Somehow, this match was followed by what I perceived to be the 2nd biggest match of the night - Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar. There had been speculation that this match would have a rare stipulation, with a Bullrope Match being tossed about online, but these two didn't really need anything special to give this a Big Fight Feel. Rhodes went right after Lesnar before the bell even rang, trying to catch the Beast off guard. Rhodes it a series of Disaster Kicks, but Lesnar was able to block his third attempt and bulldoze Rhodes into the corner. Rhodes hit a dive to the floor, his attack wisely seeming to focus on using the ropes and maintaining distance from the former UFC Heavyweight Champion. Lesnar used his power to cut off Cody's offense and maintain control, though, launching Rhodes across the ring with an overhead belly-to-belly early on. Lesnar hit a snap suplex and then a pair of release Germans that sent Cody to the floor to recuperate. Rolling back into the ring, Cody ate another release German before getting tossed back to the floor. Cody made his way onto the apron but Lesnar shoved him back to the floor, yelling at him to stay down. When Cody came back in, Lesnar shouted in his face and then delivered another snap suplex before rolling Rhodes back out to the floor. I'm sure this isn't the first time a match has been built around one guy practically daring another to step in the ring with him, essentially working towards a count-out finish rather than a pinfall or submission, but its nothing something you see often and felt fresh to me. Lesnar hit an F-5 on the floor, but even then Rhodes wouldn't stay down, dragging himself back into the ring at 9.5. Rhodes came back swinging, but Lesnar delivered another release German and then an F-5 through the announcer table that drew an audible "Holy Shit" chant. Rhodes beat the count again, though, much to Lesnar's surprise. Lesnar delivered what must've been his dozenth suplex, but Rhodes was able to pull off the padding of a turnbuckle before he got launched across the ring. Cody was able to use the post and the steps to go after Lesnar's shoulder and then hit a Disaster Kick and a Cody Cutter to bring the Beast to his knees. Cody hit another Codycutter, this time off the top rope, for 2, the American Nightmare getting a second wind. Rhodes went for the Cross Rhodes, but Lesnar locked in a nasty Kimura Lock. I was wondering when that would come into play. Rhodes got to the bottom rope, but as the commentators noted, he'd sustained a considerable amount of damage to get there. Lesnar went for an F-5, but Rhodes countered it by sending him into the exposed turnbuckle and then applying a Kimura Lock of his own! Lesnar sold it expertly but Brock fought out by getting to his knees and driving Rhodes into the mat. Brock went for another F-5, but Cody escaped and delivered 3 consecutive Cross Rhodes to get the clean pinfall victory. A decisive, emotional victory for Rhodes and a crowd-pleasing finish. I'm not sure I'd call this "must see," but it was very good and Lesnar did everything possible to put over Rhodes, including shaking his hand and holding it up in celebration. (3.5/5)
The Slim Jim Battle Royale was next. There was very little doubt of who was going to win this one (considering who Slim Jim's new spokeswrestler is), though I did like seeing a few guys - namely Bronson Reed and Omos - get some spotlight moments. The crowd was very much behind LA Knight as the numbers thinned out, but there was also a lurking suspicion that for whatever reason, they might actually book one of their most popular, freshest talents to look like a buffoon for no apparent reason. Fortunately, Triple H made the right call and gave Knight the crowd-pleasing W in a nicely booked battle royal that didn't overstay its welcome and played on a whole slew of on-going storylines in a nice way. Solid. (3/5)
Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler followed. This was a big disappointment to me as I really liked how their feud played out and expected these two to put on a very physical, very intense match. I must've missed it, but were they promoting this as an "MMA Rules" match all along? I don't watch the weekly TV, but if so...yeesh. Bad idea. And a bad idea in execution too as Rousey and Baszler had to build this match around grappling and strikes instead of, y'know, doing the thing that they've both gotten pretty darn good at: pro-wrestling. This match needed Rousey and Baszler to focus on a story - the way Lesnar and Rhodes did earlier in the night, the way Ricochet and Logan Paul did in the opener - instead of being hamstrung by a gimmick that prevented rope breaks from stopping submission holds and didn't allow someone to win via pinfall. There was an audible "Boring" response early on and, at a certain point, I could've sworn they were piping in "white" crowd noise as it sounded very artificial on Peacock and nothing Rousey or Baszler did seemed to pop the audience or cause the audience to boo. It was just loud "white" crowd noise if that's a thing (?), probably intended to cover for the fact that this was just not getting over with the Detroit fans. I didn't like the brief ref stoppage segment. I didn't like Baszler putting Rousey to sleep in anti-climactic fashion. I didn't like that this match didn't play to what the strengths of these two is in 2023, incorrectly having them try to work a match like they were still the athletes they were in 2013. This seemed like it wasn't produced or "agented" by anyone either or was almost designed to make it clear how much better pro-wrestling is than MMA...only this was a staged MMA fight and it was on the company's own pro-wrestling show, so the only real losers are the fans. Not good at all. (1.5/5)
