WWE SummerSlam 2018: Results, Highlights, and Grades

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SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match

The Bludgeon Brothers (c) vs. The New Day

Result: The New Day defeated The Bludgeon Brothers via disqualification

Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars

New Day went with the Big E and Woods combo for this match, and it was way better than I was expecting. Big E and Harper are studs, and Rowan and Woods are a little inconsistent but mostly good, but I figured we were in for something more akin to a Bludgeon beatdown. Getting an actual, hard-hitting, competitive match was a pleasant surprise.

But as good as it was, it was actually a little uncomfortable to watch, because I’d love it if all four of these guys could still walk when they hit 40. There were a lot of ridiculous, awesome-looking but ultimately unnecessary spots. Big E’s spear to the outside is going to paralyze him one day. Woods doing the big elbow to the outside isn’t worth the pop, and Harper taking the urinage/backstabber combo from the apron to the floor looked nasty.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1031327152442994689

Throw in yet another DQ finish in a Bludgeon Brothers defense, and all the goodwill the match earned evaporates pretty quickly. I don’t know why they keep doing these same matches with the same finish for the titles. Couldn’t The Bar have done the exact same thing as New Day tonight? Gallows and Anderson? SAnitY? There’s no real reason that it had to be New Day.

Worst of all, even though they left a path of destruction, the finish makes Harper and Rowan seem scared of New Day. If they knew they could win the match, there’s no reason for a DQ. The only reason they grabbed their Mjolnir knockoffs was because they were afraid. And why would they need to be afraid?