After weeks of buildup and a busy weekend, it’s finally time to look at the 2018 Summerslam WWE PPV. The 13 match show started on the free Kickoff Show on Youtube.

Andrade “Cien” Almas & Zelina Vega vs. Rusev & Lana (Mixed Tag Match)

The first match on the card was Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega facing Rusev and Lana in a mixed tag match. Almas and Rusev started the match, with Almas being dominant. Rusev tried to give Lana a hot tag but Vega pulled her off of the ring apron, keeping the men in the ring. Almas tried for a second rope move but Rusev reversed by pushing Almas over the top rope, to the outside. Lana then finally got the hot tag, hitting a combo of moves finishing with a Running Bulldog. She then did a Double Knees to the head on the ropes and a Neckbreaker for a two count. Lana did a Slam which the commentary team sold as if Vega was an impressive person to lift. Lana slapped Almas who was on the ring apron. Vega capitalized off the distraction, hitting a roll-up pin to win the match. She put her legs up on the rope while pinning to show that she was cheating, but did it so late into the pin that it did not look that well.

The match was good and I thought the finish was clever. When Lana wrestles she always looks so stiff. She is improving, but still doesn’t look too comfortable in the ring.

Drew Gulak vs. Cedric Alexander (WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match)

As the kickoff show reached it’s second hour, it saw it’s second match. Drew Gulak looked to take down Cedric Alexander, who won his Cruiserweight Championship at Wrestlemania. Alexander did a dive over all three ropes mid-way through the match after Gulak was awkwardly thrown out of the ring. Cedric went to the top rope but was shoved off the rope, then Gulak did the GuLock on the ropes. Alexander escaped another GuLock later with a Elbow that was sold really well by Gulak. Both of them did a really good combo with tons of near falls and chain wrestling. It ended with a roll-up by Alexander. The chain wrestling lasted for over a minute and was phenomenal. It looked like it was fully choreographed. The rest of the match wasn’t that great, but the impressive chain wrestling was worth seeing.

The Revival vs. The B-Team (WWE RAW Tag Team Championship Match)

Finishing off the Summerslam kickoff was The B-Team facing The Revival. The B-Team not only defend their titles, but their undefeated streak. The B-Team won this short match with a roll-up pin. I mentally clocked out during this match. The finish was kind of lame.

Seth Rollins w/ Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler w/ Drew McIntyre

Summerslam started with a video package of Terry Crews. He stands outside of the Barclays Center talking about what success is. I thought that the video package was even better than the usual intro that WWE has. It wasn’t as exciting, but it felt like a good introduction. We cut to a crowd that didn’t seem too thrilled to be there. WWE throughout the night used CGI that was hovering over the ring in-between matches, but it honestly looked so bad. The first match is Seth Rollins versus Dolph Ziggler, with the biggest plot twist in this match being Dean Ambrose making his return, cornering Rollins. Ambrose got his own music before Rollins made his entrance.

Ziggler was wearing pants that had the IC belt printed on them, which threw me off. Early in the match Ambrose went face to face with McIntyre two times. Rollins impressively caught a Crossbody from Ziggler then dumped him to the outside. When they got back in the ring Rollins got a rally going, hitting a Swingblade and strikes in the corner. After Ziggler tried for a roll-up Rollins hit a Blockbuster. Rollins went to the top rope again but Ziggler stopped him and tried to turn it into a Superplex. Rollins head-butted him off of the second rope. Ziggler rolled out of the way from a second rope move. Seth did a dive to outside the ring then a Springboard Clothesline and a Ripcord Knee for a two count.

Rollins did a close count out spot, rolling back in at nine. Rollins went to the top rope after a kick and tried a Frogsplash but Ziggler put up the knees to counter it. Rollins did a Superplex except Ziggler landed on his stomach, then rolled through for another slam. He got a two count because of this. The crowd gave got guys a round of applause during the pause in the match. As Seth was setting up for another move McIntyre attacked Ambrose at ringside. This distracted Rollins, letting Ziggler hit a Zig-Zag. Rollins kicked out, which surprised me because this felt like the end of the match. Seth started to bleed around the forehead.

Rollins dodged a Superkick for a round of roll-up pins that lead to a Buckle Bomb. Ambrose gave McIntyre a Dirty Deeds at ringside. Rollins did a Superkick then a Curbstomp to become the new Intercontinental Champion. While the first ⅔ of the match had the crowd pretty quiet, the impressive combinations of moves at the end really woke them up. It would be hard to be right after these guys on the card. I felt that Dean played too much of a background role for this segment, despite being involved with the finish. I felt that most of the time you forgot he was there, until got attacked there was a reaction of “Oh, right.” Other than that, this was a fair opening to the show.

