SummerSlam (2014) Review

Marter

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Rob Van Dam vs. Cesaro
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In what seems like a not-very-frequent occurrence, the kickoff match happens near the start of the kickoff show, not right near the end. Okay, it started about ten minutes in, but given that the kickoff show is 30 minutes long, that's still in the early portion.

Van Dam dominates the early part of the match with his typical offense. About the only move we saw that we don't normally get is a Rolling Thunder outside the ring. That's a spot we don't normally get, anyway. Cesaro just started to get the momentum back as we headed to the commercial break. Yes, commercial break. It's the "free" part of SummerSlam, so there is a commercial. It was for the WWE Network, and for the Cena/Lesnar match later on tonight.

Cesaro's offensive portion of the match is more physical than Van Dam's. You sometimes don't know what you're going to get from Cesaro, as he can turn any counter into something new thanks to his pure strength. This is a well-paced, back-and-forth match. Its job is to get the crowd and the audience into the action, and it definitely does its job. Rob Van Dam winds up picking up the victory after a Five-Star Frog Splash -- having previously failed on three attempts. What a fun opening bout. Now, we get to start the actual SummerSlam card.

Match Rating: ***1/2

We begin SummerSlam with Hulk Hogan being introduced and coming onto the stage. His current job in WWE is to sell us on WWE merchandise -- mostly the WWE Network. He does just that. For only $9.99, anywhere in the world (except Canada, where I live, where it's more money for less content).

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler
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The Miz comes out first to promote his face. No, really. He makes mention of all the big movies and characters this summer, and then says everyone wishes they had his face, "the moneymaker." This gimmick really fits The Miz. Nobody likes his face, so WWE is promoting it heavily to get heat. Genius. Except for how it limits matches, but whatever.

As can be expected -- by anyone who saw their singles match the night after Battleground -- this is a good match. That's two straight good matches to open SummerSlam.

The whole "don't hit the face" thing wound up leading to some funny spots in which Ziggler, well, hit Miz's face. It made for some drama and humor. The Miz tried to take his title and leave the arena, but Ziggler stopped him from doing so. A finisher or two is kicked out of, a neat sequence in which Miz sprung up from a fameasser to hit his finisher was really exciting, there were lots of near-falls, and most importantly, ZIGGLER WON! Yes, Dolph Ziggler is your new Intercontinental champion. He hit a Zig-Zag for the victory.

Match Rating: ***1/2

A Raw flashback happens next, reminding us what happened this last week after Brie Bella slapped Daniel Bryan's physical therapist, mirroring when Stephanie McMahon went to jail a few weeks back. Brie Bella is then interviewed backstage afterward, reminding us that she still can't cut a promo. Good thing she's gotten better in the ring.

WWE Divas Championship Match: Paige vs. AJ Leehttp://i39.servimg.com/u/f39/16/09/70/40/clipb230.jpg

This was the match we wanted at Battleground. Two spots you hardly ever see in Divas matches, a physical bout filled with solid technical wrestling and high-flying moments, a couple of good counters, strong selling, some crowd working, and an unpredictable finish. Paige wins by countering the Black Widow into a DDT, which is apparently a finisher. After the match, she kisses AJ on the cheek. This feud is continuing. Probably.

Match Rating: ***1/2

<color=red>Flag Match: Rusev (with Lana) vs. Jack Swagger (with Zeb Colter) http://i39.servimg.com/u/f39/16/09/70/40/clipb229.jpg

Lana cuts a pro-Russia and anti-America promo before the match. Swagger and Colter come out after some American soldiers do a little routine beforehand. The two men brawl a bit before the bell rings. Rusev has to sell an injured ankle for the entire match, as Swagger put him in a Patriot Lock.

The match itself ... did not use te flags. Like at all. It was just a normal match, really. A physical, brawling match, but it had nothing to do with the flags. The stipulation was there to have a flag draped over the loser after the match, but the flags didn't actually come into play, which is too bad (maybe?).

Given that, it was clear that Rusev was going to win. We're not going to let Swagger pin or submit him. So, Rusev winds up winning with The Accolade. Not by submission, though, but by knockout. Swagger passes out to The Accolade, concluding a better-than-expected match, but also not what we expected.

Match Rating: **1/2

The Russian flag is draped down from the rafters as the Russian national anthem plays. Who saw hat coming?

