Thursday, March 28, 2024
EditorialSummerslam 2018 Review and Match Ratings

Summerslam 2018 Review and Match Ratings

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Seth Rollins w/Dean Ambrose def. Dolph Ziggler (C) w/Drew McIntyre – Intercontinental Championship

Way better than Extreme Rules.

This match was kind of confusing, to be honest. I was taken aback by the lack of consistency in the psychology of the match these two were trying to tell. I believed that they were going to play up the dynamic of Ambrose and Drew being in their partner’s corner, and they did just by having Drew shove Dean into some steps and by having Ambrose have the last laugh by hitting Dirty Deeds to Drew to effectively give Seth the advantage. However, the ring work was what had me in circles. I thought they were going for something with Ziggler targeting the knee of Seth, and it looked like that’s what they were going to do. But then, they just transitioned into doing headlocks and chin locks in prolonged rest spots. And to be honest, that killed the middle flow of the match. Seth Rollins doesn’t do well in matches that have him on the ground for most of the time. The quicker the pace, the better he performs, as the second half of the match showed. As soon as Seth hit his inverted version of the Falcon Arrow, we got somewhere.

Seth and Dolph are two guys that I expect to go out there and have at least 4 star matches every time they go out there. I’m also kind of glad they didn’t pull the trigger on the Dean heel turn here, even though I thought that’s what would happen. I’m also not sure what it means that Seth/Dolph went from main eventing Extreme Rules to starting off Summerslam, but I hope it’s not an underlying message of both men’s value because they are two of WWE’s top workers. This match wasn’t really as great as I wanted it to be, primarily because the first half dragged it down, but once we got all of the BS and psychology inconsistencies out of the way, Seth and Dolph just became themselves, and when they do that, they can put on a great match in their sleep. I’ve seen them do better, but this was nonetheless an extremely solid opener. ****

New Day def. Bludgeon Brothers (C) by DQ – Smackdown Tag Team Championship

Hard worked match.

The New Day has been on a bit of a roll for the Smackdown tag team brand as of late, and I was hoping that they would get their chance to shine at Summerslam. Don’t forget that on the pre-show last year, they had an absolutely incredible match against The Usos that may have been worthy of main eventing any other PPV. The Bludgeon Brothers meanwhile have been just taking out no-name jobbers week after week. The New Day’s energy in their matches are what has been giving their matches that extra kick, and they definitely brought it here to counteract the great power of the Bludgeons.

While I am no fan of non-finishes on PPV, if it makes sense in the context of the story, it can work. In this situation, you have The New Day, who haven’t been tag champions in nearly a year, working with a sense of urgency and they nearly knocked off the Bludgeon Brothers, who have basically dominated anyone who gets in their path. This finish ensures that both teams remain strong and practically guarantees a rematch at the next PPV. What we got here was more like the beginning to what a real match between the two would look like, and based on the chances Xavier and Big E took, it could potentially be special. Tonight, we just got a passable TV match. **1/2

Braun Strowman def. Kevin Owens – If Braun Strowman loses in any form, KO wins MITB

TF was this?

So let me get this straight. WWE has been telling us ad nauseum for weeks on end that if Braun Strowman loses IN ANY MANNER, Owens will win the contract. They give us Jinder Mahal and he beats Braun Strowman by countout and DQ in consecutive weeks. So we know that if Braun loses in any form, Owens can win the contract. Instead, what do we get? A fucking squash. Let me explain to you guys how stupid all of this is. If Kevin Owens won in ANY manner, he would have won the contract. What does this mean? Owens could have asked Jinder or anybody backstage would go along with it to attack him, and Owens would have won the match, and then that’s it. Instead, what do we get? Kevin Owens gets no offense and he gets jobbed out anyway.

