6 Ups & 6 Downs From WWE SummerSlam 2020

4. Bayley Retains

Bayley Asuka
WWE.com

Heading into the last couple weeks before SummerSlam, it felt like a foregone conclusion that Bayley would retain her SmackDown Women’s Championship against whomever won the women’s battle royal.

But Asuka being the challenger threw some doubt into the mix, especially since the Empress of Tomorrow had beaten Bayley a couple weeks before the PPV. But WWE actually told a good story, with the champ losing a couple matches – including to Naomi on Friday – but eked out a victory at SummerSlam thanks to Sasha Banks.

Bayley hung with Asuka otherwise in a pretty good match, so it wasn’t like she was overmatched, but she capitalized on Banks saving her from a flying hip attack (Sasha absorbed the impact), and the champ rolled the Empress up for the 3 count.

The move allowed Bayley’s record-setting title reign to go on, and it set the table nicely for a rivalry that has been simmering for a long time…

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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.