Summer Slam 2017

The build is here.

Summer Slam 2017 comes to you from Brooklyn.

It’s Summer Slam 30, the summer included a countdown of the 18 greatest matches in Summer Slam history; the 18 matches rated at 4 ½ stars and higher (that terminology is used in the countdown, talking heads on the various ESPN like Network shows can debate all the things one would assume they’d debate).  The number one match was to be revealed at the beginning of Summer Slam.

Summer Slam opens with a clip package of those 17 already revealed matches – followed by a longer clip of the greatest match in event history.

18.  '99 WWF Title: Career vs. Career: Cactus Jack d. Steve Austin (Guest referee-HBK)  4 ½

17.  '05 IC Tournament: Kurt Angle d. Shawn Michaels 4 ½

16. '05 IC Tournament: Chris Benoit d. Chris Jericho 4 ½

15. '89 WWF Tag Title: Rockers d. Brainbusters (switch) 4 ½

14. '89 WWF Title: Randy Savage (w/Liz) d. Bret Hart 4 ½

13. '02 Unified Titles: WWF/NWA/ECW: Kurt Angle d. Rey Mysterio 4 ½

12. '95 IC Title: Ladder  Match: Shawn Michaels d. Razor Ramon (w/Waltman/HHH) (switch) 4 ½

11. '00 Tags: TLC2: Edge/Christian (w/Trish) d. Hardys (w/Lita) d. Dudleys (w/Stevie) 4 ½ 

10. '96 IC Title: Vader (w/Perfect) d. Cactus Jack 4 ½ 

9.  '96 WWF Title: Shawn Michaels d. Owen Hart 4 ½

8. '10 Bryan Danielson d. CM Punk 4 ½

7. '91 IC Title: Bret Hart d. Ricky Steamboat 4 ¾

6.  '00 IC Title: 2 of 3 Falls: Chris Jericho d. Eddy Guerrero 4 ¾ (switch)

5.  '94 WWF Title: Cage Match: Owen Hart d. Bret Hart 4 ¾

4. '92 WWF Title: Bret Hart d. Davey Boy Smith 4 ¾

3. '04 Unified Titles: WWF/NWA/ECW 2 of 3 Falls: Chris Benoit d. Kurt Angle 4 ¾

2. '05 Unified Titles: WWF/NWA/ECW: 2 of 3 Falls: Rey Mysterio d. Eddy Guerrero (switch, Rey wins triple crown) 4 ¾

…and the greatest match in Summer Slam history…

1. '13 WWF Title: Cage: Bryan Danielson  d. Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman/Swagger) 5 (switch)

(Dark-Cole/O’Reilly/Fish d. Kenta/Hero/Sombra

          Dunne d. Bate)

Your announcers are Ranallo, calling his 8^th event; Regal, calling his 18^th, and Nigel, calling his 5^th.

They open the show and set the stage for what should be the hottest show of the year; Samoa Joe challenging for the WWF Title; the return of the Shield against an all star tag team of Devitt and Nakamura; either Kevin Steen or Neville will leave the WWF tonight; Brock Lesnar – the Broken Hardys – it is Summer Slam 30 and it is a happening!

1.    No DQ: Full Circle (Orton/Cena) d. Bray Wyatt/Taylor Rotunda

Orton and Cena were tag champs back in 2005; both men just starting their careers; it’s a dozen years later and they’ve gone Full Circle, back together again.  Cena was once  a Wyatt Family member, so now babyface Bray has been the flashpoint of his newly found heelish tactics. With Luke Harper on the shelf, career enhancement guy Rotunda (who, for whatever reason, was drawn to Bray) threw himself into this mix. 

He’s going through a table here (is there a way to combine an Attitude Adjustment and an RKO…like Cena picks up a guy and Orton RKO’s him from that position?) for the fall. 