<color=red>Lumberjack Match: Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrosehttp://i39.servimg.com/u/f39/16/09/70/40/clipb231.jpg

Lots of WWE midcarders are ringside to be our lumberjacks. Ambrose and Rollins finally get to have a singles match. The lumberjacks don't really add anything to the picture, and kind of act as distractions, to be honest.

The lumberjacks let the two men brawl in the crowd for a while, actually. Kane comes out and tells the lumberjacks to get the competitors. Rollins tries to leave but the face lumberjacks stops him. I maintain that a no-DQ match would have been better, but whatever.

A huge brawl breaks out after Kane interferes in the outcome. Following the brawl, Rollins hits Ambrose with the MITB briefcase and picks up a dirty victory. This was a chaotic and messy match, but it was certainly entertaining.

Match Rating: ***1/2

Bray Wyatt vs. Chris Jericho
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Luke Harper and Erick Rowan are banned from ringside, in case you forgot. The match between these two was one of the more disappointing ones at Battleground. Like Paige and AJ before them, this is the time to make up for that.

It ... kind of does that, I guess. I mean, it's better than what we got the last time. It lacks a lot of energy that every other match on the card has had so far. It started off really slow and while it eventually got going, it still only really got into second gear. Maybe third.

It does work on a storytelling and psychology level. Bray Wyatt's crab walk always works, especially when pulled off at great times. A little bit of a hiccup came when Jericho pinned Wyatt and Wyatt either kicked out or had his foot under the rope -- or both. Nobody knows for sure. It takes two Sister Abigails from Wyatt to take out Jericho, but that's what he does. Wyatt wins, tying the series at 1.

Match Rating: **1/2

Wyatt cuts a brief promo after the match, singing his song after declaring that Jericho did, indeed, follow the buzzards.

Next up is Stephanie McMahon vs. Brie Bella, but first we need a hype video package, because you aren't intimately aware of this feud by now.

Stephanie McMahon vs. Brie Bella
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I don't know if anyone expected this to be a great wrestling match. I thought it would be decent from an in-ring perspective, and great from a storytelling perspective. Guess what?

It was better than decent from an in-ring perspective, and it was great from a storytelling perspective. Stephanie actually carried most of the match -- no, really -- and seemed to be better than at least half the Divas roster. She could be a full-time competitor if she wanted to be.

After Brie started to get some offense in, Triple H came out to the ring, quickly followed by Nikki Bella. Triple H stopped the referee from letting Stephanie lose, but then Brie Bella dove through the ropes and hit Triple H. Female on male violence? That doesn't happen. Stephanie is then surrounded in the ring by both Bella twins, but then Nikki turns on Brie, as we all expected, and Stephanie then hits a Pedigree on Brie for the win.

Match Rating: ***

Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns
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So, uh, this is the cooldown match before the main event, huh? I guess that shows how much faith WWE has in it. I mean, Roman Reigns is one of the worst singles wrestlers on the roster, and Randy Orton doesn't like carrying people, so it's understandable why little faith would be placed in it, but these are two men who are supposed to be main eventers.

The match is slow and boring. It has a couple of kind of fun spots -- a top-rope Samoan drop, a powerslam counter to a spear, -- but it just isn't exciting. Its build wasn't good and the match didn't make up for that. It's still, perhaps, better than expected -- Reigns didn't feel like he was lacking in moves -- but it's only even close to exciting near the end, after a finisher was kicked out of and a punt was teased.

Reigns wins after dodging the aforementioned punt and spearing Orton.

Match Rating: **

WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) vs. John Cenahttp://i39.servimg.com/u/f39/16/09/70/40/clipb234.jpg

Brock Lesnar hits an F-5 about 30 seconds into the match and ... Cena kicks out. I bet that's a shocker. Then Lesnar dominates for a long while, hitting German suplex after German suplex. A quick Attitude Adjustment provides a near-fall, but not really, because we knew Lesnar wouldn't lose to just one.

Lesnar spends most of the match hitting a constant stream of German suplexes. So many that "boring" chants start up. The idea, I guess, is to hide that the reason The Undertaker didn't get a whole lot of offense in at WrestleMania is because he was concussed, not because of how dominate Lesnar is. But whatever. He hits another F-5 late in the match and wins. Cena looked the weakest he has in a long, long time. Lesnar looks unbeatable. But the match was awful. It was just constant German suplexes. That was basically it. For a main event match, this was terrible.

