SummerSlam 2019 Review

WWE SummerSlam 2019

Becky Lynch (champ) vs Natalya- Submission Match for the Raw Women's Title

      This was a pretty impressive match and a great way to start strong with. A brutal back and forth war of attrition with two fierce performances from two of WWE's best female wrestlers. Some of the more awkward transitions can be attributed to the nature of the match. One of the highlights was when the Toronto fans booed Becky putting Natalya in a sharpshooter While it isn't exactly the best submission match ever, it's still worth a watch. There was some selective selling but nothing too flagrant. Becky picks up the hard-fought win after a DisArm-Her.

Three tight leather armbars out of five.
   

Goldberg vs Dolph Ziggler


     Dolph, sporting a pretty cool "Shout At The Devil" jean vest, berates the crowd and thinks the Hall of Famer won't even show up. Then the music hits and out comes Goldberg in classic fashion, a knock on the door and being followed out of the backstage area to walk through a hail of sparks. Ziggler lays into Goldberg with two superkicks which the legend kicks out of each consecutive pinfall attempt. Goldberg then gives Dolph a huge spear. One Jackhammer suplex later and it's all over. Dolph then grabs a microphone and trash talks Goldberg, prompting a second spear. Dolph grabs the mic a second time to trash-talk the Hall of Famer one more time, which ends with, well you get the picture. This match might have been more interesting had Ziggler been booked to get in a little more offense, but I suppose Goldberg's age is a factor and it's probably the best we'll get out of him at this stage of his life.And while there were three in total, this match and segment gets:

One and a half fifty-two-year old spears out of five.

AJ Styles (champ) vs Ricochet for the WWE United States Championship

      Ricochet graces the ring in a Nightwing-inspired outfit which looks pretty damn slick. An incredible highlight is where Ricochet walks on the shoulders of AJ Styles's companions, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows to hurricanrana AJ. It becomes a hard-hitting, high-flying battle between two of the best performers in WWE. AJ gets the victory with countering a Phoenix Splash into the Styles Clash. Anderson and Gallows then hit a Magic Killer on Ricochet to add insult to injury.

Three Dick Graysons out of five.

Bayley (champ) vs Ember Moon for the Smackdown Women's Championship

      This match had something of a slow start. The problem when you have a match between two good guys (or Faces/babyfaces) is that it leaves the crowd a bit unsure of who to root for and it showed with the lackluster crowd reaction. Things did pick up later in the match until Bayley comes up with the W with a Bayley-To-Belly suplex from the second rope. A serviceable match but the crowd reaction did sort of hurt it.

Two Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Men out of five.

Kevin Owens vs Shane McMahon (If Owens loses he must quit WWE)

      Shane McMahon tries to get Kevin Owens counted out by having him argue with special enforcer Elias (fresh from eating a spear from Hall of Famer Edge). Shane's style makes for a perfect heel (bad guy), cheapshots, using Elias to distract Kevin, even having the ref pulled out of the ring. It was a fine enough match in terms of a dirty rotten scoundrel getting their comeuppance. A nice-feel good moment with Kevin Owens winning with a low-blow and a Stunner.

Two and a half Sweaty Shane-O-Mac jerseys out of five.

Charlotte Flair vs Trish Stratus

      A clash of generations. Trish shows she still has it with a great performance, willing to take a pretty brutal and extensive beating from Charlotte. The grit and determination on both women's face told more of a story than the last two weeks of lackluster promos ever did. Though there was a time in the match where Trish's shoulders were down for a little longer than they should've been, it set up for the Hall of Famer to steal Charlotte's Figure Eight leglock for a brief moment. Though she brought a tough fight, Trish succumbed to The Queen's Figure Eight and tapped out. After the match Trish bade the Toronto crowd and all her WWE fans a fond adieu.

Three Stratusfactions out of five.

Kofi Kingston (champ) vs Randy Orton for the WWE Heavyweight Championship

     Of all of Kofi's title defenses, I'd consider this one his weakest. Randy's slow, methodical style fits his character to a T and it sometimes makes for a compelling good-guy-in-trouble story and makes the comeback all the richer. The crowd didn't seem to find the action all that entertaining and frankly I agree. Kofi does his best with what he's got and tries to elevate the match to at least a better quality. After eating Orton's patented RKO, Kofi rolls out of the ring, in front of his family. As Randy taunts said family with the prone body of Kofi, the champion becomes furious once the bell rings and both contestants are counted out. While Kofi annihilates Randy with a kendo stick and a Trouble In Paradise, the understandably cheesed off crowd goes "Bullshit!" And while I get booking maybe wanting to drag the storyline out for a little more, but personally speaking, I agree with the crowd.

One and a half Pancakes out of five.

Finn Balor vs The Fiend Bray Wyatt

      Finn Balor comes out in just about the whitest outfit I've ever seen. A stark contrast to Bray Wyatt, coming out with a really sick monster mask and a lantern with a human head cover on the lantern. I'm surprised Bray got away with that, to be honest. This was, in the common parlance, a squash match; where one wrestler gets in ninety-nine percent of the offense in the match. While Finn made the best of his one percent, it was still a showcase of Wyatt's newly honed skill. Wyatt looked like an absolute beast and he needed to to make an impression. The Fiend wins catching Finn Balor with the Mandible Claw for the pinfall "Holy shit" indeed.

Three demon contact lenses out of five.

Brock Lesnar (champ) vs Seth Rollins for the WWE Universal Championship

      Seth Rollins, taped up ribs and all, came out swinging against The Beast Incarnate, or as my friend Jared would say the YEET Incarnate due to Brock's penchant for throws and German Suplexes. After a couple of superkicks and a stomp, Brock begins annihilating his challenger with his usual methodical but explosive style. Seth sells his hurt ribs nicely and Brock, while I personally find limited in terms of personality and moves, is every bit the beast he's advertised as. One moment showed Seth being literally slung across the ring by the tape on his ribs. Seth follows up with a frog splash onto Brock through a table, then a frog splash in the ring five minutes later, two Stomps later and Rollins comes out with a satisfying, hard fought win, conquering The Conqueror.

Three Burning It Downs out of five.

Overall grade

Three Missing Roman Reigns Out of Five!

      This PPV, for the minimal or dismal build-up it had garnered for the last three weeks since Extreme Rules, SummerSlam gives us a pretty good show where only one match could really be considered weak, but it wasn't what I would call a full one-star match (The difference between this and Goldberg vs Dolph was that despite that being a squash match, it was a little more entertaining despite the limited moves on display thanks to Ziggler selling the spears like death.). On that note, none of the matches were truly amazing or instant classics, but they were still pretty damn good for the lack of build-up and anticipation.

Match Of The Night Goes To

     

      Brock and Seth told a hell of a complete story and had a satisfying payoff plus some pretty intense moments. A spot-on performance from both wrestlers led to one of Brock's better matches in recent memory.