Summerslam… It may not be the Showcase of the Immortals, but boy does it come close.
Or does it? I do not really want to do a full review of the PPV, we have other writers who can do it more justice, but it would seem stupid not to comment on the show at all, so here is my experience of watching the 27th Annual Summerslam.
First off, I was supposed to be working, and took time off to watch. So I got home just in time for the pre-show, and made something to eat while that pish was on. The only things I really remember are Flair shouting Wooooo, Booker getting a graphic for the worst catchphrase ever and some guy from an advert.
Adverts were pretty well the main feature of the pre show as far as I can tell, they got more time than the match, and replaced the match at one point, demonstrating more than the defeat, how far Cesaro has fallen from grace.
But now the show is ready to start, the card looks pretty solid, my food is on the plate. What could possibly go wrong now brother??What happened next set the tone for the whole show for me, Hogan announces to the world that anyone who is NOT watching on the Network is not his mate anymore, then tells everyone how they can see every PPV this year for 9.99.
The crowd seemed fairly happy to sing along, 9.99 is now more over than the network itself, but it left me wondering if those two little words, ‘a month’, had gone the same way as Del Rio, Brodus and the Timekeeper. Had those two words done a ‘Marty Jannetty’? Last time I checked, the network was 9.99 A MONTH, but according to the Hulkster, and everyone else last night, if I pay 9.99 once, thats me for the rest of the year.
But enough of this money talk, lets talk wrestling sports entertainment. Miz v Ziggler. Bookies slashed the odds on a Ziggler win 45 mins before the show started, Miz winning made a lot more sense to me, I got bored and went and made a coffee. I came back just in time to see the end of the match and realised I had just dropped 5 points on the prediction league.
If Hogan had annoyed me, this did nothing to lighten the mood.
AJ v Paige though, I was ready for this. Not many divas matches grab my attention, but I wanted to see this match, the only two divas worth watching, a story built for about three months and AJ retaining her belt…. that will be another 5 points gone then. This was actually a great match, Paige looked as good as she ever has on TV, AJ matched her for effort, and right up until the end, I still held out hopes for a successful defence.
The despair at losing the ten points meant I decided to go meet with my friend Mr Alcohol, so I might be a bit fuzzy with the running order from here on in…
Next could have been Swagger v Rusev? seems like this is where it should go on the card, so lets go with that. I don’t really get this face turn for Swagger. He is racist when he hates any non American, unless that non American happens to pretend to be Russian, in which case Swagger and Seb become faces?
Americans believe in free speech, but hate anyone who claims Russia is better than the U. S. SAY.(quick Lana impression there, and anyone who didn’t like it can shut tup) So Swagger gets to turn face, and carry the hopes of a nation into battle as he does the only thing he could, and lose. Not sure if this is WWE making a political comment, or just chasing the cheap heat, but whatever the reason, the result was right.
This match also provided me with the happiest moment of the night. I totally expected the real Real American to make an appearance, tear down the Russian Flag, point at Rusev, big boot, leg drop and send the crowd into raptures. Seems Hogan will only do that if a title and some salt are involved. Whatever, it never happened, and that for me was the high point of the show.
Seth Rollins v Dean Ambrose anyone? Don’t mind if I do. The lumberjacks did exactly what they were there to do, ensure we never got a clean finish. Ambrose and Rollins pretty much ignored them until the end, and fought all over the arena, and genuinely looked as though they hate each other. Cracking performances from both, and if this match had gone ahead at Battleground, it may have saved a dreadful show. For Summerslam, it was better than average.
Stephanie and the twins v one of the twins… Duckman called this about a month ago on the mfx podcast, whichever twin turned heel, it made about as much sense as the Sanada heel turn 3 weeks ago on TNA. Done to try and shock the world, all it really achieved was adding to my predictions league score. Steph was pretty impressive considering, but again, at Summerslam, I expected a bit more.
Bray v Y2J. Now this is a strange one. I used to be a big fan of Y2J, but that was a long time ago. I am not sure what it is now, he never seems to have a really bad match, but he never does anything we have never seen either. His promos are a bit ‘samey’ although I believe he did a great job with Bray last week on Raw. Bray Wyatt has likewise lost some of his appeal. He seems to be moving away from Harper and Rowan, and that may just be the problem. As a cult leader, he is great, as a scary loner, not so much.
But this was another fairly disappointing match. Like Rollins/ Ambrose, I expected so much more.
And now the card gets saved…
Reigns V Orton was fantastic, although my buddy Stella might have had something to do with that. Both piled on the big moves, both countered well, and both really put on a show. In the back of my mind, I was thinking all the way through this that Randy might just have convinced Vince that he needed the win more. I know Reigns is the one getting the big push, I just think a loss really puts Orton firmly on a snake in this game where ladders really matter.
Orton may have to go away for a while now, and come back in a few months with a new angle. Reigns on the other hand looks like he is being built for Lesnar at Mania, certainly after last night, he would be the only credible contender for the belts.
Main Event time, and the tone was set for this match right after Mania. Hunter told the world this would be the reality era, and what we got was a match that reflected that. If the fight had been real, The Beast(and that name really should be changed) would have dominated Cena from start to finish. he would have thrown him around like a rag doll. And that is exactly what we got.
It is not often we see a squash match in the main event of a PPV, but that is essentially what this was. My only real concern is that WWE may see this as a chance to run a series of matches, where the plucky hero gets better and better before eventually overcoming the big bad monster, triumphing in the face of overwhelming odds, doing the unthinkable, pulling off a superhuman feat.
Lets face it, that is pretty much Cena’s career in WWE, so it is not unthinkable. I also find it hard to believe that WWE would do that to Cena last night without some plan in place to protect their biggest assett, and it will have to be a great plan, because last night reminded me a bit of Sting v Jeff Hardy in the 10 second match, and Cena may never recover any credibility unless something spectacular happens.
So what did last night really achieve? Well we now have a Bellas feud, we also know WWE is more than happy to be economical with the truth re the price of the network.Russia is better than America, Orton and Cena probably have holidays booked and Cesaro is as popular as ebola at the moment. Apart from that, not that much.
The show was OK when compared to other PPV’s this year, compared to other Summerslams, it was probably bang average.In the predictions league, the only matches I got wrong were the first two, and obviously they were high scoring matches. I look forward to seeing the updated tables very soon, and hope everyone who joined in this time had fun, and scored way less points than me.
And so the time has come to do my usual recommendations. SLTD Radio last week featured an outrageous claim by ‘the gaffer’ George, that he would basically stop any involvement with wrestling if Cena won. I suspect if Vince had been listening, he might just have changed the result to prove George wrong. If you want to listen to a wrestling podcast/radio show that you know Vinny Mac does NOT listen to, then SLTD radio is the place for you.
A special mention to Greg who has come up with a new banner for me and everyone else who writes regularly for SLTD, the eagle eyed cherries among you will have noticed a new version which arrived in the post last week, thanks to Greg and George for all the support they continue to give all the writers here at SLTDWrestling.com
We have articles going online on a regular basis, and most of them are written by people who do not watch wrestling while drinking/checking out facebook/flicking through the channels when they get bored. Some of them might have even watched Raw last week…
The mfx podcast is taking a week off to regroup after a marathon show celebrating the 100th episode, but that gives everyone the chance to go back and listen to their favourite episode. mine is episode 73.
And Twitter, which gives me the inspiration for my title this week, follow me don’t follow me, although anyone wanting to pretend its a Bray Wyatt reference can do so. @GrantCookDFC, the 200th person to follow me wins a mystery prize which may or may not be worthless.(it will be worthless)
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