Reviewing the Review: Summerslam 2014

This one might not be as long as there’s almost always less to talk about with a show that I really liked. I’ve seen the Raw after Summerslam before writing this but there’s only so much that you can do about something like that. The show didn’t quite blow me away but I loved it when I watched live. Let’s get to it.

The pre-show match saw RVD beat Cesaro. The match was fine, but why in the world do you put Van Dam over if he’s going to be leaving soon anyway? Wouldn’t you want to have someone go over Van Dam to get every bit of value out of him before he leaves? Either way, the match was fine and Cesaro got to show off his freakish strength all over again.

Hogan hyped the Network to open the show. Nothing wrong with that as this was about getting people watching on regular PPV to switch over.

Ziggler took the IC Title from Miz. I’m fine with this as Ziggler’s pops are hard to ignore. No he doesn’t belong in the main event scene (especially with Lesnar on top now) but giving him the Intercontinental Title is fine. The fact that I was right about Ziggler starting to lose as soon as he got the title makes me shake my head though.

Brie did her serious promo about Stephanie. For the most part it was nothing, but this did throw in the line of Stephanie paying off the physical therapist. In theory that writes off the character and story, which seems to be the right idea as it went over horribly.

Paige beat AJ Lee with the Rampaige DDT to get the Divas Title back. I really liked this, as the whole division is such a joke other than these two. This was a physical, back and forth match with both chicks beating the tar out of each other until Paige pinned her with a really cool finisher. I could see these two fighting for years and I’d be fine with that. With the rumor of Charlotte being called up, there’s actually a glimmer of hope for the division.

Rusev beat Jack Swagger in a pretty good power match. They did a good job of false finishes with the possiblity of Rusev tapping, but at the end of the day putting Rusev over is the right call. They didn’t have Swagger tap out to save face in a smart move. Good stuff here, especially Lana’s legs. Colter got kicked in the head, likely writing him off TV, at least for now.

Ambrose and Rollins had a really good lumberjack brawl with everyone beating each other up as lumberjacks are supposed to do. They did the right thing here of letting them go crazy which is what Ambrose vs. Rollins should have been the entire time. The problem here though was Kane. Whenever he comes out he just drags things to a halt with his corporate nonsense. There comes a point where you need to drop some of the storyline stuff and just let there be carnage. People are waiting for these two to tear each other’s heads off but then you have Corporate Kane coming out to keep things settled. Drop it already, or at least get someone fresh in the role. I love Kane, but we’ve covered this. A lot.

Bray Wyatt went over Chris Jericho in the match that should have happened at Battleground. Both guys got in some solid shots and Bray hit Sister Abigail into the barricade and another in the ring for the pin. Bray looked dominant but it was far from a squash. The fact that Bray is still as over as he is gives me hope for him. I’m really not sure where they’re going with him but he needs to win another feud before moving up the ladder again.

Now we get to the second most talked about match on the card with Brie vs. Stephanie. There are two ways to think about this match. First of all, Stephanie (who can still rock the heck out of a tight leather outfit) is pretty clearly as good of a Diva as almost any ever. She worked a solid pace, her moved looked good, she worked the crowd, and didn’t look bad at any point of the match. Name one Diva who regularly does that. Like ever. The Divas division has been a joke for years but she was absolutely awesome here.

That being said, this brings us to the booking. Aside from people just not caring about the story (seriously WWE, no one cares. They just don’t) and Brie being so bad she needs a telescope to look up and see horrible, this story called for Brie to get her revenge over Stephanie. She’s been humiliated and beaten up, and then at the end of the day we see her get pinned when her sister turns on her.

Speaking of Nikki, this is another story where people just do not care. Why am I supposed to be interested in seeing the Bellas fight? The only thing I can think of is WWE wants to bring in the crossover audience from Total Divas, but it’s not worth getting on the nerves of your core audience. This story closed two Raws heading up to Summerslam (and opened the show after it) and the fans’ reactions have been nothing but bad. I agree that Stephanie has been awesome in this story, but she needed to do the job at the end. Have Nikki ruin Brie’s moment or something, but let Brie have the moment to give the fans something to smile at.

Video on some guy that won a contest and called himself Mama’s Boy. Next.

Roman Reigns beat Randy Orton in probably the biggest win of his career. This was what it needed to be booking wise, but I really didn’t like the match for the most part. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t make me drool over Reigns. The key thing here though was Orton hit the RKO and Reigns kicked out at two, hit both his finishers and got a clean pin.

There might be a rematch with Orton and then it’s HHH’s turn to do the job before Reigns wins the Rumble and fights Lesnar (in theory) for the title at Wrestlemania. It’s a simple story but if they do it right, Reigns can look great. He’s the kind of guy where the in ring stuff doesn’t need to blow you away. He needs to be a guy people get behind and buy as unstoppable, which is what seems to be happening.