2.    Claudio Castagnoli d. Akira Tozawa

-Former WWF Champion Castagnoli turned heel along with Neville, splitting away from GDI to become disaffected babyface team Trash. An epic feud with former stablemates Steen and Generico ensued; later tonight, Neville and Steen are finishing it with a loser leaves town match.  This is just a workrate match; its Tozawa’s PPV debut and unclear if/when he’ll get another shot – he throws everything he has here in a losing effort against Claudio.

3.    Mike Mizanin d. Rusev (w/Lana)

-Rusev was a super hot foreign heel act with Lana and GHB (real world JBL) as chief antagonist of Linda McMahon in her Presidential candidacy – Linda won to become our 45^th President (she then fell into a coma, Vince McMahon is now babyface President of the United States) and Rusev lost his IC title to Brock.  Mizanin was once Hunter’s protegee/young boy, he and Johnny Nitro, who, in a separate storyline, was in Shawn Michaels’ stable, joined the Clique and then turned on the veterans (in the way that Hunter and Waltman once turned on Razor and Diesel, sending them to the NWA).  Nitro’s leaving, however, really caused the Clique to fizzle; the Miz moved from chickenshit heel to “The Cuck” standing by as his wife slept with other wrestlers in exchange for pinfalls, and now is pure white meat Mike Mizanin.  He gets a slip on a banana peel pinfall; Rusev dominates, but Mizanin is a veteran and takes advantage of one Rusev concentration slip with an inside cradle to get the win.  Rusev explodes in anger – throwing Mizanin around --- until he is saved by his once rival Sheamus, whose respect he earned in abandoning the Cuck lifestyle.  Sheamus, a member of Underground, was once known as the Clique Killer, so as he and Miz demonstrate friendship in the ring postmatch, it is a significant movement in his career.

4. Langston (w/Woods and Kingston) NC Roman Reigns-Uso (time limit draw)

-Langston was the 3^rd member (bodyguard/enforcer/occasional wrestler) in The Shield, the longest reigning champions of any division in the Wrestlemania Era.  He turned on Black and Ambrose, winding up with Woods and Kingston as the New Day, a heel Black separatist act.  They’d go onto win the tag titles – but lose them to the Usos, a babyface trio.  The two squads have almost fully flipped sides, the New Day still talks about racial justice, but is a babyface act (Langston still gets some boos, given the severity of his breaking up The Shield) Jimmy and Jey are now full heels, while Roman remains a babyface.  This battle of the powerhouses is a time limit draw – the men don’t hear the bell and continue to fight, Woods and Kingston enter the ring, Roman doesn’t understand why and he attacks them – the three member New Day then clear Roman from the ring.  Sure, it was a misunderstanding – but Roman when Roman holds up 3 fingers and then points 1 to himself, its clear he thinks he’s been on the short side of a 3 on 1 beatdown from supposed fan favorites. 

It’s time for the Women’s Title Contract Signing.

WWF Commissioner Bryan Danielson comes to the ring first – it’s a pretty big reaction from the Brooklyn crowd. He makes a joke about he and Brock having the best Summer Slam match ever, the crowd loudly responds with a “one more match” chant – Danielson no sells it and moves on, introducing first, the challenger for the Women’s Title, to be contested at Survivor Series, representing the Four Horsemen, Charlotte Flair.

Charlotte enters with Roode/Strong; she’s a two time women’s champ – it was her turn on 4-Ground (Sasha/Lynch/Paige) that really jumpstarted the feuds that made up the women’s division through multiple events. She’s now a babyface; having joined the newest edition of the Horsemen as part of the build to Summer Slam.

Danielson then introduces the women’s champion – representing the Bullet Club, Becky Lynch.

Lynch had been a victim of that Charlotte turn; so she matched her, turning heel to join the Bullet Club, taking the title from her best friend Banks, and here we are.  She’s flanked by Anderson and Gallows, who basically have been her constant companions since the turn. 

There’s some bad mouth by the four men as they sign the contracts – it looks like it’s going to get out of hand as the language gets heated – but Flair calms her side down – she says she’s got this – and the Horsemen hold up 4 fingers as the announcers remind us that that it’s all going down at Survivor Series 31 in Houston in November. 

