12 WWE SummerSlam 2019 Impulse Reactions
A SummerSlam of second chances in Toronto as Bray Wyatt and Seth Rollins are reborn...
SummerSlam was looking slick and sleek before the day of the show when WWE elected to add two more matches to a bloated undercard in order to flesh out the two-hour Kickoff Show. They couldn't help themselves there, but it thankfully wasn't a sign of things to come.
This could have been a piece lamenting the production of a supercard for all the usual reasons about all the usual Network executive bonuses, but instead, WWE favoured the good of the product first and foremost. The ten-match card appeared to be the perfect balance between the Network-era pay-per-views and the old three-hour events, and 2019's 'Biggest Party Of The Summer' thankfully lived up to its name for all the wright reasons rather than just because it lasted f*cking ages. It was celebratory as much in what it left out as what it kept in, too.
Roman Reigns has been walking around backstage looking over his shoulder of late, but his was a payoff and match thankfully saved for another day. After watching SummerSlam's other angles play out, his plight will be a welcome addition to the September/October slump, as will Kofi Kingston's certain rematch with Randy Orton.
Almost everything else on the show helped conclude a programme, and all within a reasonable timeframe. Could this - the final big four show before All Elite Wrestling's October launch - be a sign of things to come?
12. Drew Gulak Vs. Oney Lorcan
Oney Lorcan and Drew Gulak were given the half-empty arena treatment by going on at the midway point of the Kickoff Show which was, as commentator Vic Joseph confessed, still one hour away from the start of SummerSlam proper.
This was a two-pronged insult.
The wrestlers were made to contest a broadly enjoyable encounter in front of - at best - polite applause for the most part. This, just 48 hours after they were almost potentially on the main card. Lorcan's open-handed strikes on the Cruiserweight Champion in the closing stages felt targeted as much at the company for the measure of disrespect as they were at Gulak's face. Little of it mattered when the finish came just seconds later.
The pair fought over an errant ring skirt (!) before Gulak nailed Lorcan with a throat punch as the referee put it back in place. It was a fittingly demeaning conclusion to a match that served as the evening's first significant disappointment.