how to make a monster / summerslam review

Summerslam was a very good show, in fact, the only negative of the show was my wwe network feed was not very good at all. The feed didn't allow for a steady flow of the show in my living room but the event itself, from top to bottom, was thoroughly entertaining and helped build towards stories that needed progressed and brought an end to others.

 Quick results for some of the matches saw Dolph ziggler win the intercontinental championship from the miz and Paige capturing the divas title from aj.  Ziggler winning says that wwe is finally going to use him in a significant way, which is great news for the fans because Dolph is great and the ring.

Bray Wyatt gained momentum and really stepped into a new level as he defeated Chris Jericho in a very solid match. What separates this Wyatt win from others is that it was a clean win and done without any assistance from the Wyatt family. It was a well told story that played Bray's unique character and skill set against the veteran Jericho and the goal was to get bray over strong and it was a success. Wyatt was elevated and the feud in an odd way could end or continue.

Dean ambrose and Seth Rollins both helped themselves become stars last night in one of the more unique lumberjack matches I can recall and also one of the more exciting. Ambrose is well on his way to being the potential top guy and the crowd is so crazy rooting for him in a good wrestling way. To a lesser degree Rollins is getting over as a heel and is so technically sound and solid that he will be a top player for a long time to come. Rollins won the match by using the briefcase after loads of lumberjack interference, kane interference and brawl that went around the building. This is a great example of gaining from a loss as ambrose comes out stronger than he started and this feud, excitedly, will continue.

 The flag match featuring jack swagger versus rusev was good but odd. Before the match rusev had his ankle injured by swagger so rusev, the bad guy, played the vulnerable underdog and triumphantly overcame adversity to win the match. I thought this could have been a big coming out for the real american jack swagger but instead he and zeb were left laying and while I thought we would see this match once more it appears this rivalry is over.

 Roman reigns won the match that he needed to win. Seeing how the main event went the randy Orton battle with roman reigns needed to be the back and forth ups and downs match up summerslam needed. Orton controlled the match and eventually reigns made his come back and the two had several exciting spots and roman reigns got the win he needed.

Then there was the main event. WWE did the gutsiest move that I can recall since ultimate warrior pinned hulk hogan at wrestlemania 6. WWE had their number 1 top babyface, who has built his character on his heart and determination, and he was demolished. He was given almost no offense, took deveststing German suplexes and Brock lesnar was mocking and laughing at cena throughout the match. Brock lesnar became a great attraction at summerslam, he became an unbeatable juggernaut that at the end of the show you wondered who could stop him. The mauling that was given john cena did more to cement a conquerer and create a legitimate special must see draw that the wwe network needs. Summerslam was the crowning of the unstoppable unbeatable destroyer; and just think how important it will be when some one finally defeats him. The man that stops Brock lesnar will become at that moment the new face of wwe and that is why lesnar beating the streak, pounding john cena and not being overexposed on television will all be worth it for world wrestling entertainment. I couldn't be more excited to see Brock lesnar, on a part time basis, be the conquerer. Who on earth would want to face him after the beating he put on super cena at summerslam.
Now, the negatives from sunday, I don't know how well the wwe network feed was for everyone but in my living room for my summerslam party it was not the best network showing. A lot of stalls, glitches, timing errors and freezing made for a frustrating time watching the biggest show of the summer. On a night that the wwe network, which they have pushed at nauseam, needed to be awesome it struck out where we were watching. I answer the "how is the network" question with high praise, I love it and it is an innovation made for someone like me. But, last night it was the network, which is $9.99 per month, time to shine and it fell flat.

 The network did not ruin summerslam but it certainly hindered it and turned a great show into a pretty good show. I thought this was a major victory for the wwe and most of its main roster, I wish it was also a win for the network but it wasn't. With the major focus of wwe on TV being to subscribe to the network wwe needs to give its fan base more shows like summerslam but on a much better server network. But that is just this marks remarks.

photo credits:
wwe.com
allsports.com
wrestlingdailynews.com

SummerSlam preview / what should happen

SummerSlam is tomorrow and it features the "biggest fight of the summer" and is wwe's second biggest event of the year.  SummerSlam is traditionally the culmination of the major rivalries of the summer season beginning to rebuild into the fall and the road to Wrestlemania.  This year I think there is a different feel as many of the storylines, I believe, will continue to build off of this show and while SummerSlam will have some spectacle and finality I think many stories progress from Sunday instead of climax.   The show features 9 matches on the card and is expected to be a very good show from top to bottom.  Here is what I believe should happen as it pertains to the main matches and storylines going into the big show.  None of my comments are based on spoilers or rumors, they are simply my opinions so anything similar that happens is just me predicting correctly. 

