Here are our final thoughts and reactions to SummerSlam 2018! Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. Seth Rollins Reactions: Both Ziggler and Rollins came to the ring ready to go. They hold little back during their match, and the ferocity of both of their attacks kept things very engaging. While the cutting back to Drew McIntyre and Dean Ambrose, who were outside the ring, started out a bit tedious, it ultimately added to the tension and overall excitement of the match. Definitely a mood setter for the rest of the PPV event. Rating: 4 stars out of 5 The Bludgeon Brothers (c) vs. The New Day Reactions: This match was off to a great start, and the New Day do some genuine damage to the Bludgeon Brothers. Sadly, the latter cause a disqualification, putting a dour end to what should have otherwise been another solid match. The crowd was audibly displeased with the outcome, and it’s likely that the New Day’s victory will go down as one of the PPV event’s lesser moments. Rating: 3 stars out of 5 Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens Reactions: Owens was never going to win this. He gets smashed by Strowman as soon as the bell rings, and spends the duration of this brief match running away. Strowman eventually catches up to him and powerslams down onto the ring. While entertaining for Strowman fans, we can’t really call this a compelling or engaging match overall. Rating: 2 stars out of 5 Carmella vs. Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch Becky Lynch attacks Charlotte Flair after The Queen's title win: WWE NowCharlotte Flair pinned Becky Lynch to win Carmella's SmackDown Women's Title in a Triple Threat Match at SummerSlam 2018. However, she was savagely assaulted by Becky after the bell. #SummerSlam #WWENow GET YOUR 1st MONTH of WWE NETWORK for FREE: wwenetwork.com ——————————————————————— Follow WWE on YouTube for more exciting action! ——————————————————————— Subscribe to WWE on… 2018-08-20T03:03:45.000Z Reactions: A brutal showcase for all three women involved. Carmella is the instigator early on, but its clear that Charlotte and Becky Lynch are the pair to be worried about, as they level the current champ and toss her out of the ring. Charlotte turns the table and hits Lynch with a Natural Selection for the win, but Lynch leaves the biggest impression, dropping a swift beating on Charlotte after the match is over. This was the match to beat for the evening. Rating: 4 and a half stars out of 5 AJ Styles (c) vs. Samoa Joe Samoa Joe flattens AJ Styles with stunning dive from the ring: SummerSlam 2018 (WWE Network)WWE Champion AJ Styles and Samoa Joe battle it out in heart-pounding contest for the most prized possession in WWE: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network. #SummerSlam GET YOUR 1st MONTH of WWE NETWORK for FREE: wwenetwork.com ——————————————————————— Follow WWE on YouTube for more exciting action! ——————————————————————— Subscribe to WWE on YouTube: bit.ly/1i64OdT Check out… 2018-08-20T01:46:37.000Z Reactions: The match start off normal enough, with Joe getting some decent shots against Styles, but things take a turn for the worse when Joe smashes Styles into the steel steps and addresses the latter’s wife, telling her that he won’t make it home tonight. Styles goes into a rage, beating Joe with a chair, and while memorable, its a shame that yet another match had to end with a disqualification. Rating: 3 and a half stars out of 5 The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan Daniel Bryan unleashes years of rage on The Miz: SummerSlam 2018 (WWE Network Exclusive)With years of pent-up anger toward The Miz, Daniel Bryan looks to score a satisfying win over his nemesis: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network. #SummerSlam GET YOUR 1st MONTH of WWE NETWORK for FREE: wwenetwork.com ——————————————————————— Follow WWE on YouTube for more exciting action! ——————————————————————— Subscribe to WWE on YouTube: bit.ly/1i64OdT Check out WWE.com… 2018-08-20T02:18:44.000Z Reactions: A solid match, showcasing both The Miz and Daniel Bryan’s methodical fighting styles. While the final stretch felt a bit cheap, with The Miz hitting Bryan in the face with a foreign object for the pin, the overall match was entertaining. Rating: 3 stars out of 5 Constable Corbin vs. Demon Balor Reactions: This was never going to be a SummerSlam highlight. The odds were that Balor was going to pummel Corbin, and he does just that. He levels the Constable with a series of quick moves, and the match is over before you know it. Along with the Strowman/Owens match, this is one of the more forgettable of the night. Rating: 2 stars out of 5 Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jeff Hardy Jeff Hardy blasts Shinsuke Nakamura with a Swanton Bomb: SummerSlam 2018 (WWE Network Exclusive)After feeling the effects of a Swanton Bomb and Twist of Fate from Jeff Hardy, U.S. Champion Shinsuke Nakamura turns the tables when he avoids yet another Swanton Bomb: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network. #SummerSlam GET YOUR 1st MONTH of WWE NETWORK for FREE: wwenetwork.com ——————————————————————— Follow WWE on YouTube for more exciting action!