Yes, this is a little late. But I wanted my most recent reviews to get even more views so I kept them at the tip top of the web page for a while. Anyway…

On August 23rd, I had the opportunity to attend my very first SummerSlam, which also happened to be the first time I attended any of the WWE’s “big four” pay-per-views. I figured I would give my own personal take on the event and write it here. Because that’s what I do.

Truth be told, I think this was probably one of the WWE’s best pay-per-views this year thus far. I am certainly glad I was able to attend this event. Here is a quick rundown of my opinions of every match from the event.

• The first bout was Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler. This was a very strong opener. There were a lot of near falls, the wrestling was good, and the match really showed Dolph’s potential (though I still don’t know why they decided on that name for the character). There were even more then a few “lets go Ziggler” chants, which is more then likely a good thing. I thought for sure Ziggler would win the intercontinental title this time, but I’m guessing third time will be the charm. Once again, a great way to start the show.

• The Jack Swagger vs. MVP match was next. This one was a disappointment. It wasn’t anything horrendous but for two rising talents in the wrestling world they really weren’t given enough time to put on the kind of show that they probably could have.  Why did they move these guys to RAW again? They were higher billed wrestlers on the other WWE brands. I guess they wanted another reason to try to make people think RAW is still the A show (we Smackdown people know better). This was kind of a rushed feud to begin with, and MVPs unexpected victory probably ensures it won’t go on any longer. Not exactly bad, but a very mediocre match.

• Next was the tag team title match between “unified tag team champions” Chris Jericho and The Big Show vs. Cryme Tyme. Of course I was rooting for Jericho’s team (I saw a fan sign that read ‘JeriShow’ so maybe I should refer to the team as such) and the fact that Cryme Tyme were their opponents was even more incentive to root for “Team JeriShow.” This was probably as good of a match as you could get from Cryme Tyme, that may not sound like too much but it was intended as a compliment. A good match, nothing special, but it worked. Glad the right team won.

• Up next was Kane vs. The Great Khali. Wasn’t this match bad enough back at Wrestlemania 23? Of all the rivalries to revive they chose this one? In all honesty though it probably was better then their match back in 2007, but that isn’t exactly hard to do. This match seemed to serve as the bathroom break segment of the show.It was bad, but it could have been worse still. At least Kane won.

• After that we had The Legacy (Cody Rhodes and Ted DeBiase) vs. the returning Degeneration-X (Triple H and Shawn Michaels). This was a very good match. I wholeheartedly agree when I hear this was probably WWE’s best tag team match of the year. We need more tag team matches like this in today’s WWE, let’s hope this is the first of many (though I won’t give my hopes up). I was expecting this to be nothing but a squash match in which Triple H and Shawn Michaels would beat Rhodes and DeBiase in a few short minutes without any real fight, I’m happy to say I was wrong. For once it seemed the newer talents were finally made to shine, of course Triple H and Shawn Michaels won the match, but not before a really good fight.

• Then they followed it up with Christian vs. William Regal for the ECW championship…. This could have been a really good match, instead they decide neither of these two guys should have even a decent amount of time for the match, and it ends in eight seconds (literally) with Christian blindsiding Regal right after their entrances and hitting him with his finisher and that was that… Wow… They really just didn’t care about this one did they. These two wrestlers have a lot of talent and they deserve more time on a pay-per-view then eight seconds. And does the WWE not want us to like the ECW brand? I can recall maybe two ECW title matches (at most) that went on for a good amount of time on pay-per-view, and they were both due to match stipulations. You would think the WWE would want to make us like all of their brands, but these days it seems like they only want us to like RAW (even though Smackdown is blindingly superior). ECW really needs to get a real match on pay-per-view pronto!

• Then we had the WWE championship match between Randy Orton and John Cena. Wasn’t this the SummerSlam main event back in 2007? Well this was a pretty good match considering we’ve seen this match so many times in recent memory in one variation or another. It had some solid wrestling and a good amount of suspense, but the ending was just a bit too bizarre and felt very confused. We had Randy Orton get disqualified and then counted out (and in WWE rules, a title cannot change hands via DQ or count out) only to be informed “by order of Mr. McMahon” that the match would be restarted. Randy Orton then managed to pin John Cena whilst leveraging himself  against the ring ropes (which is a big no no) and then this time the match restarted (again) very suddenly and I guess you had to have seen it on Television to know it had restarted because no real mention was made this time around. Then out of nowhere a “fan” jumps out from the audience and attacks the referee, which then distracts the wrestlers which finally leads to Randy Orton winning the match and retaining the title. In person the fake fan run-in worked and actually had a good number of people going, even I was a bit flabbergasted. But from what I hear that whole segment didn’t come off so well on TV. It was a good match for the most part, but the bizarre ending kind of broke it up. And I would really like to see a RAW main event that doesn’t involve either John Cena, Randy Orton or Triple H. Originality please.

• And finally we had the CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy Tables, Ladders and Chairs match for the World Heavyweight championship. This was a great match, and the right one to end the show with. There was a lot of good wrestling here and a lot of good Table, Ladders and Chairs moments, not as many as other TLC matches but the spots that were there were very good. Jeff Hardy’s swanton bomb off of a very, very tall ladder onto CM Punk (breaking an announcer’s table in the process) was the highlight of the night. And I was happy to see CM Punk regain the World Heavyweight title. And things were made even better when the Undertaker made his return after the match and chokeslammed Punk, setting up a rivalry with some great potential. Great match and a great finish.

So while the pay-per-view did have it’s weak moments (MVP/Swagger not getting enough time, Christian and Regal getting no time at all, Khali vs. Kane) the pay-per-view did at least deliver on the main events, had a strong opener and a great overall show. I give this show a thumbs up and I hope to see some more quality pay-per-views,  and hopefully ones that learn from whatever mistakes they did make here.

You mean it’s not called SummerFest?!