WWE: What Did We Learn from SummerSlam?
By Josh.0
With SummerSlam in our rear view mirror, what can we expect as WWE prepares for WrestleMania 34?
Since 1988, SummerSlam has been touted as the second-biggest pay-per-view of the year next to WrestleMania. In terms of importance, this show represents the official kick-off to the “Road to WrestleMania” campaign and will be followed by Survivor Series on November 19th, 2017, the Royal Rumble on January 28th, 2018 and finally, WrestleMania 34 on April 8th, 2018. While there are plenty of opportunities for each brand to make their mark with specific events sandwiched in-between these dates, these shows are unofficially known as “the big four” because they advance the overall narrative of the WWE more than any other.
Despite a stacked card and a six-hour show that included a two-hour pre-show, SummerSlam took a while to get going. While you can find a detailed match-by-match breakdown of the event written by a much more talented writer, I wanted to dig a little deeper into what this show meant for the next few months of WWE programming. The fall is always an interesting season for professional wrestling because competition comes in the form of cutthroat cable television premieres and the return of both college and professional football. The “Superstar Shakeup” which occurred on the two nights after WrestleMania 33 yielded the highest ratings of 2017 for both RAW and Smackdown (3.4 million and 3.1 million viewers, respectively) and thus far neither show has come close to these numbers again. If the WWE wants to improve their lackluster ratings, they need to start making changes now and there have been rumors another shakeup may be on the horizon.
The main takeaway from SummerSlam is WWE still has confidence in its two biggest champions. Both Jinder Mahal and Brock Lesnar retained their titles despite the evening’s trend of unexpected match results (e.g. Orton squashing Rusev). While some fans can reason that Mahal only retained because of the company’s desire to expand business in India, disappointing YouTube numbers (relative to that country’s population) suggest this isn’t the sole reason to keep the belt around the waist of the Modern Day Maharajah. We can speculate about other explanations, but it may be as simple as timing. The longer Mahal is champion, the more meaningful it will be when he loses and that loss seem to be reserved for someone more special than Shinsuke Nakamura. As for Lesnar, it seems the rumors about him keeping the belt until WrestleMania 34 become more plausible day-by-day.
We also saw what seemed to be the start of a formal Shield reunion which would help the WWE solve its long-standing Roman Reigns problem. Despite the company’s best efforts, fans still overwhelmingly boo the self-proclaimed “Big Dog” which has left the creative team scratching their heads for years. Sometimes, you have to go back in order to move forward and reuniting of one of the most popular factions in history would send ratings into the stratosphere. The Shield was once one of WWE’s top merchandise sellers and was the best quarter hour ratings draw during their run, but the split in 2014 sent each member on different trajectories. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose have not only reconciled but also won the RAW Tag Team Championships at SummerSlam, so it’s only a matter of time before Reigns is brought back into the fold, especially when we consider Reigns was unsuccessful in his attempt to win the Universal Championship and has likely moved on from his feud with Braun Strowman.
At the end of the day, the WWE is a business and as such, they must make decisions for their programming that they estimate will be the most profitable. I didn’t agree with Sasha Banks winning the RAW Women’s Championship nor did I agree with Neville defeating Akira Tozawa less than a week after Tozawa won the Cruiserweight Championship, but someone in the company felt these decisions afforded them a greater opportunity to tell better stories in the long-term.
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At the end of the day, I want these feuds to play out successfully and give us a quality product. My hope is that the added pressure of having to pry viewers away from Monday Night Football and The Voice means the WWE creative teams finds new and exciting ways to hold our attention on Monday and Tuesday nights.