WWE SummerSlam 2011

WWE SummerSlam 2011

Los Angeles, CA - August 2011

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Coming into this show, John Cena and CM Punk had claims to the WWE Championship, while the World Heavyweight Champion was Christian. Cody Rhodes was the Intercontinental Champion and the United States Championship was held by Dolph Ziggler. The Divas Champion was Kelly Kelly and the WWE Tag Team Champions were David Otunga and Michael McGillicutty (Curtis Axel). 

The summer of 2011 in WWE is known as "The Summer of Punk" and it was a fun time to be a wrestling fun. Still, the only pay-per-view I purchased from this era was June's Money in the Bank, not shelling out the big bucks for this show or any of the ones that followed it. In fact, I'm not sure I purchased another PPV until WrestleMania 28 the following spring. 

Automatic +1 any time a wrestling show starts with a guitar solo version of the "Star Spangled Banner." WCW used to do this sort of wacky shit all the time, but WWE doesn't bust it out nearly as often. This time the performer is Adam Jones of Tool. Cool. (+1)

After a video recapping tonight's main storylines, The Miz comes out and begins cutting a promo but gets interrupted by his tag team partner, R-Truth, who, in turn, gets interrupted by Alberto Del Rio. Michael Cole is still in in full-on heel mood, praising everything Miz does, which is annoying and distracting at first but, to his credit, Cole was already toning things down and the over-the-top ass-kissing drops off as the match goes on. Their opponents are a trio of babyfaces - Rey Mysterio, John Morrison, and Kofi Kingston. The crowd is hotter for this than I thought they would be. Miz and R-Truth are strongly featured, but everyone gets their signature stuff in. That's not to say this is by-the-book and predictabl, though - at one point The Miz hits a weird neckbreaker-DDT-facedrop thing that I wish he'd bust out more because it looked nasty and had the audience biting on a nearfall. When Mysterio comes in for his team, he and Truth have a wonderful sequence leading to a great finish that sees the the teasing of a double 619, some interference by Del Rio, a great mule kick, and some more high-flying. A match like this doesn't have the "stakes" necessary to make it must-see, but this was a hot opener, the crowd absolutely caught up in the action from beginning to end. (3.5/5)

Backstage, John Laurenaitis demands an apology from CM Punk. Punk offers an insincere apology and Laurenaitis walks away. He turns around there's Stephanie. Steph wishes Punk good luck, but he doesn't accept it. The Summer of Punk storyline started off amazing and, over time, hit some potholes, but at this point, things were still really, really good (even if the WWE should've waited longer to bring Punk back onto TV). 

Sheamus vs. Mark Henry is next. Henry was at the start of his "Hall of Pain" run at this point. It felt like Henry's umpteenth push and I definitely wasn't taking it very seriously. Remember, up till now, his matches routinely drew "DUD" ratings and because he'd has so many start-stop pushes, very few saw him as a true main eventer. Sheamus, meanwhile, was in the midst of his (I think) first babyface run. What's interesting about this match, but really only in retrospect, is how dominant Henry is made to look for most of it. While Sheamus gets a string of offense towards the end, it is Henry who is the clear focus and, to his credit, he absolutely shines in the spotlight, his offense looking devastating and getting huge reactions. The finish is a bit of a cop-out and another reason why few saw Mark Henry's ascent coming even as it was happening. A clean pinfall victory would have been better, but because count-outs are so rare, its still an impressive win for Henry. Not an overlooked gem or anything, but not too bad a match of at all. (2.5/5)

After a not-too-great performance from Cee-Lo Green, Kelly Kelly took on Beth Phoenix. I reviewed a show not too long ago where I gave props to Melina and Michelle McCool for putting on a decent match limited by time constraints and, according to rumor, mandates not to "outdo" the boys. I was not expecting this match to be too great as Kelly Kelly was a notoriously under-trained performer, but she took quite a few risks and hit all the major spots they needed her to. Pheonix is clearly leading the match, but that's to be expected in any situation involving an experienced hand and a relative newcomer. The match doesn't run longer than 10 minutes - in fact, I'm not sure it even hits 6 - but it never gets boring and the crowd is relatively into it (at least more than they were into Cee-Lo). Again, its not a great match and there are some moments when Kelly looks like a deer in headlights, but its inoffensive and doesn't overstay its welcome. (2/5) 

Stephanie McMahon is seen exiting John Cena's locker room and then we get a comedy segment with Jimmy Hart and R-Truth, who was in his "Little Jimmy" conspiracy theory era. 

Wade Barrett, not yet "Bad News," takes on Daniel Bryan, not yet the leader of the "Yes Movement," next. The storyline coming into this match is that Bryan shocked the world by winning the Money In The Bank briefcase and Barrett sought to put him in his place. There's a sizable "Daniel Bryan" chant early on, but its not nearly as massive as it would be just a few years later. Bryan is awesome here - clearly as good a technical wrestler as the WWE had on its roster - but he's less colorful, still not yet connecting with the fans, not yet able to "let them in" and have them ride the emotional roller coaster that his matches became from 2012 on. Like the Henry match (but even moreso), its fun to hear the commentary knowing what would come; Booker T heaps praise and respect onto Bryan while Cole and Lawler try their best to shine up Barrett, a guy that is being clearly upstaged - even if he's quite good himself. At one point Bryan hits his Yes Kicks (and connects on all of them), and Booker and Lawler are just stunned silent (though the crowd isn't). When this match finally gets to its closing minutes, with Bryan applying his LeBell Lock but Barrett able to make it to the ropes, it does seem like it has maybe gone on a bit too long - not so much because the action isn't good but rather because the stakes in this match were low and neither Barrett or Bryan were super established (as Cole points early on, it wasn't long before SummerSlam 2010 that The Nexus debuted and Barrett and Bryan were actually on the same side). An above-average match, but when you're Daniel Bryan and you've had countless great matches, it would be hard to argue that this belongs in the Top 50. (3/5)

