WWE SummerSlam 2018 Review

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the podcast

arena. Coming to the ring at this time. Oh, you

didn't know? You know I've gotta call somebody!

First, representing this week at Geek, and from

hearts unknown, he is Mike, the Birdman, Don.

I got four words for you. Check out my ass. to

another epic Summer Slam. Ah, it just feels so

damn good. And now Cricket Wireless and MLB Tapsports

Baseball 18 present WWE Summer Slam. Hello and

welcome to Mayhem Mikes. This is episode 46 and

it's the end of the summer everybody. That means

it's Summer Slam time, yay. Joining me, as always,

Ryan, the Uneven Flow Merkley. Hello, sir. Grave.

This is going to be a podcast where I don't have

much negative to say. Yeah, I'll tell you this,

folks. The last two months of 2018. Hell, I'll

say the last eight months of 2018. We started

the year with Jinder Mahal as champion. Exactly.

So I mean, there was nowhere to go but really.

Yeah. I absolutely loved SummerSlam. I've loved

moments from all of the pay -per -views so far

this year. And yes, there are going to be those

go to the bathroom, take a nap kind of matches

in every single pay -per -view. SummerSlam has

them too, and we'll go through that here in a

little bit. But I was not more excited for SummerSlam.

I was as excited for this year's SummerSlam as

I was for WrestleMania 24 when they had it outdoors

in Florida. It's been up and down roller coaster

for the last year or so for WWE, hell, since

the podcast has begun. Since we've been doing

this podcast for three years or whatever it is

now, it's been - an up and down roller coaster.

There hasn't been a straight incline for me specifically

for WWE. There have been weeks where I don't

even watch Raw or SmackDown or catch up on them

the nights the next new episodes are coming or

something or whatever. When I was in my previous

life before I got to my senses, found my wife

and fell in love and all that other stuff in

2016 when I was in California. I didn't watch,

couldn't watch, because I didn't have a smartphone

then, any of the stuff for the entire month or

two or three or four or five weeks that I was

there or whatever it was. And when I came back

in January of 2017, I binged through the whole

month of shows and I actually liked watching

them, that way more than having to watch them

week to week to week. However... The content

just is not. It's been on a straight decline.

Our good buddy, Alex, Mr. Gravy Moose, Mr. Producer,

whatever you wanna call him at This Week in Geek,

says that WWE is boring. WWE equals boring. And

I guess that's fine. He's entitled to that opinion

and that's fine, that's his opinion. I gotta

say this week, or this last week, the Raw and

SmackDown go home shows. SummerSlam and the Raw

and SmackDown after shows have really renewed

my interest. This has been their best week in

a while and it started with the NXT pay -per

-view was completely amazing. I say this every

time but I mean they just keep being great. This

one might have been their best one again and

it had a number of fantastic matches and I wondered

how SummerSlam was going to. Said it on the last

show. I wasn't really looking forward to it,

but I was wrong and Like I said to on the pre

-show I'll quote somebody on the internet who

I don't always agree with but Do in this case

what he said if you really dislike summer slam,

you're just looking for reasons to dislike things

Because it was pretty good. So the pre -show

by the way, I don't watch it. It was three roll

-ups in a row Whatever and Said it before I'll

say it again. I don't care about the commentary.

We talked about this on the just before we started

recording the back -and -forth about who's gonna

win doesn't work in wrestling because it's not

an it's not a Unscripted event. I don't care

if the big shows reach is ten times Daniel Bryan

if Vince McMahon wants Daniel Bryan to win Daniel

Bryan wins so there's no point in discussing

Yeah. Oh, how is he going to counter the pedigree?

Well, if he's not allowed to do it by the boss,

then he can't do it. So, uh, oh, well, but yeah,

so meh. And we opened with, man, did they open

with a great match. They opened with Seth Rollins

and Dolph Ziegler with Dean Ambrose and of course,

Drew McIntyre and Ziegler's corner. And it was.

This might have been their best match between

the two of them, despite having extra people

involved, too. I was really impressed. It was

a great opener. And Seth Rollins won, by the

way, to become champ. Yeah, it was an amazing

opener. This is the best I've seen Dolph perform

since he's been signed to the company, I think.

Well, he hasn't been signed for about a year

now. I'm saying he's on no, I'm just saying like

he's on a appearance based deal. He doesn't actually

have a contract with the company. Okay, but I'm

saying as long as I've seen him in WWE. This

is the best match he's done. Oh, no, he's had

some Think some better ones much earlier But

since this most recent contract dispute or whatever

you want to call it at this point. This is one

of his better ones and He's a great performer

but when you stick them with somebody who's Rollins

caliber, it definitely helps and He was definitely

motivated. He has been through this whole run

He's been terrific since these Come back with

McIntyre. But yeah, I think this is his best

performance in that time and just a bunch of

really good moves. The only negative I have the

entire thing is I feel like if you do a reverse

suplex off the top rope followed by a second

one off of like just on the when you roll through

and hit him with another slam, that should probably

be a three count. I know it's not his finisher,

but jeez! Yeah, that was rough. That was really

nice. And, uh, whatever. Like I say, I'm nitpicking,

though. They got both Drew and Dean, the two

Ds, involved in the match in a really good way

that made sense and didn't take anything away

from it. So everything worked really well. This

is the way you have matches where you're... accompaniment

people come out, your partners come out, but

they only interfere with each other. They're

not interfering with the match. They're preventing

the other person from interfering with the match

and getting a DQ for whomever. Yeah, there was

some minor stuff to remind you that they were

there, but yeah, they didn't exactly, no, it

wasn't through the whole thing. I mean, Dean,

oh man, he looks so good now. like I mean we've

only seen him one match at this point which we'll

talk about later on raw but like so friggin good

I can't wait to see more with him as you said

Seth wins I'm kind of glad Seth won I don't know

if they'll do I'm sure they'll do another rematch

thing or whatever I don't know how because this

this to me felt like the final match for this.

