WWE Summerslam 2021 (Contains Spoilers)

J. Marston

He's boring but Goldberg is in some shape for a guy in his mid-50s.

seandotcomm

Yea he really is to be fair to him

PTH2009

Suppose Goldberg will go mental now

PTH2009

That Cena shirt is amazing

PTH2009

Cena seems gassed

J. Marston

Cena is going bald. This is making me come to terms with my own age. Oh no.

seandotcomm

Didnt see that comin

PTH2009

Now I like this Brock

I imagine Roman vs Brock 3 (or whatever number) will be at Crown Jewel and not Extreme Rules

J. Marston

Very different look for Brock.

Sheamus/Priest was decent.

Edge/Rollins and Roman/Cena were great.

Becky's return was great. I don't like Bianca anyway so I'm not arsed if she's "buried" to be honest.

The rest was shíte.

Necro

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117784502#Comment_117784502

Shows what I fookin know. 2 outta three 🤣🤣

JP Liz V1

Becky left Raw champ but returns for SD title match

Viking Brock back for Paul Heyman on a pole match 😁

PTH2009

Overall a decent but meh event

The returns of becky and brock the standout moments. Best matches were the opening tag match, Sheamus vs Priest, Edge vs Rollins and Roman vs Cena

Goldberg vs Bobby was yep but with Bill jnr been involved makes the feud a bit more interesting

Necro

They have a serious problem though, they've now absolutely STACKED Smackdown and Raw is just drowning in a sea of awfulness. Even the matches on the card show that (Orton/Riddle aside, crowd was super hot for that match). They need to somehow adjust the balance of that.

PTH2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117787260#Comment_117787260

Get rid of the brand split

Lord TSC

Man, I love Becky. I really do.

But that return shows absolutely everything I dislike about WWE. It’s their inability to book anything simple, and how they overproduce everything.

Becky returns, and it’s like the camera crew are told to show everything but Becky. It’s nauseating, and we get 90% of the shot focused on people reacting to Becky, rather than showing her return. We don’t see her reaction as she walks out, or walks to the ring. We get the crowd, we get Bianca and Carmella.

we get screamed at by commentary, ordering us to accept this is a massive deal, that Becky is important.

Its demanding we find this a massive moment, rather than organically letting it be one.

Compare it to Punk. We didn’t need Jr screaming “OMG THE BEST IN THE WORLD, COULD IT BE, IT IS, THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME HAS RETURNED, THIS IS MASSIVE, THIS IS HUUUUUUGE, THE STRAIGHT EDGE SUPERSTAR IS BAAAACK!”. they showed it in Punks face and let the moment speak for itself.

Becky attacks Carmella who didn’t need to be out there. They book a match and then Becky murders Bianca in five seconds. With the return of Becky, they bury their young superstar immediately. Not in a competitive match, which a lose to Bianca wouldn’t have been an issue. They made her look like an utter idiot.

why not leave Carmella out there to eat the pin? Why not have Bianca kill Carmella and have Becky come out after the match? There was ways to book the return without killing one of the only new women stars you’ve created in the last two years.

Its just overthought, overproduced, overly complicated. Like they can’t help but mess every second of a moment up in a bid to make it feel special, rather than let the moment be special simply because it is.

Its frustrating.

(And I know there’s an element of soap boxing about AEW, but to an extent, it’s impossible not to compare the returns to one another. Two massive stars back after varying length of time off, on the same weekend. It’s inevitable the two would be compared).

Cherry_Cola

Only saw the main event and wow, it was awful. Overproduced shite with those weird graphics for the entrances, 20 mins of the match was flat and slow, Roman speaking to the camera and hearing the two of them call spots the entire time. It can all get in the bin.

Brock was the most interesting part about it, but we've seen him murder Roman before and I doubt it'll be much better this time around.

The White Wolf

It's amazing to me that, in the space of 6 minutes, they managed to bring Bianca's (albeit not great) title run to an embarrassing halt and botch Becky's return.

Necro

Jaysus talk about making a hames of Bianca. I'm not her biggest fan and her title run has been mostly terrible tbh but there's no need to bury her like that with Carmella standing by. Becky clearly looks rusty, I wonder if she isn't cleared to wrestle yet? Which begs the question - why put the belt on her straight from the off? Charlotte winning the title again makes absolutely no sense either.

So they had Lashley batter Goldberg and then his young lad? Can he just go away now... they're gonna fight again at Crown Jewel aren't they 🙄

Brock/Roman has been done to death before, the only little twist that makes this interesting is Heyman now being on Roman's side... but who speaks for Brock now?

I agree with the returns being overproduced, just shut up Cole and let us watch the moment.

Good bits were RK-Bro, Edge VS Rollins, Becky's return-ish (until they squashed Bianca), Roman VS Cena was decent, Brock's return was ok too. It's all massively overshadowed by that other thing that happened in the other place though, let's be honest.

