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 Third Edition Now On Sale (Updated All-Time Rankings, New Entries, Plus the "Wine Cellar" Section); Click to Order Follow @TheDocLOP QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you think you will remember most about Summerslam 2016? For a second straight year, WWE did a good job of making Summerslam seem like WrestleMania Lite. Unfortunately, for a second straight year, they also ended the show on a low note better reserved for an off-brand PPV than the second biggest event of the year. To add to the unfortunate list, they also decided to push the upper limits of the modern attention span with a show that lasted well over four hours when you take into account relevant pre-show happenings. Six straight hours of wrestling is way too much for me. Knowing that to be the case, I half-heartedly glanced at some of the pre-show and did not really start paying attention until Match 1 in the Best-of-Seven series between Cesaro and Sheamus. I typically do not watch the pre-show at all, but I wanted to see their match. Rumblings on my social media pages suggested a dissatisfaction with Cesaro's position, but if there was going to be something for him to do on the fringes for a bit, then I can think of but a few options that would be more gratifying than seeing him wrestle a “series” with the Celtic Warrior. Sheamus and Cesaro have shown great chemistry over the years and they continued to display it in the pre-show's main-event. A “Best Of” is not a typical gimmick for WWE programming, but the most fascinating thing about it is the manner in which the wrestlers build off the previous matches throughout the series. I now have a reason to care about matches between Cesaro and Sheamus; and I couldn't say that before tonight. Their match unofficially kicked off Summerslam for me and I very much enjoyed it (*** ¼). It worked out better for me to view Sheamus-Cesaro as the opener because I was yet again underwhelmed by a Chris Jericho match in 2016, this particular one the actual opener at Summerslam involving JeriKO and the Realest Guys in the Room. I will echo my statement from last night about NXT's next project being to stimulate a more viable main roster tag team scene. Enzo and Cass are more than capable of adding great matches to their incredibly entertaining pre-match routine. No act would have been a better choice to open tonight given how dynamic they are on the microphone, but when the bell rang, above average is about all that followed. Another Jericho match, another match with timing issues. There was a lull in the middle of the run-time during which it seemed like nobody in the heel corner had a clue what sequence was supposed to come next. Mix in a sloppy finish via more timing issues and it just seems that whenever Jericho wrestles these days, you can expect it will not go smoothly. I don't like watching the mighty fall. How about Y2J just becomes a manager? Great choice for a hot opening act, but this wasn't a hot opener (**). Do you ever notice that timing issues on wrestling shows sometimes seem to be contagious? If one match struggles with timing or botched moves, then others often follow? I'm thinking about doing a case study on that. They say that the opener sets the tone and, since tonight's opener had some major timing issues, was the Women's Championship match an example of timingbotchitis? Charlotte and Sasha were looking to execute what appeared to be a high risk that would have seen Banks either slam her back into the canvas or the turnbuckle, but something went awry and she crash landed hard and awkwardly. It took her several minutes to recover but, when she did, they impressively worked their way out of the botch-inspired early funk and had a really good match. There was a high degree of difficulty for their performance and, sans for the early miscue, everything else looked hard-hitting and dangerous in a good way en route to another feather in the cap of the Women's Evolution. Banks and Charlotte seem to enjoy teetering that line between brilliance and disaster; they are so hungry to prove where women's wrestling can go that they often make you cringe with some of the things that they try to pull off. At Mania and a month ago on Raw, it worked out just fine, but tonight it flirted more than ever with disaster; and if Sasha is seriously injured, then Charlotte will have to chalk this up as a lesson learned. A lot of rumors are flying around about the reason behind Charlotte regaining the title. I'll talk about that on my podcast this Wednesday. (*** ½) A year ago, Banks stole the weekend at NXT Brooklyn, where Apollo Crews made his NXT debut. I thought he was a curious choice to join the main roster earlier in the year, but I've been quietly decreasing my skepticism since the brand split. He's been given some direction and, though he still has a long way to go, he is getting better. He did well for himself tonight against The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship. Miz is a master of the otherwise filler mid-card match, as he seems to always work hard to make something of whatever opportunity he is given, even if it's just six-minutes of bell-to-bell time. (**) The first hour of Summerslam was probably banking on the Women's Title match to establish the standard for the night's other top matches, but with Sasha and Charlotte under-performing, the slate was clean for AJ Styles and John Cena to open hour two with a classic; and boy did they ever. Styles has been absolutely incredible this year and, if you ask me, he came into the night with one of the three frontrunners for WWE Match of the Year. It is possible that he topped his best match with Roman Reigns in his second foray against the Face That Runs The Place. Choosing between those two matches will likely hinge on your wrestling style preferences, as Styles-Cena II was very much in the vein of the US Open Challenge and Cena-Owens from last year – a lot of moves and a lot kick outs. I liked the change of pace from their more character-driven Money in the Bank match and felt it was the appropriate time to go to their chosen style for Summerslam. It will be a fun one to revisit and compare to the rest of the year's best. Styles beating Cena clean really enhanced the story and prevented us from having to put an asterisk labeled “same old Cena” on it; the victory felt like Cena's losses to Punk and Bryan in that Styles, despite having only been on the roster for eight months, very much embodies the ideal of a New Era and its corresponding change of landscape. Wins and losses do still matter in the right situations and this was the right situation for Cena to lose to Styles, who now has a ton of momentum and could (and probably should) go after Ambrose and the WWE Championship. As for Cena, his symbolic gesture, leaving his Never Give Up armband in the middle of the ring, will be an interesting story to follow in the coming weeks. Outstanding match! (**** ½) The New Day had a tough act to follow. I'm not as down on John Stewart's involvement in WWE as some seem to be. Big picture, New Day and The Club benefit from a little bit of a rub from Stewart's celebrity. Their match was never going to be special anyway, so why not up their mainstream profile? That