Because Seth had said in the Go Home show, Oh,

I'm tired of the two on one and the this and

the that. So, you know, you have a psychopath,

I have a lunatic. So I don't know if this is

the actual Go Home match for this feud, but this

felt like it could be. I'll be curious if they

end up with some sort of Strowman Drew. Ziggler

team to try to counter the shield eventually,

but yeah for now I think this will be the last

and unfortunately the next match Also involves

somebody we've seen the last though for some

time Yeah, so I don't know what to give this

match at the time So it was new day versus bludgeon

brothers for the smackdown tag Titles the bludgeon

brothers retain when they lose by D via DQ against

the new day But the big news is that Rowan got

injured during the match pretty severely and

he's out for quite some time four to six months

they're saying and So yeah, who knows if this

is the I assume this was the planned end to the

match, but who knows for sure I assume because

then the next night New day wins it off of them

No, that was that was because of the injury right

my question is whether or not I expect that they

were gonna do a hell in the cell match Between

them, but that's obviously not gonna happen and

you know injuries It's unfortunate because I

feel like Harper and Rowan were starting to get

going I think their beginning was kind of meh

and it was hard to care about them because all

they did was have them beat Jobbers or local

talent quote -unquote week after week, then they

sort of just win the titles and since then I

Like them together I like the schtick of the

bludgeon brothers because it's a way of doing

something with The former Wyatt family members

without having to have Bray Do the whole Wyatt

family over again and just have them in his wing

steps or his wingtips or whatever I don't like

I like Rowan on his own, but I don't like Harper

on his own. So with Rowan injured... Oh, I'm

the opposite. I thought Harper... Harper and

his match, remember, against Randy Orton, months

ago, I thought showed an awful lot on his own.

That was before Rowan came back, months ago.

That was almost a year ago, I think. But anyway...

Yeah, I think that was a year ago, yeah. Yeah,

before the injury and before the DQ, this was

a pretty solid match, though, with the New Day

getting in a good amount of offense and... No,

it was well done. What's going on with the new

day? All because Seem like biggie was off by

himself on raw the next night. It seemed like

You mean smackdown, but anyway, it's not yeah.

Well, yeah, they're playing up the injured ribs

Maybe they just didn't want to have him in her

fear or who knows or maybe he was actually injured

I mean god knows we had one guy hurt in the match.

We could have had more there was a lot a lot

of that's true pretty hard rough offense in that

yeah stuff like woods hitting an elbow drop on

the floor we had a bunch of yeah i mean this

match was crazy it was absolutely crazy and it

was fun and it looked like it was going to kill

somebody and yeah they had a crucifix bomb they

had the sit down power bomb just after as well

like a lot of high impact moves so who knows

Next up we had Braun Strowman versus Kevin Owens.

Now one thing I want to say before we get too

far into this, besides the fact that Kevin looked

like a ragdoll, there are actually two people,

a men's division and a women's division person

that basically got ragdoll across the whole event

at Summer Slam. Well three actually, we'll get

to that though. Kevin Owens. Have they told him

or is he decided or what's the deal because he

hasn't been using the pop -up power bomb a lot

lately Oh, I have no idea. My guess is we've

just been losing a lot lately My guess is as

much as I hate to say it because I love the guy

his days of being a top Performer seemed to be

done for whatever reason why when I say forever

for whatever reason I mean Vince Course, I don't

it's not a secret that Vince doesn't like him.

Yeah We saw it on other shows and I think that

he's just sort of comic relief now and he's gonna

this is as much as I hate to say it about all

for him which sucks because he's very much capable

of being the top guy in the company, but Whatever

if they don't see that it's not gonna happen.

So Yeah, he just signed a new deal, too, and

he's getting paid a lot of money. So I hope he

enjoys it. But yeah, I think he's I don't think

we'll see him. He might get a title match here

or there, but he's never going to seriously compete

for a belt again, probably, which flat. Yeah.

And he gets absolutely buried in this one. The

right it was the right ending. I mean, Strowman

had to win this. Yeah. So I don't have a problem

with that. but to just kill Owens and they basically

just ran him over yeah give him absolutely no

offense was weird and maybe they were looking

for a reason to get him off TV and that's it

but I suspect that yeah we've seen the last of

him being a serious competitor for a long time

which really stinks that really sucks because

I remember the last episode we did We had said

something about Kevin God now, I can't remember

That's so bad wasn't that long ago, I know right

that's oh god Yeah, I lost it yeah, I think brawn

winning was good I I don't like the idea of I

don't like the idea of Kevin not being on there

because there's only two people right now really

in my mind that have ever really quote -unquote

interacted with the crowd at well three with

the crowd during the match like Braun will say

a lot of stuff to the crowd sometimes every now

and then not much but Kevin was always the one

up until recently he would always you know react

to the crowd and he's just entertaining and I

remember some yeah I remember some of his worst

quote -unquote batches he's had and they've still

been entertaining and his worst segments and

his best stuff is just great i mean the festival

of friendship yes one of those segments that's

going to be remembered for a long time i think

by the fans who watched it so whatever but gets

the right outcome but wrong way to do it and

i was gonna say it wasn't about own specifically

Last episode you had said, oh, SummerSlam, it's

gonna be seven hours. It was four hours and two

minutes and something. But at times, around the

two hour 30 minute mark, I felt like crap. I

was close, it was six hours with the pre -show.

With the pre -show, yeah. Up next, we had the

SmackDown Live Women's Championship. Triple Threat,

Becky, Charlotte, and Carmella. This is by far

the best Carmela's look. I know how the hell

was this match this good? It was actually a good

match. I mean, yeah So you have to take the end

into consideration but without it even this is

solid I was impressed and the ending was terrific

with Becky attacking Charlotte flair who won

and the fans just Absolutely were not having

Becky as a heel Mean the fans were just cheering

her like crazy and they were booing when they

I still remember that scene of Charlotte crying

on the floor and The fans are booing her like

crazy It sounded like Roman came out. It was

It was brutal so that was amusing but yeah surprisingly

good match and Carmela Did pretty well? if I'm

gonna give her shit when it's not good or the

matches aren't good and she's a big part of it

then I got to give her credit when the matches

are good and she was a good part of it it helps

obviously that Becky and Charlotte are extremely

talented but Charlotte's been away for quite

some time and Becky she's worked with Carmella

a couple times but it hasn't been as solid as

this was so props to all three Yeah, I absolutely

love this match. I love what they're setting

up with Charlotte and Becky. This could have

been a bathroom break match or something like

that. It could have been, but I would say that

almost, um, not necessarily in a bad way, but

a good way. Braun versus Owens was a bathroom

break because hello, he basically, you know,

10 -wheel trucked over. Yeah, there's no question

as to who was gonna win. Yeah, exactly. And here,

even though... Poor Owens, by the way. I forgot

to mention this. He literally bounced off of

that entrance ramp on that joke slam. Yes, he

did. That was not good at all. No, that's gotta

hurt. They need to give him some time off. He's

been thrown off a cage. He's thrown off the top

of the ladder. That's why they're burying him,

apparently. I guess. Yeah, he wasn't on raw.

