At least, the PPV wasn't a total snore fest. The visuals for the show; involving the 3D image model feature in the superstar's entrances was kinda cool. It look a lot better than the fake-looking ones, WWE was using for 'Wrestlemania 34'. Plus, I dig all the new costume attires and astonishment cameos from past wrestlers. However, it's weird to think, that 'WWE SummerSlam' is supposed to be the biggest wrestling event of the summer; yet, in the last couple of years, the bouts on the card, hasn't been as good, as the acclaimed matches of 'NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn' event, from the previous night; also taking place at the Barclay Center. It's always been really odd, to see this, as a wrestling fan, because NXT's primary purpose is to serve as a minor league developmental farm system for WWE. Yet, it always outshine the major league, in both its high quality of wrestling and captivating, in ring storylines. In spite of this, the main roster & crews has always try to put a hell of a show, with each year, wrestling matches, getting a little bit better. This year, was supposed to be no differ, however, sadly, the producers at the 'Raw' brand, cockily didn't improve, their end-game, at all, compare to last year. Besides the well-made contest between challenger, Seth Rollins versus champion, Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental Championship; which feature a cool looking reverse top rope suplex; none of the others 'RAW' bouts, ringwork stood out much, nor went over 7 minutes. It's a shame; because some of the talents here, can honestly, wrestle; such as Finn Balor & Kevin Owens. Yet, they're barely given, much of a spotlight; besides being spot-monkeys for bigger guys. At the same time, power-house wrestlers like Braun Strowman and Ronda Rousey look much weaker after their squash contests; because how much, their matches expose, their limitations. Everybody knows that they could fight a little bit longer. Not only that; but the limited length of the matches, also ruins the built up gimmicky storylines for some of these feuds, by being a downgrade. Things like the demon-war paint, and the stipulation for the Money in the Bank contract felt like a waste. Because of this, I have to say the matches such as, Balor fighting Baron Corbin, the RAW Women Championship between champion, Alexa Bliss VS Rousey, Owens against Strowman, and even, the main event, WWE Universal Championship between titleholder, Brock Lesnar and challenger, Roman Reigns were all disappointing to watch. It could had been so much more than it was. It's pretty lame to see that the pre-show main event, in which, the WWE RAW Tag Team Championship was on the line; between the champions, B-Team (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel) versus the Revival (Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson), be a lot more entertaining than these matches on the main card, due to its creative ending, and catchy cheesy theme song. It shows, how badly the 'RAW' Brand screw up. 'Smackdown' was a different story. It save the show, from totally sucking. The New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods) (with Kofi Kingston) versus champions, The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) for the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship was a lot better than their previous encounters. The United States Championship match between champion, Shinsuke Nakamura & challenger, Jeff Hardy; while, not memorable, was decent. Even, the other pre-shows matches like the Mixed Tag Team Match between Andrade Cien Almas and Zelina Vega versus Lana and Rusev, and the singles match for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship; between titleholder, Cedric Alexander versus competitor, Drew Gulak were good; even if they both have similar weak pin fall finishes. I love, how solid & brutally stiff, the men were fighting in their matches, both in the 205 Live match and the opening match. As for the women in the mix tag match, they were fine for what it was, even if the tagging was awkwardly paced. Nevertheless, there were three other matches on the card that really stood out for me. One of them, was the triple threat match for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship between champion, Carmella and challengers, Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair. While, the contest was indeed botchy; the ending made up for it. Without spoiling it, the crowd was eating the heel turn, up. The other match that was amazing, was the grudge match between the Miz & Daniel Bryan. It was a wonderful contest that live up to the hype. However, by far, my favorite, was the WWE Championship match, between, titleholder, AJ Styles and contender, Samoa Joe. Everything work out, perfectly. The technical athletic performance & the theatrical performance storyline, they were trying to tell, with Styles' wife being in ringside, really got the crowd into this match. It was a masterpiece of wrestling, at its best. It was the highlight of the night. Overall: Despite the lethargic 4 hour running time & many disappointing matches from the RAW side, Summerslam 2018 didn't featured that much awful matches. Most of the show, was indeed still watchable. However, the show could be better. This PPV at the Big Apple was not that fresh.
Review of WWE SummerSlam
WWE SummerSlam
(2018 TV Special)
No sleep till Brooklyn. No wonder, why WWE SummerSlam 2018 was not well produce. Some of them, laziness give up & fell asleep on the day of the show.
23 August 2018
Warning: Spoilers