JV's WWE Summerslam PPV Notes

Drew Gulak vs. Oney Lorcan
* Merge 205 with NXT
* Gulak was aggressive right at the opening bell
* I miss PowerPoint Gulak
* The story early was that Lorkan is a great striker so Gulak wanted to ground him
* Aiden English noted that these two aren't typical cruiserweights
--- the concept is passe
* They did picture in picture after 2 mins to air a Rollins vs Brock SS promo (but... I'm watching the network)
* Stream started buffering for me so I had to re-start the app
--- was glitchy since the start of the pre-show
* Drew with the Gulock but Lorkan got the ropes
* Gulak tried another Gulock, countered with a roll-up for a near fall
* Gulak grabbed the apron and pulled it center ring and when the ref tried to put it back, Gulak hit Lorkan in the throat, then hit his finish
* Short, hard hitting match, again shows that the 205 concept is passe

Apollo Crews vs. Buddy Murphy

Point of the match was to get in the Rowan spot to further that story

Graves said that time after time, Apollo failed to take advantage of opps like this

Murphy's first match on the SD roster
* point was to further the story with Reigns/Rowan and Bryan

Murphy hit a running knee at the bell for a near fall

Apollo caught Murphy on a flying body press attempt and turned it into a Samoan Drop

Apollo went up the ropes, Murphy caught him with a running powerbomb

Apollo went for a moonsault on the floor, Murphy dodged it, threw Apollo into the steps, hit a running dive, then Rowan attacked and laid out Murphy

Apollo and Murphy tried with the time given

Could make a good tag team (New Age Outlaws)

EDGE! - shocked he hit a spear

Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross vs. The Iiconics

Story was that the Iconics lost focus and got frustrated by near falls

Alexa started it but tagged Cross in and then she carried it

Graves said he misses the "evil" Goddess, I agree

Iconics both went audibly apeshit on a near fall, that made me smile

Bliss hot tag
* Billie Kay leveled her with a big boot, Cross was late on the pin save so ref slowed the count

Royce went nuts after another near fall
* distraction allowed Bliss to deck her then hit Twisted Bliss

Not much to it
** could have taken out two matches and given the other some time

Becky Lynch vs. Natalya

Nattie was miscast here

They referred to Nattie as "Canada's own" a lot throughout the pre-show
* Rene even said that Becky was in hostile territory
* no one really cares; Becky is more over
* they even had Nattie come out draped in a CDN flag - weak

They tried a Stone Cold Vs Bret Hart open
* Becky attacked, boots in the corner, then Nattie comeback
-- but again, Nattie just doesn't work in that role

Ropes didn't break the holds in this match + no countouts or DQs

Nattie went after Becky's left knee and commentary referenced Becky's past knee issues

Haha after doing the pro-Canada thing, Nattie yelled at fans to shut up and played the heel

Sharpshooter from the top rope - different!
* Becky pulled on the post to escape

On the floor Becky threw Nattie arm and shoulder first into the broadcast table, then off the ring steps

"Let's go Becky / Becky sucks" chant

Nattie caught Becky going up top and hit a superplex off the top

Nattie tried a dropkick to a sitting Becky and Becky caught her legs and applied the sharpshooter to Nattie to boos
* nice escape by Nattie as she rolled her body, pulling Becky back-first into the corner

Nattie then got the disarm-her
* Becky tried to counter but Nattie countered with the Sharpshooter
-- crowd was with Nattie now

* Becky pulled herself to the ropes, Nattie tried to pull her back in and Becky countered with the disarm-her for the submission – went about 13 minutes, weird with Nattie playing heel and face in the same match

Goldberg vs. Dolph Ziggler

This felt like a reclamation project for Goldberg after the Taker Saudi match

Interesting they positioned this match second

No bloody head from Goldberg this time!

