WWE SummerSlam - August 19,2012
1. Santino Marella vs. Antonio Cesaro for the WWE United States Championship - This match wasnt actually part of the official card, but rather the pre-show for the ppv itself. As for the match itself, in general, a good way to start things off. The action was pretty decent and it went longer than most Santino matches. Cesaro ultimately manages to counter the Cobra the first time, including tearing Santinos sock puppet up. Santino hulks up here and goes for the move again, only to be distracted by Aksana. Cesaro takes advantage and hits Santino with the Neutralizer for the clean win a bit past the 5 minute mark. Cesaro is the new WWE United States Champion. The match wasnt a classic or anything, but Santinos run is over as it needed to be so it started things off for the show on the right foot. *3/4
2. Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler - This was the first match on the official card. I was a little surprised to see that this was the match to start things off with, I expected it to either be the tag title or IC title matches. While I was a little disappointed with the ending, Jericho & Ziggler still put on a very good match with a hot crowd and some very good near falls. The dueling Lets Go Ziggler/Y2J chants were a lot of fun and both wrestlers delivered some great back and forth action. About the 10 minute mark Ziggler successfully nails Jericho with the Zig Zag for a nice near fall. The end comes shortly after Ziggler rolls Jericho up for another nice near finish after Vickie gets up on the apron. Jericho comes back with the Liontamer and forces Ziggler to tap out at the 13 minute mark. Im assuming therell be one more confrontation or match between them on Raw tomorrow night in order to give Ziggler some heat back and send Jericho off. Otherwise, its a wasted opportunity. ***1/4
2. Kane vs. Daniel Bryan - This was a good solid match that ultimately gave Bryan a clean and needed victory over Kane. It wasnt as good as Ziggler vs. Jericho, but its pretty hard for Bryan not to have a good match. The match featured good back and forth action with Kane playing his role as the powerhouse well. Bryan also did great in his role as the tough little scrapper. The match delivered some fun offense, like Bryans big missle dropkick to Kane and Kane countering Bryans flying head butt by catching him around the throat. The end comes after Kane delivers a chokeslam to Bryan and goes for the Tombstone. Bryan counters the move and rolls Kane up into a small package for the clean win a little past the 8 minute mark. Given Kanes reaction afterward, such as his interview with Matthews & Bryan hightailing it out of the ring quickly, Im guessing this feud is going to go on a bit longer. **3/4
3. The Miz vs. Rey Mysterio for the WWE Intercontinental Championship - Another good good solid match that pretty much went about how I expected it would. The live crowd was a little light on interest in this match but it quickly built up. Miz & Rey worked well together and pulled off some fun action, such as Miz landing a nice near fall after delivering that powerbomb after bouncing Rey off the ropes. Mysterio goes for the 619 later in the match and manages to hit it. He then goes for the springboard splash but Miz moves out of the way. He sets Mysterio up and delivers the Skull Crushing Finale for the clean win at the 9.5 minute mark. Again, a good solid match that ended the way it needed to end. Miz needed a clean win here, he needed to retain and the match was good. **3/4
4. Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio for the World Heavyweight Championship - Good match from Sheamus and Del Rio with some good, hard hitting physical stuff. There were some good near falls in the match, such as when Del Rio slapped on the Cross Arm Breaker. Sheamus powering out of the move by getting to his feet and slamming Del Rio into the mat was a nice moment that drew a big pop from the live fans. Shortly afterward, Sheamus hit Del Rio with White Noise for another nice near fall. The ending left a little to be desired in my eyes. Sheamus hits Del Rio with the Irish Curse and gets the count even though Del Rios foot is over the rope. Del Rio throws a fit afterward, as expected, so this looks like its going to keep going for a while longer. Personally I think its time to move on or to put Orton into the mix. ***
5. Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. The Prime Time Players - This was a decent match, but definitely the weakest on the SummerSlam card thus far. There was some good action during the match, about what youd expect to take place. Both teams looked good and worked well together. Nothing overly remarkable about the match, just a decent tag match. To me, it didnt really come off like filler. It wasnt a great match but the live crowd was into it and the match continues the trend of the tag team division continuing to show some life. Kofi & Truth retain here at the 7.5 minute mark after Truth hits his finisher on Young. It doesnt bother me to see the champs retain. Since the WWE seems to be increasing the general relevance & strength of the tag team division, at least for now, taking the titles off Kofi & Truth could be counterproductive. Theyre over and theyre establishing themselves as a strong team. **
