The WWE SummerSlam 2021 Reaction
Welcome to the SummerSlam Reaction, where I offer my take on the biggest party of the summer in Las Vegas. As always, you can check out John’s full in-depth review here.
The Kickoff Show match had Big E taking on Baron Corbin. The story behind it was down on his luck Corbin stole Big E’s Money in the Bank briefcase. The match served its purpose for Big E getting his revenge on Corbin and regaining his Money in the Bank briefcase.
The opening match for SummerSlam was the Raw Tag Team Title match with AJ Styles and Omos defending against RK-Bro. This was a good choice for the opener and the match delivered. The limited Omos was protected in this match. I really do wonder about the skill level of Omos. When you look at Commander Azeez on Smackdown, he moves and bumps far better than Omos does. The ending sequence was pretty good leading up to Styles eating another RKO from Orton. It was the right time for a title change, as I had predicted.
Up next is the Alexa Bliss and Eva Marie match. I’m surprised that they are getting it out of the way so soon. The match was the train wreck we expected it to be. At least it was kept short with Bliss picking up the win. After the match, Doudrop thanked God for not being part of the part and declared Eva Marie the loser of the match before walking away. Free Doudrop.
The celebs have turned out for SummerSlam with Mario Lopez backstage interviewing RK-Bro on their big title win.
Up next, Sheamus defends the United States Championship against Damian Priest. The match was a little slow to get going, but they were able to draw the fans into the match once they kicked into second gear. It was a really good hard-hitting affair towards the end. Both guys showed their toughness. In the end, Priest defeated Sheamus to capture the United States title in the hard-fought battle. This was the right decision and predicted correctly again.
The Smackdown Tag Team Championships are up for grabs next with The Usos defending against The Mysterios. We are treated to yet another really good match from these two teams. This would have been a good choice for the opener as well. The back and forth matched ended with the predicted Uso victory. This likely ends the feud although I’m not sure The Street Profits are quite done with the Alpha Academy yet to be The Usos next challengers.
Another celeb sighting with Tiffany Haddish interviewing Damien Priest on his US title win.
Rick Boogs was set up in the right to play King Nakamura to the ring to kill five minutes and get the crowd hyped up. Pat McAfee was excited about it as usual. They did a really good job there.
Smackdown Women’s Champion Bianca Belair is up next. Greg Hamilton announces that Sasha Banks was unable to compete (as had been rumored for almost two weeks) and taking Sasha’s place was the ever deadly…Carmella? The crowd goes mild for that announcement. Belair was definitely disappointed with the news, promising a rematch with Banks in the future. As for Carmella, Belair said she was ready to whoop her again. “The Man” Becky Lynch wanders out and disposes of Carmella for us. Lynch challenges Belair for the title and Belair accepts. One Manhandle Slam later (literally), Lynch wins the title in 27 seconds. Well, that went off the rails quickly. It was nice to see Lynch back but you have to feel bad for Belair here. I’m sure Becky will give the win back in a heavily promoted match in the future.
Olympians Tamyra Mensah-Stock and Gable Stevenson appear in the ring to wave to the fans. New Performance Center signees perhaps?
Jinder Mahal is out to job to Drew McIntyre next. The two friends had a good match but McIntyre dominated it for the no-brainer win. Was Heath Slater busy and couldn’t be the guest referee?
The Raw Women’s Championship is up for grabs next with Nikki A.S.H. defending against Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley. The match was pretty good and followed the old tired and true triple threat formula. Each woman got their spots to shine in. In the end, unfortunately, Super Charlotte completed her burial destruction of the Nikki A.S.H. character by making her tap to the Figure Eight. I figured Rhea would have taken the fall instead of Nikki. I guess it is back to the drawing board for Nikki.
Seth Rollins taking on Edge was next. Edge had a mix of his old Brood entrance and current Metalinguist entrance. That was cool to see. The match was fantastic and the likely match of the night. Edge held true to his going back to his dark place, busting out moves from his previous gimmicks, including his wife’s Glam Slam finisher. Edge couldn’t keep Rollins down for a three count, so he used various submission moves to eventually get the tap out victory. This was terrific and look forward to a rematch in the future.
John Morrison and The Miz were out to waste some time, since Belair/Banks was called off, to debut the Drip Stick 2000. Xavier Woods showed up with it in a Razor Ramon cosplay and soaked Miz and Morrison with it. Sadly, this is what the impending New Day and Miz/Morrison feud will likely be over.
Bobby Lashley defends the WWE Championship against Goldberg next. Unfortunately, neither the video package nor the entrances were longer than the actual match. The match was okay and protected Goldberg by having the match stopped for a knee injury. After the match, while Lashley was attaching Goldberg, Gage Goldberg (Bill’s teenage son) jumped Lashley and got put to sleep with The Hurt Lock. MVP realized what happened and quickly ushered Lashley to the back. I’m guessing Goldberg is using one of his two remaining matches on a rematch or WWE added more matches to his contract. Not looking forward to it.
Main event time with Roman Reigns defending the Universal Title against John Cena. The match was pretty ho-hum and boring for the first 80% or so of it. Once Cena started the final big comeback, it finally got interesting. Whatever Cena did, he just couldn’t keep Reigns down for the 1, 2, 3. In the end, Roman slayed Cena with a Spear to retain the Universal Title.
After the match, Roman stood tall and the music of Brock Lesnar hits and he comes out sporting a new deadly manbun to the shock of Paul Heyman. Roman and Brock face off in the ring before Roman leaves. Brock poses in the ring to close out the show. This, ladies and gentlemen, is how we will finally get Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar, champion versus champion, at Survivor Series.
Let’s take a look at tonight’s highs and lows.
The Highs
It was great to see Becky Lynch and Brock Lesnar return. I do have to wonder how much of this was planned ahead of time or after the fact CM Punk debuted in AEW on Rampage Friday night. SummerSlam was certainly a big enough show to bring both of them back for.
I’m excited to see where RK-Bro and Damian Priest take their respective championships to. Priest has a plethora of challengers on both the heel and face side to keep things interesting up until the Rumble or perhaps WrestleMania. As for RK-Bro, there aren’t that many tag teams for them to compete against right now.
The Lows
For as great as it was to see Becky Lynch return, they could have done something a bit better. I really felt bad for Bianca Belair and the quick loss she suffered. It was done in a way to protect Belair and I wonder if they just plugged Becky into whatever the plan was for Sasha. I guess we will see in the coming weeks.
It was a shame that the Nikki A.S.H. character, which was Nikki’s idea, was dead and buried in the Vegas desert. I’ve seen reports that the fans weren’t buying the character, but when you have Super Charlotte Reigns steamroll over her before she can get established, that’s what happens.
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