Through the Years: SummerSlam 2002

SummerSlam 2002
August 25th, 2002 – Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York – Attendance: 14,797

I've always considered the 2002 SummerSlam to be the very best in the history of that annual blockbuster. Granted, I haven't seen it in a long time but it's the show that I was most excited to get to in this year. Brock Lesnar gets his first shot at the Undisputed Championship, while Shawn Michaels makes his historic return to the ring after a four year retirement. The rest of the card is stacked with Kurt Angle, Edge, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Rey Mysterio, Rob Van Dam and a LOT more. This was the peak of 2002 in my opinion, but let's see if the show is as good as I remember.

Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio appears behind Kurt and is all like “WHOS THAT JUMPING OUT THE SKY” as he springboard hurricanranas Angle to start. A dropkick and monkey flip follows as things are off to a quick start. Kurt wisely goes for the ankle early on. Rey misses the 619 and Angle pulls him out of the ring hard. Back inside, Kurt hits a ridiculous German suplex but Rey counters a second attempt with a rollup. The story here seems to be that Angle is doing his best to ground Rey, which makes perfect sense. Kurt has a counter for every high risk move that Rey tries including a big sidewalk slam. Single leg Lion Tamer of sorts gets locked on and looks painful as hell. Rey reverses with a pin but gets clotheslined down instantly. Again, as soon as Rey seems to get momentum, Kurt hits a big belly to belly and the STRAPS ARE DOWN! Angle Slam is countered into an arm drag though. With Kurt outside, Rey goes to fly but the referee stops him. As the ref bends through the second rope to talk to Angle, Rey leaps over him in a cool spot. A springboard leg drop earns Rey a near fall as the crowd is totally into this. Rey leaps onto Kurt's shoulders, but gets slammed down into the Ankle Lock. He breaks free and hits the 619, followed by the West Coast Pop but gets one of the closest two counts ever. He nails a springboard dropkick with Kurt up top and goes for a top rope hurricanrana but Kurt counters into an Ankle Lock somehow! That was badass. Rey has no choice but to tap.

Winner: Kurt Angle in 9:20
Excellent opener. Rey Mysterio looked like a million bucks and Kurt Angle looked like the best wrestler in the world. The crowd was hot and the action was great. ****

In the back, Stephanie McMahon finds Eric Bischoff in her office after she brags about her awesome Smackdown match. They will share the General Manager's office for the evening. 

Chris Jericho vs. Ric Flair
Surprisingly, this is the first ever SummerSlam match for the Nature Boy. He was at the 1992 show, but didn't wrestle. We start with mat wrestling and Flair struts after getting the upper hand. Flair sends Jericho over but he skins the cat, only to get chops and short punches. The match goes outside with Jericho being the aggressor. In the ring, Jericho badmouths Flair with each shot and does his awesome little dance. Second rope dropkick from Jericho gets a two count. I feel like any Flair match with Charles Robinson as the referee could be a conspiracy. Jericho chokes Flair with his wrist tape but Flair just comes back with chops. “IM THE KING OF THE WORLD”. Showboating on the top does Jericho in when Flair slams him off. Flair hits another back body drop because his offense was a bit limited at this time and it continues with more short punches. Jericho attempts the Walls but gets pull into an inside cradle for two. He misses the Lionsault and eats more chops before Flair tries the Walls. Jericho reverses and puts on the figure four. Flair taps but only after he grabs the ropes. Jericho is pissed as he thought he won which causes him to make a mistake. Once Robinson gets hit, Flair goes low and makes Jericho tap to the Figure Four.

Winner: Ric Flair in 10:22
Not the best match from either guy. Chris Jericho continues to fall after being Undisputed Champion just a few months before. **1/4

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are backstage bragging about what Brock did to Hulk Hogan. In case you didn't know, he beat the crap out of Hogan and left him bloodied on Smackdown.

Edge vs. Eddie Guerrero
So three matches and six sure fire Hall of Famers. Impressive start. Edge opens things with a flapjack while Michael Cole informs us that Eddie is jealous that Edge is a sex symbol. Eddie sells the monkey flip like a man as usual before Edge gets a near fall. Eddie gets tied up in the ropes and Edge hits a Spear but crashes outside when he tries another. Edge seems to have a hurt arm, so Eddie goes right after it by throwing him into the steps. The next few minutes involve Eddie targeting Edge's shoulder/arm. Edge's shoulder ends up bleeding and he rallies with some right handed offense. A facebuster gets him two so he decides to suplex Eddie to the outside. Instead of resting, he flies off the top and takes out Eddie. They go to the second rope and Edge hits a sitout front suplex for two. He starts to call for the Spear but Eddie dropkicks him right in the injured shoulder. PSYCHOLOGY. Eddie's Frog Splash gets blocked by Edge getting the knees up and he plants Latino Heat with the Edgecution for two. Northern lights suplex and neckbreaker from Eddie who goes back to the top. Edge stops him but Eddie headbutts him like 15 times and Frog Splashes the injured arm! Edge somehow kicks out! Edge manages to hit a Spear from out of nowhere and win.

Winner: Edge in 11:47
Good match with really good psychology. Not keen on Edge winning with a Spear since that shoulder was worked on the entire time, but still good stuff. ***1/4

Jonathan Coachman interviews the Un-Americans backstage about their upcoming Tag Team Title defense. They continue to make a lot of good points about Americans to heat because the truth hurts.