6. CM Punk vs. John Cena vs. The Big Show for the WWE Championship - While not as good as I was hoping for, it was still a fun match that ultimately ended the way it needed to. The match featured some good action from all three of them and I dig the story that they were telling as he was trying to come off as equal to Cena, such as when he went for the GTS on Big Show. Show did well in his role as the big, powerful heel and there were some cool spots. Show stacked both guys up and went for his Vader Bomb splash from the second rope. Punk moved and Cena ate the move, which caused me to chuckle a little. The ending comes, or so we think, after Punk nails Show with a springboard clothesline and then locks in the guillotine choke. Cena, simultaneously, comes up from behind and puts Show in an STF. Show eventually taps and the ref calls for the bell. Both Cena and Punk celebrated, thinking theyd won. The ref was confused and he AJ came out doing her little skip routine. As Punk & Cena argued, AJ milked the situation for a bit before ultimately restarting the match. Both men suddenly eat a double chokeslam courtesy of Big Show. Show then covered Cena but Cena kicked out, so he tried it with Punk only for the same result. Show teases the WMD on Cena but Cena counters and lands the AA. Punk comes up and tosses Cena out of the ring and covers show for the clean pin at the 15 minute mark. Punk taunted Cena relentlessly after the match while Cena sold frustration. Punk is doing all he can right now to garner heat from Cena fans. Some will probably complain about the restart but I thought it added some suspense to the match. The match had a lot of fun action, Punk retained, Punk won cleanly and Cena was protected for their eventual singles feud. All in all, nothing to complain about in my eyes. ***1/4
Kevin Rudolf - Rudolf performed his song, the theme for SummerSlam. I couldnt care less. I didnt see it, so I went to take a piss break. N/A
7. Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar - I went into this match with some trepidation but I very much enjoyed it. It wasn't as good as Cena vs. Lesnar at Extreme Rules, but it was still very good in my eyes. Early on in the match, after Triple H knocks Lesnar over the top rope, he shouts down to him "This is WWE, not UFC!" I just got a nice little kick out of that. Afterward, Lesnar climbs back into the ring and gets the better of Trips, including targeting the arm that he "broke" several months back before Trips is knocked out onto the floor. The match was physical, had a lot of great back and forth action. It had more of a wrestling match feel to it than Cena vs. Lesnar did, which is probably why it didn't have quite the same impact to me. I liked how Cole brought up the various medical issues Lesnar has had in the past, such as when he was selling the gut shots he'd taken during the match. It made for some nice context. Trips hit Lesnar with the Pedigree at one point but Lesnar kicked out for a good near fall. Trips goes for the move again but takes a low blow. Heyman calls out to the ref that this is the fight that Triple H wanted, making a reference to a conversation Trips had with Scott Armstrong earlier in the night, so Armstrong didn't call for the DQ. Shortly afterward, Lesnar scoops up Triple H and delivers the F-5 with Trips kicking out. Heyman does a good job of selling his frustration ringside. Lesnar eventually puts Triple H into the Kimura, the move he "broke" his arm with months ago. Trips reaches the ropes and uses his right hand to hammer Lesnar relentlessly. About the 18 minute mark, Trips hits another Pedigree on Lesnar and as he goes in for the pin, Lesnar gets him in the Kimura once again. Trips fights the move for a while, the crowd pops big here, but Trips taps, giving Lesnar the win about the 19 minute mark. Heyman celebrates and Triple H gets a great reaction. At first, a loud "Triple H" chant starts as well as a "You Tapped Out" chant. Triple H looked sympathetic as he said "I'm sorry" to the crowd, which caused the mainstream fans to chant his name again. Not as good as Cena vs. Lesnar, but still a lot of fun with the right ending. ***1/2
Final Thoughts - I expect that some fans are probably going to bash the show because there weren't all these crazy, unexpected shenanigans going on. If you watch pro wrestling for unpredictability, you're going to be disappointed a lot of the time. I very much enjoyed the show, a much better showing overall than the past couple of SummerSlam ppvs in my opinion. Of the matches on the actual SummerSlam ppv itself, the weak match was the tag title match and it wasn't bad really. Wasn't great, but it didn't suck. With the exception of Jericho vs. Ziggler, all the matches ended in exactly the way they should have in my opinion. Santino vs. Cesaro started the whole thing off on a positive note with Cesaro beating Santino and becoming the new US champ. Jericho vs. Ziggler was a great official opener to the show. I would've preferred to see Ziggler win here and I'm hoping that there'll be a match between them on Raw tomorrow night with Ziggler getting his heat back and sending Jericho "out" for a while. The IC title match was exactly as I expected, a fun match with a good strong showing from both guys. Kane vs. Daniel Bryan was also a very solid mid-card match with Bryan getting his first clean pinfall win over Kane in a singles match. I enjoyed Sheamus vs. Del Rio, though the ending to the match was a little weak. Personally, I think it's time to either move Sheamus on or to add Orton into the mix for a threeway. Kofi & Truth and the PTPs had a decent tag title match. Again, nothing special but it's further showing that the tag team picture is getting some life back into it. Punk vs. Cena vs. Show did it's job of providing some really good action, giving Punk a credible win over Cena while protecting him at the same time and setting things up nicely for their eventual singles match. Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar was a pleasant surprise that delivered a good physical match with, in my opinion, the right ending. As I said earlier, not as good as Cena vs. Lesnar but still a strong effort in my eyes. Lesnar needed a strong & clean win here and I'm pleased to see that he got it. Now that I think on it, tonight was filled with nothing but clean, solid wins for everybody involved. I'm wondering how much input Triple H had on booking the show overall. Like I said, if you wanted tons of unpredictable surprises & shenanigans, you were disappointed here. If you wanted lots of good wrestling action with clean finishes that needed to happen, then you got your money's worth.
Grade: B+
