Welcome to the much anticipated Summerslam PPV as they come live from Brooklyn at the Barclays Center. This year the PPV will be 4 hours, which is the first time because they only do it for WrestleMania. With a successful NXTTakeover: Brooklyn the night before, that featured a MOTY candidate with the Sasha Banks and Bayley match, let’s see how things fared with the Summerslam PPV.
After Jon Stewart opened the PPV to get the crowd hyped up, he introduced Mick Foley and they had a little fun before the opening match, which was Randy Orton against Sheamus. They have faced each other countless times over the years and they always deliver with their matches, this was no different. As expected, they basically beat the hell out of each other and during the match, Sheamus went for his shoulder block from the apron, but was met with an RKO. He avoided the pin by rolling to the outside, but he later got his composure and hit a couple of Brogue Kick for the win. Winner: Sheamus
Match Rating: 3/5- Pretty good opening match between these two and the crowd was really into it.
Now it’s on to the Fatal Four Way match for the WWE Tag Team Championship as the Primetime Players defended against the Lucha Dragons, Los Matadores and the former champs, New Day. Coming into this match, I really didn’t have any expectations because these teams have been facing each other one way or the other for the past few weeks, but I was wrong. All teams got some really good offense in during the match and there were several spots throughout the match. How strong is Titus O’Neil? During the final sequence, he slammed three guys from the top rope and hit his finisher on one of Los Matadores, but Kingston done a sneak tag on Titus after he slammed the guys to the mat and Kofi scored the pinfall for his team and now they’re the 2-time tag champs. Winners and New Tag Team Champions: New Day
Match Rating: 3/5
This feud has been going on for weeks now, but Ziggler was out due to being injured by Rusev. During the weeks Ziggler was gone, they humiliated and beat on Lana until the past edition of Monday Night Raw, when Ziggler returned and set up this match. As far as the match, this was a pretty good match and we also saw Summer Rae & Lana go at it also. In the end, the match ended with a double countout and they continue to fight until they’re pulled apart. Winner: Double Countout
Match Rating: 2.5/5
The feud between Stephen Amell and Stardust has been going on for months on Twitter, which resulted in Amell showing up on Monday Night Raw a few weeks back. While Amell was sitting in the audience, Stardust came down, got in his face and eventually pushed him down, which prompted Amell to jump the barricade and attach Stardust. Afterwards, Amell was being taken out of the building by security until Triple H confronted him and Amell said he wanted a match, which Triple H gave him. As far as the match went, I was actually surprised at his abilities and he couldn’t have had a better partner in Neville. After Amell hit a splash from the top rope onto the outside, he threw Barrett in the ring and Neville hit the Red Arrow for the win. Winners: Stephen Amell & Neville
Match Rating: 3/5
Now it’s time for the triple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship as Ryback defended his title against the Big Show & Miz. Honestly, I didn’t have any expectations for this match before the PPV because the Big Show shouldn’t be fighting for the IC title and I don’t know what’s up with Miz lately. On the other hand, Ryback has improved immensely and in the end, he picked up the win after the Big Show knocked out Miz, Ryback clotheslined Show over the top rope and covered Miz for the win. Winner and Still Intercontinental Champ: Ryback
Match Rating: 2.5/5
Here’s one of the matches I was looking forward to as Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose faced Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper. This feud really started when Wyatt cost Reigns the Money in the Bank briefcase, which lead to match between the two and Harper interfered on behalf of Bray Wyatt. The next night, Dean Ambrose inserted himself in the feud by coming to the aid of Reigns. This match was really good and the crowd was into it from the beginning and as expected, it was really physical between these four. In the end, Reigns & Ambrose picked up the win after Ambrose countered Sister Abigail with Dirty Deeds, then Reigns hit a spear for the win. Winners: Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns
Match Rating: 3.5/5
This is probably the match I anticipated the most because I didn’t know the direction they would go as WWE Champion, Seth Rollins took on U.S. Champion, John Cena in a winner take all match. This was a great match, as expected between these two with both of them pulling out all the stops. They both worked their asses off and kudos to Cena because he’s still working with the repair nose and Rollins looked like a young HBK in the ring nowadays. In the end, Jon Stewart got involved and hit Cena with a chair and Rollins hit the Pedigree for the win. Winner: Still WWE World Champion and New United States Champion Seth Rollins
Match Rating: 4.25/5- What a match!! I’m cool with Stewart getting involved and this cements Rollins as that dude in my opinion.
Now it’s time for the divas elimination match as Team Bella faced Team PCB & Team B.A.D to see who the dominant faction in the WWE is. Honestly, I really wanted the Divas title to be defended here and rumor has it, Cena pretty much wants his girlfriend to break the record of A.J. Lee and I understand, but at least defend the belt. This match wasn’t bad and the crowd was really into it, but it seems like Sasha Banks didn’t get a lot of time, but that could her being worn out after the great match she had with Bayley the night before. In the end, Becky Lynch picked up the win for her team with the Bex-Plex on Brie Bella. Winners: Team PCB
Match Rating: 3/5
This was the 2nd most anticipated match of the night for me as Kevin Owens took on Cesaro. These are two of the best wrestlers in the WWE right now and I was intrigued to see how Owens would perform after his brutal ladder match the night before. As expected, the match was really physical, but I was surprised with how the crowd wasn’t as into this match, but it could’ve been fatigue. These two put on a really good match, but in the end Owens caught Cesaro with the Pop-Up Powerbomb for the win. Winner: Kevin Owens
Match Rating: 4/5
Finally, it’s main event time as we have Brock Lesnar taking on the Undertaker. I was really skeptical about how healthy Undertaker would be coming into this match and who would actually win this match also. The match itself was awesome and Undertaker looked great, which I was really surprised, but they say he’s been training really hard, but he is 50 years old. The match had everything from throwing blows, low-blows, suplexes, Lesnar putting Undertaker through the announce table and a little bit of everything. The crowd was really into the match, but it ended in controversy because Lesnar had Undertaker in the Kimura Lock and Undertaker was tapping, but the referee was on the other side and didn’t see it. Later on, Undertaker put Lesnar in the Hell’s Gate, while in the hold Lesnar flips off the Undertaker before passing out and Heyman is irate, as Undertaker is announced as the winner. Winner: Undertaker
Match Rating: 4/5- I’m cool with the ending because it doesn’t make Brock look bad and it opens the door for a rematch down the road, if they go that route.
Overall Rating: 7/10- This was a pretty damn good PPV with a lot of actions and I can’t believe they pulled off the 4 hours also. The matches of the night had to go to Cena/Rollins, with Undertaker/Lesnar and Owens/Cesaro right behind them. There were no bad matches in all; just some questionable booking, but I’ll see how things play out in the coming weeks or the next night on Monday Night Raw.
How would you rate the Summerslam PPV? What were your highlights and lowlights of the night? What was your match of the night? Head to the comments below and let me know what you thought about the Summerslam PPV.
