WWE Summerslam 2014: General Discussion & Aftermath

[Creepy Old Man]

I must admit, I'm genuinely excited and will be putting down cash to watch this one. Each and every match on this card has had a strong, compelling build. Everything's had weeks to mature and I don't feel like anything has been thrown together. The sit-down stuff for Jericho/Wyatt and Cena/Lesnar was riveting. As for Cena, he has been especially motivated and cutting some of his best ever promos. Even the match I'm least interested in, the Divas title bout, has been given room to breathe on air and Paige has finally won me over with her sarcastic heel character. Then there's the fact that Sting will be in town and is rumoured to finally debut (okay, I'm not hanging my hat on that).

So yeah, I have almost an Attitude Era-level excitement for this one. I haven't been this amped up about a WWE pay-per-view in ages. Do others share my enthusiasm or is this just a "meh" event for you?

 

[chicagokmc]

For the most part I agree. Except for Brie/Stephanie which had been going well until the last couple of weeks, we've gotten good build up to matches. Russev/Swagger has gotten a little repetitive but not terribly so. And because Lesnar/Cena is the headline we've been bombarded less with the Authority and that to me is a great thing.

 

[tehblogger]

final thoughts;

Lesnar has to win. I don't care what Labar says about how Cena doesn't like it, it would be absolute insanity to do anything other than have Lesnar go over clean, in the middle of the ring, big F-5, 1-2-3. Brock is a huge commodity right now and you don't waste that on your already-established main eventer who needs NOTHING at anywhere other than Wrestlemania. Not even then. Brock should win and win and win until one day he doesn't any more (vs Reigns, ideally, when he's ready - maybe even vs Ambrose).

Ambrose should beat Rollins. A Lumberjack match is so meh but at least it makes some kind of booking sense...I think. Hell in a Cell would have made even more sense and been a better spectacle, but OK. Ambrose is so hot right now, it just makes logical sense for him to go over, but I can see it going the other way if they want to play the long game with building Ambrose as the underdog babyface. Kind of like Bryan, except much cooler and more interesting.

Does anyone care about Brie and Steph? Steph wins, OK fine, whatever.

Swagger & Rusev...this feud is why, WWE, you need managers in your business. For years you tried to do without. It didn't work. Neither Rusev nor Swagger can talk worth a damn, but Rusev seems very solid in the ring, and Swagger is just excellent and always has been. Zeb Colter is an absolute genius on the mic; some of his work rivals Heyman. Lana is very decent also - as well as being gorgeous - and the whole Putin schtick has been played so well. Put it all together and the fans actually care about a feud that without the managers would have flopped like a fish out of water. Both guys have been elevated by this, but Swagger should win here; he needs to win the big gimmick match at the big PPV, especially since Rusev doesn't have to be pinned. Either that or some weird double-finish draw or something if they want to keep the feud going (which would be sweet as well).

Zigger-Miz...initially I thought Zigger because Miz is very relevant without the title anyway, but that's probably bad thinking. I don't know how much they care about Dolph, and to be honest he's probably fine without the belt as well.

AJ Lee - Paige...no idea, not too fussed really. I don't see AJ dropping it back though. NoC might be a different story.

Y2J-Wyatt is predictability redefined - the match should be good though.

 

[LBGetBack]

Really excited for this one!

Brock-Cena.....the Brock "special attraction" works for me. I get excited to see his matches. And he absolutely better win. He should've beaten Cena last time. I don't care if he's champ and only shows up every once in awhile. It beats Cena holding it for the 78th time.

Jericho-Wyatt....Something with this feud hasn't quite clicked. But it's Jericho! One of my all time favorites and he can still go. So I'll enjoy the match.

Orton-Reigns....Solid matchup. I'm liking the intensity in the feud. Hoping for a violent match, which would fit the feud.

Ambrose-Rollins.....Not crazy about the Lumberjack stipulation, that's always dumb IMO. But these are two of my current favorites, in a heated feud. I have confidence that they'll bring it.

