Las Vegas SummerSlam Review: How WWE Completely Missed the Mark

WWE had a lot at stake when it came to Summerslam in Las Vegas, making it sort of a make-or-break moment for the company. You could argue that with former WWE Superstar CM Punk coming out of retirement and joining rival company AEW, the company needed something big to steal the attention. Unfortunately, it's hard to top one of the most highly anticipated returns in pro wrestling history.

Still, WWE tried. The night started with RKBRO (Randy Orton and Riddle) winning the tag team titles from AJ Styles and Omos. While some might see that as small potatoes, especially with how downtrodden the tag team divisions have been lately, WWE did give fans what they wanted here and now have a very polarizing team to work with. What they do with this pairing remains to be seen, but they are certainly interesting mid-card fodder for the time being.  Not to mention one of the most popular pairings in the company this year.

Another big move was taking Damien Priest, a rising star from NXT, and putting him in a title match against Sheamus. Interestingly enough, Priest ended up winning the United States title at SummerSlam, cementing him as a mid-card favorite for months to come.  Again, this might look like small potatoes to WWE detractors, but you could argue that the company is trying to build superstars with those moves.

However, there were other decisions that were complete head-scratchers. For example, Becky Lynch made a surprise return at SummerSlam after ten months of maternity leave, but the company shrouded the moment in controversy. Lynch defeat Belair in under a minute, ruining Belair's run as champion. It just didn't make sense when the company could have saved the defeat for later in the fall.

https://twitter.com/WWERomanReigns/status/1429528226116812803

WWE also had Charlotte Flair win the RAW Women's title at SummerSlam, bringing Nikki A.S.H's  three-week run as champion to an end. Not only was that disappointing due to how short of a run Nikki had as champion, but it also created yet another jarring shift in the women's title picture. Of course, the supposed ultimate goal is doing Rhea Ripley versus Charlotte Flair again at some point, but did they really have to take the title off of Nikki to get there? It just felt like another rushed decision to try to get a pop, and it didn't work.

As if that wasn't enough, Bobby Lashley defeated Goldberg to retain the WWE Title, and while that would have been fine on its own,  Lashley decided to put Goldberg's son in a full nelson after the match. This means that Lashley versus Goldberg part 2 is almost guaranteed and just goes back to WWE's formulaic booking. No one wants to see Lashley versus Goldberg again. Heck, no one really wanted to see it the first time. How does WWE justify this being the title picture on their flagship show when no one is really that into it?

WWE did have a few more good decisions, including a very intense match between Seth Rollins and Edge, but nothing compared to what they were able to pull off in the main event.  It was John Cena versus Roman Reigns part two, and the name power alone was enough to make people excited. The two put on a match that was a master class of pro wrestling.

Roman Reigns nailed a vicious spear to pin Cena for the three-count and retain his championship when all was said and done. WWE even brought back Brock Lesnar at the end of the show, which was an interesting surprise.

WWE made one mistake over the weekend at SummerSlam, though, and it had to do with Roman Reigns retaining the Universal Championship against John Cena.  Although Reigns winning makes sense with Cena going back to Hollywood and WWE setting up Reigns versus Lesnar, it wasn't that big of a deal. Furthermore, WWE has done this match between Reigns and Lesnar three or four times in the last couple of years, making it kind of a moot point.

Compare that to the buzz around AEW's Friday Night rampage after CM Punks returned to pro wrestling, and you start to see the problem. For those that don't know, John Cena is tied with Ric Flair for most world title victories, meaning a win against Roman Reigns would have been record-breaking. This could have shifted the media attention firmly away from Punk's return and put WWE back in the wrestling world spotlight.

In the end, the ball was in WWE's court to do something with this event and they seemingly walked away from it. They could have controlled the narrative and stolen at least a little thunder away from Punk's return. Instead, they just played it safe and will suffer in the long term for that decision.

Big E defeated Baron Corbin to get his Money in the Bank briefcase back


Randy Orton and Riddle (RKBRO) defeated AJ Styles and Omos to win the RAW tag team titles.

Alexa Bliss defeated Eva Marie.

Damien Priest defeated Sheamus to win the United States championship

The Usos defeated the Mysterios to retain the SmackDown tag team titles

Becky Lynch returned and defeated Bianca Belair for the SmackDown Women's title

Drew McIntyre defeated Jinder Mahal

Charlotte Flair defeated Nikki A.S.H and Rhea Ripley to win the RAW Women's Title

Edge defeated Seth Rollins

Bobby Lashley defeated Goldberg to retain the WWE Title.

Roman Reigns defeated John Cena to retain the Universal Championship

Brock Lesnar returned for a face off with Roman reigns