WWE Summerslam: You'll Never See It Coming (Aug. 23, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts

SummerSlam was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. It took place on August 23, 2020 at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. It was the thirty-third event under the SummerSlam chronology. It was also the first SummerSlam since 2011 to not feature Brock Lesnar, who competed in the main event match for the past six years and in 2012. Additionally, it was the first SummerSlam since 2009 to feature MVP.

The event was originally scheduled to take place at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Boston mayor Marty Walsh announced the suspension of all large-scale gatherings and that no permit would be issued for an event that could draw a large crowd before September 7. Since mid-March, WWE has presented the majority of their shows from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando with no fans in attendance due to the pandemic. With the move to the Amway Center, SummerSlam was the first major WWE event held outside of the Performance Center since March, although still without fans physically in attendance; fans instead were able to attend and be seen virtually on LED boards in the venue through a new experience called ThunderDome.

The card comprised eight matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt defeated Braun Strowman in a Falls Count Anywhere match to win the Universal Championship for a second time. After the match, Roman Reigns made his return following a five-month hiatus and attacked both men. On the undercard, Drew McIntyre defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE Championship, Mandy Rose defeated Sonya Deville in a No Disqualification Loser Leaves WWE match, and Asuka defeated Sasha Banks to win the Raw Women's Championship for a second time after losing her match against Bayley for the SmackDown Women's Championship in the opening bout.

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Singles Match for the WWE United States Championship

Apollo Crews (c) def. MVP

Bobby Lashley and Shelton Benjamin were banned from ringside.

Kick-off match, so I didn't watch, but I have a question. Why is MVP still wrestling matches when he's supposed to be the mouthpiece for the Hurt Business? Couldn't Lashley be wrestling these matches instead?

Singles Match for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship

Bayley (c) (with Sasha Banks) def. Asuka

Out of the three women's matches on this PPV, I have to say that this was the weakest match out of the three. I don't mean that an insult either as there was some great women's wrestling on this show in all three bouts, but the finish here soured my taste on this match in the end.

Sasha Banks no sells three consecutive attacks from Asuka, only to jump up on the ring apron and take the bullet for Bayley during the final exchange off the ring apron, thus allowing Bayley to roll Asuka up to retain.

I thought it would have made more sense to have Asuka dethrone Bayley because that women's division on SmackDown! is on life support, despite the fact that Naomi beat Bayley clean on SmackDown! Friday night. Bayley has gone through that entire roster in terms of challengers for that title and no one has beaten her nor has shown any signs of a glimmer of hope of taking it from her anytime soon. The win over Asuka here just felt like a minor footnote in terms of giving Bayley bragging rights that she overcame her loss to the Empress of Tomorrow from their days back in NXT.

The fact of the matter is that Asuka had Bayley's number and she knew it.

Tag Team Match for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship

The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) (c) def. Andrade and Angel Garza (with Zelina Vega)

There's nothing much to write home about this match as it was your typical Monday Night RAW run-of-the-mill, bland, boring tag team match that went on a little far too long for my taste.

I was expecting a run-in from Bianca Belair for the finish, but no dice. The finish occurred when Montez Ford accidentally bumped Zelina Vega off the ring apron and down to the floor, where Andrade was too pre-occupied with tending to her instead of helping Angel Garza fend off the Street Profits.

No Disqualification Loser Leaves WWE match

Mandy Rose def. Sonya Deville

The decision to change the stipulation of this match came at short notice following the trial on Friday with Sonya's real life stalker being charged in court. This match originally was going to be a hair vs. hair match, but it changed to the current stipulation. To be fair, the loser here was never really in doubt, especially with everything that Sonya Deville has gone through with this stalker incident. I don't blame her for wanting to get off television for a few months and just get away from all of this for a while. That way she can hit the reset button - mentally and physically - before coming back bigger and better for her next big WWE storyline. I'm still bummed out that Fire & Desire never won the WWE Women's Tag Team titles, but the fucking IIconics did? Fuck that noise, especially when they were desperately looking for teams to put those belts on at one point.

Loving Mandy's choice of new ring gear to go with her new hairstyle. 

I got a kick out of Mandy doing the Caterpillar/Worm to celebrate with Otis after the match. I almost died laughing at that. She needs to ask Nikki Bella for some pointers on that.

Street Fight

Seth Rollins (with Murphy) def. Dominik Mysterio (with Rey Mysterio)

This was a fucking master class in terms of storytelling for the evening.

This was arguably one hell of an in-ring debut for Dominik Mysterio. I'm sure his biological father, Eddie Guerrero, was smiling down him with pride (laughs). All jokes aside, Dominik, Rollins, and Rey Mysterio killed it with everything in this match from bell to bell. They even had me going with Mysterio's wife teasing to get involved.

I absolutely adored everything about the narrative in this match. This image alone is worth it's weight in gold. 

The match had the PERFECT ending too. Dominik got so close at victory that he could taste it, but Rollins got the knees up to shoot down those dreams. Rey wanted to help his son, but was helpless as he was handcuffed to the ropes across the ring and was forced to watch Rollins deliver the Curb Stomp that would secure his victory. If this doesn't lead into that father/son tag team match against Rollins and Murphy (The Disciple...LOL) that Rey Mysterio has been begging for, then these people need to be slapped for this booking.

On a sidebar note, cool throwbacks to Rey Mysterio's WCW Halloween Havoc '97 for Rollins' ring gear while I could have sworn that Dominik was rocking some TJP-inspired gear. I know that kid is thanking his mom's side of genetics to get her height instead of being his dad's height.

Singles Match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship

Asuka def. Sasha Banks (c) (with Bayley) by submission

Sasha Banks was on a mission to have the best women's match of the night and she sure as hell accomplished that feat. Her and Asuka were killing each other in this match from bell to bell. I couldn't give a flying fuck about Sasha's current gimmick and storyline right now, but she hasn't disappointed me in the least when it comes to her in-ring ability. I still think that she does a little TOO much in matches at times, but I can't hate on her ability to perform, even though she tends to go overboard in terms of unnecessary bumps and risks.

I was all for this match being the best thing on the show from the women, but the finish was absolutely stupid. They rehashed the EXACT same spot from Bayley's title defense, only for Bayley to get knocked off the ring apron and Sasha got rolled up instead. I get that they were saying that Asuka learned from her costly mistake in the previous match, but why the fuck is the commentary team going on about this Bayley's fault?

