WWE SummerSlam 2011 Review

Rey Mysterio, John Morrison and Kofi Kingston Vs The Miz, R-Truth and Alberto Del Rio

When you can't distinguish between a PPV and an episode of Raw; you have a problem. When that PPV is supposed to be the second biggest of the year; you have a serious problem. Unannounced, six-man tag team matches built from 3 separate singles feuds should only ever be featured on television, as a way to promote those singles feuds, which should presumably climax at a PPV. There are big names in this match, names who do indeed deserve to be on the card, but these are names that deserved to be ANNOUNCED on the card beforehand! The match itself was a fast paced & athletic contest, as you'd expect from the talent involved, but with nothing at stake and no prior anticipation it can only do so much. A singles match taken from any of the 3 pairs would have been just as good, so why everyone needed to be crammed together to even appear on the show is beyond me. Not to mention the meaningless promos by The Miz and R-Truth before the match and the SummerSlam set itself which looked like the usual WWE TV Tron with some bits stuck on it! All of this together made the match feel like an opening to a Raw, the superstars did their jobs well but as usual they are let down by a creative team that fails to do theirs.

Rating: 3 Stars

Mark Henry Vs Sheamus

When I say the creative team has failed, I should say the RAW creative team, because SmackDown, as usual, are doing just fine. Mark Henry has been booked strong recently, and has started to gain the best momentum of his career. Meanwhile Sheamus has been floating around for months now without purpose, so his surprising face-turn is more than welcome. This is a classic example of how to build stars without either paying for the expense. Standing up to Henry has done wonders for Sheamus' creditability, and this match continues that work without hurting either man's push in the short term. Henry won with some devastating strength, but only just - and he didn't dare attack Sheamus afterwards. Not any kind of classic, but solid booking that highlights and enhances both men.

Rating: 2.5 Stars

Wade Barrett Vs Daniel Bryan

This match represents what, at minimum, all PPVs should be about. Take two of your best talents, announce they're going to wrestle and then let them wrestle. It sounds simple yet it's still a rarity in the WWE today. What's not so rare in the WWE today is awful commentary, and this match is no exception. I'm not sure why JR was given the night off, nor why after all this time Booker T hasn't firmed his grasp on the English language, but I suppose I shouldn't expect an answer to every mystery. When a three man booth has a conversation about how none of them know the names of the holds Bryan is performing, perhaps it's time to find new people for the job? It's so bad it's distracting from an otherwise terrific match, the kind Bryan was having all the time on PPV late last year as the US Champion. The finish was abrupt and Bryan inexplicably takes a clean loss here, but it won't hurt him too much in the long run. I've enjoyed this feud thus far and hope the finish will ensure it continues – perhaps with the MITB briefcase on the line.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

World Heavyweight Championship - No Holds Barred
Randy Orton Vs Christian

I want to say upfront that this was the second best match in a classic series, as well as Match of the Night. Crisp counters, great psychology, memorable spots and an announce desk that actually breaks! However, taken as a whole this match and the feud has effectively buried Christian as a credible main-event star in kayfabe terms. The appearance by Edge at the start was fun, although perhaps better served by being promoted for the last SmackDown before SummerSlam, as ultimately it was just a promo. Edge lays out exactly how Christian has become a “whining, crying, moaning little bitch”, and highlights how undeserving Christian is of being World Heavyweight Champion. I figured this was leading to a clean win for Captain Charisma to silence his critics, or a swerve reappearance by Edge to help his friend, but no. Instead Edge and those who agree with him were vindicated when Christian was unable to beat Orton yet again. Furthermore, not enough was made of this being the final match in this series and they failed to capitalise on what could have been a terrific atmosphere. Maybe they'll continue, but after 4 PPV matches and 2 clean Orton wins I can't imagine good justification for it. A shame really, as this pair has such amazing in-ring chemistry and I doubt either will move on to anything better for a while.

Rating: 4 Stars

Undisputed WWE Championship
CM Punk Vs John Cena
Special Guest Referee: Triple H

“Hello everyone! Welcome to cooking with the WWE! Today we will prepare a SummerSlam main event. First, you're going to want to take last month's Five Star classic match out of the fridge. It's a few weeks old now, but don't worry! Now we're going to add a fake championship for no good reason, throw in a guest referee to distract from the action and you can go ahead and loose the Chicago atmosphere – just put it in a Staples Center for now. Leave it to simmer for a bit less this time, about 26 minutes instead of 34. You can't really get this next part wrong, the ingredients... they are just too good, so don't worry if the commentary is awful. Just leave the CM Punk and John Cena to work and it'll be fine. Now for the finish, let's just chuck out all this uncertainty, controversy and promise of change – they're so July! We'll put in an obvious-yet-anti-climactic foot-on-the-ropes instead, it's just as good. Oh and don't forget! We need to be vogue, on the cutting edge! So of course - let's add some Kevin Nash - why not? If you're looking for a more Mexican flavour you can add some Alberto Del Rio, perfect for any upcoming Mexico tour you might have planned. And voila! There you have it – one SummerSlam main event! Bon appetite!”

Rating: 4 Stars

WWE SummerSlam 2011 Final Score: 3.5 Stars

To sum up SummerSlam is a difficult task. I need to distinguish between the dancers and the song they're all dancing to. From the point of view of the performance, the work between the ropes by the likes of CM Punk, Christian and Daniel Bryan, the show was fantastic, one of the best of the year so far and better than last year's event. There were no bad matches on the card, and even a couple of very good ones. However the booking, or in some cases the lack of it, is starting to really hold these guys back. It's not as bad as TNA yet, but the drop in quality over a matter of weeks is frankly scary.

People will praise the main event for a swerve they didn't see coming – but good storytelling is about much more than mere surprises. It surprised me last month when CM Punk won the title, but it was also a logical, real possibility and a fitting climax to the story so far. It was all done so well it created a buzz about wrestling both within the community and myself personally that I've not experienced in a very long time. To think how much of that potential has been lost in just under a month is heartbreaking! If this is building towards some kind of reformed Kliq - If this is leading to jobs in the WWE in 2011 for Scott Hall and/or Sean Waltman - I even might just stop watching Raw entirely. I'm not kidding. I hate Kevin Nash, but at least he can perform. Hall and Waltman were awful in their primes. Bringing them back is the kind of (Read: EXACTLY THE SAME) move TNA would make, something I thought the WWE was far above. Perhaps I need to let this story play out, and I'll eat my words by the end of the year. I hope so. I really hope so.