… 2018-08-20T03:16:38.000Z Reactions: A wild ride from start to finish. Nakamura brings his trademark energy to the match, but Hardy more than holds his own, making for some genuinely tense exchanges. While Nakamura ultimately proved to be the superior wrestler, one has to give it to Hardy for an extremely entertaining match. Rating: 4 stars out of 5 Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Ronda Rousey Reactions: This was one of the night’s most anticipated matches, and while it delivers the goods, it doesn’t go out of its way to be all that memorable. Bliss gets in a few hits, but once Rousey locks in, there’s no stopping her. The rest of the match is short and sweet, with the latter doing her business until she’s crowned the new champion. Like we said, solid, but not great. Rating: 3 stars out of 5 Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns Reactions: The match we’ve all been waiting for. Lesnar and Reigns starts out as one would expect, with the former in control, but things go haywire when Braun Strowman attempts to cash in his Money In the Bank contract and gets pummeled by Lesnar. This gives Reigns just enough time to pounce, and by the time it was over, he had become the new universal champion. Rating: 4 and a half stars out of 5<doc-sep>The Barclays Center in Brooklyn once again hosts WWE SummerSlam 2018 this Sunday. With a stacked card, including Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar and Ronda Rousey vs. Alexa Bliss, it’s sure to be a wild night. Follow along with our live review for all the results and highlights. WWE SummerSlam 2018 (Photo Source: WWE.com) For the fourth consecutive year, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center plays host to the Biggest Party of the Summer. WWE SummerSlam 2018 features a massive card — thirteen matches, including the three on the Kickoff Show. Nine of the thirteen matches that make up the show are championship matches. So every title in WWE will be contested at SummerSlam. The biggest of these title matches is probably the Universal Championship match, pitting champion Brock Lesnar against challenger Roman Reigns. The Big Dog is getting his third chance to knock of Lesnar at SummerSlam. But thus far, The Beast has had Roman’s number. Will the third time be the charm? Or will Brock once again leave the building as Universal Champion? More importantly, will the fans in Brooklyn turn on the match yet again? Another featured match sees Ronda Rousey challenging for the Raw Women’s Championship, held by Alexa Bliss. Rousey had the title in her grasps back at Money in the Bank, but Bliss cashed in her briefcase to win the title from Nia Jax. Alexa was just confirmed as the opponent for Trish Stratus for WWE Evolution in October — will that take her focus away from Rousey at WWE SummerSlam 2018? But enough about Raw: What about the SmackDown Live side of things? The WWE Championship is on the line in a deeply personal conflict between champ AJ Styles and challenger Samoa Joe. Styles is the longest reigning world champion in SmackDown history, but Joe has brought family into the feud. Can AJ stay focused enough to retain the title? And Daniel Bryan faces his longtime rival The Miz, after years of animosity. This is a feud that goes back to 2010, and it’s just as fierce now as it was then. There’s no championship on the line here — just the satisfaction of getting the upper hand, and possibly inflicting severe punishment on a hated foe. But that’s all just a sampling of what’s on the card for WWE SummerSlam 2018. There’s plenty more to capture the attention of fans across the globe during the show. It all gets underway at 5 p.m. ET for the Kickoff Show, so be sure to follow our live review!<doc-sep>Best: To Defend The Intercontinental Championship Would Be To Court Seth Itself All right, let’s get to the good stuff. SummerSlam 2018 was legit one of the strangest and most unpredictable shows of the year, for better or worse. We started out on an extremely high note with Dolph Ziggler losing the Intercontinental Championship to ACE AGE Seth Rollins, with hulking leather daddies Dean Ambrose and Drew McIntyre watching from ringside. A major highlight for me here was Rollins showing up dressed like Thanos, which is easily his best and dorkiest look since he showed up to WrestleMania as the Night King. I especially love the Infinity Gauntlet boot, which presumably curb stomps you into dust. On an unrelated note, Seth, I don’t know where the Soul Gem is, but if you’re looking for it in the WWE Universe, I’d start with Slick. I loved how this was put together, because they gave it 22 minutes, but kept it relatively low key and chill until about the 18 minute mark. I’ve read a lot of reviews online that chastised it for not being a “hot opener” or whatever, but I like that it earned its crowd response with good in-ring (and ringside) character work, and didn’t just coast on everyone being excited to