WWE SummerSlam Review - August 23, 2020

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Kickoff Show: United States Champion Apollo Crews def. MVP

My biggest takeaway from this was that MVP brought back his old entrance theme. He used it very briefly on SmackDown in late 2010 before leaving the company, and as much as I love his original entrance song (the one he's been using since returning at the Royal Rumble), this one feels like it's a better fit for The Hurt Business. The match itself was solid but didn't need to happen as Crews and MVP already worked together a bunch before this. Crews won as he should have, but I'm pulling for Bobby Lashley to take the title from him sooner rather than later. WWE was smart to bump this to the Kickoff show.

SmackDown Women's Champion and WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Bayley def. Asuka

Asuka and Bayley have always had wonderful matches against each other dating back to their NXT days and this was no exception, even though they faced off as recently as a few weeks ago on Raw. It was nicely paced, Sasha Banks' interference was kept to a minimum until the closing stretch, and both women had strong showings. I was afraid Asuka would win because this came before Banks vs. Asuka, but I was glad that wasn't the case and WWE instead stayed the course by having Bayley retain the title.

Raw Tag Team Champions The Street Profits def. Andrade and Angel Garza

This could have happened on Raw (which it did about a month ago) and you wouldn't have known the difference, but that doesn't mean it wasn't fun. Street Profits never cease to bring the energy and Andrade and Garza are an enjoyable pairing. Coming off their latest loss, however, it might be time for them to officially go their separate ways. They've failed to beat Street Profits twice now and need to do something else. As for Street Profits, I'm curious who will ultimately take their titles from them with how depleted Raw's tag team division is at the moment.

Mandy Rose def. Sonya Deville in a No Disqualification Loser Leaves WWE Match

I saw fans questioning online why the stipulation was changed on Friday's SmackDown to Hair vs. Hair to Loser Leaves WWE, and it's safe to assume it's because of the incident involving Deville and Rose from last weekend and that Deville needs time off to recuperate and potentially work on other projects. It's a shame because she's in the midst of a great run right now, but it's totally understandable. Regardless, this was easily the best match I've seen either woman have. They put forth a hell of an effort, capitalized on the No Disqualification stipulation, and made their bad blood for each other feel real. Rose winning was the right call and Deville sold her loss well. I applaud Rose and Deville for their performances considering the circumstances.

Seth Rollins def. Dominik Mysterio in a Street Fight

Rey Mysterio promised his son beforehand that he wouldn't get involved, and although he did in the end, I figured it was only because Murphy interfered and that Rey was simply trying to level the playing field. Everyone played their roles well and this wound up being one of the best bouts of the night. Rollins was excellent as always and Dominik was extremely impressive. Granted, I didn't expect him to disappoint to begin with, but he looked like a natural in there. Then again, given who his father is, I guess I shouldn't have been surprised. They told a terrific story and Rollins winning keeps this feud alive with a tag team matchup obviously being the next step, possibly at Payback.

Asuka def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Sasha Banks to Win the Raw Women's Championship

I wasn't overly anticipating this match coming into the event because they've wrestled each other two other times lately (at Extreme Rules and again on Raw), but they managed to steal the show yet again here. Their chemistry is just that good. After Asuka lost to Bayley earlier in the evening, most fans figured she'd beat Banks and that was exactly what happened. Banks can never seem to hold onto that Raw Women's Championship for more than a month, so here's hoping she has better luck with the SmackDown Women's Championship (because you know that's happening eventually). WWE continues to tease tension between Banks and Bayley and it's about damn time. Expect them to lose the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship at Payback so they can finally begin the build to their long-awaited one-on-one outing.

WWE Champion Drew McIntyre def. Randy Orton

When it was revealed that this wouldn't be going on last, I was annoyed because of how McIntyre hasn't headlined a single pay-per-view since WrestleMania 36. Of course, we found out later on why Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt went on last, but McIntyre unquestionably needs that main event spot next Sunday at Payback. Despite that, this was an excellent encounter. They constantly kept things interesting and didn't hit any finishers at all. Their styles gelled much better than I thought they would and the noise added in gave it a big fight feel. I was fully expecting a title change here, so I was pleasantly surprised when McIntyre won clean. No, winning with a roll-up (or at least a variation of it) isn't ideal, but it was better than the non-finish part of me thought they'd go with (similar to SummerSlam the last two years, which would have been terrible). Clearly, the feud isn't over and I'm happy about that after how well they worked together here.

"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt def. Braun Strowman in a Falls Count Anywhere Match to Win the Universal Championship; Roman Reigns Returned

I give crap to other companies ​about putting too many "hardcore" matches on one show and WWE is no different. I haven't seen many people point that out because the matches largely delivered, but it is important to not overdo a stipulation on a single show. One or two is fine, but three is too many. That said, this benefited from the Falls Count Anywhere stipulation. In fact, I was hoping they'd do more with it after only going backstage for a brief bit before returning to the ring. They should have gotten a bit more creative, but that's merely nitpicking. I was disappointed Alexa Bliss, who was a big part of the build to this bout, factored into the finish somehow. That was a letdown. Otherwise, this was exactly what it needed to be with Wyatt winning decisively. On top of that, Roman Reigns returned following a five-month hiatus in what was a cool moment. It makes complete sense for him to target the Universal Champion after not getting his chance to compete for it at WrestleMania, not to mention his history with both Wyatt and Strowman from over the years. Reigns' unexpected comeback made the "You'll never see it coming" tagline worthwhile despite how silly it was.

Overall Show

I don't think it's a stretch to say this was the best pay-per-view WWE has produced during the pandemic era and possibly all year. Seriously, pretty much everything delivered, there weren't any mind-boggling booking decisions and, most importantly, it was just over three hours. I was worried they would return to the four-hour format now that there's technically an audience there again, but thankfully not. Speaking of the ThunderDome, I can't stress enough how much it improved my experience watching this show. The sound was better than it was on Friday's SmackDown and the show had a bigger feel to it than it than any event that emanated from the Performance Center. I almost wish NXT would ditch Full Sail University and tape their shows at the ThunderDome, too. At any rate, the key coming out of this show was not only leaving fans satisfied but also giving them a reason to tune into Raw and SmackDown this week as well as next Sunday's Payback pay-per-view (yes, there's another pay-per-view as soon as next Sunday which is ridiculous). In my opinion, they accomplished that with everything they did, including bringing back Reigns in the final few minutes of the show and announcing that now-former NXT Champion Keith Lee will be on Monday's Raw (in what's presumably a call-up). Even under the current conditions, this was my favorite installment of SummerSlam in several years.