WWE Tag Team Championship
The Un-Americans (c) vs. Booker T and Goldust
I loved the odd Booker and Goldust pairing as it worked to perfection. Of all the guys who returned at the 2002 Royal Rumble, Goldust stuck around in relevance for the longest. All four guys get shine in the early goings. Booker drops a knee on Storm for a one before Goldust hits a big elbow. Storm ends up sending Goldust over the turnbuckle and outside which is different. The Un-Americans heel it up for a while as it looks like Goldust will be tonight's face in trouble. That good old tag formula. Goldust manages to pick up a near fall but when he makes the tag, blind Nick Patrick didn't see so tag formula continues. Goldust fights out and slingshots Christian into Storm before a rollup gets him two. Storm and Christian go for a con-chair-to but Goldust ducks and hits them with a double clothesline. He finally makes the hot tag and Booker lights up the Un-Americans. Missile dropkick from Booker gets a near fall, as Goldust takes on Storm outside. Booker misses the Scissors Kick and Christian gets the Unprettier blocked. Storm accidentally kicks Nick Patrick just before Booker hits both Champions with a double Scissors Kick. SPINAROONIE! No referee is there to count for Booker though. Test runs in and bit boots Booker hard to finish it.

Winners and Still WWE Tag Team Champions: The Un-Americans in 9:36
Solid tag team match. It followed tag formula nicely, though it can get old. Still, all four guys had their working boots on tonight and put on a good show. ***

Cut to The World where Nidia picks a dude to make out with in front of her boyfriend Jamie Noble. Weird segment. Eric Bischoff and Stephanie McMahon are now shown watching in the locker room and they talk about the upcoming Intercontinental Title match.

WWE Intercontinental Championship
Chris Benoit (c) vs. Rob Van Dam
The belt logo is blurred for some reason. It couldn't still have said WWF could it? Early feeling out process as this is the first every Pay-Per-View meeting between the two. Benoit, along with Eddie had just jumped to Smackdown. According to Paul Heyman, he lost someone to Raw for star power, I forget who, and when asked for Benoit and Eddie in return, he kind of got laughed at. This would allow for the creation of the Smackdown Six. Benoit ducks a kick and he folds RVD with a huge release German. Benoit hits a Bret Hart like backbreaker for two. The Crippler is focusing on the shoulder/back/neck for the Crossface later. RVD this a monkey flip, but Benoit is quickly up and takes him back down. RVD gets a kick and goes for the split legged moonsault but Benoit gets his knees up. Benoit goes up top and misses the flying headbutt before RVD misses the Five Star. Crossface is applied but RVD uses his foot to reach the ropes. RVD gets launched to the outside and so far, this is just all Benoit. He rams the shoulder into the post and things go back inside. The fans turn their attention to something happening in the crowd, so Benoit puts on a REST HOLD. The challenger rolls out but again gets slammed to the mat. Crossface gets locked on again but RVD manages to get out of it. Three Northern lights suplexes, a move that I love, gets Benoit a near fall. He locks on the Crossface again and this is totally one sided. He gets close to the ropes so Benoit pulls his arm out and turns it into a different submission move. RVD finally gets something going by putting Benoit in a Crossface of his own, only to have Benoit get out and dropkick him. RVD's ponytail is out, which I've never seen. He starts to rally with an enziguri and rolling thunder. After RVD counters a super back drop, he hits a turning Five Star to win abruptly.

Winner and New Intercontinental Champion: Rob Van Dam in 16:31
Really good match, but very one sided. RVD barely got any offense until the end. That being said, Benoit dominating makes for a good match and even though the ending was abrupt, I enjoyed this. ***3/4

Eric Bischoff taunts Stephanie McMahon backstage and she is very pouty. As he continues to brag, Stephanie just laughs in his face. Strange. 

Test vs. The Undertaker
So after his heel run with the WWE Undisputed Title, The Undertaker turned face and there was no better way for the American Badass to do that, than to face anti-Americans. Early on, Undertaker actually leap frogs over Test which shocked the hell out of me. He goes for Old School but gets crotched on the rope and falls outside. Test whips Undertaker into steel steps but nobody believes that he will win. He runs the offense in the ring for a while and decides to put on a wristlock of sorts. The Deadman rallies and hits a belly to back suplex. Taker hits a big DDT for a near fall and connects with Old School this time. Booger Red hits snake eyes but misses a big boot. He counters the pump handle slam and Test blocks a Chokeslam. Taker ducks a big boot and hits the Chokeslam this time. Test kicks out and they try to sell it as a big deal but it isn't. The rest of the Un-Americans run out but take beatings from Taker. Test comes in and hits the big boot this time, but Taker gets the shoulder up. He grabs a chair but gets it kicked in his face behind the official's back. A Tombstone later and Test is resting in peace.

Winner: The Undertaker in 8:18
Not bad, but still rather slow. It a decent big man match though and Test didn't look bad. **1/4

Unsanctioned Street Fight
Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H
When he has his face shaved, Triple H kinda looks like a wuss. Shawn starts with early right hands as the crowd pops. After knocking Triple H outside, Shawn follows with a plancha and shows everyone that he's still the same HBK. All we need is Vince McMahon creaming himself of commentary and it'll be 1996 all over again. He gets a trash can lid and it backfires, though when HHH tries to bring him in the ring, HBK levels him and skins the cat back in. HES LIVE...AND IN YO FACE. He warms up the band but HHH ducks Sweet Chin Music and we get a vicious backbreaker. HHH continues to work on Shawn's broken back with hard whips into the corner and more backbreakers. HHH gets a chair and wails away on Shawn's back. Shawn fights back but takes a chair shot that busts him open. HHH takes Shawn's belt and whips him like this is a “Hollywood” Hogan match or something. HHH goes under the ring and grabs his trusty sledgehammer but Shawn stops him. However, HHH takes control again with the abdominal stretch. Not often can you see an abdominal stretch in a Street Fight and have it make sense. Hebner and HHH get into a shoving match even though he shouldn't be trying to stop him. The distraction gives Shawn time to rally and try to come off the top, until Triple H pushes Hebner into the ropes, crotching Shawn. He hangs upside down in the corner so HHH can hit him in the back with a chair yet again! A backbreaker on an open chair is hit and Shawn must be dead. Shawn kicks out though. The Game sets up for a Pedigree on a chair, but HBK counters with a low blow. Both men are down but when they get up, Shawn hits Sweet Chin Music into a chair! Both guys are down again. Trips is bleeding like a stuffed pig as Shawn fires away and hits his flying forearm. He nips up to a massive pop. He catches him with a chair shot and sends HHH to the outside. Shawn now takes Hunter to the woodshed, whipping him with the belt. He bulldogs HHH onto the steel steps and pulls out a ladder. He whacks Hunter with the ladder for two. Hunter nabs a near fall with the high knee. HHH tries to attack with steel steps but eats a drop toe hold and lands face first on the steps. Shawn pulls a D-Von and GETS THE TABLE! He sets it up outside and nails HHH with a fire extinguisher. Shawn climbs up top and hits a splash through the table outside! Back inside, the ladder gets set up and Shawn hits an elbow off of it after telling the fans that he loves them. He gets right up and tunes up for Sweet Chin Music but HHH blocks it. He goes for the Pedigree but Shawn counters with a rollup and wins his return match.