Match Rating: *1/2

The Good: Van Dam vs. Cesaro. Miz vs. Ziggler. Paige vs. AJ. Rollins vs. Ambrose. McMahon vs. Bella.

The Bad: Reigns vs. Orton. Lesnar vs. Cena.

Match of the Night: Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose.

Prediction Score: 6/9.
<color=D6D9DA>_________________________________________________________________________________

So, that was SummerSlam. It was a good PPV overall, even if the last couple of matches weren't really any good from an in-ring perspective. What'd you think of the WWE's second biggest PPV of the year?

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Rozalia1

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Bloody hell that Summerslam...I'm...I'm not sure how I feel about it. That complete total annihilation of Cena...crap even I was having sympathy for the sheer amount of punishment Brock was laying in on him...and that one kid chanting for Cena...damn.
However the match as you said itself was poor in wrestling terms, it was almost like Brock got advice on how to wrestle the match from Scott Steiner (German Suplex vs Belly-to-Belly match? I'd mark out for that actually).

And unless on Raw they have Brock lay down for Rollins to hammer in the whole he does it for the money thing...who challenges Brock? Yeah you can logically put the likes of Sheamus/Orton/Batista against Brock but even they (main event guys!) wouldn't be looked at as credible after this. Roman Reigns is apparently who they are putting the rocket on but him and Brock? Roman isn't ready for that. Bryan is the only guy likely credible enough to win now and he could be off even past Wrestlemania...bloody hell.

The rest of the show was great and I liked the Stephanie match (give her the belt now), but its hard to concentrate on anything other than that main event having just watched Summerslam.
 
May 6, 2012
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Rozalia1 said:
Bloody hell that Summerslam...I'm...I'm not sure how I feel about it. That complete total annihilation of Cena...crap even I was having sympathy for the sheer amount of punishment Brock was laying in on him...and that one kid chanting for Cena...damn.
However the match as you said itself was poor in wrestling terms, it was almost like Brock got advice on how to wrestle the match from Scott Steiner (German Suplex vs Belly-to-Belly match? I'd mark out for that actually).

And unless on Raw they have Brock lay down for Rollins to hammer in the whole he does it for the money thing...who challenges Brock? Yeah you can logically put the likes of Sheamus/Orton/Batista against Brock but even they (main event guys!) wouldn't be looked at as credible after this. Roman Reigns is apparently who they are putting the rocket on but him and Brock? Roman isn't ready for that. Bryan is the only guy likely credible enough to win now and he could be off even past Wrestlemania...bloody hell.

The rest of the show was great and I liked the Stephanie match (give her the belt now), but its hard to concentrate on anything other than that main event having just watched Summerslam.
Lesnar is probably going to be built up for the next few months. People on the roster earn a title shot, build up their strength, say they can finally dethrone the big bad Lesnar and then get beaten at a pay per view event. Those will probably be people likelike Orton, Sheamus(hopefully not), and other possibilities like Wyatt, Big E, Barrett, Jericho, Ryback, Reigns, maybe even a return Undertaker match but thats a huge stretch. He'll probably go down to a Daniel Bryan in an 'I never lost the title and you've never beaten me' angle or what would be much better, a Lesnar vs Cesaro Heyman guy vs Heyman guy match. There's plenty of ways this can play out if WWE does it properly, and hopefully they spend a while building the idea that Lesnar can't be beat, which makes any match against him really very interesting
 

Imperioratorex Caprae

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Cena. Got. His. Ass. Whipped.
Conquered. I've not ever seen a beating like that. Granted 16 suplexes was overboard, but I think this is what needed to happen. Either Cena turned heel and hit Brock with a low blow, or foreign object or somehow or other cheats to win or Brock lays him out definitively. Option two, while being less of a main event and more of Cena getting hard-buried by Brock/Hulk Smash... well there's the "1" in 21-1.
Steph, damn woman... keep wrestling please! You just put the locker room, all of them men and ladies alike, on notice on how to give a damn fine match. Drama, psychology, domination... best heel diva. Ever.
Dean Ambrose/Rollins and Wyatt/Jericho was my two outlier favorites with Ziggler/Miz the surprise of the night and Paige/AJ delivering exactly what I expected... ok so pretty much all of the PPV -even the Rusev/Lana thing continuing- was worth my $9.99. Good job WWE, put more of that shit on regular TV too and we'll all be with you 4 Life.
 