Stephanie-Brie.....I may be in the minority on here, but I(like the actual live crowds!) love this feud. Though I've basically loved everything Stephanie has done the last year or so. Great performer. The match won't be a technical masterpiece by any means, but Stephanie = gold, regardless.

AJ-Paige.....this has the potential to be a legitimately good divas match if it gets enough time.

Swagger-Rusev - Loving this feud too, for what it is. Very solid feud, should be a decent match. Pulling hard for Rusev, I'd like to see him continue to be built up.

Miz-Ziggler.....the Miz does nothing for me, but Ziggler is always capable of putting on a memorable match. This one could be a sleeper match.

This is a rare PPV where the divas feuds and midcard feuds have actually been built up and are appealing to me. Lesnar, Jericho, and Stephanie are the 3 people who if they are on screen, I'm interested.

 

[LBGetBack]

It was funny....the fans were chanting "you've still got it", and I thought, well she never really had it in the ring.......but now I think she does? She was never a good wrestler and hadn't been in the ring for 11 years, and she put on a shockingly good performance tonight in my opinion.

I'm sure we'll have the usual suspects crying that it got too much time, etc. but let's just be clear.......Stephanie showed she can take bumps and execute moves as well as or better than many of the divas(she's way better than both Bella's). She understands how to work a crowd both on the mic and with her facial expressions and physical actions better than most on the roster(including the men here). So any of the "she's taking someone else's spot on the card" talk....shove all that. The match was good, and more than held it's own on a card where all of the matches were respectable.

She's gotten herself into phenomenal shape and deserves credit for putting in the work to pull this off. She's a 38 year old non-wrestler, and she convincingly looked like a real force tonight.

 

[stingray11214]

I was really inpressed with Stephanie's performance. Brie was crap as usual. Brie cannot wrestle worth a damn. But, Steph was incredible. She really commanded the ring. That whole Dive locker room should take notes.

 

[Navi]

She actually surprised me tonight. Thought the match would be the drizzling shits, but it turned out to be not that bad.

For a woman her age with basically no experience, she put on a pretty good show. Figured that HHH would get some shenanigans in there, and there would be a swerve somewhere along the line, but for a match I wasn't expected much from it delivered.

Much better than the shitshow that the Orton/Reigns match was. Now that was a disappointment.

 

[kadroan]

Not to down her performance but the crowd just reinforces of how the quality of wrestling in the Divas' division has went down.

I'm hoping Stephanie's involvement in the division, helps elevate it rather than take away from it. Having long title reigns isn't enough, need to have meaningful storylines and matches

 

[matman8540]

Well there were several good reasons that Stephanie looked lost 10 years ago. Those reasons were named Trish, Lita, Victoria, Molly Holly, et al. Now, 10 years later, no bumps (except for baby bumps), and working out with hubby not to let herself go; along with the fact that this crop of divas are B and C at the top of the roster, and D and F at the bottom, she couldn't help but look better than when she was younger.

 

[WarroBODFan]

I'm with you guys, Stephanie massively surprised me, she looked good out there, and I don't just mean her ring attire (but god damn she looked hot ). As mentioned, she used her significant strength advantage to aid her, and it worked.

 

[hollowpoint]

I actually enjoyed that match better than I did the Divas championship match. It was pretty good storytelling throughout the match and then the twist at the end was awesome. Stephanie definitely looked better than expected in all facets all the way down to the outfit. 3 out of 5 IMO.

 

[Mustang Sally]

I was pleasantly surprised with the competence of Stephanie's work. Sure, the pace was slow but Brie's "cooperation" enabled Steph to calmly apply her holds, and she did a better job than I ever imagined she would.

I can appreciate Brie Bella's ring work; she knew what she was there for and did what she was supposed to do. I especially liked the way she took the Pedigree; some of the guys never did it as well for Triple H, but Brie kicked her legs backward and took the impact directly on her stomach, the way it should be done.

