Hiya!

Why does it seem like the WWE has to clash with a big fighting game event? This week was super busy for me. Not only did we have the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which I loved, by the way, I also had to pay attention to EWC‘s big Street Fighter 6 tournament which lasted for 3 whole days! That still wasn’t enough because this was also the weekend when the WWE decided to host SummerSlam and that’s now a 2-day event! This does mean I will be talking about SummerSlam for the next couple of posts so I can cover both days. Sigh. No rest for the weary.

So, we have a lot to cover so let’s not waste any time! Let’s go check out what went down during SummerSlam: Night 1!

The first match of the night saw Liv Morgan defending her RAW Women’s Championship against IYO SKY. I will admit I had some issues with Liv Morgan’s general performance in the ring before. I just generally thought her popularity in the WWE was mainly because of her looks. However, she has definitely improved a lot so I’m more than okay with her holding the title. Still, I do love IYO SKY more so I was biased going into this match. Oddly enough, even though there was interference by Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez, it didn’t factor into the match all that much. Rather, those moments became more like highlights. Speaking of which, other highlights include that sunset powerbomb to the outside by IYO SKY as Liv Morgan was hanging on the ring apron, Morgan executing a headscissors takedown while SKY was getting into the ring, IYO’s fantastic spanish fly to Liv from the top turnbuckle and The Genius of the SKY almost getting the pinfall victory after hitting Liv Morgan with her own finisher.

The finish came soon after that moment. SKY then went for her Over the Moonsault finisher but Morgan rolled out of the way. IYO saw this and landed on her feet, hurting her leg. Liv his a Codebreaker from the 2nd rope for a 2-count. The fight went to the ring apron where IYO hit Liv with a german suplex on the ring apron (the hardest part of the ring!) then hit her bullet train double knees, doing damage to Morgan but also further injuring her leg. Liv rolled back into the ring and SKY went for her Over the Moonsault finisher again but Morgan got her feet up to counter it. Morgan tried to connect with her Ob-Liv-Ion finisher but SKY blocked it by rolling through. Unfortunately, Liv then hit a Codebreaker and then finally connected with her Ob-Liv-Ion finisher to get the pinfall victor and retain her RAW Women’s Championship.

Color me impressed! This was a very good match for Liv Morgan! Sure, there were some shenanigans with Rodriguez and Perez trying to steal the victory for their Judgement Day brethren, but this happened very early and it was mostly Liv’s grit that got her through it. Both competitors looked very strong here, leading to a very satisfying match.

The next match of the night had the newly established Bloodline, consisting of Jimmy Uso, Jey Uso and Jacob Fatu, taking on the team of Royce Keys, Solo Sikoa and LA Knight. I’m sorry but I just couldn’t get into this feud so my expectations for this was tepid at best. Still, I hate to say it, but I do love this new more jovial version of Solo Sikoa, with him mocking Jey Uso’s Yeets and Jacob Fatu’s shaking. Highlights include Keys hitting a gorgeous modified spinebuster, Royce hitting a nice but awkward avalanche powerslam from the 2nd rope, Jey Uso hitting a spear from out of nowhere to Knight for a 2-count and Knight scaling the ropes to hit a superplex to Jey Uso in payment.

The finish came after a finisher party, with everyone hitting their patented finishing moves to each other. Fatu tried to spear Keys through the outside barricade by Royce countered it with a powerslam which sent both of them over the barricade! Jey hit a spear to LA Knight and then Jimmy hit a samoan splash for a 2-count. The Usos called for the 1D but Solo Sikoa took out Jimmy with his Samoan Spike finisher before they could execute the move. This allowed LA Knight enough time to recover and hit his BFT finisher to Jey Uso to get the pinfall victory for his team.

Besides the ending moments, this was just an okay match. Even the highlights felt a little “normal” to me. Maybe it’s because I just didn’t buy into the feud? They sort of made up for it by pouring all their effort into the closing minutes. Not a bad match but I do hope LA Knight finally gets to break away from these nothing feuds after this.

The next match of the night had GUNTHER taking on former and not former Smackdown General Manager, Nick Aldis. Remember when GUNTHER was this big deal and was taking out WWE Superstars? What the heck happened? Now he’s fighting Nick Aldis? Sure, he’s a former champion in other territories but when you “demote” him to a managerial role, he doesn’t come off as that big, does he? Well, he kind of proved me wrong. Not many highlights here but some included Aldis snatching GUNTHER out of the air and then transitioning that into a vertical suplex and Nick hitting a gorgeous superplex to the Ring General.

The finish came after the aforementioned superplex. Both competitors start trading blows with Nick getting the upper-hand with a powerslam for a 2-count. Aldis dodges under a big boot from GUNTHER and hamstrings the Ring General with a kick to the back of the knee. Nick slams GUNTHER to the mat and hits a couple of top rope elbows. Nick locks in his King’s Lynn Cloverleaf submission finisher but GUNTHER makes it to the bottom rope to break the hold. Aldis went for another powerslam but the Ring General got out of hit, slams Nick into the corner and locks in his patented sleeperhold. Aldis manages to get out of it and locks in a sleeperhold of his own! GUNTHER manages to counter with a side suplex and hits a powerbomb to Aldis for a 2-count. GUNTHER then locks in the sleeperhold once more. Nick Aldis tries to rally but he finally succumbs and taps out.

This was a very surprisingly exciting match. There wasn’t really anything from GUNTHER but that was kind of the point. This was supposed to be a good showing for Nick Aldis. He’s still brilliant in the ring and definitely proved me wrong, thinking he was washed up. Still, I don’t really think this needed to be in a pay-per-view like SummerSlam. Smackdown would’ve sufficed.

