Results, Recap, Review of WWE Summerslam 2018

Tonight was the annual Summerslam pay-per-view which one of the big four pay-per-views that WWE puts on each year. There was a hype for some of the matches on this years card but then other matches shouldn’t have been on the the show at all. I truly believe going into Summerslam that this show would change the direction of where WWE is going for the next six months.  It’s hard to get excited about big shows when they have to follow NXT Takeovers on the same weekend. I thought tonight was a great opportunity to right some wrongs. Before I begin with my thoughts here are the results for Summerslam

-Preshow: Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega and Rusev and Lana
-Preshow: Cedric Alexander defeated Drew Gulak to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship
-Preshow: The B Team defeated The Revival to retain the Raw Tag Team Championships
-Seth Rollins defeated Dolph Ziggler to become the new Intercontinental Champion
-The New Day defeated The Bludgeon Brothers by DQ (The Bludgeon Brothers keep the Smackdown Tag Team Championships)
-Braun Strowman defeated Kevin Owens to keep the Money in the Bank Briefcase
-Charlotte Flair defeated Becky Lynch and Carmella to become the new Smackdown Women’s Champion
-Samoa Joe defeated AJ Styles by DQ (Styles keeps the WWE Championship)
-The Miz defeated Daniel Bryan
-Demon Balor defeated Constable Corbin.
-Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Jeff Hardy to retain the United States Championship
-Ronda Rousey defeated Alexa Bliss to become the new Raw Women’s Champion
-Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar to become the new Universal Champion

I generally don’t write about the the preshow, but in my opinion all three matches should have been on the main card. The opening match was the Mixed Tag Team that saw Rusev and Lana take on Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega. I feel like with the buildup over the last few weeks this would have been more entertaining then the Smackdown Tag Title match and Finn Balor versus Corbin. There is no doubt in my mind after watching the feud play out that Almas is getting a hard push to the top. It will be interesting to see if he goes after the United States or WWE Championship within the coming months. The 2nd match was for the Cruiserweight Championship between Cedric Alexander and Drew Gulak, Considering 205 Live is the second best brand in the company this is another match that should have been featured on the main card. I love Cedric Alexander but I really felt like it was Drew Gulak’s time. I am not sure who challenges Alexander at this point, but I am really curious to see who it might be. Finally, we end the preshow with The B Team defending the Raw Tag Team Titles against The Revival. The B Team has been so entertaining but The Revival has been put on the back burner ever since they got to the main roster. I think WWE creative is thinking their brilliant with how they have been booking The B Team and they are right.

The Main Card opened up with the Intercontinental Championship between champion Dolph Ziggler and challenger Seth Rollins. McIntyre was in Ziggler’s corner and Ambrose was in Rollins corner and that made for an interesting dynamic. This was an epic match to start the show and I can’t wait for Rollins to start defending the Intercontinental Championship on a nightly basis again. I was honestly waiting for Ambrose to turn on him but I think they are saving that for another day. The Smackdown Tag Titles had little to no buildup and honestly should have been swapped with the Raw Tag Team Championship Match. I do love The Bludgeon Brothers and the fact they are getting the recognition they deserve.  The New Day put up a great fight but they left it open for the feud to continue which is smart considering Smackdown’s Tag Team Division doesn’t have much depth right now. I hope once this feud runs it’s course we see The Bar and Sanity getting thrown into the mix.

I was very nervous about the match between Braun Strowman and Kevin Owen because I could have seen WWE swerving everyone by putting the briefcase on Kevin Owen. I was more shocked by how quickly Strowman beat KO. I am not sure if I like how bad KO got beat considering how great of an in-ring talent he is. He is such a great overall performer in the ring, on the mic and how he reacts to things. Do I think he should have won the briefcase? Absolutely not, but he should given Strowman a run for his money. I will be very curious to see where Kevin Owens goes from here. Another person who shouldn’t be competing for a chance at a championship is Charlotte Flair. I absolutely love Charlotte but she had no business in the Smackdown Women’s Championship. I would have been content watching Becky Lynch rip Carmella’s arm off and taking the title. Instead of that we have a new Women’s Champion in Charlotte. I did however say on the Court of Nerds Podcast that if Charlotte won we would see a Becky Lynch heel turn and honestly it was a much needed one. I am looking forward to seeing these two women throw down in what I am sure will be a great series of matches.

