10 Ups And 8 Downs From WWE SummerSlam 2016

6. Establishing Physical Dominance

Cesaro Sheamus SummerSlam 2016
WWE.com

When Mick Foley announced a best of seven series between Cesaro and Sheamus, you’d be excused if you wondered what the stakes were for the series, because, a series of matches like this had to have some sort of prize for the winner, right? Right?

Well, according to the announcers, both men are fighting to establish “physical dominance” over the other and to protect their “reputation” in WWE as tough men. That’s it. They’re not fighting over a title or a title shot, or even the personal services of Byron Saxton. They’re fighting to see who’s the best.

And look, in some instances, a rivalry like that can be great. But fans aren’t stupid. They’ve seen Cesaro tread water forever. And they’ve seen Sheamus rocket down the card after being a world champion as recently as December. So it’s not like we’re talking about two top guys fighting for the top spot in WWE. You have a guy fans want to be pushed as a major star and another who only gets a reaction because he looks stupid.

The only saving grace to this would have been Cesaro running the table in four straight matches to really establish physical dominance, so naturally, Sheamus won Sunday. Ooof.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.