The announcers are telling me this was Bayley's fault even though with my own two eyes I saw Sasha try a move and it got countered and she tapped out clean. Why is this so hard?

— Bryan Alvarez (@bryanalvarez) August 24, 2020

Sasha went to the well too many times in terms of dirty tricks and got owned. Simple as that.

*Waits for the Sasha stans to get butthurt that she lost ANOTHER singles title in the first title defense*

To be fair, Sasha shouldn't have won it from Asuka in the first goddamn place IMHO. They just did it for this pairing. #SummerSlam

— Let's Talk Wrestling (@LetsTalkWrestle) August 24, 2020

I know the Sasha stans will be butt hurt that she lost yet ANOTHER singles title after her first title defense, but she shouldn't have won it in the first goddamn place. That entire storyline from the last month or so was absolutely stupid. It was only done for Sasha and Bayley can continue parading around together, bragging about having "dos straps" or "two belts". To be honest, I would have went with Asuka taking both of those belts from Sasha and Bayley, but that's just me.

WWE seems to be deadset on stalling and dragging out this split between Sasha and Bayley for over a year (which feels like 2-3 at this point) to the point where I don't see how anyone still cares at this point. Sasha goes back to being a boring babyface while Bayley is the heel this time around. Who cares? I don't doubt the match itself would be nothing short of amazing, but all of this stalling and waiting is killing this in the long-term scheme of things.

Singles Match for the WWE Championship

Drew McIntyre (c) def. Randy Orton

This wasn't a bad match at all. Randy Orton seems to be on a mission to prove that he can have great matches without a ton of dives since his feud with Edge earlier this year. They totally had me going that Orton was going to win the title when Drew whiffed the Claymore completely though. I totally bought into that spot, only for Drew to roll him up with a backslide to retain.

Another positive about that match. There weren't 1001 finisher kickouts and near-falls. #SummerSlam

— Let's Talk Wrestling (@LetsTalkWrestle) August 24, 2020

I'm fine with Drew retaining, but off a backslide? C'mon now. #SummerSlam

— Let's Talk Wrestling (@LetsTalkWrestle) August 24, 2020

I don't have an issue with a backslide being used, but my main issue was with it being used merely to give the commentary team the excuse to shout "YOU'LL NEVER SEE IT COMIN'!!" as the show's tagline. That had to be a Vince call to have the commentary team shout that right after the finish. Regardless of that call, I wouldn't mind seeing Drew and Randy have a rematch.

As of this posting (8/27/20), Keith Lee has debuted on Monday Night RAW - as advertised in the promo package that aired after this match and is set to face Randy Orton one-on-one at WWE Payback this Sunday (8/30/20). Seems like they are scrapping the rocket on the back of the Limitless One right off the bat.

Falls Count Anywhere Match for the WWE Universal Championship

"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt def. Braun Strowman (c)

I'm going to be honest. At this point of the show, I had mentally tuned this match out for the most part. For what I did pay attention to, I thought it was decent, but I can't say that I'm a fan of these slow-prodding big man matches in WWE. They never seem right on execution. Kross and Lee had a match in the same spot that left a lot to be desired and while this match wasn't as highly anticipated as that one was, there were some good spots to this match. It just felt like they completely shit the bed on the finish.

Boy that was dumb. An EXTREMELY stupid finish to a decent match. Braun setup his own downfall here like a complete dumbass.

And huge meh to Roman coming back. If he's not worried about his health then I'm not going to worry for him. #SummerSlam

— Let's Talk Wrestling (@LetsTalkWrestle) August 24, 2020

The talk of the town of this match was the big return of the "Big Dog" himself - ROMAN REIGNS. Now THAT I didn't see coming at all. I thought he was staying FAR, FAR away from this company as long as COVID-19 was a threat, especially with his previous battles with leukemia.

Roman Reigns returns.

I suppose since the Thunderdome is in an open air arena, it's safer for him to perform. WWE has that rented out for the next few months, so that's long enough to get the ratings back up before taking him off TV for a while. You don't want to overexpose him before WrestleMania season. If I was Charlotte Flair, that's what I would do. Stay far away until close to that magic hour of 2021 when they need her for the WrestleMania builds while establishing her some new opponents and new faces to face.

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Afterthoughts:

With the ratings for Monday Night RAW and Friday Night SmackDown! both reaching record lows, you knew Vince McMahon was going to hit the panic button and bring back someone from off of the bench at home. I wonder how long it's going to take before we see Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman show back up on TV? I would pay to see him bare knuckle brawling in that RAW Underground thing at least once. Either that or call him down for a NXT TakeOver special to have a Fight Pit match against Timothy Thatcher, but I know we won't see that anytime soon.

All in all, I think WWE delivered on both fronts with both NXT AND the main roster for once for Summerslam weekend. This show was far from perfect, but they had several matches that I was genuinely invested in. This was the first main roster PPV during the COVID-19 era that I have thoroughly enjoyed since the two-nights of WrestleMania back in April.

WWE Summerslam (Aug. 11, 2019) -- Results & Afterthoughts

SummerSlam (2019) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands. It took place on August 11, 2019, at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was the thirty-second event under the SummerSlam chronology and the second event to be held at this particular venue (the other being the 2004 event).

Twelve matches were contested at the event, including three on the pre-show. In the main event, Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar to win the Universal Championship for a second time. In other prominent matches, Bray Wyatt in his new "Fiend" persona defeated Finn Bálor, Charlotte Flair defeated Trish Stratus by submission, Kevin Owens defeated Shane McMahon to keep his job, Kofi Kingston fought Randy Orton to a double countout to retain the WWE Championship, and Goldberg defeated Dolph Ziggler.

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Results

Kick-Off Show: 

WWE Cruiserweight Championship - Drew Gulak (c) def. Oney Lorcan

Buddy Murphy def. Apollo Crews by disqualification

WWE Women's Tag Team Championship - Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross (c) def. The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce)

Edge interrupts Elias to lay him out with a Spear

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Submission match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship - Becky Lynch (c) defeated Natalya

I was surprised to see that Nattie and Becky would open this PPV at 7PM as the first non-Kickoff preshow match. That being said, they both tried to make this interesting, but it ultimately came off as any dime a dozen match that you would see on RAW or SmackDown between the women. That being said, there were some good spots to come out of this submission match, including but not limited to Becky and Nattie using each others' signature submissions on each other and Nattie wrapping Becky's legs around the ropes in the corner for a top rope variation of the Sharpshooter. I can't speak for anyone else, but I have never seen that move used in that capacity before. I have to tip my hat to Nattie in that regard. Can't say that I was surprised that this ended in a losing effort for her though either.

