Professional Wrestling (WWE, TNA, ROH, etc)

[zz21]

BrocksquashLOL.png

[Lean]

How was the title match? Was it worth the hype?

[formx]

Holy fuck that squash match LOL.

[JaoSming]

Pretty great PPV through and through IMO. I was entertained, said holy shite a few times, generally enjoyed.

[TBM]

Awesome main event. Fun show.

[[Q]]

I was initially surprised by the Nikki turn which is really cool but then I remembered that was a rumor being floated around a month or 2 ago.

JBL is really getting on my nerves. He thinks he's so smart and a great commentator by bringing up other sports and making comparisons and he also can't decide if he's a heel or not. He tries to be a great heel announcer one match then the next one he's vehemently against Rusev and is pro-USA. then he goes back to being a heel and then supports Cena in his match, agreeing with Cole that they should end the match after 3 consecutive German suplexes, which is also ridiculous on its own. He even got bleeped by saying Jesus Christ
Commentary was awful in the Cena match. They were all saying that this has never happened to John Cena before and were giving him no chance to win but they forgot 2 years ago they had a match that went exactly like this one except it had the signature Cena Superman comeback which I was kind of expecting in this one.

[Andrew]

I have mixed feelings about Summerslam. There was some good in-ring work and entertaining stuff, but a few other things I didn't really like.

I missed the IC title bout, so I'll have to go back and watch it. I tuned in at AJ/Paige, which had some good moments. That finish looked brutal, and I like the idea of them both being a bit crazy and off-kilter. If given a chance, they could have a good, long feud.

Ambrose/Rollins was the match of the night. I was initially underwhelmed by the announcement of the lumberjack stipulation, but they made it work and put on a show. Good move having Rollins go over dirty, prolonging the feud in classic heel fashion. Kane's weak slap of Goldust was the most unintentionally hilarious moment of the night, though.

Reigns/Orton had some good spots, but was a bit too slow paced in some parts for my liking. Reigns has a bright future, as long as he doesn't rub anyone the wrong way backstage. His athletic signature moves get a great pop, and him going over was absolutely the right decision. It'll help him, but it won't hurt Orton.

I liked Jericho/Wyatt, too. Jericho needed the previous win to re-establish himself and move the angle along, but Wyatt definitely had to go over here. Jericho's a great worker and as a former main eventer, provides Wyatt with a suitably high profile feud. The Bray Wyatt character is one of the best things they've done in a while, he goes all out with it, and he's way over as a result. Sister Abigail on the barricade was nasty, great spot.

Swagger/Rusev was OK for what it was. It's a pretty corny and trite angle that we've seen a thousand times before, but at the same time, it works well enough. I was a bit surprised to see Rusev go over; I'm assuming they'll have one more match to blow off the feud, with Swagger probably finally getting revenge.

Stephanie/Brie is one of my major complaints with the show. First of all, hats off to Stephanie, whose work was pretty damn good, especially considering it was her first proper match in a decade. The booking though, I'm not so thrilled about. Instead of Brie finally getting some revenge, The Authority stands tall again, as Stephanie dominated most of the match and ultimately went over, after Nikki (somewhat predictably) turned heel, joining forces with The Authority for seemingly no other reason except that they're The Authority. Not a fan of that turn of events.

As for the main event, Cena vs. Lesnar for the world title...same deal. I know what they were going for, I know that they're portraying Lesnar as an unstoppable monster, and it was kind of refreshing not to see Super Cena, but...yeah, I'm with the members of the crowd that started the "boring" chant. When I think of the great world title matches we've seen in the past, I think of the ones that were epic back and forth battles. This was a glorified squash match, just extremely slow paced and drawn out. Again, I know what they were going for, and I guess it works, but I think they could've done it more creatively and had a bit of a competitive match first.