Anyway. I don't know. but back to the women as

I said before just Really good and surprisingly

good if you told me it would be another solid

match on this card before this I Would have wondered

what the hell you're talking about but I was

wrong a very good job and The ending works for

me. I like I like Becky Lynch and she's right.

They should do something with her It's doing

something with her and it's getting Charlotte

back in on something without having to involve

any of the other women's division superstars

because they've done this all the time. You've

already mentioned the festival of friendship.

You know, they've done the best friend breakup

and Charlotte and Becky have been, you know,

attached at the hip for the longest time. Well,

let's see what they're like when they're feuding

with each other. We'll counteract this with the

crappy boss bailey feud which has been done terribly

is that even still a thing because i know they're

back as a tag team now yeah see but i was just

saying when it happens this is still has been

done much better oh yeah as a hiccup all right

to the next match which holy cow aj versus samoa

joe for the wwe championship i have one note

W -O -W -W -W. Wow. I could not believe this

match. I knew it was going to be a good match.

That doesn't surprise me because these two guys

have worked together a bunch of times and they're

two of the best. What I didn't expect has been

over the past couple months, and I'll include

Smackdown this week in this as well, Joe has

been on point. Oh, yeah. promos have been amazing

he has an intensity that i legitimately believe

in and he was too horrific here with his taunting

of styles family at the start of the match and

then through the match and then of course at

the end of the match when a j just Loses it with

him. I just love his work here though. I thought

it's it's been terrific and again including the

smackdown segment where he choked AJ out and

tells him I Know he said he was gonna be there

to tuck the kids in but it looks like daddy's

gone night -night and then he drops the mic on

Styles by the way. Oh So good. He I'm really

impressed with him. I'm so happy for the guy

because he's been wrestling forever, it seems

like, but he was always in, let's be honest,

relative obscurity with TNA and impact. I didn't

know about him until Triple H and NXT and I didn't

even see his NXT stuff. I just knew when he was

coming and you're like, oh my God, Samoa Joe's

being called up. And I'm like, okay, who's this

guy now? I'm like, oh, that's Predaking from

the Transformers, Combiner Wars, Prime Wars trilogy.

I still remember his match with Brock and I thought

that was kind of going to be the high point for

him because he was terrific in that. He legitimately

looked like somebody they could have booked to

beat him, but of course they didn't. They didn't,

yeah. But since then, still, he's been really

good. When they have him on TV, they give him

a break for a good couple months there, but...

Yeah. And that's... See, that's the thing. Like,

giving somebody a break without destroying a

storyline or without giving them a storyline

to get them off TV, like with Owens. Like, who

knows what the hell? with this current storyline,

is it to get him off TV? We don't know, whatever.

Giving Joe time in between storylines and things

like that, I think is perfect because unless

he's going up against somebody that I have loved

more or that I've known like a John Cena or somebody

like that, I absolutely love Joe. I love what

Joe does. I love his character. Everything he,

even though it's despicable, like you were saying

about... the guy with the wedding on NXT, the

wedding ring. Tomas Chiappa, yeah. Chiappa, okay.

So like you were saying with Chiappa, that's

what Joe is right now on main roster with the

AJ storyline with the whole family thing. And

he has said stuff and done stuff in this letter

thing and all this and all that. I was half expecting

him to go over to AJ's family at SummerSlam at

some point. So I think this is obviously and

by the Joe wins via DQ But I think it's pretty

clear that the next match will be in the cell

between these two. Oh, yeah I'm curious if they'll

do the ECW Raven versus I think it was Sandman.

I can't remember is Raven versus somebody where

Raven Brainwashed his family and his kid came

in in a cage match and punched like his own dad

and Wonderful wonderful do that. But no the kids

are a little Little young for that having said

that holy cow AJ's daughter man, I don't I'm

She's either the world's greatest actor actress

or actor or whatever term you want to use But

at the end when she's a daddy, you're bleeding.

Holy cow that was this was near a near perfect

yeah match slash build yeah so yeah really well

done and another absolute bright spot um what

the hell happened next Okay, so no, it's what

the hell happened after what happened next is

why I say but Even though that matches it. Okay,

so we go from AJ and Joe and the whole family

drama and the comedies You know the sincerity

of AJ's daughter and all that to the Miz versus

Daniel Bryan Oh, I was gonna sorry. I'm talking

about the segments because they followed next

with the Elias bit Yeah, where they just have

his guitar break. I know. When I'm taking notes,

I do watch the whole pay -per -view, but I only

take notes on the map, especially with Elias.

I skip that crap. I love Elias, but that was

just weird. I wonder if they were just trying

to make up time. I don't know. I don't have a

clue where they're going with him. No clue. So,

Miz versus Daniel Bryan, eight years in the making.

I love how the commentary team at the end are

like, what'd she give him? What'd she give him?

Oh my god, we don't know. I'm half blind. I didn't

have to see. I figured it was brass knuckles.

Yeah, it was brass knuckles. I mean, I said...

I saw her hand them to him and everything else.

I mean, it was clear that he had them, but whatever.

The announcers are supposed to assume actually

hell with it since we're mentioning them, by

the way. Coachman. Oh, Jesus. What do you do

now? He's just an imbecile. And Graves just seems

to have given up trying to correct the guy or

all of his just. Oh, he was awful that night.