The sooner we get this belt off Becky Lynch the better. Her character, much like her boyfriend's (Seth Rollins FYI), has gotten stale in these months following WrestleMania. It's making it painfully aware that these babyfaces were so much better in the chase for the gold rather than actually defending said prizes. The sooner Becky gets knocked off her pedestal by a worthy challenger the better. There's no knowing when or if Ronda Rousey is coming back anytime soon, so WWE has slim pickings in that regard in terms of possible opponents. Fortunately, we weren't left to wonder those options for long as the problem resolved itself the following night on RAW.

The next night on Monday Night RAW (8/12/19), Nattie reverts back to being a babyface as she cherishes the memory of this match in her hometown as a dedication to her deceased father who passed away a year ago. Cue the return of Sasha Banks, who goes heel instantly and attacks Nattie. I have been ready for a heel Sasha Banks since her initial call up from NXT, but while I'm glad that we're FINALLY getting it here, the reasoning was pretty stupid to have her ruin Nattie's emotional moment when Becky has been the one popping off the handle in all of her interviews over the weekend about who needs to step up and Sasha couldn't hang. If anything, those two should have joined forces and beat the piss out The Man. I can't complain too much though since Sasha got the job done solo.

Goldberg defeated Dolph Ziggler

This was exactly what needed to be - short and sweet. The redemption that Goldberg needed to validate himself after the embarrassment at the last Saudi show. I didn't watch that nor the previous ones so I didn't care either way, but I got my money's worth from the sheer amount of laughter I had from Ziggler's sells off the first and third Spears. Ziggler sold that shit like death. Homie would've died if Rhyno ever hit him with The Gore back in the day.

WWE United States Championship - AJ Styles (c) (with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows) def. Ricochet

I wanted to like this match, but I couldn't when I know both men are capable of so much better. Someone thought it was a good idea to ground Ricochet in terms of match psychology and strip him of what makes him fun to watch in the first place. Perfect example? Case in point below.

I honestly was surprised to see that Styles retained the title here when I thought they were going to hot potato the title back and forth. Ricochet's Nightwing-inspired gear was pretty sick though.

On Monday Night RAW the following night, it seems that WWE is moving on from Styles defending the title against Ricochet and has inserted him into a program possibly with Seth Rollins going forward. The ending moments of the show saw him get bailed out by Ricochet and a returning Braun Strowman to even the odds against The OC. There was a moment where I thought Strowman was going to lay out Ricochet and Rollins, but that didn't happen at all as WWE.com has already announced that Braun will be challenging Styles for the US title next week.

(Sighs) So much for a possible champion vs. champion match at Hell in a Cell next month then...

WWE SmackDown Women's Championship - Bayley (c) defeated Ember Moon

I felt that this was another "nothing" match - something EASILY that could have been seen on RAW or SmackDown! on a regular basis. WWE has been handling Ember Moon like absolute shit, even before her "nomination" to be Bayley's hand-picked challenger for the title. One week I'm hearing about she's mad at Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville for breaking her Nintendo Switch and on the next, I'm hearing about her losing left and right on the weeks leading up to this title match. The worst being the go-home edition of SmackDown! last week where Bayley had to come out to save Ember Moon - her Summerslam opponent no less - from RAW Women's title challenger, Natalya, being trapped in the Sharpshooter. After all of this nonsense, I hope a heel turn is in the books for Ember Moon. She showed some impressive spurts of aggression in this match that was reminiscent of her NXT run, but ultimately fell flat as it resulted in nothing but a losing effort in this match.

Kevin Owens defeated Shane McMahon

Had Owens lost, he would have quit WWE.

Elias was the special guest enforcer

Outside of the pandering to the Canadian crowd, I thought this was a nothing match. Don't get me wrong. I was glad to see KO go over Shane here, but this match overstayed it's welcome. I get they are attempting to recreate the magic of Vince McMahon vs. Steve Austin with this feud, but those two are not those two Legends in the least.

To be fair, Owens was over with this Toronto crowd, but I think the ceiling is pretty low in terms of where he can go with this knock-off Steve Austin gimmick. Even Becky Lynch is losing steam in that regard.

Charlotte Flair defeated Trish Stratus by submission

For a long time, I had considered Trish's retirement match back in 2006 at the Unforgiven PPV as the best match in her career. This match right here EASILY tops that. Trish and Charlotte told an excellent narrative here and it ended with the right woman going over.

You can throw a tantrum all you want for the nostalgia and all of that, but Trish's time is over. Besides, it's LONG overdue for her to put someone else over on the way out. This woman had the fairy tale ending in 2006, winning the Women's Championship in her hometown in her retirement match. It doesn't get any better than that in terms of a last match. Trish put up a valiant effort here, even had me convinced that she was going over at certain points of this match, especially after that Stratusfaction near-fall.

Whether we like it or not, Charlotte Flair is pegged as their golden girl and WWE's going to continue padding up her resume with the laundry list of accolades. As for Trish Stratus, she will go down in history as the best of her era with this match being a testament to that fact. She has absolutely nothing to be ashamed of walking away from this match in a losing effort. She hung with arguably the best female talent that WWE has signed right now at 40+ years old.

I have to add this much too. As good as this match was on Sunday, do yourselves a favor and watch Gail Kim vs. Tessa Blanchard from a few months ago in Impact Wrestling. Trish and Charlotte borrowed a little from this match and rightfully so as it's the better "passing on the torch" match of the two in my humble opinion.

WWE Championship - Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Randy Orton ended in a double count out

After all of the build-up for this match playing off of Orton having backstage pull back in 2009 - the same year where Orton punted the WWE Chairman's skull in and attacked his daughter in kayfabe - it felt like they were setting this match up to be 2019 version of the Triple H vs. Booker T WrestleMania 19 feud without all of the not-so-subtle racism sprinkled all over it.

As for this match, it was another match that can be easily considered a massive waste of time - with a finish that easily soured the live audience and fans watching at home even more. The finish saw both men getting counted out for what seemed like the quickest count out in company history to end the match in a draw. This resulted in the Toronto crowd chanting "Bullshit" and I absolutely don't blame them in that regard. The RKO counter to Kofi's diving cross body was incredible. Too bad that wasn't the damn finish...

