WWE Summerslam 2007 Review

WWE Summerslam
August 26^th 2007
-From East Rutherford, NJ. Our hosts are Michael Cole and JBL for Smackdown, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler for Raw, and Joey Styles and Tazz for ECW.

Kane vs. Finlay

Yikes, this isn’t exactly what I’d call a “hot opener.” Kane’s ribs are bandaged from a previous shillelagh attack from Finlay. Kane dominates in the early going, though he makes it clear that his midsection is killing him. Finlay finds his opening by knocking Kane off his feet on the ropes, causing him to land rib-first on the turnbuckle. Finlay is no fool and goes to work on the injured midsection. Kane makes a comeback in short order. Kane scores with the flying clothesline and looks ready to end this but Finlay rebounds with a back senton. Hornswoggle (the reigning Cruiserweight Champion) interferes but Kane catches him in retreat. Finlay saves his buddy and blocks a choke slam by kicking the ribs and nailing a DDT. Finlay exposes a turnbuckle to distract the ref from the shillelagh. Kane blocks the weapon but Hornswoggle hands Finlay a second shillelagh. Finlay clocks Kane for a near fall. Kane dishes out a choke slam for the win at 8:46. That was actually pretty decent as Kane had to overcome injuries and a crafty opponent, **½.
Winner: Kane
-Vince McMahon is surrounded by various characters while he continues his hunt for his bastard son. Santino Marella joins the party and suggests he’s the missing son with a song. Vince dismisses him and MVP waltzes in. MVP doesn’t think he’s the bastard but he wants to challenge Matt Hardy to something other than a wrestling match. Vince approves it as he’d be proud to have MVP as a son. Vince is left alone with The Coach, who is wondering if William Regal could be his son. Vince says he could never do it with an English woman. Segments like this make me feel better about the current PG direction, as this is terrible.

Intercontinental Championship:
Umaga © vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. Carlito

I see they still hadn’t given up on the Kennedy and Carlito experiments at this point. Umaga dominates in the early going, despite Kennedy and Carlito being in cahoots. Kennedy grabs Umaga’s boot, allowing Carlito to sneak in for a drop-kick. Kennedy kicks Umaga against the ring steps and returns to the ring to go toe to toe with Carlito. Umaga is revived and he pulls Kennedy to the floor. Diving head butt on Carlito by Umaga! Kennedy rescues Carlito from a corner splash (why?) and clocks Umaga over the head with a monitor. Carlito pays it forward by knocking Kennedy off the apron and going for the cover. Carlito talks Kennedy into continuing their alliance. Umaga reverses a double suplex! Umaga goes ballistic and tears through both opponents. Kennedy dumps Umaga and nails the Kennedy Roll on Carlito. Umaga storms back and nails Kennedy with the Samoan Spike for the win at 7:20. This was lively and straight to the point, I liked it, **½.
Winner and still Intercontinental Champion: Umaga
Chavo Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio

This is Mysterio’s big comeback match after Chavo put him on the shelf last winter. Rey comes out dressed like the Silver Surfer, since Fantastic Four 2 was playing that summer. Chavo is eager to attack the surgically repaired knee. Rey takes Chavo down and they flip around until Guerrero goes tumbling to ringside. Chavo wraps Rey’s knee around the ropes but soon finds himself on the receiving end of a dive to the floor. Rey begins targeting Chavo’s knee, which seems fair. Chavo sets Rey up in a tree of woe and finds another chance to hurt the knee. Rey counters a leg submission with a head scissors takedown, but Chavo retains control. Rey nails an enziguri, but his knee won’t allow him to hit 619. Guerrero applies a half crab! Chavo absorbs a cross body counter but gets caught in the tree of woe! Rey unloads all his anger on a helpless Guerrero. Seated senton to the floor by Mysterio! Rey mans up enough to hit a springboard move and kicks the head for 2. Tornado DDT by Rey gets another near fall. Chavo ducks a cross body and nails the Gory Bomb! Rey kicks out! The 619 misses, allowing Chavo to hit the 3 Amigos. Rey blocks the third suplex and finishes with the 619/splash combo at 12:04! This really picked up as it went along, these two always did have a great chemistry, ***.
Winner: Rey Mysterio
-Todd Grisham ponders if Triple H’s return will be as successful as Rey’s. He interviews HHH’s opponent, King Booker! Playing a British king was such a goofy direction for them to go with Booker T. Anyways, the King vows to make Triple H bow before him.