Physically Goldberg looked good again

Loud "Goldberg" chant

Superkick right out of the gate, kickout

Second, kickout

Spear

Jackhammer, done - 1 minute

Was done as expected; Goldberg isn't done in WWE and this match re-builds him after Saudi

Dolph said it was like being hit by a baby and Goldberg didn't have the guts to fight him man to man

Goldberg returned, another spear

Ziggler took the Mic again.  Some fans are laughing now
* says anybody can get lucky twice
* says he'll never be defeated
* says he'll never stay down (while laying down)

Goldberg came back out, massive running spear

They found very creative ways to use Truth and Drake

* Truth and Carmella hung out under the glass of the pre-show table

* Drake was teased as the other Drake for Kofi

* Truth and Carmella were in disguise and introduced as part of the international broadcast team but took off when Drake ran out looking for them

AJ Styles vs. Ricochet

Cole/Gargano, Bucks/Pentagon and Fenix analogies fit here too

Ricochet wore full body gear that was kind of cool but looked like a scuba diving outfit

Ricochet came off the apron, ran off the shoulders of Gallows and Anderson to jump on Styles (cool!)

Styles went after the leg to ground Ricochet, then the match became slow and methodical

Quick headscissors takedown, then one-legged springboard clothesline 

Ricochet was slow to climb the ropes, Styles charged and Ricochet turned it into a sunset flip off the ropes

Styles took over working the leg, Ricochet sold large
* Graves actually used a Jones/Thiago Santos reference

Calf crusher, Ricochet countered and got the Anaconda Vice

Northern lights suplex into a power-up suplex by Ricochet

Gallows and Anderson got involved, distracting Ricochet.  He then jumped off the top at Ricochet but Styles caught him, Styles Clash

Not as good as other matches
* great selling by Ricochet
* story was Styles took out the knee which grounded Ricochet and limited his offense

Street Profits are back doing their main roster crap

Bayley vs. Ember Moon

Mixed reaction for Bayley - had stars painted in her hair

Three quick takedowns to start by Bailey got boos

Early in the match my stream cut to the end of the Goldberg match so I had to restart the app again

Crowd was pretty quiet - reflective of the build
* some innovative stuff here and top rope offense

Light "Hey Bayley" singing picked up briefly

Bayley dominated early

Tree of Woe into an elbow drop

Inverted Boston crab by Bayley - that was different

Ember Moon nip up into a headscissor takedown

Running dive attempt but Bayley cut her off with a punch

Top rope elbow attempt, Ember cut her off and hit a top rope hurricanrana then an overhead GTS type move

Ember next caught Bayley sitting on the top rope and turned it into a powerbomb

Ember up for the Eclipse, Bayley followed her up for the belly to belly off the ropes

Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon

Shane had some good heat

Good reaction for KO

"Fight Toronto Fight" shirt

Shane stalled, took the Mic, introduced the special guest enforcer, Elias "to ensure a fair contest"

Shane peeled out early and Elias got in KO's way

Shane peeled out again and  as KO chased Shane, Elias tripped him

KO took over on Shane, hit the cannonball, clothesline Shane out... and the Bayley match took over my Feed

Shane took over with his trash strikes

"You can't wrestle" chant

Pop-up powerbomb attempt, Shane floated over and hit a DDT

Sharpshooter attempt by Shane for Easy heat, KO got out and hit the pop-up powerbomb
* Elias got on the apron to prevent a count
* Elias threw a chair in to KO for him to use and get DQ'd
-- KO wouldn't go for it
* Shane inadvertently ran into Elias
-- senton, then frog splash, and Elias pulled the ref out

KO did a cannonball to the floor, took out Elias and the ref

KO now took the chair but Elias got back up and pulled KO out
* KO then waffled Elias with the chair

KO back in, ref is back up so KO drops the chair
* as the ref disposes of the chair, low-blow and stunner

Fun, star making match for KO
* Shane made him look good

Charlotte vs. Trish Stratus

Not as big of a reaction for Trish as I expected

Crowd started singing O Canada haha

Trish with a headlock springboard into a hurricanrana and countered a figure four attempt with a headscissors

