When I view a wrestling PPV event, I look for one thing, quality of the show. In a lot of ways, WWE delivered with Summer Slam. There were some pretty good matches and some drama-filled events that took place. Seeing Rusev celebrate with the flag while Swagger & Zeb lay unconscious in the ring was heart-breaking. It’s been a while since I was on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens, and I was literally yelling “Tap, Tap” at the TV when Swagger had him in the ankle lock. I enjoyed the finish too, with Swagger passing out, refusing to tap out to The Accolade. The announcers sold it well and it was one of the oh-so-too-few times I actually enjoyed listening to JBL on commentary. There were other good matches as well. Paige/AJ was surprisingly good as I didn’t have high hopes for it. I find neither one of them intriguing in anyway so that’s moot. And Ambrose/Rollins was a good match, though the finish sucked.
Then you have the rest. Orton/Reigns was an decent match but nothing to get too excited about. Reigns is gonna superman his way to the top now which is stupid. Jericho/Wyatt was eh. Steph/Brie was eh with an all-too-predictable finish. Zigs/Miz was average at best with Zigs superman’ing his way to the IC Title. Amazing how a decent move like the SCF can’t keep Zigs down but one of the weakest finishers currently in WWE, the Zig Zag, puts Miz out for the count. And I hate the Miz avoiding face contact thing. That’s just stupid. All in all, Summer Slam was good. I didn’t find it great.
But enough about the rest of the night. Let’s talk about The Main Event. I thought this match had a very good build. Cena cut one of his best promos in recent history. Brock still talks like someone who barely got out of kindergarten but, he has Paul Heyman to do the talking for him. So, there you have the build. Decent video packages. Decent confrontations. Good dramatic sequences throughout. This match was billed a huge event. The top guy in the WWE defending his title against The unstoppable Beast.
That’s where the good part ends. Now I understand that in the world of Cena-haters, the way this match went down is a blessing from the wrestling gods. But as someone who enjoys a quality wrestling show, I wasn’t a fan of how that that went down last night at all. I’m not a Cena-hater. I’m not a Cena fan either. To be honest, I’m very indifferent when it comes to Cena. But I recognize that he’s the top guy in the company and the number one drawing card. Therefore, I understand the need for him to be champion at times. I also feel that he’s at a point now where he’s done everything there is to do and should be a special attraction match type of guy. He should be involved in good and meaningful story lines but just not in the championship scene at this point. With that said, I feel WWE approached this way wrong last night.
My first gripe about this is, it’s the Summer Slam Main Event. And what that match showed me can only be categorized with one word, Laziness. It was lazy booking on the part of those who came up with the idea that your top guy should be squashed. It was also laziness on both Brock and Cena’s part. that main event was over 20 minutes long, and the two guys didn’t even work a match. Summer Slam is considered the second biggest PPV for WWE, and their main event was nothing but a senseless beating and finally an end? The fans were chanting boring. I was falling asleep. This was an absolute train wreck to someone like me who was expecting a decent main event at the second biggest PPV. I think this match shows that Brock has little skill and we know Cena can’t carry a match on his own. Doing a match like that takes away from such Summer Slam main event classics like Bret Hart vs Owen Hart in the Steel Cage, Bret Hart vs The British Bulldog in England, Taker and Stone Cold, Taker and Bret…etc. All of those awesome matches, and in 2014, WWE throws us that slop. It’s Pathetic and it was downright lazy.
Also, there’s a big problem with booking the match that way. You’re going to have your top guy and true face of the company, get completely dismantled in humiliating fashion, by a part-timer with an uncertain future. Now obviously, WWE can plan around this by having The Authority double cross Brock tonight on Raw and have Rollins cash in after HHH hits Brock with a sledge hammer or something. That’s the easy way out and most likely what we will see happen tonight. That still won’t make up for the fact that I watched the second biggest PPV of the year, and didn’t get a main event.
If they don’t do that though? If Brock comes out and cuts a promo via Heyman, then we’re looking at potentially having the Night of Champions PPV without a World Title Match. And even if there is a World Title Match, who would Lesnar face? He completely decimated the top guy in the company. How can they possibly spin this in anyway where someone can realistically and believably take that title off of him? So, the Authority double-cross is the only thing I can see. But after that? I guess Brock Lesnar disappears and then conveniently forgets when he comes back in time for Survivor Series to do battle with someone else?
In closing, I feel WWE made a mess of things with last night’s main event. They failed to give us an actual match for their main event. They dug themselves into a hole and they’ll somehow have to explain their way out of it at some point. And the world title situation is in disarray until Brock Lesnar is no longer with the company. I know you all loved seeing Cena get destroyed like that. But in my opinion, it was a terrible move. A lazy move.
