The WWE SummerSlam 2022 Reaction

Welcome to the WWE SummerSlam Reaction, where I offer my take on this year’s big event from Nissan Stadium in Nashville.

As always, you can check out John’s full in-depth report here.

We kick things off with a Nashville-themed video package for the night’s events. Good to see the WWE spared no expense for the SummerSlam stage. This leads us to our opening bout.

The Raw Women’s Championship is up for grabs in our first match with Bianca Belair defending against Becky Lynch. This was a great choice for the opener and it was an intense back and forth action packed bout. The match could have gone either way multiple times. The crowd was super into it that was a really good sign. After Belair kicked out of the Manhandle Slam, Belair hit Lynch with a Spanish Fly off the second rope and followed up with an impactful KOD to retain her title. After the match was over, Lynch wanted to shake hands. Belair was hesitant but eventually did and that made for a nice “passing the torch” kinda moment. Lynch left to allow Belair to celebrate in the ring. Bayley’s music hit and she’s back. Belair looked like she was ready to finish the unfinished business with her. Bayley is not alone and Dakota Kai returns along with Io Shirai to back up Bayley. The trio gets up in Belair’s face ready to fight. Lynch decided it was the perfect time to turn face and backed up Belair. The trio bail to leave the duo standing tall. I think the Raw Women’s Division just heated up. Now that’s cool.

We later find out that Shirai got Vince’d into IYO SKY (yes, all caps), resulting in a collective groan from the WWE Universe. At least she’s on the main roster now with Kai. I think the new blood is going to be a great thing going forward.

Our next bout has the Miz squaring off against Logan Paul. Maryse carries Miz’s balls to the ring. I guess Ciampa is out here to help get Paul over as a face. The match was surprisingly really good. Paul’s got skills beyond being a douche. I still can’t believe that this whole feud is over Miz’s ball size though. Couldn’t we think of something better? Ciampa jumped in to help get Paul a face reaction and to also (hopefully) start a feud with AJ Styles, who ran down to chase him off. Paul hit a decent-looking phenomenal forearm for two before Maryse interjected. The Miz/Maryse collision was averted but Paul dropped Miz with a Skull Crushing Finale to pick up the win. Paul looked great out there and proved he could hang on his own. He’s about as good as Bad Bunny was. If Paul keeps putting the work in, he may win the fans over.

The Maximum Male Models were hawking Pure Life water. Shame Maxxine didn’t partake in the promotion.

Bobby Lashley defends the United States title against Theory next. Theory jumped Lashley with the MITB briefcase to start the match to make it look like he has a chance here. Once Lashley recovered, he laid waste to Theory and disposed of him quickly, as he should have. The smartest thing Theory did was immediately tap out to the Hurt Lock.

Up next, The Mysterios take on The Judgment Day in a No-DQ match. We start the match with a brawl and the Mysterios get the upper hand. The teams have to tag in and out, despite it being no DQ, because WWE. The match was pretty good and Rhea Ripley spent most of her time on the outside twiddling her thumbs. When Ripley finally got involved, the Brood’s music hit and The Brood’s Edge makes his way to the ring to take out the Judgment Day to allow the Mysterios to pick up the win. It was great to see Edge back. I wonder who the Judgement Day will recruit next to make it 3-on-3 and will the Mysterios get someone to counter Ripley?

Pat McAfee takes on Happy Corbin next. There’s the Indy Wrestler Choir to sing “Bum Ass Corbin” to Corbin during his entrance. The match was really good as well, given McAfee’s limited in-ring time. McAfee can go in the ring. McAfee picked up the win with an impressive finishing move. That should be his regular finisher. McAfee celebrated after the match with some friends.

Newly transplanted Nashville native, Drew McIntyre, comes out for a promo about taking on the winner of the Last Man Standing match at Clash at the Castle. I expect that McIntyre will get the championship victory in front of fans he has not yet gotten. That should be a really great moment.

Jeff Jarrett comes out for his special guest referee duties for our next match, The Usos defending the WWE Undisputed Tag Team Championship against the Street Profits. The Street Profits have a pretty neat entrance with the Tennessee Titan’s cheerleaders. The match was not their best outing, but was still pretty good. Jarrett worked well as the referee in there. He seemed to call the match right down the middle and enforced the rules of a tag team match. I really believe that Montez Ford will be a singles champion by the end of this year and a sleeper pick for the Royal Rumble. Jey kicked out of the Ford frog splash and Ford argued with Jarrett about the count before tagging out. The Usos doubled up on Dawkins to pick up the win. In the final couple of minutes, they lost the crowd so that hurt a little bit. It was still a really good match but I expect the Street Profits to split up in the Draft.

Riddle rushed out to cut a promo on Rollins despite not being medically cleared. Rollins came down and a small fight ensued with Rollins ending it on a stomp to Riddle. It kinda felt like an audible to get the crowd back before the next match.

Liv Morgan defends her Smackdown Women’s Championship against Ronda Rousey next. Rousey dominated Morgan before they came up with the unique finish of Morgan pinning Rousey while in the armbar, but mistimed her tap out to make it a bit more obvious what the finish was supposed to be. Rousey got mad for doing a Shayna Baszler and takes out the referee with an arm bar. I suspect this is starting the Rousey heel turn. Let’s just hope that Triple H doesn’t pull out the 2006 Rey Mysterio World Heavyweight Title run for Morgan. It will hurt her in the long run.

Main event time has Roman Reigns defending the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Brock Lesnar in a Last Man Standing Match. Lesnar came to the ring driving a tractor. Farmer Brock is awesome. The match itself was awesome. It was a hard-hitting back and forth. With Lesnar unable to finish Reigns off, he took the tractor and flipped the ring over! Reigns goes down and the Usos show up to fight Lesnar. Lesnar wipes out the Usos and they are unable to answer the 10 count. Lesnar F5’s Heyman through the announce table and he dies like when the ECW paychecks bounce. Reigns spears Lesnar and they both go down. Theory decides to run down with his briefcase to pull a Seth Rollins. While Theory explains to the ref how a triple threat last man standing match would work, Lesnar is up and F5’s Theory onto the briefcase and he stays down for a 10 count. The Usos eventually help Reigns bury Lesnar under the ringside wreckage to finally win the match. Reigns now has a date with McIntyre at Clash at the Castle.

Let’s take a look at tonight’s highs and lows.

The Highs

That was the greatest last man standing match ever. The visual of Lesnar taking out the ring with the tractor was the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my 30+ years as a fan. Kudos to WWE for coming up with that. Plus, it fit the match/storyline perfectly too.

Logan Paul surprised me tonight. I had low expectations going into the match and he hit it out of the park. Fantastic job.

Overall, I really enjoyed SummerSlam. If you missed it, it is well worth a watch. I’d give it an 8 out of 10.

The Lows

I wasn’t a fan of the Morgan/Rousey finish. I’m still praying she doesn’t get the 2006 Mysterio treatment going forward. With Hunter in charge instead of Vince, I think she’ll be okay.

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A quick note on me. I’m doing better and should be turning out some columns real soon.

You can find me on Facebook or Twitter (@ciscowebwiz76) with any feedback or discussion.

That’s all I’ve got, until next time.