lgs20XP said:
This is my personal opinion, but you can blame the attitude era for wrestlers killing themselves to an extent. What I mean by that is WWE and WCW were doing all this extreme stuff back in the day. And sure enough, it got the seats filled. But after a while, it becomes "what else you got" as a fan. And now because of the audience being desensitized, the current wrestlers have to do all this crazy stuff in hopes to get a rise out of people. I could be wrong, but again, my opinion. |
They definitely raised the bar in an unwise way. Certain wrestlers felt they needed to do crazy shit to get over (Foley has said this) and the promotions were letting anything go because it was a "war". But, nowadays, we are hopefully smarter, and there should be adults in the room saying know when wrestlers want to do stuff like this. So, I blame the agents and managements more than the wrestlers, present or past.
Anyways, Summerslam was pretty good. Logan Paul is obnoxiously good at this level. I think this match was better in terms of what I was talking about before. They did some impressive spots, but nothing that was obscenely dangerous. For instance, Ricochet did a buckshot lariat to the outside that worked pretty well, but was maybe a little off. Still, if he fucks that up, his leg is broken, not his neck. Great match though, and nice to see Ricochet get a spotlight even in a loss.
Finn vs Rollins and Gunther vs Drew had the same problem. Great talents who can work well together, but the winner was painfully obvious. Finn clearly isn't taking the belt off Rollins. Gunther isn't losing till he breaks the record. Honestly, either of these could have been on Raw.
Shayna vs Rousey was a weird match. It was a worked MMA match... But, in theory pro wrestling is mostly a worked MMA match, two people trying their best to take out the other. There are slight rule differences, but you shouldn't expect a vastly different style. So, it was weird. And it didn't go over well with the audience. But, Shayna won and will hopefully move on to better things.
On to the better matches, Jey vs Roman missed the mark. They worked SLOW which can be effective in a match like Cody vs Reigns, where there is genuine intrigue, but Jey wasn't winning. It was kind of weird, because this was supposed to be "tribal combat", but it was just a standard no dq match. You would think this would just be one on one. The bloodline is still so over that the spots they did worked, but this was what could have been a great 20 minute match that took 40 minutes. Jimmy screwed over Jey for the win, which feels like it may be a fingerpoke of doom moment for this storyline. Feels like they're extending it for the sake of just building to Cody vs Reigns 2 at mania. Hopefully I'm wrong.
So on to the good stuff. I think Cody vs Lesnar was great. It is really old school wrestling, and that was perfect. Cody played the face in peril. Brock tried to show him mercy allowing him to be counted out, but then Cody had the audacity to get back in the ring. Brock took it as an insult and was determined to get the countout, but the plucky hero got back in and fought his way to a clean victory. Sometimes, old school booking works, especially when it stands out from modern stuff.
The women's triple threat started out a bit sloppy but ultimately became the match of the night. There were some weird spots in the beginning. I think Asuka and Bianca had to waste time in the corner while Charlotte dealt with her wardrobe, Charlotte missed her moonsault to the outside even more than usual (does she ever more than graze people with that), etc. But, eventually they got into rhythm, and it was working. For the most part, all three women were active in the ring, not one of them resting on the outside at any time, until Bianca had a nasty fall to the outside. For a little bit I wondered if it was a real injury, so great job to all involved. Thankfully it wasn't, and Bianca got back into the ring. This led to a pretty cool ending with Bianca rolling up Asuka while in the figure four.
Bianca is one of the best face talents they have developed in years. Easy to see why they're pushing her like the next Cena, but at the same time, people are getting restless with the Cena style push. Bianca got to be a hero here, but then instantly Iyo Sky came out to cash in. You'd think the audience would boo the dastardly heel taking out the injured Bianca after a hard fought win... but people love them a cash in, and love them some Iyo. Weird for her to be treated like a hero in this circumstance, but that seems to be the reaction they were going for. Interesting to see where they go from here. Bianca has been frustrated in story and has a reason to be heel. WWE obviously wants her as a face, but its unclear how they do that. Good to WWE for seeing Iyo has momentum and taking advantage, they often don't do that. And unlike other people... like Liv Morgan... Iyo Sky is good enough that she can hopefully keep the momentum.
Oh, and LA Knight won a battle royal. Well, they needed to keep some momentum for him, so good, but it's hard to care about a battle royal with no stakes.
So, that's Summerslam, and for better or worse, this is where WWE is. I feel like most of the stuff they have going on is good, but they're just kind of in a holding pattern. They want to stretch the Bloodline stuff as long as they can, and I really don't think it has the legs to go till Mania. They want to build up Seth's belt as something worthwhile, so he's probably not losing for a while. They can't figure out quite what to do with Bianca. They don't want to beat Rhea for obvious reasons. They want Gunther as Champion for at least another couple of months. Both tag divisions are struggling to find their footing, although to be fair, there have been some injuries.
There's a lot of good stuff going on, but not a lot of intriguing stuff. It's a very comfort food feeling, where you know you'll get something decent, but nothing that's going to blow you away. For instance, on Raw, it seems like Shinsuke Nakamura is going to be Rollins next opponent, and those two can easily put on the match of the year, so I'm kind of looking forward to it. But, do I think Shinsuke has even a slight chance of winning? Nope.
Well, if anyone is in this topic and cares, those are my thoughts on Summerslam and WWE in general right now. Good but safe.