And I feel so bad because I don't like. Criticizing

the commentary and I know it's not an easy job

and half the time you got Vince yelling at you

but just replace him with Renee at this point

or Don't you dare say bring Saxton back I was

about to say I was about to say for as much garbage

as I gave Smith Saxton at least he doesn't make

me want to slam my skull into my 10 minutes because

Whatever anyway, so you brought it up already

Miz wins after cheating hitting Brian with brass

knuckles. I thought it was the perfect ending

to it because I I don't know what it is. This

didn't feel like a feud that was gonna end with

just one match nor nor did it feel like a feud

that should They have two more matches At least,

yeah. And I like this. Yeah, I love this. I thought

this was great. The way this was set up, like,

Miz being on the set of Miz and Mrs. and all

that and everything else, and Brian coming in,

coming to the set at one point, and attacking

Miz and whatever. Like, I love the way this is

set up. And the match itself, too, though. The

way they traded each other's moves with Miz doing

Brian's moves after he does them or before. Yeah,

because then you have, you know, Michael Cole

and Corey Graves, you know, Corey Graves. Oh,

it's the It Kicks. No, it's the Yes Kicks. He

stole those from... No, it's the It Kicks. He's

the superstar. He is awesome. Like, I love...

That was one thing about the commentary. They

really got it good on this match. Yeah, and I

just enjoyed how they traded those moves. They

traded other moves, too, and the taunts, and

they were both really on point with each other.

and just yeah absolutely I absolutely love this

and I love the ending because it's what we've

come to expect from The Miz and as soon as we

I saw that Maurice with Monroe Sky was at the

in the crowd I'm like okay he doesn't have a

Mr. Osh anymore but he's got his his hot wife

in the audience in the front row right by the

barricade thing as soon as she was As soon as

she was there, I knew she was going to get involved.

Oh, exactly. Which is cool, because it then sets

up what happens on SmackDown with the whole,

you know, Miz, this, and whatever, and Daniel

comes out, you're a coward, you're a coward,

blah, blah, blah. Maurice interrupts him, and,

you know, oh, maybe they should call you Daniel

Bella. Then Brie comes out and I really wanted

to see if she was gonna hit Maurice. However,

I'd love that. She punched Miz in the mouth Yeah,

probably a little early to get Maurice involved

after But yeah, I really liked that she just

comes in and clocks miss. Yep Now this is well

done and I enjoyed this match It didn't It didn't

go exactly the way I had expected, but it probably

went better than what I had in my head. So I

was really happy with it. Absolutely. And then

we have the Demon King versus Baron Corbin. So

the next squash match of the night, that's what

I alluded to, because this was actually shorter.

Yes, it was. And Corbin got even less offense

in. This was weird. So first of all, when this

match started, I remember I was thinking, oh

yeah, right, this match. I was going to go to

the bathroom. And then I heard Ballard's music,

but I heard the Demon music rather than his normal

theme. And I thought, oh, wait. And I thought

this is well done. And the only question I have

is what they're going to do with Finn. So he

had a match against Roman on Raw. Right, for

the Universal Championship. Which he lost, but

it was very competitive. Yep. I'm hoping this

meant a renewed sort of pushing for Finn. Yeah,

absolutely. Because he deserves it. This match,

I thought, despite the brevity and everything

else... He's one of those guys that he just kind

of has it I know I've said that before about

him But I really think it rings true that I can't

put my finger on exactly why I cheer the guy

But I absolutely do and have a hard time Disliking

him or anything that he does so I love like this

is for the first time since I've known about

him that I've actively enjoyed the demon character

because And other times, and you can correct

me if I'm wrong, but other times when I saw him,

he would come out as himself and then he would

turn into the demon during the promo or during

the segment or whatever during the match. Nope,

anyway. Okay, well. It just made sense here though,

and maybe it was Absinthe making the heart grow

fonder, because it had been quite some time,

but this just worked and... props to Corbin as

well because a Corbin really kind of ragdolled

for him which can't be easy because he's not

a small man B Corbin is in the midst of I would

argue some of his best work at the time since

he's come up and He just he went along with it

and he did a good job with it. So I'm fairly

impressed with him as well despite a really short

match Yeah, I'm liking this whole Constable Corbin

in the ring thing. However, his cowardly character

of Constable Corbin, like the whole sniveling

thing about, I'm reporting you to Stephanie,

I'm this, I'm that, I'm blah blah blah blah blah.

You know, I don't necessarily like that. It reminds

me of Corporate Kane, but a whinier version of

Corporate Kane. Yeah, I think they need to give

him the chance to enforce it a little better.

We'll see what happens now with Kurt gone. Yeah.

On a leave, quote unquote. Yeah. But yeah, I'm

interested to see where Balor goes from here

and what else Constable Corbin will be doing

outside of, because I felt like the whole thing

on Raw afterwards was just after, like, oh, I

want the man, I don't want the demon, I want,

I'm like, oh god, get over it already, please

stop. Side note before we get into the Jeff Hardy

Shinsuke match after this we also had a promo

from Daniel who was getting his head iced and

Brie comes out and they talk a little bit. I

really liked this. Brian is his stuff with the

Miz has been the best work he's done since he's

come back. Now part of that is because when he

came back the first guy they had him work with

is Cass who I'm not trying to bag on the guy

but he hasn't been doing it as long as some of

the other wrestlers and he is a big dude so to

be blunt Brian's lucky that his career didn't

get re -ended by a guy who's yeah fairly new

at it no offense to him but since then this has

been the most been the best I've seen him and

he in this promo where he talks about his Return

being a bust and his fight to come back and everything

just being a waste. I Really liked it and his

promo work the next well two nights later on

Smackdown was terrific where he comes out and

he calls me as a coward that you mentioned Yeah,

I just really like his work This week it's been

he's always terrific, but you can tell that This

is bringing out the best in both he and Miz.

Absolutely. I love this. I love them going against

each other. The only concern I have with the

upcoming match at Hell in a Cell, it's Daniel

and Brie versus Miz and Maurice. It's a mixed

tag match. They did this with Nikki and John

Miz and Maurice before when Miz and Maurice were

making fun of Total Bellas and they dressed up

as John and that was great. Absolutely loved

it. I Love that. They did that. I think that's

great. However, I feel like this is a simple

repeat of that. I'm not against it I'm just stating

my opinion of it Well, Daniel and Bree aren't

going to propose after and then have their relationship

kind of just fizzle out. So there's that The

point is, as soon as I saw that picture, which

will be in the post of the promo of the match,

I'm like, hey, where have I seen this before?

It's not a bad thing. I'm just pointing it out

is all. But I love where this is going. I think

this is going to be super cool and super fun.

