SUMMERSLAM 2021

WWE SUMMERSLAM 2021

AJ Styles & Omos vs. Randy Orton & Riddle
This was a solid little opener. Omos got to do some Omos things, Riddle was a solid FIP, Orton was a pretty good hot tag & AJ on the offense was fun as usual. That Stylin DDT to Riddle on the outside was the best spot of the bout. **1/2

Damian Priest vs. Sheamus
This shouldn't have moved as slowly as it did. The "methodical" pace they went with, with Sheamus mostly working on top doing nothing of note & Priest busting out unexciting comebacks - it didn't do anything for me. That brogue knee off of Priest's springboard attempt was neat though. The finishing stretch is where they upped the action, but that's only the last few minutes of the entire match, and other than that brogue spot I mentioned, it still wasn't anything very interesting. *1/2

The Mysterios vs. The Usos
This was a damn good tag team bout. The Usos were really good as the suffocating veteran heel duo, always being there for each other & not letting the Mysterios get much of a flow going, and then you have Rey who was obviously great with his babyface work. His run after Dominik made the hot tag to him was really, really nice. ***

Charlotte Flair vs. Nikki ASH vs. Rhea Ripley
This started off rough & it took a good while for it to really get going, but once they moved into that 2nd gear, it got pretty good. Leading up to the finish there were a couple of really good sequences. A #VeryOk match all in all. **

Edge vs. Seth Rollins
There's not many Seth Rollins matches that I can think of where he has come off as so focused as he did in this one. The whole build-up to this has been about their famous 2014 segment where Seth almost paralyzed Edge w/ his Stomp, so he was on a mission here to finish what he was looking to do back then. That meant his focus was on Edge's neck, and that focus was laser-like. Almost everything he did on the offense was targeted towards that bodypart, and while not all of his time working on top was exactly compelling, I still can appreciate the focus. That's the word of the bout & Rollins' work in particular. FOCUS. On the other hand, Edge's comebacks weren't exciting or interesting at all & the finish was silly as hell with his terrible facial expressions. I still thought that the match was good overall, which is honestly pretty surprising. It was like more of an Edge match rather than a Seth Rollins one, but it's Rollins who kept things interesting with his really good performance. ***

Bobby Lashley vs. Goldberg
This took a different route compared to the usual Goldberg match. I thought it was a solid time for the duration it went. Billy owning Lashley early on & then Bob capitalizing fully on MVP's cheap shot on Goldberg's knee, it was pretty fun stuff. Not exactly good, because there were still a couple of rough & awkward moments from Goldberg's side of things, but I thought it was ok. **

John Cena vs. Roman Reigns
At best, this could've been REALLY something. But sometimes you get what you get, and what we got here, in my eyes, was an extremely boring main event. Reigns' big control segment was an absolute chore to get through; the man offered nothing of note during it, as most of it was filled with headlocks, kicks, stomps, you name it. Most generic heel-on-top stuff you could imagine, and even more boring than that actually. Moved at a snails pace which is something his control segs usually always do; it's not necessarily a problem, but when those said segs are boring right from the get go, the mEtHoDiCaL pace sure doesn't help. And of course there's a bunch of talking as well. By the time Cena wakes up & starts busting out the hits, it all just feels very hollow & empty. A very disappointing main event to say the least, because as I implied, this easily could've been something pretty special. *3/4