Lesnar needs to look strong and dominant, but then the people he's going up against also need to look like they stand a chance. Otherwise, where's the intrigue and competition? It's a similar problem to The Authority. They're just too powerful, there's no resistance or comeuppance. Instead of Cena the Boring Invincible Hero, we're getting Lesnar and The Authority, Boring Invincible Villains.

As much as I'm leery of a part-timer having a title reign that runs through to Wrestlemania, especially one who doesn't really seem to have a true love or passion for the business, Lesnar did need to go over coming off his victory over The Undertaker. I just think there was a better way to do it; for me, the main event was a big letdown.

JBL is really getting on my nerves. He thinks he's so smart and a great commentator by bringing up other sports and making comparisons and he also can't decide if he's a heel or not. He tries to be a great heel announcer one match then the next one he's vehemently against Rusev and is pro-USA. then he goes back to being a heel and then supports Cena in his match, agreeing with Cole that they should end the match after 3 consecutive German suplexes, which is also ridiculous on its own. He even got bleeped by saying Jesus Christ
Commentary was awful in the Cena match. They were all saying that this has never happened to John Cena before and were giving him no chance to win but they forgot 2 years ago they had a match that went exactly like this one except it had the signature Cena Superman comeback which I was kind of expecting in this one.

Couldn't agree more. I've never been a fan of JBL's commentary, and he was at his obnoxious worst at Summerslam. Not that heel commentators aren't supposed to be obnoxious, but people like Jesse Ventura, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Paul Heyman (when he was on the announce table in 2001) and Jerry Lawler (alongside Jim Ross) found a way to make their on-air bias entertaining and amusing. JBL is just irritating, and when he does shift back into being antagonistic, he usually has to badly miss the point or throw all logic out the window to get there. The quality of commentary is definitely at an all-time low right now.

[koberulz]

Watched the RVD-Cesaro match. Cesaro did Rolling Thunder into a double stomp, which the commentators missed because they were too busy shilling the Network ON A NETWORK-EXCLUSIVE SHOW. Then they cut away from the match to show an ad for the Network. Again, ON A NETWORK-EXCLUSIVE SHOW.

The one big positive from the Network: I'd feel like I wasted $30 on SummerSlam, but I don't feel like I wasted three hours. Didn't find Lesnar-Cena boring in the slightest, but for it to be that one-sided would've been a massive letdown for a PPV. On the Network, though, they can get away with that.

[shadowgrin]

It's to promote in advance for territories where the $9.99 Network isn't available yet so once it becomes available potential consumers would easily remember the product, so yeah expect more of the WWE to unload the $9.99 to viewers' faces.

[koberulz]

Except that the pre-shows are exclusive to the Network. Which entirely defeats the purpose of the pre-show, really, for the same reason it defeats the purpose of plugging the Network: either you already have it and are planning on watching the PPV, or you're not watching the pre-show.

[shadowgrin]

iirc the WWE app shows 'exclusive' clips of matches, commentators probably doing the promo spot just for that, $9.99!

[bigh0rt]

I got home just in time to catch the last 30 seconds of Rollins vs. Ambrose, which was apparently awesome, and I was annoyed I missed.

Wyatt is the best character the WWE has right now, and the fact that they haven't just turned him face, and had him do his creepy stuff on The Authority yet, is stupid. He's SO over. And try as they might, the fans love him and will continue to cheer for him. You could literally turn him face without changing a single aspect of his character simply by booking him differently. He should, at the very least, be something like the Intercontinental Champion, feuding with a guy like Rollins or some other secondary Authority figure.

I actually really enjoyed the Orton vs. Reigns match. Roman desperately needs new tights. Give him something more traditional and lose the gay top. The only true main eventer I can think of who has gotten over not wearing something somewhat traditional is John Cena, and the fact that he got over wearing sneakers and jorts is still one of the world's greatest unsolved mysteries. Last time I complained about stupid getups, Cesaro went from his weird thigh wraps to knee pads, so maybe this will work, too. But I digress. I actually really enjoyed Orton's work in this match. More than I can remember in a real long time. The reversal RKO he threw on Reigns off the ropes I thought was a great spot.

