So I Watched SummerSlam By Southern Joe

So I Watched SummerSlam by Southern Joe

I think the most amazing thing about the new era of WWE is that they are making bucketloads of money AND shows like Summerslam are no longer pay per views in the traditional sense. This means that I didn’t have to shell out any extra . I simply logged into Binge, the streaming app that carries WWE content here in Australia.

An interesting opening to the show was all the backstage footage showing the main combatants warming up and/or making their way to locker rooms . This made the event start off with a legitimate sports feeling to the show. American singer Jelly Roll came out to a so-so reaction as he sang “America The Beautiful” . He put a good effort in, but his quality of voice did not match the effort for me and the crowd seemed to reflect that with the negative reaction he got at the end.

Triple H came out to rev up the crowd and to put Jelly Roll over for his follow up song. Reaction was flat once again. Then Miz introduced the show from amongst the fans in one of the stands.

The opening bout was between the returning Aussie sensation Rhea “Bloody” Ripley. (Since when has she been called Bloody?) and Liv Morgan. A women’s title match with a love triangle to boot. In storyline, Rhea has been the “Mami” for Dirty Dom Mysterio. But since Rhea’s injury, Liv Morgan has been trying to lure Dom away from Rhea.

I’m not a fan of women’s wrestling, but these 2 put on a good bout and got good crowd reactions. Rhea showed why she is better than most wrestlers, male or female. She sold her toughness and her character keeps on developing beyond elite.

An interesting twist as Dom firstly screwed Rhea out of regaining the women’s title, but then doing the double screw by kissing Liv and walking out with Liv rather than staying with Rhea.

The next match was the rising star, Bron Breaker, looking to take the Intercontinental title from Sami Zayn.

There have been many IC matches that have seen the ascension of WWE stars over the years. The making of those stars , if you will. The commentary team quite rightly rattled off an A list of Hall Of Famers that got their biggest initial break by capturing the IC title. They did leave off my favourite IC match, Ricky The Dragon Steamboat taking the IC from Randy Savage all the way back at Wrestlemania 3. I noticed some other observations that show the shifting of the times in WWE. They now continue to acknowledge Bron Breaker’s lineage with Rick Steiner being his Dad & of course, his Uncle Scott from whom he has taken the Frankensteiner to new levels of excellency. Also, they went a little inside baseball by acknowledging that the IC was always seen as the “workers” title.

If you are going to put over a rising star, a company can not go wrong by putting them in the ring with Sami Zayn. Sami is now a wily veteran who can adapt to many different styles, and this match was no different. While the match was a little short, the action was explosive and well laid out.
Congrats to Bron for going over and is now the IC champ.
I think Bron’s reign will surpass Gunther’s or come close to it as he is built up as a future franchise player.

Another bit of inside baseball was Pat MacAfee saying he was a mark because he made himself and his crew instant champions in the new WWE video game.

Next up was Logan Paul defending his US title against LA Knight. I don’t know who the jabroni “rap artist” was( I hate rap anyway. The only good wrap goes around birthday presents). I do respect both these guys. Logan because as an outsider, he has taken his training seriously and has been a good worker. LA has built himself up by himself, not sooking about bad gimmicks that he had previously been given, but working his way to an elite position by working hard and using his charisma and work ethic.

Nearly a botch to start this match as LA had initial trouble trying to smash the window of Logan Paul’s Prime vehicle. The action started outside the ring and before they got started LA Knight put Logan through the announcer’s table that didn’t gimmick itself to collapse. I guess they didn’t have a spare table, the gimmick didn’t work, or the table would collapse later. Because I am typing as I watch the replay( didn’t see it live), we’ll see if the table does collapse at a later spot. Prime energy drinks got their money’s worth with this match alone.

This was a good match as well. Action packed, crowd was into it, plenty of schmozz, Logan and LA with amazing top rope manouveurs that weren’t merely flippy floppy moves, but high in impact and meaning. LA also powered through a brass knucks spot to capture the US title. Another star continuing to rise in a stacked roster is LA Knight.

Please WWE, never EVER play that creepy Manscaped ad ever again.

Next up was Nia Jax against Bayley.

Next!