The only thing I'm disgusted with was myself for not having seen the Bella swerve coming. After all, a heel turn for one of them has been predicted for months....and in retrospect, a major PPV was the perfect time to bring it.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

While the match wasn't a technical marvel, I'm not surprised that it was a pretty solid outing. Stephanie did look pretty good, especially for a woman who hasn't worked a wrestling match in more than 10 years. Again, however, I'm not surprised and it fits with the various reports I've read saying that Stephanie had been training hard for the match as she didn't want to embarrass herself, the company or Brie. Brie Bella is whole universes away from what she was, so it was a relief to see that Stephanie took the match seriously.

You can tell that there were little to none of Vince's fingerprints on the booking of the match, though I have a feeling he put his two cents worth in on the affair bit that was added on Raw last week. Given that Nikki Bella's now turned on Brie, that's a strong indicator that the "physical therapist" bit was a one time deal and that WWE won't be implementing its own Claire Lynch storyline.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Cesaro VS Rob Van Dam
Nothing really special or anything to write home about here, it was the pre-show match though so it did not need to stand out.

Dolph Ziggler VS The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship
The match was forgettable, but Dolph winning was the right result. Miz should never have gotten the belt in the first place.

AJ Lee VS Paige for the WWE Divas Championship
Better than I expected, and it was better than their Battleground match. Paige's win was somewhat of a surprise. I would have been happy regardless of who won though since I am a fan of both divas.

Jack Swagger (with Zeb Colter) VS Rusev (with Lana) in a Flag match
This was stupid. I went into the match with low expectations given the stipulation and the fact that Rusev was in it, but I found myself simply not caring. Swagger should have won in my opinion, oh well.

Dean Ambrose VS Seth Rollins in a Lumberjack match
This was my favorite match of the night! It more than made up for the match never officially happening at the last event. Loved it.

Bray Wyatt VS Chris Jericho
Not bad at all. The match was better than their Battleground encounter and the right result is the one we got. Bray winning without his underlings was a chance for him to really prove himself. Third best match of the night.

Brie Bella VS Stephanie McMahon
I dreaded this match going into it, but it more than exceeded my expectations thanks to Stephanie. Stephanie did great and her winning was the right decision. Brie sucks. She never had my support and despite the Nikki turn, she still doesn't.

Randy Orton VS Roman Reigns
Another really good match. It ended up being my 2nd favorite of the night. Despite having high expectations for it, Roman and Randy still delivered and it was enjoyable. It went on a bit later on than I thought it would, no complaints though.

Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) VS John Cena for the World Heavyweight Championship
Idiotic is an understatement. This was fucking AWFUL. I can understand Lesnar winning if WWE wanted to go that route, fine, but this was ridiculous and I would have felt like I wasted my money on this show had I not been a member of the WWE Network and paid the full price for the PPV by ordering it the old fashioned way. WWE should at least have booked Cena stronger. I'll add something positive to my thoughts on this match despite my dislike of it. Whoever defeats Lesnar now if he continues to be this dominant, will benefit greatly from it. Hopefully WWE uses this poor excuse of a "match" to build up a huge match down the line between Lesnar and whoever dethrones him. Still hated it, that's my opinion. You have yours, I have mine.

Overall Thoughts
A terrible main event and a few forgettable matches drag down the show's overall score for me. As good as Seth VS Dean and Roman VS Randy were, or Stephanie VS Brie and Bray VS Jericho going exactly as they should, or even the nice surprise of Paige's win was, the bad parts of this show drag down what otherwise was a card that did not live up to its potential. I'll say this though.... It was still better than Battleground 2014 or Royal Rumble 2014. Bad for Summerslam standards, while still being something to watch on a sunday at the end of the day.

1. Wrestlemania 30
2. Money In the Bank 2014
3. Extreme Rules 2014
4. Payback 2014
5. Elimination Chamber 2014
6. Summerslam 2014
7. Battleground 2014
8. Royal Rumble 2014