Rozalia1

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Wolfgangs Spawn said:
Lesnar is probably going to be built up for the next few months. People on the roster earn a title shot, build up their strength, say they can finally dethrone the big bad Lesnar and then get beaten at a pay per view event. Those will probably be people likelike Orton, Sheamus(hopefully not), and other possibilities like Wyatt, Big E, Barrett, Jericho, Ryback, Reigns, maybe even a return Undertaker match but thats a huge stretch. He'll probably go down to a Daniel Bryan in an 'I never lost the title and you've never beaten me' angle or what would be much better, a Lesnar vs Cesaro Heyman guy vs Heyman guy match. There's plenty of ways this can play out if WWE does it properly, and hopefully they spend a while building the idea that Lesnar can't be beat, which makes any match against him really very interesting
There just is no one who can believably stop Lesner right now. Best scenario would be to build several future stars up such as Wyatt, shield 3, Cesaro and all that, but you know the reality is probably Orton getting his millionth title shot.
Without thinking about it a great deal I'd have Roman challenge next, be defeated and regulated to the mid card for a time so he can improve and they can calm certain people down. Than make it Lesner vs Ambrose for 2 PPVs straight and have Ambrose in the second gimmick match take Lesner to the limit due to his craziness...than have Seth cash in with the help of Kane+Orton.

Builds towards a big wrestlemania win for Ambrose and we don't have to suffer a huge Lesner reign.
 

Cal Shackleford

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Sounds like it was a solid PPV for the most part, bit of a bummer 'bout the finale I guess.

I think there was never going to be any doubt that Miz and Ziggler would amount to one hell of a pairing in the ring. The guys get along off camera (going by the chemistry) or just good at what they do? (I wonder).

That said, when he first got back (first night before any words were spoken) I was sincerely hoping it was going to be a Miz-Jericho story, almost a passing of the torch from one obnoxious loud mouth to another with both characters going almost super-ham-nova in the bid to upstage one another.

I'm feeling good about Paige and AJ, kind of reminds of me the Trish and Lita feuds of yor, though going by "aura/presence"- if nothing else - Paige invokes more of a Victoria feel. I think a brutal enough DDT is good enough to finish on (or a surprise tornado), but unless you're Jake the Snake it can seem a little too tame.

Funny, once when I heard "Lesnar" my mind went to a No Mercy Hell in the Cell years ago, now... now I just remember that beautiful "Feelings!" promo and the vs Goldberg match. What happened to the guy? Did the "spark" die out or was I just overly optimistic from the start?
 

Darren716

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I thought this was the best PPV of the year so far, I enjoyed every match, I cared about most of the story lines (barring Jericho/Wyatt), and the people who needed to get over got over. I'm glad Ziggler got the IC title, he feels like one of the classic people who would hold that title, a workhorse who is on the up and up and could be in the mainevent spotlight within the year. Paige and AJ had a damn fine match and my girl Paige got the title so that's enough of a reason for me to like it. I was a bit disappointed that Russev/Swagger wasn't a traditional "capture the flag" type of flag match but it was still a good enough match, the finish was what did it for me though, making Swagger not give up and instead pass out showed the fight both men still had in them which could make this feud go for a bit while more. What can really be said about Ambrose/Rollins, it is the best lumberjack match in history, both guys worked their asses off and Dean really was able to show his rage by fighting through about 20 men just to get to Rollins, I want this feud to continue for a good while longer it's entertaining as all hell. I don't remember too much from Wyatt/Jericho it was a decent match but nothing to write home about easily the weakest match on the card. Brie vs Steph was a feud that I was starting to get sick of in the weeks preceding Summer Slam but damn did they pull off a great match, Steph is great as a heel even when wrestling, I hope this isn't the last we see of her in the ring, also I honestly didn't see Nikki's betrayal coming, possibly because I forgot about her in the feud, one final note is that I'm glad they shot down the D-Bry cheating angle, it made no sense since Bryan is known as being one of the nicest people in the company and even he shot down the angle the day before Summer Slam in an interview on IGN. Orton/Reigns was a good establishing match for Reigns even though Orton did do a lot of the work during the match and had the best spot which was that sick jumping RKO, I think Reign's just needs some more moves in his arsenal and he could really be a strong contender. Now onto the main event which despite the actual match not being all that great was amazing in getting Lesnar over as an unstoppable force, his manhandling of Cena was a great way to go against all the underdog wins Cena has had in his career. One thing I never expected this match to do is make me rethink my opinion on Lesnar ending the Undertaker's streak since I thought it wouldn't give Lesnar too much of a push and it was wasted on a part timer, now I see that him ending the streak diffidently gave him credentials to make him seem even more powerful, and since he is WWEWHC he is going to be forced to be part of the main roster. Overall it was a great show, the people who needed to get over did so, and I for one am incredibly interested in where they go from here.
 