The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods w/ Kofi Kingston) vs. The Bludgeon Brothers (Smackdown Tag Team Championship Match)

Before our next match Renee Young was backstage with Nicki and Brie Bella. They say they are at the event to see what history will be made tonight. They are asked if they will participate at the Evolution PPV. THey say that they don’t know yet. They do a sketch about how their reality shows have been renewed, which had some pretty bad acting in it, but it doesn’t really matter. We’re with the Smackdown commentary for the next match, including Byron Saxton, who is wearing a very shiny blue blazer. The New Day looks to recreate the success that they have seen at Summerslam before, facing The Bludgeon Brothers for their Smackdown Tag Team Championships. It’s usually Big E and Kofi Kingston in the ring, but Xavier Woods has replace Kofi for this one. Three members of this match did an absolutely deadly (in a bad way) spot. Big E threw Harper off the apron onto the floor, where Xavier was trying for a Backbreaker, but kind of missed it, making Harper just land on his back hard. Xavier did a crazy spot after doing an Elbow Drop off the top rope to the floor onto Harper. New Day were trying for a double team until Rowan hit one of them with a hammer to end the match via DQ. This was very disappointing. A crazy match with tons of spots was put an end to in a cop-out way.

Kevin Owens vs. Braun Stroman (Winner Gets Braun Stroman’s Money In The Bank Briefcase)

Jon Stewart was spotted in the crowd before the next match. Corey Graves and Michael Cole reflected on how Stewart was involved with Summerslam two years ago while Johnathan Coachman was interrupting about something completely irrelevant. The next match is Kevin Owens versus Braun Stroman with Stroman’s Money In The Bank Briefcase on the line. Within minutes Stroman got the win with a Running Powerslam. Owens got completely crushed. Well, how could you bury Owens even more, really. Owens has bullied for weeks, with his life being completely ruined, then when he stopped running away from his problems he got his clock cleaned. Not sure what was achieved by this. Ironically, an anti-bullying ran right after the match.

Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Carmella (Smackdown Women’s Championship Match)

The next match was a triple threat match for the Smackdown Women’s Championship. Carmella did a dive to the outside which was absolutely insane. It looked like she absolutely murdered who she landed on. Lynch put Carmella into a Disarmer but Carmella got to a rope. Lynch slammed Carmella back into the center of the ring to reapply the Disarmer but Flair broke it up with the Natural Selection. She pinned Lynch to win the match. Flair is the new Smackdown Women’s Champion. This match was going at the pace of one that should tear the house down, but didn’t. It felt like most moves didn’t fully land. After the match Charlotte and Lynch hugged, but then Becky beat up Charlotte. This crowd acted surprised but also satisfied with this. The crowd was pulling for Lynch. Looks like this will be the Smackdown program for the Evolution PPV.

Samoa Joe vs. AJ Styles (WWE Championship)

Smackdown got their main event about halfway through the main card of Summerslam. Samoa Joe faced AJ Styles, attempting to win the WWE Championship. Joe has played mind games leading up to the fight, bringing AJ’s family into the mix. Before the fight started, Joe introduced Wendy Styles and their daughter who were in the crowd, saying “Daddy’s coming home tonight.” Styles refuted saying that is family is there to see him beat up Joe. Joe did a dive to the outside which is always crazy to see from him. Joe also hit a massive knee strike off the top rope later on. Styles hit a Styles Clash that looked kind of sloppy, but Joe kicked out. Styles tried to finish the match with a Calf Crusher but he got out of it by slamming Styles’ head on the mat repeatedly. This looked pretty badass. He then put in the Cohena Clutch, but AJ reached the ropes. After beating up AJ at ringside he said daddy might not come home but he can “be your new daddy.” This unleashed Styles, making him not only beat up Joe, but beat up people at ringside. He took a chair to Joe, ending the match via DQ. He also started bleeding on his forehead. I was really hoping that this match wouldn’t end this way, but it was still a pretty good ending. I was hoping that maybe Styles could be unleashed but in a way that made him powerful in the match.

