A Pretty 'Okay' SummerSlam
Roman...disgusted in his own performance, holds back the vomit as the referee hands him the Universal Title. Courtesy of the WWE
By Matthew Klink (@klinkmatt)
August 20, 2018
I'm not pissed. I'm definitely not 'over the moon'. But, the most revealing comment I can make, about last night's SummerSlam, is that'll I'll be in front of my TV, at 8PM EST, to catch the start of this week's Monday Night Raw.
Coming off of another night of 5-star matches, produced by NXT, WWE tried their best to create interest and history. In what we, here at Brothers of Discussion, figured to be a big night (I mean, we threw a lot of work and content into this weekend), felt like we were left with the same amount of questions and confusion as we are after every Pay-Per-View. Roman Reigns winning the Universal Championship wasn't the problem this time. Just...some confusing choices when their were obvious ones staring them in the face.
And before I get into too many issues here, I want to stress that I had an good time last night. Unlike past Royal Rumbles and WrestleMania's, met with great hope and excitement, when I might have sworn off wrestling by the end of the night, I walked away from the SummerSlam party I attended...sort of...content. Just below overly satisfied. A maligned version of my post-Pay-Per-View self. But still...not unhappy.
The confusing thing for my brain is that some of the good, came as a result of some super bad. So, every time I wanted to be angry, something...a little better...was right around the corner.
Braun Strowman
Take for example the awesome presence of Braun Strowman at ringside for the final match of the night, Roman vs Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship. It was a good idea. Have Braun at ringside to (attempt to) get the fans interested in the match and prevent as much of a high-jacking as possible. It was also a great way for us to still be excited for a match that we had watched too many times before. I know it didn't end with Strowman holding the title, but the reason they did it makes sense and I can appreciate that.
So, we have to agree that the fun part was Braun coming out and threatening the potential winner of the Universal Title Match, of their eventual demise. So how did we get there? Braun Strowman's beating of Kevin Owens. Not just beating him in the match, but a very...VERY...convincing showing.
This is the result of getting bullied and beat up for months, by the Monster among Men. The same Kevin Owens that I predicted would win the Universal Championship, last night. The same Kevin Owens that I stated had yet to 'take a feud off' and was one hundred percent living the brand for the WWE. He played his character correctly, a year and a half ago, when he was quickly defeated by Goldberg, and was now due an opportunity to show his stuff again. Adding up the beatings from the last two months should have been enough to help build Strowman's character, but, apparently, one more beating was necessary.
It didn't matter that Kevin Owens draws actual heat (that the writers want opposed to 'go away' heat or 'we don't care' heat) or that the story line would have actually worked. Instead, the character of Kevin Owens was absolutely demolished by Braun Strowman. We now know Kevin Owens can't be in the main event picture, with the likes of Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman, because he can't last more than two minutes in the ring with them.
Its a befuddling decision because Kevin is such a great performer. Granted, I'm eating eggs because I thought for sure he was going to win, but I can't believe they didn't at least find a way for Owens to save some meager sense of integrity or strength.
Tossed aside like yesterday's garbage...
I'm not sure where Kevin Owens goes from here, but we all know he isn't winning the Universal Title any time soon. Thanks for trying though, Kevin!
Essentially, Braun had an interesting night, but at the high cost of burying the best heel in the business.
Becky Lynch
Another odd, roller coaster of emotion for me was the Becky Lynch/Charlotte Flair fiasco. Man...that match was aweoit was great seeing Becky vent a little frustration and take Charlotte to town after another sound defeat of a fan favorite (anyone remember Asuka? Or have seen her?)
That felt good...but the ending to the match didn't.
I'm not sure what goes through creative's heads when they book these types of matches. But I feel like it looks like this:
Creative Turd #1: "Well...why don't we have Becky attack Charlotte after she wins the belt? That way the fans won't be as upset."
Creative Turd #2: "Right! We don't want the fans going home upset! They'll remember Becky getting the better of Charlotte on that long drive home, instead of the fan favorite walking away in defeat."
Creative Genius: "Wait...that's dumb. Why don't we just have Becky win the title? The fans will be thrilled and we've already left them hanging for the last few Pay-Per-Views with Carmella winning. Then we don't have to do some odd...out of character silliness at the end of the match..."
Creative Turd #1 and #2 look at each other and then back at Creative Genius.
Creative Genius: "Right? Right...guys? Wait...what are you doing? What are you doing with that bag? Why are you holding me down? Don't put that bag over my head! No Wait! Wait! Wait! HUMPH MUMPH RMMPH WRPH"
Creative Genius is never heard from again.
Creative Genius needs to learn to keep his mouth shut.
So...don't get me wrong. I am still excited for Becky and Charlotte's feud going forward. I imagine Becky will eventually win the title at Evolution...right? RIGHT? Oh jeez...what am I doing? What am I saying? I don't wanna end up like Creative Genius! Right? I can't be that naive, can I? Well...all hail Charlotte Flair. The Queen of Pro Wrestling!
Seth Rollins and Ronda Rousey- What coulda been...
Another couple of matches that I predicted to go the other way were the Intercontinental Title match and the Raw Women's Championship match. I thought we were getting two different heel turns to end these matches to create new feuds for the fall. It might happen tonight on Monday Night Raw, but they both fell flat at the end as the victors pretty much celebrated victories and walked away.
Like I said, I can still see a future for both of these titles and their respective victors, Seth Rollins and Ronda Rousey. But there was definitely more juice in having their friends turn heel on them last night. Maybe it would've been silly to book the same thing in one night, but having neither of the predicted heel turns occur...felt very...'meh'.
Rollins wins, plays grab ass with Dean Ambrose for a minute and then Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre sulk away. With Rousey, she destroys Alexa Bliss and then goes on to celebrate with the Bella's and Natalya in the ring. Laughing, hugging, smiling. Just felt too good to be true.
I don't know about you and the people you watch wrestling with, but we were on the edge of our seats for the ending of both of those matches. With Ambrose trying to stay behind Seth, during Rollins celebration and then Rousey being outnumbered by three long time vets. It just felt so right.
So maybe this wasn't a great moment attempting to overshadow a horrible one, but it was a definite missed opportunity. Giving us a tease and then walking off really deflated the room of wrestling fans, for us. We sat back, grabbed our phones, and ate some more junk food.
Nakamura and Jeff Hardy
What was the point of this again? Oh right! Infuse Randy Orton into the title picture...so he can...appear for 20 seconds on SummerSlam and...remind us he exists? Jesus...none of this makes sense.
Unfortunately, like the other matches that came with a bit of reward after a long journey. This was the true 'Fart in the Wind' match. It stunk, but didn't linger. The writers really hate trying to be creative for Nakamura and this was more proof of that. I know Nakamura wants to get out of here and why wouldn't he? Sure, he's the US Title holder, but why does it matter when no one cares about your match?
I think we're all still waiting to see a match from Nakamura that is at the same level as his NJPW days or even his singles match with Sami Zayn at NXT TakeOver a few years ago. If they can't write anything interesting, at least give him 30 minutes in the ring to make magic. Give us something to look back fondly on!
The rest of the night
The rest of the night wasn't all bad mixed with some over-produced 'good'. I loved the return of Demon Balor, The Miz and Daniel Bryan was everything we could have hoped for, AJ Styles and Samoa Joe look poised for a beautiful feud, and the Universal Championship is going to be on TV again. YAY!
I'll be tuned in tonight. As will you.
Why?
Because we love drama. We love being angry and we crave happiness. Tonight should offer us a better glimpse of the future and even more of that on Tuesday. Let's cross our fingers that more happiness is right around the corner.