-Women’s Champion Candice Michelle has the night off and is here to watch the #1 contenders battle royal.

Divas Battle Royal:
Beth Phoenix vs. Maria vs. Jillian Hall vs. Mickie James vs. Torrie Wilson vs. Melina vs. Victoria vs. Kristal vs. Michelle McCool vs. Layla vs. Kelly Kelly vs. Brooke

The winner will get a shot at Candice’s Women’s title. Half the women in this match moved on to TNA and seem to be doing okay for themselves. Beth dumps future Knockouts Champion Brooke out first. Jillian shoves Maria off the apron. Torrie tosses Layla through the ropes. Kristal kicks Victoria out. Michelle inadvertently eliminates Kristal while attacking Mickie. Beth eliminates Kelly, which saddens Jerry Lawler, since she reminds him of his fourth wife. Torrie eliminates Jillian, saving James. Melina dumps James right away. We’re down to Melina, Torrie, Beth, and Michelle. Melina gets clotheslined out by McCool. Beth ruthlessly tosses Wilson, at last. Phoenix lifts McCool and eliminates her at 7:04. Candice is in big trouble. I don’t have any really mean things to say, so I guess this was good enough, *½.
Winner: Beth Phoenix

-MVP comes to the ring with a cooler. There’s no chance whatsoever that this segment will be a horrible waste of PPV time. MVP boasts that no one paid a ticket to see the divas (true) but they paid to see MVP (doubtful). MVP confesses that when he was poor he would drink beer, but now that he’s filthy rich he only drinks fine beverages. Fortunately for us, out the goodness in his heart, he’ll lower himself to have a beer drinking contest with Matt Hardy. Ugh. Hardy comes to the ring and seems to accept the challenge. Before they begin, Matt tells MVP that he’s proud to be a common man. Hardy says he knows he can out drink MVP so he’s not even going to try. Matt points out that in their boxing match, MVP picked out a substitute, therefore he wants to do the same. As you could probably have guessed, Stone Cold Steve Austin storms the ring and lays MVP out with a stunner.

-Vinnie Mac continues the hunt for his bastard son backstage. Cryme Tyme thinks it could be one of them, seeing as they share a love of money. Coach and Teddy Long join them in dancing around Vince. Regal even gets in on the fun. Why yes, this show did cost $40 to order. The punch line is Ron Simmons proclaiming “DAMN!”

-They’re still pretending that the ECW Championship is a big deal and provide a nice hype package for the John Morrison/CM Punk title match. Neat!

ECW Championship:
John Morrison © vs. CM Punk

CM Punk is aggressive and outwrestles Morrison in the early going. Morrison delivers a neck breaker onto the apron! And just like that, Morrison is in control. Punk gets his hope spots in, spring boarding off the turnbuckles and nailing an enziguri. Turns out it’s a full-blown comeback, as Punk nails a power slam. I’m guessing we’re running short on time. Morrison nails a neck breaker for 2. Lariat by Punk and a moonsault! Morrison gets crotched on the ropes, setting up a nice clothesline. Punk continues to roll until Morrison blocks a hurricanrana. Morrison gets the pin at 7:04 while trying to use the ropes for leverage. Too short to amount to anything, **.
Winner and still ECW Champion: John Morrison

-We get a split screen of The Great Khali and Batista warming up for their title match.

King Booker (with Queen Sharmell) vs. Triple H

Triple H is returning from being sidelined with his second torn quad. This match would be Booker’s last WWE match until his 2011 return. Basically, this match is just a formality to set up a Pedigree. Triple H is too overcome by fan support and Booker nails a cheap shot to kick things off. It doesn’t take long for HHH to clothesline Booker to the floor so he can resume posing. Triple H continues to trounce Booker until Sharmell provides a distraction. Booker drop-kicks the surgically repaired leg and goes to work on it. Triple H quickly comes back with a figure four leg lock, but Sharmell rakes the eyes to break it up! Booker gets some shots in but it doesn’t take long for HHH to bounce back. HHH delivers a spinebuster but the Pedigree is blocked. Booker’s scissors kick misses but he delivers the Bookend! Side slam by Booker but the Harlem Hangover misses! Triple H muscles into the Pedigree for the victory at 7:54. This was one of the most selfish performances I’ve ever seen. I guess it’s excusable since Booker was leaving, but I don’t think anyone paid $40 for an extended squash, *.
Winner: Triple H

