10 WWE SummerSlam 2017 Impulse Reactions
The Land Before Time.
SummerSlam 2017 is in the books, and on the basis of the run-time, it'll probably require library to house the various tomes. With 13 matches including one that even beat the crowd into the building, the whole event gobbled up over six hours on the WWE Network, and even more from audience members that gamely attempted to following along with the television product in the preceding weeks.
The event is approaching WrestleMania-levels following WWE's concerted efforts to put the 'Big' back into their 'Big Four' since electing to put a bullet through the pay-per-view model that funded them so healthily for nearly 30 years back in 2014.
Upscaling 'The Biggest Party Of The Summer' as well as the Royal Rumble and Survivor Series shows, cities are taken over (literally with the Saturday NXT sister production) and cards are loaded with every major storyline (and numerous minor ones) in order re-draw a line of significance between these events and the twice-monthly brand specific supercards.
What didn't marry up was the company's decision to give away so much of the card's intrigue on the respective go-home editions of Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live! Neville's Cruiserweight Title loss to Akira Tozawa, Finn Bálor's defeat by Bray Wyatt and Baron Corbin's failed Money In The Bank cash-in chipped away at the freshness of the card before it had even begun. And yet, all three were forced through the motions yet again.
Time is still money in WWE, but perhaps not in the way that phrase was originally intended.
10. Emptiness
Starting as they meant to go on, WWE managed to pour disdain on the crowd before many had even taken their seats. Three of Monday Night Raw's biggest stars (and three shambling midcarder sidekicks) took their respective bows before over half the audience had even managed to get in the building.
Early post-show hubbub has suggested that doors didn't actually open until (Kickoff) showtime, forcing many to rush to the stands in an effort to see The Hardy Boyz and The Miz in action alongside Jason Jordan and The Miztourage respectively.
Regardless of what actually forced the confusion, it was an unusually embarrassing production flub for WWE, and necessitated most of the match being shot from a tight low angle in a noble effort to mask the largely vacant Barclays Center. Things nearly fell apart at the very end, when, celebrating victory, Miz went to jaw-jack with a ringsider (literally one ringsider) before the 'monkeys in the truck' aggressively switched to a face-saving replay instead.
Incidentally though, it was the least negative reaction Jason Jordan has received since the revelation of Kurt Angle as his biological father, so the organisation were able to gleam one positive from an otherwise rotten affair.