The next match of the night saw Fatal Influence, consisting of Jacy Jayne, Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid, taking on the Bella Twins, Brie and Nikki, and Paige. I will say I did notice a severe lack of, shall we say, enthusiasm from Brie Bella in the match. Later on, it was revealed she was legitimately injured during the spot where Jacy Jayne hit a cannonball while Brie was leaning on the steel steps. It didn’t look all that bad but most injuries in pro wrestling seem to happen that way. This may explain why there weren’t really many highlights for this match. I guess seeing Fallon Henley and Lainey Reid double pumphandle suplex was cool? Sorry, I’m kinda reaching here. There really wasn’t much to talk about here.

The finish came after Paige pulled Nikki Bella out of the way and, in turn, making the hot tag. She went for a sunset flip pinnning combination on Jacy Jayne for a 2-count. Fallon Henley tried to blindside Paige but Paige dodged the attack and countered. This, however, distracted her and allowed Jacy Jayne to hit her Rolling Encore to get the pinfall victory. The segment wasn’t over, though. The Bella Twins tried to seemingly console themselves after their loss. However, the Bella Twins didn’t take too kindly to Paige getting pinned, apparently. They both attacked Paige from behind and beat her down after the match. Typical Bella Twins.

This was a pretty nothing match. I’m glad Fatal Influence won as, since they’re new to the main roster, they still need to build up some cred. Paige getting backstabbed by the Bella Twins was super predictable. Still, I wonder how Brie Bella injury will affect their planned storyline. Anyway, this was a meh match.

The next match was for the biggest prize on Smackdown: The Undisputed WWE Championship. This had CM Punk defending the title against the challenger, Cody Rhodes. I’m surprised this match, the one for the title, wasn’t the main event for SummerSlam Night 1. This is the one which had a “big fight” feel to me. Oh, well. Some nice in-ring storytelling with Punk targeting Rhodes’ left arm which got hurt early on but Punk’s knee got tweaked later on, which Cody attacked in return. Some of the more notable highlights include the Second City Savior countering Cody’s Disaster Kick with a pump kick to the ribs, Rhodes hitting a Cody Cutter from the top rope to CM Punk, Cody blocking CM Punk’s GTS finisher and turning that into a figure-four leglock, Punk repaying the favor by reversing a figure-four leglock attempt by Cody and turning that into his anaconda vice submission hold, Punk totally missing a moonsault attempt but pretending it connected (and Punk laughing about it because he knew he flubbed it) and Rhodes rolling out of the way from a big elbow attempt by Punk, sending the Champion through the announcer’s table.

The finish came after the big table spot I just mentioned. Rhodes went for another top rope Cody Cutter but Punk dodged the move, leading to Cody hitting the referee instead. Punk hit a GTS and Cody bounced off the ropes and landed right on CM Punk’s shoulders. Punk went for another GTS but Rhodes reversed it and hit his Cross Rhodes finisher. Suddenly, Randy Orton ran into the ring from the crowd and planted Cody with an RKO! Punk crawled back into the ring and hit his GTS finisher to Cody to get the pinfall victory and retain the Undisputed WWE Championship.

This was a really good match. While the highlights weren’t really all that memorable, the in-ring storytelling was phenomenal. Both CM Punk and Cody Rhodes paced themselves well and, while I normally have a distaste for screwball finishers, seeing Randy Orton come in from out of nowhere was definitely memorable.

The final match of the night was Brock Lesnar vs. Oba Femi in Hell in a Cell. I still find it odd this is the main event for Night 1 of SummerSlam as there isn’t a title involved. Even so, I came in very interested with what’s going to happen here as this is just two meaty men trying to maul each other and it is the rubber match for them. Highlights include Femi shaking off 3 german suplexes from Lesnar and then hitting a big clothesline, The Ruler hitting a vertical suplex to The Beast to the outside, Lesnar using the steel steps as a weapon to batter Femi and Obi reversing not 1, but 2 F5 attempts by Brock and turning them into chokeslams!

The finish came after Oba Femi hit his Fall From Grace finisher to Brock Lesnar but, somehow, The Beast kicked out and sat up, surprising The Ruler! Lesnar hit his F5 finisher but Femi got up to his feet, leading to Brock hitting another F5. That still wasn’t enough as Femi still rolled to his feet! Brock hit a 3rd F5 and went for the pin but Oba still managed to kick out! Lesnar started wailing on Femi with a steel chair. Brock then tore off the ring canvas and ripped off the thin padding of the ring! Side note: now I know why this was set as the last match. Anyway, Brock hit a Tombstone Piledriver to Oba on the unpadded part of the ring but Femi kicked out! Brock tried to smash Oba with a steel chair but The Ruler punched the chair out of The Beast’s hands! Oba Femi then hit his Fall From Grace to Brock Lesnar to get the pinfall victory in this Hell in a Cell match. After the match, Brock Lesnar went in the ring, raised Oba Femi’s hand and took the mic to sing the praises of how good Oba Femi is.

This was definitely a breathtaking match. While there wasn’t really any “real” wrestling per se, I just loved how bombastic this was! Oba Femi definitely cemented himself as one of the WWE’s big Superstars with this match. I do believe Brock Lesnar did some of ad libbing here and it did kind of hurt the ending for me. Let the actions do the talking and there wouldn’t be any need to speak. Brock Lesnar had to give a short speech on how Oba Femi is the future and a part of me feels like he’s trying to force Oba Femi down our throats. Let us come to that conclusion, Brock! Still, this was a fantastic way to close out Night 1 of SummerSlam.

All-in-all, SummerSlam’s Night 1 was a terrific show. The only real weak point would be the Bella Twins and Page vs Fatal Influence match. The rest of the matches were entertaining in one way or another. Hopefully, the WWE can keep up this momentum for Night 2. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Byee!

What did you think of SummerSlam’s Night 1? Let me know in the comments section below!