This match is actually representative of a much larger problem in WWE these days. It is that a lot of things do not have any meaning or a proper payoff. How are you going to hype up the primary stipulation of this match that Braun can lose the match in ANY manner, and he could lose the briefcase, just for that to not affect the outcome at all? If you were going to have Braun retain a briefcase that he didn’t need to begin with, the least you could have done is tease Owens using the stipulation to his advantage. Have Owens try to outrun Braun across the arena. Tempt Braun to get himself DQ’ed by spitting on him or something. Do ANYTHING to at least make the match make sense. But treating the 2nd ever Universal Champion as if he’s Mike Kanellis, have him get no offense, and basically have him jobbed out just proves the last two months of this awful feud has been a giant waste of time. You’d think that Kevin Owens, who apparently performs at his best as a Prizefighter, would at least get a solid punch in. No part of this was needed, and this match proved it. DUD

Charlotte Flair def. Carmella (C) and Becky Lynch – Smackdown Women’s Championship

Welcome to the side of evil, Becky.

Now, Charlotte was the last person I was expecting to win the match, but based on what happened after, I can see why that would be the case. Now, for me, watching this match made me feel as though these 3 had the idea of what a great match was. They had Flair and Carmella do some dives, Becky got some great submission moves in, there were some good trio spots and there was some good saves. However, this match suffered from sloppy execution at times, and everyone can hold a share of the blame. I will give Carmella some sort of credit for being halfway decent and not her usual terrible self. The triple threat formula definitely helped her a great deal, because now, her lack of in-ring skill is sort of hidden, and she won’t have to rely on shouting and shenanigans to elongate the match needlessly.

Charlotte winning the title tonight had me feeling the same way when she won the title at WrestleMania 32. I wasn’t mad that she won, because she’s freaking Charlotte Flair, but I felt like someone else could have used the title win more. Then, with the heel turn for Becky taking place afterward, I was more content with the decision. A feud between Flair and a heel Becky is pretty damn hard to screw up, and I hope that the two can tear it down. Match wasn’t horrible, but the sloppy execution prevented it from reaching the next tier of greatness. **3/4

Samoa Joe def. AJ Styles (C) by DQ – WWE Championship

Thankfully, this was everything I’d hope it’d be.

In another feud on Smackdown that must continue as a result of a DQ finish, AJ Styles and Samoa Joe thankfully had a match that didn’t flop like I feared it would. AJ Styles hadn’t had one of those vintage performances that we have been accustomed to in a while and Samoa Joe was growing to have a reputation of being a guy that talked tough but couldn’t deliver on the big stages against the likes of Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. Here, AJ and Samoa went out there and showed glimpses of what made their matches in TNA special. They also showed what makes them individually special. Styles has a unique craftiness in the ring, but he noticeably raises his game if his partner is motivated to do the same thing. Samoa and AJ were clearly motivated to go out there and tear it up, and that they did.

Joe’s heel work was at its apex here, not simply talking trash, but by directly targeting AJ’s wife, giving the match some backbone behind it. Not only did she taunt her before the match, but she came at her DURING the match, before AJ just went apeshit. Now some people may not like non-finishes on PPV, especially in WWE Title matches, but it is acceptable if it meets 2 conditions. And those 2 conditions are if it’s done right, and if it makes sense. AJ Styles has had a number of his WWE Title matches end inconclusively on PPV this year when taking into account Backlash and Greatest Royal Rumble. Let’s check the 2 conditions. Was it done right? Yes. Samoa Joe came for AJ’s family, and AJ simply lost control, and said fuck the rules, and got all the frustration off of his chest. Does it make sense? It absolutely does. Joe is one of Smackdown’s top heels and AJ is the WWE Champion. They had a great match, and we deserve to see more of them.

Overall the match had a tremendous intensity, AJ’s strength was showcased, and Joe’s heel tactics were at its peak. I was fearful that this match would flop heavily because neither man really has been on much of a roll, but they displayed incredible chemistry here, and I know they can take it up another level in a future rematch that we know is coming. ****1/4

The Miz def. Daniel Bryan

Not what I had wanted.

