Preview by Joseph Currier

WWE’s biggest event of the summer is scheduled for August 21st, when SummerSlam will take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.

We’re looking for your thoughts on this show, as well as the ROH, NXT, UFC and New Japan Super J Cup shows this weekend, with a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected].

Following the WWE Draft, much of the build for the show has been centered on the Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton interpromotional match. SmackDown’s Orton showed up uninvited to Raw to deliver an RKO to Lesnar, and Raw’s Lesnar subsequently made an appearance on SmackDown to get his revenge.

The Beast and the Viper will settle their differences inside of the ring at SummerSlam.

The show will also feature the crowning of the first WWE Universal Champion, as Finn Balor and Seth Rollins will face off for the newly-created title. Balor earned his title shot by winning a four-way match and defeating Roman Reigns on the first post-draft edition of Raw. Rollins was given a free pass to the title opportunity by Stephanie McMahon.

Dean Ambrose will also defend his WWE Championship against Dolph Ziggler after Ziggler earned the shot at SmackDown’s top title. And AJ Styles will battle John Cena in a continuation of their month’s long feud. Styles defeated Cena with the help of The Club at Money in the Bank, but Cena pinned Styles in a six-man tag match at Battleground.

After Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte on Raw to become the new WWE Women’s Champion, Charlotte will look to get her title back in a match with the Boss.

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THE HYPE BROS & AMERICAN ALPHA & USOS def. THE VAUDEVILLANS & TYLER BREEZE & FANDANGO & THE ASCENSION

The big story is that the Usos look to be going heel to feud with American Alpha, which makes sense. The finish saw American Alpha do the Grand Amplitude on Simon Gotch, but Jey Uso tagged in Gable. Gable didn’t know and Jey pinned Gotch. Gable gave Jey a dirty look and in the celebration, Hype Bros & Alpha were holding each other’s hands while the Usos were to the side. Hype Bros also seemed annoyed with the Usos.

This was a long match that the crowd didn’t react much to, but there was solid work with a good finish. The crowd booed the Usos when they came out so they are just reacting to the crowd. Obviously, Jordan & Gable were the most over.

NEVILLE & SAMI ZAYN def. THE DUDLEYS

They were pushing the Dudleys having issues before the match. Nothing much to this, but they were pushing that Neville & Zayn were a pretty good team so they may be put together regularly. Bubba went for a clothesline on Neville but he moved, so Bubba clotheslined Devon. Zayn hit the Helluva kick on Bubba and Neville pinned him with the Red Arrow. 

Nothing much to this match and nothing like you’d expect for Neville & Zayn, but it wasn’t like they were in a position to do much.

BEST OF SEVEN (Match 1): CESARO VS. SHEAMUS

Sheamus won the match after he hit a thumb to the eye when he was in the sharpshooter. He then hit the Brogue kick for the pin.  Cesaro did a stand on the post, jumping onto the top rope for a springboard crossbody as the unique move. Good match and everything was solid, but the crowd was quiet most of the way until the finish that made the match just seem okay.

CHRIS JERICHO & KEVIN OWENS def. ENZO AMORE & BIG CASS

The match was about what you’d think it was: Enzo selling most of the way and Cass with the hot tag. Owens threw Cass into the post and did the cannonball into the barricade on them. In the ring, Owens did a pop up powerbomb on Enzo into a codebreaker by Jericho with Jericho pinning Enzo. Enzo was off on a few spots. Crowd really liked Owens when he was mocking Enzo. Enzo & Cass got a great reaction for their pre-match promo where they talked about New York, Sinatra, and lyrics from “Empire State of Mind”.    

Shane McMahon, Daniel Bryan & Mick Foley came out together. Foley asked how Brock is going to win and how Smackdown will have good matches. Jon Stewart came in, ran down Stephanie and then Stephanie showed up. Stewart then started backing down and was all scared of Stephanie. The New Day then showed up and hugged Stewart. Stephanie said she was misunderstood and Shane kind of made fun of them.

CHARLOTTE def. SASHA BANKS TO WIN THE WWE WOMEN’S TITLE

Charlotte won the title back when she was caught in the Bank Statement, but Charlotte used her weight advantage to fall on top of Banks for the pin. Both worked really hard, but it appeared Banks may have been hurt early in the match when she was dropped by Charlotte in a bad landing. Banks seemed out of it for a short period and it was klunky. 

The match got better and the crowd was more into this than anythig so far. But, this was nothing close to their Raw match. The highlight was Banks doing double knees off the middle rope to the floor, and Charlotte doing a middle rope splash mountain that Banks turned into a huracanrana.

Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson were backstage with A.J. Styles in their doctor’s outfits. Styles said they’re running Raw and he’s going to beat up John Cena. Finn Balor showed up, and they acknoweldged he was part of their group before. They tried to Too Sweet him and he walked out. They need to explain that for the fans who don’t know the background.

I-C CHAMPION THE MIZ def. APOLLO CREWS TO RETAIN

This felt rushed. They were going back and forth, but the ending came when Crews missed a charge as his head hit the post and Miz pinned him after a skull crushing finale. Crews did good athletic stuff but it never got heated. Maryse’s outfit was probably the best thing in the match. 

AJ STYLES def. JOHN CENA

This was an incredible match. Both were trading near falls very early giving the impression it would be a short match but they ended up going 23 minutes. They did everthiung in their arsenal and the match ended up with super crowd reactions. Styles had a busted mouth. This blew away everything up to this point on the show.

All kinds of near falls, climaxing when Cena used an Attitude Adjustment off the middle rope, but Styles kicked out. Cena sat in the corner and acted shocked that Styles had kicked out of move after move…although Cena kicked out of the Styles clash and the forearm. Cena went for the Styles clash again but Styles turned it into the Styles Clash a second time, hitting the phenomenal forearm a second time for the pin.

Cena took off his armband and walked off after leaving. This felt like a guy taking time off as he saluted the fans as he left the ring.  He’s leaving to do the TV show most likely. 

Jon Stewart came out, dressed up for the gig. He put over the Cena vs. Styles match and said it was magic. Referencing last year’s SummerSlam, he said he’s glad some idiot didn’t interfere by hitting someone with a chair. Nobody seemed to care. He had some real bad material. He said he was asked by The New Day to come out and talked about Big E being injured. He had a New Day T-shirt on and put on a unicorn horn. He said he’s joining The New Day and did the Big E entrance since Big E “isn’t here.”

LUKE GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON DEF. WWE TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS THE NEW DAY (KOFI KINGSTON & XAVIER WOODS) BY DQ

As far as the match went, it was more a showcase for the finish. They did the magic killer on Woods when Stewart jumped in to save the title. Gallows & Anderson teased crotching Stewart on the post for a long time. He went to tuck in his shirt first. Right before he was going to do it, Big E ran in and suplexed Gallows overhead on the floor for the DQ.  He also drove Gallows into the barricade and then the New Day and Stewart celebrated.  

WWE CHAMPION DEAN AMBROSE DEF. DOLPH ZIGGLER

Ambrose won the match clean when Ziggler was trying for an X-factor and Ambrose blocked it, hitting the Dirty Deeds for the pin. The match was okay, but definitely not anywhere close to what you’d expect. The crowd was dead which also didn’t help. You could really see they’ve beaten Ziggler down and nobody bought that he could win. Even when he did his superkick and his Zig Zag, there was only a light — at best — reaction as far as the kick out. 

NATALYA & ALEXA BLISS & NIKKI BELLA def. NAOMI & CARMELLA & BECKY LYNCH

They did the Eva Marie ring entrance even though she’s not there. They said she’s suffering from exhaustion and illnesses and is taking a vacation in Europe. Match was okay, but there wasn’t much heat. Nikki was pushed as the star. Natlaya and Bliss knocked Lynch out of the ring and threw Naomi into the post. Carmella dropkicked Natalya and Bliss out of the ring and turned around into the forearm by Nikki, who then used the TKO — her new finisher.

Maria Menounos interviewed Rusev & Lana. She said a true husband will destroy any man who insults her husband. He said he would show that Reigns will be the joke.

FINN BALOR def. SETH ROLLINS TO WIN THE WWE UNIVERSAL TITLE

They claimed Balor was the first guy to ever win a world title in his first PPV match.  Well, Big Show immediately comes to mind.  Balor won with a couple of running dropicks and the Coup De Grace for the clean pin. Balor kicked out of the pedigree near the finish. Tons of near falls. This was real good, and it didn’t have a lot of heat early, but by the end, the crowd was with them and Rollins had a hell of a performance.

Fans were chanting “Delete, delete” and “This belt sucks” during the match, echoing online sentiment for the look of the Universal title.

They showed the Dolph Ziggler/Miz KFC commercial with Miz in a chicken outfit and Ziggler in a Col. Sanders mask and wig.  

US CHAMPION RUSEV VS. ROMAN REIGNS WENT TO A NO-CONTEST

Rusev jumped him before the match, threw Reigns’ shoulder first into the steps and worked it over. They brawled in the timekeeper’s area.  eigns came back and “injured Rusev’s ribs”. He was selling big.  Reigns wouldn’t stop attacking until they got him away and then they announced no match. Reigns came back and gave him a running spear on the ramp, so definitely no match. There was a “We Want Slater” chant.

BROCK LESNAR def. RANDY ORTON by TKO

This was really unique at the finish. Lesnar was ground and pounding him and looked like he knocked Orton out with an elbow as Orton was bleeding all over the place. The idea was clearly to have Orton busted open like with John Cena in Lesnar’s return match, but Orton looked like he was knocked out.  The doctors came in, but Lesnar kept going back to attack Orton.

Some of this was clearly planned but I’m not sure if this was the planned finish. Orton was a bloody mess.

Lesnar continued to beat on him after the match with worked punches. Shane McMahon jumped in the ring and got F5’d. Paul Heyman was freaking out. It appeared the idea was to be graphic and violent and look like a shoot, but it didn’t look like it was the planned finish of the match, although the Shane spot was clearly planned.

We’ll discuss this more on tonight’s Wrestling Observer Radio.