The first ever 2-night Summerslam just took place this past weekend from Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. Summerslam being 2 nights and being held inside a big stadium like WrestleMania really has helped elevate this event and made it feel like summer’s Mania, despite a bit of a rushed and weak build to a lot of these matches. I welcome it. I have always been a big Summerslam guy, but there have been years in the recent past that they feel like they’ve dropped the ball when it comes to Summerslam, and despite a bit of rushed building and minor issues in that department, I do feel like they successfully made this year’s event feel like a truly big deal.
Night 1 started with the Tribal Chief Roman Reigns and Main Event Jey Uso going up against Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed. This match was fun but went just about the way I expected it to, especially since they opened the show. Jey Uso took a lot of the beating from Bron and Bronson in the early goings of the match and couldn’t even get a tag in to Roman till about halfway through the bout, but when he did Roman came in hot and ran through Bron and Bronson, leaping over the ropes and nearly straight onto his head during a dive attempt at one point. Bron and Bronson were able to wrangle him back in and make it a bit of a back-and-forth contest for a while. At the end of the match, Roman pushed Jey out of the way and took a Breakker spear for him, which allowed Jey the opening to hit Bronson with a big Splash for the 3 count. This was a good choice to open the show. Jey and Roman successfully got the crowd hyped up, and as a wrestling fan you pretty much know if Roman isn’t going to be the main event, then he’s going to open the show up and the crowd eats everything Roman does up, same as Jey, so this was a good choice. Not sure how I feel about B&B losing here, but it was expected seeing as it was Roman Reigns and he’s not going to lose at both the big shows this year. This was an easy spot to get him a win on a big stage. Next up the still pretty fresh team of Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez defended the Women’s Tag Team titles against the new friends (or should I say “allies of convenience”) Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss. Flair was the one taking the early punishment in this match for her team, with Perez and Rodriguez keeping her cornered away from her side of the ring and making quick tags back and forth to keep up a fast and fresh pace. Bliss accidentally socked Flair with a right hand that was meant for Raquel later in the bout after they’d gotten the upper hand and Judgment Day capitalized off the hiccup for a moment, but not long enough because once they got on the same page, Flair and Bliss wouldn’t be stopped in this match. Charlotte eliminated Raquel with a big boot and Alexa followed up with a ‘Sister Abigail’ to Roxanne that sealed them the win and made them the new tag team champs. Predictable outcome, but still the most fresh and exciting thing to do with the Women’s Tag belts at the moment so I am happy with it. I am digging this alliance between Flair & Bliss at the moment, it feels fresh.
Next up Sami Zayn took on Karrion Kross in what has boiled into a pretty good rivalry over the last couple months. Karrion Kross tried to keep Sami grounded for a lot of this match, as him and Scarlett verbally thrashed him throughout the match any time that Kross had the upper hand. Kross attempted to bring in his trusty steel pipe to use on Zayn, but Sami avoided the attack with a Blue Thunder bomb. He thought about using the pipe himself before tossing it out of the ring and eventually hitting Kross with a Helluva Kick for the win. This match has a lot of the IWC torn up online because it felt like Karrion kind of deserved the win here and it would’ve established him more picking up a win on a Summerslam card, but that’s just not the way the writers saw it I suppose. I’m a big Sami fan and I am even a little bit surprised and not sure how I feel about him getting another clean win over Kross here. I guess we will have to see if Karrion sticks around when his contract comes up soon or if this was the last thing they are going to give him before letting him walk out the door of the company. Next up, Tiffany Stratton defended her Women’s Championship against Jade Cargill. Tiff is a pretty big and powerful woman herself, but when you’re in the ring with Jade Cargill you’re hardly ever going to be the powerhouse. Cargill used her strength and power to her advantage in the early goings and was only slowed after a suicide dive from Stratton. Jade hit Jaded and nearly won the match at one point, but Tiffany was too close to the ropes and got a rope break. She then went to set up Jaded on the middle rope and Tiffany was able to counter out of it and wiggle her way to the top rope to connect with the Prettiest Moonsault Ever for the pin and win. Kind of surprising outcome here because I just expected them to put the belt on Jade, but I’m not mad at it. I like Tiffany and think she’s better overall in ring than Jade, I think Jade is growing though and this gives her a chance to be a bit better established all around before putting the strap on her down the road. This was one of Jade’s best matches up to this point, both competitors did well with the shorter time given to them.