Taking us to the upper card matches. 

5.WWF Tag Titles: Usos (Jimmy/Jey) d. Broken Hardys

-The Usos become the 103^rd WWF Tag Team Champs, this is their second title run.  The Hardys started 20 years ago as young boys for Owen Hart; they won the tag titles twice, feuding with their former friends Edge and Christian and the veteran Dudleys from ECW.  We’ve seen Matt managed by Eric Bischoff; seen Jeff become the Blood Dragon; seen Matt become the maybe the most popular babyface in the promotion during his feud with Edge – and eventually turn heel, sending his brother out of the promotion in the second Montreal Match, and even team up with Edge in a Wrestlemania main event.  The two men were both psychologically “breaking” even as they left WWF – so that they returned as the Broken Hardys reflects a continuation of WWF storyline. They took their third titles (no team has ever won 4) at Mania. The Usos, along with Roman, had been star crossed babyfaces for much of their WWF careers, they finally won the big one at last year’s Mania, taking from the New Day.  This year, however, Jimmy and Jey turned, finding a swagger they had previously lacked, and are reveling in their new attitude.  They go over clean here; it’s the best match the two teams can have; the Usos (like the Bucks in the Hardys ROH matches with them) really driving the athleticism (and they can unleash a torrent of superkicks – there can’t be too many Usos superkicks). 

The Usos have retaken the tag titles!

6. IC: Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) d. Braun Strowman

-Brock’s a 2 time WWF Champ (3 is the most for anyone) but is currently prohibited from challenging for that title due to his career ending attack of Joey Styles.  He did win the IC however, getting that shot as part of an exchange of favors between Paul Heyman and Lesnar’s only real nemesis, Bryan Danielson (Brock doesn’t really know any of the other wrestlers names).  That led Heyman to proclaim Brock to be the “Real World’s Champion” – and as the months have continued, that call grows louder and louder.  Strowman’s spent all of 2017 squashing guys, most specifically from the prior generation from the Underground – his challenge to Brock here was speculated to be maybe a little premature – he’s a powerhouse, but green.  That turns out to be true, once Lesnar neutralizes Strowman with a couple of potatoes to the face, he overwhelms him in a 6-7 minute match.  Heyman holds up the IC to the camera “Don’t Believe What You Read – this title belt reads Real Worlds Champion – Brock Lesnar”

7. Loser Leaves Town: Kevin Steen (w/Generico) d. Neville (w/Claudio and Gargano)

-Steen/Generico/Neville/Claudio were the most recent version of GDI; a stable started by Punk over a decade ago.  Steen was a dickhead leader; riding all three men hard – and when Neville (who was then Pac) lost his mask and identity (in a match pushed on him by Steen) and Claudio lost the WWF Title; the two had just been pushed two far and turned on their former stablemates, forming the tag team Trash.  They’ve been feuding for the better part of a year – including some of the greatest tag team matches in promotion history.  They seemed willing to “fight forever” and so they find themselves in a Loser Leaves Town match.

It’s probably the best match of the night – every nearfall frought with anxiety – none of the seconds make a move to get involved at all, the stakes just transcend some sort of outside interference.  Steen goes over – there’s no celebration; Generico hugs him tightly in relief, but not joy.  Gargano, who has really prayed at the church of disaffected babyface Neville for months “see how they treat you, Johnny – do you see, do you see how they treat you?” is holding back tears – angry – yelling at Steen “how could you do this – he is your friend – how could you do this” – but Claudio pulls him away.  It’s too solemn a moment for that.  The five men stand silently in the ring for a moment – and then Neville leaves alone, wordlessly, and disappears up the ramp. 

8. Bullet Club (Nakamura/Devitt) (w/Anderson and Gallows) d. The Shield (Ambrose/Black)

-So, something’s gonna happen here.

