One night after the most anticipated wrestling show of the year, comes one of the biggest - and more bloated - shows you could imagine. 10 matches in the PPV, with 3 more in the pre-show. That's a lot of wrestling. Is any of it going to be any good? Who will win? I'll guess about those things and more.
Pre-Show
Rusev and Lana vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas and Zelina Vega
My march to being wrong begins with this match. I was right about it being a fun match, but wrong about the winners. Not only did Cien and Vega win, they did it without any interference from Aiden English.
Cedric Alexander vs. Drew Gulak for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship
As expected, this was very good, even if there was a bit of a flub near the end. And my expectations were shattered again, as Cedric retains the title after a fast series of pin attempts.
The B-Team (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel) vs. The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship
And so, my predictions go 0-3 in the pre-show, in an almost impressive display of prediction incompetence. Revival dominated this match, and had the pin, with the official looking elsewhere.
Main Show
Dolph Ziggler (with Drew McIntyre) vs. Seth Rollins (with Dean Ambrose) for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Oh, hey! I was actually right on the money! This was amazing! The Dean and Drew interaction was interesting, their interference was minimal, and Seth is back to being Monday Night Rollins! This match got the time it deserved, and had that amazing top rope reverse superplex into a slam thing that was incredible. One again, Seth is playing on an entirely different level. No one turned on anyone, though. Yet, anyway.
The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) vs. The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston, and/or Xavier Woods) for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship
Well, this wasn't bad! Certainly the Bludgeons best match since the re-debut. And they did lose, but not the title, as they get the intentional DQ. This was the first time the Bludgeons got to actually wrestle, including selling their opponents' moves, like you're supposed to do. I don't blame for not doing it previously, though. It's entirely on booking, to my mind. Being allowed to work did expose the large difference between the two bludgeons. Harper is GREAT. Rowan is also there.
Braun Strowman (MITB holder) vs. Kevin Owens for the Money in the Bank contract
I usually like being right, but I hate being right about Strowman winning, and hate even more that it was a squash.
Carmella vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship
Welp, the general expectations were right, with Charlotte winning and Becky turning. But I don't think the folks in the back expected this crowd reaction. Becky started the night as top babyface in SD's women's division, and ended it as an even more popular babyface. Knowing WWE, they're probably gonna forge ahead with their plans. But they should swerve. They should make Charlotte the heel. The match itself, before the misjudged ending, was really great. Gotta hand it to Mella, she really held her own!
AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe for the WWE Championship
This was great, with terrific storytelling and athleticism, until the end, where Joe had that killer "I'll be your daddy" line, leading to the Styles meltdown, with the chair and the disqualification. Which... it was kinda awesome, but also kinda terrible, because I wanted an actual conclusion. Joe did win, but the DQ win gains him nothing.
Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz
This was exactly what it should have been. A super hot match, which Miz won by cheating. I'm glad to see this is going to continue, because these guys are great opponents, on the mic and in the ring.
Finn Bálor vs. Baron Corbin
Yeah, I think this feud is over. Regular Finn is better than Corbin. Demon Finn is a LOT better than Corbin. This was an absolute squash. I think Finn's entrance may have been longer than the match, and I absolutely loved it. It was just so satisfying.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jeff Hardy for the WWE United States Championship
The faces they made early were amusing, and then I kinda lost interest. But hey, Shin won clean, and Orton waited until after the match to show up and... not do anything? I mean, okay. I like as little Randy Orton as possible.
Alexa Bliss vs. Ronda Rousey for the WWE Raw Women's Championship
This was awful. Everything Ronda does looks real. But not in the good way. Everything she does looks like it's going to legit injure someone. Also, this is the booking Nia should have gotten against Bliss.
Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship
The defining chant of this match was "you both suck". But once Roman pinned Brock, the relief in the arena was palpable. Finally, wrestling's long nightmare is over.
Overall, SummerSlam was a good show. Better booked than expected.