WWE SummerSlam 8.19.18 "Lesnar vs Reigns IV, Let The Coronation Begin"

[Mantis Toboggan M.D.]

Pros:

No more Brock holding the main event of Raw hostage, meaning those matches and the title can mean something again and there is room for upward momentum again

Alexa didn't get to dominate Ronda for the whole match like she did against Nia

The ruthless crowd reaction to Charlotte's tears

AJ/Joe still having the juice between them

Miz winning like a territory era heel in 1987

Show actually ended at 11 instead of dragging on another 30-45 minutes


Cons:

Ending two title matches in DQ, particularly egregious in the WWE Championship match that was building to a hot finish (even though it was on in the middle of the show) and AJ is just coming off of a 4 month feud where all of his matches ended in bullshyt to keep the feud going for another PPV.

Multiple full on squash matches. Save that shyt for TV, if the best you can come up with is killing a dude in 90 seconds on PPV, don't book them on the PPV. The Ronda/Bliss squash was fine and made sense, but KO getting absolutely destroyed by Braun for the like 5th time in 2 months was pretty bad because it does nothing for either guy, and I'm pretty sure KO got a concussion from the ramp chokeslam. Balor bringing back the demon not for the Rumble, not for WM, not for multiple IC title matches, but for a squash match against "Constable" Baron Corbin who wears a button down and vest in the ring?

Jeff Hardy, who has done interviews talking about how his body is so fukked up he's stopped doing the swanton on house shows in an attempt to extend his career a little, does a swanton on the apron for no apparent reason, in a mid card title match that meant nothing to anyone, right after his brother was quietly retired by the company for his own fukked up body.

The Bellas getting multiple segments despite not even being active talent anymore. They've both wrestled once in a year+ and it was in the Royal Rumble.

So many talents were missing from the show. It's the second biggest show of the year. Missing from the card: Lashley, Roooooo, Bray Wyatt, The Bar, Asuka, Jinder, basically the entire women's roster on both sides, of course the cruiserweights, Rusev (who was in a WWE Championship match at the last PPV) and Almas on the pre-show.

Wait, Matt is retired now? I just thought he was considering it.

 

[JerseyBoy23]

Do people who wrestle on the pre-show even get paid the same as PPV participants or would the be better off chilling in catering and not taking extra bumps?

 

[JerseyBoy23]

After thinking about it overnight my biggest issues with the PPV were,

1. This is arguably the 2nd biggest PPV of the year and almost NONE of the wrestlers acted like it. Guys walked to the ring and performed as if it were a random Raw/Smackdown. Finn tapped into his Demon character..but where was that sense of urgency and desperation from the rest of the roster?

2. There was zero heat in most of the matches. I haven’t followed NXT for over a year but I was fully invested in the Gargano/Ciampa match because it told a great story and you felt how badly Gargano wanted to kill him. Compare that with Bryan/Miz which is a feud that goes back years and it didn’t feel nearly the same. Maybe the dead crowd played a part but there wasn’t a lot to get excited about

3. This was a transitional show to HIAC. The stage is set for some amazing rematches with Joe/AJ, Charlotte/Becky, Bryan/Miz etc but I thought SS was supposed to be the culmination of programs?

1. Even though I hated the result, Roman's character was super urgent in trying to get dispatch Brock early on.

2. This is gonna be a problem at every big 4 PPV because the doors open up a 5:30 so by the time 8:30 rolls around, some of them have been there for 3 hours already.

3. I agree with you, truth is in the 9.99 era they only treat Mania special, while Rumble and Survivor Series have gimmicks attached so they're not treated special but the gimmicks cover up for it.

 

[stro]

Wait, Matt is retired now? I just thought he was considering it.

He's no longer active and they've moved him to an agent/creative role. He's not officially retired, but neither is Christian

 

[SalamiAttack]

 

[CJ]

The Big 4 IDEALLY should be where feuds are resolved but...for whatever reason, they wanted to go Rusev in July instead of Joe. They could've started @ ExtremeRules and resolved last night...but fukk it, Joe and AJ might be building towards a classic program. I enjoyed the finish last night. BRING DQ's and COUNTOUTS BACK TO PAYPERVIEW!!!!!

Co-sign this 100%. As much as I just roll with the fukkery (mainly because of TSC) this is where I think I'm still a little old school.