As much as I'm over Kofi Kingston and this title reign, the better finish would have been him going over Orton clean here then having the rematch in Hell in a Cell to justify a rematch with a different stipulation if they want to involve Kingston's family. I personally can't buy into him getting aggressive in a "blood feud" with Orton when he's going to come out with the New Day the next damn night with a smile on his damn face and throwing goddamn pancakes in the crowd like nothing happened. I would love to know what is WWE's obsession with the smiling and dancing black wrestlers as if they can't be anything else but traveling goofs. Only exception in recent memory seems to be Bobby Lashley, but who knows where the hell he is currently.

"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt defeated Finn Bálor

I don't know what drugs you have to be on to think otherwise, but this was easily the best thing on this show PERIOD. This new gimmick/character revamp for Bray Wyatt is money. I love absolutely everything about it: the mask, the entrance, the mannerisms, and sheer ferocity in the ring. I was glad that he didn't pull a Jeff Hardy and cook up a cool new gimmick (Willow during his Impact Wrestling tenure), only to work the EXACT same way as he did without it. Finn's supposed to be taking time off for a few months and this was the best role for him going out. Once he comes back, they should have the rematch with Finn gearing up as the Demon, only for that too to be bested by The Fiend. If they want to this thing to continue catching fire, he's going to have to keep ranking up wins.

I haven't been this impressed with the debut of a new monster character in wrestling in recent memory not since "Monster" Matanza Cueto's debut in Lucha Underground. Outside of that, Kane still has the all-time best "monster" debut in wrestling.

(On my knees begging) For the love of all things holy, PLEASE don't fuck this up, WWE.

WWE Universal Championship - Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar (c) (with Paul Heyman)

I joked about it for about two weeks now that there shouldn't have been no way that Seth Rollins should have beaten Brock Lesnar unless either he showed up with a gun or drove a tank down to the ring and nuked the building after the biblical beating that Brock has given him on MULTIPLE occasions over the last few weeks. Instead, we got a really competitive match out of this and I was honestly quite surprised. I enjoyed this a hell of a lot more than their WrestleMania match earlier this year, but I was even more surprised that Rollins went over Brock clean here without any dick kicks or any other shenanigans.

I thought it was comical that Rollins could take all of this punishment and still put on a performance like this tonight. Great match, but logic went out the window before even the bell rung. The highlight of this match for me anyway was Paul Heyman's facials at ringside, ranging from absolutely beaming with pride (from the beating Brock was giving Rollins) to holding his heart in fear like Fred Sanford after every near-fall. Heyman's truly a legend at his craft. I'll never understand why WWE doesn't have more managers or at least train more in the business to fill roles like this in big matches.

Once again though, I have to pose this question: Where do we go from here? I mentioned earlier that on Monday Night RAW (8/12/19), WWE teased a title for title match between Universal Champion Seth Rollins versus United States Champion AJ Styles before The OC got involved, thus ending the match in a disqualification/no contest. Ricochet and Braun Strowman made the save for Rollins with WWE announcing shortly after the fact that Strowman will challenge Styles for the United States title while Ricochet will be competing in the 2019 revival of the King of the Ring tournament. That leaves the lingering question: What happens next with the Universal Championship? Is it going to be Brock versus Rollins again - in Hell in a Cell? I hope not as I don't want to see Brock and Rollins hot potato the title back and forth for the next few months.

WWE Summerslam 2015 Weekend (NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, WWE Summerslam, and Monday Night RAW 8/24/15) - Results & Afterthoughts

Hey guys, we just went through an ENORMOUS weekend full of WWE programming from Saturday, August 22 to Monday, August 24.

NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn Results:

1. Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Tyler Breeze. Breeze’s entrance involved models dressed like New York monuments, including the Statue of Liberty. Liger got the pinfall after a running Liger Bomb.

Unlike most people, I wasn’t really blown away that Liger was wrestling in WWE (nor was I when Sting wrestled his “first” WWE match at WrestleMania) because I have literally just seen Liger wrestle nearly the exact same match against Cheeseburger and Dalton Castle a few weeks ago in Ring of Honor. In Castle’s defense, he’s MUCH more talented as a worker than Tyler Breeze is so I have to give him props there.

That being said this wasn’t a bad match at all and did its job to get the crowd hot for what’s to come for the rest of the card. Even though it’s an honor to work with a legend like Liger, I still have to worry about how low on the ladder is Tyler Breeze at this rate in terms of getting another title shot for the NXT title at this rate. After NXT Takeover: Fatal 4 Way last year, he’s been thrown to the back of the line since all of the big top indie stars started flooding in.

2. NXT Tag Team Championship Match: The Vaudevillains defeated Blake & Murphy (c) to become the new Tag Team Champions. The Vaudevillains’ plan to counter Alexa Bliss was Blue Pants, who prevented Bliss from interfering. The Villains hit the Whirling Dervish to win the NXT Tag Team Championships.

Right off the bat, I was confused to who I was supposed to be cheering for. You have two teams here who have been struggling with heel/face turns over the last few months with it seems like Blake & Murphy have settled on the douchebag heel stick while the Vaudevillains have abandoned being “villains” – despite their name – and are the heroic babyfaces in this match. It was a wise decision to bring in Blue Pants (indie veteran Leva Bates) to add  but I felt that they gave it away once the Vaudevillains came out all wearing blue tights and ring gear.

As for the match itself, it was pretty standard stuff and your run of the mill average WWE tag team match. I’m not really saying that’s a bad thing, but the Vaudevillains got the job done. If I’m completely honest here, this win was LONG overdue. Blake & Murphy have been like the most boring and bland tag team champions on NXT in a while and that’s saying much as I really didn’t much care for the Ascension either before they got called up to the main roster. As for the Vaudevillains, I feel like they were robbed of a tag title run after their short-lived feud with the Lucha Dragons before they were called up to the main roster. It just seems like awkward timing here. You would have thought that Enzo & Big Cass would have been the next champs after their feud with Blake & Murphy over the last few months.
(Shrugs) Whatever, either way let’s see where this goes. The tag team divisions on both the main roster AND NXT could use some work.

3. Apollo Crews defeated Tye Dillinger. This was Crews’ debut. He pinned Dillinger after a press slam into a standing moonsault.