Winner: Shawn Michaels in 27:20
Wow. Shawn Michaels was gone for over four years and came back better than ever. His ability to tell a story is nearly unmatched and this was damn near perfect. ****3/4

Triple H attacks Shawn after the match with the sledgehammer and hits him in the back, which is just a brutal post match thing to do. Howard Finkel comes out to brag about being committed to his job and he's interrupted by Trish Stratus. She has had a feud with him recently and she fake flirts with him. Lillian Garcia shows up and slaps him before kicking him low.

WWE Undisputed Championship
The Rock (c) vs. Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman
Rock does Brock's signature jumping during his entrance and IT'S ABOUT TO GO DOWN. I've always loved that. Rock sprints to the ring and fires away but Brock tires of that quickly and hits a belly to belly. He goes for a quick cover but obviously that's not enough. “Rocky sucks” chants are hear as Brock crushes the Champion with rib breakers. When Rock gets thrown outside, Heyman kicks him and Brock continues to beat him down. Heyman continues to get in cheap shots and every Rock rally is cut short by a Lesnar power move. After a Rock back suplex, both men are down until they nip up at THE SAME TIME! That was great. Rock hits a DDT and gains a near fall. Rock goes for the sharpshooter but Heyman gets on the apron so he nails him. He gets the sharpshooter on but the crowd boos. “Let's go Lesnar” rings out through the arena. Heyman is back on the apron with a chair and gets brought in the hard way. As he distracts the referee, Brock hits Rock in the gut with the chair. BEARHUG time and this was actually built as a credible threatening move when he nearly killed Hogan with it. Rock fights out of it and a Heyman distraction actually allows Rock to hit a low blow. Rock explodes with a clothesline and right hands that send Brock outside. Rock slingshots Brock into the post and he puts Heyman through the announce table with a Rock Bottom. Back inside, Rock hits the Rock Bottom on Brock but only gets a two! Brock actually hits a Rock Bottom now as the crowd pops but Rock kicks out! Spinebuster from the Rock and it's THE MOST ELECTRIFYING MOVE IN SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT, but wait! Brock pops up and nails him. He goes for the F5, but it's blocked, and he then he blocks the Rock Bottom. Another counter later and Brock hits the F5 to become the youngest WWE Champion in history!

Winner and New WWE Undisputed Champion: Brock Lesnar in 16:01
Great main event. The changing of the guard was here as Brock wins the belt and the fans wanted it for sure. Awesome back and forth and each guy played to their strengths. ****1/4

Overall: 10/10; Perfect. The best SummerSlam of all-time and a top 10 Pay-Per-View in the history of the WWE. Nothing is under two stars and everything is entertaining. Shawn's comeback is glorious, the main event is awesome and that's just scratching the surface. I love this show.

Top Ten Main Roster Divas

I consider myself to be a big advocate of women's wrestling. I've watched many SHIMMER volumes and do not consider the WWE Divas matches to be "piss breaks." I have a lot of respect for what they do, so I decided to do a top ten list of the main roster divas. I had to specify main roster because there are some NXT girls who I would put ahead of some of the main roster girls, including Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Bayley. We will be looking at each girl's full body of work, in ring ability, character work, promo ability and more. Also, I want to point out that there's no honorable mentions. The girls who didn't make the list are relatively useless like Cameron, Eva Marie and especially Rosa Mendes.

10. Summer Rae

We start off with a woman who entered the main roster as a valet for Fandango. He had numerous random dancers early on until one stuck and that was Summer Rae. She didn't impress me much in the ring, especially at Survivor Series 2013 where she just basically entered the ring and danced. However, She has shown some improvement in the ring and is able to play her character well. Her role on Total Divas has been fun as well. While they seemed unsure of what to do with her after the Fandango split, her stuff with Layla has been entertaining though it needs to go somewhere soon.

9. The Bella Twins

The two most marketable Divas are easily the Bella Twins. That is their strongest suit. The WWE uses them to promote the WWE Network, sends them out for appearances and they're the focal point of Total Divas. Back during their first run, I hated seeing them on my television. They were terrible workers and didn't care, but in their second run they've grown to care. Maybe it's dating John Cena and Daniel Bryan or maybe it's how high on the card they are. They still aren't great in the ring, but they're serviceable. Their biggest flaw is their terrible acting. Neither girl can cut a promo or act to save their lives. Also, I know it may be a cop out putting them together on this list, but they're pretty interchangeable.

8. Alicia Fox

One of the more under appreciated Divas on the roster is Alicia Fox. Back in 2009 or so when she got her Divas Championship run, I don't think that she was ready. She had some poor matches and looked like she could kill someone with her Scissors Kick. Over time, she's grown to be less relevant in the division but rose to a title shot earlier this year with her crazed gimmick. She played it well and we got some entertaining moments. She's become one of the better workers in the division and, while her Scissors Kick still looks bad, she doesn't seem to be much of a danger in there anymore.