see wrestlers they like. That happens a lot, which is why Raw will often start out really hot and be pin-drop dead for 2 1/2 hours. Rollins and Ziggler built to the excitement, which made the excitement matter. That’s why the final four minutes were nuclear hot, and by the time Drew Mac was tossing around Jeans and Rollins was countering superkicks with superkicks, we were all roaring and counting along with the pin. It wasn’t the best match on the show — it might’ve even been the third best match of the night — but it was smartly put together and, aside from his lifelong quest to never sell a knee, Seth Rollins continues to be the most on-point Superstar they’ve got. One thing you know I had to type, though… you know how mad I get every time Rollins does a goddamn superplex and then floats over, deadlifts his opponent, and Falcon Arrows them, and it never gets the pin? You know how a stomp to the back of the head, however, somehow always does and how hard it is for me to reconcile what I know with what I’m seeing? Here’s Rollins getting a two-count on an inverted superplex into an inverted Falcon Arrow. AND GETTING TWO: That’s absolutely incredible, like RKO at WrestleMania 31 incredible even, but JESUS CHRIST, GUYS. Let’s just hope Charlotte doesn’t do any crazy moonsaults and completely whiff on them and at best maybe graze somebody’s arm on the way down so I don’t sit here complaining about the same things I always complain about! Worst: … son of a – Charlotte Flair is an incredible athlete, yes, and she’s had some of the best women’s matches in the history of the promotion, so let’s be clear that my ongoing shade to this move is specifically for this move. Someone pointed out to me recently that she moonsaults like this presumably because she’s doing less of a “wrestling move” and more of a gymnastics tumble, and she can’t properly land the tumble if somebody gets in her way, so she has to just tumble between people and ask them to fall down around it. Look at poor Becky Lynch in that GIF. Why is she bumping for that? Charlotte didn’t even touch her outstretched fingers. But shout-out to Carmella for putting herself more in the way of that than anyone I’ve seen in like six months. Best, Though: The Pink Ladies Pledge To Act Cool, To Look Cool, And To Beeeee Cool Real quick, a supplemental Best for Carmella just in general. Flair generally rules, but she seemed pretty off here, and yet Carmella — the “diva living in a women’s era” who is supposed to be the one who never tries and doesn’t know how to work — was in there on her horse, sprinting around and diving (well!) and hitting her spots. I mean, mostly. It was the best Carmella performance I’ve ever seen, and a sign that she gets it more than we’re usually allowed to see because she’s been one of two concurrent Honky Tonk Man champions in WWE’s women’s divisions. I think she’s actually better at the in-ring stuff than Alexa Bliss, but Bliss seems to have more ring awareness, if that makes sense. I’d like to see what would happen if Carmella was put into a series of challenging, physical matches and asked to continually rise to the level of her opponents, instead of the booking seeming to symbiotically wrap her in “turd in the wind”-level bullshit all the time. Best, With A Little Worst: Becky Lynch Turns Heel, Becomes Twice As Beloved Or, “YOU AIN’T SHIT, CHARLOTTE.” Remember when Bayley finally snapped on Sasha Banks, beat her down, tossed her into the railing a few times and WWE thought we’d be worried about their friendship instead of cheering for her wildly? They did that again at SummerSlam. Before the match and throughout, the crowd was nearly 100 percent behind Becky Lynch. I think everybody with clear eyes and full hearts were. She earned the title shot, she deserved the title shot. Then Lady Charlotte of House Reigns showed up and just kinda reputation’d her way into ALSO a title shot, stealing the thunder from her friend. The match happens, and Charlotte not only wins, but wins by sneak-attacking Becky with a Natural Selection when she had Carmella dead to rights in her armbar and was about to become champion. What Charlotte did was totally fair and on the level, but it was also kind of a dick move. A totally justifiable, understandable dick move, but a dick move nonetheless, in front of a crowd that DESPERATELY wanted Becky to win. So when the match is over, Becky and Charlotte do the contractually obligated women’s revolution hug and cry, and the crowd starts BOOING. Because it feels like Charlotte’s just going to get a golf clap for opportunistically waltzing her way into a seventh championship run at the expense of her “best friend.” Then, in a moment of pure magic and horrible WWE booking, Becky slaps the goddamn taste out of Charlotte’s mouth and the building EXPLODES. Like, maybe the biggest pop of the entire weekend, followed by YES and BECKY LYNCH chants. Becky beats her down, and the crowd chants, YOU DESERVE IT. The announce team tries to play it off like it was a heel turn, Charlotte sits on the floor wiping away tears trying to sell an unexpected betrayal, and everyone watching in the crowd and at home is like, “actually tho.” The best news here is that we’re going to (hopefully) get a one-on-one Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch Smackdown Women’s Championship match with a real grudge and some real emotions behind it, which we probably should’ve just done in the first place. Don’t know if that’ll happen at Hell in a Cell or if they’ll save it for Evolution, but I’m into it, even if we’ve gotta come back around to them being friends in time for Shayna Baszler and Jessamyn Duke to take them to the fucking woodshed at Survivor Series. For further, more in-depth analysis: The biggest party of the summer!! #SummerSlam & it just wasn’t… #IIconic ???<doc-sep>
