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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?
<color=D6D9DA>_________________________________________________________________________________
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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?
<color=D6D9DA>_________________________________________________________________________________
If you wish to be notified whenever I post something new, please join this <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/2-50-Reviews>user group.
For an archive of all my previous WWE reviews, please go <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.846764-Marters-WWE-Reviews-Archive>here.
Talk to me on the Twitter, <url=https://twitter.com/martertweet>@martertweet.