WWE Summerslam 2015 Weekend (NXT Takeover: Brooklyn, WWE Summerslam, and Monday Night RAW 8/24/15) - Results & Afterthoughts

Hey guys, we just went through an ENORMOUS weekend full of WWE programming from Saturday, August 22 to Monday, August 24.

NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn Results:

1. Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Tyler Breeze. Breeze’s entrance involved models dressed like New York monuments, including the Statue of Liberty. Liger got the pinfall after a running Liger Bomb.

Unlike most people, I wasn’t really blown away that Liger was wrestling in WWE (nor was I when Sting wrestled his “first” WWE match at WrestleMania) because I have literally just seen Liger wrestle nearly the exact same match against Cheeseburger and Dalton Castle a few weeks ago in Ring of Honor. In Castle’s defense, he’s MUCH more talented as a worker than Tyler Breeze is so I have to give him props there.

That being said this wasn’t a bad match at all and did its job to get the crowd hot for what’s to come for the rest of the card. Even though it’s an honor to work with a legend like Liger, I still have to worry about how low on the ladder is Tyler Breeze at this rate in terms of getting another title shot for the NXT title at this rate. After NXT Takeover: Fatal 4 Way last year, he’s been thrown to the back of the line since all of the big top indie stars started flooding in.

2. NXT Tag Team Championship Match: The Vaudevillains defeated Blake & Murphy (c) to become the new Tag Team Champions. The Vaudevillains’ plan to counter Alexa Bliss was Blue Pants, who prevented Bliss from interfering. The Villains hit the Whirling Dervish to win the NXT Tag Team Championships.

Right off the bat, I was confused to who I was supposed to be cheering for. You have two teams here who have been struggling with heel/face turns over the last few months with it seems like Blake & Murphy have settled on the douchebag heel stick while the Vaudevillains have abandoned being “villains” – despite their name – and are the heroic babyfaces in this match. It was a wise decision to bring in Blue Pants (indie veteran Leva Bates) to add  but I felt that they gave it away once the Vaudevillains came out all wearing blue tights and ring gear.

As for the match itself, it was pretty standard stuff and your run of the mill average WWE tag team match. I’m not really saying that’s a bad thing, but the Vaudevillains got the job done. If I’m completely honest here, this win was LONG overdue. Blake & Murphy have been like the most boring and bland tag team champions on NXT in a while and that’s saying much as I really didn’t much care for the Ascension either before they got called up to the main roster. As for the Vaudevillains, I feel like they were robbed of a tag title run after their short-lived feud with the Lucha Dragons before they were called up to the main roster. It just seems like awkward timing here. You would have thought that Enzo & Big Cass would have been the next champs after their feud with Blake & Murphy over the last few months.
(Shrugs) Whatever, either way let’s see where this goes. The tag team divisions on both the main roster AND NXT could use some work.

3. Apollo Crews defeated Tye Dillinger. This was Crews’ debut. He pinned Dillinger after a press slam into a standing moonsault.

For those who don’t know Apollo Crews is the indie sensation Uhaa Nation while Tye Dillinger is Shawn/Gavin Spears (most will recognize him from his ECW run). Another average match with both guys putting on a decent performance here. I think that one rest hold in the middle of this match sucked all of the energy out of this arena at that moment as this match slowed down to a crawl. They managed to turn it around with the finish though. While I’m not completely sold on Dillinger’s “Perfect 10” gimmick, Crews shows promise, but I have my fingers crossed that he doesn’t end up having the typical black guy WWE career – i.e. Big E, who was great on NXT but stuck with facepalm-worthy gimmick on the main roster. I know people LOVE the New Day but I’m sorry I want and expect a LOT more from black wrestlers in WWE. I’m sick of this goofball glass ceiling that they are saddled with.

– William Regal announced the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament, with the finals taking place at the next TakeOver event on October 7.

Hopefully this means that WWE will take the initiative to improve the tag team divisions in the company as a whole (and not just NXT) in this tournament. They would benefit bringing in some indie teams to fill in the gaps and give their rookies and veterans the incentive to raise the bar even further.

