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Summerslam Live Thoughts


goodhelmet

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I still would much rather see Bryan vs Orton at Mania with HHH vs Bryan in December to get him into the Rumble or in February in order to get the title shot at Mania. Neither here nor there but Bryan is one of the guys who could probably have a really compelling match with Vince too.

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Loss, very interesting to see your thoughts on this as I expected the PWO consensus to be in some kind of uproar over the close. I didn't love the execution / production as I thought there needed a moment or two that invited the crowd to really get behind and pop for Bryan. Whether it be a dramatic entrance with the music or some kind of attack laying people out before being overcome by numbers, I would've liked that pop.

 

That being said, we're on night two of what looks like a months long storyline, and while down the road we can argue about the twists and turns and where it leads, the undeniable fact is that the past 2 nights DB has been positioned as the ace babyface in the WWE. All the comments from the McMahon's, including Steph's great B+ line are designed to put this guy over as the best thing going today. Count me in until he drops the ball or they take it away from him without giving him a fair chance.

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I actually think Brock Lesnar vs Daniel Bryan would be an interesting Wrestlemania main event. There is nobody else who could give DB a bigger rub, and it is at least a fresh match. They could wrap all the loose ends up with Bryan/HHH/Orton well before that, leaving them to partake in wherever this is leading. Austin/HHH would be an enormous waste of Austin though, they must have wrestled at least ten times on television already. Surely they would rather use Austin to do something fresh with Cena/Punk/Orton? Or if Austin only wants to wrestle an old timer, there is a lot more mileage with him returning to take on The Streak.

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I watched Punk-Lesnar again last night and liked it even better on repeat viewing. Punk actually did a really good job selling; he never moved in an unpained way after Lesnar went after his ribs/back. He also did an excellent job layering his comebacks, with the crowd seeming a little more hooked every time he took it to another level in trying to put Brock away. Lesnar was Lesnar. His athleticism never ceases to impress, and even the simple stuff he does looks more brutal than it would coming from almost anyone else. But what always gets me is how well he sells and works with emotion given that he mostly doesn't give a shit about pro wrestling. Finally, they made great use of Heyman, who really needed to be part of the finish given the impetus for the feud. This didn't have the "holy shit" factor of Lesnar-Cena, where I had no idea what would happen. But WWE main events don't get a lot better.

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I watched Punk-Lesnar again last night and liked it even better on repeat viewing. Punk actually did a really good job selling; he never moved in an unpained way after Lesnar went after his ribs/back. He also did an excellent job layering his comebacks, with the crowd seeming a little more hooked every time he took it to another level in trying to put Brock away. Lesnar was Lesnar. His athleticism never ceases to impress, and even the simple stuff he does looks more brutal than it would coming from almost anyone else. But what always gets me is how well he sells and works with emotion given that he mostly doesn't give a shit about pro wrestling. Finally, they made great use of Heyman, who really needed to be part of the finish given the impetus for the feud. This didn't have the "holy shit" factor of Lesnar-Cena, where I had no idea what would happen. But WWE main events don't get a lot better.

Piggybacking on this as I also rewatched the main matches last night and liked all of them just as much (Brock vs. Punk) or more the second time around (Christian/Del Rio, Bryan vs. Cena). Bryan vs. Cena really jumped up in my eyes in the fact that watching live, I was a bit jarred by the style of match they were going for and figured it would take on a more fighter vs. wrestling context like the opening minutes did. Everything from Bryan's STF is wonderful and the fighting spirit slap fest that could feel really hokey and hollow in most other matches felt substantial and a huge turning point for Bryan in this match. I think they pretty much rewrote the template on a face vs. face match.

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Cena is one of the best big match wrestlers in wrestling history at this point. Just felt like saying that.

 

On the particulars of the angle, I thought last night was very well done and generally agree with Loss with one minor difference of opinion - I thought it was stupid to have the whole roster out there. We can say "well they were threatened with losing their jobs" or "they were threatened by The Shield" or "they had past issues with Bryan" and I get that. I also get that the visual was meant to convey Bryan as the lone man against the machine (which is why it is psychotic to claim it was a burial or anything close to that). But in actuality I think it just made everyone else either look like pussies or perhaps even worse assholes for not lending a hand. They could have done the exact same angle with the wrestlers in the back after being "threatened" with job loss and I think it would have had no collateral damage.

 

Also next week Bryan needs to completely destroy Brad Maddox. It will be satisfying, get a big pop, give him some measure of revenge and the heels can assholish proclaim that it doesn't matter because he's just a lowly middle manager anyway

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So, are there any WWE shows that are clearly better than this was? Is there a WWE show where the THIRD best match is as good as ADR/Christian? Even where the second best match is as good as Punk/Lesnar or Bryan/Cena depending on your preference?

 

With some of the egregious downtime moved into 5 extra minutes for ADR/Christian and a Shield vs. Show/Henry match I think we'd be talking about easily the best WWE PPV ever.

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It's way too early to be talking "Best WWE Show Ever"... I mean, if we say Cena/Lesnar > Punk/Lesnar, as many have in this thread, was Bryan/Sheamus 2/3 really that far behind Bryan/Cena? and throw in Punk/Jericho against ADR/Christian... as for "top two matches" I'd take either from WMX over both Punk/Lesnar and Bryan/Cena (of course the rest of the show sucked but still).

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It was a two match show; nobody will remember ADR/Christian in a few months, let alone a few years. Summerslam 2002 is clearly better, and had great variety with Angle/Mysterio, Edge/Guerrero, Benoit/RVD, Michaels/HHH and Rock/Lesnar all being good to great. The highs this year were better though.

 

As for full PPVs it is way too early to assess, and there was plenty of underwhelming stuff on this card. Wyatt v Kane and the Divas match certainly don't belong on the best PPV of all time. WMX7 beats it hands down for a start.

 

Even in the recent past MITB 2011 gives it a major run for its money - pretty much the show that got me back into wrestling. Punk/Cena was just about on par with the two major matches here, both the ladder matches delivered in a big way, Show/Henry was fun, Orton/Christian was decent, and the undercard didn't have any wastage besides a Divas match that didn't even go five minutes.

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I'm already pretty comfortable calling it the best Summerslam ever. Which year had 2 matches on par with Lesnar/Punk and Cena/Bryan? As far as where it ranks with other PPVs, you've got Canadian Stampede, one or MITB shows, and a few manias which are stacked and as our legit super bowl are tough to knock off the top.

 

If you want to talk about deeper shows, those are out there. But I'd always prefer that the top 2 or 3 big matches are blowaways rather than solid up and down the card with nothing memorable on top.

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Which year had 2 matches on par with Lesnar/Punk and Cena/Bryan?

Presence has 'Achilles Last Stand' and 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' on it, but it doesn't come close to being the best Zeppelin album despite those two flawless tracks.

 

The Summerslam 2002 card is Led Zeppelin III - more consistent, more varied, and a more complete show. Wrestlemania 17 is IV i.e. the best matches/songs in all the different styles the company/band excelled at.

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