WWE SUMMERSLAM

Cleveland

LIV MORGAN vs. RHEA RIPLEY (15:53): This was at the Cleveland Browns football stadium, so it was cool seeing over 50,000 people there. It made the show look like a big deal. They did have the same problem that they had on Night 1 of Wrestlemania though. As soon as it got dark, it looked like they were wrestling in a cave. Is TKO that cheap to not, like, put some lights in the crowd? This show definitely had a lot, if that was your thing. A lot of interference, run-ins, title changes, and storylines. If you wanted great wrestling matches then go watch an AEW show. This was more about everything besides in-ring wrestling, although the LA Knight/Logan Paul and Gunther/Damian Priest had some good wrestling. It was an entertaining show, though, and maybe the best WWE PPV of the year. Not that that's saying much, as I haven't exactly loved any WWE PPV this year. This opener was all about Dominik Mysterio, who wasn't even in the match. Liv Morgan has been after Dominik all summer because Rhea Ripley has been out with an injury. Dominik distracted the ref late in the match to let Liv use a chair in the ring to defeat Rhea and retain her title. After the match, Dominik kissed Liv and they walked out of the arena together. I'm guessing they did this because they want to turn Rhea into a babyface. I think Dominik and Rhea were great together, though, and they'll never have Dominik vs. Rhea because the WWE doesn't do men vs. women (Japan does it, though). The storyline in this was amusing, but the actual wrestling was just okay. **

BRON BREAKER vs. SAMI ZAYN (5:42): These two wrestled at the last PPV, Money in the Bank, and Sami won. That meant it was fairly obvious that Bron was winning the IC title here, otherwise why the hell would they do the match again? This was also a big thing on this PPV: everything that happened was obvious. While usually the obvious ending or idea is the right ending/idea, you do like to see some shocks and surprises. Dominik turning, Finn Balor turning, Roman returning, Gunther winning, Bron winning...everything was obvious and not a surprise to anyone. The other bad part about this match was that it was only 5 minutes long. That was probably to mask Bron's deficiencies. But you can't have a great 5 minute match even though Sami did look great in this and was on fire from the opening bell. It was one of the show's weaker matches. **

LA KNIGHT vs. LOGAN PAUL (12:04): This was probably the best match of the night. Logan is entertaining and does a lot of big moves, including a top rope moonsault to the floor that looked very precarious. LA Knight gave Logan a top rope suplex that was more like a top rope brain buster. It was mostly all action and the crowd was into it. Logan had a bunch of friends at ringside and one of them gave him brass knuckles. They didn't help, as LA Knight won the U.S. title. The WWE loves having wrestlers lose in their hometowns. They did this with Drew McIntyre in Scotland in June. Logan is from Ohio. He is a heel, but still. Entertaining match. ***

NIA JAX vs. BAYLEY (12:33): This was an okay match. They had Tiffany Stratton run down to the ring in the middle of the match to cash in her Money in the Bank briefcase. Bayley ran over and knocked her off the apron to stop the cash in. This caused Bayley to be distracted and then get destroyed by Nia, who did her middle rope sit down finisher to win the title. Remember the WWE fired Nia Jax a few years ago? Now she's the champ? Makes sense. *1/2

DREW McINTYRE vs. CM PUNK (16:58): If you love storylines and chaos, this was one for you. They were having a fairly decent, pedestrian match. This was CM Punk's first televised singles match in WWE since he returned last November. He had a house show match against Dominik and was in the Royal Rumble, but that's it. Punk looked fine. He did all of his patented spots. The storyline here actually involved a friendship bracelet. Maybe they should have done a Friendship Bracelet on a Pole match. Drew had beaten up CM Punk months ago in Chicago and stolen his friendship bracelet. CM Punk took it off Drew during the match and it fell to the mat. Seth Rollins, the special referee, took the bracelet and put it on, apparently to keep it safe. CM Punk saw that Seth had the friendship bracelet on. Jesus Christ, I can't believe I'm even typing this. This is so fucking stupid! Anyway, CM Punk gave Seth a GTS because Seth had the friendship bracelet on. When Seth woke up, he didn't call for a DQ for some reason even though a wrestler in the match gave him a finishing maneuver. While Seth was knocked out, CM Punk had the match won. Eventually Drew gave CM Punk a Claymore Kick and won the match. I mean...the story of the bracelet was perhaps the stupidest thing ever concocted, especially because this is supposed to be a vicious blood feud between two tough guys that hate eachother. But the match was entertaining at least. CM Punk loses his first singles match. I'm not sure that was the right call. It was after CM Punk screwing Drew out of the title over and over again, but in the big picture, you don't want your big star losing his first singles match in the WWE in, what, 11 years? C'mon! **1/2

GUNTHER vs. DAMIAN PRIEST (16:38): This was so hard hitting that I thought I had inadvertently switched to watching the G1 tournament. Gunther's chest was bleeding from Damian's chops and kicks. It would have been nice if that was all there was to this match; a hard hitting, tough, brutal match where the best man wins. Nope! Finn Balor came out of nowhere halfway through this match to start loudly and exuberantly cheering for Damian. That made it fairly obvious he was going to turn on Damian and he did, putting Gunther's foot on the ropes during a pinfall when the ref wasn't looking. Damian saw this on the replay on the big screen, and this caused him to be distracted, leading to Gunther eventually putting him in the sleeper and winning the WWE championship. Damian Priest looked really good in this match. At one point, they were hitting eachother so hard I thought that maybe they were actually mad at eachother. Finn turning seemed kind of ridiculous because we already had another Judgment Day member, Dominik, turn against his own group. They could have, like, done these turns on different shows to make them more impactful. One is a big deal, two is kind of like...well, we already saw it. *** 

CODY RHODES vs. SOLO SIKOA (29:13): The WWE must've been patting themselves on the back for the reaction they got with the Cody/Roman Wrestlemania match these last few months, because this match had basically the same playbook. The Bloodline interferes but out comes another WWE star to save the day! Kevin Owens and Randy Orton came out to help when The Guerrillas of Destiny came into the ring to beat up Cody. This was a no DQ, Bloodline rules match. Jacob Fatu came out and immediately did a top rope, flip dive onto Cody. Jacob also did a top rope slam onto Cody on the announce table. I think Jacob hurt his knee on that move because he sat down and didn't get back up. Finally Roman Reigns' music hit and he came out. He gave Solo a Superman Punch and then a spear and left but stared at Cody in the ring. Cody won with a Crossroads on Solo to retain the title. Roman has been out since Wrestlemania, which is ridiculous. I know his contract is a limited date contract, but he's been out for 4 months. What they should have done is have Roman vs. Cody on this show since they can't really do it again now that Roman is a babyface. Let's face it: nobody on Earth thought Solo was winning the title, but some people might have thought Roman would beat Cody for the title. The match was pretty average for the first half because everyone was just waiting for the interference to start and thus the "real" match to start. All of the interference at least made this watchable. Considering how exciting Jacob Fatu is, I wish they'd put him in a singles match. Solo is a fucking bore. This match and this show delivering pretty much exactly what you expected. So if that's your thing, you were in heaven. **1/2