Summerslam 2024 - August 3rd

[MachoLibre]

5 hours ago, Supremo said:

In light of recent events, I hope Logan Paul gets injured.

Yeah...this is in much better taste than his tweet...?

[SwayWays]

8 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

"What do you think of Logan Paul's recent comments?"

"Oh you know. He's a maverick. Logan Paul's views are Logan Paul's. Logan Paul does whatever Logan Paul wants to do. Have you seen his frog splash?"

This, verbatim, or I won't believe it's trippers. 

[SwayWays]

8 hours ago, DavidB6937 said:

Double post d*ckhead

Edited August 3, 2024 by SwayWays
Double post

[Harry Wiseau]

I'm looking forward to this because although to my mind the results seem somewhat obvious if they do go with those results it would mean changing four belts on one night which seems pretty unlikely so hopefully there's going to be a suprise or two. Roman has to come back doesn't he? 

[DavidB6937]

Worth a watch. Cole is great with stuff like this.

 

[air_raid]

8 hours ago, Harry Wiseau said:

I'm looking forward to this because although to my mind the results seem somewhat obvious if they do go with those results it would mean changing four belts on one night which seems pretty unlikely so hopefully there's going to be a suprise or two.

Four? Are you going with Knight, Gunther, Bron and Ripley? I assume nobody has Solo.

Liv retains. Dom turns on Rhea.

P.S. It’s Tiffy Time.

Edited August 3, 2024 by air_raid

[Harry Wiseau]

1 hour ago, air_raid said:

Four? Are you going with Knight, Gunther, Bron and Ripley? I assume nobody has Solo.

Liv retains. Dom turns on Rhea.

P.S. It’s Tiffy Time.

I figured Nia Jax was going to win, Liv, bron, Cody, LA and Gunther all seem nailed on.

[air_raid]

10 minutes ago, Harry Wiseau said:

I figured Nia Jax was going to win,

It’s definitely Tiffy Time.

[AndyUK]

Looking forward to this. Think there should be plenty of great moments even if the matches aren't amazing. 

The two World Title matches are the reason don't feel like the top matches on a Summerslam card which is why I think some are sour on the line up but they've done a decent job building them up to be fair. It's worth watching Cody v Solo just for the inevitable Reigns return anyway.   

Interested to see how Punk looks against Drew, although admittedly I'd have been looking forward to it more without the special referee shenanigans. The Summerslam 97 finish would definitely make sense though.  

Edited August 3, 2024 by AndyUK

[MachoLibre]

In my head SummerSlam '97 was much later in August, but turns out it was also on August 3rd! I don't think Punk could possibly pass up such a fitting stop on the Bret Hart Masturbatory tribute tour.

[air_raid]

8 hours ago, air_raid said:

It’s definitely Tiffy Time.

Goddamn it. The streak is over.

[JLM]

Summerslam '24

Something very funny about HHH in full HHH voice yelling "ONE MORE TIME.. JELLYROOOOOOLL!!" 

Women's Championship: Liv Morgan vs Rhea Ripley

This was about as expected. This story lends itself to all of the overbooking and bells and whistles you need for a Liv Morgan PPV singles match. The shoulder stuff was a bit hokey, but Rhea has such spectacular presence and physical charisma that I was able to go along with it. It also allowed Morgan to be a credible threat when these two are so mismatched. Massive reaction for the turn; this was more about that and a continuation of this story than it was a big Summerslam blow off match. 

Intercontinental Title: Bronn Breaker vs Sami Zayn

This was a bit strange. After the MITB match I thought this one would be a squash for Bronn, with maybe a few signs that he'd learned from his mistakes in that match. Instead it was short, but they sort of did a competitive 50/50-ish match but done in 5 minutes, with Bronn making pretty much the same mistakes he made last time only this time he didn't lose. A longer, more competitive match where Bronn managed to rein in his impulsiveness slightly to overcome the wily veteran OR a quick squash where Zayn couldn't contain the beast a second time would both have been good, but this was kinda neither. Still, the right result and Bronn got to show off some of the amazing stuff he can do on the big stage. Think this was the only match on the card with a completely clean finish and no interference. 