Elias Concert

Elias is in the ring for a Summerslam concert. Before Elias was going to debut a new hit song of his, he accidentally snapped his guitar in half. This ended his concert. It was a cute little breather in-between matches. The Miz sees The B-Team backstage. The Miz says assumes that they are there to thank him. He also invited them to hang out after the show. They say that they aren’t there to thank him, and they have their own partying to do. They say that they hope Daniel Bryan will beat The Miz.

The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan

Easily the biggest grudge match of the night was The Miz versus Daniel Bryan. Not that they had much competition, but even if there was 20 grudge matches on this card, this specific match would still be the biggest. One of my favourite spots in this match was Bryan hanging The Miz in the corner upside down, then doing Yes Kicks to him. He followed it up with a running Dropkick and a Belly-To-Back Suplex off the top rope. The Miz kicked out from this. Bryan started pelting The Miz with kicks and slaps. It was revealed during the match that Maryse was sitting at ringside. The Miz put Bryan in a Figure Four late into the match, but Bryan fought out of it. The finish came after The Miz hit Bryan with something when the ref wasn’t looking. He was handed it by Maryse. He got the pin to win. This was a very good finish to the match. Although I liked this I felt WWE was going a little overboard tonight with DQ’s/dirty finishes.

“Constable” Baron Corbin vs. Finn Balor

Finn Balor faces Baron Corbin in the next match. Balor is in his rare demon attire. This got a huge reaction from the crowd. Corbin did not want to fight once he saw Balor is the demon. Balor quickly got all of his spots in, stomping Corbin with the Coup De Grace to win the match. This match was short, and I totally understand why, but I wished it would last a little longer so we could appreciate the amazing body art that is the demon version of Finn Balor.

Jeff Hardy vs. Shinsuke Nakamura (United States Championship Match)

Hardy hoped to win back his US title in this match. At the start of the match Jeff mocked Shinsuke, which got him very angry. Late in the match Hardy hit a Twist Of Fate and then a Swanton Bomb, but Nakamura grabbed a bottom rope. Hardy attempted another Swanton Bomb, this time on the ring apron, but Nakamura dodged it. That looked extremely painful. Nakamura did a brutal kick to the back of the head then did a Kinshasa to retain his belt. I’ve mentioned before that I don’t like ring apron spots like that. It buries the idea that the actual ring has value to do moves on. After the match Randy Orton came out eyeing an injured Hardy. He was going to attack Hardy, but then turned around and left, almost out of pity.

Ronda Rousey vs. Alexa Bliss (RAW Women’s Championship Match)

Before the next match Natalya came out to a very warm reaction from the crowd. The next match is Alexa Bliss and Ronda Rousey. Bliss was fleeing the ring at the start, not looking like she had much confidence in herself. Bliss was killed with Rousey’s armdrags. Rousey put Bliss in an Armbar, bending her arm backwards in a “broken” looking way to win the match. I guess we all forgot that Bliss is double jointed, and the two times that she used that to her advantage.

Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman (WWE Universal Championship Match)

Finally, the main event of the evening. Roman Reigns faces Brock Lesnar, attempting to dethrone his record long reign. As usual Paul Heyman did an introduction for Lesnar. Just before the match was going to start, Braun Stroman comes out. Braun said that he is going to cash in for whoever wins this match. Reigns hit three Superman Punches and then three Spears, but the third one went right into a Guillotine but Roman escaped. Brock dodged a Superman Punch and hit two German Suplexes. Roman did a dive to the outside after Brock got out of his way. Outside the ring Lesnar did an F5 to Stroman. Reigns won with a Spear as Lesnar was distracted with a chair to become the new Universal Champion. Roman is on top of the WWE world as the show goes off air.

It’s time to look over NXT’s show from the Summerslam weekend, Brooklyn 4. The show started with a pretty good opening video package, ending with a line from Tommaso Ciampa. After the introduction the show doesn’t waste much time to get to the first match.

The first match of the night was Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong form the Undisputed Era defending their NXT Tag Team Championships against Tyler Bate and Trent Seven from Mustache Mountain. For some reason the champions entered first, which seems unusual. At the start of the match there was absolutely no order. The four guys were just completely going at each other. The match eventually had order to it. Tyler Bate did a really impressive spot when he spun Roderick Strong by his legs while already holding O’Reilly on his shoulders. Bate then did a double German Suplex. The crowd really popped for this, with an NXT chant breaking out. Bate’s momentum stopped after Strong nearly killed him with a Clothesline.

