WWE Summerslam 2017

[Tim R-T-C]

 ...

[Tim R-T-C]

9 minutes ago, Kaz Hayashi said:

Well I'm trying, but the network on PS4 is being really fun as usual. It's kicked me off the live feed twice in to an episode of story time. It's bad enough being kicked off, but to fucking story time.. paper cuts cleaned with vinegar 

Pre-show is on WWE Youtube channel

[Kaz Hayashi]

6 minutes ago, Tim R-T-C said:

Pre-show is on WWE Youtube channel

Aye I know mate, it's more a case of hoping it's not a sign of things to come for the main show.

[Daaaaaad!]

Really enjoyed that, especially the main event. A few weak matches here and there on the card but overall it very much lived up to expectations.

Braun Strowman is terrific.

[MVP RULZ]

Overall I was fairly satisfied

A few good Matches, Raw Tag titles and Smackdown Tag titles I thought were great efforts

That fatal 4 way was amazing though, Strowman is an absolute beast.

Its a shame Hell in a Cell is a Smackdown PPV (think that's correct anyway) as I Can't see what feud on Smackdown needs that stipulation but Lesnar vs Strowman would be absolutely terrific inside the Cell.

[wooly]

The main event was insanely good and was much better than i thought it would be. Roman is ok but but looks limited with his spear and punch were as strowman is a wrecking machine. They should push strowman over reigns i feel. Plus aj vs owens was a real good match the rest were just ok IMO.

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=10000849360

 

[Ambulance Chaser]

That main event was something rather special, never let up did it. Strowman, my god the sky is the limit. They all shined to be honest I thought.

AJ/Owens was a decent match, enjoyed that.

The rest was ok to garbage for me, that Cass/Show thing, what the fuck was going on there, that was beyond bad. I don't care about anything Wyatt does. Corbin is starting to irritate the fuck out of me with his over the top mannerism's during the match, It's like someone has told him "you are a heel, have a go at the ref and fans" and he just does it ALL the damn time, like he will hit a shit move like a body slam and get barely a 2 count and he's up, 2 inches from the ref's face yelling "OH C'MONNNNN. THREEEEEEE". it's just overkill, I thought about muting the match at one point but always like to hear the crowd in a Cena match, he needs to pick his spots and have better instincts, it's all just weird.

[Jon-Carr_92]

6 hours ago, MVP RULZ said:

Overall I was fairly satisfied

A few good Matches, Raw Tag titles and Smackdown Tag titles I thought were great efforts

That fatal 4 way was amazing though, Strowman is an absolute beast.

Its a shame Hell in a Cell is a Smackdown PPV (think that's correct anyway) as I Can't see what feud on Smackdown needs that stipulation but Lesnar vs Strowman would be absolutely terrific inside the Cell.

Yeah. Raw is getting TLC which is moving to October and No Mercy next month after SmackDown had them last year. Clash of Champions is taking TLC's place in the calender and that's going to be SmackDown's turn to host as well as HIAC. I agree. That would a stonking big lads match in the Cell. Especially with how much Braun's improved leaps and bounds. Also like the idea of some PPVs swapping shows every year. I'm going to guess Raw will have Elimination Chamber next year as well.

[BomberPat]

Surprised to hear people enjoyed it. I thought it was a fucking slog, and one of the worst PPVs in years. Six hours of wrestling show, and maybe an hour of decent wrestling in it.

Main event was a belter, admittedly, and has me hyped for a future Brock/Braun match. Surprised Roman took the fall, thought for sure that Joe was in there to take the pin.

Beyond that, though? Women's matches were decent, both tag title matches were great, though the Smackdown one was hurt by being on the pre-show.

 

Speaking of the pre-show - how do you fuck up the hype around the Hardys return so badly that, from being the most talked about act in the world at Wrestlemania, they're in an empty arena pre-show nothing match with two thirds of the Social Outcasts? And what's the point of the Jason Jordan/Kurt Angle reveal if this is all they're planning on doing with him? And what was the point of Neville dropping the belt on RAW if he's just going to win it back clean on the pay-per-view?

Cena/Corbin is a match I'll forget even happened within a month. When was the last time they soured on someone as bad as they have on Corbin? A solid week of being made to look a total chump. Not only that, but it's the second biggest PPV of the year and you can't think of anything better for John Cena to do than a forgettable curtain jerker? He's at a stage in his career where he really shouldn't be doing anything but big marquee showcase matches or putting over new talent.

Big Cass vs. Big Show was one of the worst matches I've seen in years, with the added bonus of fucking over Enzo out of spite.

