SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
GUNTHER-NICK ALDIS CONTRACT SIGNING SEGMENT – HIT
I thought Gunther was great here. He has been really consistent with this heel work, focusing on being unlikeable forever, but here he explored more reasons for fans to dislike him, bringing in small hints of Ric Flair by bragging about his wealth, particularly the line about his watch value and just belittling Aldis in general. Finally, on WWE TV, it was acknowledged that Nick Aldis was a wrestler, and I appreciated Gunther pointing out his NWA title reign. This helps give WWE fans credit to Aldis that he can be a threat in the match, because there will be an awful lot of them around the world that would not have knowledge of his background. It also hints that this could be more than a one-and-done situation for Aldis, with Gunther’s “I’ll end your career before it has properly started” line. Brawl to finish was fine; Aldis looks huge, and I’m expecting him to be in aesthetically great shape at SummerSlam. This has been a bit of a sleeper going into the big event and slowly rising up the ranks in terms of matches that I am interested in.
SAMI ZAYN BACKSTAGE PROMO – HIT
Just a short segment, but Sami barging into Cathy Kelley’s backstage report was great. He has been fantastic for months now with this promo work, especially this impromptu style he has done. The overall outcome of all this being Sami Zayn vs. the winner of tonight’s fatal 4-way at SummerSlam also works; it gets Sami on the card, which is more than deserved, and it’s a match with stakes, which also helps. Solid stuff.
BRIE BELLA vs. LAINEY REID – MISS
The main miss here is for after the match. Nikki Bella makes her return and refers to the WWE 3rd TV show as ‘the minor league’ so wrong on every level possible, and I can’t believe that comment was approved by anyone. Don’t watch the upcoming AEW All In show instead; be sure to tune into our minor league shows PLE instead. Dumb, so dumb.
The match itself wasn’t good and wasn’t allowed to be by the amount of interference in a 5-minute match. The outcome of a 6-woman tag at Summerslam was also groan-inducing.
ROYCE KEYS-SOLO SIKOA-LA KNIGHT BACKSTAGE SEGMENT- HIT
I am going to say something that many may not agree with here, but I have been enjoying Solo Sikoa’s promo work for months now. He has confidence in delivery; he sounds more natural than 90% of the roster, and whatever he is given, he gives it 100%. Now, I, like many other people, still have no idea where they are going with all this, but if we just focus on Solo here, the difference from the mute enforcer in Bloodline V1 to now is night and day. I do think he could be a really solid upper-mid card face; they just need to do right by him by having him up against ironclad heel wrestlers, not the current pick-em situation we have all over the place in WWE.
CHELSEA GREEN vs. KIANA JAMES – Qualifying Match for Summerslam Ladder match – MISS
A four minute match. Hard to evaluate as a Hit. The right person won. Chelsea Green continues to be one of, if not the most popular, women on the Smackdown roster, and Kiana James is just kind of floating around since the Guila split.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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DAMIAN PRIEST-CODY RHODES BACKSTAGE SEGMENT- MISS
After the usual Priest/Truth comedy bit, I actually liked some of what Priest said to Cody. Particularly memorable was the “We, the boys, are sick of the same people being the face of this brand.” line, which many in the live crowd cheered, by the way. Could this potentially lead to a bit of an uprising by some of the wrestlers against Cody and Punk post-Summerslam? Damian Priest has a commanding voice, and that line was delivered well, but I don’t know what it is; he always seems to sound like he is very much memorizing and reading off a script, word for word. A guy with that voice and experience should be given more rope to say things more naturally.
CODY RHODES-CM PUNK SEGMENT – HIT
With so many angles going into Summerslam consisting of wrestlers who are fan favorites but acting like heels to each other, I am glad they seemed to reset slightly here with Rhodes and Punk. The tension is very much still there, and there was more focus here on simply who is and will be better. This would work even better and stand out more as special, by the way, if the rest of the Summerslam card was more clear-cut in terms of who we are rooting for.
They have had such a short time to build what should be a Hogan/Warrior level hype for this match, I have sympathy for them trying to find a way to build the anticipation without resorting to an ill-advised quick heel turn for one of them ala Randy Orton pre-Mania.
NIA JAX vs. CHARLOTTE – Qualifying Match for Summerslam Ladder match – MISS
Slight miss for me. They did their best for the allotted time, but early breaks kill matches for me, and we had one here almost immediately as the match got going. As soon as Jade and The Baddies came to the ringside, the outcome became predictable, and despite Nia Jax once again losing via DQ, I still expect her to be in that ladder match by the time Summerslam comes around. They loaded this show with women’s matches but didn’t really give any match any real time to become a really good match, instead relying on interference and super short match time.
FINN BALOR vs. DAMIEN PRIEST vs. TRICK WILLIAMS vs. ROYCE KEYS – No. 1 Contendership match qualifier – HIT
Slight hit. For me, the right wrestler won. The prospect of Finn Balor vs. Sami Zayn at SummerSlam is exciting, and that could be a show stealer.
It was pretty clear going in that Royce Keys wasn’t winning, given he already has a match at SummerSlam, Trick Williams already faced Sami at WrestleMania, and Damien Priest hasn’t been focused on as a single wrestler in months.
Good action in the match; I thought Trick looked the best he has in a while here, and Royce Keys also seemed to have cranked up a bit of intensity. The interference throughout the match from The Bloodline and Solo and LA Knight was predictable, and please, please please, for interference of this type (LA Knight was in the crowd, not coming from the back), just do not play his music that is so corny, but I do appreciate Balor getting a somewhat clean win over Priest to set him up for next weekend.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Heavy on segments and promos, the show was just ok. The women’s matches weren’t given enough time to get going, and the main event was stopped from being really good by all the interference.
Clanger of the night for me was definitely the Nikki Bella NXT line.
Not sure if it was a time issue, but the post-main event angle of Baron Corbin attacking Trick, leading to the Summerslam match challenge by Williams, would have been better on the show rather than on social media.
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