RollieFingers

https://twitter.com/ReneusMeister/status/1429283654807789576

Dedicated to the good brother LOB!

The White Wolf

I don't know if I can buy the weird Hook obsessives insulting Goldberg Jr.

Pentecost

The kid's 15 isn't he? Bit creepy to be saying much about him one way or another. Surprised WWE allowed him to get involved in a physical way, but I assume Bill and the wife signed the necessary waivers.

JP Liz V1

Brock attacked Cena in the ring

TimesArrow

Really didn’t like how the Becky return was booked.. Cole and McAfees reaction was so distractingly OTT trying to convey it was was the biggest return of the week ( along with Brock) and then she beats Bianca in seconds..

rodders999

The commentary shouting all over the Brock and Becky returns sounded brutal and is such a massive turn off.

Stark comparison to the way the Punk return was handled the night before where the viewer was just allowed to soak up the reaction of both the crowd and Punk without being subjected to some idiot screaming a constant moronic dialogue down the microphone for the entirety of the entrance.

Agent Coulson

Anyone going to tell Brock topknots are not the look anymore :)

CastorTroy

I think Sasha forced their hand. You could tell from the moment Carmella came out that the fans were gonna s#!t all over the match so they send Becky out. they may have even been doing a wait and see. If the fans hadn't reacted the way they did, Becky mightn't have come out. I think if Bianca's character had been shown to be anything but all happy they could've just had her beat the crap out of Carmella before pinning her to send a message to Sasha. Or even just pin her as quick as Becky pinned Bianca.

Ans as has been said, the camera work was really bad. If it wasn't for us knowing her music, we wouldn't have known it was her for a bit into it. Was like AJ all over again, though at least we knew Becky's music and knew why the crowd were reacting.

And Charlotte won again. Yay! 🙄 I think they need to just move Toni to Raw now. I was happy Nikki won but the character just didn't work plus she kept losing after. Is there anyone on the Raw roster that people would like to see as champion? Asuka is liked but WWE never know what to do with her then, which is why we haven't seen her in a while.

When Brock came out I was thinking McGregor looks to have bulked up a bit. Think Cena must've been hoping the camera would be looking at him from the front the whole time. Looks like we'll hear a lot more from Heyman in the coming weeks. Remembering when he sided with Big Show.

So any word on why Sasha wasn't there? Unless it was all planned to bring back Becky, which I doubt. Yet she'll probably come back and get a title match anyway even after pulling out of a match at such a big event.

Pentecost

The working theory seems to be that Sasha wasn't allowed to work because she's not vaccinated, she's a not very well hidden anti vaxxer. I think they knew right well the crowd would crap all over Carmella as a replacement so they were always going to have Becky come out. Whether they would have brought her back if Sasha was there is another question.

J. Marston

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117787383#Comment_117787383

If Bianca is a "young superstar" then so is Becky. They're 32 and 34 respectively.

I hope it's a heel turn for her. The Man is a heel character anyway, lean into the arrogance.

Agree with @The White Wolf on the Hook stuff. Oddballs.

connemara man

Becky back is good.

But doing that to Bianca is ridiculous. Have a triple threat that goes for 15+ minutes. Show Bianca is at her level let Carmella eat the pin and move on 2 faces shake hands at the end move on.

Bianca would look like she can go toe to toe. Carmella who was well beaten by Bianca in their feud doesn't get harmed by the loss even taking 2 finishers to hammer it home.

Instead they present that they have no one at Becky's level on Smackdown

CastorTroy

In logical thinking, why was Carmella booked as a replacement anyway if they had Becky backstage? It's not like Becky sneaked in the back, got her entrance music and video ready in secret, on a timer to give her time to get to the entrance then came out.

Lord TSC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117787882#Comment_117787882

Young is probably the wrong word. "Fresh" maybe instead.

WWE have a lack of fresh faces at the top of the card, hence why both of their main events were against lads who wrestle once or twice a year. Having a Becky who hasn't wrestled in over a year come back and beat your fresh champ in under 5 seconds just makes your fresh character look stupid.

Anyway, zero chance of Becky turning heel. The issue with her character is the harder they lean into the arrogance, the more the crowd will get behind her. This idea of "The fans want something, so let's try and do the utter opposite" is the type of mindset that puts people off wrestling. It's the same as trying to say AEW should have done some swerve with Punk. You don't have to actively antagonize fans by spoiling what they want to get behind.

Itssoeasy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117787790#Comment_117787790

Well I’m assuming that most people in wwe like having their necks in the position nature intended so probably not.

Itssoeasy

I liked that Becky was back but Jesus h Christ can Micheal Cole shut up for once and let the pictures on screen tell the story ?

As I said live I don’t get Matt riddles gimmick but there’s something with him and orton that works.

the Damien priest vs sheamus match was great and nice to see priest win.

