The US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota provided the venue and the atmosphere for Summerslam, and the crowd were feeling up for a stellar showcase over the two evenings.
WWE Women’s World Championship match – B-
Liv and Iyo have faced off countless times over the past few years and for good reason – they work exceptionally well together.
I don’t think this was their finest outing together but it was still a solid match. It’s hard to tell a new story against an opponent you’ve faced so often so they get a bit of a pass.
Iyo probably did the most work to make some memorable moments but that is typical for her. That’s not to say Liv doesn’t do anything this match, it just wasn’t her finest night.
Both women are champion material so I was happy with either outcome, but to be honest, keeping the belt on Liv is probably the right call for the state of the women’s division on RAW, which is to say it’s pretty light on main event stars.
Putting the belt on Iyo is always a good shout if there are solid contenders aiming for a title shot. She’s a good workhorse who can produce with anyone so she’s good in those situations.
Liv is very good at the heel-ish doing-things-on-my-terms role, and where the division feels like it needs to build up some new stars before introducing more title feuds, she’s the better shout for the champion.
That being said, there is a better case for a babyface champion as there is an abundance of heels on the roster at current. Hopefully there’s a good plan in place for either a Sol Ruca main event run, Bayley back at the top or an incoming Stephanie Vaquer return.
With all that said, this was a fine opener, nothing too crazy but nothing wrong with it either.
The Usos and Jacob Fatu vs. Royce Keys, Solo Sikoa and LA Knight – B-
I wasn’t really sure about this one going into it as it felt like a bit of a copout, lumping these three should-be stars on their own together to simply give this version of the Bloodline something to do.
There are some big positives to come from this though, mainly on the Keys-Sikoa-Knight side.
We all know LA Knight should be treated better and be competing at the top of the card every PLE, but now we’re seeing Sikoa getting towards the same level. His work both inside and outside the ring as of late has turned him from a solid heel to a fan favourite babyface, something which came across in this matchup.
As for Keys, this felt like he finally had been given something of worth, and he delivered somewhat, particularly when going against his longtime friend Jacob Fatu.
To me, this match suffered from high expectations. I didn’t know what to expect from it but these are six high-level performers who can put on a show. They just unfortunately didn’t quite live up to that.
I think going forward, there’s definitely a case for some solo outings. Keys and Fatu for sure need their own programme which can help elevate both of them, but as for the rest of them, the future is up in the air. There’s far too much talent but not enough available opportunity.
Money in the Bank is right around the corner so now could be the time to finally have Knight win it so he can be the champion we all have wanted for so long. But now I also want that for Sikoa, so it’s hard to pick.
Gunther vs Nick Aldis – B
I never watched any prime Magnus in TNA or NWA but I got the picture that he was a star in his day from this outing with one of the companies biggest players.
Coming out to a genuine Oasis track felt surreal in a way. In a crowd of plain Def Rebel tracks, it was nice to hear a real tune as an entrance.
I didn’t expect this to be a firestorm of a match. Three years out of the ring going against a guy who has procedurally put down a number of stars over the past 18 months, it was always a big ask of Aldis to pull out the victory here. To be honest, he shouldn’t have. Protecting Gunther is the number one priority right now.
The early stages were a lot of grapples, holds and chain wrestling, as you’d expect. It was a slower burner – maybe a bit too slow but, like I say, we weren’t thinking these two would reinvent the wheel here.
It picked up a bit and the finish was nice, Aldis walked away looking very strong and Gunther gave him his due flowers.
It will be interesting to see how these two interact now on Friday’s going forward. They have earned a lot of respect for one another so maybe we’ll see some kind of unspoken alliance.
Fatal Influence vs The Bellas & Paige – C
I don’t think I really have much for this match. It wasn’t a surprise at all, very formulaic which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but the night needed something to get it going and this did almost the complete opposite.
Fatal Influence was always going to get the win here, and the Bellas’ turn on Paige was as predictable as the weather in the UK at the moment. What’s it going to be tomorrow? Oh, sunny and unbearably hot, of course.
It almost seems weird to say that Fatal Influence was bigger than this feud from the start given that they’re fresh from NXT, but it has had this feel the whole time. It’s like they were the legends being used against this makeshift alliance so that their opponents can get to where they need to go.
