5 Most Insane Things Happening In Wrestling Right Now (July 27)
2. Remember When SummerSlam Was Special?
WWE used to treat the institution with a similar level of respect and conviction of that afforded to WrestleMania, only with, in recent years, a doff of the hat to the hardcore fan. SummerSlam 2013 saw the first real emergence of Daniel Bryan as a bonafide headliner in a wonderful worlds-collide meeting with John Cena. On the same show, CM Punk took Brock Lesnar to his limit in an impossibly gripping match. A year later, WWE delivered perhaps its most shocking match layout ever by booking the Beast to treat John Cena like Barry Horowitz. Pairing John Cena with flattering opponents Seth Rollins and AJ Styles in subsequent years, as well as immediately decorating the Demon Finn Bálor, SummerSlam was a genuinely triumphant and euphoric event.
SummerSlam 2018 looks woeful in comparison; on the second or third biggest pay-per-view of the calendar year, WWE has booked three pure whiff rematches, where usually it presents fresh matches to maintain the brand's legendary legacy.
Seth Rollins and Dolph Ziggler will wrestle again in a match you can be d*mn sure won't end after four minutes with a La Magistral. Then again, PPV match layouts are so abysmal in WWE nowadays that there's every chance.
Braun Strowman needs to get his win back from Kevin Owens, necessitating their second consecutive PPV match...even though Braun Strowman demonstrably didn't care about losing in the first place. Nobody cared about the series, either.
And then, of course, we arrive a-f*cking-gain at Brock Lesnar Vs. Roman Reigns. A-f*cking-gain. It's laughable at this point. It's also Einstein's definition of insanity: trying the same thing under the expectation of a different result.
The result will not change. Roman Reigns Vs. Brock Lesnar IV is happening in New York City, home of the most ardent WWE fans in the world. They are going to take a gigantic sh*t all over this, if they even bother to watch, which they won't. Beach balls will find their way into the Barclays Center, and the crowd will play with them as Sika weeps.