So another SummerSlam is in the books, the show wrapping up Sunday evening from the Conseco Fieldhouse, home of the Indiana Pacers. The show from start to finish to me seemed a bit rushed, but I felt overall they got over what they wanted, which was a Hell in the Cell that from all indications could and really should be a match up for "Match of the Year." Other than that, the card will be rather forgettable, as there was not a heck of a lot to the show - unless you were naive enough to think that Shawn Michael's wife was NOT going to get laid out in some form by Chris Jericho.
Here are my post-SummerSlam thoughts:
Undertaker defeats Edge (Hell in a Cell) - This match made the card, without question. As expected, the job Edge did with the match is really what made it, and even though he lost he's the one that should get a lot of props for making the match what it was. Taker did a great job as well, and it's amazing he can be gone for two and a half months and come back and put on that type of show the first time out. I could have gone for not seeing the who Guerrero family and Bam and Hawkins and Ryder during the match, but whatever. As far as the visual at the end, interesting to say the least and more times than not that would be the end of the feud, but for whatever reason I can see this thing getting more play, despite the fact these two have already headlined now five PPV's in 2008.
Triple H defeats The Great Khali (WWE Championship) - This is about exactly as I expected, as no one ever felt that Khali had any sort of chance vs The Game to even sniff the title. The title was pushed to the back burner for this PPV with SmackDown's main being the Taker-Edge match, and that was the right thing to do. Hopefully with Edge off TV for a few weeks (at least two after the Hell in the Cell beating), they can refocus on the title and come up with a good program. One thing I am afraid of is rushing the Taker-HHH program, which if they are going to do should wait till Mania 25.
CM Punk defeats JBL (World Heavyweight Championship) - I thought Punk stepped his game up here, and he continues to show why he should get a sustained run with the belt. While JBL continues to get main event PPV matches for little to no reason, both men did a good job here, but Punk really shined. While Punk should continue to get a shot to keep the belt, they need to keep pushing his character and move him away from JBL and into another program.
Matt Hardy defeats Mark Henry via DQ (ECW Championship) - Total waste of time, and the only thought is they realized this was so rushed, they needed to keep this going and let's just throw this out there for 2 minutes and rush a DQ finish. What a waste to fly Matt Striker and Todd Grisham in to call a 1 minute match. As for the ending with Jeff Hardy coming out and "saving" Matt from a beatdown, that made little sense after Jeff lost in the opener. Bad booking here all the way around.
Batista defeats John Cena - For a match that we supposedly waited six years for, this clearly didn't live up to the hype, or should I say lack of hype. Batista was outspoken about rushing this match, and he was dead on. Then to have a clean finish, it didn't really make sense, other than to think we'll see this again down the road (Survivor Series?) and then Cena wins, setting up some meaga third and final match at Maina with a belt on the line. I just think in the end this could have been done better.
Santonio Marella and Beth Phoenix defeat Kofi Kingston and Mickie James (IC and Women's Championships) - You saw this coming with the romance angle with Marella and Phoenix, as now each of them having belts will put them on TV together more and more. The backstage interview with the popping out Maria and Marella and Phoenix was one of the funnier moments of the card, and it went over well on TV. Marella's unibrow was equally as funny. If you don't at least crack a smile at Marella's antics in and out of the ring, you have little to no sense of humor.
MVP defeats Jeff Hardy - The line they will use is that Hardy lost due to the "interference" by Shelton Benjamin, but what it really does is put these three - Benjamin, Hardy and MVP in the mix for a series of three-way bouts for the US Title, the first of which I think we'll see in three weeks at Unforgiven. Pretty good opener, and give Hardy some credit for taking some rather vicious shots, the best of which was the belly to belly suplex into the turnbuckle.
The other thing that has to be talked about is the "announcement" by Shawn Michaels that he's retiring - only to have it broken up by Chris Jericho. Now you knew the moment you saw her that HBK's wife Rebecca was going to get laid out in some form by Jericho, but man, give that lady some props for taking a shot that I don't think a lot of us would have taken for the sake of entertainment. I love Jericho's new character, and the punch to Mrs.HBK was a fantastic kickoff to what ought to now be a huge match at Unforgiven.
Labels: 2008 summerslam, 2008 unforgiven, batista, chris jericho, edge, john cena, shawn michaels, triple h, undertaker
