WWE Summerslam 2019

[FMKK]

God, I really struggle to muster any enthusiasm to watch a company where Seth Rollins is the top champion.

[Mad Dog]

3 hours ago, FMKK said:

God, I really struggle to muster any enthusiasm to watch a company where Seth Rollins is the top champion.

Same. 

[Jimmy Redman]

*various unintelligible screaming noises*

[Matt D]

2 minutes ago, Jimmy Redman said:

*various unintelligible screaming noises*

Around here we call this "selling."

[Mad Dog]

3 minutes ago, Matt D said:

Around here we call this "selling."

Oh I thought she was on fire...

[Zoo Enthusiast]

So they seriously had Summerslam with no Daniel Bryan or Roman Reigns?

[Mad Dog]

Just now, Zoo Enthusiast said:

So they seriously had Summerslam with no Daniel Bryan or Roman Reigns?

Yeah, that kind of blows my mind. I am no Reigns fan by any means but WTF are they doing with him? 

[El-P]

10 minutes ago, Zoo Enthusiast said:

So they seriously had Summerslam with no Daniel Bryan or Roman Reigns?

They are saving their booking genius and star making power for the Fox debut. Get with the program a bit.

Well, this thread was not nearly as fun as the Takeover one. You can feel the complete disinterest...

BTW, Maria Kanellis wasn't on the show either ? I ask because from what I got from the weekly thread, she was the only thing really talked about week to week after the infamous Heyman reboot...

[FMKK]

20 minutes ago, Mad Dog said:

Yeah, that kind of blows my mind. I am no Reigns fan by any means but WTF are they doing with him? 

Especially seeing he's in a mainstream movie that's all over cinemas right now. You'd think they'd want him front and centre of the shows if even to catch the attention of channel flippers who might be like 'oh, that's the guy from the new Rock movie' and check it out for a few minutes.

[Herodes]

That kind of scenario never really happens, there are no casual or “lapsed” fans anymore especially those who would watch (and specifically pay for) some guy with no lines in a terrible franchise. It’s fine, they made their money and no one person is going to make a difference. It’s just you guys left watching shows headlined by Seth Rollins.

[SomethingSavage]

I agree that nobody outside the bubble is really following the shows anymore. I've even recently told y'all about my eleven year old nephew (OBSESSED with all things wrestling up until this point) coming up to me and telling me he doesn't watch anymore because it's embarrassing and uncool.

But the Fast & Furious franchise is pure fun, man. THAT is pro wrestling done right. WWE wishes it had half the good will they've managed to build with their awkward acting and weird dialogue delivery. It's a simple action premise, centered around themes of family and loyalty. That's it.

It's meaningful dramatic beats - complete with fun fights, shocking turns, and cool alliances being forged/shattered. Hate all you want, but pro wrestling hasn't even approached getting it that right in decades.

Just seems weird for a wrestling fan to hate on something that's so uniquely pro wrestling at its core.

[Dale Wolfe]

Is the pre-show on TV in America anymore or is it just youtube?

[NintendoLogic]

Let the record reflect that over a third of the people on this poster did not appear on the show in any way.

[KawadaSmile]

Card subject to change baby

[zep81]

Plus Bryan who's not even on the original picture.

[EricR]

I didn't get to start this show until WAY late in the day, so I haven't even read through everybody's thoughts (I don't actually know what any of the consensus thoughts are on this show, so I'm excited to skim through and see), but I thought it was top to bottom really really good! I did skip Owens/Shane and Orton/Kofi just because I wanted to finish it last night and had limited time, but I loved Gulak/Lorcan, loved Lesnar/Rollins, loved Styles/Ricochet, and at minimum had a good time with literally everything else. I always forget these shows practically as soon as they happen, but this felt like the best top to bottom show in a long time.

https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2019/08/wwe-summerslam-81119-not-at-all-live.html

[KawadaSmile]

5 hours ago, EricR said:

I didn't get to start this show until WAY late in the day, so I haven't even read through everybody's thoughts (I don't actually know what any of the consensus thoughts are on this show, so I'm excited to skim through and see), but I thought it was top to bottom really really good! I did skip Owens/Shane and Orton/Kofi just because I wanted to finish it last night and had limited time, but I loved Gulak/Lorcan, loved Lesnar/Rollins, loved Styles/Ricochet, and at minimum had a good time with literally everything else. I always forget these shows practically as soon as they happen, but this felt like the best top to bottom show in a long time.

https://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2019/08/wwe-summerslam-81119-not-at-all-live.html

Perfect review. I would say even KO/Shane is worth watching, because it featured a face using his brain for once.