Two people who have had great matches over the years are Samoa Joe and AJ Styles. The fans recognized that they became stars elsewhere which is why they paid tribute to TNA with a thunderous chant during the match. These two were bring out everything in this match tonight. There were a few times in this match that I thought someone got seriously hurt. Out of all the AJ Styles dream matches we have had in WWE this was honestly the best one. I think it’s because of the familiarity and the pride due to the fact the came from the same places. I am disappointed in the finish of this grueling and classic match, but I am so excited to see more of what they are going to do to each other. We go from one Smackdown classic to another in the form of Daniel Bryan and The Miz. The feud has been on and off for the last eight years and now they get the marquee we had all been waiting for. The match, the story and the chemistry between these two were out of this world. I didn’t anything could follow Style and Joe but I was wrong. The Miz and Daniel Bryan put on the match of their WWE careers. There has been so much speculation about Daniel Bryan re-signing or not re-signing, but I think those doubts have been laid to rest. He is being showcased on WWE 2K19 and the way the match ended left this feud wide open for more.

Smackdown had back to back classic matches and unfortunately the match nobody cared about had to follow that. I didn’t understand why in the world Finn Balor was being wasted on Baron Corbin but after seeing the Demon appear it all made sense. This was one of the wrongs that was made right tonight and it should have happened sooner. I am honestly stoked that Balor defeated Corbin in the fashion that he did. This is the Finn Balor we should have been getting ever since he came back from injury. The injury bug has hit the Hardy Boyz in a big way lately and it appears if Jeff is winding down his career much like Matt has had to. Shinsuke Nakamura retaining the United States Title is no surprise but Jeff taking such a risk was a big surprise for the shape he is in. If Hardy’s career is over at least he went out taking a big risk. I just wish Hardy and Nakamura would have faced each other in their prime because they could have made this great match even better. If this is the last of the Hardy Boyz then I say what a hell of a career for the both of them.

While the Hardy Boys are winding down the career of Ronda Rousey is just beginning and tonight was another big moment for her not only from an ring standpoint but from the women’s evolution standpoint. People can say what they want about Rousey but she is an accomplished athlete, a well known celebrity and the perfect woman to gain more mainstream media attention for WWE’s Women Division. Prior to the match Natalya made her way to the ring wearing her dads jacket in a very emotional moment. I love Alexa Bliss as champion because she is the perfect heel. She’s one of the few natural heels on the roster who can generate heat still. She was the perfect opponent for Rousey tonight because it’s the sneaky, crafty and cunning bad guy that everyone wants to see get beat up. People may be upset that there were three squashes matches in one night but two of them made sense. Demon Balor and Rousey having dominating performances made a lot of sense. The only squash that didn’t make sense was Owens for the reasons I explained earlier.  The only matches that didn’t go the way I thought they would were the three preshow matches. I legitimately thought it was Drew Gulak’s and The Revival’s night to shine but we will havbe

The Main Event of the evening was the Universal Championship between Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns. I honestly went into this match not caring at all. We have been seeing it on and off for the last three years. The only thing that made this match interesting is Braun coming down to ringside to tease the cash-in. I am honestly glad that Braun held off on the cash-in because he doesn’t need to beat anyone down for a cheap win. This is the first WWE show I have thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish in a long time.  I am going to give Summerslam an 8 out of 10 due to the fact wrongs were righted, stories were told and they left the door wide open for feuds to continue. If you did not enjoy this show then I don’t think anything will make you happy. The hottest show of the summer was on fire and that fire continues at Hell in a Cell.