O’Reilly started working parts of the body, sweeping a leg with a kick and then doing different holds on it. Trent Seven got a hot tag after Bate was in the ring for a long time. He did a Back Body Drop and then dove to the outside. He reversed a kick in the corner by O’Reilly into a slam. He hit a Dragon Release Suplex into another type of slam for a very close count. Strong put Seven into a Strong Hold while O’Reilly had Bate in a Triangle Choke. Bate slammed O’Reilly into Strong to get them out of their situation. Bate dove over all three ropes the the outside, then did an amazing clothesline. Back in the ring Bate gave Strong a Powerbomb but he kicked out at two. O’Reilly put Bate into a submission move that made Seven consider throwing in the towel for his team. When the ref wasn’t looking at one point, Strong dragged the submission move away from Seven’s corner. Seven got a hot tag, hitting some strikes and a clothesline. Bate got a tag in for a Burning Hammer double team. Kyle O’Reilly kicked out, leaving the crowd in disbelief and appreciation. NXT’s nearly trademarked catchphrase “Fight forever” was chanted. Undisputed Era came in and made a very quick comeback, with the team hitting a High-Low to win the match.

This match was absolutely amazing. It was the textbook definition of “tearing the house down.” I predicted in my preview article that this match would be an absolute party, and I couldn’t have been more happy that I was right. If there was anything that I wished I could change about this match was the finish. I felt that Undisputed Era came back and mounted an offense that came out of nowhere. They could have maybe done a few more moves before calling for the finish. But don’t let that small criticism make the match sound lesser than it was. After the match War Machine absolutely destroyed O’Reilly and Strong. Looks like they are next in line. This beatdown was crazy in itself, with one of the guys doing a dive, which is very impressive for their physique. This made me wonder what the rest of the Undisputed Era was doing while the beatdown happened. Why didn’t they come to the aid of their buddies?

The second match was the only match that did not have any real prize for winning. The Velveteen Dream versus EC3. I can only assume that the crowd was singing along to EC3’s theme, despite the broadcast not picking it up. Full Sail was absolutely screaming the theme on Wednesday’s NXT episode. Early in the match Velveteen hit a Twisting DDT on the metal grate part of the entrance ramp. Velveteen played mind games with EC3, splashing a bottle of water in his face after hitting his head against a commentary booth many times. EC3 hit a Superplex later on, but Velveteen kicking out at two. Velveteen did a Driver of some sort on the apron then did an Elbow Drop onto the apron. He dragged EC3 back into the ring for a 3 count. I liked this match but I’m not that huge on the apron bumps like what was done at the end.

Before our next match we see Matt Riddle sitting at ringside. You could hear a ruckus in the crowd before they even cut to him, as some people probably noticed him being planted in the crowd. The next match is Ricochet attempting to take the North American Championship from Adam Cole. Throughout this match Cole was scolding Ricochet, repeatedly saying “You’re not special!” Ricochet went for an impressive dive around 10 minutes into the match. Cole hit a Backstabber for a very close count. Ricochet went for a Moonsault but Cole reversed it by hitting a mid-air Superkick. He followed it up with a Neckbreaker for a two count. The crowd went absolutely wild for this spot. The two traded kicks, with Cole falling on top of Ricochet for another close count. Ricochet went to the top rope, possibly looking for the finish of the match, but then Cole rolled out of the way. Instead Ricochet jumped over the top rope, onto the apron and did a Huricanrana to the outside floor. He followed it up with a his Shooting Star where he lands his back on the guy to win the match. This match had an amazing ending sequence. Looks like not all of The Undisputed Era could find success tonight.

The continued theme of rematches continued on this card when Kairi Sane faced Shayna Baszler. The three other “Four Horsewomen” were in the crowd to support Baszler. There was a spot early in this match was twisting Sane’s legs in a way that were painful to watch. I was physically cringing watching this spot, it was amazing. Sane started to mount a comeback after many minutes of being beat down, hitting an InSane Elbow, Shayne rolled away from another, but Sane did a Crossbody off the top rope to the outside. Sane then hit a second InSane Elbow. This spot seemed slightly similar to what we saw in the match before. Sane was put in a Rear Naked Choke but reached a rope. Sane tried for an InSane Elbow once again but Baszler kicked her in the head on the way down. Baszler tried to put Sane in another submission move but Sane reversed it into a roll-up while still in the hold to win the match. I am happy that Sane is finally champion, and I also liked the final sequence of moves.

