WWE SummerSlam 2018: Results, Highlights, and Grades

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Universal Championship Match

Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Roman Reigns

Result: Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar via pinfall to become the NEW Universal Champion

Rating: 2.25 out of 5 stars

Big doings in the main event: after the introductions, before the bell, Braun Strowman came down with his MITB contract in hand. Everyone figured he was cashing in, but instead he merely announced he was going to cash in on the winner after the match. So, uh, that’s happening.

And because of the looming threat of the Monster Among Men after the match, both Lesnar and Reigns tried to end things quickly. Reigns got the jump on Brock, pulling a page out of Goldberg’s book — three Superman punches were followed by a pair of spears. But, as everyone on the planet predicted, Lesnar reversed the third spear into a guillotine choke.

It didn’t take long before Strowman, who stayed at ringside, to end up involved somehow. Reigns tried another spear on Lesnar, who sidestepped the attack and sent Reigns into Strowman with a suicide dive. Lesnar followed outside and beat the stuffing out of Strowman with a chair and the briefcase, but the distraction left him open to another spear, and Reigns finally vanquished the Beast.

Look, this wasn’t good by any stretch of the imagination. The feud went on about three years too long, and this should have been the result at WrestleMania instead of tonight. But you know what? It had to happen, and even though it was probably the most predictable match on the card, it was fine for what it needed to be.

Lesnar’s attack on Braun means the MITB contract is still out there, so the odds of Reigns leaving Raw tomorrow as Universal Champion go down drastic. But Brock Lesnar can move on, maybe Heyman can find a new client, and the Universal Championship will actually have a regular presence on Raw moving forward. I do hope that the tradition of former champions not getting a rematch continues, it’s a nice little touch.

With WWE SummerSlam 2018 in the books, it wasn’t a bad show at all. The first half was much better than the second, but we got a pair of title changes and a banger Miz/Bryan match in the later hours, plus an appearance by The Demon. What did you think of SummerSlam this year?