Styles vs. Owens might have been a decent match, but never really kicked into a decent gear because all the focus had to be on fucking Shane McMahon being crowbarred in. The whole kayfabe reason for him being there was to be a referee who could "do his job" at Summerslam, and he was almost comically inept. The highlight of the match was Kevin Owens calling him out on his inability to recover from a ref bump by saying, "YOU JUMP OFF BUILDINGS", calling out the inherent ridiculousness of Shane McMahon as a character. And, after all that bullshit with Shane as the referee, it didn't play into the finish at all. It was just taking an almost guaranteed good match - albeit one we've seen a few times already - and shoving a McMahon in there to actively take away from it. I'd love to hear any suggestion as to what Shane McMahon added to that match.

Orton/Rusev was a joke. Rusev is fucking brilliant, and that they can't come up with anything for him at the best of times is ridiculous, but that what they did come up with is a two week feud leading to him losing in ten seconds even after jumping Orton from behind is preposterous. What did this even achieve? Oh, it got the RKO over as a cool finish that Randy Orton can hit out of nowhere. In case you hadn't grasped that yet.

Balor/Wyatt was pretty typical of WWE booking - completely missing the point of "Show, Don't Tell". They kept telling us in the build that Bray Wyatt was unstoppable, despite the fact that he loses all the fucking time, and that Finn Balor was a beloved top flight babyface, despite the fact that he's been lost in the shuffle and they've done sod all with him for months. What makes that frustrating is that they control the narrative - they could have booked Bray Wyatt to be unstoppable, and require Balor bringing out the Demon to beat him, but they didn't, they had him lose all the time, and then just told us that he was unstoppable, as if that's good enough. It's like every Bray Wyatt feud exists in microcosm, and we're supposed to forget everything he's done before, and go back to seeing him as a super scary unstoppable force until the next time he loses. Anyway, Finn Balor bringing out the Demon allowed him to do the unthinkable and beat Bray Wyatt, putting him in the elite company of Everyone Bray Wyatt Has Ever Wrestled. If this is the only match of their "feud", it was pointless. If this was the first match of an ongoing programme, it's worse than pointless, as Finn bringing out the Demon to get the win over Bray Wyatt is the logical pay-off to this programme, not the start of it. Also, the last time Finn Balor was the Demon, they gave us some bullshit mythological history for the gimmick - basically treating it as if it was an actual supernatural entity. This time around, Michael Cole just called it "warpaint". I prefer the latter explanation, I'd just like some consistency.
It would be nice if Finn using "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands", and Wyatt losing to the Demon, prompted some kind of change in Bray Wyatt, where he had to re-invent himself or evolve his character to adapt to changing circumstances...but he won't, will he? He'll back giggling to himself and cutting cryptic promos on random babyfaces, then losing come the pay-per-view. Someone on Twitter called this "the Cult Leader without a Cult, and the Club leader without a Club".

I was surprised and confused by Jinder vs. Shinsuke. The pre-match video package was great, but it played Jinder Mahal straight, as if every claim he's making is true. So it made Jinder Mahal look like a massive, defining babyface. Even the commentary of the match didn't really try and play Mahal as a heel, with any scorn reserved for the Singh Brothers instead. I wasn't expecting Nakamura to win, but I expected it to take more than that to beat him - I figured we'd get a screwy non-finish, not the exact same finish as every other Jinder Mahal match. At this point, I don't think Nakamura is established enough for a win over him to aid Jinder at all, which means he's also not established enough to be able to weather too many high profile losses. I don't see them putting the title on Nakamura any time soon, and I think they'll struggle to find things for him to do that keep the level of interest in him at a high before long.

[Guest]

thought that, BRILLIANT pre-show match aside between New Day and Usos (go back and watch if you skipped the pre-show, absolutely marvellous) the first 2 thirds of the show were pretty dreadful but definitely got better if you weren't down-and-out by then

Tozawa/Neville was also good but very odd to switch back to Neville, I don't get that at all.

I'm not fussed about it but Corbin is fucked now. Had a vague soft spot for Corbin as he's good at chuckin little bastards around who bump like mad for him like Kalisto, Zayn, Aries. He should be in GFW's X Division

Natalya/Naomi was ok but another title switch I don't get in the slightest. Clean win as far as I could tell? Nonsense.

Cass/Show was dreadful and should've been on the pre-show, marginally saved by Enzo takin his trousers off and covering himself in lube (oo-er) only to swiftly get murdered. Fucking terrible decision to break this team up. Case in point Enzo's promo. Crowd couldn't be arsed with the "how you doin" cos they've fucked him so hard. Look back to last year and how over they were and it's just sad.

Orton squashing Rusev in 1 second had me spitting all sorts of venom. FUCK OFF RKO. "it wouldn't be a Summerslam without Randy Orton!" aye it would, he's been fucking shit for years - demote him. Rusev, come crush the indies pal, fuck this lot.