Finally, it was time for the main event of the night. In what has been such long built up rivalry, Johnny Gargano faces NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa in a Last Man Standing match. Ciampa walked out to the ring with no theme music, getting bombarded with boo’s from the crowd. During the match introductions Gargano jumped Ciampa, starting the match. Early in the match Ciampa peeled off a part of the padding at ringside. Gargano did an amazing dive off the apron onto the floor. Ciampa was then thrown over the English commentary table, getting a piece of a fleeing Percy Watson. Ciampa carried Gargano off the English commentary table, dropping him through the Spanish table. Later on Gargano threw Ciampa head first into a steel chair that was wedged into the corner. A few moves later Gargano tried to throw Ciampa through two tables outside the ring but Ciampa avoided it. Ciampa hit the Three Amigos right after (three German Suplexes). Ciampa did three Project Ciampa’s moments later. He seems to like his trios. Gargano was down for a nine count, but then springed up and Superkicked Ciampa.

After Gargano sprayed Ciampa with a fire extinguisher, he hit him with a crutch. Gargano almost got put through the two tables put avoided it. Gargano did a Springboard DDT onto a piece of the ring which had it’s mat torn off of it. Outside the ring Gargano accidentally Superkicked a production crew guy after Ciampa dodged it. Ciampa Speared Gargano through the barricade then stacked like 6 things on top of him, including the production guy. Gargano escaped at a 9 count. Ciampa got Superkicked off the apron and went through the two tables which were on the concrete floor. He used a broken crutch to help himself up. Gargano brought Ciampa up to the stage and handcuffed him to a part of the wall on the stage. After Gargano hit a Knee Strike it took both of them down. Ciampa made it up for the 9 count while Gargano stayed down for all 10. The commentary team says Gargano is injured as the show is concluding. Ciampa remains the top dog of NXT at TakeOver Brooklyn 4 comes to a close.

It’s WWE’s biggest event of the summer! If it wasn’t for Wrestlemania, it would most likely be the biggest event of the year. This year it’s certainly a big show. Not necessarily because of the popularity of names on the card, or the hype built around the show, but because of the sheer volume of matches in the lineup. If you plan to watch the pre-show and the main card, you’ll be sitting through 13 matches and an Elias segment. Basically every active roster member that has been up to something recently has something to do on this show. In the main event, Brock Lesnar defends his Universal Championship against Roman Reigns. These two have met on numerous occasions, with the most notable on being at Wrestlemania 31, when Seth Rollins cashed in his Money In The Bank briefcase to beat both men. We’ll get more into that match, but let’s work our way up to it.

The first of the three kickoff matches is The B-Team defending their RAW Tag Team Championships against The Revival. The B-Team are just coming off a defense on Monday in a triple threat match, where they capitalized off of the damage that their opponents were doing to each other. This match really has two outcomes: 1) The B-Team finds a way to just barely squeeze by, in a fluke situation or 2) The Revival take the belts, ending The B-Teams undefeated run. Personally I feel the safe bet is on The B-Team since WWE have been getting more comfortable with the gimmick in past weeks (theme song, etc).

The second kickoff match is the only mixed tag match on the show. Rusev and Lana hope to win on Rusev Day when they face Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega. Andrade was sitting on the bench for quite some time on Smackdown Live until recently he was put into this angle. Despite Vega having matches in the past, this match will be the first time that I’ve seen it. It will be interesting to see how she works with Lana.

205 Live get slight representation on this PPV, like they do every show. Cedric Alexander defends his Cruiserweight Championship against Drew Gulak. Gulak got the last laugh on the most recent episode of 205 Live getting his henchmen to distract Alexander, letting him pick the scraps. Alexander has been champion since Wrestlemania making him have the second longest Cruiserweight Championship reign in history (first place is Neville).

After the three kickoff matches have come and gone, there is 10 more matches. The first one from the Smackdown brand is a grudge match years in the making. Daniel Bryan faces The Miz in what is really a Wrestlemania caliber match. Bryan broke into WWE back when NXT was a game show, with The Miz being his mentor. Their feud was on the backburner for a few years, but then was brought back when Bryan found himself in a managerial position at Smackdown Live. Now that Bryan is out of retirement the petty exchanges between the two will have to be put aside and settled in the ring.

Finn Balor squashes his beef with the power hungry Baron Corbin in a RAW brand fight. Baron Corbin, who likes to now go by the name “Constable Corbin” has not been spared of any criticism by Finn Balor in past weeks. Corbin has used his position of power to mess with Balor.

