All in all, Summerslam was a solid pay-per-view that should’ve better. Nothing was outright terrible (I can’t speak for the pre-show), but there was nothing on this show that I will remember outside of the
fantastic presentation of Bray Wyatt.
His match with Finn Balor was what it needed to be. A quick squash like bout that strongly put over his new dark character. Wyatt felt like a star because he was treated like one. Hopefully the company doesn’t ruin the strong momentum Wyatt has currently.
Bayley vs. Ember Moon was what I expected it to be. These girls worked really hard and produced a good little match; however, the crowd never cared once because WWE told their audience not to care during the buildup.
The problem with Moon is that I still don’t know who she is. This build up would’ve been a perfect time for the company to finally dive into her character. Moon isn’t the strongest female on the mic, so WWE could’ve run little documentaries finally defining her character and what her purpose is. The build up could’ve been akin to a big UFC fight. Not every feud needs to rely entirely on promos inside a ring each and every week.
Or, creative could’ve done a tournament for the Smackdown Women’s Championship leading up to the pay-per-view. For a company that emphasizes characters and storytelling, I don’t understand how they don’t see the wonders a tournament can do.
Multiple stories that can define numerous characters can come from one single tournament. It doesn’t simply have to be just about the winner. There’s no better example than the G1 Climax. A tournament could’ve finally highlighted Moon’s character and it might’ve made her a star in the process as the former NXT Women's Champion is a top-notch athlete.
Ricochet vs. AJ Styles was a good match with some cool spots, but this feud was booked wrong from the beginning. Styles and Ricochet shouldn’t have had their first showdown match until Summerslam. Styles’ heel turn could’ve been built-up more and Ricochet should’ve run through some challengers of the month before getting to Styles.
However, the match-up didn’t exactly make Ricochet look like a star either. This feud could’ve been like the Kevin Owens/John Cena matches, as Owens was designed to look tremendous during his bouts against the former WWE Champion. Hell, I remember Owens kicking out of three Attitude Adjustments and one of them was a Super AA.
Ricochet didn’t come out of this looking like a star and he does look like a dope for simply allowing Anderson & Gallows to interfere.
Back in 2017, Roman Reigns destroyed both Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas before his IC title match because of the constant interference on behalf of The Miz. I wish creative would book more of their babyfaces as smart like they did with Reigns in this moment.
Ricochet didn’t need to destroy the RAW Tag Team Champions since it would’ve buried them massively; however, he should’ve found a way to get the duo banned from ringside. Babyfaces can be brave and smart at the same time; They don’t have to be stupid like Ricochet, Owens, and Seth Rollins were this past week.
Speaking of Owens, his “match” with Shane McMahon didn’t highlight him in the best manner possible. The former Universal Champion should’ve expected Shane to pull some type of swerve. In fact, Owens could’ve beaten down both Elias and McIntyre during the pre-show to make sure they couldn’t interfere in his match-up with Shane.
Granted, Shane could’ve gotten more lackeys to help him, but at least Owens was taking charge to take care of Shane’s back-up. The match-up was also baffling for the fact that Owens kept arguing with Elias for no good reason. The former Universal Champion should be fine going forward; however, I do hope this is the last we’ll see of Shane McMahon for a while.
Kingston and Orton was fine until the weak finish. Since this isn't a one-and-done, Orton winning in a nefarious manner should’ve been the call here. Orton could’ve viciously attacked the champ as he was making his way to the ring. Determined not to give up, Kingston would’ve continued, but would ultimately lose due to the “injuries” playing a critical role. Then, Orton should’ve used the punt kick to take out Kingston in front of his family.
This opens so many layers for the Orton/Kingston feud. Kingston could’ve been out for months selling and returned as a series competitor looking for revenge against the new WWE Champion. Personally, I’m not a fan of the happy go lucky pancake throwing Kingston, so him dropping all the silly antics to be a serious competitor would help him tremendously.
The company could’ve always tried out Big E. or Xavier Woods as World title contenders while Kingston is off selling his "injuries". You can add Ali to that mix. Kingston could’ve come back at Survivor Series, The Royal Rumble, or WrestleMania, and recaptured the title, finally beating the man who’s held him down for years.
Instead, we’re most likely getting a repetitive combination of matches for the coming months between Orton and Kingston. It’ll be Styles/Nakamura or Miz/Daniel Bryan all over again. Hopefully, I'm wrong.
Everything else on the show was fine. Seth Rollins winning the Universal title was a must due to the story they were telling. The match-up was really good and it built-up to a nice ending. Rollins being champ again doesn’t do much for me, so hopefully his second title reign is booked with compelling feuds this time around.
Summerslam had so much potential to be a fantastic show; however, the problem is simply the booking, not the wrestlers. This was a solid show to watch; however, nothing outside of Bray Wyatt has me looking forward to what’s going to happen next on the main roster.