2017 WWE SummerSlam winners and losers
It may have started slow, and it may have lasted six hours in all, but the 2017 edition of WWE SummerSlam was one for the history books. One of WWE’s biggest events each year delivered in a major way with five title changes and an unforgettable main event that featured more than 1,200 pounds of humanity doing battle in and around the ring.
The Barclays Center crowd was hot throughout, and Brooklyn, New York, got to see some epic battles. The match of the night was certainly the Fatal 4-Way for the universal championship, but the United States championship match was outstanding and both tag team bouts — one of which was on the kickoff show — featured explosive finishes.
There were 13 matches in all, and for the most part, the ones that needed to deliver did just that. The rest, well, they fell short as one would expect either due to mismatched opponents, weak builds, poorly told stories or a combination of all three.
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2017 WWE SummerSlam results, grades
The Miz & The Miztourage def. Jason Jordan & The Hardy Boyz via pinfall (Kickoff Show): An incredibly slow match began with only a few hundred people in the Barclays Center. Jordan got the “hot” tag late in the match and cleaned house with a couple belly-to-belly suplexes, but a blind tag by The Miz allowed him to catch Jordan from behind and hit the Skull Crushing Finale for the 1-2-3. The Hardy Boyz did nothing to bring any excitement to this match, and it was perfectly placed on the show in a forgettable spot. Grade: D
Cruiserweight Chamionship — Neville def. Akira Tozawa (c) via pinfall to win the title (Kickoff Show): Just days after dropping the cruiserweight title, Neville won it back in a relatively uninspired match. Tozawa flashed with a suicide dive, octopus submission hold and a strong Shining Wizard, but Neville kept bouncing back. The champion began selling his injured left shoulder closer to the finish but appeared to flatten Neville as he set up the Senton Bomb. However, Neville got his knees up to block the maneuver and then hit the Red Arrow to the small of Tozawa’s back to regain his title. Neville’s briefly-interrupted reign continues as the rest of the cruiserweight division remains an afterthought. Grade: C
SmackDown Tag Team Championship — The Usos def. The New Day (c) via pinfall to win the titles (Kickoff Show): A slow match kicked into warp drive and turned into an early candidate for match of the night when all was said and done. A non-stop rush of near falls and creative double teaming over the second half of the match kept the energy building until the crowd was on its feet for the final stretch. For a match that that had no business on the kickoff show, the two best tag teams in WWE made sure this one was hard to forget.
Xavier Woods jumped from the ring apron to hit a tornado DDT and take down Jimmy Uso outside the ring and then climbed the top rope to hit the Up-Up-Down-Down on Jey Uso along with Big E. Jimmy wound up saving the count, though, and soon caught Woods mid-air, throwing him over the ring ropes and outside the ring. Big E kept the crowd buzzing by diving through the ropes onto Jey, who laid out Kofi Kingston moments earlier. However, when Big E stepped back in the ring and attempted to hit Jimmy with the Big Ending, Jey hit a blind tag. Each Uso brother hit Big E with a superkick, then combined to hit him with a double superkick before climbing the ropes for a Double Samoan Splash that resulted in a victory. Ultimately, the slow start prevented this match from earning top scores. Grade: B+
John Cena def. Baron Corbin via pinfall: Corbin’s booking collapse over the last week continues. Five days after unsuccessfully cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase on SmackDown Live, Corbin was pinned clean in a brief and relatively forgettable match to open the main card. Corbin received two counts following a nice chokeslam/backbreaker and later when he escaped Cena’s Attitude Adjustment attempt to land his Deep Six. That’s where his offense would end, however, as Cena caught onto a trend of Corbin sliding out of and back into the ring to hit a move. Cena caught Corbin the third time he tried this with a clothesline and followed with a single AA to get the pinfall. For as much promise as Corbin appeared to hold within the company after winning the briefcase in June, his push has stalled completely. Grade: C+
