WWE SummerSlam 2021: Every Match Ranked From Worst To Best
This year's SummerSlam was all over the place.
Well, that was a SummerSlam alright.
Despite boasting a promisingly stacked, 11-match card, WWE's flagship summer event was all over the map quality-wise this year.
In addition to running an excruciating four-plus hours, the night offered up as many duds as it did worthwhile matches, ensuring a wildly inconsistent evening of crushing lows, euphoric highs, and apathetic "whatever."
There were certainly a few matches worth watching and some enticing setups for the future - as well as a surprising number of title changes - but with so many weak finishes on offer, it was best defined by its lazy, disrespectful booking more often than not.
Despite WWE promoting SummerSlam as their biggest event of the year, it ultimately failed to deliver on that promise - beyond its grotesque distended runtime, at least - and in turn delivered one of the most mediocre SummerSlam events in recent memory. Check out our top-ranked matches and skip the rest.
It's perfect proof that having a massive live crowd can only take a show so far if the fundamentals - the booking, mainly - just aren't up to snuff...
11. WWE SmackDown Women's Title: Bianca Belair (c) Vs. Becky Lynch
Result: Becky murders Bianca with a Manhandle Slam to win the title (0:27).
Rating: What an absolute emotional rollercoaster this segment was. Everybody groaned when Carmella was announced as Sasha's replacement, then cheered when Becky made a surprise return, and then flipped a table when the resulting match lasted less than 30 seconds. Yikes.
Just when it seemed like Becky's return would be a welcome rebuke to CM Punk's AEW debut the night before, that goodwill went up in smoke by feeding Bianca to her in record time and making her look like an absolute dweeb in the process.
While fans have already speculated about the many possible reasons why this happened - most likely that a post-birth Becky wasn't ready to have a proper match - there was surely a less-idiotic way to pull this off.
Embarrassingly bad on all fronts, and it really sucked the air out of the arena for the next hour-or-so. 2/10