Oh boy. Color me disappointed. The match had everything going for it. You have a great backstory, you have storytelling, you have two of WWE’s top in-ring performers, and all I’m left with is, “It wasn’t bad.” This left me with the bittersweet taste in my mouth that AJ and Nakamura left me with. Call it crowd fatigue, but the bottom line is Daniel Bryan and The Miz just had what would make for a great Smackdown main event. I was anticipating this would be the match of the night, but I was left underwhelmed. Do not get me wrong. The match was completely fine. I liked how The Miz would do some of Daniel’s moves right to his face. I liked how Daniel Bryan held a fist right in front of The Miz to start the match, as a callback to how long Daniel wanted to punch Miz in the face. I also loved how Daniel was lunging into The Miz’s kicks, showing him that he’s not afraid of physical contact and displaying one of his primary issues with Miz right to his face.

The ring work was fine, The Miz cheating to win as I predicted was fine, and nothing was wrong with the match. However, the primary issue I had was that it lacked the emotional element that AJ/Joe had. I just didn’t feel like it was important. It was just two people having a perfectly acceptable wrestling match. Now, I can completely forgive the crowd for not being entirely responsive to this match. This match was 23 minutes, and they had just gone through a 22 minute WWE Title match and an Elias segment. Unless this match was NJPW quality, there was no way that they were going to pop for each and every move, no matter how glorious the match was built up to be.

The sad thing is I really wanted to be invested into it. I just kept telling myself every five minutes that this is when the match is going to pick up, but instead, they just had a regular back and forth. There was none of that fire or visceral hatred. There wasn’t that extra gear that I saw, and unfortunately, I was left with just a very good wrestling match and not the culmination of 8 years of back and forth. This feud isn’t over, yes, but I was expecting a lot more. Maybe they’ll tear each other apart inside Hell In A Cell, and I think that would be hard to screw up. But for this match, it was passable, but not what I wanted. ***1/4

Finn Balor def. Constable Corbin

Thank goodness that this match wasn’t any longer than it needed to be. I would have torn myself to shreds if this was any longer than 5 minutes. I suspected Finn Balor would use his Demon gimmick for a big show, but this squash was nothing more than an excuse to give the crowd that because this match really had no business being on the card, to begin with. This was really more of a segment than it was an actual match, and since it took longer for me to use the bathroom than this match took, it doesn’t get a rating.

Shinsuke Nakamura (C) def. Jeff Hardy – United States Championship

This was a thing that happened.

This was another passable Smackdown match, and I don’t really want to dwell on this any more than I need to. The feud here is Jeff Hardy vs. Randy Orton. Shinsuke Nakamura really doesn’t have much going for him here, and this match didn’t really feel important at all. Nothing here was bad, nothing here was great, it was just there. Randy Orton comes out and he walked back, which kind of describes the state of the United States Championship as of now. It’s just in limbo and there is no direction.

I will give Jeff Hardy credit for throwing caution to the wind with that insane Swanton Bomb attempt onto the apron, but it’s times like these where he has to remember he’s over 40, and he doesn’t want to cause any further damage to his already broken body. He has to be banged up to a great degree, and he didn’t do himself any favors in a match that had zero heat. Nakamura was, well, he was there and he did some stuff. Yeah, like I said, not much else to say with this one. **

Ronda Rousey def. Alexa Bliss (C) – RAW Women’s Championship

Lol.

Well, I was almost certain that WWE would pull a fast one and have Alexa hold the title longer, because that’s the type of thing WWE seems they would do with Alexa. They’ve already booked Alexa vs. Trish Stratus for WWE Evolution, and I thought they would have her go in as champion to show a passing of the guard. Oh well, Ronda won and it was what it needed to be. Alexa was running away, she tried to use any underhanded tactics she could think of, but Ronda had an answer for everything. It was basically an extended squash with a lot of things to elongate the match, but whatever. Ronda’s the champ, and where she goes next with it should be interesting to see. **

