Summer Slam 2018

The build is here.

Summer Slam 2018, the 31^st Summer Slam and the 126^th WWF PPV comes to you from Brooklyn.

(Dark: Ciampa d. Gargano, Ricochet/Tozawa d. Kenta/Hero, Cole/O’Reilly, Dunne/Bate)

Announcers: Ranallo (12^th PPV)

                        Regal (22^nd PPV)

                        Nigel (9^th PPV)

As was the case with Wrestlemania – the show opens cold on Ronda Rousey’s introduction; not the announcers, not a taped piece – cold on Rousey, which is designed to frame her as separate from the rest of the show. 

1.       Special MMA Attraction: Ronda Rousey d. Charlotte Flair

-So, this is a little tricky; unlike Mania where Rousey and Deville just had to work a shootfight for a minute, this fight needs to cover a little more real estate, and it’s tough to make a worked fight look real.  The story here is Rousey didn’t really take this seriously; while Flair spent the summer in MMA training. Rousey largely toys with Charlotte in the first round, Charlotte does a  couple of things that signify she’s worked hard this summer – but at no point in the first round should you think of them as in the same league inside whatever version of an octagon they’re in.

However – there’s a point near the end of the first round when Charlotte catches her with a punch to the face.  Tricky – because it needs to be a shoot punch, enough that if it breaks Rousey’s nose, that would be great, which obviously is a hard thing to work.  But enough that it’s shocking and causes the crowd to stir.

In the second round, Rousey beats the hell out of Charlotte but is unable to submit her – the fight either ends in round 2 or preferably in round 3, really it depends on how long this can go and still look like it’s really happening. It’s a referee stoppage, a visibly frustrated Rousey isn’t able to get Charlotte to submit and finally just keeps punching her in the head until there’s a stoppage.  Rousey and her corner exit quickly; Rousey’s heated – there are a couple of guys in suits come out of the crowd, the assumption is they’re with her agency as they seem very concerned with the condition of her face.  Rousey doesn’t want to deal with them – or deal with the fans as she exits.  Charlotte, ideally bleeding, makes her way to her feet and starts yelling “you can’t tap me out, Rousey – you’ll never tap me out” in a way that ideally gets her some babyface acknowledgement from the crowd. Charlotte waves up the ramp "Come on back, Rousey - let's go - let's go" the blood flowing from her face, coloring her hair a Flair red - the fans getting increasingly revved up as Charlotte shouts for Rousey to come back and fight some more.  

Then – the show opening taped piece; clips of the histories of the Nakamura/Joe and Danielson/Lesnar feuds.  Then throw to the announcers – and then to the next match.

2.       Gods of Carnage (Rusev/Strowman w/Lana) d. New Day (Woods/Langston) DQ

-GoC has been slapping New Day around since the Rumble, less concerned with getting wins than with beating the hell out of New Day; here, Kingston emerges from under the ring swinging light tubes, he cracks both Rusev and Strowman over the head – drawing the DQ – New Day uses their numbers advantage to get some payback before Lana is able to get her crew to exit the ring and head up the ramp. 

3.       Winner Gets Tag Title Shot: Mike Mizanin (w/Hooligans) d. Roman Reigns Uso (w/Usos)

-Reigns takes most of the match, Mizanin escaping a couple of evident nearfalls, before Reigns slips on the proverbial banana peel allowing Mizanin to hit his move out of nowhere and get the fall.  Reigns attempts to attack postmatch – cut off by McIntyre, who lays him out.  Sheamus/McIntyre/Miz celebrate – they are headed for Survivor Series to get a shot at the tag titles.

4.       Jeff Hardy d. Luke Harper

-It’s Jeff’s first WWF match as Jeff Hardy in..I think 9 years, don’t hold me to that, but it’s been awhile.  Harper does big brawler types of things – Jeff does veteran high flyer types of things, and it’s Jeff who gets the fall. 

5.       Sombra (w/Zelina and Rey) d. Kevin Steen

-Steen gets no entrance music; the crowd ideally is dead silent as he enters. Mysterio has effectively been blackballing Steen from the promotion since the unmasking of Generico at Mania; we’ve seen Steen go from no selling his being exiled from the locker room to finally blowing up at Sombra, who has slid into the role of masked mentee upon Mysterio’s return to the promotion.  Sombra goes over here – it’s designed to feel weird, Steen hasn’t been able to get guys to wrestle him; what’s left for him after this match?  It’s like he doesn’t exist. 

Mysterio climbs in the ring to go nose to nose with Steen postmatch; Steen seems to have had the life entirely drained out of him; “Rey, this is my life.  It’s how I feed my family.”  Mysterio shakes his head “You have no code, Steen.  You can’t stay in my world.”  Steen seems to fully absorb the weight of his circumstance – he looks out at the, ideally, silent crowd, nodding his head, and solemnly exits "okay" Steen says as he gets to the top of the ramp, taking in his full circumstance "okay".  If there were a little bit of a debate among the announcers about if maybe, just maybe, Mysterio had gone too far this summer, that would be good. 

