SummerSlam, Credit: WWE.com
Summerslam 2017 was a night of surprises and a nearly overwhelming number of title changes. With a stacked card from top to bottom, here’s my pick for the 5 best matches of SummerSlam this year.
Welp, SummerSlam 2017 lived up to its tag. Fans packed the sold out Barclay’s Center for the biggest party of the summer. The talent on the WWE’s roster has never been so good. And it was reflected in the match quality for the night. Though the outcome may not be what fans wanted there is no denying that SummerSlam was loaded with very good matches.
The pre-show set the precedent for the night. Cruiserweights Neville and Akira Tozawa battled for the Cruiserweight Championship in a rematch from last Monday. While The Usos challenged The New Day for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships. However, neither of these matches were on SummerSlam proper and were left off my rankings. It’s a testament to the quality in the WWE right now.
Though some of the matches fell flat (I’m looking at you Rusev vs Orton), we’re going to focus on the best matches of the night. Whether it was due to build-up, intrigue, or just plain good in-ring performance, these 5 matches brought down the Barclays center.
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5. Naomi vs. Natalya
I know this probably isn’t going to be anyone’s pick of match of the night. However, I felt like I couldn’t leave it off. It was just way too surprising. At the SmackDown pay per view, Battleground, Natalya won the No. 1 contendership in a Fatal Five-Way match. When she picked up the win, I thought to myself, “WWE is setting the table for a Carmela cash-in.”
While Nattie had always been featured on SmackDown, she never seemed like a legit threat to capture the Women’s Championship. However, as a former Diva’s Champion, she could at least give Nattie some stiff competition. Weakening the champion enough so that she would be easy pickings for Ms. Money in the Bank, Carmella.
The match played out nearly as I expected. Natalya opened the match aggressively, taking control. Naomi was able to stave off the attack well enough, until The Queen of Black Hearts locked in the Sharpshooter. When Naomi reversed it, especially with the turnbuckle head bump, it seemed like a lock. Naomi was going to retain.
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4. Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks
Another women’s match with a lot of intrigue. Sasha Banks, the 3-time Raw Women’s Champion, was hastily added to SummerSlam as the number one contender. Having beat Nia Jax on Raw. Bayley who originally won the number one contendership, had been injured weeks prior. The the two women had a quick pre-match segment.
I personally, never understood exactly what got people so excited for Alexa Bliss. This match changed it around for me. For the first time, her moves looked brutal. The Insult to Injury From the top rope literally made me recoil from my seat. And to Sasha’s credit, she actually drew blood from the champion. It was a brutal affair from bell-to-bell.
Rumor has it that both of these women actually dislike each other outside of the ring. Their SummerSlam performance certainly reaffirmed. Ultimately, and again surprisingly, Sasha Banks was able to lock in the Bank Statement to secure her 4th championship.
Where this program goes in the months to come is anyone’s guess. Earlier in the night, Bliss was the featured superstar for the No Mercy commercial. It was chilling and seemed to foreshadow her inevitable rematch. And what will become of Bayley once she finally returns?
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3. The Shield vs. The Bar
How could this match not be on the list? Some of Raw’s best talent all together in one ring? Yes, please. In the months leading up to SummerSlam it wasn’t immediately apparent who was going to be able to challenge Sheamus and Cesaro for the Raw Tag Team Championships. They were coming off consecutive victories against The Hardy Boyz, and the Raw Tag division was very heel-centric.
Independently, Dean Ambrose and Seth’s reunion continued to build. It eventually became inevitable that the two teams would collide at SummerSlam. And of course, the belts had to be on the line.
It’s arguable that the crowd was as hot for this match as they were any other on the card. WWE had been teasing a shield reunion since Survivor Series last year. To see the build finally have a blow off was exciting!
Like I mentioned before, these 4 are some of the best most over superstars on the roster, and it showed in the ring. The pacing for the match was exceptional, with plenty of drama unfolding throughout the match. Ultimately, it was Shield 2.0 that came out victorious after a great powerbomb-neckbreaker double team.
2. AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens
I can hear a lot of fans complaining about this match was too much about a McMahon and not enough about both competitors in the match. I see it differently. Shane McMahon was and should have been the focal point of the match throughout. Last week, much was made about Shane McMahon’s biased as an official.
The will-he-won’t-he back and forth led to some great drama throughout the match.Every ref bump Shane took, every surprise school-boy roll up kept me at the edge of my seat. Even Shane’s faster than expected count cadence made me feel like at any moment something unexpected could happen. And that’s what I want from my match. Then you add two of the best wrestler on the SmackDown roster, and you have yourself a making of a great match.
It’s really no surprise that this was the match of the night for the SmackDown brand. They have been treating the US Championship and its holder as the true main event of the blue brand ever since Jinder became WWE Champion. It seems like now that KO is going to transition into a feud with Shane McMahon while AJ Styles is finally able to begin the US Open Challenge.
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1. Fatal Four-Way Main Event
I mean…how could this not be the match of the night? I found it somewhat amusing when, earlier in the evening, Daniel Bryan bragged that Jinder Mahal vs Shinsuke Nakamura was going to somehow top this match. Even if it did involve a live violinist.
The Raw and SummerSlam main event included four of WWE’s biggest stars, including Universal Champion Brock Lesnar. The match was a brutal affair right from the start. Braun Strowman made use of the no DQ clause by launching an announcer’s chair at Reigns and Lesnar. Strowman then put Brock through 2 tables and crushed him under a 3rd.
The early onslaught left Brock incapacitated. Medical staff and officials come to the ringside and stretchered Brock out of the match. This effectively made it a Triple Threat match. However, Brock would eventually return to the match.
The drama was high. We had never seen Lesnar handled so easily by an opponent. At least not an opponent that didn’t have the same clout as say…Goldberg. Though it was a very “spot” heavy match, there was more than enough surprises to go around.
Next: WWE SummerSlam 2017: Review
Ultimately, Lesnar retained. But the question going into Raw tonight will be; “Is Brock Lesnar still leaving the WWE?”