Summer Slam 2014 - review

Summer Slam 2014 - Review

In my opinion this was one of the Top 10 best Summer Slam's of all time without a doubt with a chance to go down as one of the Top 5 if the aftermach to it will be good as the show itself. This was in my opinion a really good show - that for me had only 2-3 minor complaintes that didn't hurt the show for me too much.

Pre-Show: 

The Pre-Show pannel was decent you had as always Booker T and Alex Riley who were good as always and it is always nice to see Flair talking and supporting his guy Randy Orton even thought I am sure he knew that he was going down to Reigns. Also I loved Mummy's Boy Jack Turner {I think it was his name..} - he was nice on the mic and I think if he will be built correctly at NXT in the next year or so - he can be a good Mid Card guy on the Main Roster {but for now he will for sure be overshadowed as guys like Kevin Steen & Kenta & Prince Devitt & Sami Zayn & Adrian Neville & Corey Graves & The Ascension & Mojo Rawley & Charlotte & Aiden English & Enzo Amore have a good chance of debuting in the main roster in the next year}.

Rob Van Dam vs Cesaro:

My first complaint is here. We had a good match between RVD and Cesaro that lasted about 7-8 minutes with good pace in it and had some good spots. My only problem with it that I thought Cesaro should have gone over here if RVD will take a hiatus after this match - but I also have no problem with Van Dam winning giving him some momentum after he helped a lot of young lions in the past 3-4 months. 

Winner: Cesaro
My Rank: 7 / 10.

The Main Card:

The show opened in a nice way with the Hulkster coming out and talking about the WWE Network - and the WWE actually makes a good way using the 9.99 price as a catchfraze.

Intercontinental Championship match - Miz {c} vs Ziggler:

Well this was a good opener - at least this year the Intercontinental Championship was defended on Summer Slam unlike last year where Curtis Axel had been the champ {and look where he is now..}. I think that the match got exactly the time that it needed and the story telling in the match was good - with Miz always protecting his "Money Maker". I alsp like the commentating team on this match and pretty much the whole night - most of the time they were talking about the match itself and nothing else {with one exception that I will talk about later on} . They had some good points - with the reminder of the Martel / Michaels match from the 1992 edition of Summer Slam and the fact that Lawler talked about Ziggler's face as a bigger Money Maker was funny to see. Ziggler won the match with a Zig Zag.

Actually I was surprised when Ziggler won cause I thought they should have let Miz have a long run as a the IC Champion to build the credibility of the title back up {basically to do Barrett's original mission - who got injured}. I think now that after watching the show they have done a good move here - Ziggler is really over with the fans in the last couple of months and giving him the IC title - for hopefully some time even heading into the beggining of 2015 will be a nice move. It also gives him a Big 4 PPV win that the last one of these that he had that had meaning was back at Survivor Series 2012 {I am not counting his mixed tag team win last year at Summer Slam.. and I think you all know why..}.
The feud will probably go into NoC and if built correctly they can have a big blow off match at Hell In A Cell. 

Winner: And new IC Champion  - Dolph Ziggler.
My Rank:7 / 10

Brie Bella had an interview - great time to give yourself a 2-3 minutes to rest because lets face it - Brie and the mic are not correcting well.

WWE Divas Championship - AJ {c} vs Paige:

Well this was a good match in general again {no..not a good women's match but a good match as a hole}. I can't say a lot about this match because I think did a stupid decision not giving this match at least 5 more minutes. But I can't complain as they had another Women's match that in their eyes was more important then the championship. The least that I can say that this match delivered and did what it should have done - have a way to continue the feud into NoC - that I would love to see a Submission / "I Quit" match between the two to blow it off.
Paige winning here was the right move as it gave her more momentum because let's face it - if AJ would have beaten her in 2 PPV's in a row - In my opinion there was no reason for a third match.

Winner: And new Divas Champion Paige.
My Rank: 5.5 / 10.

Jack Swagger vs Rusev - Flag match:

Well this was a nice concept with WWE changing the rules of the flag match. Actually heading into this match I thought that if it will be a regular Flag match Swagger would have won and it will not hurt the credibility of Rusev as he was not pinned / submitted by him.

But Oh Boy! With the changing of the stipulation the ending was amazing and in my opinon the best match ending out of all the Summer Slam matches tonight and for sure the most surprising one to the good categpry!
Swagger and Rusev already fought before the bell rung with Swagger making an early damage to Rusev's ankle by putting him to the Ankle Lock for almost a minute. Then the whole match until the finish was a use of both men's injuries : Swaagger took adavantage of Rusev's ankle & the latter took on Swagger's injured ribs.