4. Samoa Joe defeated Baron Corbin. Joe won a back-and-forth match by submission with a Coquina Clutch.

I went into this match saying to myself that if Samoa Joe jobs to Baron Corbin then someone on WWE Creative needs to be slapped. Samoa Joe is an easy shoe-in for the main event scene of NXT and regardless of his history in TNA, there’s no need to tarnish a potential moneymaker main event between Joe and Finn Balor. Corbin benefited from working with a veteran like Joe in this match as we finally got to see Corbin in a match that lasted more than a few seconds. With a bit more in-ring polish and solid victories against legitimate threats like Joe here, Corbin could be built up to be a major player in a few more years. Let’s just scrap the whole jobber streak thing right now and start booking Corbin normally.

5. NXT Women’s Championship Match: Bayley defeated Sasha Banks (c) to become the new NXT Women’s Champion. Bayley followed up a reverse hurricanrana from the top rope with a Belly-to-Bayley to become the 4th NXT Women’s Champion. After the match, Charlotte and Becky Lynch joined them in the ring for a “curtain call” for NXT’s “Four Horsewomen.”

Without a shadow of a doubt, this was the match of the evening and I have no idea why they didn’t book this match to go on last. I wouldn’t go as far as everyone else saying this was the best women’s wrestling match that I have EVER seen, but it was great by WWE Diva standards, I’ll give them that much.
If I can be nitpicky about this match, I had about two major issues with it. First, I didn’t care for Sasha’s leapfrog plancha over the referee and out of the ring spot. I have a pet peeve against heels in wrestling doing “flashy” moves to get a pop from the crowd (I’m looking RIGHT at you Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins) and it just seems like you’re going into business for yourself to get yourself over instead of the babyface. That spot was really unnecessary. The same result to keep Bayley down could have been done with a baseball slide between the referee’s legs – less flashy but still keeps the crowd hot against the heel. Secondly, I had an issue with Bayley pretty much completely stopped selling the “injured” hand/wrist in the latter half of the match. I understand that they were going for sympathy to get the crowd behind Bayley, but if the hand/wrist was an issue then why didn’t she have any issues against Becky Lynch after she applied the Dishonor a few weeks ago? I would have had planted the seeds of targeting that potential weakness then and there instead of waiting until the PPV.
Other than these two issues that you can EASILY overlook and forgive these two Divas for, give yourselves a hand, ladies. You both did a splendid job here.

– Triple H announced that in December, NXT will head to the UK.

6. Ladder Match for the NXT Championship: Finn Bálor (c) defeated Kevin Owens. Bálor hit a Coup de Grace from the top of a ladder. That kept Owens down long enough for Bálor to climb the ladder and pull down the NXT Championship.

After following up the Divas, it was hard to top their performance. To Owens and Balor’s credit, they gave it their best shot. To me, this match came off more as a Street Fight than a Ladder match. Balor stated that this was his first ever Ladder Match and it shows in some aspects. For fans like me who have seen what Kevin Owens is capable of in Ladder Matches (ROH’s Ladder Wars vs. El Generico immediately comes to mind…) were a little letdown as this match was a bit too tame for my taste. I understand that WWE isn’t going to go all out in these matches anymore as it’s easy to get injured here so I doubt that WWE want these two potential major players to get sidelined from taking too many risks here tonight.

In the end, I was glad to see Balor retain the title as Kevin Owens needs to focus on what’s ahead of him on the main roster and put NXT behind him. Kevin Owens is one of WWE’s best natural heels and he’ll definitely find a way to bounce back from this loss.

WWE SummerSlam 2015 Results:

– SummerSlam host Jon Stewart tried to get Mick Foley to help him confront Brock Lesnar, but Foley revealed he was scared of Brock, so nothing happened.

Typical pointless opening segment.

1. Sheamus defeated Randy Orton. Sheamus pinned Orton after multiple Brogue Kicks.

This match would have been special or a treat if we haven't already seen this match up on RAW a few weeks ago. As a result, this wasn't doing it for me - or anyone else - as an opening match.

2. Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day defeated The Prime Time Players (c), Los Matadores and Lucha Dragons to become the new Tag Team Champions. Kofi Kingston blind-tagged Titus O’Neil during a Tower of Doom, then snuck in and covered Fernando to win the match.