The WWE Intercontinental Championship was on the line next as GUNTHER defended his gold against Drew McIntyre. A very physical and taxing match that delivered everything that fans were expected, but maybe could've used an additional 4-5 minutes to really cement it as a true classic? GUNTHER and Drew tore into each other with chops and lariats and double dropkicks and I was genuinely surprised by GUNTHER kicking out of the Claymore. I really liked the finishing sequence too as GUNTHER knocked Drew off the top rope and McIntyre crotched himself and then fell prey to a big splash, another lariat, a powerbomb, and then a very strong jackknife cover in relatively rapid succession. THAT's how you end a match clean without shitting on your opponent one single bit as Drew put on a valiant effort but GUNTHER took advantage and orchestrated a series of big moves, tied together with no wasted motion, to secure the victory. Again, I wouldn't necessarily call this an all-timer, but it was definitely way better than what came before it and arguably, from a pure wrestling standpoint, an easy Match of the Night contender. (3.5/5)
The World Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins, defended his title against Finn Balor in a rematch from Money in the Bank. The crowd sang along with Rollins' entrance as usual, but Balor cut them off during the post-introduction reprise and went right on the attack. Trading blows to start things off, I appreciated Corey Graves explaining why Balor had the word "Seven" written on his right shoulder (a reference to the seven years since Balor last won a World Championship). Balor worked on Rollins' arm in the opening minutes, applying a nice variety of holds to give this match a different flavor than what had come before it (I particularly liked Balor bust out a Russian Leg Sweep-into-a-Fujiwara Arm Bar combo that I'm not sure I've seen before). Rollins fought back, though, grabbing Finn by the beard to deliver a series of headbutts and then a bunch of boots to the face before landing a nasty clothesline. Rollins went for the Pedigree, couldn't get it, but hit a Falcon Arrow for 2. Rollins followed it up with his signature hat trick of planchas, sending Balor crashing into the announce table. Balor regained control not long after, sending The Architect (does he still go by that?) into the post shoulder-first and in a great callback to their match at SummerSlam seven years ago, Balor hit the Champ with a powerbomb-into-the-guardrail. Of course, instead of letting that moment sink in, they went right into the next sequence - what a waste of what should've been a big moment - with Rollins somehow powering out of an armbar (injured shoulder and all) to hit two buckle bombs in a row. After a frog splash from Rollins, Balor seemingly started coughing blood to add even more drama to a match. They sprinted through the next half-dozen moves, including a Balor front dropkick, a superplex and double stomp, all of which looked terrific but tended to negate itself within split seconds as they went into their next elaborate sequence. Priest showed up and decked Rollins behind the ref's back, but even this interference couldn't lead to a Balor victory (following a pedigree). Priest waved in Dominik and Rhea, who drew massive heat and went to work distracting the referee. Priest offered the briefcase to Balor, but Finn refused it. Rollins hit the Curb Stomp, but Balor miraculously kicked out! The miscommunication led to Rollins launching himself to the floor to take out the rest of Judgment Day, but this allowed Balor to hit the Sling Blade, the front dropkick, and then the Coup de Gras...but only got 2! Again, the speed at which they worked through all of this was phenomenal, pausing only to play up Priest's involvement. Rollins ended up hitting a Curb Stomp onto Rollins onto the briefcase to retain the title while Priest looked on. I liked this match more than their Money in the Bank one and, as I've written countless times before, even the biggest Seth Rollins hater would have to admit that in terms of execution, agility, and impact, the guy is a supremely talented wrestler. This wasn't worked the way I would've wished - they really needed to pause and take some beats between some of these ridiculous sequences - but they never lost the crowd and they did eventually hit a crescendo at the end of the match that was very dramatic and suspenseful. Well above average, but still not something I'd consider truly great. (3/5)