Stephanie McMahon versus Brie Bella:
I think this match was created as a smart way to keep Daniel Bryan relevant without being on television at all during his injury recovery.  I don't believe that Daniel Bryan is ready to return anytime soon so I foresee this match being the beginning of feud more so than the ending.  In order for this to continue Stephanie McMahon has to win, probably by some kind of shenanigans, to keep Brie looking strong.  This storyline, minus the Raw ridiculousness of love triangles and arrests, has been awesome.  Stephanie McMahon clearly has the sports entertainment gene in her as she has been magnificent in her promos, reactions and even the physicality when needed.  If anything I would say she has been too good because she is really exposing Brie Bella as just plain average when it comes to carrying a program.  I expect Steph to win by cheating as a way to continue her power trip leading to another match between these two some time down the road, potentially even setting up a mixed gender tag match of Triple H and Stephanie McMahon against Brie Bella and Daniel Bryan when he is ready to return.
expectations: an entertaining mix of circus/blunders/interference that will probably be enjoyable.

Jack Swagger versus Rusev Flag Match:
In an effort to make Rusev a monster heel playing off America's xenophobia wwe accidentally have created a potential star in Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter and in this match there is a great chance to have Swagger be the conquering underdog proudly standing for the USA.  The kicker is that because of the "rules" of the match Rusev doesn't even really have to lose so he won't look bad if Swagger is allowed to wave old glory at the end of this attraction.  From what I gather, the rules of the match are capture the flag in order to win so no one gets pinned or submits.  Jack Swagger showed the wwe universe on Monday night that he has injured ribs and he is a vulnerable patriot that refuses to quit.  I firmly expect to see Rusev working over the ribs and Swagger selling pain and agony so much that even the most devout American would not be disappointed if Swagger just gave up to fight another day.  Which is exactly the time that Swagger digs down deep and gives one last effort to thwart his nemesis, the dirty Russian, and find a way to hoist old glory.  Lana, speaking for Rusev the following night on Raw, can say that Rusev crushed Swagger and the American got lucky and really loses no momentum moving forward.  But, Swagger will have the ability to raise the 50 Stars and 13 bars proudly in front of a sold out crowd chanting USA and a star could potentially be born.  This storyline has been a gift to the wwe in the way of finally finding Jack Swagger a character he can run with, I hope they allow him, and America, their moment.
expectations: Balboa vs. Drago.  An inspiring performance that ends with deafening USA chants and a solid match.

Seth Rollins versus Dean Ambrose Lumberjack Match:
In my opinion this match has show stealer potential.  Seth Rollins has become a great villain and Dean Ambrose is a great anti-hero that everyone has gotten behind.  The story is that Ambrose wants revenge and Rollins has been able to get out of dodge and avoid confrontation, but with the lumberjack stipulation there will be no where to run.  The mixture of Rollins skill and Ambrose's charisma will make this a great match and I think there will be a lot of energy and high risk.  I think, like in an lumberjack match, there will be interference that will cause Rollins to get the win.  The rivalry is far from over I believe and this will be the feud to push these guys into major players in wwe; with that said, Rollins needs to win because Ambrose is so hot right now he can afford the loss and Rollins winning continues the program.  I would like to see these guys keep going back and forth and eventually have a match that puts the money in the bank briefcase up for grabs, possibly in a ladder match which would be an amazing encounter.
expectation: Non stop cat and mouse full of action, high risk moves and intensity.  A very good match.

Roman Reigns versus Randy Orton:
This match has one purpose: make Roman Reigns look awesome!  Which, in my opinion, is easier said than done; especially by Randy Orton.  Orton is an excellent villain, he knows heel psychology and does a great job delivering it.  However, his matches are paced a certain way to play up his methodical heel ways that make him look really vicious; i don't believe that Roman Reigns will be helped by this style of wrestling.  Reigns is better suited, right now at his skill level, to be the all action very physical superhero.  He can sell some but when he is not delivering his main moves he can sometimes get lost.  It will become Orton's job to make sure that Reigns looks strong throughout the whole match, whether he is winning or losing, the crowd can't forget that Roman Reigns is a superman.  If Orton wrestles his style of match, usually very good, and tries to tell the typical story in the ring Roman Reigns inexperience and ill-preparedness for the big push will be exposed.  If this match is a fast paced high tempo spot after spot type of match Reigns will come out looking like the guy they want him to be.
expectation: wild card, could be kept relatively short and good or could fall apart.

