9 Ups And 9 Downs From WWE SummerSlam 2018

2. Familiarity Breeds Contempt… And A Good Match

AJ Styles and Samoa Joe have traveled in the same circles for a long time, so it was no surprise that their match for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam was bordering on a classic before it ended abruptly.

The two unloaded on each other with everything in their arsenal, pitting AJ’s speed against Joe’s brute strength. The match started a little slow but quickly ramped up. No one would have been surprised if Joe had walked out the with the title.

But Joe had been tormenting Styles for weeks about his family, and then taunted AJ’s wife in the audience before the match… and then again during the bout. That proved too much for the champ, who clotheslined Joe off the announce desk and through the timekeeper’s area, then waffled him with a steel chair for the DQ.

A disqualification finish in a world title match on PPV typically would garner a “down” here on its own, match quality be damned. But considering that this was their first WWE encounter and Joe’s mindgames were central to the storyline, it actually made sense. This likely means we’ll see a no-DQ match between them next, which is just fine with us.