Reigns managed to defeat Brock Lesnar for the second time this year to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, although it took an army of men to do it, including The Usos, Paul Heyman and Theory, who after weeks of televised hype they failed to make money. in the Money in the Bank portfolio. The match was a huge improvement from the WrestleMania match, which failed to live up to WrestleMania main event standards. This was a wild brawl, including a tractor that at one point lifted the ring, causing Reigns to fall to the floor. It was an awesome sight and closed the show on a positive note. And after Drew McIntyre defeated Sheamus on Friday’s SmackDown to become Reign’s next challenger, we know that’s the direction for the next five weeks leading up to Clash at the Castle in Wales on September 3rd. As many likely will in the weeks following Vince McMahon’s shock resignation from WWE on July 22nd, it was easy to see Triple H’s changes during SummerSlam, most of which were for the better. The finishes were clean and simple, except for the SmackDown Women’s Championship match. The commentary felt much more comfortable, with the announcers focusing less on trying to argue with each other and avoiding drowning out the home crowd with names and buzzwords, a McMahon staple that had stepped up over the last year. At one point on the show, Corey Graves told Micheal Cole that he “liked it better when he didn’t have an opinion.” “That has changed,” Cole said. “A lot has changed.” But perhaps the biggest indicator that things turned around was after the Raw Women’s Championship match that kicked off the show. After an excellent match between Bianca Belair and Becky Lynch (and a handshake that was seemingly done to turn Lynch’s face), Dakota Kai (who was released by WWE in April) and Io Shirai (who recent reports indicated that her future with WWE was unclear) team up with a returning Bayley to form a new faction, setting their sights on Belair and Lynch. Both Shirai (now under the name IYO SKY) and Kai had languished in WWE’s developmental system for years, seemingly because officials saw no reason to bring them up. But with McMahon gone and Shirai and Kai both having memorable runs in NXT 1.0 under Triple H, it’s clear to see why the moves were made and who was responsible for bringing them back. Matches up and down the card were solid to good. The two big celebrity matches were delivered, with Logan Paul and Miz proving to be a good match thanks to Paul’s athleticism, including a giant frog thrown from the apron onto the commentary table outside the ring. It remains to be seen what Logan’s schedule will be like for the rest of the year, but given that this is his second match and he came out of the match looking much better than most in NXT who had more experience, it’s possible that he could be a contender of the rookie of the year. And that’s high praise for a year stacked with contenders like Hook, Nick Wayne and Bron Breaker. Pat McAfee and Happy Corbin also had a good match, although it was a little clunky at times. McAfee impressed during his NXT run and this was his first match on the main roster where he didn’t have an impromptu wrestling match with a 76-year-old immobile man. The race wasn’t completely smooth and Paul was more athletic, but McAfee didn’t look bad and had a cool finish, code red springboard. Edge returned to the company, making a terrifying entrance that came off as an updated version of the old Brood entrance, to attack Judgment Day, who kicked him out of the team following Hell in a Cell. After losing on Raw, another loss for Finn Balor and Damian Priest puts them in a bad spot. But they do have a direction going forward, as it’s clear that Edge will likely face Judgment Day in some sort of match down the line, most likely at Clash of the Castle. The rest of the card had The Usos retain the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles against The Street Profits in a match that was good, but paled in comparison to the match they had at Money in the Bank earlier this month. Bobby Lashley defeated Theory in less than five minutes to retain the United States Championship in a match that was mostly intended as a reminder that Theory could play spoiler later in the show, which ultimately didn’t happen. Liv Morgan retained the SmackDown Women’s Championship after a short match with a scrappy finish that included the referee counting Rousey’s shoulders as Morgan submitted. Rousey then attacked Morgan after the match and attacked the referee as well. The finish clearly means another fight is coming, likely in Wales, but it remains to be seen if this was a turnaround for Rousey or just someone with a chip on their shoulder heading into the next fight. SummerSlam was the first show under the Triple H regime and was largely a success. The changes were noticeable throughout the show and the hangups I had in the past with the announcements and verbiage were mostly non-existent. The next few weeks of television, however, will tell the real story of the changes coming to WWE after McMahon’s departure.
