Darren Young and Titus O’Neil) (c), The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara) and Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando) (with El Torito)

This was a Fatal Four Way Tag Team Match for the Tag Team Titles and The New Day (New Day Rocks) won the title from The Prime Time Players. As always, this was a high flying acrobatic match between everyone, with each superstar showing off their talent. It’s always amazing that nobody was seriously injured here with all of the high-flying stunts.

The highlight though of the match was with Xavier Woods, who tends to keep to the sidelines and cheer on his team The New Day. He echoes the best of Paul Heyman here and always distracts the other teams from executing their moves. It’s so much fun to watch, but Kofi Kingston scored the victory here for his team. I just wish that one Tag Team could keep the belts for more than a few months at a time and really build a story arc. When are the Usos coming back?

Dolph Ziggler (with Lana) vs. Rusev (with Summer Rae)

I’m surprised this story has gone on for this long already. I guess the WWE Universe just loves that Lana left the evil big bad Russian Rusev and went for the all-around fun guy Dolph Ziggler. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen Ziggler and Rusev battle it out and have words over their women, but at Summerslam, they put it all out in the ring, with Lana and Summer getting a bit physical too.

It was a solid match as the two are always fun to watch, but something must have happened or the WWE writers want to keep this story going because the match ended in a double count out, meaning both Ziggler and Rusev were outside the ring when the ref counted to ten, forcing the match to end with NO winner. I’m guessing there will be a NO DQ match and or a match with Lana and Summer Rae in the future. Still a decent match minus the outcome.

Stephen Amell and Neville defeated Stardust and King Barrett

In a gloriously fun match, we had actor Stephen Amell who plays Green Arrow on WB’s ‘Green Arrow’ team up with the man that gravity forgot Neville who both defeated Stardust and Bad News or shall I say King Barrett. Whenever the WWE decides to bring in a celebrity guest star to get in the ring, more times than not, the celebrity guest doesn’t do a whole lot of wrestling, and if they do, it’s extremely basic. That’s not the case with Stephen Amell who was first slapped by Stardust in the stands a few weeks ago, which led to this match. Amell was simply outstanding in the ring, taking hits, selling them, and performing some moderate high flying moves. I was impressed and I hope that he comes back to wrestle at some point. He even came out in his Green Arrow costume. Only thing that would have made this better was if CW’s The Flash came out to help, but Stardust and King Barrett did great jobs selling their villainous ways until Neville jumped off the top rope and scored the win.

Ryback (c) defeated Big Show and The Miz

This was a Triple Threat Match for the Intercontinental Title Belt. First off, I love The Miz, but I’m really going to need Sandow at ringside, or at least in a match too if we get The Miz. That storyline was far from over, even though it ended abruptly after Wrestlemania, but I digress. Ryback has proven time and time again that he is one of the better and biggest superstars in the WWE today and is a great champion for this belt.

It’s a crazy thought that this guy who is more than half the size of The Big Show can lift him up over his shoulders and throw him down, which is what happened. Sure The Miz tried to steal the thunder, but couldn’t finish the job. This was a fun match with Big Show moving faster than normal, which kept things at a sturdy pace. I’m willing to bet Ryback is not done with his opponents yet here.

Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper

This was one of the slower matches at least for me. At one point, Roman Reigns was met with 1000% cheers from the audience, however the WWE tried to give him the championship belt way to soon, and now he is mostly met with boos from the audience whenever he’s in the ring. It’s obvious that the WWE doesn’t know what to do with him anymore other than put him with his former Shield partner Dean Ambrose. Maybe it’s because Roman Reigns’ signature move is a punch that is far less than a Superman Punch or a weak spear.

I don’t know, but it’s strange to hear the crowd turn on him, when he’s clearly a big face nowadays. These two former Shield members won with two former Wyatt family members, and it’s strange to see Bray lose here, as he’s better than this. I enjoy Luke Harper mostly, but he’s so underused and does the same thing time in and time out. It just comes off as redundant and boring. That being said, Ambrose and Wyatt always bring their A game as I wish it was just a match between them. Maybe next time.

Seth Rollins (WWE World Heavyweight Champion) defeated John Cena (United States Champion)

Champion vs. Champion here, which should have been the top match of the night, but when Brock Lesnar is fighting in the ring, you kinda have to let him have it. Still, this should have been second to last, not fourth to last. Weird programming in my opinion, but any-who, let’s move on. This match was for both titles, meaning who ever won, got to keep their own championship belt as well as take their opponents. A few weeks ago, Seth Rollins literally shattered John Cena’s nose in the ring with a knee to the face. Cena was out for a couple of weeks for surgery, giving this match some much needed fuel for the fire. If Cena would have won here, it would’ve been his 16th time to win the WWE Championship, which is definitely NOT needed.