[Jimmy Redman]

When people started saying this not only did I not agree but I actively scoffed and derided the very thought, the very idea, as that of a nincompoop, but honestly for the first time in my life I think I enjoyed the WWE PPV more than the Takeover.

Now, obviously there's a very specific, 43 year old, mother of two reason why that is true, but I was planning on watching Trish's match with bated breath and being bored enough for the other 47 hours to just clean the house instead. But lo and behold.

The new Bray gimmick is FUCKING AWESOME.

I actually want to say this more than anything else. THE FIEND IS AWESOME. The integration of the Funhouse gimmick, the creepy horror shit, the mask, the new entrance theme and lighting, the fucking DECAPITATED HEAD LANTERN?? Get IN ME. I love this shit. The whole package scared the absolute bejesus out of my girl ("when did wrestling get so scary??") which is a seal of approval worth more than gold to me.

AND! Amazingly they didn't even fuck it up when the lights went up. I was scared it would be a normal match or Finn would get too much offense in but he didn't! I love Finn but he had to be the sacrificial lamb here, fuck protecting him, or anyone. This is Something Else. It's still the same man under the hood moving around the ring of course, but he made it feel different enough. Reminded me of his NXT ring work. That fucking evil assassin neck snap?? Jesus Christ, that is some serial killer shit. You can kill someone doing that. And the Mandible Claw is a perfect new finish. Even his horror movie exit ruled. I just loved every single living breathing thing about this.

I am now in charge of booking Bray Wyatt. I'm taking over. And just like Dua Lipa, I have some new rules.

1. The Fiend NEVER wrestles on television. EVER.

NEVER, EVER, EVER. Weekly TV is the death of literally everything in WWE, there's no way around it, there's just too much of it. But there IS a way around it, the Brock Lesnar way. Never wrestle on TV. Ever. Keep it special. It's impossible to keep it special if it happens every other week. So he never wrestles on TV. You have to PAY $9.99 for the Award Winning WWE Network to see The Fiend's entrance.

(I can see potential for Bray to wrestle on TV as Mister Rogers in the red jumper if they (I mean, I) explore the split personality more. But just not The Fiend.)

2. Short, explosive matches. No selling.

This match with Finn was fucking perfect. Nobody on earth wants to see the Fiend gimmick wrestle a 15 minute back and forth match. It's not built for it. The entrance and the package is the draw. He has short matches, he hits big offense, creepy, neck snapping offense, doesn't sit in holds to "wear down his opponent", doesn't do nearfalls and kickouts, doesn't do anything like what happens in all the other matches. He stalks dudes, hits his shit, and when they're dead he sticks his hand in their face and chokes them out.

When I say "no selling", I don't mean ever, I mean he shouldn't sell much, or for very long. Finn hitting a flurry and stunning him enough to climb to the top before his death, perfect. The Fiend should feel impenetrable, like a horror movie villain. Be different.

What were the (men's) matches that stood out on this show?? Goldberg squashing Dolph, Fiend/Finn, and Brock/Seth. Other matches were good, but they weren't special, they weren't different. These stood out mainly because they had guys (Goldberg, Fiend, Brock) who are unique and do something that isn't like most other dudes. Like most other matches. WWE have 78 hours of TV every week and countless matches. They're all the same and none of them matter. After 40 workrate TV matches this month, Goldberg spearing Dolph into the afterlife is FUN. It's a change of pace. It stands out. (And NOT just because it's Goldberg from a better era, because they were ready to get behind Ryback and Braun doing basically the same thing in their own time.)

The Fiend working as basically '92 Undertaker by having these infrequent "special event" matches where he doesn't sell and seems unhuman will stand out. ESPECIALLY in 2019.

And on TV, stick to his strengths, the Funhouse and the promos and the gimmick. Have Mister Rogers wrestle like a face and wonder why everyone is scared of him. The Fiend chooses opponents wisely, for a reason, and then at the PPV he does his entrance and then murders them. Nothing else.

Do that for 8 months, that gets us to Mania (start imagining the opulent splendor of a gigantic stadium-sized Fiend entrance now). Fuck it, I'll have him murder Old Man Taker in 5 minutes at Mania, avenge the Mania loss and formally take his place as the resident ghoul. Do it for 8 months, resist the urge to complicate it for 8 months, and then I'll figure out what to do next.

Anyway The Fiend is awesome.

[Robert S]

20 hours ago, goodhelmet said:

Most of the Takeover thread was complaining about Mauro. That is why the thread was longer.  

From that point-of-view this thread should be 30 pages long as Corey Graves made me switch to German commentary for 20 seconds (until I remembered that Carsten Schaefer makes Coach sound like prime JR).