This brings me to the main event, which is the most talked about match since Brock broke the Streak. This match was a squash with Brock basically no selling the AA and STF. Brock destroyed Cena for about fifteen minutes and then hit an F5 for the pin and the title. This is a risky move, but they left in enough backdoors to give someone else a chance to take Brock down. I mentioned this earlier but I might as well do it again.

The key thing here was Cena’s strategy. He charged right at Brock to start and got destroyed as a result. Look at the Punk vs. Lesnar match from last year’s show. Punk survived the opening onslaught and then used whatever shots he could to stay alive. Brock finally made a mistake and Punk was able to make a match of it. Cena on the other hand played right into Brock’s hands and lost at Brock’s own game. If you build off that, there’s a very interesting story to be told. It worked with Vader and Sting, it can work with Brock and anyone else.

Overall Summerslam was about as awesome as it could have been with nothing being bad and the absolutely right call at the end of the show. It wasn’t as good as last year’s show but that’s not a fair comparison. Everything worked and I had a great time watching it. It sets up a lot of stuff for the future and that’s something WWE really needs to do right now. Great show.

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18 Responses

  1. M.R. says:

    Am I the only one that wants to see Lesnar squash Cena again? Nothing against Cena, but the company is in dire need of a megaheel and Brock fits the mold.

  2. Jay H. (the real one) says:

    KB I disagree that nobody cares about the Brie/Nikki/Stephanie stuff. People are reacting to it like when Steph got arrested,Nikki’s Heel turn and getting You Sold Out Chants,Brie putting Stephanie in the YES Lock before Summerslam.

    Also it will be interesting to see how Brock/Cena at NOC differs from Summerslam. I don’t see Brock losing but should be a competitve Match this time.

  3. Jay H. (the real one) says:

    KB I disagree that nobody cares about the Brie/Nikki/Stephanie stuff. People are reacting to it like when Steph got arrested,Nikki’s Heel turn and getting You Sold Out Chants,Brie putting Stephanie in the YES Lock before Summerslam.

  4. Acuzzam says:

    So, Im new to wrestling, but I have a few predictions for the rematch:

    1. Lesnar wins but in a much harder match against Cena.

    2. Cena wins by a fluke, but he is exausted, Seth Rollins cashes in his Money in The Bank contract, Seth Rollins becomes champion.

    I can’t see they giving the title to John again, and I hope Brock does not destroy him again. If Brock destroys him again it make Cena look like a stupid jackass for issuing a rematch and having no strategy for a comeback.

    Maybe I’m just naive, you guys tell me, I’ve been watching wrestling since Wrestlemania XXX and I’m from a country where nobody watches wrestling, so yeah, I’m a noob.

    PS: Sorry for my shitty english.

    • Thomas Hall says:

      Welcome to the best sport in the world.

      Those are pretty solid predictions actually. I’d lean against Cena being a long term champion as well, but Rollins isn’t ready to be champion yet. Odds are Lesnar retains.

      Out of curiosity, and of course you don’t have to answer, but where are you from?

      • Acuzzam says:

        I’m from Brazil. =D

        My sports are wrestling and football (soccer for you guys).

        I really like Seth Rollins, so I just wanna see him as champion I guess.

        Thanks for answering man. You do great work here. Congratulations on the site.

  5. james gracie says:

    Summerslam sucked. I don’t know what you people are watching. And I cringe at the thought of Reigns getting this big push. It’s pretty obvious he was the 3rd best in the Shield

  6. Nodog says:

    I don’t think Brie is as awful in the ring as people says she is, the match wouldn’t have been as good as it was if Brie was not pulling her weight. Brie’s problem is she is a charisma vacuum and is therefore very hard to get behind and cheer for.

    The Divas division is far better than its been imo, people have an affinity for the Trish-lita era, but people forget that was the era of playboy pushes and the godawful diva search. Outside of them, there really wasn’t much of anything, VIctoria and Molly were good, but they were largely charisma-less. While the diva in-ring product is better now, the division is as a whole just isn’t interesting and therefore hard to care about.

    • Maw says:

      The point is that during that era, most of the divas could work a decent match and you had Trish and Lita blowing up the place everytime they went at it.

      • Nodog says:

        Only for like 2003 and first half of 2004 was the Divas division approaching good, once the diva search rolled around, things went downhill.
        The big problem now is Total Divas’s success, they can’t drop the dead weight from the division, because its mostly the dead weight that carries the show. It would almost be better if Total Divas failed, that way the dead weight could be dropped.
        Still the divas division on NXT is very good and there is hope for the future in that(and Total Divas will not last forever(.

  7. M.R. says:

    Judging by Brock’s presumed schedule, I see Cena winning the rematch by “outsmarting” Lesnar somehow.

  8. Ted says:

    Thoughts on the rematch kb?

    • Thomas Hall says:

      As in it happening? I have no problem with it. I would hope it’s a gimmick though, with I Quit being at the top of my list.

  9. Killjoy says:

    Well Cena is getting the rematch. My guess is the match will be much more even. Or else things will get boring in a hurry.

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