8 Ups And 7 Downs From WWE SummerSlam 2017
New champs everywhere, but India is still smiling.
WWE had a high bar to hurdle to top Saturday night’s NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III, and while SummerSlam didn’t top it, it did provide some very entertaining matches and a good overall show.
We saw five of eight titles change hands, with a SmackDown tag title bout during the kickoff show nearly stealing the show. We saw Braun Strowman win a popularity contest with the Brooklyn fans. We saw a man oil himself up to escape a shark cage, only to get pummeled seconds later. We saw the Demon King return to WWE for the first time in a year. We saw the modern-day Honky Tonk Man continue his reign of disgust. And we saw four men devastate the ringside area en route to the Beast making a statement.
SummerSlam was a good – but long – PPV. These “big four” PPVs almost have become marathons where watching the entire kickoff show and PPV itself should result in receiving a patch or medal. It’s an endurance test to sit through 5.5 hours of matches and commentary. Thankfully, there was enough good stuff to warrant sitting through the whole thing at least once.
With several new champs, could this mean some new directions on Monday and Tuesday, or will we just continue on with new players at the top? There’s an opportunity to freshen things up a bit here.
With that said, let’s find out what fought the good fight and what rolled over. Let’s get to it…