Drew McIntyre versus Randy Orton headlines.
WWE
Many things happened at SummerSlam, including the coronation of The Fiend as Universal Champion. But the big news of the night was a surprise: Roman Reigns returned to the main event, spared the madness from The Fiend and destroyed Braun Strowman. SummerSlam’s tagline was “You’ll never see it coming” and I was embarrassed to admit – I did not see this coming. It probably all leads to WWE’s next pay-per-view, Payback, that takes place on Sunday. I know, it’s crazy.
It capped from a mixed show. The WWE Championship game was excellent, and saw Drew McIntyre retain over Randy Orton. Asuka won the Raw Women’s Championship in another strong match. The other key match was Dominik Mysterio against Seth Rollins in a street fight, which ended with Rollins crushing Dominik with a curb.
Everything else on the show was average, including the disappointing SmackDown Women’s Championship match between Bayley and Asuka and the WWE match of Loser Leaves between Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville.
For full SummerSlam results and analysis, scroll down below.
The Enemy wins the Universal Championship, is assassinated by Roman Reigns
“The Enemy” Bray Wyatt defeated Braun Strowman in a car accident from a Falls Count Anywhere race to win the Universal Championship. Roman Reigns then returned, speared De Fiend and destroyed Strowman with a chair.
The championship game itself was all big moves. It started with The Fiend hitting a urangage on Strowman. The two landed outside, with Strowman hitting The Fiend through the barricade. He then tried to hit De Fiend through the table of the announcer, but it did not break. Back in the ring, he hit his running powerslam for a two count.
They then went backstage, where The Fiend Strowman was planting with a sister Abigail. Two counts. They brought back to the ring, where they continued to ride on each other with great treks. Strowman got a box cutter and cut the ring mat, exposing the wooden planks below.
The Enemy beat him with another uranium and two Sister Abigails to win the title.
Rating: 3.25 stars. Little psychology, a lot of influence.
Drew McIntyre Pins Randy Orton
Drew McIntyre is still WWE Championship. After an excellent match, he picked Randy Orton with a rollup.
This was the opposite of the previous Rollins / Mysterio game. There were no spectacular spots, but a lot of fantastic wrestling. From start to finish this was smooth, good pace and intense.
It started with Orton playing mind games, and McIntyre evaded by standing outside the ring. McIntyre would be frustrated, and Orton would benefit. The RKO and Claymore were both placed early. It turned out to be a very strong back-and-forth. Orton hit a suplex on the announcement table, locking McIntyre in Figure Four as a nod to Ric Flair. Orton die is patented middle part DDT, McIntyre turned a tree of weave into a suplex and scored a clothing line of top cables.
Both men bled profusely, and both men worked incredibly hard. The finish was great because it was a clean pin, but not a definitive one. McIntyre won, but not decisively enough that a rematch makes no sense.
Rating: 4.25 stars. This was great, and I’m excited to see the rematch.
Asuka wins Raw Women’s Championship
Asuka outscored Sasha Banks to win the Raw Women’s Championship in by far the best game of the night so far.
The match followed the story from the opening match. Asuka’s leg was injured, so Banks went away for that. Just a moment in, Banks dropped a flashing solar-powered powerbomb at Asuka from the fork to the ground. However, the highlight of the match came when Banks and Asuka kept trading submissions – from Asuka Lock to Banks Statement, back and forth – leading to some astonishingly false finishes.
The actual finish came when Bayley tried to intervene, but grabbed a spinning forearm from Asuka. Banks tried to work the distraction, a mirror of the finish of the Bayley game, but Asuka serves in the Asuka Lock for submission.
Rating: 3.75 stars. Great start to end, if only it were longer.
Seth Rollins Pins Dominik Mysterio
As for the first matches, this was an excellent one for Dominik Mysterio. But as for the SummerSlam matches, this was too long, and had a little too much smoke and mirrors. With that said, the finish was stunning: Rey Mysterio was caught with the shackles on the ropes (some of the smoke and mirrors I mentioned), and watched as Rollins stoop knocked Dominik for the three counts.
Unlike Rey who was in handcuffs, this street fight also saw a comedy by Rey’s wife, Murphy’s interference, the widespread use of kendo sticks, and a place where both Dominik and Rollins were dragged through a table.
But the wrestling itself was average. It had to be: this was Dominik’s first match. Rollins is great, and Dominik did it super well, that was certainly not it min. It felt like a lot of filler between spots. It would have been stronger with a third of its length cut. That said, Dominik Mysterio will clearly be awesome.
Rating: 3 stars. Would have been better short, and certainly responded with a live audience to Dominik’s debut.
Mandy Rose defeats Sonya Deville
The WWE ThunderDome has introduced audio to replicate the sounds of a live audience. This match benefited greatly from that, because I’m sure it would have died for a lot of people. Mandy Rose got the win after hitting three running knuckles on Sonya Deville and then planting Deville with a family tree-face buster.
These two women worked hard, but it ended up being sloppy and a little boring. It was a no disqualification match, which ultimately meant breaking a lot of roundabouts, but not much in the way of spectacle. After the attack, Michael Cole bledingly states that Deville should not leave WWE, and struggles to care.
One side: It felt like this game was designed to show a tough side to Mandy Rose. That is a legitimate redemptive quality here, because it serves the purpose of the bolt. It was not exciting to watch, but it did succeed eat.
Rating: 1.5 stars.
Street wins hold Raw Tag Team Championships
Kevin Owens was out for comment for this match. Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins got the W after Ford hit a cruel Frog Splash on Angel Garza, who was with Andrade.
This match was a bit disjointed at points, but it was a solid tag match. Dawkins is a freak of an athlete, which makes it fun to see how he basically does everything. Andrade is an underrated performer, and was another highlight.
It started with Ford gaining the upper hand over Garza, but the bad guys quickly turned things around by doubling down and defeating Ford. Things picked up when Dawkins got the hottag and cleared the house. He had a strong – but too short – exchange with Andrade. Eventually, Andrade would be distracted when Zelina Vega was hit from the lead, allowing the Street Profits to get the pin on Andrade.
Rating: 2.5 stars. A simple but decent game.
Bayley beats Asuka
The main show began with Asuka’s first championship chance when she took Bayley to the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Bayley would eventually be saved by securing a rollup following Sasha Banks’ interference.
It was not a particularly good match. The story is that Bayley, towards the end, put the hurt to Asuka’s knee. This started with Bayley first throwing Asuka with the knee in the disc. They then followed up with some leg-based proposals. After the game, Banks and Bayley continued to beat Asuka.
In other words, this match was a warm-up for the Asuka versus Sasha Banks for the Raw Women’s Championship. That will probably be the better bolt. Bayley and Asuka do not really click here. There’s also the problem of Bayley’s misdeeds, which are often unconvincing. This was noticed here, where she applied some weak-minded “subject attitudes” that poor Corey Graves had to try to explain (“it’s a knuckle, sort of, but she doesn’t have it all …”)
Rating: 2.5 stars.
Apollo Crews holds championship in the United States
Crews defeated MVP in a short contest to retain his U.S. title. He punched MVP after a spinning powerbomb.