Roman Reigns def. Brock Lesnar (C) – Universal Championship

Um, okay, so a lot to digest here. I’ll start off by saying that I’m completely okay with Roman Reigns being the champ, because it’s a hell of a lot better than putting the title on Brock for 500 days just to defend it only six times in that tenure. Seeing, for all intents and purposes, WWE’s top title on RAW each and every night is actually a refreshing change and something I can vibe with, even if it’s with somebody who has a lot of character flaws in Roman Reigns. Now, let’s address what proceeded after it. Before the match began, Braun’s music hit. He told Roman and Brock that he’s not going to be a coward and he likes doing things face to face, but he really didn’t mean it because instead of cashing it in right then and there and making it a triple threat match like he was leading the crowd on to believe, he instead decided to stand on the sideline and wait until after the match was over to cash in. So…he’s going to cash in the briefcase face to face, but only after both men are finished kicking each other’s asses. Okay then.

Then, Roman Reigns accidentally collides with Strowman, and then Brock Lesnar, while in the middle of the match, proceeds to destroy Strowman to prevent him from cashing in. He whips him with a chair and his own briefcase, before chucking it halfway across the arena to ensure he can’t cash it in. Now, as for the actual match. It was literally every Roman Reigns/Brock Lesnar sequence you’ve ever seen compressed into 6 minutes. You had Roman Reigns hitting Superman punches while already falling backward before it makes contact. You had Roman Reigns hit multiple spears in a row just for Lesnar to no-sell each and every one of them. You had Lesnar go for his usual stuff. We’ve seen this before. We know what it is. It was just a shorter version of it. Was it okay, yes it was. It wasn’t like at WrestleMania where they literally just went out there to spam finishers and see who could kick out of more shit.

That being said, I couldn’t help but feel this was done absolutely poorly. First off, Braun looks like an absolute goober. Kevin Owens didn’t even have to foil Strowman’s cash in attempt. To get absolutely wrecked before you have a chance to cash-in the briefcase, especially when you’re watching ringside, makes you look absolutely weak, and that’s saying a lot for somebody as huge as Strowman. Second, this win by Roman doesn’t feel special at all. The same way Roman Reigns beating Triple H at WrestleMania two years ago just felt so blah. If Roman Reigns definitively kicked Brock’s ass and won in a hard-fought match, then I would have felt some special way about it, even if I’m not Roman’s biggest fan. But objectively speaking, Lesnar was just too occupied with Strowman to take into account his real opponent, and he essentially slipped on a banana peel and it cost him. It’s also weird to see Brock kick out of that considering all of the spears he’s kicked out of, especially as recently at WrestleMania. I guess distraction spears hurt more than straight-up ones.

I was halfway expecting Braun to grab the microphone and say, “I’m not finished with you Roman” and try to cash in. Overall, I’m just happy the title is off of Brock, but the way they did it doesn’t make me feel any more special way about Roman. He finally won the title, but it wasn’t a special moment like when Dean and Seth cashed in Money In The Bank to win their first WWE Titles. The match was just a shorter version of everything they’ve ever done before. **

Conclusion:

So, you may or may not know this, but six hours is too damn long for any PPV. I don’t care if it’s Summerslam, WrestleMania, Survivor Series or all of that combined into one. You just can’t expect any crowd to sit still in their seats for six hours and expecting they will respond to everything as you originally expected them too. Fortunately, this show does have some redeeming value. The IC Title match picked up in a huge way towards the end. The WWE Title match delivered. You also had some solid matches sprinkled in between and a healthy amount of title changes to boot. That being said, there’s a lot of trimming of the fat that was needed.

Yes, there were indecisive finishes and stretches throughout a lot of matches where you were probably asleep, but I think if you can get past all of that, you’ll see that Summerslam as a whole was solid. It wasn’t fantastic or anything, but it wasn’t a flop like last year’s edition was. You’ll definitely find quality here. Overall, I’d say this edition of Summerslam is a thumbs in the middle, leaning up. But you’d be much better off watching Takeover again because there are better matches in less than half the time. I just wish WWE would stop getting into the mindset that the more matches you have, the better show you’ll get. If they trimmed off two and a half hours off this show, it’d be a significantly better watch for me. Until next time.

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