While not a great show Summerslam did what it needed to do

Quit an exciting last 48 hours in wrestling.

Although the show had a lot of bad matches and really only a couple of good ones along with stupid shit as usual, I think Summerslam overall accomplished the goal that the company had for it. In particular:

  1. Coming out of Friday everyone was talking about CM punk. Rather masterfully, they were able to switch the conversation onto Becky Lynch and Brock Lesnar and nobody’s really talking about punk as much today. They took what was easily AEW biggest moment and were able to counter with two huge returns that took some of that momentum away.

  2. They were able to deal with Sasha being out well with the severe and let the fans feel not ripped off. They match with Bianca was puzzling in its booking but at least fans didn’t feel jilted that Banks wasn’t there

  3. A clear and to the Drew McIntyre and Edge storylines with definitive wins was good to give both new directions

  4. They were able to deliver on Roman Reigns and Cena. I didn’t like Roman saying he would leave if he lost because it telegraphed it too much, but the match was really well done in terms of storytelling. Cena tried to get the quick roll up and Roman kept out of it and was able to beat him clean and it established Roman reigns is a continuing dominant force. I had pretty much figured out the Brock was gonna come back at the end of this to set up something, and coupled with how awesome he looked and the crowd reaction it was a great ending.

  5. RKO Bro won! That storyline was well setup and they finally let it play out and have them go over

  6. Doudrop and Eva Marie finally looks like they split up which moves that forward

  7. The failed Nikki ASH experiment is over. They got Flair another title reign and can hopefully move her along in a new direction

But the thing is, it was still way too long. It almost reached 5 hours.

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Yeah it was way too long and it had a lot of dumb stuff and honestly I’m not saying it was a great show at all. In fact I didn’t really like it. But I think it accomplished a lot of things that the company was trying to get over at that time the biggest being to counteract CM punk and make sure no one’s talking about him today.

Also if there was any risk that RAW get beat by dynamite this week that’s pretty much done with Becky and Brock teases.

Except aren’t both those Stars on Smackdown? Becky is the SD champ, and Brock is going after Roman. Unless they are going to show up on RAW too I don’t really see how they help RAW.

I also don’t think anything on Summer Slam has eclipsed the CM punk hype. Instead Becky pretty much demonstrated how to bring someone back the wrong way.

Also is anyone super hyped for Roman vs Brock 8 or whatever match this is? I mean it is better than Roman vs anyone currently on the roster, but that is an indictment of their roster building more than a statement about how much people need to see Roman vs Brock again.

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While both Becky and Brock are cool return moments - I am not sure how either is comparable to Punk.

Becky left for maternity leave… There was zero question of her return.

This is also like the fourth time Brock has come back to WWE tv in a decade. He wasn’t going anywhere else.

At the end of the day, while it made for good tv - nobody will be talking about either in a week. People will be talking about Punk.

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Oh for sure but the pops both of those guys got in the arena were massive. It definitely took some of the momentum away because people will be talking about this. I don’t think it eclipse punk at all but like I said WWE was able to counter and show you they could also have guys come here and pops and create a similar (albeit not as great) atmosphere

I don’t know, the Brock and Becky returns were cool for the moment but like everything else with WWE there is no long term plan or story for either.

The Becky return made no sense (wasn’t she on RAW before) and then she squashed a champion they had built since Mania. None of that was necessary. It felt like a bit of a panic move and really damaged Bianca.

Brock I think is a great return but unfortunately I think it’s being built for the Saudi show. Having him back definitely draws my interest.

Outside of that I don’t think a whole lot has changed. The women’s divisions on both shows are terrible. All the tag divisions also suck.

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Not sure I can equate the atmospheres as all that similar. There was excitement but I don’t think anyone was literally in tears over those returns. Sure they got good reactions as one would expect, and it makes it so that Punk isn’t the only story from this weekend. But I don’t think it holds up. I think the Becky thing did a disservice by not having an actual match. Becky is back in the same spot as when she left. With few to no interesting matchups.

If by did what it needed to do what = put an exclamation point on Punks promo and proved how different WWE is / further proved its a skill to over produce over book and ruin emerging talents runs mid peak, yup. Mission Accomplished.

WWE didn’t make new fans last night, it sent the Wrestling fan running into the Wrestling promotions arms. They gave their loyalists and talking heads enough ammo to say “big surprise returns!….(Maybe) give them a chance to tell a story with Bianca!...Brock is back and he’s the most real star in the business!!..…Cena and Roman had a great match (that maybe should get 3 stars).”

It’s okay. If you feel Daddy Vince doesn’t love you; the other wrestling company will accept you.

But hey some people like perverted pro wrestling and have Daddy issues. Some fans ONLY watch wrestling to complain and literally have no experience with fun pro wrestling. Some are conditioned after 20 years to not understand common sense or simple promotion tactics. It’s Fiiiiiiiine if you are one of these people. Us wrestling fans are here arms wide open and hands extended to help you learn the other way. A new way. A fun way to enjoy wrestling. Not 5 hours of being cucked into accepting literally anything exciting as “good”.

If you thought that Becky segment was a Good way to return her last night or start any excuse as “they were in a bad spot and had to do something….” Step away from they keyboard and just ask, have you considered WWE doesn’t care to deliver Good, rather that you don’t acknowledge any other way as acceptable. FFS - management has bashed their own fans for having their own minds and opinions and voicing them. You surely see this company is not for The fans.

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I would have loved to see a poll of 1000 wrestling fans deciding how to bring Becky back. How many would actually have “surprise opponent for a title match at Summerslam only announced after Carmella is teased which happens after a 2 minute video package for the ESPY famous WrestleMania rematch match.

calling it cool is an insult to Carlito who should throw up on this segment.

Moronic. Stupid. Short sighted. Knee Jerk. Tone Deaf. Bad for business. Desperate. Pathetic (I didn’t think Becky was lame til she started yelling I’m back last night).

Bringing Brock back after the main to set up Romans next chapter in his story = Cool
Brock rag dolling a disposed of John Cena to set up a future match = Cool
Becky’s return = everything mind numbingly dumb about WWE. Not cool.

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Cool was a bad word for it.
It was a “WWE Moment”… Which is what they constantly remind us about and are chasing. Nonsensical and stupid. But what they wanted.

This was a company that pushed John Cena - and embraced a section of the paying audience verbally rejecting him every time they saw him - because he got a response. One way or another.

The idea what AEW is successful so far because they have embraced the novel concept of giving the audience what they want to see. Something mainstream fans have had their expectations beaten out out of them for twenty years.

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See the part about the Becky return is for me the least of it’s problems. That part could have been done better. But all of that would have been ok if the result was an actual match with Becky and Bianca.

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This was a John Pollock point that I’ve just aggressively latched on to:
How many people wanted an alternative all these years and when given a different way of doing things aren’t comfortable or don’t believe it can be.

The talk coming out of Summerslam reminds me how much mental gymnastics we had to do to justify the good shit we were forced to eat for years.

They want us to fall for the moments and then to sell us those moments in a propaganda campaign for why we love them.

I won’t lie, some of the moments are cool. Brock last night if it was the only big surprise and return would have been very cool and well do e and make sense.

I’m clearly bias but also, accepting forced fed good shit and acting excited about it has never made me feel like more of a sheep for a morally bankrupt company.

In a span of 20 minutes last night they told the fans to accept their false advertising, except their version of booking a return, celebrate The Man, and then tune into their Saudi Arabia bag grab. This company tells its fans what to accept and do way more than a content company has the right to.
(On the other hand, the alternative said, please trust us and our hints and we won’t let you down, and then delivered a guy who spent half his promo apologizing for not being around for said fans).

Difference between demanded respect and attention and asking for a chance and earning the respect and attention. WWE hasn’t earned shit in forever. Just bullied and demanded everything from its fans and benefited from being a monopoly. Last night wasn’t any different.

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I didn’t enjoy the show very much outside of Edge/Rollins and Reigns/Cena. I love Becky so it’s good to have her back, but how it was done I didn’t enjoy, plus I could completely do without Brock lol

SummerSlam was designed to build to the next Saudi show. That was the reason for the shit finish to Goldberg-Lashley. That’s why Lesnar is back. So, I guess it did what it needed to for the Saudis.

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I would agree with most of this. I’ll say this, on Friday night/Saturday morning my Tik tok feed was dominated by CM Punk. 24 hours later, nothing. From Saturday night to the end of the weekend, all I was seeing was Becky and Brock. Now, am I saying the returns of those two is equal to the return of Punk? Of course not, but they were able to recapture the news cycle in less then 24 hours which on Friday night I would have thought was an impossibility.

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The failure in execution to me was if they were combatting the Punk return with the Brock/Becky combo, and they knew Sasha was out days in advance as suggested by some, then why not announce Becky on Friday and share the news cycle.

Imagine that match got booked Friday because Sasha was unavail. Instead of a bait and switch in the middle of the show, they’d have forced everyone to talk about it on the same night as Punk, not ceding any news coverage but sharing it; plus drumming up more interest for one of the biggest stars they have to return the next night on a show they are still trying to actively sell for Peacock.
Then Brock is still a big surprise in the back pocket.

Their method was probably the single last idea anyone on a PR team or Sales team would have come up with

I think if they would have announced Becky’s return prior to Friday Night it would have gotten lost in the Punk hype. Also, if you promoted the return of Becky to face Bianca, I think the fans would have been more angry with that shit finish. I will blame WWE for a lot, but I honestly think they made the right move with the handling of Beckys return (NOT the finish).

Reasons to announce it:

  • It would have absolutely demanded attention (think of time split between Punk and Smackdown on Rewind a Smackdown, if Becky was announced that time split looks way different as Smackdown was newsworthy and you can then hit the promotional pavement all Saturday to get attention OFF of Punk and onto your big show)
  • You are still in the business of selling subs for Peacock in the early days of a partnership with one of your biggest partners both on TV Rights and with the new Peacock deal; and Summerslam this year was positioned as Mania-lite in a massive stadium, it was the biggest show to sell the rest of the year and you held back on playing your hand (you already had Brock in the back pocket)
  • You conditioned fans to not trust what you are advertising. “Card Subject to Change” on 20 seconds notice after the Video package is really pushing the limits on the phrase
  • You aren’t fcking with a live crowds reaction who already got bait&switched and risk killing the vibe of the live show - even if you expect them to have a massive pop regardless it’s just bad form to produce an event where you need a strong audience and you’d risk them turning on you; it also creates distrust among future ticket buyers when you do this with a top tier match

Again, from a PR and Sales perspective it’s really hard to have come up with a more detrimental to business strategy. But if you were going after a Pop / Surprise / Viral Moment - you definitely got one. So based on what we know about how this company operates, I guess it was very much on brand.

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Point 1: I really think it gets lost in the Punk hype, I could be wrong, but that’s my gut feeling.

Point 2: Very good point, cant argue that.

Point 3: Good Point, they have zero credibility.

Point 4: I think because Becky is a bigger star then Sasha, this didnt bit them in the ass. But your overall narrative is not flawed…

I guess if you kept Brock secret and promoted Becky, it could have worked. You do make a lot of valid points MJ. You can even argue that the spectacle for lack of a better term of the Becky moment was lost in the talk of the Brock moment.

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