And then the ending came in. I really thought for a moment they are going to destroy what they build in the last couple of months with Rusev by making him tap to Swagger here and have a happy moment to the crowd. But WOW! I have never expected to see Rusev lock in the Accolade on Swagger and doing a reap off the WrestleMania 13 match between Austin and Bret {of course that the WM match finish was much better but still..} - and they had Swagger fate for America's honor.Great booking by the WWE! Then they had gotten even more heat on Rusev with the Russian anthem heared and their flag raised to end this.

Winner: Rusev.
My Rank: 8.5 / 10 {most of it because of the finish}.

Lumerbjack match - Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins:

Again another nice match on that show - which had no match that I can say on clearly that it was the best and or worst.

The lumberjack stipulation had a lot of factor in this match that showed a lot of interference and use of them. My only problem is why in the hell you will have a lumberjack match and have them go all the way to fight in the middle of the crowd and on top of the stares?!
But this is just a thought here. Even with that the match turned out to be a good one that had a great moment there with Ambrose crossbody on Rollins to the outside getting out all the lumberjacks down. This actually disapointed me a little bit as it was at least for me the match that I had the most intrest in heading into the PPV.
Well Rollins won the match after Amrose who was distracted by The Wyatts got hit by him with the MITB briefcase - which could be a sign what is going to come at NoC in my opinion - which is a No Holds Barred / Street Fight for the Briefcase.

I have no complaint with Rollins going over here. He is the one that had gotten the heel turn and he needs to establish himself as one like that. But something that I noticed here.Look at the lumberjacks: Guys like the tag team Champions The Usos & RyBack & The Wyatt Family & Kofi Kingston & The Dust Brothers & Big E even guys who weren't lumberjacks like: US Champion Sheamus & Mark Henry & The Big Show didn't make the cut to be on the Summer Slam card which is weird for me at least.

So to finish this was a good match with the right booking decision in my opinon - with Ambrose still have the passion to chase on Rollins since he hadn't got him yet.

Winner: Seth Rollins.
My Rank: 7.5 / 10.

Bray Wyatt vs Chris Jericho:

Before I start talking about this match I want to address a problem with the comantating team in this match. As I said earlier they were good the whole night giving us some good points during the match and moslty focusing on the in-ring action and not promoting the WWE Network & Slam City & WWE 2K15 or I don;t know what as they do on TV and promote them in the between matches segments. But this thing here killed me: You have 2 guys in the form of Bray Wyatt -  a new up and comer with a great character trying to build himself & then you got Chris f***ing Jericho - a six time world champion & a 15 year veteran & a legend of the buissnes . And for the first half of the match u were talking about how awesome Rollins vs Ambrose was. I can understand they did a good connection between them at The Wyatt Family were the ones that basically cost Ambrose the match but why to talk about the previous match in one of your big matches and rivalries for the show?!?!  This was just stupid and I don't care what anybody will say they just got the level of importance of both Jericho and Wyatt lowered in my eyes at least.

But with that said I can say one thing: This was WWE's and Bray Wyatt's last chance with him and his character. If Jericho would have gone over here for me they would have killed one of my most favourite wrestlers & compeling characters in the last 5-10 years.
But the WWE did the right thing over here with Wyatt beating Jericho 100 % clean here with no interference from either Harper and Rowan as the stipulation  of the match had stated. I really liked the in-ring story telling in this match - with Bray taunting Wyatt all the match and saying "you can't kill me - I'm already dead" was nice.

I think the WWE will go with a rubber match between the two at Night Of Champions - that will write Jericho off TV for couple of months - probably until the Royal Rumble. And I hope they will do it in a way to give more momentum to Bray with him getting into Jericho's head or something like that. But to the point: a good match with a good booking decision and that's it.

Winner: Bray Wyatt.My Rank: 8 /10.

Stephanie McMahon vs Brie Bella:

But the  match itself was decent it was built to show Stephanie's supiriority on Brie - but what can you expect from God's chosen one to do here.

I will not go over the match itself I will go straight to the ending here. The Nikki turn was being rumored for the past week or two on every single wrestling website on the internet. But with that being said the way the WWE did that was good..they had done it perfectly and it felt like a shocking and surprising moment {even thought it really wasn't}. I can't say I am interested in seeing a Brie vs Nikki feud..but hey this could be a nice feud if go correctly.

