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Last night was the Summerslam PPV. I thought it was a mix of good and bad. There were some good matches, but the booking of the main event really left me flat. Of course, it does leave WWE a lot of different directions that they can go, but I feel like it is booking for the sake of confusion to try and get people to tune into Raw rather than booking with long term direction for the best health of the company. Here's a quick rundown of last night's card:
- Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston, and John Morrison def. R-Truth, The Miz, and Alberto Del Rio. Unannounced but a fun opener. Mysterio was clearly favoring his knee. ***
- Mark Henry def. Sheamus via countout. Match wasn't great, but the final spot was very impressive with Henry slamming Sheamus through the guard rail into the crowd. I'm surprised how they booked Sheamus here, but it looks like Henry will be next in line for Orton, so he needed to go over strong. *3/4
- Kelly Kelly def. Beth Phoenix to retain the Divas Title. Very surprised by the finish, but it wasn't the worst divas match in the world, but that's really not saying much. It still went too long. *
- Wade Barrett def. Daniel Bryan. I enjoyed this match even though the crowd was chanting 'boring'. Well, that's what you get when your lead announcer constantly tells the fans how boring the best wrestler in your company is. It looks like this feud will continue. I have a bad feeling that it will involve the MITB Briefcase with Barrett eventually winning it. ***
- Randy Orton def. Christian in a no holds barred match to win the World Heavyweight Title. Easily the match of the night. It was the fifth straight show that these two wrestled, but this was their best match yet. Worked really stiff and really beat the hell out of each other. Christian went through 3 tables, Orton busted his mouth and thumb. The finish saw Orton hit the RKO on Christian across the steel steps. Great match. Definitely seems like the blowoff of this program. ****1/2
- CM Punk def John Cena to unify the WWE Titles. Good match but nowhere near the level of their match last month at MITB. HHH did not play a role in the match. Called it right down the middle. The finish saw Punk hit a very sloppy GTS. Cena got his foot on the ropes, but HHH was out of position, didn't see it, and counted the 3. Cena quietly complained to HHH after the match. As Punk was celebrating in the ring, out of nowhere was Kevin Nash (no idea how they snuck him in the ring) and he laid out Punk with a lariat and jackknife powerbomb. HHH looked on in confusion from outside the ring. ***3/4
- Alberto Del Rio def. CM Punk to win the WWE Title. ADR cashed in, hit a kick to the head, and pinned Punk to get the win. He celebrated as the show went off the air as HHH was still looking on confused.
- The announcing. Good God, I can't take it anymore. The fact that Jim Ross was in the building and instead they put Booker on commentary made me want to rip my ears off. Cole and Booker are unbearable to listen to. One of the main reasons I don't watch Smackdown.
- The commercials. Are you kidding me? For people who actually pay money for these shows, they should be furious.
- The Summerslam Axxess video. C'mon, save this for Raw. You don't need to waste 10 minutes of the PPV showing WWE propaganda. You already have the people's money.
- The Cee-Lo Green concert. It wasn't awful, but it went too long. One song would have been enough.
My next problem, and I said this in my preview yesterday. The main storyline is Cena, Punk, HHH (and now Steph and probably Vince). However, now Alberto Del Rio is the champion. How and where does he fit in? Del Rio's first title reign needs to be a really big deal if they are going to get him over as a star, but now no matter what he does, he's going to be the 2nd focus of the show. And does anyone think Del Rio is going to get a clean win over Cena? I doubt it.
I cringed at both Stephanie McMahon and Kevin Nash being back last night. You guys all romanticize Nash, but this man is old. Very old. He can't move. He doesn't believe in putting young talent over. If he is going to be back, I hope it is in a very, very limited role. Body guard only type deal. Please no wrestling. And as for Stephanie, it just means more television time for the family. It would be one thing if they were just one segment each show, but we've already seen how things have been since HHH has returned. He's on screen in at least 3-4 segments per show. It's too much.
As far as trying to make sense of Summerslam's main event, here's my take.
- HHH hates CM Punk although he has not yet really acknowledged it on TV.
- HHH did not want CM Punk as champion, but he also wanted to call the match down the middle.
- HHH did call the match down the middle and legitimately (in storyline) did not see Cena's foot on the ropes.
- After CM Punk won the title, HHH had his insurance plan in place with his best friend Kevin Nash there to take out CM Punk making sure that Punk did not leave as champion. I don't believe there will be any type of connection between Nash and Del Rio.
As for Night of Champions, the show is not for five weeks, so I wouldn't expect anything to be announced for at least two weeks.
The only thing announced for tonight's show is Alberto Del Rio defending his WWE Title against Rey Mysterio. With the way Rey looked last night, it wouldn't shock me if there was some type of injury angle so they don't have to have the match. Also, I would expect some type of major celebration for Del Rio.
Enjoy tonight's show!