So basically, The Miz and Daniel Bryan, this

was the first match. The Hell in a Cell match

will be second. And then the... Super Showdown

match will be the finisher or whatever because

I saw a WWE post an episode where the Miz is

like the Miz versus Daniel Bryan part two at

Super Showdown in Australia. They've already

they're already advertising a third match Yeah,

I'm not surprised not surprised either, but I'm

just saying I was surprised yes at Jeff Hardy

throwing himself around like a crazy person because

I had heard there's been rumors that he's been

in rough shape he stopped doing the Swanton at

house shows etc etc and then in this one he does

a Swanton bomb onto the apron which ow yeah that

looked really painful anyway Nakamura wins this

to retain and we have Randy Orton come out and

then just leave This I don't like saying this

because these are two guys are really like This

was my least favorite match of the evening. I

thought it was just kind of a smackdown match

Yeah, it didn't seem that special This is very

sad to me I don't know if Jeff is on his way

out or what's going on and we should talk about

Matt here a little bit before we talk about Ron

smackdown but It feels to me that they're building

with Jeff towards him and Randy thing, and it

really feels like the United States champion,

Shinsuke Nakamura, is like an afterthought at

this point. Yep. He is. That's not good. If that

was the case, which clearly they're building

towards this Randy and Jeff thing, put the belt

on Jeff. Have it be Randy and Jeff for US Championship

and give Nakamura something else to do that he

can excel at even more than what he already does.

Yeah, this is, I don't know. And so getting into

SmackDown again, they had Jeff come out and just

absolutely maul Randy Orton. Yep. So who knows

where it's going. It's been good for Orton. And

I think it's been good for Jeff, but you're right.

It definitely feels like Shinsuke is just kind

of there. Yeah, it. Yeah, and that's not good

for someone that has a championship belt on them.

Yep, well, what are you going to do? But this

was just. This match was just kind of here and.

They've had better matches, I feel like, but...

Yeah, they have. It still wasn't bad. It just

didn't... I think it's a statement of how solid

the rest of the card ended up being that this

was the quote -unquote worst. Yep. Absolutely.

Up next we have the raw women's championship

match Alexa bliss versus according to Alex Ricci

on This week geek lousy rousy, which he's wrong

So yeah our third squash match of the night by

the way, yeah, and I was fine with it just like

the others I'm fine with the ending I think Think

every once in a while too. It's nice to see the

heel get there come up ends where Alexa after

everything she's done to Rhonda. She finally

realizes I'm screwed Yeah, I think that's good

to do that once in a while and as for Rousey

she's taken to this in a way I can't remember

seeing since Kurt angle right in terms of just

She's gone from another sports slash profession,

whatever you want to call it, to a pro wrestler.

And she's done really well. Although I will say

this, what was with her weird eye makeup? They

had some, WWE had some weird makeup stuff going

on with the women. I thought Becky's was a bit

odd, but then Ronda came out and she looked like

Mantor from the 90s WWF. Yep, absolutely that

was not good. But whatever only other note is

Really good to see Natalia come out. Yeah, and

she was wearing her father's jacket and in interviews

she said that She needed it. She needed to go

out there and kind of get away for a bit. And

if that's what she was needing, good for them.

Because I remember when she came out, I thought,

oh, should WWE be doing this? But different people

deal with things in different ways. And I'm happy

that she was able to get her mind off things

and just enjoy the evening. Same here. Side note,

the crowd. after the match when the Bellas when

the Bellas entered the ring to celebrate with

Rousey and the fans all booed I kind of left

yeah that was funny I saw an article on my Google

feed of something where somebody on one of the

wrestling sites that the article basically stated

it's really weird having the Bellas around again

after not being around for so long and the article

goes on to say and I'm just paraphrasing because

I don't have it pulled up goes on to say, if

you've been a die -hard WWE fan, you probably

know who the Bellas are, and this probably isn't

weird to you, but if you're just a casual fan,

and they just show up, then it might be a little

weird. They're going towards this whole evolution,

all women's pay -per -view thing. Yeah, which

inevitably the Bellas will be a part of. It's

not the Bella's fault specifically because they

did grow and get better over time, but they were

very much a big part of one of the worst eras

for women's wrestling. Sadly, yes. And again,

it's not just their fault. And they certainly

improved and were able to put on some good matches,

particularly with AJ Lee, who they keep mentioning.

So I'm hoping she gets a match. however considering

who her husband is who knows but Yeah, it's just

it is I think I've watched pretty much straight

through and I feel like it's kind of odd because

They feel like they're from some forgotten bygone

era to a certain extent I feel the same way when

I see Lita or well Trish is coming back for the

evolution pay -per -view and Lita said it a few

times that outside of Trish and a couple others

she didn't get to work with women who took wrestling

as seriously or as into it as the current generation

of stars yeah and unfortunately she's right because

in her days it was one minute bra and panty matches

or wrestling mud match that kind of thing where

it was not real good and so again it feels a

little weird to see them with the current generation

every once in a while i guess we have some main

event to talk about yeah i guess which holy cow

so Yeah, that happened. So the outcome we all

knew. Of course. We all knew. But man, the way

they did it, I enjoyed it. I did too. I don't

care that they manipulated me into cheering through

having Braun out there and getting him roughed

up and involved. But it all worked. Oh yeah.

I thought it was... The fans tried to disarray

derail everything but they couldn't because this

was well done and what I wish WWE was this well

written and thought out all the time Yeah, and

I read articles online say after summer slam

saying oh Vince said this was always gonna be

the outcome There was no other outcome that this

was going to be Roman was going to win no matter

what yada yada yada yada This is the best Romans

looked against Brock anyway But I really dug

this they both got their their moves in Even

with Braun coming out and doing the whole interruption

thing Well, he didn't interrupt but you know

what I mean? Yeah, he came out I like so I liked

what they're having him do he comes out and he

says he flat -out tells everybody Listen when

he win the match, I'm gonna cash in. Yeah And

I liked that. It's different from most of them

and it makes sense coming from Braun. And then

it made sense that he got involved after Roman

tries for a spear on Lesnar and he smacks Braun.

