Road to Summer Slam 2021 - 2

PART 1

Summer Slam 2021 takes place in Las Vegas.  Here’s the card.

WWF Title: Matt Riddle (w/HBK) v. The God of Carnage Edge (w/Keith Lee)

IC: AJ Styles v. Rey Mysterio

Women’s Title: Rhea Ripley (w/Horsewomen) v. Bianca Belair

Tags: Defiance (Orton/Priest w/Crews) v.

Tyler Black v. Langston (w/Crews/Woods)

No DQ: Roman Reigns v. Bobby Lashley

Becky Lynch/Charlotte Flair v. Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross

Number 1 Contender: Usos v. Hooligans

 

RIDDLE v EDGE:

Matt Riddle won the WWF Title over Bryan Danielson at WM (Danielson then left the territory after losing in a War Games match after flipping to the Cole/Fish/O’Reilly GDI stable; all four men now gone). He’s a member of the Clique, managed by Shawn Michaels – the Clique’s a multi-decade long stable now which has been through multiple iterations.  Central to the identity of the stable is the members often face each other, sometimes brutally so, and that’s revisited here.  Edge beat The Fiend at Mania and assumed ownership of his “God of Carnage” name – and appears to have absorbed some level of supernatural power (either we go super realistic, Edge is a veteran using all his veteran tricks; or we go the other way, most of the time, we go realistic, this time, nah, he’s now the Undertaker).  Lee and Riddle came to WWF together to reboot the Clique under Michaels’ leadership. Riddle beat Lee in a showdown to see which of them would get placed in what turned into a Number One contender’s match at the Rumble – Lee went away for several months, but is back now.  Riddle winds up attacked by…we’re going to say the Viking Raiders, making their return to the promotion – they’re serving as goons for, let’s say Mustafa Ali.  With Riddle needing backup, Lee moves into that role, tag partner/bodyguard/muscle to protect the Champ. That program takes most of the summer (or more likely it leads to another similar program) – as we hit a month before Summer Slam; the number one contender is going to be revealed – and it’s Edge, he cuts slow, “rest in peace-like” promo in a face to face encounter with Riddle – the kicker being that Lee attacks Riddle from behind, leaves him laying – and Lee joins Edge – we get the full intra-Clique fight at Summer Slam.

STYLES v REY

IC is a veteran babyface matchup – both Triple Crown winners – if anything, Rey is a subtle heel here – Rey is the locker room leader, the judge of wrestlers court, the guy with the most respect in the back – and he’s aware of that.  He carries himself with that status.  Rey wears suits with his mask; so when they are doing any sort of a face to face, that’s how you should see Rey.  He’s a babyface, but he carries himself in such a way that might rub some the wrong way.  Primarily though – it’s a match with a couple of Hall of Famers fighting for a title. 

RIPLEY v BELAIR

The Horsewomen are down to 3 after losing the War Games match, Shafir now gone (or maybe it’s Duke, it doesn’t so much matter) – Ripley took the title at Mania; Belair beat Baszler twice and then got the War Games submission, so she comes into this match with a ton of steam (for the build to this match, see the War Games in part 1).  Bad ass heel champ, hot babyface challenger– they meet for the belt. 

HOOLIGANS v USOS

WINNERS v DEFIANCE

It takes two matches to settle the tag titles- Defiance won the belts at Mania, Orton/Priest will be the two members in the ring to defend the belt here (Orton gets to sweep up the pieces of Bray Wyatt over the summer before he leaves the territory to even up that score) they’ll face the winners of the opening tag match between two former champs the babyface Hooligans (McIntyre/Sheamus) and the heel Usos.

LYNCH/FLAIR v. ALEXA/NIKKI

There’s another tag match – it’s a women’s tag – Lynch and Flair returned to the promotion after a year away (see part one) both with new outlooks that were reflected in how well they worked together in that match.  It’s really their feud which resulted in the Montreal Match which ran Lynch from the promotion (until Banks, who “took” Lynch’s career in that match, brought her back) time away caused contemplation – and now they form a tag act, not about winning a belt (there are no women’s tag belts) it's about fighting, it’s about being a fighter and maybe trying to create something in the promotion (both former champs, are there new worlds to conquer?  Maybe there are, and maybe it involves tag team wrestling).  They go against the heel team of Alexa/Nikki.

BLACK v. LANGSTON

GDI goes from having two separate factions to being wiped from the promotion (maybe).

Understandably, losing the 3 top matches at Mania, then having Danielson turn, then having to fight that brutal War Games match has exhausted Black/Steen, the two men left standing (Strong is still in the promotion he’s gonna be enhancement) and its unclear what future they have – they lose a match to the New Day, Langston getting the fall on Black – and that sets up this match between former Shield stablemates; Black is on the backfoot – Langston smells blood – he looks to pick the bones of his former partner. 

REIGNS v LASHLEY

Finally (well, finally for the card, there’s a Dark Ride title match too) is a rematch from Mania, Reigns beat Lashley and now they do it again, here with a garbage stip.  Reigns has been on a monster role, really established during Covid – he challenges really the entire promotion to get on his level – there’s an AEW allusion here, Reigns intimates that maybe everyone in WWF got a little too comfortable being the only game in town – that’s okay, Reigns is here – the Big Dog is here – the Head of the Table – and he's going to force the rest of the promotion to rise to his level. 

Walter is the Dark Ride champ – Samoa Joe is the man who started Dark Ride – Joe left the broadcast team to fight with GDI in the War Games match and that transitions to Joe saying he is resuming his wrestling career and is throwing everything he has at beating Walter to regain his belt – that match will take place as a dark match at Summer Slam.

And that’s the show.

Next month, the top 20 matches in Summer Slam history.  In August – Summer Slam 2021.