7. Layla

So Layla is hot. I'm just going to get that out of the way. Now, Layla is the most successful Diva Search winner by far. She went from appearing in bikini contests to dancing with Extreme Expose and it seemed like she would not go far. Then came LayCool. By far the most entertaining Divas act in the post Lita/Trish era. They were in sync, they had comedic timing, they could go in the ring and they were must see Divas television. Layla is the only woman on this list to win both the Women's and Divas Championship, which is an impressive feat. The only reason she's not higher is that she is currently not really used for in ring work.

6. Naomi

I would like to point out that NXT Season 3 is one of the greatest things the WWE has ever produced. It's non-stop entertaining, cringe worthy at times and absolutely hilarious. The one girl that stood out from the first episode was Naomi. Easily the most athletic Diva on the roster, it's only a matter of time before she becomes a Divas Champion. When it comes to Total Divas, Naomi is by far the most likable girl. She's level headed and not bratty like the rest of the girls and her relationship with Jimmy Uso is pretty funny to watch at times. There was talk that she was scheduled to face AJ Lee at WrestleMania XXX, which would've been huge, but she suffered a vicious eye injury and the match was changed. She's currently in a feud with her former teammate Cameron and I'm glad she's done dancing and getting to compete.

5. Emma

Trained by the great Lance Storm, Emma is the most underutilized Diva on the roster in my opinion. I watched her under her real name in SHIMMER before hearing that she was signed by the WWE. She went to NXT and became one of my favorite performers there. She was saddled with a ridiculous dancing gimmick and made it into an extremely popular thing there. Her goofy awkwardness made her endearing but it hasn't translated to the main roster. I think she should have had video packages/vignettes about the dance before her debut to help get it over with the crowd. The biggest reason that she's this high though is her in ring ability. The girl can flat out go. Check out her NXT ArRival match or her NXT Women's Championship Finals against Paige for proof.

4. Natalya

If this list was based purely on in ring ability, Natalya could make a STRONG case to be number one. Due to being a member of the legendary Hart family, she's been very well trained and can put on really good matches. Her match with an unproven Charlotte at NXT TakeOver is the best Divas match that I've seen in recent memory. She took longer to get to the WWE than I expected and lost a chance to be the first Divas Champion at the 2008 Great American Bash. She moved into a managerial role for the Hart Dynasty before going back to competing and winning the Divas Title. Her tag team with Beth Phoenix was pretty good too. The only thing keeping her from moving up is that she is very bland as a character.

3. Stephanie McMahon

Let me ask you a question. Who is the best heel in the WWE? If your answer was not Stephanie McMahon then you are dead wrong. The woman got Vickie Guerrero to be a sympathetic face. Really think about that. Stephanie was good during her original run as a heel in the company, but after having three kids and returning as a member of the Authority, Stephanie has been on fire. She is outstanding in her role. Then came SummerSlam. She had to step into the ring with Brie Bella in a match that a lot of people didn't have faith in. Stephanie went out and absolutely controlled things and dominated. She looked better in the ring than 90% of the Divas roster and this is a 37 year old mom who hadn't worked a match in over a decade. The woman is amazing and would be higher if she laced the boots up more often but seriously, give Stephanie credit.

2. Paige

Down in NXT, the "Anti-Diva" was dynamite. She was a badass chick that didn't take shit from anyone and it was awesome to see. She got called up to the main roster the night after WrestleMania XXX and instantly produced a huge moment in Divas history by ending AJ Lee's record 295 day reign as Champion and becoming the youngest Divas Champion in history. What followed was a disappointing run as Champion because the role of the cheesy babyface wasn't working. AJ Lee returned and won the belt back, leading to the new "psycho/obsessive" Paige that has been fantastic. Her ability to do something heinous to AJ and then hug her and tell her that she loves her is great and their match at SummerSlam was very good. She is going to be a focal point of the Divas division for a long time considering she's only 22, so get used to this.

1. AJ Lee

Paige fans seem to hate AJ, while AJ fans seem to hate Paige. I love them both. There really could be no other choice for number one. During the awesome NXT Season 3, AJ Lee instantly became a favorite of mine. The girl loves wrestling, is adorable and could go. Check out her match with Naomi from that season because it's great. She formed a cool tag team with her best friend Kaitlyn, known as the Chickbusters before moving into a relationship with Daniel Bryan. From there, she was a focal point. She helped cost him the World Title at WrestleMania 28, so he dumped her and she was THE biggest part of Bryan's feud with CM Punk over the WWE Title. She was ending Raws by sitting in the ring Punk style or by pushing both Punk and Bryan through a table. She moved onto having a wedding at Raw 1000 before becoming the General Manager. She continued to be a big part by managing John Cena and Dolph Ziggler. Then she finally got her chance in the ring and defeated Kaitlyn in the best Divas match of 2013 at Payback. She reigned atop the division for nearly 300 days and beat every Diva put in front of her, including the entire roster at WrestleMania XXX. Even though she lost to Paige, she won it back the first night of her return and is engaged in a really good feud with her. She is the best on the current roster. 

Main Event Report 8-19-14

The United States Champion Sheamus opens episode 99 of Main Event. It looks like he'll be facing Curtis Axel, who I know has no chance but I feel at least will be able to put on a good match. Michael Cole is on Main Event now? What the hell? I'm so tired of his stupid voice and now I have to hear it on three different shows? Good lord. Cesaro surprises everyone by coming out in a suit to join commentary. He calls himself Mr. International and it looks like they have no clue what his character should be. Cesaro did a good job on commentary and made sure to put over both guys. I love when Main Event starts with a good match and we got that here. After about ten minutes, Sheamus wins with the Brogue Kick. Cesaro tossed the title into Sheamus and walked off with a smirk.