As much as everyone else enjoys the antics of the New Day, they are at that point where they are trying too hard to be funny - much like Miz & Damien Mizdow. Don't get me wrong, Xavier Woods works as their "hype man" at ringside, but I just can't ignore how bad this gimmick is and what it represents - yet another bad stereotypical (borderline racist) WWE gimmick. From the few great spots in this match, all of these guys deserve MUCH better. I'm speaking for the tag team division as a whole. Get rid of the stereotypes and showcase the athleticism at the forefront.

3. DolphZiggler vs. Rusev ended in a double count-out. After the match, Summer Rae and Lana got into a catfight and had to be pulled apart.

Not a bad match, but dragged a little too long for my taste. I think we can all agree that was a horrible finish here.

4. Neville and Stephen Amell defeated Stardust and King Barrett. Amell hit a big dive to the outside, allowing Neville to hit Barrett with a Red Arrow for the win.

As much as I wasn't looking forward to this match much like any other celebrity guest star appearance in wrestling, I'll give Amell props where it's due. He came in there, took bumps, and executed a few moves like he's been doing this like a natural. Glad to see that he took the preparation for this match seriously. Aside from that, there's not much else to write home about with this match.

5. Intercontinental Championship Match: Ryback (c) defeated The Miz and Big Show. Big Show hit Miz with a KO punch. Ryback clotheslined Show out of the ring, then pinned Miz.

I wanted this match to get a bit more time, but I guess we have the previous match to thank for that. Straight-forward and to the point. As much as Miz has won me over in terms of being an entertainer lately, I wouldn't mind seeing him a bit higher up on food chain at this point of his WWE career.

6. Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper. Reigns pinned Wyatt after a spear.

Like I have been tweeting for weeks, I could care less about this feud as this is the perfect example of "great idea, but booked at the worst opportunity". WWE had the opportunity to garner this rivalry between the Wyatt Family and the Shield while the Shield were still together, but now it's like who cares? Seth Rollins has already established himself as a singles competitor, so this just seems like a step backwards for both Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose after their strides to breaking out as singles starts during the early part of this year.

That being said, I'm not saying this was a bad match, it's just there to fill up space on this card. If anything, I hope this feud leads into elevating Bray Wyatt as a stronger heel. Dean Ambrose needs to do something to save face as well or he's going to be lost into the shuffle as well.

7. Winner Take All for the WWE World Heavyweight and United States Championships: Seth Rollins defeated John Cena to become the new United States Champion. Cena had the match won, but the referee was knocked out. Jon Stewart ran out with a steel chair, hit Cena in the stomach and placed it in the ring so Rollins could Pedigree Cena onto it. 

Great back and forth match between Cena and Rollins, but once again, we've already seen this match on RAW for free a few weeks ago when Rollins broke Cena's nose. Despite channeling the powers of the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers' White Ranger, Rollins almost found himself at a lost here until Jon Stewart intervened.

Horrible finish, but that seems to be the common trend with this show tonight. I still feel like Rollins being awarded another championship just seems like WWE want to steal more good ideas from Ring of Honor lately, notably Jay Lethal's current reign as double champion - holding both the ROH Television and ROH World Championships.

8. Team PCB defeated Team B.A.D. and Team Bella. Becky Lynch pinned Brie Bella to win the match for her team.

I shook my head at Team BAD being eliminated first here. I understand that Sasha Banks was a bit too banged up from NXT Takeover the night before but they could have had Naomi and Tamina work the bulk of the match. Team Bella could have been eliminated first for the upset win to tease new contenders for Nikki's title. I'm sure the live crowd felt the same way as the chants for "We Want Sasha" echoed over the commentary for this match.

In either case, I do agree with Becky Lynch getting the win here as I'm sure that was supposed to be the finish on NXT tapings the night before (see below) as she's the only NXT Diva out of the debuting trio

9. Kevin Owens defeated Cesaro. Owens pinned Cesaro after a pop-up powerbomb.

I was very conflicted going into this match. On one hand, I want Cesaro to get a big win over Owens to justify him being in the main event scene. On the other, I want Owens to walk away with a win after his string of losses lately. This ended up being one of the better matches on the card, despite being on the "piss break" spot before the main event.

I have to agree with Jim Ross' blog that Cesaro is the most underutilized talents on the WWE roster. Why this guy isn't main eventing in WWE is a mystery to me.