The Shield had the longest title reign for any beltholders in the Wrestlemania Era, but Langston turned on the other two, injuring Black in the process.  The recovery was a long one and created a fissure between the two men, Ambrose didn’t pursue revenge against Langston, instead moving to challenge for the IC title (he won, he’s held the belt twice).  Black, however, was singleminded in his return, going after the other two members of the New Day when he couldn’t get a 1-1 with Langston; and he was clearly salty at Ambrose’s perceived disloyalty.  The cracks grew between the two men, they just met at Mania – and with Black still working through injury, he lost to Ambrose.  The two men made up and accepted the challenge – this is the first match for the Shield since losing their titles two years ago.  They put on the old gear, the come through the crowd they have their old music – it’s the Shield.

Devitt hasn’t wrestled a PPV match since Lesnar fractured his skull at last year’s Summer Slam and this is Nakamura’s WWF PPV debut.  So you understand the heavy star power involved.

They have the best match they can – Devitt pins Black.  The Shield has lost clean as a sheet. 

You can see the frustration on Black’s face…is it his leg…will he just never be the wrestler he once was…is this all there is…

The Bullet Club exits the ring but remains at ringside as Ambrose and Black take a moment to embrace – Black saying “I’m sorry…I’m sorry…I’m sorry” Ambrose shakes his head as if to assure Black it’s not his fault – but that’s not what Black’s apologizing for.

Black takes his right hand – turns it into a finger gun.  And points it at Ambrose.

That’s the cue for Anderson and Gallows – they storm the ring and beat Ambrose down – Devitt laughs maniacally, joining in – Nakamura stays at ringside, clearly unsure what is happening. Devitt/Anderson/Gallows beat Ambrose down – he fights valiantly – but they gain control of him, holding him in place so we can see his look of total betrayal as he says “why…why…why…” before his face is shoved to the mat – and at the exhortation of Devitt “do it…do it…do it” Black curbstomps his now former partner and best friend. 

Tyler Black has joined the Bullet Club.

9. WWF Championship: Samoa Joe (w/Horsemen) d. AJ Styles

Samoa Joe held the longest ROH Title reign in history.  Samoa Joe held the longest TNA title reign in history.  Samoa Joe is the 56^th WWF Champion. 

Joe comes with his crew – Roode/Strong/Charlotte; AJ comes alone, we just saw the Bullet Club, of whom he has been the nominal leader, in the previous match so they are nowhere to be found, notably here.  AJ wears his “Best Wrestler in the World” gear he debuted at Mania, and prior to the match he stands in front of the timekeeper’s table, at which sits WWF Commissioner Bryan Danielson – AJ has been Danielson’s primary antagonist over the past year, and Styles demands that after he beats Joe tonight that Danielson present him with the WWF Title and proclaim that AJ is better than he ever was.  AJ personally hands the belt to Danielson – tells him to enjoy it, he’ll be back for it in five minutes.

 

AJ and Joe is a big fight feel – they were the cornerstone feud in TNA for years, exchanging wins/losses for the TNA Title. They’ve been fighting for over a decade – if you were to say this is the defining feud in North American wrestling in the 21^st century, that’s not an unreasonable choice. 

Joe wins – it’s a back and forth, main event style match, hard striking, suplexes, big spots, false finishers the whole thing.  And Joe beats him with the Muscle Buster. 

It’s been an unbelievable stretch of matches for this Brooklyn crowd – they saw Steen end Neville’s career, and then Black turn on Ambrose – and now, Samoa Joe wins the WWF Championship.

The Horsemen celebrate – Danielson gets into the ring with the WWF Title to present it to Joe – AJ cuts him off – AJ, near tears, his year+ long title reign over, stands nose to nose with Danielson…and then AJ exits the ring.  Bryan Danielson hands the WWF Title belt in the middle of the ring to Samoa Joe – and raises his hand in victory as the show ends.

Summer Slam 2017.  That’s what I’m talking about. 

I’ll be back next month with the first half of the build for Survivor Series 2017.

Your main event…Samoa Joe v. AJ Styles v. Prince Devitt for the WWF Title.