Triple H has a huge announcement that John Cena has chosen to submit his request for a rematch with Brock Lesnar at Night of Champions. John Cena winning the belt back would be absolutely pointless but I don't see Brock destroying him again. Time for HEELNikki Bella who is still rocking the same theme song and pandering to the crowd. Of course we're forced to watch the stupid recap of Nikki's heel turn again. Nikki will be facing Emma and these two Divas got a solid five minutes to work with. They made sure to do the best with it and we got one of Nikki's best matches ever. She got "you sold out" chants but still managed to overcome it and win with her finisher that I don't know the name of. 

Big Show and Mark Henry get interviewed by the lovely Renee Young about Show's match with Erick Rowan later. It's nothing special. We get a recap of the Triple H announcement that we just heard like eight minutes ago. John Cena returns to Raw this Monday as well so I'm sure we'll hear that even though he took a huge beating, HE FEARS NOTHING AND REGRETS LESS! It's fine though because things just stepped up on Main Event as I see SLATER GATOR! They'll be in action against Los Matadores as one of the members is back from injury. I'm not sure. Hornswoggle has decided that if you can't beat them, join them as he accompanies Los Matadores to the ring in a cow outfit. The match is fun, Hornswoggle gets involved, there's some comedy and some high flying before Slater Gator wins it! THE STREAK LIVES! However, the best is the interview that Slater and Titus cut on the WWE App. Go find it.

Renee Young goes to interview Seth Rollins and it goes a lot better than it did on Raw. No ice bucket challenge because Dean Ambrose is dead. Seth blames the fans for choosing the Falls Count Anywhere stipulation but I mean, they had to choose between that, No DQ and No Holds Barred. Seth says that Dean is like other heroes including John Cena, Chris Jericho and Jack Swagger because he lost. Swagger interrupts and they will face for the first time I believe on Smackdown. I'm looking forward to that. Much more than the scheduled RVD vs. Randy Orton match. Big Show and Erick Rowan did main event and we got a decent little match. Show was in control for the most part but it was two brutes beating each other up and that was alright. 

So, I really enjoyed Main Event tonight. Four good matches that kept me entertained throughout, plus a major announcement from Triple H. This is how I like my Main Event. 8/10. Both Countdown and WrestleMania Rewind were reruns so I won't recap them tonight.

Raw Report 8-19-14

Raw opened with the theme of Daniel Bryan to a massive pop. But of course, it's Stephanie McMahon with her variation of the "Yes! Yes! Yes!" shirt. Man, she can draw heat. She thanks her husband, plugs the network, recaps SummerSlam and introduces NIkki in this promo. She brings out Nikki, who is wearing black because she's a heel now. Nikki doesn't mention the specifics that Brie quit the WWE for her husband and left her alone but she does mention that Brie has always been the selfish sister and that while Brie is married, she married the goat faced Bryan. Brie comes out with a black eye that rivals Nikki's boobs in how fake it is. Brie is sad and would forgive her sister, but Nikki slaps her down. Not the best opening segment in the world. Stephanie starting the show is good but the Bellas are both pretty terrible actresses.

Because it's the WWE, we have to get an IMMEDIATE recap of what he literally just saw. Luke Harper and Erick Rowan would be facing Big Show and Mark Henry next. This was a solid tag team match that would be won by Henry and Show. I know I said that I wanted the Usos to retain at Battleground against Harper and Rowan, but not if it means that they start losing to teams like Show and Henry that nobody wants to see or care about. The Wyatt Family should be carefully booked and handled but the WWE doesn't seem to know what to do with them at all. Show and Henry are soon to be in line for a shot I guess. Ho hum.

Backstage, Ric Flair is getting something he wants as he's talking to Dolph Ziggler about the roll he's been on. The Miz comes up because he's still upset. Flair "woos", Dolph calls the Miz an A-Hole and not an A-Lister and there will be a rematch tonight. What happened to Flair being cool with the Miz? Anyway, cutting to another segment, Renee Young is interviewing Seth Rollins. While she stands there looking beautiful, Seth Rollins suddenly gets a bucket of ice water poured on him! ALSICEBUCKETCHALLENGE! He turns around to find Dean Ambrose poured it and Ambrose nails him with the bucket. He shrugs and says "What? It's for charity." Fun stuff.

Natalya is in the ring when the Divas Champion arrives to face her. Paige still loves AJ and dedicates the match to her "little AJ". A short and decent Divas match follows and Paige comes close to victory until AJ's theme hits. The former champion skips around the ring, distracting Paige and allowing Nattie to roll her up and win. AJ gets on the microphone to give Paige a dose of her own medicine by saying that she loves her, respects her and wants to shake her hands. AJ's crazy eyes cause Paige to leave the ring to avoid this. Ambrose and Rollins will have a match tonight and the fans can choose the stipulation. It's either No DQ, No Holds Barred or Falls Count Anywhere. So basically, it's the same match three times.

Next, it's time to present the new WWE Title, which has the new logo, to Brock Lesnar. This is a segment that is pretty basic so I won't get too into it. Paul Heyman puts over how John Cena's run at the top has lasted longer than it has for Rock, Austin and others. He calls this basic Brockenomics and that it was "Eat, Sleep, Suplex, Repeat." Heyman's delivery is perfect. The Intercontinental Title match follows and part of me was worried that Dolph Ziggler was going to get a 24 hour title reign but Miz ends up winning via disqualification. It was a good match and the crowd was totally into it. I guess this is going to continue.

Jack Swagger is out next to try and avenge his loss last night. He's facing his former partner Cesaro, in a match that has happened twice in the past month and one that nobody would've expected Swagger to win a few months ago. Surprisingly, Cesaro does win this with the Neutralizer as maybe Swagger's push is over. I still don't believe that Cesaro's is going to start again. Bo Dallas comes out after the match and says that 318 million Americans were let down by Swagger. Zeb Colter isn't there for some reason and Bo says that Jack can get Zeb back and turn things around if he just Bolieves.

