WWE SummerSlam 2015 Review

Sheamus defeated Randy Orton

This was an okay match, but I don’t need to see it again. Sheamus got the heat on Randy, then Randy made his comeback. Then the match was back-and-forth until Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick and pinned Orton.
★★¾

The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston, w/Xavier Woods) defeated Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando, w/El Torito), The Primetime Players (Titus O’Neil and Darren Young), and The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto y Sin Cara) to win the WWE Tag Team Championship

New Day started off trying to pin each other to win the titles, a brilliant strategy that was foiled by Titus. After that, we saw a very good match with a lot of action. The match had a good flow despite so many people in it. The finish came when Titus hit Clash of the Titus on one of the Matadores, but Kofi, who had tagged himself in unbeknownst to Titus, kicked Titus, and Big E shoved Titus out of the ring, allowing Kofi to pin the Matador.
★★★¾

Rusev (w/Summer Rae) fought Dolph Ziggler (w/Lana) to a double countout

I was really impressed with Rusev’s athleticism here. He really hung with Ziggler. The two were having a pretty good match, when Rusev put Ziggler in the Accolade, then let go after being distracted by Lana. Lana took out Summer Rae, then Rusev caught Ziggler on the outside and Summer Rae took out Lana. Ziggler kicked Rusev, but was unable to beat the referee’s count. Stupid finish.
★★★

Neville and Stephen Amell defeated Stardust and King Barrett

Stephen Amell was surprisingly good in the ring. You could tell that he wasn’t really a wrestler, but as far as actors entering the squared circle go, he more than held his own. Neville was awesome and I hope the exposure from this match leads to a legitimate push. The finish came when Amell took out both Barrett and Stardust with a dive to the outside, then threw Barrett back into the ring, where Neville hit the Red Arrow on him and pinned him.
★★¾

Ryback defeated The Miz and The Big Show to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship

Whoever had the idea to take three of the worst wrestlers in the company and put them in a match that isn’t easy to do well ought to be fired. This was awful. The match mercifully ended when Big Show hit Miz with a Knockout Punch, then Ryback threw Big Show out of the ring and pinned Miz.
-★★★¼

Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper

Early on, the teams fought on the outside. Once the match made it back into the ring, there was a lot of back-and-forth fighting. After a few big moves from both sides, Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds on Bray, then tagged in Reigns to hit Bray with a Spear and pin him. Because, of course, gotta make Reigns look strong. A very good match from everyone involved.
★★★★¼

Seth Rollins defeated John Cena to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and win the WWE United States Championship

This might have been Seth Rollins’ best match in WWE. The guy was absolutely awesome. And Cena did his part, too. But back to Rollins here. His athleticism is simply unreal. If there were any lingering doubts that Rollins could be the next top guy, they should be gone now. The end of the match came when Cena hit an AA on Rollins, but the ref was knocked down in the process. Cena went for the pin, but there was nobody there to count it. JBL, paying attention, noted that perhaps Rollins was not wasting energy kicking out when he wasn’t hearing a count. Gold star for JBL there. No gold star for Cena, though, as he kept pinning Rollins even after it was clear that there was nobody there to count it. Host Jon Stewart came out with a chair and hit John Cena with it, then laid it on the mat for Rollins to hit the Pedigree on it and pin Cena for the win. I’m as happy as anyone that Cena lost, but this was a lousy way to do it.
★★★★¼

Team PCB (Paige, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch) defeated Team Bella (Brie Bella, Nikki Bella, and Alicia Fox) and Team B.A.D. (Sasha Banks, Naomi, and Tamina Snuka) in a 3-Way Tag Team Elimination Match

WWE didn’t do the divas any favors by putting this after the two matches we had just seen. It was a bit underwhelming. People took turns tagging in, then the match broke down and we saw a few dives to the outside. Brie and Tamina ended up in the ring and Brie pinned Tamina to eliminate Team B.A.D. Then Team Bella got the heat on Paige. Paige tagged in Charlotte who got the Figure Eight on Brie before Nikki broke it up. Becky hit a pumphandle slam on Fox for the win.
★★¼

Kevin Owens defeated Cesaro

I wish these guys had gotten more time. With Daniel Bryan still recovering from injury, these guys are the two best wrestlers in the company, and if they had gotten more time, I have no doubt that they would have produced an all-time classic. With the time they did get, though, they delivered a great, physical match. The match went back-and forth, both in and out of the ring, before Owens hit the Pop-up Powerbomb and pinned Cesaro.
★★★★½

The Undertaker defeated Brock Lesnar

This started out as a great match. These guys were throwing everything they had at each other. It was well on its way to being a five-star match until the finish. Lesnar had Undertaker in the Kimura. Lesnar’s shoulders were down, so the referee began counting the fall. The ref did not see Undertaker tap out. Neither did the audience, thanks to the camera angle they went with. The bell rang, because the timekeeper saw Taker tap. (I highly doubt that the timekeeper could have actually seen Taker tap.) The ref said the match wasn’t over and Taker hit Lesnar with a low blow behind the ref’s back. Taker caught Lesnar in the gogoplata and Lesnar gave Taker the finger before passing out, giving Taker a submission win. To recap: The Undertaker, the Phenom, needed to cheat to win and has a win that means nothing. And it goes in the record books as a loss for Lesnar. So who did this help? That’s right, nobody. To top it all off, the show that they were so proud of being four hours long went off the air about 15 minutes early. I’d really like to see what Owens and Cesaro could have done with those 15 minutes. Whoever booked this ought to be fired. The fact that I’m rating this as high as I am shows just how good the match itself was.
★★★

Overall: I enjoyed this show, but would have enjoyed it more if Owens and Cesaro had gotten more time, they had done away with the Intercontinental Championship match, and somebody knew how to book a finish.
★★★½

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