SmackDown Women’s Championship — Natalya def. Naomi (c) via submission to win the title: Feel the glow no more. Despite the threat of a cash-in lingering throughout the match from Money in the Bank winner Carmella, Naomi’s run as champion came to an end via Sharpshooter. Natalya applied her submission finisher late in the match, but Naomi initially powered out by rolling over and launching Natalya head first into the corner with her legs. However, Naomi’s subsequent attempt to splash from the top rope failed to connect. Natalya swooped in with a second Sharpshooter to secure the tap out and win her first “women’s championship.” Carmella watched from a backstage monitor but ultimately never cashed in. Grade: C
Big Cass def. Big Show via pinfall: Here’s to hoping this is the end of a very underachieving (and one-sided) feud between former tag team partners. With Enzo Amore trapped in a shark cage elevated above the ring, Cass largely worked over Show’s injured right hand while the crowd yelled “boring.” Cass kicked out of Big Show’s knockout punch attempt, which may have hurt Show more than it did Cass. Late in the match, Amore stripped off his clothes and applied lotion all over his body. After putting on gloves, he slipped through the bars of the cage and jumped down into the ring. Cass instantly laid him out with a big boot and went on to do the same to Big Show, followed by an Empire Elbow for the 1-2-3. The match was ultimately par for the course in this feud. Grade: D
Backstage — Kurt Angle and Daniel Bryan: The two general managers exchanged pleasantries before each bragging that his brand would wind up winning the night. They then co-opted each former wrestler’s catch phrases, ending with a verbal “Yes!” and “No!” battle. Decently comedic moment.
Randy Orton def. Rusev via pinfall: For a hastily thrown together feud with very little fanfare entering SummerSlam, at the very least WWE kept it quick. Rusev attacked Orton during his pre-match pose on the turnbuckle and tossed him out of the ring to begin a sustained beating, including a brutal Samoan drop. But as soon as the two reentered the ring and the bell rang to start the match, Orton instantly hit his RKO to steal the victory. The pop for Orton was huge from the crowd but the frustrating booking for Rusev only continued. Grade: D+
Raw Women’s Championship — Sasha Banks def. Alexa Bliss (c) via submission to win the title: The rehabilitation of Banks’ brand came full circle in this one after a frustrating run of booking to open the year. Needing a real-life injury to Bayley in order to open up room for Banks to reenter the title picture, “The Boss” looked strong in getting the push. The admitted real-life heat between these two only seemed to help the action inside of it from the sense of physicality and creativity of spots. This one had all the feelings of a championship match despite a somewhat underwhelming reaction from the crowd. Banks delivered down the stretch applying her Banks Statement submission attempt. Bliss initially countered by rolling her up for two, but Banks quickly reapplied the submission and forced an abrupt tap to regain the championship. Grade: B-
So nice, she had to do it TWICE! #SummerSlam@AlexaBliss_WWE
Finn Balor def. Bray Wyatt via pinfall: After losing cleanly on Raw last Monday, Balor brought back his Demon gimmick for the first time since last year’s SummerSlam. The gimmick worked as far as the victory was concerned (and providing the Barclays Center with a thrilling entrance) but didn’t do much in terms of adding anything special to the storyline. Once again, it was simply Wyatt jobbing out cleanly to the stars following a decent match between the two. Balor hit a sweet Tope Con Hilo early and a stiff running kick to the face from the apron. Wyatt attempted to counter late by bending over backwards into his spider walk, but Balor instantly jumped up off the ground to show he wasn’t intimidated with a demon scream. He followed with a sling blade, running missile dropkick and then his finisher, the Coup de Grace, for the 1-2-3. Grade: C+
Raw Tag Team Championship — Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins def. Sheamus & Cesaro (c) via pinfall to win the titles: It’s one again time to believe in the Shield as the unsteady friendship of Rollins and Ambrose came full circle with a title victory. And the former teammates saved their best for last in a dramatic match that steadily built momentum over time. The action started slow and the crowd lost its focus by spending more time cheering for the passing around of a beachball than focus on the action. Cesaro took notice and perfectly broke script by leaping the barrier wall and running into the crowd to grab the ball and tear it in half with his hands.