For those who don’t know Apollo Crews is the indie sensation Uhaa Nation while Tye Dillinger is Shawn/Gavin Spears (most will recognize him from his ECW run). Another average match with both guys putting on a decent performance here. I think that one rest hold in the middle of this match sucked all of the energy out of this arena at that moment as this match slowed down to a crawl. They managed to turn it around with the finish though. While I’m not completely sold on Dillinger’s “Perfect 10” gimmick, Crews shows promise, but I have my fingers crossed that he doesn’t end up having the typical black guy WWE career – i.e. Big E, who was great on NXT but stuck with facepalm-worthy gimmick on the main roster. I know people LOVE the New Day but I’m sorry I want and expect a LOT more from black wrestlers in WWE. I’m sick of this goofball glass ceiling that they are saddled with.

– William Regal announced the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament, with the finals taking place at the next TakeOver event on October 7.

Hopefully this means that WWE will take the initiative to improve the tag team divisions in the company as a whole (and not just NXT) in this tournament. They would benefit bringing in some indie teams to fill in the gaps and give their rookies and veterans the incentive to raise the bar even further.

4. Samoa Joe defeated Baron Corbin. Joe won a back-and-forth match by submission with a Coquina Clutch.

I went into this match saying to myself that if Samoa Joe jobs to Baron Corbin then someone on WWE Creative needs to be slapped. Samoa Joe is an easy shoe-in for the main event scene of NXT and regardless of his history in TNA, there’s no need to tarnish a potential moneymaker main event between Joe and Finn Balor. Corbin benefited from working with a veteran like Joe in this match as we finally got to see Corbin in a match that lasted more than a few seconds. With a bit more in-ring polish and solid victories against legitimate threats like Joe here, Corbin could be built up to be a major player in a few more years. Let’s just scrap the whole jobber streak thing right now and start booking Corbin normally.

5. NXT Women’s Championship Match: Bayley defeated Sasha Banks (c) to become the new NXT Women’s Champion. Bayley followed up a reverse hurricanrana from the top rope with a Belly-to-Bayley to become the 4th NXT Women’s Champion. After the match, Charlotte and Becky Lynch joined them in the ring for a “curtain call” for NXT’s “Four Horsewomen.”

Without a shadow of a doubt, this was the match of the evening and I have no idea why they didn’t book this match to go on last. I wouldn’t go as far as everyone else saying this was the best women’s wrestling match that I have EVER seen, but it was great by WWE Diva standards, I’ll give them that much.
If I can be nitpicky about this match, I had about two major issues with it. First, I didn’t care for Sasha’s leapfrog plancha over the referee and out of the ring spot. I have a pet peeve against heels in wrestling doing “flashy” moves to get a pop from the crowd (I’m looking RIGHT at you Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins) and it just seems like you’re going into business for yourself to get yourself over instead of the babyface. That spot was really unnecessary. The same result to keep Bayley down could have been done with a baseball slide between the referee’s legs – less flashy but still keeps the crowd hot against the heel. Secondly, I had an issue with Bayley pretty much completely stopped selling the “injured” hand/wrist in the latter half of the match. I understand that they were going for sympathy to get the crowd behind Bayley, but if the hand/wrist was an issue then why didn’t she have any issues against Becky Lynch after she applied the Dishonor a few weeks ago? I would have had planted the seeds of targeting that potential weakness then and there instead of waiting until the PPV.
Other than these two issues that you can EASILY overlook and forgive these two Divas for, give yourselves a hand, ladies. You both did a splendid job here.

– Triple H announced that in December, NXT will head to the UK.

6. Ladder Match for the NXT Championship: Finn Bálor (c) defeated Kevin Owens. Bálor hit a Coup de Grace from the top of a ladder. That kept Owens down long enough for Bálor to climb the ladder and pull down the NXT Championship.

After following up the Divas, it was hard to top their performance. To Owens and Balor’s credit, they gave it their best shot. To me, this match came off more as a Street Fight than a Ladder match. Balor stated that this was his first ever Ladder Match and it shows in some aspects. For fans like me who have seen what Kevin Owens is capable of in Ladder Matches (ROH’s Ladder Wars vs. El Generico immediately comes to mind…) were a little letdown as this match was a bit too tame for my taste. I understand that WWE isn’t going to go all out in these matches anymore as it’s easy to get injured here so I doubt that WWE want these two potential major players to get sidelined from taking too many risks here tonight.

In the end, I was glad to see Balor retain the title as Kevin Owens needs to focus on what’s ahead of him on the main roster and put NXT behind him. Kevin Owens is one of WWE’s best natural heels and he’ll definitely find a way to bounce back from this loss.

WWE SummerSlam 2015 Results:

– SummerSlam host Jon Stewart tried to get Mick Foley to help him confront Brock Lesnar, but Foley revealed he was scared of Brock, so nothing happened.

Typical pointless opening segment.

1. Sheamus defeated Randy Orton. Sheamus pinned Orton after multiple Brogue Kicks.

This match would have been special or a treat if we haven't already seen this match up on RAW a few weeks ago. As a result, this wasn't doing it for me - or anyone else - as an opening match.

2. Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day defeated The Prime Time Players (c), Los Matadores and Lucha Dragons to become the new Tag Team Champions. Kofi Kingston blind-tagged Titus O’Neil during a Tower of Doom, then snuck in and covered Fernando to win the match.

As much as everyone else enjoys the antics of the New Day, they are at that point where they are trying too hard to be funny - much like Miz & Damien Mizdow. Don't get me wrong, Xavier Woods works as their "hype man" at ringside, but I just can't ignore how bad this gimmick is and what it represents - yet another bad stereotypical (borderline racist) WWE gimmick. From the few great spots in this match, all of these guys deserve MUCH better. I'm speaking for the tag team division as a whole. Get rid of the stereotypes and showcase the athleticism at the forefront.

3. DolphZiggler vs. Rusev ended in a double count-out. After the match, Summer Rae and Lana got into a catfight and had to be pulled apart.

Not a bad match, but dragged a little too long for my taste. I think we can all agree that was a horrible finish here.

4. Neville and Stephen Amell defeated Stardust and King Barrett. Amell hit a big dive to the outside, allowing Neville to hit Barrett with a Red Arrow for the win.

As much as I wasn't looking forward to this match much like any other celebrity guest star appearance in wrestling, I'll give Amell props where it's due. He came in there, took bumps, and executed a few moves like he's been doing this like a natural. Glad to see that he took the preparation for this match seriously. Aside from that, there's not much else to write home about with this match.

5. Intercontinental Championship Match: Ryback (c) defeated The Miz and Big Show. Big Show hit Miz with a KO punch. Ryback clotheslined Show out of the ring, then pinned Miz.

