WWE Summerslam Reax

Read on for my thoughts on last night's WWE special event.

Kickoff:
Funny segment with Cena and Stewart. I wouldn't mind Stewart popping in for WWE stuff here and there.

I'm glad WWE put over the brutal match Owens went through at Takeover.

I would watch Owens vs. Booker. I think it would be good for him to have one more match.

Pretty good promo from Sheamus. I definitely think he's a legitimate player in the main event picture.

Stephanie seems to be in this battle between top heel authority figure and role model/face of the company. It's an interesting mix, and I don't know if it works like she wants it to.

One reason I'm OK with Amell being part of the show is he looks like he could actually stand a chance in a WWE ring given his training.

Brock vs. Taker is so fucking hype. I'm excited.

Summerslam:
No entrance music for Stewart? He looks a little rough.

The crowd is already really into things.

Dude, Foley's not going to be much protection against Brock. If Taker couldn't do it at Mania, what chance does the retired author/standup guy have?

I wonder how many fans don't know Foley as the hardcore legend, but just the guy who does cameos like this.

Why the heck are they teasing The Rock?

At least Foley's selling Lesnar and acknowledging HIAC was a really long time ago.

Not a bad segment overall.

- Orton vs. Sheamus:
I liked Orton going for his kill move immediately. It should be presented as serious business.

I also enjoyed Sheamus heeling the crowd.

And Orton turning the tables on him for doing so!

I don't see much reason for Sheamus to do anything from the top rope. Especially if it's not presented as a significant move.

I hate when the crowd does garbage like this. I like Enzo and Sami Zayn, too, but there's no reason to throw Orton and Sheamus under a bus. Both men are really good.

Nice counter to the Brogue Kick.

That was a good counter to Sheamus trying to skin the cat. I think we need fewer instances of that kind of thing, anyway.

Clever for Sheamus to try to avoid the RKO. RING PSYCHOLOGY, PEOPLE.

Props to Sheamus for stopping what he was doing because the crowd was cheering a heel spot. GENIUS.

WHOA. Nice RKO spot. Maybe Sheamus will stop trying to do more aerial things.

NICE ending sequence. Sheamus looked pretty good with the win. Both men are solid technicians.

New Day, heels of the year. All years. This is awesome.

- PTP vs. New Day vs. Dragons vs. Matadores:
I've never seen the rule of "pin your partner and win the titles" in a match like this. It's simultaneously genius and the most stupid thing ever.

Kalisto's impressive as a high-flyer. I like what we've seen so far.

Imagine if New Day had held the titles up until this point. It would be even bigger for them to lose it here.

Big E's splash was pretty crazy.

Xavier Woods is part of something of a lost art. I'd love to see some more of where he came from. Alexa Bliss is really good working with Blake and Murphy in NXT, but I think Woods is at a different level.

Titus is just a rough, powerful dude. I miss when we had more like him. Obviously there's a need for the high-flyers and other types, too, but it seems like we're missing some people like Titus.

DAMN. Woods flattened Torito there. In a previous era, Woods vs. Torito could really be a draw.

Lots of chaos here! I love it. This kind of thing is better when it isn't done in every match.

Nice recovery from the Tower of Doom botch. It's a really overused spot, though.

Damn! I thought Titus had him.

So, I really like PTP, and I'm glad they got to run with the titles, but I love The New Day right now. No complaints from me, especially with that ridiculous celebration.

How hard does Brooklyn mark if Enzo and Cass come out right now to challenge the champs?

Definitely didn't expect Taker to be involved in a comedy segment. It was fine, though.

Honestly, I like Dolph Ziggler, but I think his gimmick's pretty much run its course. I don't know what a good "reboot" would be, but I think they've gone as far as they can with "guy who shows off and takes big bumps."

I'm really glad Summer Rae is involved in this. She's been underutilized.

I do kind of wish the Divas were officially in this match. Maybe at Night of Champions?

- Rusev vs. Ziggler:
I think Ziggler and Lana getting revenge is the right end for this after Rusev and Summer Rae have laid into them so much. Sometimes the hero needs to slay the dragon.

I want to see WWE pick up some more monsters like Rusev. I don't know if Bull Dempsey is at that level. Maybe Apollo Crews? He's a hoss.

David vs. Goliath is often more entertaining than David vs. David or Goliath vs. Goliath.

Rusev should absolutely be a main eventer at some point. He's really powerful and can move.

I ALMOST thought the Famouser was enough.

I was mostly OK with that ending if it sets up something bigger at Night of Champions. Better than Ziggler winning by countout. That would have been kind of cheap.

I miss when we had more characters like Stardust. It's much more interesting than when "athlete from X does big moves against athlete from Y."

JBL, you idiot. The heel should be playing along with Stardust's claims of not being Cody.

Wow, that lack of a pop for Amell. Why couldn't they make him the Green Arrow?

- Amell/Neville vs. Stardust/Barrett:
Neville's athleticism is insane. He'll never be big enough to "look like a top guy," but hopefully he can mostly make up for that.

Hopefully Amell's been training!

Stardust's a pretty good heel, I think. I loved Cody Rhodes at times, but this is more interesting than him "as himself" other than some of the Dashing stuff and what came after.

I wish Amell had something more interesting on. You're Green Arrow, damnit!

Amell's in shape, but it's no substitute for experience in the ring.

WHOA. Not bad from the Arrow star.

Neville does some really amazing things in the ring. Wow.

Props to Amell for going for a big dive. Brave guy.

Not a bad match at all. I wish Amell had a cool "Arrow"-related finisher, but I think he brought his A-game. I'm glad he took it seriously and didn't make a mockery of wrestling like other celebrities have done with their performances.

I'm ready for Tough Enough to wrap up. And Total Divas, but I think it's staying around.

WWWWWEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLL, here's a way to bring the crowd back down.

I wonder how Miz/Stardust vs. Neville/Amell and Show/Wyatt/Harper vs. Sting/Reigns/Ambrose would have been. That's what some were speculating we'd see.

- Ryback vs. Show vs. Miz:
This one could be ugly...

Miz escaping the ring was hilarious. I think he can save this one.

I might have been OK with Show hitting the double chokeslam and ending this one. Then they could show something from Takeover to fill some space.

Whatever Big Show just tried from the middle rope, I don't want to see it again.

Not a bad sequence leading to Ryback being chokeslammed on Miz.

Miz is a lot of fun here.

Thank goodness Miz saved Show from winning there.

Bleehhhhhhhh. A so-so match overall. The competitors are fairly limited, so I can't say I'm surprised. I hope we're in for a new feud after this one. I think Miz and Big Show have run their course as challengers right now.

I hope Stewart isn't actually involved in a match tonight. There's only so much more they can do with him as host.

Is tonight the night we find out what the heck was going on when Wyatt cost Ambrose the match at HIAC? We haven't seen the apparition since.

I really hope no one throws anything in the ring during this match.

- Reigns/Ambrose vs. Wyatt/Harper:
I'm enjoying the absolute chaos here.

This is just a damn fight, as it should be. None of that "I'm a better wrestler and deserve a title" crap that gets so boring so quickly.

I'm getting tired of the rebound clothesline spot. It's more and more ridiculous.

This is some pretty fun stuff.

I half-expected Ambrose to turn on Reigns. I also wondered if we were getting a new or returning member of the Family to keep things going.

Not a bad match at all. I was just expecting things to be really crazy and a bigger plot point. Do Ambrose and/or Reigns go for titles after this? Both of them as challengers to Rollins as the double champion could be pretty fun.

For what it's worth, Flair unofficially had more than 20 World Title reigns.

- Cena vs. Rollins:
Rollins can really make his mark in the history books tonight.

I hate the multiple suicide dives spot, especially from a HEEL.

It was really impressive, but his job should be to get the fans booing him.

It's probably time to retire the springboard stunner. It's just another spot now.

The AA has also been neutralized because everyone kicks out of at least one now.

Nice Buckle Bomb counter.

Cena's power is unbelievable.

Rollins hitting the frog splash and the AA was pretty cool, although it continues to devalue "finishing moves."

There's some real drama to this one. I like it a lot.

Good Figure 4 spot.

I thought the superplex/Falcon Arrow was amazing, but I didn't like not selling such a big impact.

OHHH NNNOOOOO!!!!!! It was going so well, too.

I think the Jon Stewart spot drug this match down (and lessened the impact of Rollins' big win), but I'm glad Seth Rollins got the big moment.

So, Ambrose vs. Rollins and Reigns vs. Rollins in title matches next month? I'd rather see that than Kane involved.

Edge & Christian on the podcast works for me.

WWE in MSG on the Network the night before Bound For Glory basically torpedoes the latter show, I think. It had an uphill battle already.

- Team Bella vs. Team PCB vs. Team B.A.D.:
How about Sasha is the survivor here and dethrones Nikki at Night of Champions? Nikki will have the longest reign at that point and can finally lose it.

Hopefully Becky, Charlotte, and Sasha can still shine in this big match.

Well, this is starting off clunky.

I also hate spots where everyone dives outside the ring. It's a cheap way to get a reaction.

Ugh. The Bellas. They're not bad, just overexposed.

Effective heel work after the Alabamaslam.

Jesus they're stretching things out before Paige makes the tag. Go home already!

That was a pretty terrible missile dropkick.

Kind of an anticlimactic ending, since we didn't know Becky had that as a potential finisher. But I'm glad they got that much time in the ring.

- Owens vs. Cesaro:
These two are pretty high up the card, so I don't want to hear anything about "burials."

Impressive athleticism early. Just don't make this an ROH match.

I think Cesaro could be the captain of the Vaudevillains if they wanted to go that route.

Owens is a damn BULL. I'm glad WWE's using him.

There aren't many people who can do what Kevin Owens can. He's amazing.

I really hope Sami Zayn comes out to face Owens in the Royal Rumble.

Pretty big clash so far. Both men are legit.

Both men are giving it 100%. Amazing stuff.

I'm glad Owens didn't tap there. He needs a dominant showing.

Cesaro's dropkicks are insane.

NICE match overall. Lots of props to both men.

- Lesnar vs. Taker:
I hope they resist the urge to set up Brock/Taker III at WM32 by having Taker go over here. I think it'd be something of a waste of Brock's dominance to have him lose to a guy who's so close to retirement.

It's still kind of cool to see Undertaker's entrance, I have to admit.

Brock going right after Taker was AWESOME. This should be a damn war.

Great Old School counter.

And a big F5 counter!!

SUPLEX CITY IS HERE!!!!

This is an absolute FIGHT. I want to see more like this and less overly choreographed stuff.

Brock is unstoppable. He'll be remembered for decades.

GOOD GAWD ALMIGHTY WHAT AN F5.

This guy's a modern-day gladiator.

A big sigh of relief when Lesnar kicked out.

God I thought the Last Ride was it. This is pretty damn great.

I would have bought the second F5 doing it. I almost don't want this to end.

HOW IN GOD'S NAME DO YOU KICK OUT OF THAT MANY F5'S!!!!????

I love some submission wrestling.

BBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Brock flipping Taker off was awesome.

I wasn't crazy about that ending, but I guess we're in for a third match at Survivor Series or WM32. Pretty amazing while it lasted.

Maybe if they would have made it more clear Taker did tap before the replays, I would have been more OK with it.

More wrestling coming up.