When a Big 4 PPV comes around I feel that's where every match should end the feud, particularly with a clean finish. Especially given that it's going to be the most watched for the quarter. I could care less if D-Bry gets his win back at some bum ass September PPV. May as well just wait until Rumble or Mania for that, lol.

Can sprinkle one shock value ending (surprise squash, heel/turn or chaotic/fukkery finish) somewhere in there to get the Internet talking overnight. We got all of them, and repeatedly

 

[gdatruth]

damn read somewhere that Charolotte has most woman title reigns WWE history

it was reported that was the reason that she kept flip flopping with Sasha
but thats crazy that she is already the most decorated woman's wrestler in wwe history

only thing vince loves more than a white, blonde is a white, blonde, legacy
addmitedly its unfair to continually lump Charolatte & Rhonda with Mella & Bliss but vince has a type

how white blonde chicks have been NXT champ? Only charolatte?

 

[ADK]

damn read somewhere that Charolotte has most woman title reigns WWE history

it was reported that was the reason that she kept flip flopping with Sasha
but thats crazy that she is already the most decorated woman's wrestler in wwe history

only thing vince loves more than a white, blonde is a white, blonde, legacy
addmitedly its unfair to continually lump Charolatte & Rhonda with Mella & Bliss but vince has a type

how white blonde chicks have been NXT champ? Only charolatte?

I really think they're trying to give her her fathers 16x champ thing. Maybe not that number but a female equivalent.

 

[g-ice]

damn read somewhere that Charolotte has most woman title reigns WWE history

it was reported that was the reason that she kept flip flopping with Sasha
but thats crazy that she is already the most decorated woman's wrestler in wwe history

only thing vince loves more than a white, blonde is a white, blonde, legacy
addmitedly its unfair to continually lump Charolatte & Rhonda with Mella & Bliss but vince has a type

how white blonde chicks have been NXT champ? Only charolatte?

I can't think of many outside of CHHHarlotte that won it over at NXT. Hell, honestly she may be the only one.

 

[gdatruth]

I really think they're trying to give her her fathers 16x champ thing. Maybe not that number but a female equivalent.

she is already tied with Trish
pops tied with Flair

there are some parellels between Trish/Cena

 

[Dreamzeedream]

Wait, Matt is retired now? I just thought he was considering it.

He's taking time off to heal. But they are training him as a producer for the future I think

 

[FooFighters]

Ronda couldn't even hold Sherri's granny panties

 

[FooFighters]

I can't think of many outside of CHHHarlotte that won it over at NXT. Hell, honestly she may be the only one.

Sasha
Asuka
Bayley

 

[CBoz]

she is already tied with Trish
pops tied with Flair

there are some parellels between Trish/Cena

Main roster she is tied with Trish, if you count the NXT women's title she has 8 reigns and the WWE record.

 

[GoddamnyamanProf]

I'll take your word on this. I still would have preferred Miz win clean, to give him a real "Miz can actually go toe to toe with DB" so the rematches will mean more than "he only won because he cheats he really not on DB level". There's plenty of ways to continue feuds without the "run it back cuz he cheated" excuse.

Miz beating Bryan clean would make no sense. He's a delusional, shyt-talking heel that gets by on sneaky shyt and then rubs it in the more talented guy's face. Having him actually outwrestle and beat Bryan ruins both characters and the story, both kayfabe and irl.

Charlotte didn't really need to win the title for Becky to turn heel,

This looks like they just gave Camella the title because Charlotte had to get her t*ts redone..

That's exactly what they did.

Right

It should've been a fukkery finish where Becky has Carmella in the dis-arm-her, Charlotte hits the Natural Selection on Becky, Carmella kicks Charlotte and Mella steals the victory. Then, Becky turns on Charlotte because her fears had been realized that she would've beaten Carmella but Charlotte got in the way. It would've made more sense .

Why would you keep the belt on Carmela? She got a first trial run while Char was out recovering because they didnt want to do anything with Asuka for some reason. She made the most of it but now especially with Evolution coming up the belt should be used in a big Becky-Charlotte program.

Did you hear the crowd? That wasn’t a heel turn but if the WWE thinks they’re gonna try to legit turn Becky heel and the crowd will rally behind Charlotte, they’re in for a rude awakening.

I'm actually looking forward to seeing how Becky handles trying to be a heel, could be fun But if that doesnt work, I imagine it'd be pretty easy to do a double turn.