Summerslam XXIX

[Big Fresh]

10 minutes ago, hammerva said:

There is some good news tonight.  Mick Foley hates Frank the Clown as much as 95% of the wrestling world does

 

 

Why do we think that?

[piranesi]

Just now, hammerva said:

Whatever they did last night must have been awesome because Renee looked like she was exhausted and scattered on the pre show

 

She was wearing that because Dean found an old monopoly map in his library (a coffee can with the word "libay" written in marker on it) and insisted that since he owned the reading railroad now, she needed to start dressing like a 19th century tycoon. Then followed a rant about the declining state of boxcar flooring.

She then spent the rest of the night trying to convince him that his owning Water Works does not mean he has to test all the sprinkler heads in the hotel with his tongue to see if they're turned.

[Eivion]

3 minutes ago, JCM said:

It wouldn't have been a stupid spot if Charlotte had dropped her on the buckle like she was supposed to. 

I couldn't tell what the fuck they were going for. I think it was just a stupid spot to try in general.

[JCM]

1 minute ago, Charlie M. said:

 It worked with the audience in attendance and I'm sure it worked with the vast majority of the fans. AJ took everything Cena could possibly come up with and still beat him clean in the middle of the ring.

Let's ignore any thoughts on the match quality(which I thought was shit) and look at the match being worked like a WrestleMania main event as the 4th match on a 10 match show. 6 other matches have to follow a match with the biggest star of the past decade kicking out of 100 finishers. There had to be a way to get AJ a win without booking it like a Mania main event. Cena put over Del Rio in under 10 minutes he could've laid down for that springboard rana Phenominal 4 arm combo.

[brandonr4s]

Now that someone mentioned it, did Orton really agree to end the match busted hard way by legit Lesnar elbows?

If so, that's a brave (stupid?) son of a bitch.

[JCM]

1 minute ago, Eivion said:

I couldn't tell what the fuck they were going for. I think it was just a stupid spot to try in general.

I though they were going for a back breaker on the buckle spot, but Charlotte drifted back and dropped Sasha in the wrong spot. The fact that Sasha sold her back big time(after landing on her head) leads me to believe the move was supposed to target her back.

[Big Fresh]

I don't think I can watch another match where Seth Rollins is the heel. It's so antithetical to his skillset and I'm baffled why they keep trying to force the square peg into the round hole.

[Charlie M.]

Just now, JCM said:

Let's ignore any thoughts on the match quality(which I thought was shit) and look at the match being worked like a WrestleMania main event as the 4th match on a 10 match show. 6 other matches have to follow a match with the biggest star of the past decade kicking out of 100 finishers. There had to be a way to get AJ a win without booking it like a Mania main event. Cena put over Del Rio in under 10 minutes he could've laid down for that springboard rana Phenominal 4 arm combo.

People were left disappointed by that Del Rio match. AJ going over in an epic WrestleMania main event style match will stick with people a lot more, IMO.

I understand the point about it being the 4th match on the card and all but the bigger issue is that the rest of SummerSlam was filled with a bunch of cold feuds between guys not as over as these two. I wouldn't hold it against Cena and Styles that no one else could touch them tonight. Besides, I've seen tons of shows for ages where people follow great matches like that. Sometimes it takes a little time but they do it. I doubt that anything that followed Cena/AJ would have had one bit more heat if that match never happened.

[paintedbynumbers]

 So basically not only is Brock exempt from the piss test, but he doesn't have to listen to the ref's either?  He shoved a ref and kept attacking Orton and wasn't DQ'd.  He F5's  Shane and I keep waiting for the decision to be reversed but nothing.  No rules for Brock Lesnar  why did he not run for President.  Lesnar and Heyman > Trump

[Eivion]

5 minutes ago, JCM said:

I though they were going for a back breaker on the buckle spot, but Charlotte drifted back and dropped Sasha in the wrong spot. The fact that Sasha sold her back big time(after landing on her head) leads me to believe the move was supposed to target her back.

That makes some sense, but the way Charlotte drifted back didn't seem to be an accident. I thought she was going for a side slam originally until she just dropped Sasha.

[JCM]

I wouldn't say no one else could touch them. This was the first time Cena has looked old and slow to me. AJ might be my WWE MVP this year, but I couldn't stand this match. It started with a stupid suplex on the apron to the 39 year old banged up ace. I  thought man they couldn't think of a better way to transition to AJ on offense than that, but not so fast my friend Cena was back on offense 20 seconds after the bump. dog shit match

[The Unholy Dragon]

Jesus. They need to stop doing 6 hour marathon shows because I know I was burned out by the end on a couch at home, nevermind a live crowd.

 

Gotta love that the not at all subtle Smackdown burial has already started. The WWE Title which was *the* belt and SUPER important last month goes on...middle of the show. Okay, Dolph isn't the hottest challenger but SD has a marquee AJ-Cena match...on third. But it's fine because it's not like the interpromotional match will end with the SD dude being beaten into a...oh. 

