10 Ups And 8 Downs From WWE SummerSlam 2016

3. No-Go For U.S. Title

rusev roman reigns
WWE.com

Given how long SummerSlam was running, it was probably a smart move to bump the United States Championship match, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

Rusev attacked Roman Reigns before he could enter the ring, beating him up around the ring, before Reigns returned the favor and brought a steel chair into the mix. Roman waffled Rusev and left him lying, leaving to a chorus of boos. He returned to spear the Bulgarian Brute, completely flattening him.

The only saving grace to all of this is if WWE is contemplating a double-turn here. Rusev is the one whose wedding celebration was interrupted and whose wife was knocked into a cake. Roman came off looking like a callous bada**, which might make him a hero in a different era (or if fans were more into him), but he left to thunderous boos.

If WWE thinks this was supposed to make him a bigger babyface, they’re not reading the crowds.

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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.