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QUESTION OF THE DAY: What did you think of Summerslam, overall? Match of the Night? Summerslam Review It could probably be easy to misconstrue my headline as "The Doc being overly negative" about Summerslam, but that honestly could not have been farther from the truth. Overall, I really enjoyed the show tonight and will think back on it as a version that succeeded in producing an atmosphere that felt like the 2nd biggest PPV of the year should. Unfortunately, the last few minutes sucker punched the event in the gut, dictating that its memory be largely based on an illogical booking decision. Thus, like 2011's Summerslam, 2015's "Biggest Event" of the mid-year will have been a different ending away from being highly regarded among its PPV peers. The night started off with a curious choice for opener in Randy Orton losing to Sheamus in about 12-minutes, following a curious choice to have the host feign an interview with Brock Lesnar only to bring out Mick Foley to randomly add little to a loaded card full of matches. John Stewart would make his presence felt in more meaningful ways later. Back to Orton and Sheamus, they needed about 4-5 more minutes to work their methodically paced match from a month ago that finally showed that they could click. This was above average with some nice spotlight moments for each, but it fell short of their Battleground effort and will be tossed into the heap of their other above average matches from over the years (**3/4). I loved seeing New Day win back the Tag Titles. The best and most over team in a division still trying to maintain its grip on greater meaning should hold the gold; that's New Day. Unfortunately, the match - contrary to the undeserved "This is Awesome" chant - was full of missed spots. What was good was really good, but several obvious botches is tough to ignore. I strongly dislike the Fatal Fourway tags; there's just too much going on and it takes elite workers across the board to make them better than average. I believe this should've been a standard tag team match between ND and the PTP. If the goal was to protect O'Neill and Young, then mission accomplished, but you can't protect everyone. That's what those 52 weeks of 4 or more programming hours are for, in part; to help rebuild those in need of character construction work (**). Dolph Ziggler and Rusev had the best match of the first three bouts, the double count out ending saving their potential show-stealing effort for another night. It wasn't much beyond what you'd expect from a TV performance from either guy, but it served its purpose (**3/4). The same could be said of the triple threat IC title match from later in the night. Ryback, Miz, and Big Show did a nice job piecing together a better-than-average match that would've been a perfect edition to next week's Smackdown with a commercial break sandwiched in between its 6-minutes to make it seem longer. I enjoyed it, though (**1/4). The night, for me, got kicked into a different gear when Neville and Stephen Amell took on Barrett and Stardust. The pre-match promo was very cool and Amell's work in between the ropes was as impressive as his work that led up to the match. He helped this year's Summerslam feel a step ahead of its Summer Classic brethren. I enjoyed this a lot for Cody Rhodes, who not only has had a rough summer with his father's passing but also an up-and-down last few years as a pro wrestler. He's been a favorite of mine for a long time, so I was happy to see him get the chance to work a high profile match. Cheers to all involved in this one; it was quite entertaining (**3/4). Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns vs. Luke Harper and Bray Wyatt was a little shorter than I was expecting it to be, but the decrease in expected length did not decrease the quality of their execution. Taking the title of the night's best match to that point, the four continued their long run of great stories told together. I know the modus operandi for tag teams these days is to go balls-to-the-wall for 10 minutes and I completely get it because most of the duos don't have enough personic definition to do anything else and still get noticed. However, if and when that character development comes, they can point to this match for evidence that a more psychologically dense outing is possible in just a sixth of an hour. There were several marvelous sequences to accompany the driving angle of the match (Reigns sidelined for a long stretch, allowing the Wyatts to single out Ambrose before Roman could return and the faces could get the win). A match I certainly plan to revisit in the future (***). The Match of the Night ended up going to the former Shield members' former partner. Seth Rollins and John Cena had an outstanding match. I don't take much issue with the controversial finish, to be frank. Cena is probably going to have a huge match at WrestleMania 32, so protecting him makes sense. To make that means of protection come via interference from a major television personality actually does Seth Rollins a service, in my view. Rollins winning with his feet on the ropes in classic Flair fashion would've been fine, but it wouldn't have gotten the same kind of press that the Stewart involvement gives the young champion. So, I say that's a win. The match itself had a couple of awkward moments that kept this from fully maximizing its 20-minutes; it could have, therefore, been better. Cena needs to ditch that stupid springboard Stunner. He hit it nicely at WrestleMania, but I think he's actually getting worse at the execution the more that he tries it. Someone please tell that man