The Piledriver Report 08.20.11: Summerslam Review

The WWE presented their latest edition in the SummerSlam franchise this past Sunday night. This year’s SummerSlam was very hard to judge from an impartial standpoint. It’s not the WWE’s fault, but the “Money in the Bank” pay per view was tremendous. With the July pay per view still fresh in the fans’minds, it would be unfair to judge SummerSlam by comparing it to the “Money in the Bank” show. With that in mind, I needed to view SummerSlam with an open mind, and a short attention span.

Going into the broadcast, the WWE announced a whopping four matches that were scheduled for the pay per view. Once the pre-show aired, the WWE did not announce any new matches. Even in an attempt to try to garner last second interest in the show, the WWE still didn’t give any indication of how the card would look.

THE UNDERCARD

The show started with the first “unannounced” match of the evening. The Miz, Alberto Del Rio, and R-Truth took on Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio, and John Morrison. This was a solid, fast paced opener to kick things off. Looking at the members in the match, I figured that the person most likely to get pinned would be Kofi Kingston. After all, Rey Mysterio, The Miz, Del Rio, R-Truth, and John Morrison are each getting pushed at the moment. Kofi Kingston is the closest wrestler to the “lost in the shuffle” phase. I was surprised to see the faces win the match. However, R-Truth was the right choice to take the pin. Del Rio was the soon to be WWE World Champion, and The Miz is one of the top two heels on the RAW side.

The first “announced” match was next. Mark Henry beat Sheamus by countout. While this was the worst match on the card, it wasn’t a terrible match. Saying it was the worst match on the show isn’t a slap in the face to either performer. This year’s show really didn’t have any bad matches. Even the Diva’s match was good. Despite the Sheamus/Henry match being the “worst” match, it had one of the “great SummerSlam moments” of the night to end the match. Mark Henry slammed Sheamus through the guardrail. There was a “plant” fan who gave the most ridiculous “Oh My God!” look while hold his hands to his face. It was hysterical! To make the scene even funnier, when the WWE showed a different camera angle, you can see either the security guard or a fan fly back on his ass a few feet. The unintentional comedy was worthy of a couple of rewinds from the good old DVR.

Kelly Kelly beat Beth Phoenix in the Diva’s title match. I was surprised at this outcome. I fully expected to see the crowning of a new Diva’s champion. The winner wasn’t the only surprise of the match. The other surprise was the quality of the match. This bout was one of the better WWE Women’s pay per view matches in a long, long time. Imagine that, Kelly Kelly was in a good match. It’s the SummerSlam miracle.

The next match was Daniel Bryan against Wade Barrett. For the third time in four matches, I was shocked at the winner. Daniel Bryan had been getting a lukewarm push leading up to his Money in the Bank briefcase winning victory. If Bryan is to be looked at as a viable championship contender, he needs to start getting pushed like one. Most fans remember the big matches on the biggest stage. If the WWE wanted to have Wade Barrett beat Daniel Bryan, than do it on a random SmackDown! that people will forget about in the next week. Don’t do it on one of the biggest pay per view events of the year. That being said, Bryan and Barrett had a really good match together.

Before I get to the double main event matches, there is one thing about SummerSlam that really annoyed me. Of course, I am talking about the mini-concert that was performed by Cee Lo Green. Why does the WWE tend to occasionally book musical guests on their big shows? Do they really think that Cee Lo Green, or Kid Rock before him, sold any extra tickets to the show. If we wanted to watch a concert we would go to a concert. However, the fans paid to see professional wrestling, the WWE should give them wrestling. It’s not even like the concert will help sell any extra DVDs, because the will probably be edited off the show since Vince probably didn’t pay for the rights.

THE MAIN EVENTS

For the first main event, Randy Orton regained the World Heavyweight title from Christian. When Christian announced his secret weapon was Edge, my brother questioned that Edge was going to be a heel. When Edge walked out to the baby face pop, he gave the most obnoxious pandering to the crowd poses. You knew that Edge would not be helping Christian. Although, I must admit that I was hoping for a Russo swerve, and have Edge help Christian retain the title in the end.

However, that was not to be. Christian dropped the belt to Orton. While I really wished that Christian retained the title, I am really not mad or disappointed at the end of his title reign. I thought that Christian did a really good job as champion, even if it was only for one month. At least it was better than his previous two day title reign.

The true main event if the evening was a rematch of the WWE World title match from the Money in the Bank pay per view. In a champion vs. champion match, John Cena fought CM Punk for the WWE World title. Unlike most of the card, the main event was the one match that was unpredctiable. This match could have gone to either man. I was glad to see Punk win, as I felt that the momentum that Punk had as WWE Champion was just getting started. This was a very good match between Punk and Cena. It wasn’t as good as their match at the Money in the Bank pay per view. However, it was good nonetheless.

Even though I knew that Alberto Del Rio would be leaving the event as the champion, I kept hoping for Punk to escape with the title. Unfortunately, that was not meant to be. In probably the biggest surprise of the card, Kevin Nash lierally came out of nowhere to attack Punk, leaving him weakened enough for De Rio to take advantage.