Delivering an expanded card of seven matches compared to the five that now make up regular WWE Premium Live Events, SummerSlam was a stacked, no filler show featuring big blowoff matches to close out story arcs, new alignments to begin building the next ones, and more than a few surprises along the way. Not every match was a masterpiece and there was a degree of repetition between them, but near enough everything felt important and connected well with the live Cleveland crowd.
Women’s World Championship – Liv Morgan (c) def. Rhea Ripley: Opening the show with the telenovela twist of “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio betraying Mami to throw in with Liv Morgan was an inspired booking decision. Between Mysterio’s extreme heat with audiences and the anticipation of Rhea Ripley’s first match since returning from injury, this match set the stage for a night of high drama. It was not purely incidental that the commentary team invoked Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero’s “custody of Dominik” ladder match from SummerSlam 2005.
For me, this was Liv Morgan’s finest WWE match thus far. She worked character elements into her storytelling throughout and the choice to work over Ripley’s only-just-healed shoulder was the perfect angle for her as a smaller-stature heel. Compared to even a year ago, Morgan’s confidence in her in-ring work now seems to effortlessly keep crowds immersed throughout her matches. Although she’s held top titles before, everything’s in place for this run to really be memorable – it already is, in fact.
For her part, Rhea Ripley is surely amongst the best ‘big match’ wrestlers in the WWE. She has an undeniable aura and her physical storytelling is utterly captivating. Her massive dropkick to Morgan felt like it was imbued with all of her character’s pent-up emotional frustration. As in movies, the best action sequences carry emotion and characterisation rather than just looking cool or being technically impressive – and Rhea Ripley always, always nails this. With her performance and indeed her loss here, Ripley is now more over than she’s ever been.
Intercontinental Championship – Bron Breakker def. Sami Zayn (c): At just under six minutes, I didn’t understand this match. In the context of their previous match, in which Zayn beat Breakker cleanly, what difference was at play that enabled Breaker to beat Zayn with relative ease here? I’m shocked to be saying this about matches involving Sami Zayn, but both matches have lacked a clear in-ring story.
Breakker looks great and of course moves so well, but his character still needs clarifying. And this may seem counterintuitive, but the commentary team continually referring to him as “the unpredictable badass” may actually prevent him getting over as such – it just feels too prescriptive.
United States Championship – LA Knight def. Logan Paul (c): This was make or break for LA Knight. He desperately needed the win to capitalize on his momentum over the last year – but he also really needed to deliver with his in-ring work, to match his excellent character work and promos. Working with Paul, who is consistently exciting between the ropes, Knight really showed out here. Logan Paul holds a horrible and regressive set of political and moral values. It’s also true that his craft as a pro wrestler is very, very good.
The match started hot with a brawl and announce table spot, and there were some wild moves peppered throughout once the bell rang. Knight’s pop-up elbow drop is a great big match move for his repertoire. Paul’s springboard moonsault to the outside was outrageous and felt excitingly dangerous. The superplex Knight delivered to Paul was utterly brutal. And the pair’s timing on the finish with the brass knuckles and the counter into Blunt Force Trauma was spot on. This match accomplished everything it needed to, didn’t outstay its welcome, and finally paid off Knight’s hard work.
WWE Women’s Championship – Nia Jax def. Bayley (c): The result here felt a little surprising and there was certainly more mileage left in Bayley’s title run as a savvy veteran, but Jax taking the belt cemented the new importance of the Queen Of The Ring crown – just as Gunther’s victory later in the evening would do for the men’s tournament.
Jax wrestling with a style reminiscent of Vader is a very welcome development. Balancing power with a slightly chaotic energy, she delivered stiff-looking punches, rolling sentons, ura nages, and powerbombs. Since her return, Jax has looked motivated and has clearly put in the work. It’ll be interesting to see if her tenure as champion gets its own story or whether Tiffany Stratton’s Money In The Bank briefcase will come into play more immediately.
Special Guest Referee Seth “Freakin’” Rollins – Drew McIntyre def. CM Punk: Like the opening contest, this hotly-anticipated match also had a telenovela energy that was all about character, story, and drama. The McIntyre / Punk feud is a perfect example of a top-tier program that doesn’t need a championship to connect with audiences.
The tensions between all three wrestlers involved in this match will have no trouble sustaining a continuing long-form program woven between them. Their homage to Bret Hart and The Undertaker’s SummerSlam match refereed by Shawn Michaels in 1997 was pitched just right. Rollins, Punk and McIntyre gestured towards that historic match and the clever chair shot spot but didn’t go for a 1:1 reproduction with replica outcome. That’s the right balance for me when it comes to callbacks and homages.
