2020 Edition Of WWE Summerslam

Asuka and Sasha Banks have match of the night - which I think we all saw coming. Drew McIntyre retains against Randy Orton - huh, a bit surprising, not really worthy of the ‘you’ll never see it coming’ tagline though. And The Fiend regained the Bluenervsial Championship - which a lot of people predicted. It seems like the only thing we didn’t see coming was WWE booking a really good sho-OH MY GOD IT’S ROMAN REIGNS! ROMAN REIGNS IS HERE AND HE’S WRECKING EVERYONE.

United States Championship Match 

After Dominic was dropped off for his first day of school backstage, the pre-show match saw Apollo Crews retain his United States title against MVP. The Hurt Business suffer yet another loss. Presumably Bobby will go after Apollo at Payback.

Smackdown Women's Championship Match 

The main pay-per-view card began with all the pyro and only a few loading screens instead of people at the Thunderdome. After it debuted on Friday’s SmackDown, and I must say - which it initially felt like a nightmarish episode of Black Mirror - by half way through I kind of forgot about the creepy LED screen fans. The arena, pyro and staging makes everything feel bigger, and the piped in crowd noise, even when done live, is remarkably effective. I thought it actually really enhanced the wrestling. Like the match of the night, which was actually technically two matches: Asuka vs Bayley and Sasha Banks. Because to talk about one is to actually talk about them both. Bayley targeted Asuka’s legs in the opener by dropping her knees on the ring apron. It’s the hardest part of the ring. And, as expected, Sasha tried to interfere, letting Bayley win with a roll-up - for Banks to get a few cheap shots in afterwards as the camera cut to a very pixelated crowd. They show their outrage with more pixels. With Asuka’s legs now injured, it set the stage for her Sasha match later on.

Bayley even got a broom out in an interview with Charly Caruso afterwards to gloat about her and Banks getting a ‘clean sweep’ - Kenny Omega to WWE confirmed. So by the time the ante-penultimate match began, everything felt significantly heightened because the groundwork had already been laid.

Raw Women's Championship Match

 

The Bayley match was Infinity War, and now Asuka was entering the Endgame with Banks. Sasha targeted Asuka’s knees immediately. Which Asuka strategically fought back from, by using those injured knees as weapons into Sasha’s face. The drama was then heightened even more with a fantastic, but very dangerous spot, as Sasha summersaulted over Asuka off the apron to hit a brutal Sunset Flip powerbomb on the outside, snapping Asuka’s neck back with the whiplash. Asuka sold the move like she was concussed - which Banks made doubly sure on by KICKING HER IN THE HEAD - for some very Stardom strong style action. For the final sequence, though, Bayley tried to interfere, just like Sasha had done for her in the first match, but Asuka had adapted. She backfisted Bayley off the apron and made Banks tap in the Asuka Lock. Sasha loses the championship on her first title defence yet again.

Raw Tag Team Championship Match

 

Kevin Owens was weirdly doing commentary in a Street Profits shirt for the Raw tag team title match. Just one of the many plot points thrown at the wall for this feud. Like how Montez Ford was poisoned a couple of weeks ago - which was seemingly revealed to have been Zeila Vega - but that wasn’t really addressed. Their blood feud with Andrade and Angel Garza has been very poorly booked, and that undermined the conflict here. Ford and Dawkins have gotten their revenge several times already, so Montez pinning Garza with a huge spinning Frog Splash didn’t feel all that cathartic. Andrade and Garza teased yet again they could be splitting up afterwards. After not playing into anything, Owens then revealed Aleister Black will be returning on Monday’s episode of Raw on the KO Show - amidst rumours of a gimmick repackaging. I, for one, can’t wait for Funkasaurus Black.

Hair Versus Hair Match Changes (Loser Leaves WWE)

 

Changed from their original hair vs hair stipulation to Loser Leaves WWE following last weekend’s very real, very scary kidnapping attempt on Deville, Mandy Rose and Sonya had a really physical blood feud match here - complete all the knees, but nobody going through Chekov’s table. Mandy won, writing Sonya off TV, and Otis and Rose celebrated doing the worm - which didn’t really fit the whole serious blood feud vibe.