After a very slick video package introducing the next match ( although the titles for “Best In The World” & “Scottish Warrior” looked like something I would serve up as an amateur on my YouTube show If You See Kayfabe. This is because it is a passion project with little to no budget, whereas the WWE are normally flawless with production values.) We got the slow and deliberate ring entrances firstly of Seth Freakin’ Rollins as special guest referee, then Drew McIntyre, and finally CM Punk.
The reaction to CM Punk was , as always, tremendous. If Tony Khan was put under hypnosis, he would admit he continuously rues letting CM Punk escape All Elite Wrestling.

This was a slow build at first. They were building a story in the ring. Classic ring psychology. But did everyone in the arena fathom the ongoing storyline. It came through clearly on TV as the microphone captured the vocal go betweens between the 3 participants, but how much story would those in the cheap seats follow on with beyond the physicality, which in itself was pretty intense.

CM Punk put to bed rumours that he didn’t put anyone else over by doing a clean job for Drew.

After a backstage “reconciliation “ between Finn Balor & Damien Priest regarding a disagreement over what to do about the possibly now ex Judgment Day member Dirty Dom and his earlier double cross. This allowed the commentators to sell the idea that Priest may be distracted.

So now Priest is defending his RAW World title against the highly rated and rightly gimmick named Ring General, Gunther.

Gunther recently lost his IC title to Sami Zayn and is now looking to go one better by capturing the RAW world title.

This was a solid match with hard hitting chops and kicks. Priest’s chops were hard enough to get Gunther bleeding hard way(or was there a small blade). Balor came out to give Priest support, a move that annoyed Gunther.

The twist to this was that while Priest had Gunther in a pinning predicament, Balor put Gunther’s leg on the rope to break the count. When Priest realised what had happened, he went after Balor, allowing Gunther the chance to cinch in a sleeper hold and gain a submission win, completing what looks like the dissolution of The Judgement Day.

Next was the comedy section. Miz & R Truth was disrespecting our Aussie Sydney King, Grayson Waller & his tag partner, Austin Theory, who rightfully interrupted Awesome Truth’s lameness. To make matters worse, they blindsided A Train Down Under to set up what I will admit was a decent chokeslam by Jelly Roll.

Next, a Video package to hype the main event, Cody Rhodes defending his world title against the new Tribal Chief Solo Sikoa in a Bloodlines rules Match. Just like the Wrestlemania 40 main event, this means it’s a fancy name for anything goes.

Interesting part of this match, when Cody was hung up in the top turnbuckle, I was wondering why the ref didn’t untangle him, but then realised it was an anything goes match. It also became a nifty spot with Cody kipping up onto the top turnbuckle.

The match was going at a somewhat pedestrian pace, until the full Bloodlines Rules started to take effect. Tama Tonga & Tonga Loa rushed the ring and ambushed Cody, but he fought them off. The odds were evened up when first Kevin Owens, & then Randy Orton returned to help Cody. The 2 pairs fought off to the backstage. Cody introduced the ringsteps to Solo’s head (protected shots), but Solo countered with a spear. Cody was about to hit a 3rd crossroads when Jacob Fatu blindsided Cody, but Cody kicked out of a pin attempt when Solo tried to finish off a prone Cody Rhodes.

Fatu took it to the outside and Fatu sailed off the top rope and splashed Cody and THIS TIME the announcer table complied and collapsed. Fatu seemed to be injured, but was hard to see if it was a work. Either Fatu was n extreme pain, or sold his injury very well. He was seen in a moonboot in the aftermath of Summerslam, but walking under his own steam. Best wishes to jacob on a speedy recovery.

Then, one of the greatest pops of recent memory, Roman Reigns’ music hit & the Tribal Chief made his way to the ring. He then Superman punched Solo followed by a spear. He gave Cody a long hard look before exiting the ring. Roman turned back half way up the entrance/exit way to witness Cody finish the match and the 2 of them eyed each other, leaving new stories now unfinished.

I enjoyed most of this event. It was one of the better Summerslams for many a year. I think they are trying to counter those that say there is no storyline compared to AEW by providing compelling storylines that are going back to traditional long term storylines.

Just when people thought the Bloodline story was getting stale, Triple H and his team have found what Bruce Prichard would call “ a new paint of coat” (sic).

Between MJF’s return on the All Elite side of things & this new wrinkle to the tribal stuff, wrestling is getting interesting again.