I wanted this match to get a bit more time, but I guess we have the previous match to thank for that. Straight-forward and to the point. As much as Miz has won me over in terms of being an entertainer lately, I wouldn't mind seeing him a bit higher up on food chain at this point of his WWE career.

6. Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper. Reigns pinned Wyatt after a spear.

Like I have been tweeting for weeks, I could care less about this feud as this is the perfect example of "great idea, but booked at the worst opportunity". WWE had the opportunity to garner this rivalry between the Wyatt Family and the Shield while the Shield were still together, but now it's like who cares? Seth Rollins has already established himself as a singles competitor, so this just seems like a step backwards for both Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose after their strides to breaking out as singles starts during the early part of this year.

That being said, I'm not saying this was a bad match, it's just there to fill up space on this card. If anything, I hope this feud leads into elevating Bray Wyatt as a stronger heel. Dean Ambrose needs to do something to save face as well or he's going to be lost into the shuffle as well.

7. Winner Take All for the WWE World Heavyweight and United States Championships: Seth Rollins defeated John Cena to become the new United States Champion. Cena had the match won, but the referee was knocked out. Jon Stewart ran out with a steel chair, hit Cena in the stomach and placed it in the ring so Rollins could Pedigree Cena onto it. 

Great back and forth match between Cena and Rollins, but once again, we've already seen this match on RAW for free a few weeks ago when Rollins broke Cena's nose. Despite channeling the powers of the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers' White Ranger, Rollins almost found himself at a lost here until Jon Stewart intervened.

Horrible finish, but that seems to be the common trend with this show tonight. I still feel like Rollins being awarded another championship just seems like WWE want to steal more good ideas from Ring of Honor lately, notably Jay Lethal's current reign as double champion - holding both the ROH Television and ROH World Championships.

8. Team PCB defeated Team B.A.D. and Team Bella. Becky Lynch pinned Brie Bella to win the match for her team.

I shook my head at Team BAD being eliminated first here. I understand that Sasha Banks was a bit too banged up from NXT Takeover the night before but they could have had Naomi and Tamina work the bulk of the match. Team Bella could have been eliminated first for the upset win to tease new contenders for Nikki's title. I'm sure the live crowd felt the same way as the chants for "We Want Sasha" echoed over the commentary for this match.

In either case, I do agree with Becky Lynch getting the win here as I'm sure that was supposed to be the finish on NXT tapings the night before (see below) as she's the only NXT Diva out of the debuting trio

9. Kevin Owens defeated Cesaro. Owens pinned Cesaro after a pop-up powerbomb.

I was very conflicted going into this match. On one hand, I want Cesaro to get a big win over Owens to justify him being in the main event scene. On the other, I want Owens to walk away with a win after his string of losses lately. This ended up being one of the better matches on the card, despite being on the "piss break" spot before the main event.

I have to agree with Jim Ross' blog that Cesaro is the most underutilized talents on the WWE roster. Why this guy isn't main eventing in WWE is a mystery to me.

10. The Undertaker defeated Brock Lesnar. Lesnar had Undertaker in a Kimura Lock when the bell rang, but the official hadn’t called for the bell. During the distraction, Undertaker hit Lesnar with a low blow and locked him in the Hell’s Gate submission. Lesnar held up his middle finger, but passed out in the submission. A post-match replay revealed that Undertaker had tapped in the Kimura.

I was going to be satisfied until Lesnar left with Taker's blood, sweat, and urine. To be fair, this was better than their WrestleMania bout a year ago, so that's saying something - just that this match was faced with the stupidest finish of the night.

WWE Raw Results:

– The show opened with Brock Lensar and Paul Heyman calling out The Undertaker for a rematch. Bo Dallas answered instead, and took 4 German suplexes and an F-5.

Rest in Peace, Boliever. 'Nuff said. I support anything and everything that involves someone beating the shit out of Bo Dallas. 

1. The New Day defeated Lucha Dragons. Before the match, the New Day sang a parody of ‘New York, New York’ with Xavier Woods on trombone. The Prime Time Players were on color commentary. New Day won with the Midnight Hour while Woods played TAPS. After the match, The Dudley Boyz made a surprise return to WWE and put Woods through a table with a 3-D.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the Dudley Boys back in WWE. I would be more excited for this if WWE gives them full control to push and revamp the tag team division much like they did for TNA's own tag team division. Let's face it, WWE's tag team division is in desperate need of help and restructuring.

2. Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper. Ambrose and Reigns won by disqualification when they were attacked by the newest member of the Wyatt Family, a giant in a black sheep mask (seen above). This is NXT’s Braun Strowman, making his main roster debut.

For a second there, I thought Erick Rowan got hit by gamma rays. Strowman seems like a natural fit for the Wyatt Family, despite his history as a Rosebud. The ball is in his court now not to fumble this opportunity.

– Team PCB were guests on Miz TV. Miz ran them down for “wrestling like girls.” Team Bella interrupted, and eventually attacked, setting up the next match.

The thing with this segment was that EVERYONE was bad on the mic here - not just Bellas either. You KNOW it's bad when Miz is the only highlight here. 

3. Team Bella defeated Team PCB. Alicia Fox pinned Paige after an axe kick. The crowd chanted “boring” and did the wave.

Three nights in a row in the SAME arena with pretty much the same crowd and you can't blame them for the "boring" chants. RAW pretty much rehashed the match from the night before when the Brooklyn crowd clearly wanted Sasha Banks (and the rest of Team BAD) in this match. I wouldn't go as far as everyone else and say that this match was completely bad - it was just that the crowd ruined the vibe, despite Alicia Fox and Paige really trying to win the crowd back over.

I'm going to go into this in detail in another in-depth article but this Divas Revolution isn't going to

– Stardust and King Barrett came to the ring for a tag team match, but Stardust turned on Barrett. Neville charged the ring and brawled with Stardust, setting him up for a Red Arrow, but Stardust fled.

– Jon Stewart explained his actions at SummerSlam, saying he did it to preserve Ric Flair’s record of 16 world championships. Flair himself came to the ring and told Stewart that he’d ruined everything. That brought out John Cena, who confronted Stewart and attacked him with an Attitude Adjustment.

The best part of this entire segment was Ric Flair personally endorsing Cena to break his record. Of course, the marks didn't want to hear that and took a huge shit over this segment. Love it or hate it, it's going to happen, folks. About 5-10 years ago, we were fearing that Triple H was going to be the one who does it, but I rather Cena do if I had to pick between the two. 

4. Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro, Randy Orton and Ryback defeated Rusev, Kevin Owens, Sheamus and Big Show. Big Show accidentally hit Sheamus with a KO Punch, allowing Randy Orton to hit an RKO and get the win for his team. After the match, Rusev and Kevin Owens beat up Show. After that, Ziggler, Orton, Cesaro and Ryback all ganged up on Show and beat him up as well.

Weird, seems like they are turning Big Show again... Still the babyfaces won for the "feel good" moment of the show with this VERY awkward main event.

– The Authority sang “happy birthday” to Mr. McMahon, and presented a bronze statue to Seth Rollins in recognition of his accomplishments at SummerSlam. When the curtain was pulled up on the statue, Sting was there. Sting attacked Rollins, sent him fleeing and held up the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

During this segment I had down to about 2-3 guesses on who was underneath the curtain. I had Brock (again), Kane, or Sting. While I'm shaking my head that it's Sting, I'm facepalming at the fans and marks who are eating this up when these are the very same people who were talking shit about Sting wrestling in TNA/Impact Wrestling in the main event. So roughly a DECADE later, it's okay for the guy who couldn't beat Triple H at WrestleMania gets a WWE title match in his SECOND match in the company? I'm familiar with Sting's prestigious history and background, but c'mon, there should have been a bit more of a build than this. It makes me think that WWE is going to have Sting vs. Ric Flair later down the road at some point, which really wouldn't surprise me at this rate...

NXT Results (August 26, 2015)

* Enzo Amore, Colin Cassady, Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley vs. Dash Wilder, Scott Dawson, Chad Gable and Jason Jordan is first. Enzo and Cass got the biggest pop by far. The Mechanics were wearing Ribera Steakhouse jackets. The stars of the match are Gable and Jordan so far. Enzo, Cass and The Hype Bros. win after Enzo and Cass hit their double team finisher.

To say that they filmed this match on Saturday, I'm surprised that Enzo and Cass got that big of a pop. Then again, they are billed from the area so that prolly had a HUGE factor too. The Hype Bros. didn't get ANYWHERE near of a reaction as that. I was sad that this match wasn't a bit longer. It's pretty much the run of the mill WWE Tag Team match - the heels segregate the ring from the weaker/more vulnerable babyface until the hot tag where the babyfaces clean house in a promptly manner.

* Eva Marie vs. Carmella is next. Carmella got a moderate pop but Eva was booed like crazy. The actual match was described as "bad." Carmella hit a few decent spots, including a hurricanrana but most of the match was one long rest hold after another. Eva won with Sliced Red. There was a lot of heat and "you can't wrestle" chants for Eva.

I firmly believe that WWE should stop putting Eva Marie's matches on these weekly broadcasts until she's "ready". This is only making her look bad AND the so-called Divas Revolution look even worse in comparison. I hate to say it but Amanda and Sara Lee on the Tough Enough finale wrestled better than her here. That's not saying that Carmella's not that good either, but geez this went on FAR too long to say how bad it was. To Eva's credit, she's improving but not fast enough. She still is late to some actions and extremely slow at other actions and execution.

* Crew members have been moving people in and out of the front rows. One of them was Eva Marie's husband.

* Bull Dempsey vs. Elias Samson is next. Bull comes out with a new look, a robe like "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. Bull got a big pop from the NYC crowd and won after hitting a top rope seated splash. Bull hugged some people at ringside who appeared to be family.

Bull needs to get a refund for whatever workout program he signed up for as it's clearly not working. This was another match on this card that dragged on too long for it's own good. Whatever at this match and even more facepalming at this gimmick. Just like the New Day, Los Matadores, and other so-called "comedy" gimmicks, this is just more of WWE's typical bullying cleverly disguised as "comedy".

* Emma vs. Charlotte vs. Dana Brooke vs. Becky Lynch is next.`Emma won but the finish was described as "very awkward." Referee Drake Wuertz counted 3 and then maybe 4 seconds later the bell rang. It seemed like nobody knew what happened. The crowd started chanting "you f--ked up" but at who it's hard to tell. It seemed like the heat was on Emma but Becky didn't kick out and Drake made the count. After the match, Charlotte attacked Emma. Dana made the save but Becky evened the odds for the upperhand and they left to Charlotte's music.

It was in bad taste that Charlotte and Becky Lynch discarded Dana and Emma like afterthoughts at the start of this match. C'mon, they are supposed to be helping build these girls up when they are gone for good not continue to squash them underneath their feet. With this team dynamic going on in this match, it seems like they wanted to do another Divas tag team match here on this card that is already stacked with enough tag team matches. Besides, I think we see enough Diva Tag Team matches on RAW and Smackdown on a weekly basis.

They CLEARLY fucked up on the finish here as all of the Divas looked as confused as everyone else. Whatever, no offense to all of the girls involved but I didn't expect Emma nor Dana Brooke to win otherwise unless someone fucked up.

This is a minor issue, but can we start telling the WWE Divas, especially the NXT girls, to either tie their hair back or cut down the long hair extensions? You can tell it's getting in the way during matches and it's VERY distracting as a fan/viewer.

BOOKING MY WAY #1 – The Inclusion of Daniel Bryan of the Main Event Circle of WrestleMania XXX

I have discussed this at least 20-30 different times over the past year and a half to various people, so I figure I might as well go ahead and type this up. To be quite honest, I was inspired by Jim Cornette’s guest booker style discussion on his podcast following the Royal Rumble 2015 event, where he pitched his ideas on how to “save” WrestleMania without Daniel Bryan in the actual title match.

My personal problem with WrestleMania XXX was that WWE pushed Daniel Bryan too hard and too fast within the span of ONE evening just to cater to the fans’ demands and out of fear of potential fan outrage. Seeing the extent of his injuries currently and possible retirement, I think his health concerns could be different today if WWE played out things a bit more carefully.

I’m going to play this out with two possible outcomes and endings that possibly won’t satisfy both ends of the IWC (internet wrestling community) but I’m saying it anyway for reference to anyone else who asks me how I would have booked this storyline.

1. Triple H def. Daniel Bryan and moves onto Triple Threat Match in Main Event for WWE World Heavyweight Championship versus Batista and then champion Randy Orton

a. OPTION #1 – Vince McMahon names Daniel Bryan as Special Guest Referee

Most people will argue this point right away as this was “supposedly” Daniel Bryan’s year to win the “big one” at the grandest stage of them all, but he could also win in a different way and get the last laugh on the Authority by preventing Triple H or Randy Orton to win the title and allow Batista (who returns to being a babyface) go over as champion. That way WWE’s plan to market Batista alongside Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy movie premiere as their resident champion like The Rock the previous year doesn’t plan out.