World Heavyweight Championship:
The Great Khali © (with Ranjin Singh) vs. Batista

In 2007, I left to go camping for 2 weeks and I came home to find that Khali had randomly become World Champion. Needless to say, I was not pleased. Batista had been chasing the World title all year and had failed at every pay-per-view since Wrestlemania. Khali manages to dominate in the early going in suitable fashion. Batista snaps Khali’s neck on the ropes but runs into a chop to the head. Cue the nerve hold! The crowd chants “You can’t wrestle” as the shoulder massage continues. Batista finally counters but runs into a big boot. Batista blocks the vice grip and nails a spinebuster! Khali blocks a flying shoulder block and nails the double choke slam. Batista kicks out! Singh slides in a chair and Khali uses it for the DQ at 6:54. Crappy finish to a crappy match, ¾*.
Winner via DQ: Batista
-Batista gets his heat back with a spear and some chair shots. Don’t worry, folks, if you’re feeling ripped off that you spent $40 and got this, next month you can spend another $40 for Unforgiven, where we promise this won’t happen again!

-Mae Young and The Fabulous Moolah want to have relations with Vince, so they can provide another bastard son. Young tackles Vince and it’s about as funny as it sounds. Actually, it’s far worse, as they drag the elderly women out of the room by force. In the wake of the Benoit tragedy, WWE tried really hard to keep things classy, as you can tell. The punch line is that Vince kind of liked it.

WWE Championship:
John Cena © vs. Randy Orton

Believe it or not, but at the time Cena/Orton was a fresh match. Also, Cena was in the 11^th month of his third title reign and Orton was the biggest threat to come along in months. J.R. is kind enough to mention that Cena had been champion for 24 out of the previous 27 months. So yeah, the crowd is heated for this one. Cena is roundly booed as he works a headlock. Orton reverses to a nice pop. Cena looks for an STF but Orton starts throwing hard punches. Cena scores a bulldog for the first near fall. Cena is selling a head injury and misses a shoulder block. Orton sends Cena crashing off the apron onto the announce table. Cue the chinlock! Cena counters but he’s unable to build any momentum. Orton misses a knee drop, but cuts off Cena’s comeback with, you guessed it, a main event chinlock! Cena is trapped for quite a while before backing Orton into the turnbuckles to escape. Cena makes a comeback, complete with the Five Knuckle Shuffle. The F-U is blocked and Orton nails a backbreaker. DDT off the ropes by Orton gets 2! The RKO is blocked but Cena is sent tumbling to the floor. Orton whips Cena into the ring steps but can’t get the pinfall. Swinging neck breaker by Cena but he gets caught on the top rope. Cena blocks and delivers the flying leg drop! The F-U is blocked yet again and Cena gets snapped off the ropes. Orton goes for the death punt but it misses! Cena locks on the STFU, but Orton gets the ropes. RKO out of nowhere but Cena kicks out! Cena surprises with the FU and gets the pinfall at 21:13. This is easily the best match Cena and Orton ever had together, ****.
Winner and still WWE Champion: John Cena
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Final Thoughts: The main event surpassed my expectations. It’s funny that I was so down on Orton at the time, looking back he was firing on all cylinders in 2007. Nothing else on the show really stood out. The under card is forgettable as the big selling points in the weeks leading up to it were that Triple H and Rey Mysterio were coming back. The Rey/Chavo match was a good outing but that Triple H/Booker match left a bad taste in my mouth. Overall, this is a bland show, and WWE is capable of doing much better for the “Biggest Party of the Summer.”

Thumbs down!

WWE Pay-per-view Posters 2006

First off, can you believe there were SIXTEEN WWE pay-per-views in 2006? They had an incredible sprint of mediocrity late in the year, as Survivor Series, December to Dismember, and Armageddon all took place within a six week span. They managed to set some record low buyrates and since eased off on the insane number of shows they were running.

