Hart Murmurs #148 at PWP Nation by Bruce Hart
Greetings This week I’d like to review, the WWE’s second biggest show of the year: SummerSlam.
Universal Title Match: Brock Lesnar (Champion) vs. Seth Rollins
Giving credit where credit is due, props to both Brock and Seth for rising to the occasion in this one, which should warrant serious consideration for match of the year.
To Brock’s credit, he dropped the strap right in the middle of the ring, with no contrived contingencies or technicalities, which should not only enhance Seth’s image, but also adds some respectability and credibility to the title, itself. I’m told that Paul Heyman, the new manager of RAW, had a lot to do with orchestrating the schematics for this one.
If such is the case, he deserves a lot of credit and it’s a good indication of things to come.
RAW Women’s Title Match: Becky Lynch (Champion) vs. Natalya
This match was also superb and exceeded most people’s expectations, with both women delivering hard-hitting, intense performances that thoroughly engaged the audience.
In the end, after close to twenty grueling minutes, Natalya finally tapped out to The Man, but probably gained more glory in defeat than for any most matches that she won.
United States Title Match: AJ Styles (Champion) vs. Ricochet
This match more than lived up to everyone’s expectations, with both bringing their A-game and rendering a spectacular, riveting performance.
Ultimately, AJ retained his belt, which reinforces his status as one of the WWE’s preeminent superstars, but the loss shouldn’t hurt Ricochet whatsoever, as he remains one of the most dynamic performers in the WWE.
WWE Title Match: Kofi Kingston (Champion) vs Randy Orton
This match had been eagerly anticipated, as both Randy and Kofi are among the top performers in the WWE and they more than lived up to everyone’s expectations, by rendering a hard fought, intense performance, with both bringing their A-game.
Most were expecting The Viper to go over in this one, but Kofi pulled off the the title retention, which certainly solidifies his status as one of the WWE’s top guns, while Orton deserves nothing but credit, for putting the business ahead of his ego.
Trish Stratus vs. Charlotte Flair
Prior to the match, there had been a fair amount of skepticism that Stratus – who’s now in her mid-40’s, might not be up to the formidable task of competing with Charlotte, who’s in her prime.
That didn’t prove to be the case though, as Trish, who was in great shape, delivered a terrific performance, more than holding her own against Charlotte, who, I might add, was at the top of her game.
Ultimately, to nobody’s surprise, Charlotte emerged victorious, but Trish deserves credit for rendering a superb farewell to arms performance in front of her hometown audience.
SmackDown Women’s Title Match: Bayley (Champion) vs. Ember Moon
The SmackDown women’s title match between Bayley and Ember Moon, while certainly not a classic by any means, nonetheless exceeded most people’s expectations, with both girls setting a pretty good pace and appearing to work hard.
While Bayley, who recently did a heel turn, seemed to be striving to make the fans hate her, she didn’t seem to be generating much serious heat. Perhaps she’ll benefit from the return of her former partner Sasha Banks, who has also been turned heel and sit seems probable that they may reunite, which might help her.
We shall see.
Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon
This match was okay, as both Kevin and Shane worked pretty hard and did some decent high spots.
The match, however, was seriously compromised by the WWE’s appointing Shane’s crony Elias to be the special referee, as his blatant rule breaking and assaults on Kevin constituted nothing but cheap heat and after a while made the whole thing hard to take the least bit seriously.
WWE Women’s Tag Team Title Match: Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross (Champions) vs. The Ilconics
All things considered, I wasn’t really expecting a five star performance in this one and it proved to be pretty much as I had expected.
In the end, Bliss and Cross – who seem to have pretty decent team chemistry, emerged victorious to retain the straps, which came as no great surprise since the Aussie tandem hadn’t really been setting the world on fire as the champions.
I can see some decent potential with Alexa and Nikki as the champions and can envision some potentially hot matches with the likes of the Kabuki Warriors or perhaps against the newly formed heel tandem of Bayley and Sasha Banks – all of which should add some flavor to the new women’s tag team division.
Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor
To be honest, I wasn’t all that impressed with this match – which never really seemed to get off the ground. I’m not sure if that was due to their styles being not all that compatible, or if Bray’s new persona – which seems to be a contrived and implausible combination of Papa Shango, the Boogeyman, Mankind and the early Undertaker, needs to be re-tooled.
In any case, even though Balor did his best to get Bray over, it didn’t seem to serve that purpose and appeared to be more of a contrived cartoon that even little kids aren’t taking the least bit seriously.
I still think that Bray has the potential to get over, but he needs to be doing more wrestling and to cut back on the illicit bullshit.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Goldberg
On paper, I thought this would be a pretty decent match, but it turned out to be little more than a squash job, with Goldberg destroying poor Dolph in less than sixty seconds.
Afterwards, for no perceptible reason, Ziggler demanded a second chance, and Goldberg destroyed him again, and then, one more time after that, which tended to make a fool out of Dolph and didn’t do much for Goldberg either.
I’m not sure what the purpose of the whole thing was, as it doesn’t appear that Goldberg is coming back and it seems to have diminished Ziggler’s stock considerably –none of which is what’s best for business.
That pretty much sums up my take on SummerSlam. Thanks for your ongoing support – I appreciate your feedback and comments and shall look forward to catching up with you all next time.