Charlotte attempted an overhead icebreaker, Trish floated over into an arm drag then hit a Thesz Press on the floor

Charlotte slammed Trish into the steps, then slowed it down playing the great trash talking heel she is

Fallaway slam by Charlotte, then mocks the point

Charlotte pulled down her knee pad ala her dad, then dropped a knee (great little detail)

Crowd was quiet as the match slowed down but Charlotte was fantastic as the heel

Comeback by Trish but Charlotte booted her off the apron and she fell hard on her hip on the floor

Charlotte was vicious with knees and kicks

Charlotte laughed as she went up top but missed the moonsault

Version of a downward spiral by Trish

Big chops by Trish
* she went for her somersault hurricanrana, Charlotte blocked and lifted her for a top rope powerboat but Trish countered into a top rope hurricanrana

Great shocked facials by Charlotte

Charlotte softens up the leg for the figure eight
* goes for it, Trish rolls her up for a near fall

Trish gets the figure four (her shoulders were down)
* Trish turns it into the figure eight

"This is not fair to Flair" - Graves

Charlotte misses a spear, then Trish hits Stratusfaction for a near fall

Trish and Charlotte trade chops to Woos

Charlotte hits a boot to the face, figure eight, tap

Great match!

Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton

Mixed reaction for both guys

I wish Kofi would chill with the pancakes

They exchange strikes and headbutts
* Kofi shows fire yelling at Orton to get up

Kofi goes up top and Randy shoves him off down to the floor and ringside barricade

Dueling "Kofi's stupid, Randy sucks" chant

Orton whips Kofi into the steps but Kofi jumps over them, then runs back at Orton with an axe handle

Side slam by Orton onto the broadcast table

Orton slow and methodical
* Orton grabs Kofi's beard with his left and throws a right

Superplex attempt, Kofi battles back, knocks Randy off and then hits a jumping DDT

Crowd was quiet here

Kofi with the comeback, then hits the boom drop and yells "stupid"

Trouble in Paradise attempted countered into a backbreaker

Draping DDT attempt countered with a back drop over the top

Kofi with a coffin drop!  Orton is there to catch him

Frog high crossbody by Kofi

Orton hits the draping ddt and sets up for the RKO
* countered into a backslide
* Kofi comes off the top and gets caught with the RKO

Orton waits too long to cover and Kofi rolls out in front of Kofi's family
* Randy stares at his family, Kofi fires back over it, they brawl and get counted out
* Kofi gets a kendo stick and lays Randy out

"Bullshit" chant

It used to be that PPVs should have clean finishes but PPV is no longer the main revenue stream

Trouble in Paradise and the crowd boos
* so the program will continue

Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor

On the pre-show, AJ offered The OC’s help to Finn if he asked for it (tease for his return?)

Quite the redebut

New music - rendition of his old music

New lamp that looked like old Bray's head

Some new offense - Irish whip then headbutt
* sort of reminiscent of the Missing Link

I didn't expect as much Finn offense or for Bray to bump but it was fine

Countered a coup De gras attempt with the mandible (a lot of creative ways they can do that)

Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins

Love Brock or hate him, his matches always start out intense

Loved Rollins landing on his feet off the German multiple times - only guy to "figure that out" after all these years

Stomp, kick out

F5, kick out

Brock grabs the rib tape, lifts Seth up and spins him around

Rolling Germans by Brock

Seth kept rolling to the floor after taking a German, and Brock would follow him out
* F5 into the post, Seth came out the back and threw Brock into the post

Flying knee connects.  Second one, Brock catches him for a German

Gloves come off for Brock

Brock works over the midsection, then runs at Seth but hits the post instead

Rollins with two straight suicide dives to the floor, tries a third but gets caught and run into the post

Brock clears off the Spanish table
* Seth superkick, knocks Brock onto the table, then frog splash off the top onto Brock through the table

Another splash on Brock back in the ring

Stomp, kickout

Another stomp countered into an F5, countered with a superkick, stomp, pin!