[SteveJRogers]

21 hours ago, Ricky Jackson said:

Hart is revered by wrestling fans all over Canada because he was the biggest Canadian star back in the day when wrestling was huge all over the country. Why is that suddenly so hard to comprehend? 

It was more of a dig at the Graves quip.  Yeah, Jericho is not going to get the same reaction in Montreal as he would in places around Manitoba.  But the rule is, you work for a foreign country, no matter the size, come home doing whatever it is (wrestling or otherwise), generally you’d be treated as a conquering hero throughout.

[DMJ]

I'd have to look back, but I thought this was one of the best WWE PPVs of the year. 

- DId this thing only go 3.5 hours? I don't watch the pre-shows and don't consider them part of the real show. 3.5 hours felt like the right amount of time. One more match added onto the main show would've hurt the overall presentation. I was expecting a Reigns/Bryan segment, but the show didn't suffer without it. In fact, one could argue that it benefitted from the slimmer runtime (especially compared to the slog that WrestleMania has become).

- There were at least two matches I would consider for my annual Top 10 list of WWE Matches of the Year. I thought AJ/Ricochet was their best offering yet and could easily sneak on my list around 8-9. It was everything that Cole/Gargano wasn't - it didn't overstay its welcome, Ricochet's selling was awesome, AJ Styles wrestled as a heel instead of trying to wow the audience. Speaking of Ricochet's selling, I'd argue that him incorporating the damage to his knee into his offense made perfect sense and was terrific - I mean, what else is he gonna do? He's not a submission specialist. He's not going to mat wrestle. Instead, he does insane shit like one-legged springboards because he's that agile. I want to cheer for this guy! Even with a bum knee, he's still flying, and I never felt like he was taking me out of the match. Once he rallied, he got the same recovery powers afforded to every babyface since the dawn of time and that's okay too. Its guys like Gargano, Cole, and Rollins that bother me because their ignoring of damage is so obvious and blatant. If you can't see the difference in what Ricochet did in this match and what the aforementioned often do, then I don't know what to tell you. 

Trish/Charlotte was probably the best or 2nd best Trish match ever (I remember fawning over the WM23 match against Mickie James) and much of that has to do with Charlotte and the crowd. Since Becky's reign has been a bust, I think its fair to say that this was the best women's match we've seen since Mania (at least in terms of Network specials/PPVs, which is all I really watch).

- The crowd was dead at times and I disliked the finish, but Kofi/Orton, before the final minute, had me hooked. So, so, so much better than Kofi/Ziggler or Kofi/Owens. 

- Whoever said Owens/Shane was the best possible version of that match nailed it. I was not excited about that match at all, but they kept me entertained. 

- Goldberg/Ziggler was also funner than expected. Ditto for Wyatt/Balor. To be honest, I didn't even like Wyatt's new entrance all that match - what did it for me was the exit. That was cool and different.

- The main event was the best Rollins match I've seen in months, maybe longer. I loved the opening stretch with Rollins back-flipping his way out of the german suplexes and then Lesnar wisely just switching to non-release versions. As a Lesnar fan and a pretty vocal Rollins non-fan, I was hoping for a different finish, but oh well, the WWE made the "right decision" in the sense that someone needed to topple Lesnar and, because they didn't pull the trigger with Roman or Braun, they were basically out of options in 2019. Also, like at WrestleMania 31, it did seem like the crowd - which was 50/50 at the start - warmed up considerably to Rollins as the match went on (the same way that, at 31, even Reigns detractors probably would've been okay with him getting the W because it felt earned).

[Microstatistics]

Seth's rib selling wasn't necessarily bad but it wasn't good either. In his defense, midsection selling is not that easy but nothing he did truly stood out.

The decisiveness of the finish was odd considering how Brock was been booked since 2012.  So Rollins is the ace now? Nothing else could really explain that finish.

[Robert S]

Just a random note: Charlotte vs. Trish has to be the match with the biggest average boob-job in a WWE match in the last 10 years. Hell, sans Chyna, were there any regular wrestlers in the WWF / WWE that had, let's say more obvious enhanced breasts, than those two?

[Al]

I'm assuming King Kong Czaja doesn't count.

[Alucard]

7 hours ago, DMJ said:

Trish/Charlotte was probably the best or 2nd best Trish match ever (I remember fawning over the WM23 match against Mickie James) and much of that has to do with Charlotte and the crowd. Since Becky's reign has been a bust, I think its fair to say that this was the best women's match we've seen since Mania (at least in terms of Network specials/PPVs, which is all I really watch).

Agreed, I thought this was way better/more memorable than the WM match. I'd have it 2nd only to Charlotte/Asuka from the SDL before WM in best WWE womens matches this year.