 

Like...last brand extension we at least got two or three years before this happened for card placement, even if they cut the knees out from Heyman's SD sooner. But I guess SD is also the sports show with Daniel Bryan and Shane and really all the shit they don't want but the IWC does so hey. Gotta bury it faster.

 

I don't really remember anything about the first two preshow matches other than the finishes. They were fine but unremarkable which sucks given the talent involved in both. Sheamus-Cesaro was good like always but as dudes with 3 or 4 secondary finishers each, this would have been a good chance to rebuild those rather than nerfing them.

 

Gotta note the preshow JeriKO promo. Jericho saying he took a course online to become a certified G killed me, as did his indignity over Owens leaving it at catering. "I worked hard for that!" "No you didn't." Really good.

 

JeriKO vs Enzo and Cass was fun too. Jericho is less offensive in tags. Good heat segment, fun hot tag, smart finish in theory with them faking out the popup only for Jericho to catch the Codebreaker. I dubbed it the Shitter Machine. 

 

Sasha-Charlotte...man, Charlotte nearly killed Sasha because despite being the golden child super athlete, she's awkward with poor balance and constantly overestimates her strength. I could forgive the drop because mistakes happen, but then instead of...say taunting and/or hitting a resthold to make sure it's not serious and let Sasha get herself together, Charlotte just...kept doing the match. Even the ref looked pissed and that isn't just dumb...it's super dangerous and unsafe. Someone better be giving Charlotte shit for that.

 

Regardless, Sasha pulled it together and they had a pretty okay match. The Splash Mountain counter was NUTS and generally Sasha was taking absurd bumps given the injury. Finish was...ugh. A bunch of betting odds made Charlotte a huge favourite a few hours beforehand so I knew it was coming but I hate it. The finish was fine for what it was but after such an unprofessionally bad performance, it's fucking insulting to see Charlotte as champ again while Sasha eats shit.

 

AJ-Cena ruled. At first it felt weird seeing Cena blow stuff off but it worked. Him playing Terminator felt awesome and was more nuanced than Brock's take with him selling the thing but basically playing like he pushes through and uses burst offense to buy his recovery time and hold the lead. Big offense but smartly paced and really made it look like AJ was in over his head. But gradually he wore Cena down more and more and when he survived Cena's biggest bomb, Cena counted him out and left the door open for him to chain together what he needed to win. Wouldn't work with other guys but it wasn't other guys and this is arguably the hardest Cena has put someone over since like 2005. Great, great match.

 

I forgot Miz vs. Crews happened before Cena-AJ because I forgot Miz vs. Crews happened. Sure glad that made it on instead of Roman vs. Rusev as a match.

 

New Day vs. Club sure happened. I know the Club have done great stuff elsewhere but they are bombing hard here and New Day without Big E is...not great either. Felt like four carryable guys without anyone to do the carrying. Finish was fine for what it was. 

 

Dean vs. Dolph...I'll probably like this more when I'm not burned out from four hours of PPV including Sasha's near death and Cena-AJ. Ambrose worked totally different as the fighting champ and both he and Dolph were more motivated than they've been consistently in months. Match was good not great with probably the best Zig Zag ever. The finish was out of nowhere in a bad way though and in no world did this need 17+ minutes.

 

Six woman tag was fun. Good to see Nikki back but everyone was handling her like glass. Raver Naomi is awesome and she keeps being low key awesome. When SD gets its women's title I hope she gets the reign that's been long overdue. Glad to see they continued the Eva deal. 4/6 women involved are great so it had too much momentum to not be good.

Finn vs. Seth was somehow worse than I expected. Whoever gave them 20 minutes was a monster. Weirdly boring early on and just a fucking disaster down the line...Seth got pinned in the Triangle and everyone looked really nervous then just ignored it. They somehow made the superplex floatover spot worse by having *both* guys no sell it. Just terrible. Everyone involved should feel bad. 

 

Pissed about Roman-Rusev, even if that was a GREAT Spear by Roman. Cut five minutes from each world title match and bounce IC to the preshow and the whole show is better plus we get this match I actually wanted to see.

 

Brock-Orton was good. I have been talking a lot with friends about how doing more hot 9-12 minute PPV main events would keep awesome short run power dudes and the like from getting exposed and sucking. Batista was super hot until he was regularly getting 15-20 regardless of opponent. Anyway, this got in, did Brock things, some wild announce table stuff, Orton things, finisher kickouts laid out fine, brutal and awesome TKO finish with the best or second best blood of the year depending how Takeover: Dallas holds up. Brock looks like a killer in a totally different way and Orton hardly loses anything. Hoping the Shane thing leads to someone coming for Brock in a hired gun way rather than the newest excuse for Brock being gone until March.

 

Not a bad PPV but jesus six hours was too much. Cutting some stuff would have made for a better show. As is I think a lot of this will rewatch better as single matches than as a show.