The World Heavyweight Championship is on the line next as Christian defends the title against Randy Orton. At Money in the Bank, Christian spat in the face of Randy Orton and Orton got DQ'd and because of a special stipulation, Christian won the strap. This match is being fought under a No Holds Barred stipulation to make sure that doesn't happen again. Despite being the heel, Christian has a little bit of support. Before the match begins, Christian delivers on his big surprise - revealing his cornerman, Edge! Edge gets a bigger entrance than Christian, which just goes to show what the company thought of their respective status, and a huge babyface welcome (unsurprising considering that Edge had been forced to retire in April). Edge grabs the mic and instead of aligning himself with Christian, cuts down his best friend and mocks him for cheating his way to the World Heavyweight Championship. Edge then leaves Christian to fend for himself, setting the stage for Orton's entrance and a huge pop for the Viper. If the WWE was worried that Christian would somehow get cheered over Orton, that pre-match segment really helped position Orton as the guy the fans should be rooting for. Despite this being a No Holds Barred match, Orton and Christian spend the first bit just showing off their in-ring chemistry and not their diabolical sides. As soon as the match goes outside, though, things get messy with Orton slamming Christian's head against the barricade and then attempting an RKO on top of a table. Christian runs into the crowd, but Orton catches him and punches him back down towards the ring. Back in the ring, Orton shoves Christian into the corner and we get an old-school raining of blows that Christian sells beautifully. Even in the first five minutes of this match, it is obvious that these two guys are not only looking to steal the show, but know they can just by being themselves. Christian grabs a kendo stick and everything he does with it is gold - from grabbing the crowd's attention by banging it on the steps as he walks in to wailing on Orton and attempting to drive it into his neck. From here, the match does an excellent job of raising the stakes with the introduction of each new weapon and, even more importantly, not a single sequence looks bad. This match is known for having a ton of counters but unlike so many matches we've seen over the past 2-3 years, the counters and reversals come off as organic and unrehearsed. The only real knock against this match might be that, as the match enters its final third and the "hardcore" aspects of the match take center stage, we see less and less of the exceptional character work that these two delivered for the other 90% of the match. The attention to detail they give is so good that little things like Orton being "face up" for the Con-Chair-To are noticeable in an otherwise almost flawless match. Similarly, the finishing spot doesn't quite make sense as its not clear what Christian was going to attempt coming off the top almost directly onto a set of steps. This is still easily the best match I've seen from either of these guys and I'm a pretty big Christian fan. An absolute all-time classic. (4.5/5)

Main event time - CM Punk vs. John Cena for the rights to be called the rightful and undisputed WWE Champion. Triple H is the guest referee for this but I was surprised how little he inserted himself into the action aside from one segment that was actually not too jarring. Like the Orton/Christian series, lots has been written about Cena and Punk's chemistry and while they are not quite as fluid as Orton and Christian, they bring a gravitas and "big fight feel" that Orton and Christian, even at their respective peaks, never could. The match begins with some straight-up wrestling and both guys trying to get quick pins, but the "star" of the first third of this match is the live crowd that gives this match a hot atmosphere close (but not quite at the same level) to what Punk and Cena got in Chicago at Money in the Bank the month prior. As the match goes on, both guys bust out every bit of their signature offense, but what takes this to the next level is the snap, strength, and intensity they put into it. What's also great about this match is that, in a sense, we're still seeing John Cena be John Cena. In the years after this, Cena would expand his moveset to include springboard stunners and sunset flip powerbombs in an effort to "keep up" with innovators like Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, and Seth Rollins. While these adaptations helped Cena stay fresh, they also led his matches to become about a series of moves rather than about the character-driven clashes that defined his best work. As the match continues we get some brilliant knee strikes from Punk, lots of great exchanges, and even some back-and-forth with Triple H that could've come across as overdone and melodramatic but never goes too far (something I wasn't necessarily expecting considering Triple H's reputation for being a bit of a spotlight hog). I liked the finish - which saw CM Punk land yet another Go-To-Sleep and get the pin as Cena draped his foot over the bottom rope out of Triple H's view. Punk's victory gets a huge pop, Cena looks rightly pissed, and Triple H apologizes. The show looks to be wrapping up as The Game makes his way towards the back, but we then get one of the bigger shockers of the 2010s - the return of Kevin Nash, who powerbombs CM Punk, escapes back through the crowd. This leads to Alberto Del Rio cashing in his briefcase and leaving the show as the WWE Champion. The match itself is at least a 4-star affair, a clear "should watch," but the post-match overbooking has not aged well and, even at the time, drew plenty of criticism for "cooling" CM Punk. If the overbooked finish of their Money in the Bank classic could be overlooked in the grand scheme of things (remember, Punk didn't get a clean win there either), the outcome and post-match angle are simply too "loud" and tacked-on to ignore. (4/5)


With a Kwang Score of 3.42-out-of-5, SummerSlam 2011 is one of the better WWE pay-per-views of the decade, bookended by a great opener and an excellent title match between all-time greats and anchored by (arguably) Randy Orton and Christian's best performances ever. The Cee-Lo Green performance is tedious, but the rest of the show goes by swiftly. Modern viewers will also likely enjoy seeing Daniel Bryan and Mark Henry on the rise, the latter years away from becoming the biggest star in the industry and the former on the brink of putting it all together and having an awesome heel run on SmackDown that would change the perception of him forever. 

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand