Guest Post – Don Cameron On SummerSlam
Don Cameron may start writing here at FGB and he sent me some feedback on last night’s SummerSlam, which pretty much mirrors mine. You may be seeing more of Don around here.
Thumbs in the middle, leaning down
Best match — What 95% of everybody else is going to say: Team Raw… er, I mean Team WWE vs. Team Nexus.
Worst match — From what I saw, none really.
I missed the first two matches — Ziggler/Kofi and Melina/Fox, but I was really looking forward to the Ziggler/Kofi match. Yeah, that was me. After showing some fire lately, two things may have happened with Kofi. Either he was going to lose it and start pounding his opponent (face or heel) to the point where the crowd would turn on him, or he would do something extraordinary, like leaping off a balcony or jumbotron in order to exact some kind of revenge for a huge pop. We got neither.
Wrestlemania is there to end feuds. Summerslam is to end the monthly feuds that have started since Wrestlemania, and set up new feuds for Survivor Series, or whatever the next big PPV is going to be.
This show, starting with the recap I read of this match, didn’t do that. They didn’t have a blow-away match, but at least they put the high-flying Kofi in the opener to get the crowd pumped for the rest of the show.
I’m still trying to figure out how Melina got a title shot this quickly… did I miss something?
Big Show vs. MEM… erm, I mean SES, was what it was supposed to be. End a feud and start another. Natch.
The Miz promo spoke for itself. The folks I was watching it with didn’t want him to give a yea or nay to joining Team WWE, but it all worked out in the end. This guy is the best crowd promo since The Rock.
Orton vs. Sheamus really was a head shaker. Their match at the Royal Rumble had the same finish. Why? Losing to Sheamus won’t hurt Orton. Getting hit in the head with his kick would. Boom. That should end the match. Sheamus gets over with a big move meant to kill the good guys. You know, like that guy who used to punt good guys in the head.
Kane vs. Mys…Misterio was good for what it was. It’s hard to expect much more than we got. Could it have had a special stipulation, like a Casket Match? Might have made it more interesting, and given Rey a better chance at winning. The tease of the empty casket was great, though. Undertaker looked bad, but c’mon, he’s been in a vegetative state for the past few months. I liked how Kane was stronger than him, as that really helps that feud. Keep Taker weak. He lost something during his time off, and he may not find it. Rey finally gets some time off.
WWE vs. Nexus — While Nexus was posing in the ring, we saw the link for Daniel Bryan off the WWE.com page. I was going in hoping that he’d be the 7th man, but that was just a pipe dream. 1% chance of happening. Scared to mention it to others as they would scoff at me. Saw the story and we thought we were behind… nope, live TV. How ’bout that? We still didn’t believe it until Cena said “Wait a minute!” Then we whooped like kids going to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time.
They did a good job of protecting a bunch of guys, and Bret looked good. He WAS training for three weeks! Yay! Bryan looked tiny compared to everybody else (he did kinda look like Spike Dudley coming down to the ring) but he looked dangerous. Each time he was in the ring, the atmosphere in the building changed. Skip Sheffield showed off that great clothesline. Love how Miz took out Bryan, as having those two feud will give a chance for Bryan to show off his promo skills.
As for the ending, Wade Barrett should have taken out a weakened Cena, but we had to go out on a high note, of course. I’m hearing people calling Cena Superman, but really he was given a chance to recover while Justin Gabriel went to the top rope, and then he surprised Barrett. It’s not like he kicked out of both men’s finishers.
Overall, we should expect more out of Summerslam. The show needed a better opener, at least one good tag team match, and World Title matches that actually have a finish. I rate PPVs on re-watch-ability, and the only match I’d like to watch again is the Main Event.
