The true winners of SummerSlam 2014 are undoubtedly former Shield brothers Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. Since the dissolution of The Shield the night after Extreme Rules, these two have engaged in the most well-booked, intense rivalry since Chris Jericho vs. Shawn Michaels in 2008. When the lumberjack stipulation was announced, a large segment of the fanbase groaned, hoping for something a little more exciting, despite Ambroses excellent justification for why he chose that particular match type. But these two workers took the constraints of a typical lumberjack bout and shattered the norm, putting on a hell of an affair that was easily the best match of the night. Rather than serve as detractors from the quality of the match, Rollins and Ambrose used the wrestlers surrounding the ring as literal props to enhance what we were witnessing. And despite the entire point of lumberjacks being that the two competitors stay confined to the ring, the former partners did whatever they wanted and battled all throughout the crowd anyway. It was a thing of beauty, and the best case scenario for how it could have played out. But the real story is how well both men performed and the investment of the crowd in what they were doing. We all know Roman Reigns is the hand-picked heir apparent to John Cena, but at SummerSlam his two ex-Shieldmates showed the world that they will not allow themselves to be lost in the shuffle. It was awesome (clap clap clap clap clap).
Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
