WWE Summerslam 2011 Review - Punk Beats Cena But Alberto Del Rio Cashes In!

By Laurent Kelly / August 15, 2011

The Big News: CM Punk defeated John Cena to become the Undisputed WWE Champion only to then be blindsided by a returning Kevin Nash. Alberto Del Rio took this opportunity to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and quickly bested an exhausted Punk to become the new WWE title holder. Meanwhile Randy Orton defeated Christian to become the NEW World Heavyweight Champion in a match that tore the house down. Live from the Staples Centre in Los Angeles. Adam Jones from Tool fame was out on stage to play the national anthem on his guitar. This was pretty cool and was well suited to the medium of wrestling. Followed by a video package hyping up the Undisputed WWE title match. The Miz came out to address the crowd. He said that he was back by popular demand and thanked everyone for insisting that he competes tonight. R-Truth came out and interrupted with his usual conspiracy deal before Del Rio arrived to make up the third party of an unannounced six man tag match. 6-Man Tag Match: Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston and John Morrison defeated Alberto Del Rio, R-Truth and Kofi Kingston via pinfall Energetic opener. Kofi and Morrison ran wild to start before Truth fired back on Morrison and tagged in Miz who grounded his opponent with a headlock. Kofi got the first hot tag for the babyface team and hit the boomdrop and SOS on Miz before Del Rio broke the count. Kofi then suffered a beat-down from all three members of the heel team before making the second hot tag to Rey Mysterio who engaged in a fluid high flying exchange with R-Truth before setting up both Truth and Miz in position for a double 619. Del Rio tried to ruin the party but was taken out by a superbly timed dive from Kofi, Rey landed the 619 on Truth but Miz jumped off the apron only to then be taken out by a dive to the outside from Morrison. This left Rey free to land a top rope splash on Truth for the pinfall. Solid scrap with Rey getting the appropriate momentum for his upcoming world title opportunity on Raw. *** CM Punk was backstage with John Laurenitis who demanded a public apology for the kick he received on Raw. Punk responded with a very sarcastic apology before being greeted by the surprise appearance of Stephanie McMahon. She wished Punk luck and extended her hand but Punk didn't want to shake it as he said he knew where that hand had been! That line got a great pop from the crowd. Mark Henry defeated Sheamus via count-out Surprisingly effective contest which did a good job of portraying Sheamus as a sporting, heroic warrior. Despite being constantly outdone in the power game, Sheamus refused to buckle and kept launching away with a barrage of punches until eventually he was able to take down his giant opponent with a flying double axe handle. The Irishman continued to gain momentum by dropping knees and trapping his opponent in the ropes and treating him to a succession of aggressive fists. A rough looking head collision took both men out and it was Henry who recovered first as he proceeded to beat on Sheamus in the corner. A misjudged running dive was blocked however and Sheamus capitalised with a flying shoulder block and a brogue kick which sent Henry flying outside the ring. At this point the Celtic Warrior could likely have held on for a countout victory but instead he went outside to continue the battle. Henry was waiting for him however and took control with the element of surprise, first charging Sheamus into the ringpost and then picking him up and slamming him straight through the security barricade. Henry then returned to the ring to accept a count-out victory whilst Sheamus courageously crawled towards the ring in a bid to break the count. There was some very good room left here for a Falls Count Anywhere rematch in which of course Henry would be forced to try and win like a man. *** Cee-Lo Green did a live performance of the Summerslam theme and then sung another hit as he was joined on stage by some of the Divas who danced alongside him. This was good fun. Divas Championship Match: Kelly Kelly (W/Eve Torres) defeated Beth Phoenix (w/Natalya) via pinfall Credit to Kelly Kelly here as she managed to put in a competent performance on the night when it mattered most. Beth dominated the power game as expected with Kelly using her pace and athleticism to get her way out of trouble and counter with sneaky attacks and flamboyant offense. This culminated in a smooth finish which saw Kelly reverse a Glam Slam attempt into a successful roll up pinfall. Hopefully an increased level of fury will now be unleashed by the Divas of Doom on the upcoming edition of Raw. * 1/2 Backstage Stephanie McMahon was seen leaving John Cena's locker room. Wade Barrett defeated Daniel Bryan via pinfall Fine mid-card tussle. Toughly fought back and forth action with Barrett's no-nonsense aggression colliding with Bryan's intelligent and flashy technical offence. Finishing sequence saw Bryan cling to his opponent before taking him to the ground with the labell lock with Barrett managing to break the hold. Bryan then went up with Barrett to the top rope but a shove from his opponent crotched Bryan on the ropes and enabled Barrett to capitalise with a flying clothesline and his wasteland finisher for the pinfall. A fine competitive feud for Bryan to be involved in now but it is essential that the Smackdown Money in the Bank winner eventually comes out on top. *** Christian came down to the ring and was smiling because he had a secret weapon to assist him in his no holds barred clash and that weapon was Edge. The Rated R Superstar burst down to the ring and cut a great face promo in which he insisted that he was proud of Christian becoming World Champion and would always be his friend but he has hated watching the manner in which his friend has of late become a €œwhiny little bitch€. Edge then departed thus thwarting Christian's plans to have a valuable ally in his corner. World Heavyweight Championship No Holds Barred Match: Randy Orton defeated Christian via pinfall to