Vengeance

This Sunday, World Wrestling Entertainment presents Vengeance, a "Night of Champions." The hype for this show has been on the back-burner thanks to the continuing fake news coverage over the death of Mr. McMahon (which CNBC claims could make WWE vulnerable to lawsuits over the fact that they are a publicly traded company and have issued press releases in an attempt to blur the lines between fiction and real life). Also add to the fact that Vengeance is right on the heels of One Night Stand and the recent news that Backlash did a poor buyrate, this show appears to be doomed. So what exactly is going wrong in WWE land with this show and what could have been done to fix this?

1) Mick Foley is stepping out of retirement (again) and is main eventing his first pay-per-view since Wrestlemania 16 (back in April 2000). This is a stunt clearly designed to boost the buyrate, but is this really an effective plan in the year 2007? WWE needs to realize that Foley has been an inactive talent for seven years now. In perspective, seven years before 2000 was 1993, where Yokozuna and Lex Luger were headlining for the World Wrestling Federation. That's an awful long time in the wrestling world, and the fanbase has clearly shifted. When Foley came out on the draft episode of Raw and announced that he was accepting the open challenge for Vengeance, you could practically hear crickets in the audience. No one really seemed to care, and I think Foley noticed it. I am a huge Foley mark, but it is time to face reality now.

You may have noticed that in the past two years, Raw (as well as Smackdown) has been enjoying larger attendance at shows. However, these are not the same fans who were turned off by the product in 2002 and 2003 and have magically returned. These are new fans, who have been sucked in by the buzz coming from the current stars, most notably John Cena and Edge. When they see Foley on Raw, they are all aware that he used to be a big star, but to them he is just an out of shape retiree with a bad hair cut. They are also conditioned to seeing Foley show up mainly to put people over. That is admirable on Foley's behalf, but a lot of the newer fans unfortunately see him as a loser in the process.

2) Stephanie McMahon on Raw. With less than a week before a pay-per-view, you know, the shows that cost viewers 40 bucks a pop to witness, Stephanie comes out and makes a big announcement about the NEXT episode of Raw. Yeah, it's going to be three hours and have all three brands (two weeks after the last three hour episode and draft that was supposedly going to reestablish the lines between brands) so the show is going to be a big deal. However, it makes a state of mind in the fans that they have something big to look forward to next Monday, on free television, so they can skip paying $40 for Vengeance on Sunday, and maybe they'll pick it up later for $16 at Wal-Mart or watch it on WWE 24/7.

Stephanie also faces the same challenge that Foley does. The current fanbase isn't that familiar wtih her. Some longterm fans will remember her as the helpless victim of The Undertaker in 1999, or Triple H's scheming wife in 2000, and maybe some of the newer fans can remember when she was the sympathetic general manager of Smackdown in 2002 and 2003. But most of the new fans, who jumped on board in the past two years, only know her as Vince's daughter, and might even remember her as the obnoxious loud-mouth who tried getting herself over again when Raw returned to USA. But based on her nonexistant crowd reaction on the last Raw, it is clear to me that the fans don't remember her or just don't care about her anymore, or a mixture of both.

3) The "Night of Champions" concept is a pretty cool idea, but it also exposes how poorly the WWE has been booking the championship belts. The issue is that many of the titles have been booked into oblivion or are being held by superstars who aren't really being pushed. Let's take a look at the titles.

WWE Champion: John Cena. This is the best booked title in the WWE today, which is a good thing because the title dates back to 1963. Cena has been a great champion during his third reign, and I don't see any reason why he should drop it at Vengeance. The match itself, with a collection of former champions just thrown in there, screams "fantasy booking," and has the potential to be a real cluster-fuck. However, there is a strong chance that Cena's reign could be up this time, and that gives the match a much needed injection of excitement. This match will probably be the main draw for this show, for obvious reasons.

World Heavyweight Champion: Edge. The rumors have been that Edge is going to be a longterm champion, which many have assumed this means that he'll be holding the belt until Wrestlemania time. Edge was a great choice to hold this belt when Undertaker got hurt, because he brings a fresh touch to Smackdown and it gives him an opportunity to run with the ball, something that wasn't going to happen for him on Raw. My only issue with the match on Sunday is that Edge has been feuding with Batista for months now, and they have not produced anything memorable as far as storytelling goes and reactions to their pay-per-view bouts have been lukewarm at best. I'm eager for Edge to retain the title and feud with a returning Rey Mysterio later this year, while Batista finally gets his feud with Mark Henry off the ground (assuming that Henry doesn't go down with ANOTHER injury).