Shinsuke Nakamura is set to defend his United States Championship from Jeff Hardy on Sunday as well. Nakamura won the belt off of Hardy at Extreme Rules, ending Hardy’s nearly three month reign. Nakamura has shown that he will do anything to win, even if it means bending the rules. Hardy might have to move on to another goal in wrestling if he loses this Sunday.

In the only triple threat match Sunday, Carmella defends her Smackdown Women’s Championship against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. Becky and Charlotte have to put their friendship aside as it’s every woman for themself. Carmella either has a big advantage or disadvantage heading into the match, depending on which angle they go with. If Lynch and Flair team up, then Carmella will have trouble. If Carmella can capitalize on the two having troubles co-existing, she can win. Personally I feel this match going in favour of Carmella, but there’s no real safe bet.

Another twist was added to the Seth Rollins versus Dolph Ziggler match was added this Monday when it was announced that Dean Ambrose will be cornering Rollins. This evens the odds as Ziggler has had Drew McIntyre by his side for his matches. Ziggler has to defend his Intercontinental Championship in this match.

Similar to what NJPW does with their G1 Briefcase, Braun Stroman will put his Money In The Bank briefcase on the line against Kevin Owens. This rivalry got almost no mentions in the go-home Monday Night RAW. Owens has been toyed with by Stroman for the past few months by destroying his rental car and throwing him off the stage while being in a port-a-potty. It’s safe to say that a win for Owens isn’t just for the MiTB briefcase.

The Bludgeon Brothers put their Smackdown Tag Team Titles on the line against The New Day. 2015 at Summerslam was where New Day became tag team champions, starting a reign that would last 483 days, making them the longest reigning champs of what is now known as the RAW Tag Team Championships. New Day have a numbers advantage, as they can choose two of the three members to participate in this fight.

In the biggest match for the Smackdown brand, Samoa Joe attempts to dethrone AJ Styles and his WWE Championship reign. Joe and Styles have fought numerous times in the past, mostly outside of WWE. Cagematch.net has 69 fights listed between them, dating back to 2003. However, they haven’t met in the ring since 2013. Styles has held the belt since November of 2017. Whether Joe’s past experience can play into his success on Sunday will be seen.

Ronda Rousey doesn’t fight often, but when she does it’s not for nothing. Since her debut at Wrestlemania Ronda has seen success but never gotten a chance to fight for gold. In one of the biggest fights on the card, Ronda will try to take down Alexa Bliss and take her RAW Women’s Championship. Bliss has been playing the cowardly gimmick leading up to the fight, throwing security guards and her henchwoman Alicia Fox at Rousey. There will (hopefully) be nothing to use as a distraction on Sunday when it’s just the two of them in the ring.

The main event of Summerslam is Roman Reigns versus Brock Lesnar. Lesnar has successfully defended the WWE Universal Championship against Roman, both times in April. Once at the grandest stage Wrestlemania, the other at “The Greatest Royal Rumble”. Last year Roman was in a four-way fight with Brock, Samoa Joe and Braun Stroman. This time around there is no except them. Brock has the chance to make it a trilogy of victories over Roman, hopefully ending this rivalry, or Roman will become the new Universal Champion, ending Brock’s 16 month reign.

Tons of matches and tons of time for them on Sunday as the Summerslam kickoff starts at 5PM EST on Youtube. The main card starts at 7PM EST and goes for as long as WWE’s heart desires.

In recent years the NXT Takeover before Summerslam has created many memories. Some would argue that past Takeovers have outshone the Sunday show. The first time that NXT came to Brooklyn, Sasha Banks and Bayley delivered a Match of The Year contender. The two years after that saw a title change hands in the main event. Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Samoa Joe, and Drew McIntyre defeated Bobby Roode. One of the best parts at looking back at the older shows is to see where these wrestlers are now. Nakamura for example, main evented Takeover two years ago and is now fighting on the Summerslam card defending his US title. NXT is the future of the main roster. Let’s see what the roster has to showcase on Saturday.

The five fight card starts with a grudge match. The only grudge match on the card. EC3 faces The Velveteen Dream. It doesn’t seem like there is too much of a story behind this match, but the in-ring action should be entertaining. An angle was done on the final episode leading up to the PPV where they confronted each other in the ring. EC3 won the unscheduled beatdown.

After a grudge match the rest of the night has title implications. The tag team champions and members of The Undisputed Era Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong plan to “Shock The System” when UK duo Tyler Bate and Trent Seven A.K.A Mustache Mountain challenge for their belts. These two teams are very familiar with each other as they played hot potato with the belt in June. Mustache Mountain ended the 150+ day reign for The Undisputed Era, winning the belts back at NXT’s UK Championship show. The belts were won back only days after on NXT. Mustache Mountain have proven they can do it once, but now they have to do it again. Maybe it was a fluke that they won it once, or maybe they can find success once more.