I like Alexa bliss but this character doesn’t work and while her character has magical elements to it, she isn’t a magician and Eva Marie can’t wrestle to save her life so that match was doomed to failure.

i felt sorry for Bobby lashley because why did he do to have to face Goldberg in 2021.

I loved the brood music and edges entrance and he should keep that. Brock returning was nice to see and Paul heyman can put people over by not even saying a word. His expressions are amazing.

Itssoeasy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117787839#Comment_117787839

is she a well known anti Vaxxer ? I must not pay that much attention to her social media then because I’d have said she was as far away from being an anti vaxxer but apparently not.

CastorTroy

Matt Riddle and Orton remind me of that cartoon with the big and small dogs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117788213#Comment_117788213

And these guys. 😊

B.A._Baracus

You know what's madness...

wwe chose bianca to win the rumble, then the women's title at mania. Good ol push, right?

But then WWE bring out a returning Becky and job the person they've been building up for the last 10 months in 27 seconds.

Doesn't make any sense. Even if wwe want to set up a fued with both women why job Bianca out so quick and easy? And if you look at the crowd last night when becky won everyone is meh.

Lord TSC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117788159#Comment_117788159

She’s retweeted and the likes a lot of “I don’t need a mask, my immune system is strong enough to fight this off, my healing crystals will take care of the rest!” Types of posts on social media.

I don’t think she’s outright said she’s anti-vax. Just liked a lot of things that makes it look like she’s part of the venom diagram.

Mr. Guappa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117788229#Comment_117788229

It's the type of thing that you can brush off when it's a once off, but when it's done repeatedly it conditions fans to be sceptical of pushes and to limit their emotional investment. It's the same thing that's done every Wrestlemania season... we are thought that the wrestlers who have been featured for the previous 11 months are inferior to the stars of yesteryear who are parachuted into the main spots, often against each other.

J. Marston

My €5 treble of Charlotte, Roman and Bobby paid back €12.50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ke5eSys09g

PTH2009

Anyone think the entrance team audio for both Becky and Brocks returns were low

Itssoeasy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117788232#Comment_117788232

Ah okay I must have missed those then.

J. Marston

The Brood stuff is so forced but I don't care, it's so cool.

https://streamable.com/c5enom

Agent Coulson

I have to say Edge looks so old a lot older than his 47 years and he makes Goldberg look young.

Lord TSC

Meltzer saying they knew Sasha was off the show eight days ago, and Becky wasn’t meant to return quiet yet.

Theres also apparently video of Sasha backstage too.

so, in fairness, could be something other than COVID.

Agent Coulson

.........

The White Wolf

Edge shifting to a Brood gimmick had to be the most random thing ever.

ThePott

Overall Summerslam was a bit of a dud. For a show where WWE were apparently gonna do big things, it was a frustrating mess and mostly trash.

Becky returning was a mess, it could have been a great moment but having her squash Bianca left such a sour taste. As for the 8 Days thing people are suggesting that Dave is just saying that because that's when she was removed from house shows, others are suggesting they didn't know until the last minute whether Sasha could compete. So who knows but either way, the return angle could have been done so much better. Why even bring Carmella out when she had no purpose? Could have used her so you didn't have to make anyone look bad.

I did think the other Women's title match was much better, actually a pretty decent showing. Charlotte winning is a bit expected and boring but anyway. Less said about Eva/Alexa the better, totally pointless and the only thing that could have made it interesting was a big spectacle but they couldn't be arsed. Drew/Jinder was a waste of time as well. That dripstick stuff was the sort of segment that someone sees and you have to deny you watch wrestling, horrendous.

Tag matches were okay. Althought sick of Mysterios and Usos at this stage. Think Dominik has been elevated beyond his ability, don't care for the Mysterio stuff anymore overall tbh. Lashley and Goldberg was what it was, Goldberg really needs to be done though, at one stage he looked like he landed on his head and he's either going to get himself hurt or someone else. Say what you want but at least a few years back he looked like he could go, not anymore. Guessing we're getting a rematch in Saudi Arabia, which scares me into thinking he might win.

Best matches of the night for me were Priest/Sheamus. Had high hopes for it and after a slow start it paid off and Priest winning was the right call. Edge/Rollins was probably match of the night, the Brood stuff was goofy but fun and they have great chemistry, Edge needed a win to be honest. Main event was alright, nothing amazing.

As for Brock. Ponytail needs to go mate! While I could go without seeing another Brock/Roman feud, the Paul Heyman aspect and Brock being a face has me interested, guessing this is a Saudi show too. Hope Roman hammers him to be honest, would like to see Brock have some non-main event feuds as much as that's probably not gonna happen.

The White Wolf

I dig Brock's new look, works for me. First time he's changed it up in 20 years hopefully he keeps it.

Looking forward to his promos actually as well without Heyman.

CastorTroy

Setting up for Saudi is a bit strange since we still have Extreme Rules before then. But I guess they wanted these things with a crowd.

With these title changes, I'm wondering are we getting a draft soon.