US Title: LA Knight vs Logan Paul

This was a cracking match. Great heat throughout, plenty of drama in the closing stretch and some jaw dropping high spots from both guys. That springboard moonsault from Paul was out of this world. Completely caught me off guard. Was a wise move to start with all the stuff on the outside before the match started, but once they got in the ring it still kept up the same intensity and pace. Paul continues to prove himself to be one of the worst humans but he is sickeningly good at this pro wrestling business. This was the best in-ring performance I can recall seeing from LA Knight as well, busting out stuff I've never seen from him before and leading Paul through the bits in between the big spots. 

Other Women's Championship: Bayley vs Nia Jax 

Bayley has always been able to get better singles matches out of Nia Jax than most people. She worked very hard here but she is so cold right now. The people were not interested, so although she did all the sympathetic things the match did not have heat. I liked the call back to their NXT match but it sadly got no reaction. The powerbomb from Bayley was a quite astonishing feat of strength and the match was starting to heat up a little bit after that, but then they teased the Tiffy cash in people actually wanted before swiftly denying it. I dunno, it was about as good as a Nia singles PPV match can be, but didn't have the crowd investment to help it rise above being average. As Supremo says, Nia as champ with Tiffany holding the briefcase is the more interesting direction, so this was the right result as well. 

CM Punk vs Drew McIntyre

This one I didn't feel the hatred in the match as much as the build warranted. I know they don't like to do blood, but I wanted more unhinged, violent rage from Drew here. He was mad but he wasn't mad enough for my tastes. Rollins was a bit of an annoying distraction at the beginning, with the fans singing his stupid theme instead of following the match. Punk got through it unscathed and looked OK if it a little slow at times. I enjoyed most of the melodramatic stuff in the second half of it. They did the Bret/Shawn/Taker nod of course, and Punk giving up his hold to get the bracelet off Drew was a great moment. Punk calling out Seth's "stupid Sabu pants!" made me laugh. Seth dropping any veil of neutrality and giving Punk both barrels was the most engaging I've found him in some time. "It's not always about me, but it's NEVER about you" was also a good'un from Punk. I dunno, it had some good story beats and memorable moments but it didn't feel like the blood feud I wanted it to. 

World Heavyweight Championship: Gunther vs Damian Priest

Video package was tremendous for this one. It's been a joy to watch how good Gunther's promos have got since his main roster call up. Already one of the best in-ring performers in the world but he's emerged as one of the best talkers in the company as well. The complete package. I thought adding the class struggle/"Street trash" angle to this feud was a great move, but for this audience it still didn't seem to be enough to get them fully behind Priest. Fortunately for him, a slobbernocker with Gunther can fix that issue. These two beat the hell out of each other, and Gunther was such a bully towards the end that the people were eventually backing Priest just before the Ballor turn. Unfortunately that bit was slightly messy, as Priest had to roll Gunther over to the ropes very deliberately to set up the screwjob finish. Ballor's heel turn face was absolutely hilarious also. Unbelievably hammy. Still, enjoyed this match a lot and the Ballor turn they've been hinting at for a long time is a significant development. Chuffed to see Gunther win the almost World Title as well. If you want someone to try and elevate your consolation belt, you have your man. Cool to see him celebrating with Jinny too! I quite liked her in NXT UK. 

WWE Championship: Cody Rhodes vs Solo Sikoa

Cody's backstage pre-entrance bit was great. God Tonga Loa is so shit. He's given so little to do but always does it so badly. I seriously hope Jacob Fatu is OK, would be devastated if he got derailed this early. Anyway, Cody and Solo did a bit of wrestling to fill some time. Then they did stock Bloodline ending sequence to fill a bit more time. Then we got the glorious return of the motherfucking Tribal Chief. My dream version of this had Paul Heyman strolling out first looking extremely pleased with himself, but still, anything else that happened in this main event was moot. The man is back, the pop was thunderous, he gave Cody the nod of approval, I was thrilled. Five stars. 
 

