Jump to content
Pro Wrestling Only

Summerslam Live Thoughts


goodhelmet

Recommended Posts

Give the two guys involved and my knowledge of their work, I'm prepared to suspect it wasn't an all time classic. It was only twelve minutes I suppose, so perhaps it worked alright as an action packed sprint. Doesn't scream memorable title match at that length though. I'm guessing it was just a solid midcard bout. If somebody sells it to be otherwise (someone who isn't a mark of either guy) I will check it out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 284
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I might normally say the same thing if I hadn't watched the match. But this was very good, and I'm not someone in any way in love with Del Rio. It was a well laid out and executed world title match and better than the #3 match on most great shows. You should really watch it before knocking it for not carrying its weight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actively dislike Del Rio, but that match was awesome. They really worked a lot into their time.

 

I really think we'd be talking about that match more on a normal show. It wasn't disappointing, it's just getting overshadowed.

Truth. It was the Kahwi Leonard of the night. Or at the Kahwi before Parker got hurt, at which point this would be the Tony Parker of the night.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Give the two guys involved and my knowledge of their work, I'm prepared to suspect it wasn't an all time classic. It was only twelve minutes I suppose, so perhaps it worked alright as an action packed sprint. Doesn't scream memorable title match at that length though. I'm guessing it was just a solid midcard bout. If somebody sells it to be otherwise (someone who isn't a mark of either guy) I will check it out.

 

Wait... you are dogging a show and comparing it to other shows when you haven't watched the entire card yet? If you haven't watched it yet then you are just raining on people's parade. Maybe you should step back and wait until you have actually seen the show.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actively dislike Del Rio, but that match was awesome. They really worked a lot into their time.

 

I really think we'd be talking about that match more on a normal show. It wasn't disappointing, it's just getting overshadowed.

Truth. It was the Kahwi Leonard of the night. Or at the Kahwi before Parker got hurt, at which point this would be the Tony Parker of the night.

 

I like you. Don't bring this up again. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Give the two guys involved and my knowledge of their work, I'm prepared to suspect it wasn't an all time classic. It was only twelve minutes I suppose, so perhaps it worked alright as an action packed sprint. Doesn't scream memorable title match at that length though. I'm guessing it was just a solid midcard bout. If somebody sells it to be otherwise (someone who isn't a mark of either guy) I will check it out.

 

Wait... you are dogging a show and comparing it to other shows when you haven't watched the entire card yet? If you haven't watched it yet then you are just raining on people's parade. Maybe you should step back and wait until you have actually seen the show.

 

“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in.” - Isaac Asimov

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm kind of relieved they did the logical thing.Now they can have Bryan chase. I'd have him chase all the way to Mania and get the belt there but there's no way they can do something that longform in 2013-14.

Really? You do realize that what they did at SummerSlam WAS longform, right?

 

They've been teasing the Orton turn since before WM. They've been building Bryan in this direction even longer with the respect and weak link stuff, with mile markers along the way (beating The Shield, beating Orton). The "Vince and HHH can't get on the same page and Steph is in the middle" deal has been ongoing since WM. This was the payoff of a good 5 months of their booking, it was done logically, and they did not swerve things to be unpredictable. This is exactly the sort of booking people profess to want out of WWE, and when you get it you don't even realize it?

 

Seeing the reactions to the end of SummerSlam and last night's show there's clearly people who follow the product and get what they're doing, and people who have unrealistic expectations and will never be satisfied by WWE booking. AS a huge Daniel Bryan fan I absolutely love what they've done with him this year and what they did at SummerSlam. If you came away from the last two nights thinking this is bad for Daniel Bryan, or that they ruined his moment by having Orton cash in, sorry, you're a fucking mark. THIS WAS the moment, another mile marker, another affirmation of Bryan, another step in the evolution of his character, and another step towards THE eventual moment, the eventual payoff of all of the work they've put in on this guy, when he beats Orton for the title.

 

As far as RAW making him look "stupid" or weak, never once did that cross my mind. I thought, "holy shit, they are MAKING this guy tonight" and they did. He's now the babyface ace of the company facing impossible odds against a united McMahon family, the strongest heel faction the company has seen in years, united BECAUSE of Bryan. Bryan's character is the guy who never quits, never backs down from a fight, and overcomes the impossible odds. Walking right into the hornets nest is what Daniel Bryan does, that was the essence of his character. Will he eventually use guerrilla warfare and hit and run tactics the way Austin did? Yes, of course. But that wasn't what Daniel Bryan would do in that situation last night. He would walk down to the ring supremely angry and focused. And Bryan getting heat on them the very first night would have been bad booking 101, so glad some of the armchair QBs aren't actually booking.

 

As far as HHH, I was worried his involvement in the SS main would become a focal point of the match and take the attention away from where it belonged, but credit where credit is due he was a complete non-entity who played it exactly like any ref and blended into the background to where you forgot he was even out there. I thought the pedigree was a great moment, because lets face it, HHH is a million times better as a heel, and his promo work last night was exactly what it needed to be. There's always the chance of things getting fucked up when he's involved, but so far so good, and I'm really liking how the deck is now entirely stacked with the 3 McMahons, Orton, The Shield, Maddox and Vickie Guerrero all on the same page. Very interested to see who else is used as pawns in this game on the heel side, and Ziggler, Show and Henry have already been set up as opposition, great spots for everyone involved.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention, they've already setup HBK being involved on the side of Bryan. There was an article on WWE.com where he praised Bryan and picked him to beat Cena, and he was doing the same thing on the PPV pre-show. Probably not heavy involvement, but I could see him cutting a promo on RAW where he puts Bryan over and confronts HHH about what he's doing, or maybe even in Bryan's corner while HHH is in Orton's corner. I know some people don't like him and are sick of angles with him and HHH, but I don't see how that doesn't help Bryan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Give the two guys involved and my knowledge of their work, I'm prepared to suspect it wasn't an all time classic. It was only twelve minutes I suppose, so perhaps it worked alright as an action packed sprint. Doesn't scream memorable title match at that length though. I'm guessing it was just a solid midcard bout. If somebody sells it to be otherwise (someone who isn't a mark of either guy) I will check it out.

