What a hell of a month. Exhausted yet? NJPW just finished up it's G1 Climax 25 tournament last Sunday night. They did 19 shows starting in late July and finished with three shows in a row at Sumo Hall last weekend. This weekend had a live NXT Takeover special on Saturday night headlined by a Finn Balor/Kevin Owens Ladder Match. And now a 4 hour Summerslam. So you might be a little wrestling-fatigued by now. Oh, well.
SHEMAUS vs. RANDY ORTON: These two? Again? Why? The show opened with host John Stewart and Mick Foley talking in the ring. That was more entertaining than this match. 1/2* (out of ****)
THE NEW DAY vs. THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS vs. THE LUCHA DRAGONS vs. LOS MATADORES: The New Day won the tag titles here. Maybe there was just too many wrestlers in this match. It was average stuff. I will admit that Titus O'Neill had a fun flurry. And I usually hate that guy. **
DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. RUSEV: These two were outside the ring and failed to make the ten-count. Wait...what? Apparently they needed the Japanese 20-count. Yeah, super lame. Remember when Ziggler was entertaining? Those were the days. *
STEPHEN AMELL & NEVILLE vs. STARDUST & KING BARRETT: Amell is the star of The CW's "Green Arrow" show. Which means he isn't a real wrestler...so when he leaped off the top rope to Stardust and Barrett on the floor the announcers acted like someone just parted the Red Sea. It was pretty boring except for Neville's few high-flying maneuvers. *1/2
RYBACK vs. THE BIG SHOW vs. THE MIZ: Remember when Daniel Bryan won the IC title at Wrestlemania and we all kind've thought it'd mean something now? Exhibit A: this match. 1/2*
DEAN AMBROSE & ROMAN REIGNS vs. LUKE HARPER & BRAY WYATT: Early on it was a melee and kind've fun. Ambrose ran across the top of the three announce tables (there was a French announce table for some reason) and clotheslined someone. Yes, it was that memorable. I thought Sting was supposed to be Reigns' partner here...what happened to that? **1/2
JOHN CENA vs. SETH ROLLINS: Good match. So good I kind of wished Rollins had won clean. But this is the WWE and heels don't win clean because they're, well, heels. Rollins looked as good as he ever looked. He was flipping off the top rope and did three leaps through the ropes to Cena on the floor in a row. The ending had John Stewart, the host, come out and turn heel and hit Cena with a chair. Rollins pedigreed Cena on the chair and won. Now Rollins is the U.S. champ and World champ. And on RAW, Stewart said he did it to prevent Cena from tying Ric Flair's 16 time title victories. Kind of a lame reason...but Stewart in the match got mainstream press (it was on the ESPN.com front page Sunday night), so that helps the WWE. ***
PAIGE, CHARLOTTE & BECKY LYNCH vs. NIKKI BELLA & BRIE BELLA & ALICIA FOX vs. NAOMI, SASHA BANKS & TAMINA: On the NXT Takeover show Saturday night, Sasha Banks and Bayley had a hell of a match. This was not half as good. *1/2
CESARO vs. KEVIN OWENS: Good, solid, basic match but they put them in the pre-main event dead spot so the crowd was silent. That didn't help. It also didn't help that the match was for nothing; no titles, no stips, no nothing. Cesaro is finally being semi-pushed in the company and Owens has become a must-see so that's cool. **1/2
THE UNDERTAKER vs. BROCK LESNAR: Good match. Better than their last one and a lot better than Bray Wyatt v. Undertaker from Wrestlemania. It was back and forth and pretty fast-paced considering The Undertaker is in his fifties and Lesnar is inching towards forty. The crowd was hot. Then the ending came. The Undertaker tapped out but the ref didn't see it but the ring guy did so he rang the bell. The ref continued the match and Lesnar tapped out. This just sets up a third meeting probably at 'Mania. The crowd had no idea what was going on and it was such a lame-duck, what-just-happened ending. Really a dull finish to an okay show. **1/2
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