Lesnar just goes out and beats the crap out of

Ron. Yeah And I loved the throw of the briefcase

he just tosses it so hard it smashes into the

broken Yeah, it broke a part of the TV while

wall. Yes really well done. I'm I Don't have

a complaint and they they found a really smart

way to get around Roman had just won and won

cleanly I think there would have been a lot of

booze and the usual reaction Right, but no they

found a really smart way to do it. Yep And I

love the bronze like I'm not gonna come in the

back door I'm just gonna come kick your front

door in and no matter what I'm gonna bullet through

I'm gonna bulldoze right through you and What

I think was super cool about this was he tried

to cash in The bell never rung. Well, you're

going to raw so oh No, I'm summer slam. He was

out cold cuz he got that's right. He got with

a chair on the outside That's right. That's right.

That's right and Brock broke his briefcase. So

yeah, that's true He was not okay. It's not cashing

in then so we'll just go into it now for bra

bra by the way really entertaining This is my

favorite raw of the year so far. They opened

with Roman doing solid work. I'm gonna try to

make this a little quicker. Yeah. It's gonna

synopsize everything. Yep. Roman does the promo

which I thought was well done because he builds

up Finn Balor and which of course brings Corbin

out to his whininess as you mentioned earlier

and Kurt makes the match. We have Lashley come

out and beat Baron, which I don't know where

they're going with Corbin But it was nice to

see Lashley who had the night off the previous

night. Yep Not to mention they gave him a real

finisher. So Not just a vertical suplex. Yeah,

whatever We had these banks Bailey and Ember

Moon versus the riot squad match which and They've

been doing this for a while just come up What

they need to do is just have a woman's tag division.

It would help the fact that so many of the women

just aren't on TV you had Banks and Bailey who

might be the two best performers in WWE Not at

the pay -per -view. Yeah, really Oscar's been

MIA for about a month or however long and you've

all these people that they don't have room for

storylines just make a tag division already i

mean that's it feels like that's the solution

and it would make people care about these matches

a lot more but whatever speaking of matches i

don't care about i don't know what to say i like

hunter i like the undertaker i didn't care about

this entire This entire thing they don't need

to justify having undertaker fight triple H They

can just do it Yeah, two of them have been around

it was well done. I give hunter Credit he did

a really good job setting up the match and everything

else. It's just The two of them have been around

and now long enough. They've got enough cache.

Just have them set it up. It doesn't matter Well

Next Dean and Dolph which we had Seth come out

with Dean I don't know if this is the I can say

I don't know what's gonna happen with Dolph at

this point, but he loses this one this wouldn't

be the last time we see Dean and Seth together

cuz holy shit This was my raw Then we have the

Elias Kurt Hawkins segment, which, huh? The hell?

First of all, I forgot yet again that Kurt Hawkins

was on the roster. Second of all, what are they

doing with Elias? I have no idea, they just haven't

beat Hawkins, which fine, that makes sense, but

oh. Next we get another baffling segment, because

we get the Authors in Pain versus Titus Worldwide

for what feels like the 800th time in the past

two months. I don't care authors of pain win.

What a surprise if you do next we have Steph

be Steph This was actually not a bad segment.

I thought So Alex seems to really hate rousy

on the bike rousy was pretty good here rousy

was pretty good here I have to say though Since

you watch the full show and I could watch the

full show if I want to on my cable You know about

some of these I just tell me the Titus Worldwide

versus AOP was not on the Hulu thing. It was

not on. Oh good That's why I'm like, wait a minute

the last time I saw Titus he was doing a promotional

thing for charity or They had a match. Yeah They

had a match and they had a backstage segment

and I didn't really care about either. Rousey

shouted out a bunch of people. By the way, she

doesn't mention any of the heels and also none

of the heels get to celebrate with Rousey so

I guess they weren't responsible for the Women's

Revolution at all. They just all looked after

Steph. No, I know why they do it. It's just kind

of funny. Whatever next the Next we had so the

revival faced the B team on the pre -show the

revival lost and looked stupid at the same time

Because they hit their finisher on one of the

B team the shatter machine, which by the way,

one of the best tag team finishers in forever,

but Whenever the heels get a huge advantage,

actually whenever any team gets a huge advantage

like that and they lose, they just look like

idiots. So they had two single matches here and

I didn't care that the revival won both of them.

They beat Bo Dallas. Sorry, Scott Dawson beats

Bo Dallas and then Dash Wilder beats Curtis Axel.

Whatever, this is going to lead to a rematch,

but nah. And then off to the final segment because

I'm just going to skip to that. So this is what

everybody's talking about. Didn't see it coming

at all. First of all the match between Finn and

Roman need to mention that the people who hate

Roman Find him boring that kind of thing. This

is yet another really good match out of them

For a guy that everybody hates he just consistently

puts on very good matches And I understand disliking

him because God knows he gets pushed to the moon

over guys that deserve it Probably more like

a Finn or Kevin or Sammy whoever guys who have

been wrestling since they were 16 Yeah, so I

understand the vitriol, but you can't say he's

not entertaining because he put on a good match

here Baller looked like a million bucks through

the match like he legitimately looked like he

could have won about ten different times Yeah,

I thought he was going to win at first. I was

hoping no offense to Roman, but I would I'd really

like to see Finn get a shot with the belt again.

I want to see Finn get it before the end of the

year. I want to see Finn as champion again. But

with how long they've dragged out Roman's Universal

Championship chase, let the guy defend. That's

true. It is about time. Don't get me wrong. I

absolutely want Finn to have it. Hey, maybe we

get Finn versus Owens at some point this year.

Who knows? I don't know. I'm just saying that

It needs to be where it is now and thank God

the raw Thank God raw basically is pointed out

with angle before he left There ain't no way

in hell, bro. It's gonna be a long time before

Brock Lesnar gets a shot Well, let's start so

some behind -the -scenes stuff Lesnar was advertised

for the show, but wasn't on it wasn't on it Yeah,

so I don't know if he no showed I don't know

what, but it seems like he's probably done with

the company at least for quite some time. Quite

some time, yeah, because from what I read, from

what I read was that after SummerSlam he got

on a plane and flew home. So fun stats for everybody,

anyone paying attention. This is the first time

the title has been defended on Raw since Kevin

Owens versus, I think it was... oh yeah it was

Roman I believe in January 2017 over a year that

is way yeah way too damn long so it was about

time yeah and wow for this finish so Roman wins

with the spear boo go Finn whatever but this

was really well done with Bron just booting Roman

down yep and he cashes in Jojo goes to make the

announcement she makes it and they were waiting

for Reigns to get up so they can ring the bell

but they never get a chance because before Reigns

can get up the shields music gets oh yeah and

Dean and Seth come out now by the way I was half

expecting the possibility that Dean and Seth

start beating up Roman and somehow there's a

in a new alliance Don't want that to happen.