Bray Wyatt versus Chris Jericho:
On the subject of good in ring story telling the Bray Wyatt vs Chris Jericho match could also steal the show, but in a different way than Ambrose and Rollins.  While Bray Wyatt may not do moonsaults or between rope dives he understands how to tell a good story in a wrestling ring.  He wrestles with emotion and control that lends itself to his unorthodox style so well going against one of the best in Chris Jericho will most certainly deliver.  I thought the match they had at the last pay per view was pretty good and I feel this guys are far from the peak of this storyline and expect something big to come out of their summerslam match.  I assume Bray Wyatt wins only because he lost the last match but that type of thinking doesn't always work.  I do believe this match will help continue to propel Wyatt to the top of the card and on his way to main eventing sometime soon.
expectation: a great roller coaster ride of a wrestling match, lot of near finishes and psychology that will remind you what is so very good about quality wrestling.

Brock Lesnar versus John Cena WWE Heavyweight Championship:
Brock Lesnar said on Raw that he would leave John Cena in a pool of his own urine, blood and vomit.  No one wants to see that, however, John Cena should lose this match, lose his title and get beat up in this match.  Coming off of a very "memorable" Brock Lesnar upset of The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 30 no one has more momentum than the beast Brock Lesnar and his advocate Paul Heyman.  There is a huge opportunity to give Lesnar the title, make him unstoppable and set him up for the next "top guy" to dethrone the mercenary champion; probably not until wrestlemania.  While Cena does have to appear competitive and the match needs to be good the only outcome I foresee is Lesnar not only winning but winning in a convincing manner.  If it takes 5 F5's then so be it, if Cena wants to fight until there is nothing left so be it, but if Cena retains the title then Brock Lesnar and the breaking of the streak has been the biggest waste in wwe. Putting the championship on Lesnar gives wwe 8 months to create the next big thing and the pool of talent will be wide open because the champ will not be on television all of the time, an opportunity will be created for someone to really step up and take a big time spot and Lesnar will be the guy to solidify that spot on the grandest stage of them all.  If wwe does the right thing and have the guts to put the title on a part time monster and allow the championship to not be seen all of the time.  There is a lot of potential in doing this but also a lot of uncertainty because it has not been done in a long time.  I hope they pull the trigger, the match turns into a fight and the beast incarnate Brrroockkk Lllesssnar walks out of SummerSlam with his hand raised in victory.
expectation: a fight.  a brutal, stiff brawl that allows Cena to show all the heart and determination he has while also allowing Lesnar to show he is a conqueror.  I'm hoping for a new champion that will allow down the road a new champion and the pathway for the future top guy.

The SummerSlam build has been very good this year and I have high expectations coming into the show, with the focus on the wwe network and moving forward into the future it is important that wwe creates high expectations coming out of these shows now too.  I feel that there could be a lot of good done with this show that wwe can build from but, as often is with wwe and wrestling, a lot of not so good can come as well; we will find out Sunday.  Of course, that is just this marks remarks.

photo credits:
dailywrestlingnews.com
wwe.com
allwrestlingsuperstars.com
wrestlingclique.com
wwenews.com
 

Go Home to SummerSlam

Monday night raw had a lot of pressure riding on its show tonight. Having to focus time on all of the major matches coming up this sunday night at summerslam while featuring a celebration for one of the most popular wrestlers in history. The birthday party couldn't overshadow the pay per view or its main drawing events and when hogan is involved that is a tall order. WWE almost nailed it. They almost allowed a wrestling show to sell their pay per view, but they had to wwe it up. But, of three hours of live tv how could they resist, i guess. Lets focus on the good, bad and ugly and see how much it effected summerslam and directly effect the wwe network.
Raw was almost a really good show. We were granted a great Paul heyman promo where lesnar did exactly what he needed to do: look like a guy that could kick your ass. Heyman did what he does best: remind everyone that Brock can kick your ass. It was responded to by a passionate enraged john cena promo explaining his love for what he does and what he fights for. All three men did a tremendous job this evening and wwe made the right call by keeping lesnar and cena away from each other only having a stare down as the show ended. Between the video packages, promos and build this is match has peaked right on time and this main event is anticipated as much as it should be. It was certainly a high point on the show.
Dean ambrose and Seth Rollins made the most of their minutes and really stated why this match should be a lumberjack match, whether it makes sense or not, the "you can't run" line ambrose delivered sealed the deal. This match will live up to the expectation because it involves two young and hungry performers in their ascension to the top tier. Dean ambrose is the most over face in this company and it may not be what wwe wants but ambrose isn't going anywhere soon.
Jack swagger showed that he can sell with the best of them. It was also established that swagger is hurt going into the flag match and when jack takes beating after beating from Rusev until he finally makes that comeback the crowd will go bananas and jack swagger could walk out of summerslam a huge american hero.