Sasha v Alexa was just getting decent and then just like that, it was over. Another title change out of the blue with no real story

Balor v Wyatt was pretty fun considering how little I care for both. Finn had the second best entrance of the weekend after Aleister Black. Story development idea I pulled from my arse; Bray is in awe of Finn now and "worships" him - beats calling yourself a God with your 30% win percentage

Loved the Raw tag titles, not up to the Smackdown standard but great nonetheless, was pleased with the really good finish and title change. Love how much this has freshened Dean & Seth. BEST BIT, THOUGH was definitely Cesaro sprinting and leaping over the barricade like Superman to rip a fucking beach ball to shreds some sweaty smark twat had brought. What a fucking hero. I hope he got a bonus from Vince for that.

AJ/Owens was pretty good, but I feel like was hurt by the crowd being fatigued. Kev screaming in Shane's face for a bit should be fairly fun, even if the inevitable match is less so.

Jinder/Nakamura... ugh. Some decent back-and-forth taunting and that's about it. Indian J&J Security come in and this abysmal title reign continues. I just want it to fuck off. Fast-forwarding his promos from now on cos seriously, it's a brown bloke who walks about accusing people unjustly of racism, definitely definitely written by some wise-ass white guy. Embarrassing shit that belongs on an episode of Southpaw Regional Wrestling. Obliterating my ability to enjoy Smackdown.

Thankfully, the main event pretty much made up for every shite match and frustrating decision 1 by 1. Absolutely beautiful. The first 5-10 minutes was some of the most astoundingly good stuff I've ever seen. Strowman was incredible. Everyone was fantastic but especially Braun. Lost a tinsy bit of momentum with Brock's stretcher job but was still pretty damn close to perfect. Fine with Brock retaining - THAT'S a title reign, Smackdown. Would love Brock v Braun now.

 

But yeah, not sure I'd say it was good enough considering the sheer hours they expect you to put into this. 3 great matches (1 on the pre-show) about the same number as good matches, all sandwiched in between shite. Really makes you miss snappy well-paced shows like the 2002 Summerslam.

[Love-Wilcox]

Main event was great but that was about the only thing I really enjoyed on the entire show.

[Ambulance Chaser]

What did Owens say, "YOU FALL OFF BUILDINGS" something or other when moaning about Shane being hurt. Tickled me that did.

 

[TheBurningRed]

The 6 hours seemed to flow better for me than Wrestlemania did. Even though it wasn't a great show either. 

Two of the pre show matches were good. Neville dropping the title to Tozawa and winning it back made no sense. Usos vs New Day was awesome. Best pre show match in history. 

Cena and Corbin was dull as hell and not what you want in your opening match. 

The SD Women's match and even the Raw one were average at best. Not bad. But not good either. 

Big Show vs Cass was a long 10 minutes. Very boring. Like I've had done since his NXT days to current day, I muted Enzo during his promo as I can't stand him. It looked like he was getting no reaction at all though. Which I'm glad about. He can fuck off. 

Speaking of people who should fuck off - Randy Orton. Poor Rusev. A match that had no build or reason other than Orton RKOing him Smackdown, ends in seconds. Orton continues having the shittest year of his career. 

Zoned out for Finn vs Wyatt as I don't care about Brays character anymore. They appeared to have a match and Finn won. 

Like the earlier tag title match, the Raw tag match was awesome. Not as good but still really great. The first good match on the main card.

AJ vs Kevin was a good match if you take away the Shane shenigans that are leading to KO vs Shane at Hell in a Cell.

The Jinder experiment needs to end.

Main event was crazy and a joy to watch. Great stuff from all 4 men. Especially Braun. Loved it when he launched the announcers chair at Roman and I think Joe? Can't wait to see him and Brock face off one on one though. 

So, besides two of the pre show matches, the show didn't get going until late on and only then there was 3 matches worth watching.  

[tiger_rick]

I flicked through it this morning to see who won. Didn't care enough to watch anything but the main event.

Naka losing was predictable but stupid. I don't rate him and think it's sad to see the real talent sidelined but they're certainly committing to the Big Cass push. Crowd seemed to enjoy Sierra-Hotel-India-Echo winning the tag belts. Memory might be playing tricks but I recall those six man tags being wild brawls. I don't want to see a reunion if they end up selling all match like the Rock and Roll Express. Sadly the formula for nearly all their face matches, apart and together, since the split.

Main event was a brilliant brawl. Very high on the MOTY list. 

[AndyUK]

Got better as it went on, with Smackdown's craptacular booking being what let most of the rest down. Now I'm not that bothered about Corbin and Rusev, even though it was daft but Jinder's title reign continuing isn't good news. With Cena off too, the blue brand has little going for them. A lot of unexpected title changes too, with Neville and the Usos winning their belts back and Natalya and Sasha winning the Womens Titles.    

The matches you'd expect to deliver did so though. The Usos/New Day was class on the pre-show and the RAW Tag Title match was very good too. Styles and Owens probably had the smoothest match they've had despite the Shane overbooking and then that main event was everything I wanted to be. Brock, Braun, Joe and Reigns are all proper stars. Cena v Reigns and Brock v Braun at Mania would be great.