WWE SummerSlam Review - August 20, 2017

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Intercontinental Champion The Miz and The Miztourage def. Jason Jordan and The Hardy Boyz (Kickoff Match)

This might as well have been an Empty Arena match because there was almost no one in the building when this took place, which was absolutely unacceptable, especially for a contest featuring The Hardy Boyz and the Intercontinental Champion. That aside, it was fine for what it was, but it probably would have been better had WWE not already done it six days earlier on Raw. The heels avenged their loss, so 50/50 booking struck again.

Neville def. Akira Tozawa to Win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship (Kickoff Match)

Similar to the previous six-man tag team match, WWE would have been better off waiting until SummerSlam to do this matchup and not waste it on Raw. I enjoyed their encounter on Raw a bit more, but this was still good while it lasted. I can't say I was shocked Neville regained the gold, but I am among those who questions what the point was of Neville dropping the title in the first place. His seven month reign as Cruiserweight Champion simply should have gone uninterrupted.

Elias Performed (Kickoff Show)

I feared that after what we saw on Raw on Monday night that Elias vs. R-Truth would be added to the SummerSlam Kickoff show, or at the very least, they would do some sort of angle together. Thankfully, that was not the case and Elias performed for several minutes without anyone interrupting. I haven't been high on his singing shtick in the past, but it generated good heat here and it effectively killed time on the two-hour Kickoff show.

The Usos def. The New Day to Win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship (Kickoff Match)

The last two matches The Usos and New Day had at Money in the Bank and Battleground, respectively, were off-the-charts, and I honestly thought they wouldn't be allowed to go all out here because they were relegated to the Kickoff show this time. Well, I thought wrong because this turned out to be an exceptional outing from these tremendous teams with some unbelievable nearfalls down the stretch. The Usos winning the belts back took me by surprise, but I'm not complaining because they are one of the most entertaining acts in WWE today.

John Cena def. Baron Corbin

After the awesomeness that was Johnny Gargano vs. Andrade "Cien" Almas at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, did WWE really think this would measure up to that as an opening match? Seriously, this was a dud and had no drama whatsoever. I wouldn't go so far as to say it was awful, but it didn't exactly kick off SummerSlam on a hot note. Worse yet, Corbin losing clean to Cena was totally unnecessary with Cena reportedly headed to Raw soon. Is it safe to say Corbin has been "buried" by this point after the lousy last week he's had?

Natalya def. Naomi to Win the SmackDown Women's Championship

The in-ring work in this match was decent and both women put forth a solid effort, but I just couldn't bring myself to invest in anything they did, at least early on. Nothing in the build-up to this bout was out of the ordinary and neither of them are on any kind of a roll right now. Rather, it was merely a match that belonged on the Kickoff show. Anyway, congrats to Natalya on the well-deserved title win. I hoped Carmella would cash in her Money in the Bank briefcase, but no such luck. There wasn't even a tease from her.

Big Cass def. Big Show (Enzo Amore Was Locked in a Shark Cage)

Speaking of matches that should have happened on the Kickoff show, this was a total train wreck and had no business being on the main card. In fact, it had no business happening at all. I thought they could work as well as Show and Braun Strowman did during their series of matches, but I was sadly mistaken. Amore escaping the cage defeated the purpose of the stipulation and the crowd crapped all over this. Cass won clean like he should have, but that's the only positive thing I can say about it.

Randy Orton def. Rusev

Admittedly, I wasn't highly anticipating this encounter coming into the event because I didn't think they would have the most amazing chemistry, but beating Rusev within ten seconds was a slap in the face and a real waste of his talent. If any match was going to be cut for time, it might as well have been this one, but Rusev remains the most underutilized talent on the SmackDown side (other than Luke Harper). It's been rumored he requested his release from the company, and if true, I hope he leaves and finds success elsewhere.