Then, Jelly Roll and Randy Orton, or RK-Roll if you will, took on the team of Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul. Jelly wanted to test himself and start the match and after a cheap shot from Logan, he drove him to the floor and a surprised Paul tagged in Drew. This led to a few minutes of Paul and Drew beating up on Jelly and keeping him away from his corner, but it wouldn’t last too long. Later in the match, when they had beaten both Orton and Jelly Roll down, Drew set Jelly up on the announce table and Logan hit him with a massive splash from the top of the ring post and through the table. After that, it was turned into a 2 on 1 affair for a little while as Orton had to run things by himself as officials checked on Jelly Roll. Jelly was being helped away by officials, but he shoved them away and said he wanted to continue, making his way back down the ramp and back into the match. Jelly Roll came back into the match and momentarily went crazy, hitting Drew with a Blackhole Slam and Logan with a chokeslam before being planted with a Claymore. Logan then dispatched of Orton, before hitting Jelly Roll with a big splash for the pin and win. Honestly, very surprising outcome here as well. I figure if anything Jelly would’ve pinned Logan and not the other way around, but I’m not mad at it. Kudos to Jelly Roll for being willing to take the loss at a big stage. Even if some of his major spots throughout the match looked heavily choreographed that is to be expected, he’s a singer, not a wrestler. He still took some pretty big moves, hit a couple of clean looking ones, and was willing to take a loss. This match served its purpose to perfection for the most part, I think. Then it was main event time, and what a main event it was as Gunther put the World Heavyweight title on the line against a game CM Punk. These 2 locked up and went back and forth in takedowns and submissions for a few minutes, but when Gunther was able to gain the upper hand, he kept it for a while. Literally chopping down Punk and methodically tearing him apart, cutting off any build of offense that Punk would attempt to gain. Gunther made a bad mistake by not taking the match or Punk seriously enough for a moment though as he got on the announce table to celebrate and Punk knocked his legs out from under him and sent him face first into the table.
When Gunther emerged from under the table his face was busted wide open, and he seemed not to know what to make of it. Punk saw his immortal armor shedding and began on the attack. Gunther thwarted him off for a moment and locked in a sleeper hold as blood rushed into his eyes, but Punk wiggled free and got Gunther up on his shoulders, hitting him with not one but two Go To Sleep’s for the pin and win. Punk began to celebrate in the ring with the title, freshly crowned the new champion, but Rollins music hit to crash the party. He emerged on the ramp in a cast and crutches with Heyman in tow with the briefcase as a reminder to Punk, but as he turned around to leave, he dropped the crutches and took off the cast, revealing his injury wasn’t as bad as we thought. He then rushed down the ramp and beat an already beaten Punk down with the briefcase before cashing it in. He connected with a Stomp and just like that, Seth Rollins left Summerslam Night 1 with the World Heavyweight Championship. Great match between Punk and Gunther and exciting storytelling from Seth Rollins, truly placing himself and his faction at the top of Raw now and raining on Punk’s party once again by stripping the strap away from him as quickly as he got it. Their rivalry continues to reach new heights with every turn.
Match ratings: 1-10 scale (.5 applicable)
Roman Reigns & Jey Uso vs Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed- 7.5/10
Women’s Tag Team Championship match: Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez (c) vs Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss– 7/10
Sami Zayn vs Karrion Kross- 6/10
Women’s Championship match: Tiffany Stratton (c) vs Jade Cargill- 8/10
Randy Orton & Jelly Roll vs Drew McIntyre & Logan Paul- 7/10
World Heavyweight Championship match w/Rollins cash-in: Gunther (c) vs CM Punk- 9/10
