The biggest party of the summer happened last night in Detroit and there is plenty of fallout to discuss.

Here are the results from last night’s SummerSlam:

• Logan Paul def. Ricochet
• Cody Rhodes def. Brock Lesnar
• LA Knight wins Slim Jim SummerSlam Battle Royal
• Shayna Baszler def. Ronda Rousey in MMA Rules match
• Gunther def. Drew McIntyre to retain Intercontinental Championship
• Seth Rollins def. Finn Balor to retain World Heavyweight Championship
• Bianca Belair def. Asuka & Charlotte Flair to win WWE Women’s Championship.
• Io Sky cashes in MITB briefcase, defeats Bianca Belair to win WWE Women’s Championship
• Roman Reigns def. Jey Uso to retain Undisputed WWE Universal Championship

Thoughts on SummerSlam

• Match of the Night: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor. This was a back and forth affair that told a great story of Finn’s 7-year obsession with Seth. The two competitors put on an outstanding match that had the fans believing Finn would capture the World Heavyweight title. Even with interference from Damian Priest & the Judgment Day, Rollins was able to outsmart them all & deliver a curb stomp to Finn on the MITB briefcase to get the win.
• OMG Moment of the Night: During the women’s triple threat match for the WWE Women’s title, Charlotte Flair flipped Bianca Belair over the top rope and Bianca landed awkwardly on the floor while hitting her arm on the steps. Bianca sold a knee injury only to return to pull off a 450 splash while Charlotte had Asuka in the Figure 8:

• LA Knight gets his moment: LA Knight was the clear cut fan favorite to win the SummerSlam Battle Royal and sometimes the obvious call is the right call. Hopefully this win and moment can propel Knight who has been able to get over organically & move merch without the benefit of a coherent storyline.
• Why Are We Watching This: Clearly the low point of the night belonged to the match between Shayna Baszler & Ronda Rousey. This was a match no one was really interested in and it showed on TV and in the crowd. Fans have longed turned on Rousey and Baszler hasn’t been booked correctly since her days at NXT. And this was the match WWE chose over Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus. SMH…

• Asuka Still Overlooked: For all of Asuka’s time on the main roster it always felt like she wasn’t the featured player in storylines but rather the supporting actress who plays 2nd fiddle. Since Asuka defeated Bianca Belair at Night of Champions, her title reign has played 2nd fiddle to the boiling feud between Bianca & Charlotte as well as the saga surrounding Io Sky having the MITB briefcase. That all played out last night at SummerSlam as it was Asuka who ate the pin to Bianca and then became the forgotten player as Io Sky cashed in on Bianca.

• Brock Acknowledges Cody: After Cody Rhodes withstood a hellacious beating from Brock to earn the come from underneath win a truly unexpected thing happened – Brock shook hands with Cody and gave him the rub. Their match told a great story of Cody continuing to fight from underneath all night to earn a hard fought victory against the greatest combat fighter in history. It was truly a moment that was completely unexpected… and unscripted according to Triple H.

What’s Next Following SummerSlam

As The Bloodline Turns:

Roman Reigns retaining his title wasn’t a surprise to anyone. Neither was Solo Sikoa coming out to assist Roman. The surprising moment of the match came when Jey Uso appeared to have Roman beat only for Jimmy Uso to pull his twin out of the ring, look at his brother and deliver a superkick that would help Roman seal the win. Some fans did reacted very negatively to this latest plot twist as they believe it doesn’t advance the story. That couldn’t be further from the truth. This is another layer in the greatest storyline in the history of professional wrestling. Let’s take a look back:

Hell In A Cell 2020 began the storyline as Roman went head to head in the 1st ever HIAC ‘I Quit’ match. Roman pummeled Jey forcing a still injured Jimmy Uso to come to Jey’s aid to try & convince Roman to do the right thing. Roman choked out Jimmy which forced Jey to say ‘I Quit’. Jimmy stuck by Jey’s side even though Jey acknowledged Roman as Tribal Chief. For the next few months Roman would play mind games with Jey & Jimmy until Jey convinced Jimmy they both fall in line & acknowledge him. For 2+ years Roman would continue playing mind games until Jimmy finally snapped and turned on Roman at Night of Champions. What was Jimmy’s reward – being bludgeoned and being put out of action by Roman & Solo. In Jimmy’s mind Jey’s response to Jimmy being beaten wasn’t to be by his side but rather challenge Roman for the throne. This is what prompted Jimmy to turn on Jey – not to align with Roman but to get Jey to see once for all that being in the Bloodline is toxic. I can’t wait for Jimmy to explain his actions.

Other Questions:

• After beating Brock Lesnar where does Cody Rhodes go from here? Cody still maintains his goal is to win the Undisputed WWE Universal title but there is still the lingering question of how does he get there? WWE will have to capitalize on Cody’s big win over Brock to make sure he doesn’t cool off.
• Will Finn’s latest failure in capturing the World Heavyweight Championship lead to his downfall with The Judgment Day?
• Where does LA Knight go from here? For me it would make sense for him to win the US Title and rid us all from the nonsense that is Austin Theory.
• Will WWE put some focus now on its Women’s & Tag Divisions? Rhea Ripley is a champion without a foe or a singular storyline that’s not intertwined with TJD. The men’s tag division have the teams(Street Profits, Alpha Academy, Imperium, LWO, Viking Raiders) to challenge but refuse to put effort into creating a solid storyline. The same goes for the women.

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