Having been trolled relentlessly by CM Punk since WrestleMania, McIntyre re-established himself as a dangerous player with the win here. And despite always being the ultimate smartass, Punk losing focus and being so haplessly manipulated by a bracelet shows that the Best In The World is more vulnerable than he realises. Rollins moving from disdainful detachment to frenzied and frustrated emotional involvement was an excellent pacing mechanism for this match. Great character developments all round.
And just to go on record with it, Punk looked good and was moving really well. He’s genuinely excited to be back inside the squared circle and that absolutely radiates outwards. Love to see it.
World Heavyweight Championship – Gunther def. Damian Priest (c): Hello, hoss fest!! Broken Arrows! Powerbombs! Big bloody chops! Hulking up! Frankensteiner?? This match was everything I wanted from these two and more. The interference from Finn Bálor, like Mysterio’s at the top of the show, was pitch perfect.
Every successive title defence for Priest has been his best match, and this was no exception. He’s been improving rapidly, both in the ring and on the mic, and this short program with Gunther felt like a real landmark in that progression. Like Ripley, Priest put palpable emotion into his offence and drew the crowd into his corner more than ever before. Gunther, meanwhile, yielded precious little in the way of emotion but continued to up the intensity throughout the match. This was a story of cultural contrast (American vs. European) that felt fresh, compelling – and with Bálor’s betrayal, high-key dramatic.
As above, I am completely sold on how the results at SummerSlam firmly establish the new importance of KOTR / QOTR – but I’ll also say, this might well have been one of those rare matches where the live reaction to the match in the moment might have warranted a last-second change to the finish. Priest was over huge here and the audience was absolutely clamoring for him to beat the odds. No complaints though – this was excellent.
Bloodline Rules for the WWE Undisputed Championship – Cody Rhodes def. Solo Sikoa: The return of Roman Reigns felt inevitable by the time this show rolled around, and the choice of this match as headliner all but confirmed it. Reign’s return to a rapturous audience response was well deserved, and testament to the stellar work done by Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa, Jacob Fatu, and of course, Paul Heyman during Reigns’ absence.
The first part of this match was in some measure a vehicle to get to the shenanigans of the back half. And this contest was definitely booked to evoke Rhodes / Reigns from this year’s WrestleMania, with sequential run-ins from The Bloodline, Randy Orton, Kevin Owens, and finally Reigns himself. That said, Rhodes and Sikoa genuinely tore it up and told a strong story together in that first half. Sikoa wrestling smart and having really prepped for some of Rhodes’ signature moves (in ways that maybe Roman hadn’t?) was particularly cool. The commentary team put him over as having matured of late and he more than backed that up with his in-ring work here.
As a side note, I don’t want to hear commentators referring to Pacific Islanders as “savages” or “animals”. WWE has come a long way in its presentation of Islanders, particularly in recent years, but casting the new Bloodline in these terms is a problem. Not only is it racist, but referring to Tama Tonga, Tonga Loa and Jacob Fatu in these terms actually works to retroactively position the first iteration of The Bloodline as being “not like those other ones” (and therefore a model minority). I promise it’s possible for wrestlers of color to be heels without resorting to racism. Do better, WWE.
Curtain Call: Whew!
Like Slim Jim, which was one of SummerSlam’s sponsors, this show was a very beefy snack. Format-wise, the big four WWE PLEs having longer cards works and with SummerSlam moving to two nights from next year, it’ll be interesting to see whether Royal Rumble and Survivor Series eventually follow suit.
SummerSlam had a few themes running through it, in ways that made it feel like a cohesive turning point in the WWE calendar: the high level of drama that permeated Morgan / Ripley, Punk / McIntyre and Priest / Gunther, the ‘spiritual successor’ aspect of Morgan / Ripley and Rhodes / Sikoa, and the heavy use of run-ins. Satisfyingly though, every instance of interference was tied into the drama, reminding us that shenanigans can have a clear and impactful storytelling function – rather than serving solely as a means to avoid booking clean finishes and ‘protecting’ everyone.
As a minor gripe, this show needed better locker room co-ordination or co-ordination between match producers, because almost every match featured someone working a shoulder. The angle should’ve been ringfenced for Morgan and Ripley where it made the most storyline sense. Everyone else should’ve had to work another body part or a different angle entirely.
As a major gripe, no racism, please! WWE needs to figure out how to present Solo Sikoa’s Bloodline as different to Reigns’ without resorting to stereotypes and outright racism. On a different-but-related line of enquiry, my colleagues and I here at The Beat discussed amongst ourselves the absence of any Black talent on this bumper show. I won’t entertain scarcity arguments about whether there were matches here that could’ve been cut, but I will say, I’d like to see wrestlers of color (and not just Black wrestlers) getting programs that support them to develop their characters and their in-ring work so that they too can shine on nights like these.
All in all, this year’s SummerSlam was a great ‘big four’ show, delivering a big night of high drama. Storylines progressed, titles changed hands, and almost without exception, everyone came out stronger than they went in.
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