Edited August 4, 2024 by JLM

[Supremo]

Good show. I can totally see how it wouldn't be to everyone's tastes, but if you're inclined to enjoy WWE's style, this was mostly great fun.

Firstly, in the current climate of professional wrestling, where guys jump back and forth regularly, the next big move needs to be someone from AEW's production team jumping over to WWE, in order to re-teach them how to cleverly shoot their shows and hide blocks of empty seats that are tarped off. Whilst AEW have become experts at it, managing to shoot around half-empty arenas on a weekly basis, it's like WWE have been on such a hot run, with so many sell-outs, that they've forgotten how to do it. They were rubbish at hiding it on this show, and every time they appeared onscreen it was super distracting. My favourite was near the start of the show, when they cut to that camera strapped to the poor referee's head, and then immediately cut away about a millisecond later, when the poor bastard was caught just staring into space, revealing all the empty seats on the side of the hard camera.

Triple H showing up for no reason yet again! Man cannot help himself.

Solid, if unspectacular opener. Liv Morgan just doesn't have it, does she? Never had a particularly good match. Probably never will. Just okay in every department. Paint by numbers. Not that any of it mattered though, because this was all about the turn and they nailed it. Dirty Dom strikes again! That sleazy prick is the business. Definitely inherited Latino Heat from his Dad. Dom vs. Rhea is a legitimate pay per view-worthy match. There's money to be made with Rhea destroying him.

Whilst nothing special, Zayn vs. Breakker did what it needed to do. Get the belt on Bron. Let Sami move on to hopefully bigger, more Bloodline-related things. In the clips online, Rick Steiner in the crowd looked delighted watching his son win the big one. I bet he was even happier backstage, swapping transphobic bullshit with Logan Paul.

There's no point pretending otherwise though. Logan Paul is a rubbish human being, a complete moron, with ridiculously low media literacy for someone who made a career on social media, but fuck me he's a good wrestler. Worse still, he's getting better. This was easily the best match of both Logan and LA Knight's respective careers. A fantastic bout. All the stars aligned. Even when it threatened to come off the rails, with Logan landing badly on a couple of spots, it just added to the drama, peaking perfectly with that phenomenally crisp finish. Fantastic. LA Knight rules. Yeah.

Nia vs. Bayley got there in the end. Started ice cold. Unsurprisingly; how could anyone possibly care when Bayley's reign has been so rubbish. But they got the crowd in the final few minutes, with some nice action. It's time to admit that Nia Jax has improved loads this year. Definitely the right result. There's a good story to be told with her and Tiffany. Frankly, Bayley needs to go to AEW. Feels like there's nothing left for her in this company. Do a straight swap for Ricky Starks.

Punk vs. Drew was A-grade, NXT-pilled melodramatic bullshit. CM Punk aint no dummy. Hunter's the boss, now. He's the new audience of one that Vince used to be. It's all about the Game, and how you play him. And I bet Hunter fucking loved this. As did I. Normally, I'd hate it, but Drew and Punk are such white hot characters and I'm so invested in everything they do, that they somehow managed to make it work. Big, daft, mid-match monologues and silly, "moments," involving the cheapest, shittest looking bracelet. Honestly Phil, just buy another one. Looks to be worth about 75p.

Distilled, 2024 WWE. Schlocky nonsense, but delicious schlocky nonsense. Loved the cute Bret references, thought it was the right finish with Drew going over, and - thankfully, Punk looked a lot better here than he did at the Rumble. Fingers crossed he came out of it unscathed because although I think his best days are behind him, there's still no denying the aura that surrounds him. Everything here felt big time. I'm still holding out hope for the Stone Cold match at Mania.

But yeah, assuming this feud is now over and they transition to Punk vs. Seth, at least Drew concluded it in the most perfect way. King of the trolls. All hail DM Hunk.