The only way I'll be happy with Brock carrying the strap for the next 8 months is if it leads to a massive push for a new main event face. In my happy little world, it's Bray Wyatt. I could live with Daniel Bryan, I guess. I don't want it to be, say, The Rock.

[Lean]

Wyatt is the best character the WWE has right now...

I'm surprised he wasn't given a run even with the second-tier singles titles. But I am very happy that he was able to retain the Wyatt character all the way from FCW.

Jericho's podcast last Friday featured a 'fan Q&A' portion, and one of the 'callers' was Bray Wyatt. And they did a promo on the podcast. Fantastic.

And the new WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt:



There's "WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION" engraved at the bottom border of the main plate.

And it seems like all of the titles are now updated with the new WWE logo.

[shadowgrin]

Looks like a Divas belt.

[JaoSming]

Looks like a Divas belt.

[Lean]

So the Big Gold Belt is retired now?

They could have at least have the black spots where the logo is in black.

[[Q]]

Cesaro did Rolling Thunder into a double stomp,

just watched the match and that move was awesome. also the rolling thunder on the outside, which i have never seen before

Ambrose/Rollins was the match of the night. I was initially underwhelmed by the announcement of the lumberjack stipulation, but they made it work and put on a show. Good move having Rollins go over dirty, prolonging the feud in classic heel fashion. Kane's weak slap of Goldust was the most unintentionally hilarious moment of the night, though.

I gotta say i was ready to skip it until I saw they went into the stands and watched that part, which was awesome.

[koberulz]

Am I the only one who prefers the "spinner" belt to the current piece of garbage?

[Andrew]

I don't, but you're probably not alone. I prefer the eagle belt/Undisputed championship belt to anything, though.

[[Q]]

holy crap, i didn't like rollins and ambrose before when they were in the shield, but after last night and tonight they have my respect. what an entertaining match. they surprisingly have become good singles competitors and i love ambrose's "crazy" hardcore gimmick which was way better than his shield gimmick.

[koberulz]

I don't, but you're probably not alone. I prefer the eagle belt/Undisputed championship belt to anything, though.

Agree with you there, but to me the current belt is just as 'blingy' and ridiculous as the "spinner" belt, except most of the belt is just the strap showing through the bit where they couldn't be bothered to actually design a belt.

[Andrew]

More shots of the new belt:
http://www.wwe.com/inside/the-new-wwe-w ... hip-photos

[Mad-Raiiden]

holy crap, i didn't like rollins and ambrose before when they were in the shield, but after last night and tonight they have my respect. what an entertaining match. they surprisingly have become good singles competitors and i love ambrose's "crazy" hardcore gimmick which was way better than his shield gimmick.

I hate Reigns, in the Shield and after, he's horrible to watch. He got something like 4 or 5 moves (Spear, Superman punch, samoan drop and his dropkick.. I just hoped that Orton punked kicked him at Summerslam... Ambrose and Rollins were good in the Shield and I think like you, they becomed good singles competitors. Sad that the matches always finish the same way (Money in the bank -> Ambrose very close to the win, Kane interrupt, Rollins wins/ Summerslam -> Ambrose very close to the win, Kane interrupt, chaos in the ring, Rollins wins)

More shots of the new belt:
http://www.wwe.com/inside/the-new-wwe-w ... hip-photos

The WWE World Heavyweight is finnally represented by one belt? I didn't seen Raw yet so maybe they explain but in France the shows are late in the night so I look them later. And I'm late because of Summerslam..

[Andrew]

Yes, they've finally gone back to one belt, some eight months after the actual unification.

[Lean]

Reigns need to expand his moveset. I know he's in the middle of the run towards another title shot, I think he just needs to go beyond his current moveset.