WWE SummerSlam (August 20th, 2017)

[Spens1]

but for real though, he retained like that?

The smackdown side of the show has been absolutely dreadful booking wise. Everything about it sucked (rusev got buried, Baron got no retribution, Jinder had the same garbage match he always has and retained).

Also Bray vs Balor did no one any favours. Cole saying 'demon' constantly ensured of that.

Rusev should walk though, guy is a lower mid carder even though he has upper-mid to main event level talent. If Cody Rhodes is making major cash outside of WWE, Rusev, who is probably on that same level, probably will get at least as much money i'd say.

Also Zayn wasn't even on the card somehow, yep #fireroaddogg, do it now.

Thank god for the main event because outside of maybe the tag team title matches, this show..... The matches have been decent but the booking has been all kinds of trash.

[heatwillbeback]

Braun is an excellent big man.

Im sold.

[ReaLiez]

really enjoy aj matches!
muhammad hassan was better than jinder - jinder sucks
would love to see a rusev vs joe match

[iMoreland]

RIP Baron, oh well. Cena realllly needed that win.

Natalya as champ is meh. Match was surprisingly decent.

Big Cass/Big Show was a snoozefest. Boring chants were deserved. This being on the main show and not New Day/Uso's is a joke.

F***ing lol at Orton/Rusev. Cena and Orton just burying guys left and right. Was a nasty RKO though. By far Orton's best match in months.

Bayley had Brooklyn going nuts the last two years and now they boo the hell out of her. Just sad.

Sasha winning the title is the right call. Match was alright.

Finn's entrance is truly something else.

Cesaro ripping up the beach ball was the best moment of the night. Dean and Seth as tag champs is pretty dang awesome. A storyline that built slowly and culminated in a good match with a satisfying and happy ending. Loved everything about this storyline. Plus, GRAND SLAMBROSE.

AJ/KO had their best match together even with all the Shane shenanigans. KO shouting "you fall off buildings but can't make a 3 count" was fantastic. Can't wait for the KO/Shane Hell in a Cell match.

Jinder/Shinsuke... What the f*** was that ending? F*** the copy and paste Singh Brother bullsh*t. Nakamura had all the momentum going in and a cheap win was all they could come up with, smh. Building Nakamura up by having him kick out of 2 AA's and beating Cena clean only to have him just lose to Jinder with the same finish as literally every single Jinder match is such a disappointment.

Fatal 4 Way was batsh*t crazy. All of them looked incredible. Star-making performance by Braun.

Overall: 7 hours of PPV, only had about 1 total hour worth watching.

[jakecronus8]

Mostly bad show. Tag title matches were tremendous. Main event was one of the best ever. The rest was either forgettable or terrible or both. No IC match and no Sami Zayn is a **** joke.

[Spens1]

ugh Lesnar winning again. Really wanted it on Braun or Joe.

fans throwing a fit when Roman got any momentum, the man is the best heel in the company.

[Spens1]

Show though was very bad lets be honest.

I enjoyed both tag team title matches though (Smackdown tag team title match was the best smackdown feud, if anything that should have been on the main card and you could have put corbin vs cena or even the orton squash on the preshow). Even the other tag team match was solid.

US title was a solid match but again, its like their fourth match and given the two talents, the matches weren't as good as they should be.

WWE title match was MOTN for sure. Bit ticked that Lesnar won (i have no interest in his part time champ shtick, especially since the IC title right now sucks, put that belt on Braun or Joe) but anyway, what can you do.

everything else. Pretty rubbish.

[WRau1]

How does a face GM and Commissioner allow Mahal to have the Singh Brothers interfere in every match? That doesn't make sense.

[bestnamezRtaken]

It was a decent show. My favorite match was either the Usos/New Day or the Fatal 4 Way. The Usos and New Day have such fantastic chemistry, watching them is awesome. Their false finishes seem believable too.

The Fatal 4 Way was awesome, everyone will come out of that match looking great. I laughed at Graves' comment, that table weighs hundreds of pounds that Strowman just pushed onto Lesnar....uh, no Graves. That **** was falling apart when he lifted it, hahaha.

The SD title was a bit shocking to have Naomi drop the title but what can you do? The match was okay. Sasha and Bliss was a bit better but those two women can put on a better match I feel.

KO/AJ was fine, they have the ability to put on a great match but something stupid or screwy has to happen in every single match of theirs. I'm done with these two going against each other. They deserve better and so do we, hah hah. Although like someone mentioned, KO's comment to Shane was great.

I don't care for Rollins/Ambrose winning the tag titles. Not a Shield fan.

Bray v Balor was okay. The feud was iffy but those two should be doing more.

Big Show/Big Cass sucked, was boring.

I purposely missed Cena/Corbin since it was obvious that Cena was going to bury him.

I'm pissed that Rusev was buried like that. Screw you Orton.

Overall, an okay show.

[WRau1]

I'm going to rewatch NXT Brooklyn III this morning, in hopes of erasing Summer Slam from my mind.