The missed opportunities Monday night I believe were where Chris Jericho and bray Wyatt sat down across from each other and continued to just not have that element to make it special. I still expect y2j and Wyatt to still be very good but I am still waiting for that special element.
I have great disdain for the Miz. His commentary just rambles and takes away from what is being offered. Dolph ziggler needs that ic title or it will continue to be lost in the shuffle.

Then there was the love triangle, adultery, getting arrested and sloppy melee that we should be so lucky to forget. For the last two weeks wwe created an interesting rivalry between Stephanie McMahon and brie bells. It was high drama and effective build. However, wwe just had to do it somewhere. They had to over do some angle into absurdity and beyond our suspension of belief and the fan base was served a turd. It was long and it lousy and sucked any momentum created over the last several weeks. Before this segment the wwe universe seemed to be clamoring for this match up and now no one cares in the worst kind of way. This is a great example of a story peaking one week too early and it cost them.  Ironically this story really took off when Brie slapped Stephanie in the face and then Steph retaliated; last night I feel we all took a slap in the face. 
So, raw was good and could have been really good and the important matches have their tables set for Sunday's summerslam. I really expect Brock lesnar to walk away wwe champion and I continue to believe that this will benefit the lesser titles as they will be forced to be more focused on. Which in turn benefits the mid level guys vying for those titles. For as little as wwe emphasizes the titles what better way to change that then elevating the lower titles while the heavyweight championship is not featured on a weekly basis.

Finally, it was awesome to see, and is always awesome to see, the legends return. Hogan may be the greatest "carny act" in wrestling history because he gets it so well that no one ever wants him to leave and plays it off like the greatest of all time. The video package wwe did for him gave me goosebumps and for as bad as it may be I would still go crazy for that infamous one more match.

a real american american

Jack Swagger is finally coming into his own. It has taken several reinventions of himself, a veteran manager and even a Russian patriot boasting the accomplishments of Vladimir Putin. But so what? He is finally getting there and if wwe plays their cards right swagger can become a star on the second biggest show of the year, SummerSlam. The american patriot character is as old as the stars and stripes itself but swagger and Colter give it a fresh look and feeling. Here is the question though, what happens with swagger when it is no longer Rusev challenging his support for the red, white and blue? Can a wrestler in this era get over solely on being a patriot? Jack Swagger is an amateur wrestling star with great size, strength and quickness but has just missed on breaking out several times. Now, he stands against the glass ceiling again and will try to patriot lock his way right through it. The crowd will be hot and the flag match stipulation allows Rusev to not really lose and with the real life tension in the world the time is now to propel the all american american american to heights he has never seen before. Where swagger goes next is what is really up for debate because you can't always fight foreigners but wwe needs to take advantage of swaggers momentum and the "we the people" push from the live audience. I hope jack and zeb canride the wave and creative can keep them hot.
Speaking of hot, the opposite of that is TNA wrestling as of press time. The unfortunate thing is that it has nothing to do with what is happening within the six sided ring. While their television is often hit or miss all tapings will be missed if there is no television. How a company can make so many blunders on an epic scale is beyond me. Now it may cost them their brand and the sad part is that the talent of the TNA roster is quite impressive. It is a shame that no one in that wrestling promotion felt the need to ever focus on wrestling, but perhaps instead, they can sign another old ufc release that mma has no use for. With a talent pool as deep as theirs; with the likes if Aries, roode, young, lashley, storm, low ki, and on and on it is clearly the right choice to fill programming with over acted backstage junk and long winded promos from the incredible owner, Dixie Carter. And by incredible of course I mean no credibility.
Let's not forget Samoa Joe when discussing TNA wrestling. Joe, in my opinion, will go down as the most under utilized performer on the TNA roster. How no one within impact can find a way to use an extremely talented, athletic and completely unique character such as Samoa Joe boggles my mind week in and week out. It seems like not long ago Samoa Joe was having an amazing introductory feud with Kurt Angle and a show stealing performance with aj styles and Christopher Daniels. Truth be told, it was long ago, relative to TNA at least, and the days of high hopes are long gone replaced by feelings of desperation as fans hope the TNA brand can survive instead of prosper.
Finally, as we head toward SummerSlam and an expected Brock lesnar title win, instead of harping on the idea that the title won't always be on television let's get excited for the rebirth of the intercontinental championship. With lesnar, a part timer, getting the belt the opportunity to resurrect the secondary belts and make them important again is great. The ic title has always been the working mans belt and can be a great way to solidify and elevate the next wave of top guys and there is no better time then when the heavyweight belt will not be seen all of the time. I think Brock will be a very strong and necessary champion and the elevation of the secondary titles only adds to the plus sides of lesnar becoming the man. But, that is just this marks remarks.