Sasha Banks def. Alexa Bliss to Win the Raw Women's Championship

This is the Raw Women's Championship match we should have gotten all along because it made sense after what went down at Great Balls of Fire. Unfortunately, they didn't have a hot crowd to work with, but I appreciated that a majority of the matchup didn't follow the same formula that most women's matches do and was more hard-hitting. Bliss tapping out was a bit abrupt, so they could have milked out that ending a little longer, but this was a nice match otherwise.

Finn Balor def. Bray Wyatt

Similar to their Raw match from Monday night, there wasn't anything overly exciting about this bout. From an in-ring standpoint, it was pretty ho-hum, but the real highlight of the match was any interaction between Wyatt and "The Demon" and their mannerisms. Balor remains ultra popular with the crowd, but he lacks direction at the moment. Having him beat Wyatt was an encouraging sign, but when will he reset his sights on the Universal Championship he never lost? Perhaps this victory was designed to get him back on track.

Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins def. Sheamus and Cesaro to Win the Raw Tag Team Championship

SummerSlam had yet to host a compelling contest until this point in the night, so this Raw tag team title affair couldn't have come at a better time. The whole feud over the last month has been a blast and this match reflected that as they brought the best out of each other and produced a great back-and-forth bout. While it was pretty predictable that Ambrose and Rollins were winning the straps, they created plenty of doubt with the many nearfalls down the stretch. Ambrose and Rollins should be an exciting addition to Raw's tag team division and I look forward to the matches they can have with the rest of the tandems.

United States Champion AJ Styles def. Kevin Owens (SmackDown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon Served as Special Guest Referee)

While this was one of the better bouts of the night, it could have been even more enjoyable had it not been for the many referee bumps and shenanigans in the first several minutes. I understood they were designed to tease tension between Owens and Shane to set up a match for later in the year, likely at Hell in a Cell, but it came at the expense of the flow of the match. Plus, the entire match wasn't exactly crisp, but it held my interest and Styles retained his title as he should have.

WWE Champion Jinder Mahal def. Shinsuke Nakamura

Nakamura received a superstar-level ovation when he made his entrance, making me think he was a shoe-in to take home the title here. Sadly, that was not the case. I know he's only four months into his main roster run, but he could be much better in the role of champion than Mahal. As I've said since the start of his WWE title reign, Mahal's matches do absolutely nothing for me and this was just as disappointing. That's on Nakamura, too, but they both phoned it in on WWE's second biggest stage of the year. Moreover, the finish with The Singh Brothers distracting Nakamura leading to Mahal winning was the same finish to every other Mahal matchup in the past three months. That's lazy writing. Nakamura can still pick up the championship at SmackDown's next exclusive event, but whether it will mean as much remains to be seen.

Universal Champion Brock Lesnar def. Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman in a Fatal 4-Way Match

Hopes were high for this main event match and boy did they deliver. Right out of the gate, there was a sense of urgency among all four men and the big fight feel was certainly present in the arena. This was exactly what you would want from WWE's four most monstrous men and the chaos that ensued was so damn exciting to watch. The beauty of it was that any one of them could have emerged victorious, so the end result was in definite doubt. Everyone had sensational showings, but Strowman specifically stood out and was set up as a future one-on-one challenger for Lesnar given he was never suplexed by The Beast. People will be upset with Lesnar maintaining his possession of the Universal Championship, but Reigns reigning supreme would have been a far worse option in my opinion, and him eating the pinfall loss (and not Strowman or Joe) was a smart call.

Overall Show

It's ridiculous that a 13 match card had only three standout matches: the Fatal 4-Way and the two tag team title matches. That's it. Five titles changed hands, which is typically unheard of these days in WWE, so it was indeed a newsworthy night, but many matches left a lot to be desired. I liked Styles vs. Owens for the most part and a few other matches were passable, but on the main card, Raw's top two title matches saved this show. There were too many baffling booking decisions to justify this being a thumbs-up SummerSlam, but at the same time, that main event was outstanding, so I can't completely bury this pay-per-view. It was easily the worst installment in recent memory, but if nothing else, I'm thankful I didn't have lofty expectations for the event in the weeks preceding it.