No, I don't know what it is. Maybe it's the change

to his look but there's something about Ambrose

I just seem to expect him to turn on everybody,

but we'll see I could be totally wrong Like I

say, it might just be the look. Yeah, I'm not

used to seeing him Looking like that. Yes. Yeah

both up. Yeah in any case they beat down Ron

and Triple power bomb him why really likes that

Braun had a couple of instances where he fights

out and he fought out of the fight a bit in the

ring and he fought out of their first attempt

at the power bomb. But then, yeah, they're able

to do it. And that's how we go off the air. It

was a really good ending to I know I skipped

over a lot of the show, but it was quite good.

Like the promo was solid. Yeah. The Corbin Lashley

stuff was solid. The back of the stuff stuff

was solid. There was some skippable stuff obviously

Hulu thought so too. Oh, yeah, by the way, did

Hulu have the Triple H promo? Yes. Okay. Hmm.

Yes it did I mean it makes sense to try to hype

an extra what is essentially gonna be an extra

pay -per -view it looks like with the Australia

thing, but I Mean, I okay. So here's the thing.

I Look at you know, the Saudi Arabia one now

and now Australia I look at these as something

for, I hate to say this, and he's essentially

a part -timer now, any of the Attitude Era stars

or any of the stars that starred at 15, 16, John

Cena, whatever, any of those people who are now

not consistently on main roster, they're on the

main roster, but they're not consistently on

television or consistently at house shows. That's

what I view these super special pay -per -views

as is for them to Do something to get like this

match this taker Triple H match it feels like

the return of the attitude era. That's really

what it feels like to me And I like that they're

doing that without hampering the current storylines

or the current superstars However, the hell long

they've been yeah, I don't like yeah, I wouldn't

have liked it if undertaker came back and he

buries Schoonbauer or Baron Corbin or Roman or

any of the the full -time guys or funner comes

back and wins the belt or something. I don't

like that Having said that it's pretty obvious

scene is gonna squash Owens in his match Sadly,

yes, because Owens is looks like yeah anyway

Yeah, I'm I like these though. I like the idea

of just these extra things I'll be curious to

see if there's any belt changes or anything because

the Saudi one I Said it then that I enjoyed it

having these little extra things It's nice little

bonus for people with the network that kind of

thing, but there wasn't a lot of stakes in it

We'll see what they do here. So Yeah, I don't

think these special matches are going to have

a lot of stakes in them because, as I said, they're

supposed to be special matches, they're supposed

to be, like you kind of said, I think you said

this with the Saudi Arabia match, it's to grab

that part of the market, it's to grab that, you

know, that's like when we were talking about

gender, who we've all but forgotten about for

now, thank God. You know, he was to grab a specific,

you know, the Indian market or the whatever market,

even though the guy's Canadian. You know, but

it is what it is. Like, you don't bring back

the great Khalid just to have, you know, the

Americans. You do it to torture longtime fans

like me. And so I can weep openly. Yes, but I'm

saying you don't bring that guy back or this

guy back. For the American the North American

market you bring it back so the people from the

market that that person is from where So you

heard it here first miss versus Daniel Bryan

in a Punjabi prison match We already talked about

the opening segment to smackdown yeah, which

was very very good We already talked about Jeff

Hardy comes out in it for his match against Orton

and absolutely beats the crap out of them Orton

ends up winning by the way by DQ but Jeff just

Pummel's the crud out of them. Yeah after the

match to we got the Well, we have the Iconics

on TV again. And that one, one of them won, which

is a surprise. Dave Meltzer must be happy. Oh,

well, anyway. I don't want to get into that.

All I'll say is this. Meltzer said something

really stupid. He apologized for it. And I feel

like that should be the... That should pretty

much be the end of it. He said something dumb.

He worded, I know what he was, I think most people

know what he was trying to say. But he worded

it incorrectly. Yeah, it was worded real badly

as he got jumped on and kind of deservedly so.

But yeah, let it go. And now all I can think

of is he's going to get fired from his own podcast

for something he said six months ago. You know,

six months down the line he's going to get fired

from his own podcast for something he said. No,

that's Papa John but Papa John's sensitivity

training didn't take So Whatever we've so we

had those with and I'm gonna skip forward again

to we have Becky come out Becky's trying to get

the fans to turn on her They keep fighting there's

an idea they do for the first time I can remember

they do a women's Feud where the rest of the

locker room comes up to separate two women the

guys remember with Brock and It happens with

the men all the time, I think this is the first

time ever in my lifetime that i've ever seen

the women locker room empty out into the arena

to stop two women from going like i've never

seen that before ever yeah i don't like like

we've said already in this episode women's wrestling

from the time that we were born to now has been

bikini matches this matches that matches whatever

only in the last maybe five or six years has

it really turned into an actual full -time sports

entertainment thing, more emphasis on the athleticism

of the sport? Well, actually wrestling, yeah.

Right, but that's what I'm saying, the more sport

aspect of it than the entertainment aspect of

it, I don't think I've ever seen the women's

locker room empty out. Ever. So, speaking of

the locker room emptying out... there's no disrespect

meant to on Gerrard AC and almost and Vega because

I think they are almost is very good and I think

he can go a ways with this but for the love of

God when Rusev's contract is up he needs to leave

he and Owens should probably just go back to

the independence where they can be they can be

the top guys easily With their talents and everything

else Rusev the fans have been behind him forever

and for some reason They just do not want to

do anything with the guy. I don't know what I

don't know if somebody's mad at him I mean, I

guess so. It's probably the same sort of thing

as with Owens They just the certain people don't

like him. And so it doesn't matter How much the

fans like him or how talented he is. They just

don't want anything to do with them. Whatever

We get the AJ and Joe promo I mentioned, which

was delightful. AJ is great, by the way. I said

it before. I like to say this about wrestling,

but it takes two to tango. And if AJ is not doing

a good job, then it doesn't matter if Joe's doing

a good job. So I want to give credit to him,

too. But again, Joe has just been fantastic.

