The main event match was a non-title, champion vs. Neville & Steve Amell and we got a wacky pre-tape promo from Stardust & Barrett. Prime Time Players & Lucha Dragons over New Day & Los Matadores in 2:50 Kalisto pinned Fernando with his shiranui.
Ryback pinned Miz in 3:22 Big Show was on commentary. Then in the back, Ziggler challenged Rusev to a singles match at SummerSlam, so no mixed tag yet. Rusev hid behind Hot Summer to avoid a superkick from Ziggler, but Lana gave Hot Summer an ugly crane kick and Ziggler laid out Rusev with a superkick. Hot Summer ended up getting slapped then Rusev intimidated Lana until Dolph Ziggler returned to make the save. Rusev w/Summer Rae submitted Mark Henry with the Accolade in 2:50 Lana was on commentary and afterwards she challenged Hot Summer to a fight. Poor Becky Lynch’s first main roster singles match was against Tamina mercifully it was short and Becky won in 4 minutes with the Shirome armbar. Roman Reigns downed Luke Harper w/Bray Wyatt in 14:22 of a dull match, although the crowd got into Reigns at the finish Dean Ambrose was on commentary and he was pretty natural at getting over the tag match with the Wyatts. Other Stuff: Randy Orton & Cesaro downed Sheamus & Kevin Owens in 13:30 Orton pinned Sheamus with an RKO. It was certainly different to see them actually putting effort into making a PPV feel like a big deal and with all stuff going on in New York this week, it is obvious they are trying extremely hard to make SummerSlam into the WrestleMania of the summer. They also booked a couple of matches for RAW and Steph made the “big” announcement that Jon Stewart would be the host of SummerSlam. Instead, HHH & Stephanie came out and essentially played Mean Gene/Todd Pettengill, as they ran down all of the matches for SummerSlam in about 8 minutes. Shockingly, the show opened not with the customary mind-numbing 15 minute promo. It was a long segment which could have had a lot more impact if they would have just cut 5 minutes or so, because the points both men made were valid and good selling points for the title vs. Cena said HHH was never Flair’s “bitch” but on Sunday he would make Rollins his. Cena also ranted forever before finally explaining that he was just one title win away from tying Ric Flair’s “record” 16 World Championships. Rollins blathered on for an eternity his point was that Cena is a disease and he is the cure. Of course, nothing could top that epic brawl the two had but with Paul Heyman cutting money promos week after week, there is probably no other match worth of headlining the WrestleMania of the summer and the, “biggest SummerSlam of all-time.”įor the SummerSlam semi-main event, they had John Cena & Seth Rollins in a boring contract signing HHH & Stephanie were out there too.
#Wwe raw august 17 plus#
Initially I wasn’t high on the idea of Brock/Taker at SummerSlam, but the story they have told for the most part makes sense and is easy to understand, if you ignore the fact that Taker returned for WrestleMania this year, plus the huge pull-apart they did last month was one of the best angles RAW has seen in years. As noted, they were in Brock’s hometown and Taker was booed more than he has been in years for the low-blow, which I suppose was the desired effect they were going for at BattleGround.
Undi showed up after a lights-out spot and instantly kicked Brock in the groin again then left him for dead with a chokeslam and a Tombstone. Heyman once again spewed dollars as he shilled the Lesnar/Taker rematch and he ended up singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic with the words changed to put over Brock (“Glory, Glory Brock Lesnar” etc.) Heyman pointed out that at BattleGround, Taker resorted to a low-blow and noted that he had never ever beaten Lesnar. Later, in the main event segment, Paul Heyman introduced Brock Lesnar as the conquering hometown hero and Brock was over like a god. They aired a short Taker pre-tape at 8:30 and he basically said Lesnar would NOT Rest in Peace at SummerSlam. The big story of the show was Undertaker & Brock Lesnar both being in the building and since they were in Minneapolis, even the mighty Brock Lesnar couldn’t avoid the cheap heat tactic of getting laid out in his hometown. It was the go-home show for SummerSlam and to be fair they did a good job hyping the PPV, but other than Paul Heyman putting the entire business to shame when it comes to selling a big match, there wasn’t much to hold the viewers’ interest over the three hours. Target Centre: Minneapolis, to the last two weeks, RAW wasn’t particularly good or entertaining.