10. The Undertaker defeated Brock Lesnar. Lesnar had Undertaker in a Kimura Lock when the bell rang, but the official hadn’t called for the bell. During the distraction, Undertaker hit Lesnar with a low blow and locked him in the Hell’s Gate submission. Lesnar held up his middle finger, but passed out in the submission. A post-match replay revealed that Undertaker had tapped in the Kimura.

I was going to be satisfied until Lesnar left with Taker's blood, sweat, and urine. To be fair, this was better than their WrestleMania bout a year ago, so that's saying something - just that this match was faced with the stupidest finish of the night.

WWE Raw Results:

– The show opened with Brock Lensar and Paul Heyman calling out The Undertaker for a rematch. Bo Dallas answered instead, and took 4 German suplexes and an F-5.

Rest in Peace, Boliever. 'Nuff said. I support anything and everything that involves someone beating the shit out of Bo Dallas. 

1. The New Day defeated Lucha Dragons. Before the match, the New Day sang a parody of ‘New York, New York’ with Xavier Woods on trombone. The Prime Time Players were on color commentary. New Day won with the Midnight Hour while Woods played TAPS. After the match, The Dudley Boyz made a surprise return to WWE and put Woods through a table with a 3-D.

I was pleasantly surprised to see the Dudley Boys back in WWE. I would be more excited for this if WWE gives them full control to push and revamp the tag team division much like they did for TNA's own tag team division. Let's face it, WWE's tag team division is in desperate need of help and restructuring.

2. Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper. Ambrose and Reigns won by disqualification when they were attacked by the newest member of the Wyatt Family, a giant in a black sheep mask (seen above). This is NXT’s Braun Strowman, making his main roster debut.

For a second there, I thought Erick Rowan got hit by gamma rays. Strowman seems like a natural fit for the Wyatt Family, despite his history as a Rosebud. The ball is in his court now not to fumble this opportunity.

– Team PCB were guests on Miz TV. Miz ran them down for “wrestling like girls.” Team Bella interrupted, and eventually attacked, setting up the next match.

The thing with this segment was that EVERYONE was bad on the mic here - not just Bellas either. You KNOW it's bad when Miz is the only highlight here. 

3. Team Bella defeated Team PCB. Alicia Fox pinned Paige after an axe kick. The crowd chanted “boring” and did the wave.

Three nights in a row in the SAME arena with pretty much the same crowd and you can't blame them for the "boring" chants. RAW pretty much rehashed the match from the night before when the Brooklyn crowd clearly wanted Sasha Banks (and the rest of Team BAD) in this match. I wouldn't go as far as everyone else and say that this match was completely bad - it was just that the crowd ruined the vibe, despite Alicia Fox and Paige really trying to win the crowd back over.

I'm going to go into this in detail in another in-depth article but this Divas Revolution isn't going to

– Stardust and King Barrett came to the ring for a tag team match, but Stardust turned on Barrett. Neville charged the ring and brawled with Stardust, setting him up for a Red Arrow, but Stardust fled.

– Jon Stewart explained his actions at SummerSlam, saying he did it to preserve Ric Flair’s record of 16 world championships. Flair himself came to the ring and told Stewart that he’d ruined everything. That brought out John Cena, who confronted Stewart and attacked him with an Attitude Adjustment.

The best part of this entire segment was Ric Flair personally endorsing Cena to break his record. Of course, the marks didn't want to hear that and took a huge shit over this segment. Love it or hate it, it's going to happen, folks. About 5-10 years ago, we were fearing that Triple H was going to be the one who does it, but I rather Cena do if I had to pick between the two. 

4. Dolph Ziggler, Cesaro, Randy Orton and Ryback defeated Rusev, Kevin Owens, Sheamus and Big Show. Big Show accidentally hit Sheamus with a KO Punch, allowing Randy Orton to hit an RKO and get the win for his team. After the match, Rusev and Kevin Owens beat up Show. After that, Ziggler, Orton, Cesaro and Ryback all ganged up on Show and beat him up as well.

Weird, seems like they are turning Big Show again... Still the babyfaces won for the "feel good" moment of the show with this VERY awkward main event.

– The Authority sang “happy birthday” to Mr. McMahon, and presented a bronze statue to Seth Rollins in recognition of his accomplishments at SummerSlam. When the curtain was pulled up on the statue, Sting was there. Sting attacked Rollins, sent him fleeing and held up the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.