NXT’s new North American Championship sees it’s first TakeOver appearance since it was won back at New Orleans in April. Adam Cole, who won the title via a ladder match sees himself facing Ricochet, another man who was vying for the belt that same night. Ricochet was the one who issued the challenge on NXT TV. Despite Cole not being too keen on the idea, the match was booked.

The final two matches of the show have lots of backstory to them. In the first one, Kairi Sane looks to become an NXT Women’s Champion when she faced Shayna Baszler. The two have met before, with Sane being victorious in that meeting. Sane defeated Baszler to become the winner of the Mae Young Classic last year. Since then Baszler became the NXT Women’s Champion, looking down on Sane and the rest of the roster. Sane fought her way to the rematch after winning a #1 contenders match on NXT TV. In the final week leading up to Takeover Sane tried to intimidate Baszler by beating Aliyah to a pulp. Sane hopes that history will repeat while Baszler hopes to end get the final laugh on their rivalry.

After betrayal in 2017, the long standing rivalry between Tommaso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano has another chapter installed into it on Saturday. Ciampa ditched the tag team called #DIY that he had with Gargano after a loss to The Authors of Pain back in 2017. Since then Ciampa battled back from injury, making his return at TakeOver in New Orleans, defeating Gargano in an “unsanctioned” bout. He beat him once again at NXT Chicago II. This match wasn’t originally scheduled to be just between these two, but became that way after Aleister Black suffered a groin injury. He was written off of NXT TV last week as footage showed that someone attacked Black on the campus of Full Sail University. After defeating Gargono two times in a row, this fight could be the last chance for “Johnny Wrestling” to prove himself.

NXT has an exciting lineup Saturday which has potential to put on many quality matches. Personally I am most excited about the tag bout and the women’s bout. The women’s one because I don’t know who will win, and the tag one because it looks like it will be an absolute barn-burner. NXT’s fourth time in Brooklyn has potential to be spectacular and if it holds that quality afterwords will be seen tomorrow.

With NXT Takeover only three days away, we have a final episode of NXT leading into the show. The show opens with a recap of NXT TV from last week, where the Triple Threat match for Takeover was announced. We also see that Aleister Black was assaulted outside the Full Sail venue. He was previously announced from the triple threat match, making it just Gargano and Ciampa.

The Street Profits vs. The Mighty

The first fight of the evening was The Street Profits against The Mighty (formerly known as TM61). Street Profits had the crowd completely behind them for this match. Montez Ford for The Street Profits got a hot tag, taking out both of The Mighty. He hit a Sunset Flip for a two count. When an attempted roll-up with tights pulled was tried on Ford he turned the tables to win the match. The Street Profits celebrated in the seats afterwards. I thought that this match was very entertaining. The Street Profits are pretty good wrestlers and their glowing personalities make up for whatever is missing in the ring.

Kairi Sane vs. Aliyah

After a short break we saw a backstage conversation between the Undisputed Era. They cut a decent promo. The next match is Kairi Sane facing Aliyah. Sane has a match at NXT Takeover, facing Shayna Baszler for the NXT Women’s Championship. Just as the bell was about to ring, Baszler came out to watch the match. Sane seemed visibly disturbed by this. Baszler was on commentary for this match. Sane hit three elbow drops, but did not let Aliyah lose as she wants to send a message to Baszler. Aliyah eventually tapped out via submission. I’m very excited to see how this match turns out on Saturday. Baszler was a little rough on commentary, seeming to have a little trouble with the improv that it throws at you. That’s okay though, improving on that is what NXT is for.

EC3 Confronts The Velveteen Dream

The Velveteen Dream comes out to talk to the crowd. He was discussing his opponent on Saturday, EC3. As he was talking, EC3 himself came out. Velveteen Dream attacked EC3 after quite the discussion. EC3 fought back and won the fight. Didn’t seem like a very babyface thing to do, to just attack someone like that.

We now see a full analysis of the attack on Aleister Black attack, trying to find out who did it. This was a very funny segment, showing lots of wrestlers just hanging around the incident. They did not find a definitive answer to who attacked Aleister.