Daniel Bryan gets a “win” over the Authority, WWE gets what they want by putting the gold on Batista, and it also gives the Authority something to work with post-WrestleMania after this. They could follow up with “punishing” Bryan, Triple H and Randy Orton could still chase the title, or the Authority could take their frustrations on the entire WWE Universe for laughing at their shortcomings.

b. OPTION #2 – Vince McMahon names Daniel Bryan as 4th participant, making this match into a Fatal 4 Way Match after the Authority’s foul play in the previous match

This could go one of four ways.

i. Daniel Bryan wins – Fairy tale ending and feel good moment of the year (up to this point)

ii. Randy Orton retains – Worst possible outcome IMO. This was one of Randy Orton’s stalest runs as main event champion. Continuing that title reign would lose more viewers than than they already lost by pissing off their fanbase at Royal Rumble.

iii. Batista wins – The IWC would be mad at first but then they would “deal with it.” The lesser of two evils if you think about it.

iv. Triple H wins – Here’s the one that very few people would see coming, much like The Game’s win against Sting in his WWE debut a year later. Sadly, this would be the one that most people would complain about MORE than Batisat winning to be quite honest. In terms of continuing the Authority angle and adding more heat/hatred to the stable, you almost HAVE to go with this option. Why? I’m going to explain below…

2. Daniel Bryan def. Triple H and moves onto Triple Threat Match in Main Event for WWE World Heavyweight Championship versus Batista and then champion Randy Orton

a. OPTION #1 – Vince McMahon or the Authority injects Triple H into the main event to make match into a Fatal 4 Way Match as a clear abuse of power for more heat

The outcomes are the same as above, but let’s go with the option I personally would have gone with – Triple H wins the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

Why, you ask?

Just imagine the promos from Stephanie McMahon rubbing it into our faces each and EVERY week that her husband is the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. I would tolerate Triple H as champion for a few months just for Stephanie’s promos from the matter. Steph and Paul Heyman would have a field day between bragging rights to ending the Streak and HHH’s being champion. Love or hate her, but Stephanie McMahon is marvelous to watch at her craft as a heel.

Then think of it – if Daniel Bryan still wasn’t cleared or healed enough for Summerslam, WWE could have properly built Summerslam around Brock Lesnar vs. the Authority, with Paul Heyman serving as the Beast Incarnate’s mouthpiece (as usual) and Stephanie McMahon does the bulk of the Authority’s promos until Triple H decides it’s appropriate for him to weigh in. This is a bit of foresight, but I have a feeling that’s going to be a pending storyline in the near-future anyway.

On top of that, here’s the business reason why I would go with this route. Let’s be serious here. Daniel Bryan worked his ASS off in WrestleMania season. His wedding was the week after WM30, so it would appropriate for him to take the time off and enjoy his time with his new bride/wife. It was well-deserved. It would be perfect PR move to show WWE’s skeptics and critics that CM Punk was wrong yet again and they do take care of their employees with well-deserved time off/breaks.

Everyone tends to lean with the opinion that everyone would “forget” or “not care” about Daniel Bryan if he took time off. Look at present day. They didn’t keep him off TV to recover and recuperate from his injuries and he’s looking to be too banged up to even continue wrestling. Truth be told, Daniel Bryan and his fans are looking at the scary reality of his pending forced retirement like Adam Copeland AKA “The Rated R Superstar” Edge. Daniel Bryan could have stepped away while the Authority continued to brag about HHH’s big win and continue to garner heat until either they continued their plan with Brock Lesnar at Summerslam to take the strap or allow Daniel Bryan to take the title off Triple H at that event. While I personally wouldn’t recommend a Brock Lesnar match for Daniel Bryan for the sole reason of Lesnar’s stiff, hard-hitting style, they could have still kept that plan alive too to keep Brock as champion until WrestleMania 31 as they originally intended. Once again, Bryan could have been kayfabe hurt during the match (i.e. The Undertaker at WM30 or John Cena at Summerslam 2014) and WWE offered him with more time off.

Fast-forward to the Royal Rumble, Daniel Bryan enters as a surprise entry (without ANY announcement) and wins it – instead of going into that messy Roman Reigns situation that we got this year.

b. OPTION #2 – Match remains unchanged. Daniel Bryan vs. Batista vs. Randy Orton for WWE World Heavyweight Championship

Fairy tale ending to WrestleMania 30 that we know in history, with Bryan winning the gold, but here’s where the similarities end.

On the following night of Monday Night RAW where Triple H injects himself into a WWE World Heavyweight Championship match against Daniel Bryan, the reunited “Evolution” would help Triple H win the gold to write Daniel Bryan off television for that aforementioned break above.

We can still have Stephanie McMahon rubbing it in our faces that her husband is the champion for the weeks to come while WWE keeps things moving.

WWE could follow this up with their Evolution (after Batista and Orton take the Tag Team Titles) vs. Shield feud as planned as they are the only ones willing to stand up for “justice” against the Authority. Once again, you can still factor Brock Lesnar’s return into the equation as well as Daniel Bryan getting payback after his extended vacation.


On top of all of that, you would be able to tie in the Bella Twins’ feud with Stephanie McMahon into the mix for Summerslam as well. C’mon, Brie vs. Steph AND Triple H vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship? If that’s not good enough, throw John Cena into the mix after Nikki Bella’s “betrayal” to her sister to side with Stephanie as the devil on Cena’s shoulder, urging him to go heel – even though we know it won’t happen but it would make for some great segments, matches, and overall dynamics. Then eventually this could revolve full circle and pull the feuding Paige and AJ Lee onto the same page against the combined efforts of Stephanie, Nikki Bella, and another Diva aligned with the Authority against AJ Lee, Paige, and Brie Bella.

Looking for #GiveDivasAChance? Well there you go… Don’t worry I’m going to tackle that topic in an entirely different article altogether.

Ugh, we don’t get great storytelling like this anymore… The hype alone would’ve sold ALL of those matches and built off each other.

Closing Thoughts

I’m just as saddened as everyone else about the circumstances of Daniel Bryan’s career-threatening injury, but in the back of my mind I feel like that World Wrestling Entertainment could have been a bit more careful in terms of booking and protected Daniel Bryan a lot more than they did. I understand that giving the fans what they want is important but at the same time, the well-being and health of your employees outweighs the demands of your customers.