WWE ThunderDome debuted on this show.
The visuals of it all are gorgeous. A large multi-LED set, LED light bars all over the place, and real fans display as far as the hard camera can see, which doubles as LED light bars for wrestler entrances.
And all it took was one hour for me not to worry anymore.
No one asked for the Amway Center, no one asked for a WrestleMania-sized LED light board set, and no one asked for lasers and pyro. There’s only one part of WWE’s visuals that is bad, and that is the abysmal camera work of Executive Vice President of Television Production, Kevin Dunn.
This guy makes too much money to completely bundle simple television production that is on one of the top 5 list of worst things about WWE. Of course, VInce gives the green light to everything, but Dunn has not used any of his influence for good.
I would love to see a great place again. It was honestly the only “back to normal” I got from this setup. Although it was soon removed by the many digital fans present. That was terrible. Rarely did I see any enthusiasm, and you did not even hear them respond to anything! WWE uses piped in crowd noise for the show! What was the point?
If they want this to succeed, there must be changes. I just do not trust this at the moment. The fans need better lighting, they need to respond, and we need to hear them. I was just interested in this from the perspective of fan reaction again, and I got none of it.
Yuck
Braun and Bray Wyatt had a number of interactions on this show.
First, The Fiend Vince McMahon interrupted at the beginning of the show, which was then interrupted by Braun, who was then interrupted by RETRIBUTION. Fiend blew by and disappeared as the lights went out.
Later, Bray Wyatt appeared in the Firefly Funhouse and presented Firefly Funhouse Theater – Huskus and Ramblin ‘Rabbit playing Braun and Alexa Bliss … this was terrible, but luckily it ended quickly. Suddenly, Bray stopped talking and Braun cheered him on. Fortunately, he did not burn down the Funhouse like any other evil bastard in the past.
So suddenly we are backstage and Braun and Bray brawling. Braun chokeslammed Bray from a loading dock, and the producers and referees ordered an ambulance to take Bray out of the arena and onto the hospital. They charged him, the ambulance started driving away, and then stopped and backed. The lights inside turned red, and De Fiend opened the doors and laughed at the camera to close the show.
I hate all this.
WWE has screwed up the Enemy and the Firefly Funhouse so terribly since Hell in a Cell last year. No longer is this gimmick special. The Funhouse, the puppets, and the main attraction, the Fiend, have been overbooked and abused.
I do not know what the involvement of Alexa Bliss is at the corner of the major event, nor do I know if it will turn me around and invest me. As of now, my feeling is that SummerSlam has got to be the end of this feud. It does not favor anyone. As for Braun, his entire run as Universal champion has left a lot to be desired. I do not know who will win and unfortunately I can not stand it anymore. I just want this to be over.
Beat the clock
Bayley and Sasha Banks were brought out by Corey Graves for an interview.
Graves asked the women if they would end their friendship and they said they are always on the same page. They go back and forth about who Asuka should face first, even though Bayley decided she would go on Raw first. Bayley said there was no one who could beat her on the same night, and Naomi interrupted and said they wanted them both. Graves rode a clock challenge to figure out who was going first and accept them.
Naomi started with Sasha, and they went 3:39. Naomi hit a nice cork breaker and springbok head, but Sasha was really up to her to try to keep the clock as low as possible. The bank statement did the deed, and Bayley immediately came in to carry Naomi and get a quick pin. However, it was not that Bayley got the quick pin here! Naomi hit the Rear View and confirmed Bayley.
That Sasha won the clock challenge and will get Asuka second at SummerSlam. Sasha’s face when Bayley lost … that was golden. I would love to see that this win means something to Naomi, but WWE does not like that the wishes of fans lie for them.
What I said on the Raw recap, however, I still stand by. I believe Bayley will lose, and then Sasha will lose “accidentally” as a result of Bayley’s involvement.
No DQ Loser Leaves WWE match
Sonya Deville. I love her.
She was pretty scared of herself a few days ago, and WWE pulled back the curtain, without mentioning it right away, by saying to Mandy Rose “it’s been a rough week” and that she put a lot of good and beautiful things together as best friends . She wanted to see the good in Sonya and still believes it’s there. She wants to put everything behind her and get back to where she was. It was a heartwarming promo that you could tell it came from the heart because they both went through a harrowing experience the other day.
How did Sonya react? First by SLAPPING the hell out of Dana Brooke backstage. Then she came out to the stage and said that Mandy was second guessing about her own match which she asked for, and that is no surprise. She knows that everyone knows that she does not care if she is bald, that she puts the ante up – it will now be a match with no disqualification Loser Leaves WWE. She realized she was sick of seeing Mandy’s face and someone had to go.
I can only imagine that it has an incredible amount of power for Sonya in particular to watch and be on television after what happened. She brought a raw feeling to this promo that struck differently than her other promos in the past.
I do not know what the loser city determination for is added, but if I had to guess, it is so that Sonya can take some time and maybe do a few other projects they want to do. It’s sad because I’ll miss her dearly, but I fully understand that sometimes you have to take a step back. I find it pretty clear who wins here.
The rest
Jeff Hardy def. AJ Styles – Styles is a fixed shower bag. When RETRIBUTION attacked at the start of the show, he took advantage and tried to injure Jeff so he could not qualify for the Intercontinental title. For half of the show, Jeff was shown into the coach’s room to watch, and was cleared to compete.
Throughout the match, Styles tried to get to that injured knee by hitting it on the forehead and using that knee in the Calf Crusher. Jeff was able to somehow fight from below and hit the Twist of Fate and Swanton bomb for the win. He talked about how much the title meant to him and his redemption and was played immediately offstage as he had just won an Academy Award.
The Artisten def. Lucha House Party – Lucha House Party and the artists are a great pairing. Cesaro is really great with his arsenal. Feels like he’s switching it up with several opponents. Lince and Metalik are crazy athletic, and I would not mind singles races for either of them, which judging from the end of the game, it could happen soon.
Big E def. Sheamus – Did anyone ask for meat? Because there was a lot of it in this game. Sheamus was reddish red at some spots of his body. I did not really understand how this game could go on after RETRIBUTION was attacked and everyone ran them off, whole and babyface. Sheamus lost through distraction, which is WWE’s favorite way to end games these days.
Speaking of RETRIBUTION … – The inconsistency of reserving WWE continues to stop all the good that this group could do. Last Monday, they attacked the production show and forced a commercial, then disappeared for the rest of the show. Last night they attacked Braun and escaped a beatdown from a locker room, flashed the lights for Sheamus and Big E’s match, and were then off for the rest of the show. It will take a lot for me to really care for her. I do not have much confidence in WWE to do that.
SmackDown has not been great the past few weeks, and I thought it would reverse. I sat down with a bigger production, shot the same way Kevin Dunn shoots things up, and made very dubious booking decisions to characters I once liked. Let’s see what happens on Sunday.
Quality: C
What are your predictions for SummerSlam, Cagesiders?