Gunther vs. Priest absolutely ruled. Best match of Damien Priest's career. Just two big bastards knocking shite out of each other. Brilliant. Never fails. Shout out to Gunther, seemingly doing Chris Jericho's gimmick one better, bleeding from the tits HARD WAY. Great match. Fun Sports Entertainment finish. So long, Judgment Day. Leave the memories alone. I think history will be very kind to them. A great act whilst it lasted. Was far better and achieved far more than anyone ever could have expected when they started as spooky losers with Edge. Raw wont be the same without them being idiots in DA CLUB HOUSE, constantly on the brink of corpsing. I hope Carlito grabbed the PS5 on his way out.

The main event was exactly what I expected and hoped for. Cody's entrance was something else. He's more The Man than anyone has ever been The Man in the history of this sport. Fucking selfies and autographs on the way down the aisle! He's unbelievable. By contrast, Solo just about got through it, but clearly doesn't have the chops to be a Main Eventer for the long run. And at the farthest end of the spectrum, Tonga Loa continues to be hilariously shit at absolutely everything he ever does. Can't even push someone into a corner without screwing it up. I swear, the only reason to keep him around is that he makes Jacob Fatu look even better by juxtaposition. Another great showing by Jacob here. Hoping he isn't injured. He's the Next Big Thing.

The match was fine, only really getting going once all the bullshit and interference kicked off, but who fucking cares. The music hit. He came out with the aura and charisma of a million men. He reclaimed his position as the Tribal Chief. He met the gaze of Cody. And I came absolutely everywhere.

Roman Reigns, Number One Babyface. Earnestly and universally accepted as a true fan favourite. Monstrous pop and thunderous cheers. You did it, you crazy son of a bitch, you did it.

I'll be standing in my living room with one finger in the air until further notice. Acknowledge him.

Edited August 4, 2024 by Supremo

[SwayWays]

21 minutes ago, Supremo said:

 

 reclaimed his position as the Tribal Chief. He met the gaze of Cody. And I came absolutely everywhere. 

Would allow me to take the tweet out, but that fucking comment broke me. And unable to give context to my roaring laughter to anyone else at work. Kudos. 

[RedTwoster]

That was brilliant, another cracking WWE PPV. The major shows for both major companies are consistently great right now, it’s such a brilliant time to be a fan. 

The opener was exactly what it needed to be, although there were a few logic gaps in there, with Dom aiding Ripley; and having the chance to help Morgan win earlier without doing so. Regardless, I enjoyed it for what it was, and Dom’s eventual turn was great fun. Liv is limited in ring, but they managed to book around that well. Given how good her character work has been, I’m all for her title reign continuing. Ripley will get her revenge eventually, it’s just a question of when - and whether it’ll involve getting the title back, or simply beating up Dom. 

Logan Paul vs LA Knight was surprisingly good, and it was nice to see Knight finally win a title in WWE. Although they’re on different brands, for the crowd reaction alone I’d like to see Knight/Dom for the belt in the future. Maybe a terrified Dom can orchestrate a trade to escape the wrath of Rhea, or something.

Priest/Gunther was the match of the night, and I’d not have objected at all to Priest retaining. Baylor’s ‘evil face’ was absolutely hilarious and made me laugh out loud. But it was fun rather than bad, and I’m looking forward to seeing what this all means for Judgement Day. I strongly suspect Gunther as champion means we’re going to get Gunther/Cena at Wrestlemania. I’d prefer to see Cody vs Cena, but we’ll see what happens.

Drew/Punk was enjoyable, and I can only assume we’re heading towards a triple threat next. It’s probably a good idea, as Punk seemed to be worn out at various points during the match. 

Cody/Solo was solid, but the crowd were clearly waiting for Roman to turn up as I suspected might happen. But when he did…goosebumps. I can’t wait for the original Bloodline to reunite, and Sami’s defeat seems to free him up for that - so thanks, Bron Breakker. And I also can’t wait for the inevitable showdown with The Rock.