Pro Wrestling

5 Takeaways From WWE SummerSlam

Jamil A. Karim

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Jeff Hardy Was Arrested Over The Weekend After a Car Crash

SummerSlam came. SummerSlam saw. SummerSlam conquered.

And so did Seth Rollins.

Four hours of wrestling, record-breaking numbers for the WWE Network, and a surprisingly high dosage of Jon Stewart combined to make this past weekend one to remember for wrestling fans all over the world.

Enough preambles? Good.

Let’s get right into the five biggest takeaways from SummerSlam and see if we can figure out where the WWE is going next.

5. Lesnar/Taker Part III

Let’s shoot right out with last night’s main event. Good match, lots of hype, a surprisingly long middle finger right in The Undertaker’s face, a whole bunch of suplexes… and an ending that was sort of ‘meh’.

Regardless of what you think of the ‘did Undertaker tap out?’ conspiracy, or the ‘why did they ring the bell?’ question, or ‘since when did Undertaker become a submission specialist?’ ending, here’s all we really need to care about: This is all setting up Beast vs. Deadman – Part III.

We all knew it would be a sketch ending and we all pretty much knew that Taker would win. Now the only question is, when does Part III take place? Do we have to wait 18 months again? Will we see it at WrestleMania 32? If so, does that mean we won’t be seeing the dream Sting/Taker matchup that we’ve pined for nonstop over the last 20 years?

We don’t really know the answer to any of these questions. But what we do know, however, is that when Part III goes down, it better involve a casket, Hell in a Cell, or some combination of the two.

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WWE Fans Were Furious Over Brock Lesnar's Ultra Short Match at a Chicago House Show

4. B.A.D. Weekend for The Boss

Oomph.

It started out on Saturday night when Sasha Banks, the now former NXT Women’s Champion, lost her title to Bayley in an absolute classic. With so many twists and turns and a clean finish that you’ve come expect from an NXT event, you can make a case that Banks and Bayley put on the best show of the weekend.

However, the weekend got considerably worse for WWE’s Boss, as Team B.A.D. ended up not only getting eliminated first in Sunday’s 9-Diva Elimination Match, but at no point really threatened to win the match. You know it’s ‘B.A.D.’ when your team gets eliminated and the match goes on for so long afterwards that you forgot that this was actually a 3-team match at one point.

Not a banner weekend for sports entertainment’s biggest boss, but we’re already looking forward to Bayley vs. Banks, Part II.

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3. Match Quality Was Through The Roof

Every match – yes, including the match with Big Show and Ryback in it – featured outstanding in-ring work. While we’ll get into the Title-for-Title Match in a bit, it should be noted that from top to bottom, this entire card did not disappoint.

Even the Green Arrow showed off impressive in-ring work, especially with his incredibly boss entrance into the ring and his willingness to put his body on the line.

Match of the night probably goes to Rollins/Cena, but honorable mentions go to the Tag Team Title Match (NEEEEEW DAAAAY) and Cesaro vs. Kevin Owens.

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Matt Hardy Gets 'WOKEN' For Good On Monday Night Raw

2. The Future Is Now

Seth. Muthaf—ing. Rollins.

This match had it all.

-Jacked up crowd
-Seth Rollins wearing something straight out of the Michael Jackson “Scream” music video
-Rollins putting on the best performance of his title run
-Both guys kicking out of the A.A.
-John Cena getting royally screwed multiple times
-An ending that nobody understands

Rollins was the first-ever NXT Champion. He then became the first man ever to cash in his Money In The Bank briefcase at WrestleMania to become WWE Champion. He’s now the first man ever to hold both the WWE and US Championships at the same time. The way this is going, it sure looks like he’s going to hold this title right through to WrestleMania and figure prominently in the main event of the WWE’s biggest event of the year.

As for the ending? Jon Stewart coming in with a steel chair, attacking John Cena, and then placing the chair down so Rollins could pedigree Cena onto it wasn’t exactly what anyone had in mind when predicting this match. Also, it’s currently unclear whether or not Jon Stewart will be a fixture moving forward with the WWE.

But, what we do know is that with this outcome, the WWE is investing heavily into their future and by all accounts, The Future Is Now.

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1. A Weekend of Wrestling Wraps Up Tonight

Starting off with a critically acclaimed NXT Takeover event, followed up by a four-hour SummerSlam extravaganza, and ending tonight with a highly anticipated episode of Monday Night Raw, this weekend was a celebration of the best that the WWE has to offer.

This will all total to about 10 hours of wrestling over three days and by the time this is over, I’m hoping my girlfriend and I are still together. And I hope someone was feeding my dog during this entire time.

As a wrestling fan, you couldn’t really have asked for more. Whether or not you liked all the endings or you were upset about the direction the company went, we’re right in the middle of a wrestling weekend that will go down in history as one of the company’s best.

Now, let’s all get ready for a sick episode of Raw, and for some unnecessary Jon Stewart.

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