Winner : Stephanie McMahon
My Rank: 6.5 / 10

Randy Orton vs Roman Reigns:

Well for my money at least I would have the biggest argument to say that this was the match of the night.
Those 2 had great chemistry together and I got really into the match even though I didn't care even a little bit about it heading into the show because this have done a bad job building this match up. Reigns won with a spear here after he counter a punk kick {!} from Orton. This match had some false finishes with some big time moments - the Samoan drop from the top was great & so does the 2 counteres Orton did - with a spear turning into a scoop slam & the running RKO.

But we all knew that Reigns is going to emerge victorious here to set up his match with HHH at either NoC or HIAC. Actually I think they should go with a rematch between the two at Night Of Champions and then  have Reigns vs HHH inside the cell at the main event of HIAC - as Lesnar who will probably be the WWE WHC champion at the time is not scheduled to appear on the PPV.

Winner:Roman Reigns
My Rank: 9 / 10.

Well something that I think is worth noticing is that WWE had announced that Summer Slam 2015 will be held in the NY/NJ area. I think it is a good decision by the WWE and it will be kind of refreshing to see the biggest show of the Summer in a place other then LA - where it was held for the past six years including this one. One hope that I have that this will be in an outdoor arena to have the Summer feeling into this PPV.

And here we go to...

The Biggest  Fight Of The Summer - WWE World Heavyweight Championship - Brock Lesnar vs John Cena {C}:

This match was exactly what it should have been and that is a hell of a beatdown from Lesnar to Cena with an ocassional unseccessful try from Cena to regroup and defeat Lesnar.
As a man who doesn't like John Cena -  I really enjoyed seeing this match - and not because of the in-ring action itself - because in my opinon as far as in-ring action only goes here this was the match that was lacking in it the most because all we saw where - punches & takedowns & german suplexes & regular suplexes & some submission holds {rear naked choke & STF & Head lock etc..} & both men's finishers {F5 and FU respectibly}. 

The reason that I enjoy it was to see Super Cena finally get down to someone - because this match was the first and only main event in the PG era to this day that was basically a Sixteen minute SQUASH match.
In my opinion this match was a little bit longer then it should have been and I would have had it end in about 11-13 minutes. But I was hoping to see a match like this from the WWE. And you know what this was not even a wrestling match - because this was exactly what they promoted this to be - a fight.

And when I say this was a fight I mean they went almost all in with it. They had Lesnar use his MMA and UFC background here - where he had in times a series of 10-15 punches in a row & he had his hands protecting his face in the time Cena punched him & the suplexes he did had lots of impact and it looked like they really hurt Cena.

But lets look on the entertaiment factor of this match: It had some cool moments right from it's beggining with Lesnar starting it by destorying Cena and hitting him with the F5 less then a minute into the match. And actually I had a thought in my mind that this is what they are going to and have Lesnar destroy Cena in under a minute - but then I looked at my watch and understood that it wouldn't happen here - thankfully.Because if they would have done such thing they would have gotten the short way out and they could have said that Lesnar  was lucky and Cena wasn't ready and all this type of shit - and they would have done the same wrong that TNA has done at Victory Road 2011 - with having their PPV's main event in Jeff Hardy vs Sting for the TNA world title end in a world title change in 88 seconds. Then during the match when Cena had his second comeback try and hit Lesnar with a FU out of nowhere they had the funniest moment of the night - and a genious one by having Lesnar down for like 5 seconds after he kicks out at 2 after Cena pinned him and have him sit up in a mock to The Undertaker and to remind to all of us who maybe forgotten that at WrestleMania 30 at New Orleans at the Superdome {not silverdome Hogan..} - Brock Lesnar defeated The Undertaker to be the one in 21-1 to end the streak.

The ending of the match was my only problem with the main event - and actually my biggest complain out of this whole night. Why does Cena always taking the easy way out in his loses???
Last year he should have lost the title to Daniel Bryan {that I was surprised that he didn't made an appearence - even a cameo one during the PPV} via a Submission when he taps out to Yes! Lock - a hold that mind you is applying pressure on the right hand - which was a hand that Cena had an injury in it - and that would have been a perfect way to write Cena off TV.But no this had to go with Bryan debuting the Bazooka Knee {or whatever his finisher's name is} and defeating Cena via a pinfall.