The moment seemed to kick up the intensity the rest of the way. The heel champions recorded a series of near falls following double team attempts on Ambrose, multiple times needing a late save from Rollins. Late in the match, Cesaro climbed to the top rope as Sheamus lifted up Ambrose for the tag team version of White Noise. But Rollins made a final save with a sensational springboard hurricanrana on Cesaro with the momentum sending Cesaro into Sheamus to knock him over. Rollins followed with a superkick on both champions then a Rain Trigger onto Sheamus, which sent him into the hands of Ambrose, who hit Dirty Deeds for before getting the cover and the win. Grade: B+
United States Championship — AJ Styles (c) def. Kevin Owens via pinfall to retain the title: Shane McMahon’s presence as special guest referee certainly raised the intensity of the match as Styles and Owens put forth the best chapter of their up-and-down feud. McMahon’s hands-on approach also played a big part in the finish, potentially opening the door for a feud against Owens down the road. McMahon took a trio of ref bumps, each time initiated by Owens. After tremendous back and forth action, Styles ran into a Pop-Up Powerbomb and McMahon counted to three. However, Styles’ foot was on the rope and McMahon had to reverse the call. No bell rang. Rather than take advantage of an injured Styles, Owens got right in McMahon’s face and started pointing in his chest. A shoving match between McMahon and Owens led directly to the finish as Styles nearly ended matters with a roll up and two count. He came right back to hit a Pele kick and a Phenomenal Forearm, setting up a Styles Clash for the pinfall. The finish capped a high-energy match that was rightfully saved for a platform as large as SummerSlam. Both wrestlers kicked out of each other’s finisher, and McMahon nearly cost each man the match at various points. He was also absent following a hard bump that sent him out of the ring when Styles forced Owens to tap midway through via calf crusher. Grade: A-
WWE Championship — Jinder Mahal (c) def. Shinsuke Nakamura via pinfall: Mahal’s streak of needing outside interference from the Singh Brothers continued as the kicked off his feud with Nakamura by stealing another heel victory. The match was relatively short, chock full of rest holds and power breaks early on. But the booking did well not to expose Mahal’s limitations and the fact that he and Nakamura don’t possess four-star match potential as a pairing. Just as Nakamura appeared on the verge of ending matters late following a running knee to the back of Mahal’s head, Samir Singh jumped onto the apron to distract him. Nakamura threw him into the ring and instantly intercepted Sunil’s blindside attempt with a knee to the face. But Nakamura dished out additional beatings to both, Mahal snuck up from behind to hit The Khallas and secure the victory. At this point, the booking for Mahal has become completely predictable which leads one to believe Nakamura’s reign as new champion is coming soon. Grade: C-
Universal Championship — Brock Lesnar (c) def. Roman Reigns (via pinfall), Braun Strowman and Samoa Joe to retain the title: This one had all the makings of a non-traditional match of the year candidate. It was even better than that. With incredible energy from start to finish and enough car-wreck, demolition-derby excitement to produce one ridiculously physical spot after another, this was WWE’s heavyweight division at its very best. The two best storylines of the summer were combined into one main event feud and despite some strong teases (including during the match) that Lesnar was legitimately set to leave WWE for a UFC return, it was “The Beast” who left Barclays Center with the title around his waist.
Lesnar was on the business end of multiple violent spots to open the match, including being speared through the barrier wall by Roman Reigns and twice getting running powerslams through announcertables by Stromwan. The third ringside announce table was then dead-lifted by Strowman, who flipped it over on top of Lesnar. A stretcher came out to carry Lesnar away to the back for the middle portion of the match, but the champion returned to a hero’s welcome after a series of near falls from the other three combatants to set up the finish. In the end, Reigns hit Lesnar with three straight Superman Punches and moved in for a finishing spear on Lesnar, who caught him to hit an F5 for the pin. The energy in the room was off the charts in a match that won’t soon be forgotten. Grade: A+
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