ECW World Championship: Vacant. Chris Benoit and CM Punk are going to wrestle at Vengeance for this title, and that is a legitimate dream match amongst the internet crowd. If this match delivers, it will be automatically worth picking up on DVD, no matter how awful the rest of the show is. The winner should be Chris Benoit at this point, mainly because he's never held the ECW title, and he would make the ECW brand seem legitimate.

Intercontinental Champion: Santino Marella. The IC title has sunken really low in 2007. It was making a comeback last year, during the great Jeff Hardy/Johnny Nitro feud, but since Umaga won the title in February (by absolutely squashing Hardy) the title has been off the radar again. Umaga barely defended the title and Marella winning it was a neat, if not completely random moment. Marella has had some okay-ish title defenses, but he isn't catching on the way WWE hoped, and it seems that his time is up on Sunday. If Umaga takes the belt, I really hope they do something with it this time, because the IC title has too much history behind it to simply be forgotten about now.

United States Champion: MVP. Smackdown has treated the U.S. title the way Raw should be treating the IC title. They aren't just using the title to get MVP over, but they are also using MVP to add to the title's prestige. That is something that WWE forgets to do with most of their championships. MVP won the title at the end of a tremendous feud with Chris Benoit, and I dearly hope he doesn't lose to Flair on Sunday.

World Tag Team Champions: Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch. This title is making a comeback of sorts, as Jeff and Matt Hardy did a lot to bring attention back to the gold. Cade and Murdoch have been booked much better now than they were during their first reign (they won the title almost immediately after debuting and lost to little fanfare against Big Show and Kane less than two months later). There is no reason for the Hardy's to take the title back on Sunday, as they are both on seperate shows and it is high time to reestablish the lines between brands.

WWE Tag Team Champions: Deuce and Domino. This belt is really hurting right now. London and Kendrick reigned for 11 months, but I can hardly remember anything they were involved in during the last five months of the reign. Deuce and Domino randomly took the titles on a throway episode of Smackdown and have done nothing of note since either. They don't even have scheduled opponents for Vengeance, with many predicting the Majors Brothers will be getting the shot. This is also only the second pay-per-view appearance by Deuce and Domino, with their first being all the way back at No Way Out in February. My question is why put the tag titles on a team that they don't even think enough of to schedule on pay-per-views on a regular basis, that it took a "Night of Champions" theme just to get them on the show?

Women's Champion: Melina. This title almost always gets included on pay-per-views, but that suggests that it is more prestigious than it really is. The Women's title match is almost always the piss break match, as it is routinely poor quality and frequently is placed on the card in between main event matches. Candice Michelle has a very real chance of taking the title on Sunday, and would be the first Diva Search contestant to win the gold. Melina has not been taking off as champion too well, but at least she is someone who WWE thinks enough of to have regularly portrayed on television, unlike former champions such as Molly Holly (she was practically invisible in her 2003 run) and Gail Kim.

Cruiserweight Champion: Chavo Guerrero. And we end here, on the most depressing championship in all of the WWE. Why is Chavo Guerrero the champ? To push him? To reward him for his hard work? No, the reason Chavo is the champ is because they had NOTHING else for him to do. His push towards the U.S. title flopped and his character was dead in the water, thanks to the tasteless feud against Rey Mysterio (even though Chavo won that feud, his character was damaged badly). So Chavo won the title at No Way Out, as the surprise entrant to a cruiserweight open, just after Jimmy Wang Yang had unceremoniously ended the year-plus reign of Gregory Helms. Since then, Chavo has been barely used on television and has been featured on ZERO pay-per-views, that is until this "Night of Champions" theme forced Smackdown to push the cruiserweight division again in recent weeks. Again, I want to ask the WWE why is it that they would put a championship on someone they did not plan on utilizing in any meaningful way.

Final Thoughts: So there you have it, this "Night of Champions" concept has exposed how poorly WWE has been booking the titles. Thanks to the theme, they are presenting a pay-per-view full of participants who are barely ever on pay-per-views, yet they are somehow the champions or the top contenders. WWE officials and writers probably don't care about this situation, but it would be my deep hope that they will learn a lesson from Vengeance and that things will improve from here.