Time for an interesting six man tag team match. Randy Orton teamed with Rybaxel against Roman Reigns, Sheamus and Rob Van Dam. Ah, the tag team match, where Reigns shines the most. This got a lot of time and was a lot of fun. The Las Vegas crowd seemed to LOVE Ryback. The FEED ME MORE chant was louder than anything that Roman Reigns got. Despite Ryback being insanely over, a Spear followed by a Five Star Frog Splash was enough to put down Randy Orton. I'm surprised that Orton would eat the pin here when he's partnered with a team who loses very often. After the match, we also get a Bray Wyatt promo. It's too intricate for me to really go into here but it's some of the usual stuff from him.

The Usos were out to face the Dust Brothers. It's about damn time we get this and I need Stardust and Goldust on television much more often. They put on a fun little match where Cody Rhodes again rocked that Stardust character like it's nobody's business. The Dust Brothers would actually win with a rollup so maybe they will be next in line for a title shot. Rusev and Lana arrive after a commercial break and unfortunately, Lana is not sporting the white suit that she wore at SummerSlam. They are interrupted by Mark Henry of all people. He gets right in Rusev's face as the "USA" chants are loud. Henry ends up hitting Rusev with the World's Strongest Slam and splashes him while Lana looks on worried. I guess the Henry/Show team isn't going far.

It looks like we're going to get a long main event and it's Falls Count Anywhere between Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. Let me just say that last night's Lumberjack Match was the best Lumberjack Match in history. However, it was nothing compared to this. This was two guys who hate each other going balls to the wall and it showed. Ambrose and Rollins are the absolute future. They use kendo sticks and other weapons. Ambrose throws like eight chairs into the ring and wants to superplex Seth onto them but it gets countered and Rollins hits a power bomb onto them! And only gets two. Seriously, I'm not even going to try and mention every awesome spot in this match as you need to go out and watch it. Like now. Kane gets involved and chokeslams Ambrose on a table that doesn't break. Seth follows with the Blackout on the table before Kane reveals a bunch of cinder blocks. Seth does the Blackout again but onto the cinder blocks. The referee stops the match because Dean Ambrose might be dead.

Much better than the go home show for SummerSlam. The Ambrose/Rollins match honestly gives this show an entire extra point or so. That was insane and can be up there for Raw match of the year. The opening segment was rough, but everything on the show seemingly built to something except for the opening tag match. So basically, after the first two segments, the show was pretty badass. 7.5/10.

SummerSlam Review

About a day or two before SummerSlam, they added Cesaro vs. Rob Van Dam to the pre-show. In a match between two guys who are pretty irrelevant, we got a better than expected contest. Cesaro always seems to deliver in the ring and this was no different. He hit a flurry of uppercuts and nearly won when RVD jumped off the top into a big one. However, my prediction was right when I said that it's not wise to pick Cesaro until he wins one because he lost to a Five Star Frog Splash here. Good stuff, even if it was two guys that are going nowhere. ***

To start the actual Pay-Per-View, the Intercontinental Championship was on the line. Now, I completely expected The Miz to retain here due to him having a character and the promotion for the Marine 4. However, Dolph Ziggler surprised many of us when he pulled out the win and became the new Intercontinental Champion. The match was a good back and forth battle with neither guy really gaining a big upper hand at any point. Miz again did his best to avoid being hit in the "moneymaker", which makes for some fun moments. It would've been better had Miz faced someone who's finisher actually targeted his face, but I still enjoyed this and it was a good opener. ***

The match that I might have been looking forward to more than any other followed as Paige went one on one with AJ Lee for the Divas Championship. Paige was sporting new red ring gear, which was pretty great looking. This was a vast improvement on their Battleground match. They disappointed on that night and botched a bunch. This was better and I wouldn't be a straight male if I didn't point out Paige crawling over AJ in a pretty sexual way. ITS SUPPOSED TO BE PG! Paige would get caught in the Black Widow and countered it into the RamPaige DDT, which is sweet. She became the first woman to win the Divas Title twice in the same year. After the match, she hugged AJ and told her how much she loved her. **3/4

A Flag match with no flags followed. Jack Swagger got the fancy entrance with marines following him to the ring with American flags. He attacked Rusev before the match and put on the Ankle Lock. Rusev is hurt and doesn't want to start but is forced to start anyway. He sells the ankle injury like an absolute champ throughout the whole match. Swagger comes close to winning as he applies the Ankle Lock again, but Rusev manages to survive and forces Swagger to pass out to the Accolade. I think this should've been a Flag on a pole match, so Swagger could win for the USA and Rusev could stay undefeated. The match wasn't bad though thanks for the great selling. ***

Well, I was not looking forward to a Lumberjack match at all, but of course, because Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose are incredible, they made it work. Normally in a Lumberjack match, the heels outside leave the heel alone but not here. Everyone hated both Seth and Dean and things were wild. The match spilled into the crowd and they teased a bit spot there. Seth tried to escape but was stopped by the face Lumberjacks. We did get a nice spot where Ambrose suplexed Rollins onto the Lumberjacks. He eventually hits Seth with Seth's own move, the Blackout, but Kane interfered to stop the pin. Goldust, being the badass that he is, gets in Kane's face and levels him. All of the Lumberjacks enter and a huge brawl ensues. This allows Seth to get his briefcase and lay out Dean to win. Very hectic and fun match but I expect more from this and an even better match. ***1/2

Chris Jericho would meet Bray Wyatt in another rematch of a match that disappointed at Battleground. Throughout this bout, Jericho developed a weird bruise of sorts on his leg. I enjoyed this more than their Battleground match, but it still wasn't as good as it could've been. Honestly, besides his Royal Rumble match with Daniel Bryan, Bray hasn't done much to wow me in the ring. I mean, his Payback Last Man Standing match was fun but it was meant to be a big clusterfuck. Things were a bit slow but they picked up near the end and Bray was able to survive a Codebreaker before winning with Sister Abigail. Good stuff. ***