May 6, 2012
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Rozalia1 said:
There just is no one who can believably stop Lesner right now. Best scenario would be to build several future stars up such as Wyatt, shield 3, Cesaro and all that, but you know the reality is probably Orton getting his millionth title shot.
Without thinking about it a great deal I'd have Roman challenge next, be defeated and regulated to the mid card for a time so he can improve and they can calm certain people down. Than make it Lesner vs Ambrose for 2 PPVs straight and have Ambrose in the second gimmick match take Lesner to the limit due to his craziness...than have Seth cash in with the help of Kane+Orton.

Builds towards a big wrestlemania win for Ambrose and we don't have to suffer a huge Lesner reign.
Ideally Wrestlemania would have the triple threat Shield match, where one of them wins the title (Ambrose maybe), another wins a title shot (Reigns) and Rollins cashes in, but at the same time we could have that match without the title and have a great title match along with that triple threat.
I dont think Orton is going to get another run, I think he's going to get a title shot and a Lesnar/Heyman vs the Authority who want the title back feud would happen, but I think Triple H and Vince are smart enough to not give Orton another run. They were smart enough to understand Orton/Batista wasn't going to be a big main event, so they changed it (or maybe it was their plan all along, but still they recognise Orton isn't good to be a title holder anymore) and it's possible the short lived Cena run we just had was only as a stand in for what was going to be a Daniel Bryan loss at Summerslam to Lesnar.

Realistically, Cesaro could beat Lesnar. Ambrose could beat Lesnar. Daniel Bryan could possibly beat Lesnar. (Eddie Guerrero beat him) A Wyatt family beatdown could possibly beat Lesnar, but they wouldn't drop the title for a 3 man beatdown, it'd likely be a loss leading up to a feud. A long Lesnar reign would be fine if they build feuds properly, the angle for the champion to be this guy who is 'the top of the roster' and any challenger would have to prove themselves and beat everyone else who wants to challenge 'the beast.' You could have feuds between wrestlers who want to challenge Lesnar as well, there's a lot they can do with it. It's the first time in a while the champion actually has an angle and a unique 'gimmick'
 

Pyramid Head

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Forgive my squirrely ignorance, but was there ever any much demand for Brock Lesnar to return? Do they really not have better heels to hold a major title now that the Undertaker may be close to retiring and Batista is busy competing with the Rock in the DC vs. Marvel movie feud? Or do they want to use Lesnar to build up Daniel Bryan's return?
 

Rozalia1

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Pyramid Head said:
Forgive my squirrely ignorance, but was there ever any much demand for Brock Lesnar to return? Do they really not have better heels to hold a major title now that the Undertaker may be close to retiring and Batista is busy competing with the Rock in the DC vs. Marvel movie feud? Or do they want to use Lesnar to build up Daniel Bryan's return?
Randy Orton
Batista
Seth Rollins

...and that is it pretty much. They could have built other heels up like Cesaro but instead waste them pointlessly jobbing to Kofi, The Jobber Kane hasn't been credible in a long time (however much they pretend he is this big threat like Smackdown Undertaker), Bray isn't credible anymore due to his continued losses and failures, and Rusev due to his gimmick is more suited to grabbing the US title than the WWE title at the moment.

Out of the three Batista is busy and the fans may well react badly to him. Orton...yeah nobody wants to see him with the title right now. Rollins could have been given it but there are several issues with that. First his feud with Ambrose gets in the way and even if he successfully cashes in (meaning we'd likely get Cena vs Orton at Summerslam), he'd than have to face Cena in a rematch and because this is Cena we are talking about he'd need heavy interference to win resulting in the message sent being Rollins is a paper champion thereby damaging him.

So yeah Lesner properly was the best option. Who he'll lose it to is unknown though Bryan and Reigns are the front runners according to most people.
Me personally? I'd love it if Swagger was the one to do it, hell booking him over Lesner wouldn't even be difficult.