said, I am wondering if we're ever going to see Gallows and Anderson get a real chance to show what they can do; it's been four months and I'm still wondering what all the buzz was about. New Day have a lengthy streak of offering very little to the quality of the tag team wrestling scene in their own right, their match with Y2AJ on Raw in March a more and more distant memory. I'm ready for a title change; the division needs a breath of fresh air. (**) I thought that Stewart might give the crowd a breather from their AJ-Cena stimulation and a chance to recharge so that they could offer some juice for the WWE Championship match between Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler. Of all the matches on the card, Ziggler-Ambrose benefited most from four weeks of television hype. The Lunatic's promos were fantastic and Ziggler stepped up his game to remind people of why he was once on the cusp of a consistent top guy spot. Curiously, though, the crowd did not care about their match at all. It was a good match actually and a nice change of pace from the style that Cena and AJ employed. Within six-minutes, AJ and Cena had started in with signature offense; I appreciated that Ziggler and Ambrose built to their signature moves. For years, I've seen people clamor for DZ to work a different kind of match than his bog standard and he did that tonight. It won't get the critical acclaim that it deserves, but I was very impressed with his effort, even if it wasn't the match of his life like I'd hoped it would be. Ambrose showed a lot heel tendencies, but they all fit within his character. I'm sure he wanted to steal the show given his still relatively new status as the #1 champion, but thanks to a good story told and a really strong finish, he'll have to settle for a 3-star caliber position below his compadres from Smackdown (among others). (*** ¼) The Women of Smackdown were also afforded very little attention from the audience, but that was less of a surprise. Nikki Bella's return got a nice pop from the females in the crowd; she is a good addition to the SD brand. The match was OK. I was getting a little burned out at this point and needed a break, but they gave over ten-minutes to the six-woman tag and it often commanded attention. There may be some potential after all for a second women's title; there are some intriguing talents and match-ups among the SD female contingent. (**) I honestly never thought we would see a reversion back to all these championships under the WWE umbrella, but that is what we are getting and I suppose we'll just have to see how it plays out. Raw's Universal Championship match made a strong statement about the red brand with the Demon King becoming its first titleholder of the new era. Finn Balor and Seth Rollins had a great match. As a quick aside, you might have been distracted from the greatness of their performance by a crowd that decided it would be more fun to hate on the title belt's design than engage in an anticipated, first-ever match between two of the best wrestlers in WWE today. Shame on that crowd. One chant was fine, but there was no need to go off on an audience rant about the belt; it's a red version of the WWE and Women's titles and it's not the end of the world. Balor and Rollins deserved better from that crowd and, before you counter that fans deserve more creativity from WWE in belt creation, bear in mind that there are plenty of platforms that can be used to voice that opinion when there is not a match going on that the other 1.5 million people viewing really want to see. Anyhow, Rollins was on form tonight and added a match to his growing body of work that will probably watch much better if WWE can edit the nuisance of the audience out of the soundtrack. There were some awesome sequences between him and Balor through the middle of the match that built well to a memorable climax. I was not expecting Balor to win the title and I have become a huge mark for the guy, so I was thrilled to see him go straight to the top from NXT. As good as it was, I think they have a Match of the Year contender in them and I hope we get to see it in five weeks at Clash of Champions. (****) The clock was ticking down when Summerslam switched gears to the Roman Reigns vs. Rusev match and the proceeding presentation for the US title bout left no doubt as to why they had a PPV caliber match last Monday on Raw. Their actual PPV match turned into an angle; and that was fine considering that I was already getting antsy about the prospect of being up until midnight Eastern time with this show. They badly needed to keep it short and feud-furthering tonight; there's a better place for their eventual US title match. Finally, we arrived at the main-event, for which I was more excited than most. Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton is something I have wanted to see for years; I knew going in that we were likely to see another episode of Beast Mode, but as I mentioned on “The Doc Says” a few weeks ago, an opponent of Orton's historic stature offered at least a sliver of hope that we might see a diversion from what has become the go-to Lesnar match. Sadly, Orton and Lesnar did not veer away from Beast Mode and, though what we got was fascinating in some way, the Conqueror act is pretty tired and the decision to end the Summerslam main-event in controversial fashion for a second straight year was not one that I was fond of. It seemed like a bloody Orton fighting his way back into the match would have been a real thrill. He hit the RKO on the table and then again in the ring for a two-count and he was working his way into '09 Viper mode by setting up for the Punt, but then it just ended when he got busted open the hard way (and it was definitely on purpose – that elbow strike was pointed and on target). The best of the Beast Mode library finds Lesnar looking legitimately vulnerable to defeat at some point, but we never got there with this match. If I am to find a positive, it is that maybe it could reinvigorate Lesnar (in WWE) again to have earned a technical knockout and maybe set him up to take the fall for someone at WrestleMania who represents the New Era. There is something engaging about watching a Top 15 of the Mania Era talent like Orton get left in a pool of his own blood. Other than that, though, I was underwhelmed by the match and I am not on-board with ending the second biggest show each year with quirky Brock Lesnar finishes. (** ¾) All in all, Summerslam was a very mixed bag. The Women's title match had its difficulties, but it was really good; Styles vs. Cena may well be the Match of the Year; Ziggler and Ambrose had a good match; Rollins vs. Balor was great. I didn't think anything was bad; I thought every match was at least average, but the main-event of Summerslam should never be one of the low points and if it's going to be then don't make it the main-event. What you thought of WrestleMania 32, I would imagine, might reflect similarly on how you felt about Summerslam 2016. Both cards were too long and have established a bad habit for the top two events on the calendar; both featured amazing highs and agonizing lows. What's the composite? It's difficult to rate shows like this one.
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