If ever there was a heel turn that was telegraphed from a mile away, it was Nikki Bella. But that's not a complaint. It's a heel turn that makes sense. Brie Bella chose her boyfriend over her sister. But enough about the heel turn, the real story of the match was Stephanie McMahon. Stephanie hasn't wrestled in over a decade and was better than a good 90% of the Divas roster. She looked fantastic and was easily the MVP of this contest. Not only did she show love to Ronda Rousey at ringside, but she controlled the match and did a great job. Triple H arrived and Brie put Steph in the Yes Lock. He pulled out the ref and sold the hell out of a dropkick from Brie. Nikki enters and lays out her sister, allowing Stephanie to beat her. They kept the crowd into it and did a good job, which is all you could ask for. **1/2

I've mentioned here before that I'm just not feeling the Roman Reigns mega push the way that the WWE wants me to. His match here with Randy Orton should have felt like a big deal but it didn't. It honestly felt like filler and like we were all just waiting for the main event. Roman actually started to get a mixed reaction as some of the crowd turned towards Randy. I don't know if this is just an LA thing or if it's because some people are starting to dislike the Roman uber push. We got a TON of rest holds early on and Reigns still pretty much has like four moves. The finishing sequence saved this match though as Reigns kicked out of a huge RKO. I dislike how finishing moves don't finish matches all the time. Anyway, Reigns wins with a Spear. **1/2

The WWE World Heavyweight Championship match had a big fight feel. It felt like something big was about to go down. What followed was unexpected. Now, I knew that John Cena was going to take a beating but I expected it to be similar to Extreme Rules 2012. Instead, Brock Lesnar beat the hell out of John Cena in a way that's never been seen before. He hit 16 German suplexes and John Cena got in about two offensive moves. I'm not exaggerating. He hit an Attitude Adjustment and locked in an STF. This was utter domination. I have to give props to Cena because I doubt another guy in his position in the past would've agreed to a fifteen minute squash match. But for everyone who has disliked seeing John Cena win as often as he does you will always have this match. An absolute beatdown. It was what it needed to be. If a man conquers the Streak, then John Cena shouldn't be a match for him. And he wasn't. ***1/2

Overall: 8/10. This was arguably the best Pay-Per-View since WrestleMania XXX. Look back at the ratings and nothing was bad. Brie/Stephanie and Reigns/Orton got the lowest ratings but they weren't bad matches by any means. Another key is that nothing was filler. Money in the Bank and Payback had too much filler. Every match had people invested in it due to the build and nearly all of them delivered. Plus, the image of Brock Lesnar as WWE Champion is awesome and I can't wait to see where it leads.

SummerSlam Predictions

I'm looking forward to tonight's SummerSlam because it's been very well built. I was excited for Battleground but that show heavily disappointed. I'm about to take a look into the card and give some predictions for the biggest part of the summer.

So, the most recently added match to the card is the Kickoff bout between Rob Van Dam and Cesaro. I don't like the addition of this contest. Remember after WrestleMania when people were trying to predict the big match that Cesaro would get at SummerSlam? Anyway, neither of these guys are really going anywhere and a victory over RVD at this point doesn't do much for Cesaro. I honestly have no clue who wins this, but I'll have to see Cesaro actually win one before I pick him.

Winner: Rob Van Dam

I appreciate the Intercontinental Championship getting some shine on SummerSlam, though I'd rather The Usos get a match here as they've been on fire. A lot of people were pissed to see The Miz win the belt at Battleground, but he's been gold with this character. He's working the "D-Lister who thinks he's an A-Lister" to perfection. I see the Miz being in some sort of spotlight until The Marine 4 comes out and Dolph Ziggler doesn't have anything going on, so there's no reason for him to win, even though people won't like that opinion.

Winner: The Miz

Here we have, by far, the easiest match to predict. Chris Jericho is honestly only back to put over Bray Wyatt and after beating him at Battleground, the only way for this match to go is for Bray to beat him. With Erick Rowan and Luke Harper barred from ringside, Bray should earn a clean victory, much like the one he got at the Royal Rumble over Daniel Bryan. I expect a good match, better than their Battleground effort, and for Bray Wyatt to get a win. Bray desperately needs one after the debacle that was his feud with John Cena.

Winner: Bray Wyatt

Even though the WWE loves their undefeated monsters, I'm going to go out on a limb and pick against Rusev here. Zeb Colter and Lana have stolen the show in this rivalry, but I find that this is a good way for Jack Swagger to get a big win and for Rusev to not eat a pin. They can continue to promote that Rusev has never been pinned and he can win the feud in the end. Jack Swagger and America could use the victory here, make him look good and keep Rusev looking strong. Even if it means we get a post match attack. I like face Real American Jack Swagger as it just seems natural, you know?

Winner: Jack Swagger

So, what happens when you take two of the WWE's top, I don't know, five biggest stars and you put them in a match at SummerSlam? Normally, it's a huge deal. Here, it's the match that I'm LEAST looking forward to. Randy Orton, despite being a good worker when he wants to be, has been so bland for a long time that it hurts to watch. Roman Reigns is billed as the next big thing, but honestly has shown pretty much no personality since he split from the Shield. In fact, keeping the Shield gear and music has hurt him I think. He needs to become his own person. While Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins are the best things going, Reigns is pretty boring. That being said, he's never had a big singles win and he'll get it tonight. It will be interesting to see if Roman can go 20 minutes like this is rumored to go.

Winner: Roman Reigns

Sorry to all of the Total Divas and Bella Twins fans out there, but this is probably not going to end well for you. One would think that Brie Bella has to get revenge on the evil Stephanie McMahon for everything that she's done, but there's another angle to be played here. Brie quit the company for her boyfriend, leaving her sister all alone. Nikki Bella should have some resentment towards that. Brie chose Daniel Bryan over her. Nikki should turn heel here, allow Stephanie to win and we get a build of Bella vs. Bella at Night of Champions. The WWE wants that to be a big show and having the two headliners of Total Divas wrestle on a Pay-Per-View that airs right after Total Divas returns makes sense.

