Last night after NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II, I took my original plans of doing a pros/cons list of the event and had to change it up to be just a breakdown of three of the biggest positives, as I had no real negatives to speak of.
For SummerSlam 2016, I have to switch this over to a 3-Count style article yet again, but unfortunately, for the opposite reason.
This is essentially a complete 180 degree flip, as I was thoroughly underwhelmed by this pay-per-view in far more ways that one. With TakeOver, I struggled to find anything to talk trash on, but with SummerSlam, there’s only a handful of things I can say I was happy with—namely the AJ Styles vs. John Cena match and the World Championship match between Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler.
Some things were bigger problems than others, though, so rather than make a pros/cons list that skews heavily in one section, I figured it would be best to pinpoint the three most problematic aspects of this show that I would take issue with and which made me just walk away disappointed.
3) Monday Night Raw Endings
With this brand split, SummerSlam is one of only four pay-per-views which will be constituted as big enough to justify having both rosters crossover. This is supposed to be the second biggest show of the year—the most important thing next to WrestleMania.
If that’s the case, why the hell do we have a match not happen because a weak-ass brawl takes place before the bell rings and another match end in a disqualification from a run-in?!
It isn’t as though WWE painted themselves in a corner and couldn’t figure out ways to not have The New Day and Rusev lose their championships or defeat their opponents without being able to do rematches down the line, but even in that scenario, why are rematches necessary? Why does this come off as feeling like an advertisement to build Clash of Champions more than anything else?
The Club could have won the titles and Big E could have come back on Raw tomorrow night or next week to help setup their rematch at Clash of Champions. Jon Stewart could have interfered and caused Kofi Kingston or Xavier Woods to get a pin on Karl Anderson or Luke Gallows, pissing them off so they demanded another shot. In regards to Rusev and Roman Reigns, does anybody think this feud was hot enough to call for them to attack each other like that? Even still, if that was in the cards and just was built up to a level it didn’t reach, the brawl at SummerSlam should have been better to justify calling the match off.
This just reeked of a stall tactic, and that shouldn’t happen on a normal pay-per-view, let alone on one of the biggest of the year. WWE doesn’t need to book the special events as teasers for other special events in this way. The way to get people to want to tune in is to give them quality content that makes them want to watch more, like the Cruiserweight Classic and NXT TakeOver shows are consistently proving to be, and they aren’t succumbing to this type of problem.
2) WWE Universal Championship Design
That belt is hideous. I’m a fan of the WWE World Championship design and I think it’s one of the best belts the company has ever had, perhaps second only to the classic “winged eagle” from my childhood, so I’m not coming from a foundation of hating the WWE logo and the structure of the side plates and whatnot.
But that shrink wrap red leather is just gross, and this has officially become my least favorite belt design in years, beating out the Tag Team Championship big copper pennies as the ugliest title on the roster today.
I’m sure there are people who love it, and I’m sure some of us are going to get used to it over time and dislike it less, but my immediate reaction to it was massive disappointment. I understand that the Raw brand is the red one and they want to incorporate that color into the design to show that off, but there has to be more aesthetically pleasing ways to accomplish this. Below is a quick alteration I made just to show how a darker strap that wasn’t overdone with this blood red color would have made the little bit of red pop more without making it look like a toy.
1) Brock Lesnar Destroys Randy Orton
After a night filled with many different problems, the main event is the thing that can sometimes turn it around or kill it, and this match put the stamp on me disliking this pay-per-view. The Universal Championship wasn’t as good as I was hoping it would be, Rusev and Reigns didn’t even happen, and the biggest match of the night ended up being a glorified squash.
Even though it’s Brock Lesnar that he was facing, Randy Orton looks like a chump. Sure, this is The Beast Incarnate who has decimated nearly everybody in his path, and he could do the same with practically everybody else, but does that mean Orton needed to end this seeming like he was completely out of his league challenging Lesnar?
The Viper, The Legend Killer, the guy who Paul Heyman was building up as “the best surfer on the beach” basically got his ass whooped and curled up in a ball like a child while his head was bashed open from a guy who was acting like he hadn’t been hurt much at all.
Not only am I kind of bored of seeing this by now, but I also think it did nothing but hurt Orton’s reputation as well as SmackDown’s. If the next person Orton feuds with, he beats, then that guy looks weaker in comparison for not being able to take down Orton. The blue brand just lost Alberto Del Rio and Eva Marie to suspensions, it has one less hour than Raw, John Cena might be taking time off, and it has the stigma of being the b-show, and now another one of their big names is walking around with a gash on his skull because he couldn’t remotely stand toe-to-toe with Brock.
And what does Brock get out of this? A fake suspension so he can take off more time until the Royal Rumble? We all didn’t expect him to wrestle again for months anyway, and when he does come back, he’ll just beat the next guy and nothing will come out of that, either. This is getting boring and for this to be the finale to end the night on a downer, I just can’t help but feel like it’s the polar opposite of an event when compared to TakeOver, which started in good spirits, kept up that momentum and energy, and ended with everybody going home happy.
If you’re interested in a more in-depth analysis of SummerSlam 2016, check out the latest special edition of the Smark Out Moment wrestling podcast SMACK TALK as myself and the rest of the panel break down the show from start to finish:
Hosted by Anthony Mango
Panelists: Chris Dace and Drew White
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