Tyler Bate w/ Trent Seven vs. Roderick Strong w/ Kyle O’Reilly

After another break it is announced that Pete Dunne with defend his United Kingdom Championship against Zack Gibson next week on NXT. The main event for this episode of NXT is Tyler Bate versus Roderick Strong. The match plays as a preview to the tag match between these guys and the other half of their teams. Early in the match Kyle O’Reilly was involved, playing as a distraction, letting Strong get back in control of the match. Tyler Bate did that move where it looks like he’s diving out of the ring but he’s just bouncing off of the ropes. That move messes with your brain. He followed it up with a clothesline then did an actual dive. He hit a Tyler Driver to win the match. The babyfaces are on top heading into the big show. This was a great preview for the match on Saturday. The competition between these two teams should be really something to watch.

On Monday night, RAW delivered a lackluster show that had its moments. The biggest moment of all was Dean Ambrose’s long awaited return. On this week’s Smackdown, people possibly look for a better go-home, leaving a good impression heading into Summerslam. Let’s look at how the show kicked off.

Smackdown started off with Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Carmella having a “face-to-face-to-face” before their triple threat match on Sunday. Carmella says she is not happy that she is forced to do this segment, but since she is the champ “life is good, baby.” After trash talk between the three, which was lead by Carmella, Paige came out to the ramp. She sets up a tag match including Charlotte and Becky, as Carmella joins the commentary team. This wasn’t a good nor bad segment, but it did show how well Carmella is at cutting promos.

Charlotte & Becky Lynch vs. Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville

The first match of the evening is Charlotte and Becky versus Mandy and Sonya. After a few minutes of messing around Becky Lynch won the match for her team via the Disarmer. This match was consumed by commercials but didn’t have anything that interesting in it anyways.

The program airs a video of The Miz and Maryse announcing that their show “Miz and Mrs” has been renewed for season 2.

The Triple Threat (locals) vs. The Bludgeon Brothers

Up next we get a three-on-two handicap match, with the Smackdown Tag Team Champions facing locals who are called “The Triple Threat.” It feels so odd, or even lazy that this is how The Bludgeon Brothers are being booked on the final show before Summerslam. A squash match? Seriously? It feels like these guys have been doing squash matches for a whole year now. The match never got started since, I don’t know. But they murdered these guys. This felt cheap.

Sanity vs. New Day

In what is quite the matchup for a go-home show, Sanity faced New Day in a 6-man match. When I saw that this match was happening, almost did not believe it. I was pretty excited to see it. It was Kofi Kingston’s birthday. Because of this he got a birthday chant from the crowd. After Kofi hit Trouble In Paradise, he was thrown over the ropes. He went to the top rope right after and did a dive onto two Sanity members outside the ring. Big E impressively lifted up Killian Dain to do the Up Up Down Down, with the help of Xavier Woods. This match was tons of fun. I don’t know how I feel about Sanity losing clean though.

Aiden English vs. Andrade Almas w/ Zelina Vega

Tonight, Aiden English says he fights for Rusev. He faces Almas. Almas made light word of English, winning the match in under a minute. After the match both Vega and Almas cut a promo on Rusev and Lana. They then come out to the stage and say that they will win on Rusev Day.

Throughout the night there was a series of clips showing the kayfabe history between Daniel Bryan and The Miz. These were very well put together. While they probably weren’t pleasing for the live crowd, I thought this was a nice bowtie on the build up to this rivalry.

Shelton Benjamin vs. Jeff Hardy

This weekend at Summerslam Jeff Hardy aims to retake his United State Championship from Shinsuke Nakamura. As a big of a warmup, he faces Shelton Benjamin. The match started during the commercial break, with Shelton ahead when we came back. To Benjamin’s detriment, Hardy won the match. Almost right after the bell rang, Nakamura came out, charging at a tired Jeff Hardy. Hardy got distracted by Shelton Benjamin, letting Nakamura strike. Hardy reversed a Kinshasa into a Twist Of Fate and a Swanton Bomb. Jeff Hardy got the last laugh heading into Sunday. We see Orton creeping in the curtains watching the segment.

AJ Styles Ending Segment

To end off Smackdown Live, AJ Styles comes to talk to the crowd. He talks about his opponent this Sunday, Samoa Joe. Joe reads a letter that was sent to him from someone in AJ’s family. It talks about how he doesn’t take care of his family because the title is all he cares about. This seems to upset AJ. If we’re being honest, why would you want to cheer for someone like AJ if that was actually someone in his family? This segment made the babyface look like a heel. This ends Smackdown Live for this week.