Instead, we had Rollins come out in new gear and start performing other past superstars signature moves, only to have Cena kick out of them. I was not a fan of this at all, because it didn’t give any weight to anybody’s signature finishers. Sure it was great to see Rollins show off his talent from the top rope, but in order to sell how powerful it is, you can’t have your opponent kick out of every thing. Since Cena was kicking out of every move, it took the host of the night Jon Stewart to come in the ring with a steel chair and turn heel and hit Cena with it, allowing Rollins to finally win the match. It was one of the best parts of the night other than the maniacal laugh bout between Undertaker and Lesnar. Still, match was fun to watch and I’m glad Rollins still holds the title, because he deserves it, even though he didn’t earn it.

Team PCB (Paige, Charlotte and Becky Lynch) defeated Team Bella (Nikki Bella, Brie Bella andAlicia Fox) and Team B.A.D. (Naomi, Sasha Banks and Tamina)

This match was a three team elimination match NOT for the Women’s Championship belt, or shall I say the Diva’s belt. We all knew that Team B.A.D. would be eliminated first, even though fan favorite Sasha Banks was part of the team, but their storylines are just not there yet. Then we have team Bella, who have been the same ol’ tired thing for many months now. It’s just a drag to watch, really. Then you have two N.X.T. stars along with Paige who are the opposite of a drag to watch. All of these women did a phenomenal job, throwing their bodies over the ropes and onto the cement floor throughout the match. They mostly executed each spot and move perfectly, making for a suspenseful and thrilling match to watch. I’m glad Team PCB won, but now there is room for a new belt or people to defect to other sides.

Kevin Owens defeated Cesaro

Just the night before Summerslam, Kevin Owens lost to Finn Balor on the NXT pay-per-view. It would have been crazy to think that he lost twice in a row, which he didn’t. Cesaro is one of my favorite wrestlers and both he and Owens did an excellent job in the ring, and keeping the momentum up going into its fourth hour. It’s amazing that Kevin Owens can do the high flying stunts, given his body shape, but he executes each move with precision an quality. Cesaro is also flawless here, and I hope at some point he will become a main event staple, because he has what it takes. We just need to give him some better story lines.

The Undertaker defeated Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) by submission

Now the above title states that Undertaker beat Brock Lesnar by submission, however that is definitely not the case. This match has been almost two years in the making when Brock beat Undertaker’s 21-0 streak at Wrestlemania two years ago. Now Undertaker is back for blood and showed up a few weeks ago to start the fight, by basically just punching Brock in the nuts. Cheap move, not really reserved for the Undertaker, but since he’s 109 years old, he has to do what he can to survive the BEAST that is Brock Lesnar. In no reality does Undertaker win here, and this might be the oddest ending and most infuriating ending to a match in all my 25 years of watching wrestling. First thing though, much kudos to Brock Lesnar for putting up with Undertaker. Lesnar sold every punch, hit, and kick very well, making undertaker look great, however Undertaker barely  did the same, kicking out of two F5s. Ugh, that makes me angry.

Sooner than later and after a little blood loss, Lesnar got Undertaker un a submission hold, which caused Undertaker to TAP OUT. It’s on camera, clear as day. The people sitting on the sidelines, ringing the bell even saw it and rang the bell to end the match for a win for Brock Lesnar. However, the referee claimed he didn’t see the TAP OUT by Undertaker, and yelled at the bell ringer and continued the match. While the ref was yelling at the bell-ringer, Undertaker nut punched Brock Lesnar, causing the BEAST  to fall to the ground, which allowed Undertaker to put him into a submission hold. What did Lesnar do? He definitely didn’t tap out, but instead gave the middle finger to Undertaker before he sort of “passed out”, to which the ref called the match a victory for Undertaker. BOOOOOOO! I mean, just do an instant replay, right? I was hoping for this storyline with Undertaker and Lesnar would be over, but I guess we have to trudge it out until another pay-per-view. It was a sad way to end the night of Summerslam, leaving a sour taste in my mouth.

That being said, the overall ‘Summerslam’ event was a lot of fun, but not my favorite. I’m sure there will be answers tonight on RAW, and we’ll see what story lines are conjured up for the next big event. stay tuned.

– Bryan Kluger