Okay, so I was really interested in this Punk/Cena feud so I decided instead of Mania XXVIII, I was going to get Summerslam. Was it worth it, well depends on what they put on Mania but overall I was happy. The quick thoughts right now, most of the matches were great, I hated most of the results. I even recall telling my brother when he asked, that it seemed like they went with the opposite of everyone I wanted to win. Anyways...
The Show's Beginning
The show started off with some guy from some band name tool playing the national anthem on his guitar... it was badass. If you ask me, probably my favorite rendition of our national anthem.
The show opened with a six-man tag match. And I was in the bathroom during Miz's entrance. So when I came back, I missed the announcement of the six-man tag match and just thought Kofi came out. That said, the second Del Rio came out, I said, "Oh, this is going to lead to a six-man tag match against Kofi, Mysterio, and Morrison and because Rey is injured, he probably won't do much", of course I was right. Rey probably only wrestled for a max of two minutes. Del Rio probably wrestled less which was a problem for me. The second I noticed how little Del Rio was doing in the match, I remember thinking "aw fuck, he's going to cash in tonight. Dammit I want Punk to leave as the Champion", I turned out to be right.
As for the match, it was alright. It was perfect as opening bout. The faces one, they all ended by doing some "flashy" spot on a heel. So it was good in that regard. I feel we could of easily saw this on Raw. With maybe one or two moves. It wasn't anything that was anything besides the warm up match. I quoted flashy because first Morrison hit his plancha where he twists his body around, Kofi hits some clothesline after springboarding off the top rope to Miz, then Mysterio hits his weak-ass frog splash on R-Truth. Rey's didn't even look remotely impressive after the past two spots. And the reminds me, Rey has the worst frog splash I've ever seen.
Concerning the results, I probably like Morrison and Kingston better than Del Rio and Miz, but I'm not sure if I hate Truth more than Rey, but I actually don't have a probably with who won.
Then backstage, Punk sarcastically apologizes to John L. (not spelling his last name), then he talks to Steph. She goes, "I wish you luck". Punk doesn't buy it, and tells her to go talk to her husband or daddy. She said, "I did, and believe it or not, but they're both wishing you luck, and Cena too. But what would I know, I'm just Vince's clueless daughter, right?" Punk replies "Well, more or less yeah. But I didn't say that, you did. I called you idiotic." She then offers her hand for Punk to shake, but Punk responds with this gem before leaving "I would, but I know where that hand has been". He also celebrates that Vince isn't in charge of day-to-day business anymore.
The Middle Of The Show
This is where the results start being a problem. First with Henry vs. Sheamus. I would've preferred Sheamus winning, but I didn't have a problem with Henry winning because of how it went down, and the fact I went into it, thinking Henry was winning. The match was surprisingly good. I really enjoyed this match. It wasn't technically greatness, but I couldn't imagine these two putting on a better match together. The ending spot was fucking fantastic. That spot was amazing. It was basically a World's Strongest Slam through the barricade.
Next we get the diva's title match. Beth Phoenix was dawning a new attire, I'm not sure if I like it better than her usual but it's not important. I was surprised at the time they gave this match, much better than usual. Michael Cole comments "why is Eve always there?", and I only bring this up, because it's a legitimate question. She didn't do anything besides come and exit with Kelly. Natalya didn't really do anything but she got slightly involved, well she teased she was going to. Uh, Kelly was actually impressive tonight, do I think she should've won, hell no! I was hoping this match was really going to deliver on Phoenix's promise, and give a new life to the division. It was a good match, which is a good sign, but Kelly winning was the first real disappointment on this show. It pissed me off.
Then we get Barrett vs. Bryan. This was a pretty good match, best so far, definitely. They had a lot of good spots in the match. You know, it took a few minutes for me to get hooked, and I went in and out of this match, but overall it was good. I don't like that Barrett won. I'm convinced that Barrett with get a shot at the briefcase soon, and Daniel better fucking win that match.
The Main Events
First, we get a promo where Christian announces Edge has his back. Another predictable revelation. I knew Edge wasn't going to go through with it, but with his Ultimate Opportunist gimmick, I just thought that I was so going to be against Edge here. Logically, I didn't see why Edge would be against what Christian done. He convinced me during his promo, so that was a highlight. Then Christian took on Orton...
