Steve-a-mania Reviews: Summerslam 2007

Summerslam 2007 was the Twentieth annual Summerslam which took place at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford New Jersey. Now seeing as it is the Twentieth annual Summerslam, its an event that WWE would really make special, right? Like they did with Wrestlemania 20, right? Well, we can hope so.

Kane vs. Finlay

Started off as a hard hitting match with Kane dominating the match but Finlay would gain advantage by going after Kane’s injured ribs, which played psychology into the match which is rare to see in WWE, so I appreciated that. Hornswoggle shenanigans run riot again (screw you WWE). Kane tries to lift Finlay for the choke slam but can’t manage it, which gives Finlay the chance to take advantage and does so by hitting him with the shillelagh in the injured ribs!

Kane is done now right? It’s over, yeah? Nope, apparently Kane managed to channel super human abilities within 30 seconds and now can lift Finlay up for the choke slam. I am going to try and think logical of this now, Finlay hit Kane in the ribs which must have knocked them into place and gave Kane the extra strength to get the choke slam! No? well I gave it a shot.

This match wasn’t too bad despite the logic flaw and Finlay acting like a chicken shit throughout, despite claiming to love fighting. Kane just dominated the match even with the injury which usually serves as an equalizer, but not in this one. I was expecting more of an even hard hitting match, I did appreciate the ring psychology in parts though.

Overall Rating: **¼
Winner: Kane

Umaga vs. Carlito vs. Ken Kennedy- WWE Intercontinental title

I didn’t really see the point of having 3 heels in this match because the crowd had no one to get behind. I don’t know what was happening with Jeff Hardy at this point, but seemed kind of dumb to not have him included.

After an alliance from Kennedy and Carlito proved unsuccessful to try and take down Umaga, it allowed the Samoan Bulldozer to take control of the match. But after a back and forth exchange between the three, Umaga managed to hit the Samoan Spike on Kennedy for the win.

The pacing of the match was good and I liked the story of Carlito and Kennedy working together to try and take down the much larger Umaga, but in typical heelish fashion not entirely trusting each other and waiting to get the upper hand on the other. Carlito added some excitement into the match with a high flying offense, Umaga never looked like losing the title in this one though which took away the unpredictability factor that Umaga vs. Jeff Hardy from Great American Bash had.

Overall Rating: **¾
Winner: Umaga

Rey Mysterio vs. Chavo Guerrero

Rey Mysterio took on a more aggressive approach towards heated rival Chavo, and after Chavo attempted to take out Rey’s knee again, Mysterio returned the favor by attacking Chavo’s knee unmercifully. After Chavo almost getting the win with a Gory Bomb, Mysterio set up Chavo for the 619 followed by a springboard splash for the win.

Chavo was really good in this match and it is disappointing that this was probably his last big deal in WWE and would be reduced to Superstars and jobbing to a midget. That being said Rey Mysterio looked far from his best, his body was covered in Silver paint during his entrance and it was gone by the end, he looked winded throughout the match. It wasn’t that bad of a match and their great chemistry covered up for Rey’s far less than perfect performance.

Overall Rating: **¼
Winner: Rey Mysterio

Diva’s Battle Royal

Clusterfuck battle royal that really doesn’t mean anything in the grand scheme of things, the winner faces droopy eyes Candice Michelle. It was pretty much a match filled with forearms and eliminations through the second rope.

Overall Rating: DUD
Winner: Beth Phoenix

MVP Beer Drinking Challenge

Announcers hype up MVP & Matt Hardy vs. Deuce and Domino for Smackdown, can they co-exist!? Yep. MVP calls out Matt Hardy for a beer drinking challenge, MVP is so awesome on the microphone and a great heel, the less said about his face run the better. Matt Hardy talks about MVP having a sub for the boxing match they had, so Matt Hardy says that he has a sub for the beer drinking challenge.

The crowd begin chants of “Stone Cold” they know what’s coming! *glass break* and out comes Stone Cold which sends the crowd into an uncontrollable uproar MVP goes into a state of shock and disbelief. MVP tries to fight the decision as Stone Cold warms up with some push up’s, taking his time. He takes a beer from the cooler and hands it to MVP and then hit’s a Stunner! Austin celebrates with a few more beers and everyone can go home happy… Or could stay to see the rest of the card.

John Morrison vs. CM Punk- ECW World-Heavyweight

This was similar to the other two matches they have had at PPV’s previous to this, with it being back and forth competitive match accompanied with some exciting and flashy moves. They seem to be improving with every match that they have. It finished with a roll up and John Morrison barely using the ropes for leverage.

The thing I noticed throughout this match and something I think actually hurt the match, was the crowd, they really couldn’t care less about the match. They was so quiet throughout probably putting it after a Stone Cold return wasn’t the wisest of decisions. The match itself though was pretty good, and really what you would like to see in a title match with it being competitive and Punk’s urgency to win adding a lot to it.

Overall Rating: ***
Winner: John Morrison

King Booker vs. Triple H

This was a pretty standard and dull Triple H match, with him having most of the control and hitting his usual sequence of moves. King Booker had some offence which sped the match up to a normal pace, after missing the Somersault leg drop, Triple H recovered and hit the pedigree for the win.

it didn’t feel special and seemed like it was basically used as a tool for Triple H to look strong upon his return at the expense of someone I enjoy seeing, so it was hard to get excited about it. Triple H controlled the majority of the match which brought the pace down and it didn’t feel or seem important to either guy and the match was secondary to Triple H’s return.

Overall Rating: *¾
Winner: Triple H

The Great Khali vs. Batista- WWE World-Heavyweight

Khali dominated large portions of the match by using brain chops, trapeze holds and clotheslines. Batista mounted a comeback that the crowd really got into, the match though ended in DQ when Great Khali hit Batista with the chair.

It was basically a mixture of three moves used throughout, if they slowed the pace down anymore they would be locked in a stare down. Batista’s comeback was the only notable thing and that didn’t last long, when either of these face someone on their level or not as good as they are it makes for a boring encounter which I wouldn’t want to subject even my worst enemies to.

Overall Rating ½*
Winner: Batista (Khali remains champion due to Disqualification)

John Cena vs. Randy Orton- WWE Championship

What a massive out of this world amazing occasion, this is the second match of 5,000 they have had. At the time I remember looking forward to it, because its two of the biggest names of the OVW generation main eventing a big PPV. But now knowing the types of matches and how many they have had, not too excited.

Randy Orton started to work on the head of John Cena, playing up his character of beating people into concussion. The crowd are so relentless against John Cena, every move Orton does he gets cheers, people want a title change. I like how throughout the match its like Randy Orton has John Cena scouted with dodging various moves and like he has prepared which has a sense of realism that are missing out of other Cena matches.

The head locks really slow the match down, I can understand using a breather spot in the match throughout but the head locks are frequent and last too long which is preventing the flow of the match. Orton sets up for the Punt that has put RVD and Shawn Michaels out prior to this event, Cena moves out of the way and counters into an STFU, Orton reaches out and grabs the bottom rope. After recovering he catches Cena by surprise with an RKO, Cena kicks out! He hit’s the F-U for the pin retaining the WWE Championship.

Despite the flaws of reverting back to the John Cena formula, the story of Orton attacking Cena’s head from an attack at Saturday Night’s Main Event and Orton’s offence made it enjoyable for what it was. Also it was like they were in front of a different audience from the ECW title match, the crowd was hot for this match which added a lot to it and with ever move the crowd either popped or booed which put so much more excitement into it.