Winner: Stephanie McMahon

My two favorite Divas go at it again. Their first two matches were quick surprise wins and their Battleground match disappointed me greatly. But, I feel like things could get better here. Paige has been an absolute joy to watch in her heel, obsessed with AJ and the Divas Title role, and I think that can bring something to the match that we've yet to see. I originally picked AJ Lee to win this one, but I've changed my mind. I see this lasting a while as no other Diva is really on their level on the main roster and if Paige loses, where does she go from here? Paige should win and this should continue with face AJ chasing the strap.

Winner: Paige

Let's get the obvious out of the way first. The Lumberjack Match idea is stupid. It's a lame stipulation for a rivalry that has been red hot. But that's just it. It's red hot. I still want to see this more than any other match on the card. The WWE can do everything they can to make Roman Reigns THE GUY from the Shield but the crowd is already more behind Dean Ambrose because he has personality. Seth Rollins has been very good in his heel role. With this being the first match, I expect Ambrose to kick Seth's ass, but get screwed in the end, leading to rematches down the line. Hell in a Cell anyone?

Winner: Seth Rollins

I won't lie. Part of me can see John Cena overcome the odds yet again and beat Brock Lesnar. Michael Cole will shout that John Cena is the greatest WWE Champion of all time and he'll get a rub that he doesn't need. Point blank, Brock Lesnar NEEDS to win here. I get that he's a part timer but this HAS to happen. It would be something different, which the WWE desperately needs. I respect the hell out of John Cena, but it's the same old shit with him. I know why he gets the belt and I understand it, but the WWE needs a shot in the arm from something like Brock as Champion. It would be heavily disappointing if Cena was to retain.

Winner: Brock Lesnar

Smackdown Report 8-15-14

The only thing that was announced beforehand for Smackdown was an edition of MizTV featuring Roman Reigns. I was interested in how this would go since Roman Reigns is not great on the mic just yet. The Miz is sporting an all red outfit, which reminds me of Eva Marie's "all red everything", but the Miz pulls this off. He looks like a movie star and he is rocking this character. Miz brings up the fact that Roman is his mom's favorite Superstar in a callback to a few weeks back. Miz continually cuts off Reigns after trying to play the "mentor" role to him. Reigns punches Miz out from his seat, which was pretty damn funny. HE HIT THE MONEYMAKER THAT SONOFABITCH! Reigns cuts a very short promo on Randy Orton. His stuff was lame but Miz was entertaining.

Next up, we get Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro in a battle of two guys who should be future Superstars. Well, Ambrose is one right now but Cesaro could just never get his character down. Of course, because it's these two guys, we get a very good match. Cesaro will be a lumberjack as he's fallen hard. It goes just under ten minutes and features a good amount of counters, but Ambrose wins with the Dirty Deeds. I wish he had a better finisher. After the match, Seth Rollins comes out to smack talk on Smackdown. He says that he is the future of the WWE and is better than Ambrose. The Lumberjack stipulation is stupid, but the match should be entertaining as hell.

Corporate Kane finds Miz backstage and tells him that he will be facing Roman Reigns in the main event tonight. Anyway, because Dolph Ziggler lost to the WWE's hottest Superstar, Heath Slater, on Raw, he faced the other half of SLATER GATOR tonight! You know, I think that Titus O'Neil has some potential to be a solid mid-card heel or part of an entertaining heel tag team like SLATER GATOR! He does lose here in about three minutes as Dolph gains momentum before his Intercontinental Title match at SummerSlam. Side note, Dolph was again rocking a Miz shirt.

After seeing some more of the build for Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper was set to one on one with Mark Henry. After a few minutes, Erick Rowan runs in and causes the disqualification. Despite getting let go a few months back, the spirit of Teddy Long lives on because this gets turned into a tag team match playa. Now all we need is someone to go one on one with DA UNDATAKAH. I think it blows that The Usos, who have had the best match on two straight Pay-Per-Views, won't be on SummerSlam. Anyway, Show and Henry win, which sucks.

Time for the mandatory look at the Brie Bella vs. Stephanie McMahon feud, which was well built until the poor "Megan" debacle from Raw. Because it's Smackdown, we have to get at least one Raw rematch and tonight it's AJ Lee vs. Eva Marie. Eva Marie ruined my life by pinning AJ on Raw, so tonight, in another short match, she would win, but by countout here. This was of course because of Paige coming out and getting into a brawl outside. That should've caused a disqualification but whatever. Eva escapes AJ after the match this time, which allows Paige to hit the Paige Turner and skip away. Oh man, I hope this delivers at SummerSlam. Quick note, at one point, AJ rips out part of Eva's weave.

Up next, Bo Dallas, who has become less of a focal point of the show since his first loss, suffers another loss. This time, it's to Jack Swagger via submission in about a minute. Of course, Rusev and Lana have to come out and wave the Russian Flag and such. The best part of this was Bo Dallas getting on the microphone after the match and saying that the silly referee thought he was tapping when he was trying to reach the ropes. He forgives the official and leaves. Not bad, but I want to see more Bo Dallas.

Here we go with some non-title action between the Intercontinental Champion The Miz, and Roman Reigns. This was more competitive than I expected, since I figured Reigns would demolish the IC Champion. That wasn't the case as they got about seven minutes. Dolph Ziggler showed up as the Miz tries to bail when Reigns goes for the Superman punch. He sends Miz back in and the Champion eats a Spear to give Reigns a victory. Not a bad match but not really main event worthy. Overall, this was a decent episode of Smackdown. Some of the matches were a bit too short though. 6/10.