WWE's SummerSlam pay-per-view was a surprising show. Not only did the six-plus hours of wrestling entertainment feel snappier than an event this long normally would, but the results of many of the matches usher in a new guard for both SmackDown Live and Monday Night RAW. Of course, SummerSlam is just one night. The ramifications may be glossed over or ignored completely by the time the Monday and Tuesday shows are done, but the WWE Universe has a lot to look forward to on RAW and SmackDown this week. Here are four takeaways from SummerSlam 2018. HOW FINN BALOR GOT HIS GROOVE BACK Finn Balor, the first Universal Champion, hasn't had the greatest run on RAW since his return from injury over a year ago. He never got a rematch for the Universal title and suffered lackluster feuds with Bray Wyatt and the RAW midcard. Balor's potential as a main event star seemed to have faded into smiley-face obscurity. Enter the Demon. In one of many surprises from SummerSlam, Balor brought out the Demon to squash Constable Baron Corbin. This is the first the WWE Universe has seen of Finn's alter ego since SummerSlam 2016 and, honestly, Balor needed it. We suspect that bringing out the Demon means a change in attitude for Balor and his booking should lead him to more opportunities, whether it's in the Universal Title scene (more on that later) or for the Intercontinental Championship. Either way, Balor fans should be excited after SummerSlam. A WWE WOMEN'S MATCH WILL MAIN EVENT ONE OF THE BIG FOUR SOON There's no secret that the WWE has made strides with its women's division, but it's becoming abundantly clear after SummerSlam 2018 that a women's match will main event one of the big four pay-per-views very soon. Not only was the SmackDown Women's Championship match between Charlotte, Carmella and Becky Lynch arguably match of the night, but Lynch's turn against Charlotte received the biggest reaction from the Brooklyn crowd. This proves that the WWE Universe cares about the ladies' in-ring ability, so now the character work has to, and should, be on par with the men. The crowd would not have popped for Lynch's attack on Charlotte if the WWE and the talent themselves didn't put in the work to show the plucky, hard working underdog babyface getting frustrated and hurt by the friend who is seemingly handed endless opportunities. The turn wouldn't have worked as well as it did without the time and effort put in to build up their characters. On the other side, Ronda Rousey won the RAW Women's Championship from Alexa Bliss in another squash match that was both totally believable and needed to happen. The WWE's enthusiasm for Rousey since her signing is clear as day. It helps the former UFC star has put in a lot of good work since her debut at WrestleMania 34, which led to her being massively over with the WWE Universe in Brooklyn last night. The narrative of the WWE's Four Horsewomen vs the Four Horsewomen of UFC planted a couple of years ago and is slowly becoming a reality. It's possible we'll see that match at this year's Survivor Series now that all four UFC fighters are under contract with WWE. If Charlotte and Rousey continue to hold the women's belts we can see the two square off at WrestleMania 35. It's plausible that both matches can main event both shows. THE MONEY IN THE BANK BRIEFCASE IS BECOMING PROBLEMATIC The match between Braun Strowman and Kevin Owens for Braun's MITB briefcase was … interesting. Not only did Strowman win and keep his briefcase, he did it in less than two minutes whcih made weeks of buildup between them seem pointless. The stipulation of Strowman being DQ'd or counted out never really came into play. Neither did KO's temporary alliance with Jinder Mahal. So what good did it do Owens or Braun? The MITB contract rarely works with non-heels and Strowman's win felt hollow. Sure, Strowman has been booked as this unstoppable monster so he should have won convincingly, but without having to overcome any real odds during the match, Strowman didn't get that classic babyface rub from his victory. And Owens looks like a chump for not using a stipulation totally for his benefit to his advantage. Later on in the night, Strowman announced he will cash-in at the end of the Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns match, which also doesn't help Braun.