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SummerSlam '17 - Barclays Center - 8.20.17 |
SummerSlam 2017 felt a bit like one of those older WWF PPVs that had a ton of variety and was oddly more enjoyable than it probably deserved to be. The ten main PPV matches cruised by at a decent pace and this show never felt to me like a slog, a la SummerSlam 2016. There wasn't anything truly great on the show, but there were several very good matches, most of which occurred in the second half. In that way this was like the anti-WrestleMania; the previous two 'Manias started out strong and become a major drag by the final hour.
Of note, the crowd for NXT TakeOver the night before was electric from start to finish. The SummerSlam crowd was mostly pretty dead except during a few select matches. I've asked this before, but isn't Vince bothered by this phenomenon? You'd think he'd figure out a way to make the main roster crowds' enthusiasm match that of the NXT audience.
Things kicked off in very strange fashion, with the John Cena-Baron Corbin match. I'm not sure who thought this would make for a hot opener, but it wasn't; Corbin's nondescript offense and Cena's seeming lack of motivation of late failed to jumpstart the Brooklyn crowd. There was a nice callback near the end of the match, where Cena tossed Corbin to the buckles, Corbin slid out of the ring, and immediately slid back in. Earlier in the bout this spot resulted in Corbin leveling Cena with a clothesline, but Cena turned the tables the second time, hitting a clothesline of his own, followed by the AA for the win. Not much of a match, but I got some enjoyment out of it because my son watched it with me and he's a big Cena fan.
Next up was a much stronger match, pitting Smackdown Womens' Champ Naomi vs. Natalya. These two strung together some nice, innovative offense, the wrestling was fairly crisp, and Nattie finally got a well-deserved Title win with the Sharpshooter. Perfectly serviceable undercard match with the right winner.
The worst match of the night was third, as Big Cass and Big Show sleepwalked through a fairly excruciating ten minutes. I'm not sure why this needed to be on the main card while the Smackdown Tag Title match wasn't, nor were The Miz or The Hardyz, and Sami Zayn and Dolph Ziggler were absent from this show completely. The only memorable bit was Enzo squeezing out of the shark cage, which immediately led to him getting murdered by Cass. Pointless, particularly since less than a year later both Enzo and Cass were gone.
Speaking of pointless, Randy Orton beat Rusev with an RKO in ten seconds. Poor Rusev. Not that I was excited about this match anyway, but Jeezus this was a waste.
Things picked up again with the RAW Women's Title match, as Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks delivered a well-worked 13-minute bout on par with Naomi-Nattie. This wasn't on the level of Sasha and Charlotte's matches, and certainly nowhere near as good as the show stealing Asuka-Ember Moon match from the night before, but Alexa played the douchebag heel to perfection and these two had undeniable chemistry. Sasha won the belt for the fourth time via Bank Statement tapout.
So the first five matches definitely felt like an undercard, in the same way that New Japan structures their PPVs. The last five matches felt like the real meat of the show.
Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt was a solid outing, with Balor no-selling Wyatt's theatrics. The action was just pretty good, but it was interesting to see Balor throw everything back in Wyatt's face, so to speak. Balor was one step ahead most of the bout and finished it with the Coup de Grace for the decisive win. This unexpectedly ended the feud, as the blowoff match scheduled for No Mercy that fall was derailed by a Wyatt stomach bug.