Street Fight Match

 

I didn’t really buy Dominik Mysterio and Seth Rollins as a serious blood feud either in their following match - despite Seth gouging out Dominik’s dad’s eyeball just last month. I was expecting a smashmouth ten minute brawl with Dominik channelling Attitude Era Shane McMahon. Instead, Rollins dominated the match, just hitting Dominik over and over again while Rey impotently watched on - making the greatest luchador of all time look like the greatest loser of all time. I know Dominik asked his dad to stay out of it, but Rey not overruling that - even when Buddy was getting involved, in a No DQ match, made him look stupid. Dominik impressed in parts, with rolling kip ups and a few Frog Splashes for his legal dad, but this went on for over 20 minutes. It was the longest match on the show. The soap opera stuff was fun at the end, as Dominik’s mum who sadly wasn’t Vickie Guerrero walked out to be chased by Seth and Buddy, letting Dom run wild with some 309.5! But true revenge was delayed yet again, as a handcuffed Rey had to watch Seth Stomp Dominik to win. Thanks for re-signing with us Rey! The LED fans then had a bit of innocent fun, with one showing a beach ball onscreen - that’s when you know it’s a SummerSlam - a Pikachu (apt for the Thunderdome!) and a sign that read ‘Fire Velveteen Dream’. That got out of hand fast. Interestingly, Ryan Satin posted a picture of the protest on Twitter, and Dream’s NXT colleague Rhea Ripley liked it.

WWE Championship Match

 

After Shawn Michaels still wasn't selling the punt, cutting a promo from an escape room - look inside the globe Shawn! - Drew McIntyre came down for a great WWE Championship match against Randy Orton. Some people said on our live reactions they found this match boring at 20 minutes, or that the finish was weak and lacklustre. But I found this to be a fantastic, old school style main event title fight - with both Randy and Drew getting busted open hardway and some great ring psychology, as McIntyre locked in the Figure 4, a tribute to the Ric Flair sacrifice two weeks previously. The most stunning part, though, was the misdirection. This match, nay, this whole freaking pay-per-view, was built around the tagline ‘you’ll never see it coming’ - which referred to Orton’s RKO from outta nowhere, right? Yet in this match, despite over five blocked attempts, Randy didn’t hit it. And Drew didn’t hit a Claymore either. McIntyre won after 20 minutes with a backslide pin. Neither guy hit their finisher - leaving plenty of room for a rematch. It sounds like the sort of infuriating bait and switch trolling we criticise WWE for so much - and I think if the end-of-show angle didn’t happen, then you’d have a pretty compelling argument to rage about that. But even in isolation, I loved this match. It was mature, intelligent, logical booking.

And with the Roman Reigns return after the main event, it’s actually a masterful sleight of hand for the ‘you’ll never see it coming’ teases.

Speaking of - following an announcement that Keith Lee will be debuting on Raw tonight following his NXT Championship loss on Saturday, yes, oh my god yes.

Universal Championship Match

 

The Fiend taking on Braun Strowman - one year after Bray’s new gimmick made his in-ring debut, squashing Finn Balor. It’s been a rough year for the Fiend. He never recovered from Seth beating him at Hell in a Cell, and then Goldberg beating him at Super Showdown. The booking mistakes have been felt throughout Strowman’s incredibly lackluster title reign too, which was a product of circumstance rather than any grand design. Their feud has provided some nice moments, and the Alexa Bliss stuff seems to have genuinely grabbed viewer interest looking at the ratings - but none of that played into the match here, with Alexa herself even tweeting a shrugging shoulders emoji, as she was just as confused why she wasn’t involved despite being one of the stories major plot points. Braun ripped up the mat exposing the wooden floorboards of the ring, which the Fiend hit two Sister Abigails on to win the title. It was underwhelming, but at least Fiend is champion again. But WWE managed to get underwhelmed OVER when the actual ‘never saw it coming’ angle quickly unfolded. Roman burst into shot with a spear on the Fiend - looking so much better wearing a ‘Wreck Everyone And Leave’ t-shirt on instead of his protective vest, and appearing so physically in shape EVEN HIS TEETH HAD BEEN WORKING OUT. But this just wasn’t any Big Dog return. It looked like, maybe, he was a heel. Roman furiously yelled at both the Fiend and Strowman as he wailed on them with a steel chair. It’s a tricky dynamic to figure out, as Braun and the Fiend are also both kind of heels, I think, but even if Reigns isn’t a full-on bad guy, his return marks a new, far more serious, much more violent character.

What did you think of the summerslam show? And do you think Reigns turned heel? Let us know in the comments down below.

WWE mostly let the in-ring wrestling speak for itself, letting every match finish clean. And the ‘you’ll never see it coming’ tagline - misdirecting all your attention to that Randy vs McIntyre match - is a genuine masterstroke. I’m actually in awe of that, it was so smart.