that the move sucks and/or he sucks at doing it. There was also a nearly botched sunset flip off the top rope that they managed to salvage. Make no mistake about it, though, this was a borderline classic Summerslam match. So much did work. Rollins had several star-enhancing moments sprinkled throughout and Cena continued his steady run of great matches. I look forward to more from the first ever WWE-US Champion vs. John Cena (****). Turning our attention to the Divas Revolution.... Shows like NXT Takeover Brooklyn remind us of why there's a Revolution in the first place and depict what the future could hold for these talented wrestlers. Shows like Summerslam remind us of how far we've got to go to get from where the females are at on WWE TV and where they're at on NXT. The 15-minutes given to the Divas three team bout was as much time as has been given for any women's match since the first ever Royal Rumble event in 1988. So, that certainly adds to the Revolution; that's a win. Unfortunately, tonight saw a match that highlighted who should be a part of this so-called Revolution on WWE TV and who is better off being left behind with the Divas division as it has been known for so long. I mean no disrespect to Tamina, Alicia Fox, and Naomi, but their peers that have come up through the NXT system are light years ahead of them. Once the obligatory "there's a lot of people involved" spots were over and done, the weaknesses of this project became apparent. Tamina had her run. She can be a heater, perhaps, but nothing more. Naomi had potential, but she currently seems a better fit for the era goneby than the next generation. When they were eliminated (with Banks in tow), the match went from somewhat entertaining to boring as hell. Team Bella looked lost, which I don't enjoy writing because Nikki has serious value. She absolutely should be part of this revolution. Her sister can contribute, as well (maybe as the set-up girl of the new division), but she didn't have a particularly good night. After several painfully boring minutes that actually downshifted from third gear back to first, Team PCB won. I hope WWE officials were paying close attention and taking this seriously; it could be a necessary step forward by recognizing who will keep holding them back in this revolution (**). Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro was the night's second best match. Looking back and considering that the heel won in both cases, I'm not sure why this far superior effort wasn't booked as the opener. It would have done much better at getting the crowd engaged. Odd. I liked how these guys just came out slugging each other from the outset. They got about 5 more minutes than I was expecting them to given their spot on the card and they made the most of every second. Hopefully, the performance and the victory for KO will quiet the detractors who have become so negative about his present position coming out of the Cena feud. Cesaro is pretty incredible. I know I'm preaching to the choir, here, but good Lord that man is an amazing worker. Sign me up for more of that (***1/2). Finally, we come to the main-event. Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar is a fascinating case study. Their WrestleMania 30 match was a heatless farce when compared to the Streak matches that preceded it in the decade prior. Everyone thought Taker would win, so nobody cared, in large part because WWE booked Brock to be a mortal again throughout 2013. So, Taker lost and the world was in awe. Look what Brock has done since. At Summerslam 2015, people said that WWE booked themselves into a corner because the heat on the match was so intense and the crowd so split that both men really needed to win. Ironically, we could not have had this kind of rematch without the heatless farce of a first match. Beautifully, Brock and Taker went out and had the brawl infused with crowd energy that they should've had 16 months ago. Tragically, WWE proved incapable of booking themselves out of said corner and came up with a farce of a finish that covered the rest of the event with its shady shroud. Even a WWE apologist cannot ignore the ridiculousness of a timekeeper ringing the bell when no finish was signaled by the referee. We've had 30 years of modern pro wrestling history to teach us that the ref calls for the bell and here we have the ref being bypassed by a rogue timekeeper? What a giant load of crap. You can't cover that turd of an ending with rainbow glitter and expect it to smell any better. And so we have our great Summerslam 2015 conundrum. Do we celebrate the match all the way up until its asinine ending? I say we do, for sure. Brock and Taker had the crowd in the palms of their hands, delivering a combination of hard hitting action and gloriously memorable moments of character acting. However, one cannot watch that match and call the ending anything but stupid. Shame on you, WWE. If you wanted to protect Brock Lesnar then mission accomplished, but if you were going to do it that way then why even bother with the rematch? Taker didn't need to get his win back, especially if it came via nefarious means. Perhaps we're getting a third match? Even so, the ending was illogical and stupid. Lesnar is protected and can now get set for whatever program he'll work at the biggest WrestleMania ever; Taker, though, is supposed to take solace in getting a cheap victory? Disappointing (to say the least) ending to a match that was headed toward classic status and would've boosted this Summerslam's profile up to Top 10 status (at least) if it had reached its full potential (***1/2).
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