We always knew the moment Nikki returned Paige would get the boot. I don’t know how they play this out now because Paige doesn’t have anyone else. Maybe she enlists the help of an old adversary, AJ Lee…
Undisputed WWE Championship match – A
Punk vs Rhodes. Finally. It felt a bit weird to me because I felt like these two have clashed far too much since Punk returned to the WWE, so to find out this was their first singles outing since their original runs was mind-blowing.
This was the war it had to be, not just to pick up the energy of the night but to also further justify the reasoning for the feud, because to me it felt a bit weak.
It suffered from the effect of having two faces so the crowd was backing both guys. The entrances of course got the massive ovation they always got.
Then they got underway and we’re straight into it. No easing into things, they went straight at one another.
The thing I admired the most is that they just got it. It didn’t feel like a standard Fed match. They incorporated the things they both learnt from their respective times away from the major promotions – some old-school moves with good use of fundamental pro wrestling.
Everything was nice but Punk going for the flying elbow from the top rope to Rhodes on the announcer table was mental. This guy shouldn’t be doing stuff like this anymore, but he just loves it this much that he’s still willing to put his body through this and the story demands this brutallity.
Then came the ref bump which we all know welcomes shenanigans. Both hit their finishers, obviously to no avail, then out of nowhere came a returning Randy Orton!
I’m very gassed about this because he went only for Cody, signalling that they want to run back their Wrestlemania clash, and hopefully this time they’ll get it right – they being TKO, who can just fuck off from it.
Anyway, Randy hits Cody with an RKO, winks at the hard cam and dips. Punk then gets up, hits Cody with a GTS, the ref awakens and counts the pin for Punk to retain.
I liked this a lot. It was exactly as it should be and I actually like it sometimes when a feud ends with the one match. It definitely won’t be it for good, but for now it’s perfect for them to go different ways, especially with Cody and Randy running it back.
Oba Femi Vs Brock Lesnar – A
The end of the trilogy that didn’t really need to be but I’m not mad that it happened.
Putting these two inside Hell in a Cell was a fitting finale, allowing them to absolutely wreck each other, which they most certainly did.
Of course it didn’t go long, no Brock match ever does, but neither should any Oba matches. They’re destroyers, they’re designed to get the job done within five minutes typically.
Oba started the fastest, cornering the hometown hero Lesnar and hitting him with blows. But Brock ate them like nothing and turned things around, showing exactly what we’ll be getting for this contest as he welcomed the Ruler to Suplex City.
Not that it did enough, though. Three German suplexes barely made a dent.
Things got taken to the outside and Femi sent Brock through a table that was propped UK against one of the cell walls. This would be a match ending sequence with any other competitors. With these two animals, it was nothing more than a transitional move.
That’s not a negative critique, by the way. I love the fact that it happened and Brock just got up not too long after. As he absolutely should, this is not a normal human.
And neither is Femi. Soon after recovering, Lesnar surprised his opponent by hitting him with three F-5s – surprise surprise, it still wasn’t enough.
So he got creative. Lesnar started ripping up part of the ring, taking back the canvas and then the soft padding to expose the wooden boards underneath. He hoisted up Oba one more time for a presumed F-5 before turning it into a Tombstone, paying homage to Taker, one of his greatest adversaries and the memorable match they had inside the cell once before.
I sometimes find it hard to watch a piledriver simply because it can go so wrong, but especially when it’s delivered by a guy who doesn’t usually do them, and DOUBLY especially when it’s a bag man on big man.
But Brock delivered it perfectly, he crossed the arms, and he got the TWO COUNT.
I popped hard for this. Femi kicking out after everything with that as the conclusion to it all. He’ll never lose again in the company.
Brock was in shock and this allowed one last burst of power from Oba, who hit the Fall From Grace and got the win.
The outcome was, to an honest, and inevitably. Brock was always putting Oba over. But it was all about how they got to the result, and this was near perfection. Femi took everything Lesnar had and some and came out the other side the victor.
And as the cherry on top, the embrace after the cage had lifted and Brock asking for a mic to put Femi over, calling him the future. We all knew it already, but this was essentially the stamp of approval that the company has their new Lesnar, a new beast that’s ready to terrorise and take whenever he pleases.
Oba won’t be beltless for much longer. He’ll have the gold around his waist before the year ends, and when he does, I don’t know who will dare go against him to attempt to take it away.
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