10 Observations From Attending WWE SummerSlam 2016 Live
5. The Show Is Safe
Dolph Ziggler earned a shot at WWE World Champion Dean Ambrose by winning a six-man match on the first post-draft edition of Smackdown Live. Ambrose, though, was unimpressed. He criticized Ziggler as a man more obsessed with stealing the show than winning matches, sparking a feud between the two. Ziggler vowed to win Ambrose's title and steal the show.
At SummerSlam, he did neither. Not only did Ambrose win, as everybody had expected, but the match was a stunning disappointment. Whether the two men's styles didn't mesh properly or there was some bad road agent work afoot, the bout simply felt sloppy and drawn out.
Part of the problem was the face/heel dynamic, which got confused in the match's buildup. Both men are babyfaces, but Dean Ambrose had been acting like a bully toward Dolph over the past few weeks. Still, "The Lunatic Fringe" was the crowd favorite, but that changed on Sunday. The fans at SummerSlam rejected Ambrose somewhat, and though they wanted to champion Dolph, they knew he had no chance of winning. The result was a muted reaction to a sub-par contest.