[improper]

Biggest shock of the night was Roman eating the pin. Did he fail another Wellness test?

[jakecronus8]

Biggest shock of the night was Roman eating the pin. Did he fail another Wellness test?

I think the narrative they'll push with Roman is that he had the match almost won with lesnar sneaking in to steal it in the end. Great match and the only one who i think doesn't look better after is Joe. Not necessarily saying he looks worse but he just kinda seemed like he was thrown in there. Didn't get any big spots that I can remember.

I think the goals with the Main event were to make Braun look even more like a monster, Roman to appear to just barely miss out on the title, and Lesnar to appear vulnerable yet still insurmountable. My guess is we get a continued streak of mayhem from braun with him beating Lesnar at the rumble and Roman beating Braun at Mania.

Adam from What Culture really put into perspective how nothing has really changed with Vince and not building up future stars put on full display last night. Rusev and Corbin both considered blue chipper heals unceremoniously buried in favor of guys that did not need wins. Lesnar retains despite it being the perfect time for Braun to take it, one of the biggest fan faves and best workers in the company in Zayn being completely left off the card, Natalya given the "thanks for being a good soldier" title reign, Nakamura looking weak AF losing against a roided up Vince body, etc. There were some really good memorable moments from this summer slam but I think history won't look fondly on it.

[skbucks1985]

Adam from What Culture really put into perspective how nothing has really changed with Vince and not building up future stars put on full display last night. Rusev and Corbin both considered blue chipper heals unceremoniously buried in favor of guys that did not need wins. Lesnar retains despite it being the perfect time for Braun to take it, one of the biggest fan faves and best workers in the company in Zayn being completely left off the card, Natalya given the "thanks for being a good soldier" title reign, Nakamura looking weak AF losing against a roided up Vince body, etc. There were some really good memorable moments from this summer slam but I think history won't look fondly on it.

I'm not going to defend Vice's larger failures in terms of building up new stars, but I think all of those decisions last night are defensible. It seems pretty clear to me that for whatever reason they've soured on Corbin and I don't necessarily disagree. I don't think he's ready for a title run, but I also felt the same way 2 months ago and thus would've never given him MITB. Because that's the real issue here, Corbin where he is right now shouldn't be defeating Cena but him losing his briefcase and the manner in which it happened is what's really deflated him.

With Rusev, I never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever want to see another Orton-Mahal match. But he's got a good claim to another match and Smackdown's next PPV isn't for another 7 weeks so this cold easily be a 2-3 week TV program.

I don't think last night was the time for Braun to take it. The two options to win it last night I thought were Joe or Lesnar. If Strowman's going to win it, it should be in a one-on-one match where the focus is all on him completely destroying the other guy. Plus, as much as everyone talks about Vince's big guy fetish, guys like Strowman generally don't get longer title runs. Undertaker's the main exception to this, and Brock as well but Brock also has a background that shields him a little bit from this consideration. But, in general, for his champions Vince tends to look for guys that look good in suits and can yukk it up on the Today show. And Braun doesn't really fit that billing and I expect he'll be champion on probably multiple occasions, but I expect they'll all be short-term runs.

Zayn is my favorite wrestler on the roster right now, but I don't think not being on a show is inherently a bad thing. When you have the roster they do, guys are going to be left off cards. And the Mike Kanellis feud just hasn't caught on at all so Zayn is just caught with a bit of bad luck.

This is a bit of a gold watch run for Nattie. But Naomi's not really the type of babyface that you can put in programs with other babyfaces so having her as champ handicaps you because it will diminish Charlotte and Becky who are the two best in the division. And Nattie's arguably the best pure worker in the division so she's a nice holdover champ for the fall.

I think Jinder winning is more of a reflection of everything else that happened around them than anything else. They've pretty clearly soured on Corbin, they don't see Rusev on that level, Owens seems to be moving into a program with Shane, Kanellis has flopped (not due much to his own failures IMO) and Ziggler is incognito. Its a babyface-heavy roster and so having a heel champ makes sense. Plus, from a strictly storytelling perspective as distasteful as I find what they're doing, Jinder is this anti-american foreign heel champ. It makes sense for the guy beating him to be taking up the mantle of the USA.

[tugs]

Yeah I'm just so pissed that WWE has so many credible performers that didn't even get any time.

- What happened with Zayn and Mike?

- Breezango's unresolved attackers?

- Goldust's new motion picture?

- Title matches on the pre-show really?

- 3 champions on the pre-show... Really?

- lazy ass bookings and putting over established wrestlers who doesn't need the wins?

I could go on maaaaaaaaan

[TankCommander17]

Braun **** Strowman. That is all.

[studcrackers]

you're right, lets make summerslam an 8 hour show next year

[iMoreland]

Two-night events are needed now more than ever. Especially with the roster as big as it is

[studcrackers]

it's definitely what Mania needs to be. of course, the thought of nxt, then 2 nights of 3-4 hours then raw/smackdown sounds pretty insane