Bianca Belair defended her RAW Women's Championship in the opener against Becky Lynch. These two had a better match at WrestleMania, but this was still really, really good aside from a few noticeable telegraphs. Considering Belair is only 5-6 years into her wrestling career, she has to be considered in the top 5 of all talents exclusively produced by the WWE system as she absolutely "belongs" in the RAW main event. Lynch will always have her fair share of supporters as "The Man" character was as over as any babyface the company had seen since Daniel Bryan's big run in 2013-14, but Belair has earned the crowd's appreciation since her main roster debut and, in seemingly every big match, busts out at least one or two very impressive feats of strength and athleticism. I liked the clean finish here and most everything that before, though I do wish they had played a bit more into last year's SummerSlam shocker. I wouldn't call this "must see" but it was close. (3.5/5)
After the match, Belair and Lynch shook hands and then we had the shocking return of Bayley, who then welcomed out Dakota Kai and Io Shirai. I'm willing to buy into this faction if they're actually treated like a real threat. If Bayley is ready to compete, and is able to compete at the level she was before her injury, she's certainly got the credibility and character to take the title off Belair...but are Kai and Shirai only going to be Bayley's "muscle"? Is that really the best use of both? Their inclusion also seemed to bring to mind the questions still surrounding Sasha Banks and Naomi, who, as the former Women's Tag Champions would've made more sense as either Bayley's back-up or the heroes coming to defend Belair. A good moment, but not quite good enough to get a +1 from me.
Logan Paul had his second career match in the second match of the night - taking on his WrestleMania tag partner, The Miz. This had much less "smoke and mirrors" than I thought it would, with Ciampa getting a few shots in but Maryse not playing much of a factor. Paul looked good in a match that ran considerably longer than I expected. Considering the amount of money Paul is likely earning per match, I'm not surprised that the company has clearly put plenty of resources into making him look good for more than just a 5-minute sprint. The question remains, though, what Paul brings to the table in tangible dollars. As a match this was good, albeit highly structured, match that felt believable thanks to how well-established The Miz's in-ring character is. Unlike Austin Theory, whose athleticism is undeniable, The Miz has always been a bit more of an opportunistic brawler, a guy who can hit his big moves well but is also easily distracted by his own gameplan (which almost always features a number of shortcuts). Because he plays the "beatable" heel so well, losing to Paul the way he did - from a miscue with Maryse - didn't feel cheap at all. I'd be much more on-board with Paul if he was positioned as the heel, but hopefully that's the next step now that the feud with The Miz seems over aside from the likely Paul & AJ Styles vs. Miz and Ciampa match coming down the line. (3/5)
Austin Theory challenged Bobby Lashley for his United States Championship next. Once again, Lashley got a huge response from the live crowd, though it seems like the WWE has no interest in actually pushing him beyond that Upper Midcarder level despite having a very solid couple of years. I liked watching Lashley dominate Theory at last month's Money in the Bank, was less excited about Theory winning the briefcase later in the night, and was lukewarm to seeing this rematch. This was fine but unremarkable aside from the fact that once again Lashley got the clean win and Theory, who is supposed to be in the middle of some sort of main event push, was once again made to look like your average midcard heel. I'm not sure I understand the logic of trying to re-create the next Miz, but I'm also not much of a Theory fan so I'm not sad about the booking. (2.5/5)
This was followed by Rey and Dominik Mysterio vs. Finn Balor and Damian Priest in a No Disqualification match. The stipulation allowed this one to start off very loosely with the babyfaces not bothering to play by any sort of tag rules and just going straight at the heels with high-flying offense. The crowd was pretty dead for this, though, which is unsurprising considering just how little credibility The Judgment Day have. After just a couple minutes, the crowd began chanting for tables...which Priest responded to by applying a chinlock. Based on the pre-match video its clear that there was a running thread involving Eddie Guerrero from the start of this rivalry, but its unclear what Guerrero has to do with anything and invoking him during the match via shoulder shakes and Balor trying to bust out the Three Amigos made no sense and just drew more attention to how heatless this was. The best sequences and stretches came when Rey was in the ring, though I really liked Balor and Priest's cut-offs of his momentum. Rey and Dom's failed attempt at a double 619 got a huge reaction from the crowd, but the biggest of the match came from the unexpected return of Edge, who took out his former teammates with a pair of spears to help get the Mysterios the W. This served its purpose - which was to "cool down" the crowd a little bit before giving them a big ending with Edge's return. I wish the match itself had been more exciting and hardcore, though, with Lesnar and Reigns doing a Last Man Standing match later in the night, I can understand why they were limited to just a couple chair shots. Not terrible, though, as Rey Mysterio is simply too good a performer to stink out the joint. (2.5/5)
Pat McAfee took on Baron Corbin in the next match. To me, this felt a bit like one too many "celebrity" matches, though I'm fully aware that McAfee is a WWE regular and has been for quite some time now. The point is, he's not a trained wrestler, he's a color commentator, and I'm not sure the WWE should be going out of their way to make it clear that celebrity fans can come into the ring and hold their own against capital-S Superstars. Of all of McAfee's matches, this was the least impressive and it had nothing to do with Corbin really and was still mostly good. He nearly botched a front-flip off the top rope to the floor and his final move - a Code Red - was ugly, but every other big moment in the match worked and the crowd was very much into it, even chanting for Michael Cole at one point when Corbin shoved him near the announce table. There was a small bit of interaction between McAfee and Corey Graves too...which, if the rumors are true about Graves possibly competing again, means that he's going to be McAfee's next opponent. Call me a stick in the mud, but "Commentator vs. Commentator" matches are not the kind of action I'm looking for any pro-wrestling company and never have been (ditto for "Referee vs. Referee" matches). As a "spectacle" match, this was fine, but won't have anyone forgetting McAfee's much funner WrestleMania match or the real-life Roadrunner cartoon we got with Johnny Knoxville and Sami Zayn. This should've been on an episode of SmackDown, not taking up time on a show that ran well over 3.5 hours but would've been more digestible closer to 3. (2.5/5)
We got a promo from Drew McIntyre to fill in even more time and hype the upcoming UK special. McIntyre gets good responses from the crowd, but he doesn't feel like a true main eventer to me after losing major matches to Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley (and Orton if I'm not mistaken?) over the last couple years.