become the NEW Champion (MATCH OF THE NIGHT) Brutal, emotionally charged hardcore match. They did some good callbacks to incidents from their previous PPV tussle with Christian spitting in Orton's face, blasting him with a monitor and attempting to drive Orton through the announce table with an RKO as revenge for the same manoeuvre Orton hit on him in the aftermath of their Money in the Bank clash. Orton's reversal of this into an RKO of his own and the subsequent crashing of the table was the highlight spot of numerous highlights in this encounter. From Christian lashing out at his opponent with a kendo stick to Orton scoop slamming Christian through a table balanced against the ring-posts, Christian's insane front slip bump as he was whipped into the steel steps and Orton countering his opponent's top rope dive into a mid-air RKO right onto the steel steps that had been positioned inside the ring; this was a superbly acted and engagingly violent battle. **** Stephanie and Triple H were captured backstage in the middle of important looking chatter. WWE Undisputed Title Match (With Triple H as ring enforcer): CM Punk defeated John Cena via pinfall Great start as the cautious approach taken from both men and the emotional interaction with the cheering crowd helped to capture the feeling of an irresistible force colliding against an immovable object. Unfortunately they then lost the support of the crowd however with a rather plodding sequence of submissions and sloppy, poorly structured transitions but to their credit both men helped to win the audience back again in a well paced exchange of finishers and counters. Punk effectively sold the STF (which still looks unbearably phoney) and made it to the ropes before throwing Cena to the outside and coming out to join him via a suicide dive manoeuvre. Both men were at risk of being counted out so Hunter took it up himself to break the count and throw both men back inside the ring. That was a nice touch. Back inside the ring Punk escaped out of the Attitude Adjustment and connected with a brutal kick to Cena's head. Cena then avoided a GTS attempt and countered Punk's springboard clothesline dive into another STF submission hold. Punk survived again and then survived a successful FU attempt after which Cena pulled a very convincing, human facial expression to sell his disbelief. The crowd couldn't believe it either, after all seeing someone kick out of his finishing move is genuinely quite rare in an industry where nearly everything seems commonplace. Punk responded with a GTS but Cena kicked out leaving the straight edge superstar with an equally exasperated look on his face. Following this he went up top to deliver a Macho Man Elbow drop but when trying to take Cena back to his feet Punk found himself prone to a quick roll up pin. Cena got back on the offence but a kick from Punk led to a second GTS and a successful pinfall with Hunter failing to notice Cena's leg on the ropes. The acting was a lot more convincing than the in ring action but Cena and Punk did a sublime job of showing what the clash meant to them both. *** 1/2 Post-match Cena had words with Hunter but then reluctantly departed the ring and walked up the ramp. Punk sold his victory like a champ and let Hunter hold his arms in the air to declare him the winner. As Hunter was departing however, Kevin Nash (yes that Kevin Nash) entered the ring and laid out Punk with a monstrous power bomb. Cue Alberto Del Rio's theme music as the Money in the Bank briefcase holder dashed down to the ring and ordered the bell to ring for his cash-in. WWE Title Match: Alberto Del Rio defeated CM Punk via pinfall to become the NEW WWE Champion Del Rio hit an Enziguri for the successful pinfall. Del Rio celebrated with the title to end the show. VERDICT: An eventful SummerSlam which presented no bad matches, one great match and five overall bouts of three star quality and above. Orton and Christian stole the show though I wouldn't have booked Orton to win the title again. As a face champion the only next logical opponent for him to face would be Mark Henry yet the effective storyline clash between Henry and Sheamus has re-match written all over it. Unless of course they plan to present another Orton/Christian match-up at the next PPV which at this point would just be overkill despite the guaranteed high quality inside the ring. Certainly though Orton is a lot more fun in the position of challenger and Christian in the position of champion. Meanwhile I was left with mixed feelings after the main event. Watching the match between John Cena and CM Punk it was crystal clear that these two men are by far the biggest stars on Raw at the moment and a third and final world title clash in which Cena could put Punk over in properly clean fashion would for me be a suitable passing of the torch. Instead however we now have Del Rio as Champion who currently has nowhere near the star value of either of those two men and could suffer from being pushed into this spot too soon. That said however I do like Dave Meltzer's suggestion from his live report in which he wrote that Nash could be used as Del Rio's bodyguard. That would be a good role for the otherwise ineffective big man. Nonetheless however wouldn't it be better to focus on truly establishing CM Punk as a megastar before impatiently trying to do the same with Del Rio? Also, the sudden involvement of Stephanie McMahon followed up by Hunter missing Cena's knee on the ropes arouses suspicion so it will certainly be interesting to see where they take this angle from here on out. So was I left feeling a little anxious at the end then? Certainly. But am I intrigued as to where things go from here? You betca. And until then I am no position to judge and as it stands can state that this was a very eventful PPV packed with solid wrestling. Superstar of the Night: Christian €“ Sensational performance from wwe's best in ring performer of the year. His emotional intensity was quite something to behold throughout his no holds barred war with Orton. Moment of the Night: Cena and Punk stopping to absorb the electric crowd at the start of their bout.