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EditorialWWE SummerSlam 2017 3-Count Review and Post-Show Recap

WWE SummerSlam 2017 3-Count Review and Post-Show Recap

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Now that WWE SummerSlam 2017 is in the bag, let’s round up our thoughts on the event with another 3-Count reaction and Smack Talk Pay-Per-Viewpoint post-show podcast!

As always, click the video at the bottom of this post to check out the podcast breakdown of everything on the show, but before we get into that, I want to focus on three things that standout from my mind in regards to SummerSlam 2017.

I had so, so many things that I was disappointed with during this show, so since I spend the majority of the podcast talking about what annoyed me, I figured as a sign of good faith, I would focus this 3-count on three things that I’m actually excited about seeing as far as what the future has in store.

Granted, I could be wrong about my presumptions (as based on how poorly I predicted some of the matches here) but since most of what happened at SummerSlam has me really apathetic about the upcoming storylines (like Natalya versus anybody and The Usos holding the tag titles again), here are three things that I actually think could be interesting going forward:

The New No. 1 Contender to the United States Championship

By now, the feud between AJ Styles and Kevin Owens has to be done, right? Owens can move on to something with Shane McMahon and since Styles retained, he’ll be gearing up to face whoever is declared his next challenger.

Since nothing has been confirmed about a Superstar Shake-Up, if I even limit myself to just the people on the SmackDown roster at the moment, there are still some options that I’m excited could be happening soon.

Despite the way they’ve been treated recently (including on SummerSlam itself), both Baron Corbin and Rusev could be viable contenders to Styles for at least short feuds going on for 1-2 months a piece. I’d be happy with either of them challenging for the title, even if I don’t think I’d want either of them to take the belt away from The Phenomenal One.

There’s also Shinsuke Nakamura, who I’d rather see face Styles at WrestleMania, but if it happens earlier, then I’m okay with that, too, so long as both have something somewhat decent at Mania that makes it worth the while instead of looking back and thinking Styles/Nakamura would have been the better option. One way or another, those two feuding will be cool.

Sami Zayn was completely left off the card for SummerSlam, but he and Styles can definitely tear the house down, so if he were to be named the new No. 1 contender, a babyface vs. babyface feud between those two could be a lot of fun.

The same goes for Chad Gable, who is pretty much a copy/paste of Zayn as he was also left off the card and has proven that he and Styles have good chemistry together.

While I think Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles deserves to be for the WWE Championship instead of having a glorified midcarder like Jinder Mahal holding that belt, Orton/Styles is another possibility to look forward to.

Of course, there’s also the potential for outsiders, too—not the least of which is Bobby Roode from NXT, who may be my #1 choice to see feud with Styles going forward and someone I would love to see dethrone the champion.

Styles is the only current champion who has enough challengers that I feel confident whichever route WWE decides to go, I’ll enjoy it.

The Future of The Shield

If there is one other set of champions who I think could be in for a good stretch of a run, it’s the new Raw Tag Team Championship holders: Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins.

Like most people, I was a big fan of The Shield when they were a unit. We’re missing Roman Reigns when Roman Reigns was still being cheered, but whatever, Ambrose and Rollins are back together and in my mind, they’re better suited to bring interest to the tag team division on Raw than Cesaro and Sheamus.

While The Miztourage is not quite there yet as far as being worthy of challenging for the titles, there’s a chance in the future that they’ll make it to that level. The same goes for Heath Slater and Rhyno, though I doubt it when it comes to them.

However, we do have The Hardy Boyz, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, and The Revival on the Raw side of the tag team division and all three of those teams against 2/3rds of The Shield seem like money matches to me.

The Authors of Pain could be making their way up to Raw from NXT after dropping those titles at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, and since I’ve grown to like Akam and Rezar, I’m not opposed to seeing those two behemoths clash with Ambrose and Rollins, either.

Part of me is also curious about how they’ll separate down the line, since I think Ambrose will be the one to turn heel and it will help revitalize his character to a certain extent, which brings us to our next topic…

Heel Turn for Bayley?

For years, babyfaces in WWE like John Cena were being booed and somehow, the uber babyface Bayley was still being cheered.

It seemed like she was an anomaly and it was a curious situation, as she would do the same type of things others would do, yet she never received the horrible backlash.

Basically, she seemed like the exception to the rule and the last bit of hope that WWE could cling to that “people will do what we say they should do and cheer the good guys, damn it.”

Then, it happened. Bayley came out to talk about how she was injured and would have to relinquish her title opportunity at SummerSlam and for some reason, the fans were not giving her a warm response.

This continued at TakeOver last night and it continued with her quick backstage shot at SummerSlam, as well as apparently splashing over into Sasha Banks’ territory as she was not given much support in comparison to the heel, Alexa Bliss.

Could we be possibly in store for the reverse of what seemed like the trajectory from months and months ago? Instead of having Sasha turn heel on Bayley to replicate their success from NXT, is this going to plant the seeds for Bayley to turn heel on Sasha?

Sometimes, WWE can be incredibly stubborn and if they want to do something, they’ll do it no matter how well it’s going over. They’ll ride something out and never bend to the will of the fans because they want desperately to be proven correct, even if it’s by beating it into everyone’s heads until people let out a murmur of a response, just to be able to tap into hyperbole by saying it was worth it.

Other times, though, the wind blows and the plans sway in a different direction. Sometimes, WWE goes with the flow when the crowd demands something else, and if Bayley is no longer going to be having the positive reaction she used to, maybe Banks winning the title from Bliss is an indicator that in the coming weeks or months, we’ll see Bayley go from smiling and hugging to being the complete opposite of a character.

That would be the first time in quite a while where I’d be interested in Bayley’s story and although I prefer Bliss as champion right now over Banks, if that’s where we’re headed, I’m on board.

For more opinions on the show as a whole, check out the latest edition of the Smark Out Moment wrestling podcast SMACK TALK as the panel reviews SummerSlam with our immediate reactions following the event before the dust has fully settled.

Hosted by Anthony Mango along with Callum Wiggins

WATCH/LISTEN TO SMACK TALK on YOUTUBE | ITUNES | STITCHER

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