 

[TheVileOne]

I thought AJ Styles and Cena having an indie-riffic spot fest was amusing, complete with Cena doing a Code Red.  I've seen a video of him doing it before to Cesaro.  But still, seeing him actually do Code Red of all things on someone like Styles is hilarious to me.

[Jiji]

Gawsh, I thought Orton may have bladed at first but we went back and watched it again. Those two elbows were fucking disgusting. I can't believe that happened on a WWE show.

Charlie's spot on about Cena/AJ. I don't think fans would truly buy AJ beating Cena clean with one elbow or one Styles Clash. It took overkill because that's how strong Cena's been built up and that's his shitty, overdone style. But they did it in such a way that most, if not everything, could breathe and mean something. I couldn't believe they had AJ kick out of that super AA. Great match and it achieved its goal.

Everything else was varying degrees of poopy apart from the fun opener. Women's match featured poor execution because they're doing convoluted spots that they're not able to consistently manage. Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes they don't. Tonight was the latter. It's been a thing that's been happening since the 4 Horsewomen broke out. Good storytelling generally speaking but inconsistent execution. Somebody needs to save Sasha from herself too. 

I only caught the ending of the pre-show clusterfuck tag match but Gable just standing there with his arms out in perplexity while Uso #1 (or #2) got the pin was he-fucking-larious. How did that happen? Brutal planning.

[JCM]

I don't see how someone can like Cena/AJ and hate Rollins/Balor. They were both worked in the same no psychology, no selling finisher fest WWE epic style  but Rollins/Balor didn't over stay it's welcome by 10 minutes and 20 kick outs. Rollins is dog shit working on top, but it's not like Cena/AJ did anything compelling before the movez started.

[Curt McGirt]

So from this weekend I gather the NXT callups are coming sooner rather than later

[(BP)]

I thought they had a good thing going in Brooklyn, but they might've killed the territory this weekend. 

[EVA]

I guess it's my turn to stand up and be counted among those that enjoyed AJ/Cena.   Yes, it was the epitome of this late-period Indy Cena style, but given that that's the style Cena has been working for the past year-plus, that's kinda the match it had to be to properly put over AJ for whatever's coming next.  And as far as those matches go, I thought this was probably the best Cena has had, due in no small part to the fact that AJ is in the discussion for best in the world right now.

As far as card placement and killing the crowd and whatnot...Did Nakamura/Zayn kill the crowd for the title matches at the Dallas Takeover?  The problem is WWE booked a bunch of shit feuds nobody cared about over the top of this, and then the guys didn't deliver on top of that.  It's not like they didn't know AJ and Cena were going to get a bunch of time and try to tear the house down before them.  Have better matches and the crowd will get into your shit.  It's pretty simple.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I didn't love Cena/AJ but I thought it was good despite all the 2.9 and finisher blow offs. At least AJ got a clean pin over Cena which is fucking huge.

Man I was afraid for Sasha and even more so now.  What in the hell was Charlotte doing?  She dropped Sasha right on her neck, I have no idea what they were going for but it just looked terrible and terrifying. It looked like Sasha needed help to the back after the match.  There's also suspension rumors. No idea. Maybe this thread will answer my questions after I read through it. 

Orton and Lesnar was sorta fun and then it got great with the blood and Lesnar going wild. But then it ended. Then Shane came out. Weird way to end this show.

I just think 4 hours might be too long or maybe it's how they positioned the card.  It seemed like AJ/Cena was too early in the show.  Rusev/Reigns was way too late in the show. 

[Niners Fan in CT]

1 hour ago, Charlie M. said:

 Sasha's insistence on doing moves she saw in her favorite matches as a teenager is really becoming a problem, though.

 

Fuck that, I saw Charlotte drop Sasha right on her neck. Explain what you saw, maybe we watched two different matches.

[Jiji]

The difference between the cena/aj match and the finn/Seth matches is Cena and Styles are better at pacing out their moves and near falls and much better at portraying a range of emotions than the other two. And it's not even close. That style is not ideal but there are degrees within it.

[Omega]

I think Brock was pissed at Randy for sandbagging his suplex's and legit busted him open for it.

[Jerome Miller]

1 hour ago, HumanChessgame said:

 

I wonder if that was the original plan for Reigns/Russev or if they called an audible because the show was going too long?  If they were giving Russev and Lana time off for their honeymoon and whatnot, why not have him drop the title and then get beaten down that bad?

 

The fans will sympathize and get behind Roman more if he has to win the U.S. title in a tournament, and then defeat Rusev in an epic gimmick match at Survivor Series.

 

Or, at least that's what Vince thinks.

[The Man Known as Dan]

Yeah, all that Rusev/Reigns thing made me think is "Is this a double turn, cause man I really want Rusev to fucking murder Reigns now"

[odessasteps]

Was brock/orton trying to do Rush/LA Park? 

For Dan's tag team list:

Adonis/Murdoch

windham/Rotundo

the Rougeaus 

the Steiners

the blackjacks (original)

edge and christian