In a rematch from Money in the Bank, where they arguably stole the show with a lengthy battle, The Street Profits challenged The Usos for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championships. I really liked their match at the previous PPV but wasn't as over-the-moon with it as others. I liked the new wrinkle here of having Jeff Jarrett involved, though I do kinda wish we had got at least one guitar shot. I mean, what's the point of having Double J show up if you're not going to see him brain somebody with an acoustic six-string? This was shorter and more to-the-point than their last match - which I appreciated - and I also appreciated the clean, decisive ending, though I do wonder where the Profits go from here. The commentators did play up the fact that Ford has been earmarked for a singles run and how much that gets under Dawkins' skin, but if they're not going to give Ford a true singles push, him becoming "just another guy" is not a very enticing development. Anyway, another good-to-great match from The Usos, who have a resume as good anyone's on the list of all-time great WWE Tag Teams. Unfortunately, the company can never seem to build up more than 1 or 2 at a time so The Usos are now, once again, on top of the mountain without credible challengers. The Viking Raiders certainly ain't it, either. (3.5/5)
Matt Riddle showed up from the crowd and called out Seth Rollins. Like the McIntyre segment, this was done to get them in front of the audience, to provide some variety, and to have them included on the biggest show of the summer. Nothing wrong with that, but it also wasn't anything "must see."
Ronda Rousey challenged Liv Morgan for the SmackDown Women's Championship next. I really liked how straight-forward this match was as Rousey basically dominated Morgan for most of its brief runtime. Rousey was dangerously close to becoming "just another wrestler" in some ways, putting on a back-and-forth match with Natalya last month when Natalya has spent most of her WWE career as a midcarder/gatekeeper and has never been pushed as particularly "dangerous." Even against Charlotte and Becky Lynch, Rousey had to almost downplay her legitimacy. Here, there was much less of that and Rousey went right after Morgan's arm/shoulder and Morgan did a marvelous job selling the damage. The finish - which saw Rousey essentially pin herself by accident while applying an armbar - ran the risk of "babyfacing" Rousey and turning Morgan into the "lucky heel," but the crowd is so fully behind Morgan and Rousey is so naturally unlikeable that I think the audience will still be in Morgan's corner at their inevitable rematch. I'm curious to see where this feud will go, which is more than I can say about many of the current rivalries in the WWE. This wasn't a "great match" by any means, but it was interesting and progressed Liv's storyline in a way that made it stand out from the rest of the show. (3/5)
Main event time - Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar in a Last Man Standing match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. I got very nervous when Reigns got a lengthy, lengthy introduction and then Lesnar got one of his own (which included him driving a tractor down to the ring). With how long the pre-match shenanigans went, I feared that these two had opted to fill up their ring time with "fluff" rather than deliver a real match (which is a bit of how I felt about their WrestleMania match, which seemed very "light"). Fortunately, I was way wrong: Lesnar and Reigns brought it here, putting on the rightful sequel to their first (and only other great) match from WrestleMania XXXI. This was a match of three parts really - a wild and very fun brawl that went all over the ring and into the crowd, then a memorable stretch involving Reigns getting dumped from the tractor into the ring with the ring itself eventually get upturned, and then the final stretch, which saw run-ins galore and Lesnar getting up to break the 10 count after multiple would-be finishers (including a nasty double superkick from the Usos). I doubt this will be Lesnar's last match and I'm not convinced it will even be the last Reigns/Lesnar match, but this felt like as big a send-off as possible and a much, much better way to cap their feud for awhile than their lackluster WrestleMania match. Was this the absolute best Last Man Standing match ever? I wouldn't go that far...but in terms of "spectacles," this was an action movie in a wrestling ring and the use of the tractor was capital-I Insane. A "must see" match, but not any sort of "mat classic." (4/5)
With a Kwang Score of 3.06-out-of-5, SummerSlam 2022 was a strong show with a wild main event, a very good (arguably great) opener, an even better Tag Team Championship match, and some interesting "celebrity/part-timer" matches in Paul/Miz and Rousey/Morgan. Oddly enough, it was more often the WWE's "regulars" who underwhelmed - the Mysterios/Judgment Day felt like filler (with even the return of Edge feeling pretty insignificant by the end of the night), Theory/Lashley would've felt lackluster main eventing an episode of Raw, and while McAfee is over and had a great entrance, his match against Baron Corbin was average at best. Still, there was enough good on this show to check out most of it.
FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand
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