The SmackDown Women's Championship was up next as Charlotte Flair and Bianca Belair challenged Asuka in a triple threat match. The crowd was a bit muted early on for this despite some good action, possibly a bit burnt out from the suspense of the previous match. To my eyes, Flair looked like she might have thinned out a touch, which has only made her quicker. Speaking of Flair, she's no stranger to triple threat matches having had two very famous WrestleMania ones (among others), but the story coming into this wasn't as personal as it could've/maybe should've been. Part of the blame, in my eye, is the way that they reshuffled the deck following WrestleMania and Night of Champions (as Flair, who had been the SmackDown Women's Champion dropped her title to Rhea Ripley, a Raw superstar, while Belair dropped her title to Asuka, who I believe was mostly on the Blue Brand by that point). If Brock Lesnar's matches were once known as "Suplex City," this match could've been dubbed Moonsault Town or Big Bootville because there was a ton of em' thrown around by Charlotte and Belair. At one point, Belair took a nasty fall and seemingly injured her ankle/knee, with medical staff showing up as she cried on the floor in pain. In the ring, Asuka delivered a superplex as Belair was helped down the aisle. The crowd cheered as she was escorted to the back, the audience (or at least segments of it) seemingly believing that the injury was legitimate...only for Belair to rush back to the ring to stop Flair's Figure 8 with an absolutely insane 450! I wish they hadn't done all that phony melodrama to get to that spot because they didn't need it to get there and it would've been just as incredible without it. Flair eventually got the Figure 8 onto Belair, but this time it was Asuka's mist that cost her to lose control of the move as Bianca then rolled up Asuka to win the title. Most of this match just kinda happened in front of an audibly tired crowd and I wasn't a fan of the fake injury stuff, but the finishing minutes were excellent and the post-match IYO Sky cash-in got a massive pop that, at least in front of this crowd, seems to have positioned Sky as the division's new top babyface (even if Damage CTRL is still a heel act, right?). (3/5)
Main event time - Roman Reigns defending the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against "Main Event" Jey Uso in a Tribal Combat (No DQ, No CO) match. I've really enjoyed most of Roman Reigns' matches over the past 1000+ days as he is typically wrestles a slower pace, builds his match on drama (but does it well), and has gotten very good at making it seem like the challenger may just squeak out a victory - especially when its been someone that the audience is fully behind like Sami Zayn, Drew McIntyre, or Cody Rhodes. This match, unfortunately, didn't quite have those elements working for it. As popular as Jey Uso might be and as much as it was conceivable that Roman would want to "make" his cousin at SummerSlam, few could've truly expected him to leave with the WWE Championship. Similarly, while Roman's deliberate pace is often a nice breath of fresh air after a whole show of wrestling matches conducted at breakneck speed (and this show had more than enough of that), this match seemed a little too slow, possibly because Jey Uso - as sound a performer as he is - has rarely been put in the position of having to carry a 20+ minute singles match without the benefit of being able to put his foot to the gas every now and then. Here, the quick offense, impressive high-flying, and barrage of false finishes that have made the Usos arguably the greatest WWE tag team in history were sorely lacking. Then you get to the booking - and not just the final screwy heel turn from Jimmy Uso - but the way that the match devolved into a 2-on-1 beatdown for its final stretch, straining the credulity of a match that was already built on a somewhat faulty premise that a career tag specialist could defeat the most dominant WWE Champion of the past three decades. Had this match been worked more at Jey's pace, especially in the early going, things might've been different. Had Solo Sikoa been somehow rendered unable to assist Roman for the final third, things might've been different. But this match didn't tell those stories and underwhelmed instead. (2/5)
After an all-time great show last month (Money in the Bank 2023), the otherwise strong SummerSlam suffered from two disappointing matches, specifically the underwhelming Baszler/Rousey match and the poorly-planned Uso/Reigns main event. Everything else on the show was good-to-great, though there was no single match I'd consider "must watch" aside from possibly the Cody Rhodes/Brock Lesnar match for historical sake (it certainly seemed like a "torch passing" moment with its supposedly impromptu post-match handshake). The Battle Royal was better than it had any right to be and the opener absolutely delivered. Plus, by relegating Kid Rock to the pre-show "cold open" segment, the WWE wisely didn't subject anyone watching at home in attendance to actually having to hear his awful music. With a Kwang Score of 2.88-out-of-5, this show didn't deliver all the way through, but there were matches and segments worth checking out.
FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand
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