And when did you know the WWE - did the same crap here. Lesnar was great in this match as Cena didn'tt do a whole lot in it. He was showcased in the match at an unstoppable monster & as a wrecking machine & a fighter & a destoryer whatever you want to call it. And then instead of have Cena GIVING UP here and have him tell the referee that he can't continue and have the match in the way that it should have - which is Lesnar winning the match via a Referee Stoppage.

But "surprisingly" they had Cena again take the easy way out to continue to push & pound & force the "I'm John Cena.. I will never give up - because if someone will almost kill me I will let him do it instead of tell him to stop".Just stupid shit in that finish. And yes Brock Lesnar won the WWE WHC title in a dominant fashion here I will give you that  - after pinning Cena following 12 German Suplexes {as the commentary team said following the match} & two F5's - and this cemented Brock as the most dominant force in the WWE today and in my opinion ever.

But think about it for a moment: Why Cena didn't gave up to Lesnar? - which is not a shame because mind you in 2002 - the biggest name then & now & forever {as WWE likes to say} in the Sports entertaiment history - Hulk Hogan faited to Lesnar via a referee stoppage - and made Lesnar the first and only one ever to defeat Hogan with that kind of a finish. So if freaking Hulk Hogan - the greatest and biggest legend in the history of the buissness & yes one of the biggest ego's in the buissness could have done it to elevate him - why in the hell John Cena can't?!

If Cena would have done the job here to Lesnar it would have cemented him as a wrecking ball and a men that will change the landscape of the WWE forever here: Because you have him end the streak - that is an invesment of almost a quater of a centory & make Cena give up {which is another streak - only that this one will never be broken - because it is held by the WWE's golden boy}. 

We all know that the reported and clear cut match to main event for WrestleMania 31 will be Roman Reigns challenging and defeating Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Now even though I think the match had the wrong finish here - the man that will beat Lesnar for the title who as I said is probably going to be Reigns is going to get huge momentum and reputation in his hands - as he will be the one to beat the one & the man to beat who destroyed Cena in a title squash match.
Now if WWE is all in on Reigns - they should build him up the card slowly heading into mania in Co-Main event / Main event matches in the next few PPV's and then have him win the rumble match. Also they should build Lesnar as an unstoppable monster freak and have him defeat ALL the companies biggest name heading into a loss to Reigns.

One thing that I would hope the WWE will do is have Cena come out tommorow night on Raw - and say that he got hurt big time on the match and have him take a hiatus for 2-4 months. For me that will even the stupid finish for this match.

So: this was a match that accomplished what it should have in my opinion & but it could have done a lot better if the finish of it was not this one.

Winner: and New WWE World Heavyweight Champion  Brock Lesnar
My Rank : 8.5 / 10.

Final Thought time:

This PPV accomplished what it should have done:
* IC Title match gave Ziggler his moment in the sun - without hurting Miz's momentum too much and setting up a hopefully good lengthy IC title feud between the two.
* Paige won the Divas title to regain her momentum and again build up to a blow off match between her and AJ at NoC / HIAC.
* Rusev won his match with Swagger in a dominant  fashion - but also have the patriotisem of Swagger established big time here - and have a reason for the feud to continue.
* Rollins vs Ambrose had been the first real confortation between the 2 and it needed what it should have done. Rollins going over in a cheap way was fine with me as this gave as a more then Battleground but still left us with a want for more.
* Jericho vs Wyatt - gave Wyatt his big 4 signature 100 %  clean victory that he so needed and gave a reason for a rubber match between him and Jericho at NoC as they are now tied 1-1  with each man defeating the other clean each time.
*Stephanie vs Brie. Showed that Stephanie still got it {as the crowd noticed} & build up a fall feud between Brie Bella and her twin sister Nikki.
* Orton vs Reigns. Again in my opinion the match of the night - gave Reigns the biggest victory of his career yet. His first big 4 singles win and gave him ths signature victory in his path to the main event of WrestleMania 31 against Brock Lesnar for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
* And then finally..the main event - even thought it ended in a cheap way in my opinion. It was basically a 16 minute squash of Cena by Lesnar - who showed the latter's dominance & established him as a monster - which is exactly what they should do in all of his title reign to give Roman Reigns's reported title win at WM 31 the most meaning as possible.

Final Summer Slam Grade: 8 / 10.

And I will see you next time...