In the match of the night! It took me a few minutes to definitely decide, but yeah this match was amazing. They built it around the No Holds Barred stip just as good as anyone if not better. They teased hardcore involvement for the first few minutes. Then Christian brought in a kendo stick, and most hardcore moments happened with that weapon, and they didn't rely on it. It kept building up with how they get. Orton got to RKO Christian through the announce table, by the way, which was awesome. But, anyways, they kept building it like that, kind of exponentially, because by the end there was a table, steel steps, chairs, garbage cans, kendo sticks and I think that's it. It was a really really great match. The ending RKO ranks as one of the best I've ever seen. For those who didn't see it, and don't care for spoilers, it was basically a mid-air RKO onto steel steps.
The results, I hate that Orton won. I really hate that Christian only got a month championship reign. I really really hate that Orton is now already a nine-time world champion. They went with the most obvious, in a sense the most logical option here if the feud extends to NoCs, like I said, with Christian getting a rematch clause. I'm honestly not sure that Christian will ever win the title back.
Finally, Cena vs. Punk. This match was better worked than their Money In The Bank matches, I didn't notice any botches like I did in that match, but even so, their match at MITB is probably better. I'm not 100% on that, but that's what I'm saying. Maybe it's because Punk was put over much stronger than Cena in their MITB match. Doesn't matter, this was a really good match though. I loved the amount of submission counters. It was some submission Punk did that I don't know it's name to STF to Anaconda Vise (might be wrong, they called it something else, but it looked like the AV) to Crossface (same as with AV). My favorite spot is probably when Trips was doing the count-out count, got to nine, left the ring, and threw them both in the ring. Also, CM Punk doing his high knee/bulldog combination on Cena while Cena was on the top rope.
The result pissed me off. I loved that Punk won, I hate that Cena's foot was on the rope. I mean, they were kind of building to it with Trips and all, but really? I was happy Punk won, but it didn't really feel like it to me. It was so anti-climatic. Then during Punk's celebration, I see this big guy coming to ring through the crowd, I'm like, "Dammit, I was right, Del Rio's going to cash-in". Next thing I know, it's fucking Kevin Nash attacking Punk, what the fuck!? I did not see that coming, I mean I didn't think the guy was Del Rio but damn. Then Del Rio cashes in and wins and boo. I blame the Mexico tour WWE is coming up on. And I like Del Rio, it just feels like it was Punk's moment, I don't know. I'm not surprised by that though.
Final Thoughts
Firstly, why does Punk seemingly only get pushed during the Summer? I mean, first reign happened during the Summer, ended at the first PPV after Summer (Unforgiven), in a match he didn't take place in. He had one rematch on Raw, and after that, I'm pretty sure he started teaming with Kofi, and win the tag belts (which didn't last long either, but whatever). The following year, he becomes a multi-time World Champ in a feud with Jeff, which I believed closed most or all PPV's. He even ended Jeff's WWE career. The enters a feud with Taker, loses at the second PPV after Summer (Hell In A Cell), then stays in the title picture for the fatal four way at Bragging Rights, and then kind of falls off. This year seems to do the same. This time will probably be different, but there is a pessimist in me that says he'll only remain relevant in the main event scene for the next few months. But, the pessimist said Punk wasn't going to leave MITB with the title, so...
As for Nash. There are so many ways this can go. I'll list all the ways I see or heard...
I. Nash is Del Rio's bodygaurd. Could be, but I don't see it. Maybe it's too obvious, or maybe I just don't like the idea, but I don't see it happening.
II. He's working with Trips. Nope, I definitely don't see this. Triple H seemed generally confused after Nash came out, and Trips character would more likely gloat at that point if he was involved. I doubt it was Steph, just based off the small convo we saw that had. Yeah, probably reading too much into that but whatever. I don't see this. Vince though would be a different story.
III. That he's the anonymous general manager. I wouldn't be surprised by this, but I don't think it's going that way. This just comes to mind because of Punk's rebel status and with Nash's previous backstage presence in WCW him being GM makes sense to me, but I think it's mainly because I don't want that to become an aborted arc type thing. Just throwing it out there, not banking on it.
IV. Nash wants back in the title picture. I'm kind of going with this one. At every Night Of Champions, WWE has a multi-man match for a Championship, and I actually believe that more often or not, it's the WWE. At least, it was at the first one and the last one, (technically two years ago, but I'm talking more than three so I wouldn't). I honestly believe that WWE is building to Del Rio vs. Rey vs. Cena vs. Punk vs. Nash for the WWE title. I mean, I recall that they had plans with Show vs. Nash, so if that was true, they obviously had plans to have Nash wrestle, so I doubt him wrestling will be a big problem. Especially in a multi-man match where he'd be giving more time to rest up, recuperate, without hindering the match.
So, yeah, there's my review for Summerslam. Oh, and I like Cee-Lo and all (at least I like "Fuck You") but the two song set performance was a waste.