Carmela mentions that she's getting a rematch

next week. Oh, joy. And we end with the match

I alluded to during the pay -per -view where

the New Day wins the belts off the Bludgeon Brothers.

I just want to point out that the match was way

more physical than I expected, especially considering

Rowan got, I think it's a torn peck or something.

It's something ridiculously painful. And he does

all these crazy things, including running through

the... Barricade at one point. It's like jeez

The hell and I mean Xavier Woods who the hell

thought he could jump that far across the ring

What's it so when they let him have him wrestle

woods is just fantastic. He is yeah Absolutely

Yeah, that was a great ending match for smackdown

There like you said their highlights lowlights

the beginning and ending of smackdown after Summerslam

was amazing. It was just great setup, but also

great character work on all of these people's

parts. The shield on Raw, I absolutely love that,

obviously, because as I've said in the last three

weeks, I, you know... It's the most excited I've

been after a Raw in a while. Oh yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

And I'm curious where all this stuff goes. I

don't know where Seth and Dolph go. I don't know

where, you know, who's the New Day gonna feud

with next. I'm really curious and interested

in the Charlotte -Becky feud on SmackDown. On

Raw, what are they gonna do with, you know, how's

Braun gonna respond to the Shield, et cetera,

et cetera. So, there's all these fun questions,

not... they're not the shitty depressing questions

like what the hell are they doing yeah what the

hell are they doing why the hell are they doing

it blah blah blah blah i'm gonna stop watching

the podcast is gonna and we're never gonna do

it again do it again yadda yadda yadda that's

not us to say that well it's you at times what

i've never said that bullshit not on this show

anyway Wow, I think my fee per podcast just went

up on the other shows. What fee? Well, that's

what I mean. Now I'm going to have to institute

one just for that. I don't think so. This whole

last two weeks has reinvigorated my enjoyment

of the current content, and I love it. I can't

wait. We've already done part one of Miz and

Mrs, which is the first four episodes. Part two,

which is the final two, will be coming at some

point. I'll say this. You probably haven't watched

it yet. Episode five is basically a mix of WrestleMania

and... I watched it. Oh, did you? Yeah, I watched

it. So I watched Raw live for the first... Well,

actually, no. I usually watch it live, actually.

So I watched Raw live and I stayed up afterwards

and Miz and Mrs was on. So there. Let's show

you well, but yeah, it's kind of it's kind of

hard to watch raw and then watch Miz and Mrs

Since it's on Tuesdays after smackdown. Oh shit.

Okay. Sorry. It was after So yeah wrestling is

way more fun when you can get lost in it and

that to me is where I'm at again, so And with

me, I can't wait to see what the Shield and Rond

do, if there's going to be any more of that.

I'm super excited for Rond to see what else she

does. You mentioned earlier, like her style.

We haven't seen that kind of a style in a long

time. I think that's why I like her is because

of her UFC MMA fighter style, because not a lot

of people in WWE have that kind of thing. That's

the whole point. I'm so waiting for. ronda oscar

yeah i agree to people who have oscar has the

sort of striking style with a wrestling but she's

also done he's she's also done forms of mma that

kind of thing so i'm really curious how they'll

mesh i feel like that's a matchup i'm just waiting

to see sometime yeah i absolutely agree except

before that i want to see oscar versus Kyrie

Sane. I've been wanting to see that since the

first Mae Young Classic when I saw Kyrie for

the first time. That would be cool. Speaking

of the Mae Young Classic, it's coming back, so

we'll be doing that as well again, so... Yay!

I think that's gonna do it for us. What would

you rate Summerslam 0 -5? Four and a half I gave

it a five. I almost okay Fair. Yeah. All right.

I mean I was entertained and that's the you know,

it wasn't perfect there were stuff I didn't like

obviously, but I was entertained the whole time

and I enjoyed myself and Combined with the stuff

afterwards. I'm interested engaged and excited.

So yeah, it did its job I'm only, I'm giving

it a five simply for the several moments that

I mentioned already that I absolutely loved.

I think this was the most well -put -together

pay -per -view event this year, as far as from

beginning to end. Yes, there are a few, like

we've already said, go to the bathroom, take

a nap matches, but there are always gonna be

those. However, from the first match to the last

match, there's... Only one thing I may have flipped

with as far as where the placement of the matches

were I almost would want to flip Rhonda and Alexa

and Braun and Reigns if Reigns wasn't going to

win which obviously he was but after the Rhonda

Alexa match even though Alexa got ragged all

the hell out of I almost thought that was the

way you should go off the air before raw I would

like to see AJ get more of the limelights because

he is a champ but if you're gonna but alternatively

if they're gonna end the match in a DQ which

of course is what they did then it's not so bad

to have it a little earlier it'd be nice if he

headlined maybe the next pay -per -view or like

the or maybe the Australia thing or something

because he really deserves it he's been champ

forever and he's done a great job and he's been

the only champ on TV for As I mentioned before,

since January 2017, jeez. Almost a year and a

half, yeah. Ridiculous. But, you know, now that

Roman is here again. You never know. I feel like,

you know, you were mentioning it before. I do

agree that Roman should get a decent little run

with it. but I also feel like brawn needs to

win it with the briefcase at some point because

absolutely because if the guy's not gonna win

and he's got the briefcase when is he ever gonna

win yeah exactly and you know they're not gonna

pull a Corbin with brawn no that's what that's

what I was mentioning earlier about the raw match

where he was gonna cash in the bell never rung

so he couldn't have lost the the briefcase in

the shield comes in and kicks all kinds of assets

amazing uh... but yeah no i what is it like a

contract that's good for at least the next year

it's for you know the next money in the bank

so he's got time so he's got time however i would

like to see him do it this year at some point

whether it's roman whether it's they're really

very poor Finn he wins it and they beat him after

that guy just can't get a break except his shoulder

oh right you can find you can send all hate mail

on Twitter to Ryan at nightbeat on Twitter yes

that's I just said that I know where can the

audience find you Okay, I'm at TF2 and Mike on

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in Geek. I haven't heard that in a long time