Wolfgangs Spawn said:
Daniel Bryan could possibly beat Lesnar. (Eddie Guerrero beat him)
Its worth remembering that Goldberg got involved thereby leading to a Mania match. Cesaro seems ready built for being the one to interfere and cost Lesnar thereby leading to a Mania match...but you can never do fantasy booking with Cesaro because WWE will just job him out to Heath Slater or something because that is best for business apparently.
 

Pyramid Head

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Rozalia1 said:
Randy Orton
Batista
Seth Rollins

...and that is it pretty much. They could have built other heels up like Cesaro but instead waste them pointlessly jobbing to Kofi, The Jobber Kane hasn't been credible in a long time (however much they pretend he is this big threat like Smackdown Undertaker), Bray isn't credible anymore due to his continued losses and failures, and Rusev due to his gimmick is more suited to grabbing the US title than the WWE title at the moment.


Out of the three Batista is busy and the fans may well react badly to him. Orton...yeah nobody wants to see him with the title right now. Rollins could have been given it but there are several issues with that. First his feud with Ambrose gets in the way and even if he successfully cashes in (meaning we'd likely get Cena vs Orton at Summerslam), he'd than have to face Cena in a rematch and because this is Cena we are talking about he'd need heavy interference to win resulting in the message sent being Rollins is a paper champion thereby damaging him.

So yeah Lesner properly was the best option. Who he'll lose it to is unknown though Bryan and Reigns are the front runners according to most people.
Me personally? I'd love it if Swagger was the one to do it, hell booking him over Lesner wouldn't even be difficult.


Well Swagger seems better suited to wrestling. Brock looks...
...okay, i can't really say intimidating. He looks a little funny to me and it's pretty obvious he is more comfortable with MMA than wresting. Swagger though does seem experienced with professional wrestling and was a champion college wrestler meaning he can use real grapples on top of flair, so maybe he might have been a better choice. I could suggest The Miz, but he's making a comeback now and has to rebuild his reputation among the crowd. I remember at one point Batista said they should give Christian a chance, but i don't know how likely that one is.
 

Rozalia1

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Pyramid Head said:
Well Swagger seems better suited to wrestling. Brock looks...
...okay, i can't really say intimidating. He looks a little funny to me and it's pretty obvious he is more comfortable with MMA than wresting. Swagger though does seem experienced with professional wrestling and was a champion college wrestler meaning he can use real grapples on top of flair, so maybe he might have been a better choice. I could suggest The Miz, but he's making a comeback now and has to rebuild his reputation among the crowd. I remember at one point Batista said they should give Christian a chance, but i don't know how likely that one is.
The thing with Brock is everyone wants someone "believable" to beat him so someone like the Miz would be out (yet this never seems to come up for folk in regards to Cena).
Swagger is believable due to not only the fact he is huge, but also due to his legitimate wrestling background. Its true he has been a jobber for years but it wouldn't take long to repair that image.

Personally I'd give him the next PPV off so Rusev can be freed up to win the US title. Than have Swagger return to challenge Rusev with his career on the line for the US title, and just have Swagger demolish Rusev.
The rub from being the first man to not only beat, but dominate Rusev would make him look a threat to Lesner.
 

Marter

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Rozalia1 said:
The thing with Brock is everyone wants someone "believable" to beat him so someone like the Miz would be out (yet this never seems to come up for folk in regards to Cena).
Swagger is believable due to not only the fact he is huge, but also due to his legitimate wrestling background. Its true he has been a jobber for years but it wouldn't take long to repair that image.

Personally I'd give him the next PPV off so Rusev can be freed up to win the US title. Than have Swagger return to challenge Rusev with his career on the line for the US title, and just have Swagger demolish Rusev.
The rub from being the first man to not only beat, but dominate Rusev would make him look a threat to Lesner.
You just know Rusev is eventually going to be fed to Cena, though, right? :/
 

Rozalia1

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Marter said:
You just know Rusev is eventually going to be fed to Cena, though, right? :/
Everyone always says that because dirt sheets love to report that its going to happen soon, and when it doesn't they just repeat that its going to happen soon...and so on.

Management seems to be protecting and booking certain people well and Rusev I'd say is one of them. If his first loss is at the end of this lengthy Swagger feud than his loss will mean something. If one month Cena decides he wants to put up funny pictures of Rusev and Lana on the titantron and than wins no problem than Rusev's career is going the way of a lot of other guys.