We now have a clip package of all 70 Intercontinental Champions, either winning their titles or holding the belt (you know, ‘cause of Rio)

Pat Patterson

Ken Patera

Pedro Morales

Don Muraco

Pedro Morales

Don Muraco

Tito Santana

Greg Valentine

Roddy Piper

Randy Savage

Bret Hart

Curt Hennig

Rick Rude

Ted DiBiase

Bret Hart

Roddy Piper

Randy Savage

Shawn Michaels

Owen Hart

Shawn Michaels

Razor Ramon

Owen Hart

Razor Ramon

Shawn Michaels

Vader

Cactus Jack

Ken Shamrock

Steve Austin

Al Snow

Sean Waltman

Chris Jericho

Eddy Guerrero

Chris Jericho

Steve Regal

Steve Austin

Tajiri

Taz

Rob Van Dam

Shawn Michaels

Rob Van Dam

Rey Mysterio

Tajiri

Chavo Guerrero

Eddy Guerrero

Chris Jericho

Edge

Chris Benoit

Fit Finlay

HHH-M

Shane Helms

Randy Orton

MVP

Rey Mysterio

Shawn Michaels

Matt Sydal

Johnny Nitro

Sheamus

The Rock

Nick Nemeth

Dean Ambrose

Sheamus

Nick Nemeth

Luke Harper

Bray Wyatt

Dean Ambrose

AJ Styles

El Generico

Rusev

Brock Lesnar

Shinsuke Nakamura

6.       IC Tournament Final: Prince Devitt (w/Anderson and Gallows) d. Cedric Alexander  (w/Ricochet and Tozawa)

-Prince Devitt wins his first WWF title belt and reacts with the level of pride you would assume.  Long road for Devitt, from his role as a Paul Heyman Guy to forming the WWF version of the Bullet Club to getting his skull fractured; he’s been feuding with the entirety of Dark Ride Wrestling since after the Rumble, that included losing to Alexander at Mania. 

But he gets that win back here in a junior style fast paced workrate match, no hint of interference; Devitt hits his move and gets the fall.

7.       Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) d. The American Dragon Bryan Danielson

-This is sold as the blow off to this long feud and given the juncture in which each man finds himself, there’s a precarious quality to the match.  Danielson returned after a 3 year absence, lost to Styles at Mania and then lost to him again in the IC Tournament. That led Danielson to “start over” – but he got pulled back into what might be Lesnar’s last WWF match.

It won’t be – we’ll learn somewhere between here and Survivor Series that Brock has signed a lucrative new deal with WWF and will be facing AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble – with the winner going on to Mania to wrestle for the WWF Title. 

This is a unique look for Danielson as he fights from underneath, largely appearing overmatched.  Bryan Danielson has never appeared overmatched; even in prior fights with Lesnar, despite the size disparity; they were positioned at similar levels.  If anything, Danielson’s skill advantage over pretty much every single opponent has made him the pick to win throughout his WWF career.  But this match looks like IRL Daniel Bryan – he is clearly an underdog, he gets thrown around – he uses veteran guile to come back and gain advantage (there's definitely a spot where he gets out the ring, walks around to cool Brock's heels) but the end comes with an F5 in the middle of the ring. 

Danielson stays down longer than expected – enough that ringside personnel look to aid him from the ring – Lesnar waves them away, “Dragon walks out like a man” – and he and Heyman serve to steady Danielson as he walks up the ramp under his own power. 

8.       WWF Tag Titles: Bullet Club (AJ Styles/Tyler Black) d. The Revival

-Styles and Black become the 105^th WWF tag champs; moreover, AJ becomes the 13^th wrestler to win the Hart-Guerrero Memorial Triple Crown (ceremony will be discussed in the build for Survivor Series) postmatch, we see shots of each of the dozen prior winners all holding up the Triple Crown Trophy (their names are engraved thereon like the Stanley Cup)

PEDRO MORALES

BRET HART

SHAWN MICHAELS

OWEN HART

STEVE AUSTIN

CACTUS JACK

EDDY GUERRERO

REY MYSTERIO

CHRIS BENOIT

CHRIS JERICHO

EDGE

NICK NEMETH

And then the name AJ STYLES fills the video wall. 

We did a heat angle to write out Arn Anderson and while AJ wasn’t on the giving end of that beating, he’s guilty by association for Dash and Dawson, so they are as angry with him as they are with Black; so this is a pretty good fight. No interference, the official gives them some leeway as opposed to calling for a DQ (there’s a bit of a tradition with tag title matches to let things go a little bit) but there aren’t any other members of the Bullet Club at ringside.  AJ gets the pinfall – and when the Triple Crown montage plays with his name at the end, his reaction is very different than Devitt’s from earlier in the night  - whereas Devitt puffed out his chest with pride upon winning the IC – Styles is clearly humbled as he sees his name as only the 13^th ever to win the Triple Crown. 

The rest of the Bullet Club, including Becky Lynch who has not been seen since losing her belt at Mania, hits the ring – they’ve got the tag belts, and the IC (and the briefcase which Anderson brings out to hand to Black) the Bullet Club – again – is standing tall atop the WWF.

9.       WWF Title: Shinsuke Nakamura d. Samoa Joe

-Main event style match here – over 20 minutes, multiple nearfalls – the champ wins in the middle of the ring with his move.  Nakamura, excised from the Bullet Club at the beginning of the year, buried under the flag – has been WWF Champion since the Rumble and will be defending that belt at Survivor Series.  Nakamura stands along in the ring, confetti raining down as his music plays postmatch as the show ends. 

That’s Summer Slam 2018. 

Back next month with some filler – in October, the build to Survivor Series and then come November, Survivor Series 2018, you already know the main event – it’s Nakamura defending his title against Claudio Castagnoli.  See you then