During this segment I had down to about 2-3 guesses on who was underneath the curtain. I had Brock (again), Kane, or Sting. While I'm shaking my head that it's Sting, I'm facepalming at the fans and marks who are eating this up when these are the very same people who were talking shit about Sting wrestling in TNA/Impact Wrestling in the main event. So roughly a DECADE later, it's okay for the guy who couldn't beat Triple H at WrestleMania gets a WWE title match in his SECOND match in the company? I'm familiar with Sting's prestigious history and background, but c'mon, there should have been a bit more of a build than this. It makes me think that WWE is going to have Sting vs. Ric Flair later down the road at some point, which really wouldn't surprise me at this rate...

NXT Results (August 26, 2015)

* Enzo Amore, Colin Cassady, Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley vs. Dash Wilder, Scott Dawson, Chad Gable and Jason Jordan is first. Enzo and Cass got the biggest pop by far. The Mechanics were wearing Ribera Steakhouse jackets. The stars of the match are Gable and Jordan so far. Enzo, Cass and The Hype Bros. win after Enzo and Cass hit their double team finisher.

To say that they filmed this match on Saturday, I'm surprised that Enzo and Cass got that big of a pop. Then again, they are billed from the area so that prolly had a HUGE factor too. The Hype Bros. didn't get ANYWHERE near of a reaction as that. I was sad that this match wasn't a bit longer. It's pretty much the run of the mill WWE Tag Team match - the heels segregate the ring from the weaker/more vulnerable babyface until the hot tag where the babyfaces clean house in a promptly manner.

* Eva Marie vs. Carmella is next. Carmella got a moderate pop but Eva was booed like crazy. The actual match was described as "bad." Carmella hit a few decent spots, including a hurricanrana but most of the match was one long rest hold after another. Eva won with Sliced Red. There was a lot of heat and "you can't wrestle" chants for Eva.

I firmly believe that WWE should stop putting Eva Marie's matches on these weekly broadcasts until she's "ready". This is only making her look bad AND the so-called Divas Revolution look even worse in comparison. I hate to say it but Amanda and Sara Lee on the Tough Enough finale wrestled better than her here. That's not saying that Carmella's not that good either, but geez this went on FAR too long to say how bad it was. To Eva's credit, she's improving but not fast enough. She still is late to some actions and extremely slow at other actions and execution.

* Crew members have been moving people in and out of the front rows. One of them was Eva Marie's husband.

* Bull Dempsey vs. Elias Samson is next. Bull comes out with a new look, a robe like "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. Bull got a big pop from the NYC crowd and won after hitting a top rope seated splash. Bull hugged some people at ringside who appeared to be family.

Bull needs to get a refund for whatever workout program he signed up for as it's clearly not working. This was another match on this card that dragged on too long for it's own good. Whatever at this match and even more facepalming at this gimmick. Just like the New Day, Los Matadores, and other so-called "comedy" gimmicks, this is just more of WWE's typical bullying cleverly disguised as "comedy".

* Emma vs. Charlotte vs. Dana Brooke vs. Becky Lynch is next.`Emma won but the finish was described as "very awkward." Referee Drake Wuertz counted 3 and then maybe 4 seconds later the bell rang. It seemed like nobody knew what happened. The crowd started chanting "you f--ked up" but at who it's hard to tell. It seemed like the heat was on Emma but Becky didn't kick out and Drake made the count. After the match, Charlotte attacked Emma. Dana made the save but Becky evened the odds for the upperhand and they left to Charlotte's music.

It was in bad taste that Charlotte and Becky Lynch discarded Dana and Emma like afterthoughts at the start of this match. C'mon, they are supposed to be helping build these girls up when they are gone for good not continue to squash them underneath their feet. With this team dynamic going on in this match, it seems like they wanted to do another Divas tag team match here on this card that is already stacked with enough tag team matches. Besides, I think we see enough Diva Tag Team matches on RAW and Smackdown on a weekly basis.

They CLEARLY fucked up on the finish here as all of the Divas looked as confused as everyone else. Whatever, no offense to all of the girls involved but I didn't expect Emma nor Dana Brooke to win otherwise unless someone fucked up.

This is a minor issue, but can we start telling the WWE Divas, especially the NXT girls, to either tie their hair back or cut down the long hair extensions? You can tell it's getting in the way during matches and it's VERY distracting as a fan/viewer.