SummerSlam 2012 REACT!

Well, SummerSlam is in the books, and each of us went 5-3, keeping Jim’s lead at one match over Tom, 30-16 to 29-17! That Bears t-shirt is getting ever closer to Tom’s wardrobe, but we still have four more PPV’s this year, so anything is possible! Let’s take a look at each of our reactions to Summerslam! (Note: Jim had his thoughts typed before RAW on Monday night)

Jim’s React

SummerSlam seemed to be an up and down show for me as far as things making sense. Some things made great sense, and others left me shaking my head.

Let’s start with the pre-show. I’m shocked they did a title change on the pre-show, but it’s a great way to make those seem important and not like they just have throw away matches on them, so kudos on that! I also love Cesaro as the US Champion, and I expect him to try to either rename the title, or at least keep reminding us that he is “our” champion of all the United States! Hopefully the title can start meaning a little something now that it’s off the comedy character. And seriously, if I told you 5 years ago that CM Punk would be the WWE Champion, Claudio Castagnoli would be the US Champion, and Bryan Danielson would be former World Heavyweight Champion who is one of the top heels in the company, you may have had me committed, so, I love it!

I’m glad they let Ziggler look good, but when you seem to be grooming him to be the next World Heavyweight Champion since he’s holding onto that Money in the Bank briefcase, I kind of hate having him lose to Jericho especially when he’s not going to be able to get the revenge on him, assuming Jericho doesn’t work Raw. The only thing it COULD do is set up a continuation of Ziggler/Jericho for the World Heavyweight Title down the road when Jericho returns (assuming it isn’t a year or two from now). But, in the end, the result just left me wondering what the hell…

The Bryan/Kane match is clearly setting up a feud with them for now, which is ok, and I love that Bryan found a way to counter the power of Kane and get a surprise victory, that works perfectly for his character, and I love what they have going with him, he can easily move back into the World Title picture at any point from the position he is currently in. It will be interesting to see how AJ deals with Kane on Raw for beating up an announcer.

The Miz gets the win and looks good doing it…let’s hope they keep re-building him, he should be a top level heel for many years to come, or hell, he could be a hell of a babyface as well, Miz/Punk down the road would be a lot of fun to watch!

I really am enjoying Del Rio’s new vicious side, and love when a heel is booked as a vicious guy rather than the normal WWE crutch of a cowardly heel that sneaks through. That works sometimes, but not every heel needs to be that, so I like this a lot, especially when it’s all about the World Title, makes that title seem important that Del Rio will do damn near anything he has to to win it again. The foot on the rope bit is interesting, since they had the ref admit to making a bad call in a video afterwards. So, now the vicious Del Rio has a legit gripe, and I assume a rematch will be coming next month.

So, not that WWE cares, but you’ve jobbed out the Prime Time Playas twice now to the champs, so you’ve shown us they can’t “win the big one” as you like to say. Who’s next now for the tag team division? And why should I care? Ugh. Could have given the division a shot in the arm with O’Neil and Young winning the belts, but instead…nope, still two guys who have no reason to team are the champs. Blah.

WWE Title Match should have closed the show (Titles should be most important, I completely agree with Punk!), and I LOVE how they had Punk win. They keep him from being a heel that had to cheat, but rather he just took advantage of the situation in front of him. He’s still not doing anything “wrong” really…just doing what he need to to keep the title around his waist, and wanting to be on top because of it, I love it. Punk/Cena seems like the Survivor Series main event to me (unless Triple H comes back again for a 2nd run at Lesnar).

Lesnar got the win the way he should have, making Triple H tap, and he looks like the monster that can’t be beat again, and I love it. It also appears Heyman is going to be sticking around at least a little while longer, which adds a great deal to Lesnar, so I hope Heyman stays at least as long as Lesnar is around. I’m a fan of Heyman though, so I’m happy if he stays forever!

All in all it seems like Summerslam was a thumbs in the middle to slightly up, the two biggest “what the hell” moments for me were the tag title match and Ziggler’s loss.

Tom’s React

Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to watch SummerSlam in full so much of my opinion here is based on what I have read, not seen. I am glad I am still in close chase of Jim in our competition, as I do not plan to wear a Bears shirt anytime soon!

Antonio Cesaro’s title win on the pre-show is WWE’s attempt to make those events “must see.” As I have written here in months before, specifically with the use of Brodus Clay, WWE wants people to see that match as a showcase to get fans to tune in and very likely as well earn a few extra PPV buys as a hard final sell. I am happy for Cesaro because he’s a guy I’ve watched since 2005 and it is the culmination of hard work and effort. I think his character is great and I hope he gets a long title run.

Jericho-Ziggler was good, but not great and I was hoping for great. Jericho getting the win was a stand alone in the storyline to show that he can win the big one and did so by overcoming the rib injury. Unfortunately, the win was moot as the re-match occurred the next night on RAW and Ziggler got the win back with stipulations out there that really didn’t have time to be built up or established, they were just thrown out there. That is a little too much of the WWE mentality in the sense that long term angles or story telling is the rare opportunity. I am sure Jericho is not done yet with WWE, but this will allow him to come back and really be fresh once again.

Bryan-Kane was fun. I have to be honest that I find myself awestruck when I see Bryan on WWE TV still and a regularly featured talent. I like that he got the win and is still being given opportunities to be featured.

I was not surprised that Miz retained his title. It is what is best and I really hope it is continued upswing for him as he kind of sunk quite a ways after his World Title run. Rey Mysterio will continue to sell merchandise and be over no matter what happens and I think WWE is wise to utilize him in building younger wrestlers.

Sheamus-Del Rio as I stated last week seems like the feud that just won’t end. Not that it is a bad thing because the storyline has been easy to follow, but it just seems weird at times that Sheamus as the babyface has been the one to get “one-up” on his heel opponent. Shouldn’t it be the other way around? I do think the end of the match is smart and gives Del Rio another legit reason to demand a re-match. As much as I see Sheamus as a significant part of the WWE’s future, at some point Del Rio will trump him to win the title.

The Tag Title Match sums up the way WWE views tag team wrestling. Kofi & Truth are good “servicemen” and hold those titles and their rolls well. Do some minor building up of teams around them and have them challenge, but ultimately they won’t succeed in the end. You have to wonder if Abraham Washington’s firing from WWE impacted Young & O’Neil? I hope not.

Punk retaining is exactly the way it should have been. I really feel like the road map from now to Royal Rumble and an inevitable Punk-Rock match for the title is destined to go down. Punk continuing to win by any means, be it his skills and talents, taking advantage of presented opportunities and more is just the way to go. Allow for some ambiguity around how he comes across and let fans decide for themselves to cheer or boo. It is novel that they allow for that because so often the “WWE Machine” sets the tone for who or what they want fans to get behind – and it is refreshing that it is not happening here.

The one match I am really, really itching to see is Lesnar-Triple H. I just think the battle that these two had is worth seeing and from what I read, really helped Lesnar be re-established as a dominant force. For all of the things that have been written and stated about Triple H, he ultimately knows what is best for business and did that here. Now, my opinion might change if we get a re-match here by Survivor Series but I have hope that Lesnar continues to be built strong with his limited appearances and we get big, impactful matches from him at Royal Rumble and of course, WrestleMania. Paul Heyman will be a HUGE component of Lesnar’s remaining strong and over outside of the ring and I am thankful he is back on WWE TV.

We will be back soon with more opinions and new interviews – Thanks for reading!