Definte "mark of either guy." Because I've actually been pretty critical of Christian since the heel turn in 2011 and while I like Del Rio more than some, I was pretty critical of him in a post on this forum not that long ago

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"I didn't watch it but here's why it sucked..." is the worst thing you see all the time on wrestling message boards. So awful.

I don't mind someone criticizing booking decisions to shows they have never watched. I have read enough TNA reports to be able to do that. That's fine. Don't come in here and rip shit you have never seen when discussing match quality.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hell I'd argue that Summerslam 2011 was a better card than this show. Punk/Brock and Bryan/Cena beat everything on that card, but as far as an entire show goes, 2011 was much more consistent, with every match being at least really good and most of them being great.

 

For this show, the Fire match kind of sucked, and the other undercard matches (girls, Cody/Sandow, mixed tag) were good at best and completely unmemorable. Whereas the undercard of 2011 was a lot stronger with things like Henry/Sheamus, Bryan/Barrett and Beth/Kelly being wildly better than Nattie/Brie. And I think Cena/Punk II and Orton/Christian LXVIII were excellent main events as well.

 

For other recent cards that were better, Extreme Rules 2012, Money in the Bank 2011 and Extreme Rules 2011 are also there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At least you watched this card. I don't think the 2 main events of SSLam 2011 were as good as the top 2 main events on this card but we can argue that some more. What third match from 2011 matches Christian-ADR in your opinion?

I don't think the 2011 main events were as good as the 2013 main events, I agree. All I'm saying is that if 2013 was a two match card, or even a three match card, then something like 2011 was a six match card, because everything from top to bottom was really good, instead of only 3 matches out of 7, if that makes sense.

 

If we're judging a card by its top 2 or 3 matches, then 2013 does really well. But I'm judging it by all of the matches on the card, and I'm saying 2011 was a more consistently good card.

 

To answer the question, this will sound completely insane to a normal person but I have Beth/Kelly above Alberto/Christian. Even if you want to disregard that, I don't think Henry/Sheamus was much worse than Alberto/Christian, if at all. And Bryan/Barrett, if we can call this the 'fourth' match, isn't far below either, and certainly beats the crap out of the fourth best match from 2013. The trios match was the "worst" match from 2011 and it is also the fourth best match on 2013.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This was my first PPV purchase since Punk v Cena in Chicago.

 

I guess I got lucky again, because this was a great show.

 

The two main events were off the chart good and Del Rio v Christian was excellent.

 

The rest of the card brought nothing memorable, but nothing was so bad that I'm trying to erase it from my memory. I know the Ring of Fire match is getting beaten up, but it was an angle and though it wasn't executed well, I've seen a lot worse.

 

I guess I should probably take another 2 years off, so as to not be disappointed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you came away from the last two nights thinking this is bad for Daniel Bryan, or that they ruined his moment by having Orton cash in, sorry, you're a fucking mark.

You say that with such derision. Pretty funny. If you're not a mark, what the hell are you watching wrestling for?

 

I mean, it's good and bad. I'm a total mark for being entertained by wrestling, and I'm marking out for all of this shit, the way they're IMO booking Daniel Bryan so fucking well right now. I don't swallow everything WWE does like it's the greatest thing ever done, and I'll complain when I think they're off point, but I really see no reason for people to complain about any of this. And when I see people like, "he didn't get his moment, this isn't fair to him" and "HHH blah blah blah" yeah.....that is some stupid mark shit that is ignoring everything they are doing right, because they have done a LOT of things right when it comes to D-Bry

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And you'd piss and moan if they were booking him shit. You're a mark just like the rest of us.

 

Excellent PPV. They seem to have been on a roll lately. No idea where Punk goes from here. Fighting a srub like Curtis Axel isn't gone to cut it.

 

Look at these bastards!

 

Posted Image

 

I'm not an Orton fan but he's absoulutly perfect in this role.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To add to that, I am not HHH's biggest fan, but he's good when used well. I think they are using him well now. He's not going away, so the best you can hope for is that he's used in a spot like this. The Brock stuff stretched out forever was not the best way to use him. I am an Orton fan as a worker and a character, but he can be stale in the wrong role, but I think he's being used perfectly right now. I like Cena for what he is, and he's stale in his role a lot of the time, but when it comes to big matches and big roles he always delivers. Orton is the same way.

 

FWIW I think the endgame here is that Vince turns the corner on Daniel Bryan, turns face, and backs him against HHH/Orton. Meltzer has been saying that face Vince v. heel HHH was going to be the end result of all of this booking, but he didn't know how they'd get there.....but now it seems pretty obvious. They wanted Austin involved.......now the way they booked Bryan as the 2013 Austin v. The Corporation on RAW.........McMahon going the reverse with Austin as special Ref for the match with Orton at Mania is such logical booking that I'd be really surprised if that isn't the plan

 

Again, people will bitch because they don't like Vince and HHH involved in major angles, but whatever, if this plays out the way it looks it will be good shit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


×
×
  • Create New...