Summerslam 2024 Review
Rhea Ripley vs. Liv Morgan Women's World Championship 97/100 A
This match was incredible. Both Rhea and Liv have been fan favorites at different times, so the first thing they did was establish who the bad girl was. Liv took that role by running in and out of the ring, avoiding wrestling Rhea. Liv's strategy also served to show that she was the weaker competitor physically. Rhea eventually got her hands on Liv, and she absolutely dominated her. Rhea seemed like she was about to squash Liv for the Women's Championship, and then Liv threw her into the post awkwardly, and her injured shoulder dislocated.
From there, Rhea became the Underdog. Liv started punishing her oddly bulged, dislocated shoulder. It was brutal to watch the things Liv did to Rhea, especially as someone who has dislocated their arm in sport on more than one occasion. However, Rhea pushed her own shoulder back into place by ramming into the announce table. She then took over the match, but with the injured arm, Liv was able to fight back. Liv brought in a chair, but Rhea kicked it away from her. She was about to hit Liv with it, but Dominik stopped her from destroying Liv with the chair and reminded her that she couldn't win the title.
However, Liv took advantage of the distraction and hit Rhea with Obvlion and knocked Dom off the ring apron. Everyone thought Liv had it, but Rhea kicked out. Then, later in the match, Domnik threw the chair in the ring, pointed it out to Liv while Rhea was resting on ropes, and distracted the ref. Liv then hit Rhea with an Oblivion on the chair and retained the championship. Dom cost Rhea on purpose and then made out with Liv after the match. This was the perfect finish. Liv keeps her title and completes her revenge tour by beating Rhea for the title and taking her man as well. This has been the most entertaining story post-mania, and this finish did justice to that.
Bron vs. Sami Zayn Intercontinental Championship 80/100 B-
Sami Zayn tried to stop the juggernaut, Bron Breakker, but his resistance only lasted for so long. Eventually, Bron Broke through with a spear and kept punishing Sami with another spear for the victory. WWE putting the title on a hot young star is a good thing, but it seems kind of random. Bron and Sami fought last PPV, and Bron lost clean, and now he just runs through Sami? It was weird Sami had an above-average run that ended very soon, and Bron got his first big title win on the main roster in a match that didn't feel as special as it should have.
Logan Paul vs. LA Knight U.S Championship 85/100 B
LA Knight and Logan Paul started to brawl right away. They fought for like ten minutes before the bell rang. Each of them gave it their all. Logan Paull backflipped off the middle of the top rope to the outside onto LA Knight. LA Knight hit Logan with a brainbuster from the top rope. However, in the end, Logan Paul learned a valuable lesson: you lose it how you get it. Logan got his brass knuckles from MGK and punched LA in the face, but that ended up being about as useful as MGK's against Eminem. Logan Paul jumped in the ring and got caught with the BFT, and LA Knight finally won his first title in WWE.
Nia vs. Bayley WWE Women's Title 90/10 A-
The story of this match was about how these two women leveled up from the past year. Bayley was amazing in this match. Bayley displayed more power than she ever had in her career. She suplexed Nia multiple times, including a Bayley to Belly. Bayley even walked with Nia on her shoulders before Powerbombing her. Nia showed that she was the more powerful competitor, but Bayley kept finding ways to fight out of everything Nia threw at her. Bayley was even kicked out of an Annihilator and a leg drop. However, when Tiffany ran into cash in, it distracted Bayley, and Nia Jax destroyed Bayley. She powered Bayley twice and then hit her with two back-to-back Anialators. Nia is the new champion. This is the best choice for SmackDown, but Bayley put on one hell of a performance on her way out.
Drew vs. Cm Punk w/Special Guest Seth Rollins 86/100 B
Wow, talk about dummying yourself out. Drew dominated early, but CM Punk actually caught his groove. Seth called things down the middle. He didn't enforce any of the stupid rules like count out for using the steal steps or hard under part of the ring. However, Seth did stop Drew from using a chair. CM Punk got exposed badly in this match. He accused Drew of being too obsessed with revenge to actually succeed. However, CM Punk literally had the match won and instead dropped Drew to fight with Seth because Seth happened to pick up his bracelet. Then CM Punk actually attacked Seth Rollins, leaving an opening for Drew to kick his family jewels and then kick his head off and take the bracelet back. Great match overall, but man, does CM Punk look stupid. Can't wait to see what he has to say for himself.
Gunther vs. Damian Priest World Heavyweight Championship 87/100 B
Damian Priest beat Gunther as Gunther has never been beaten before. Damian Priest Put his kickboxing background to use and threw haymaker chops and kicks hard enough to chop a tree down. Gunther was busted open in his chest, and Gunther was barely able to stay in the match. Buth Gunther was eventually able to take over, but he couldn't break Priest the way Priest had broken him down until Finn Balor came out and screwed Damian. =
Finn pretended to be there to root for Damian, but then he saved Gunther from losing. Then Damian lost because he was overcome with rage, and he tried to attack Finn and got caught in a sleeper and choked out. The match was very good, and the story of Judgment Day is compelling. However, having Gunther win the title seems like a mistake. Damian was having an excellent reign as champion. He was the best male world champion in WWE. He looked better and better every time he was given something to do. Gunther puts on good matches, but if his World title reign is anything like his IC title reign, then it has no chance of comparing to what Damian was doing.
Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Universal Title Bloodline Rules Match 83/100 B
This match was clearly put in the main event for the return of Roman Reigns. The vast majority of the match was slow. Cody and Solo are a standard borderline boring match. Things got more exciting when the Bloodline and Randy and Kevin Owens jumped into the fight. However, the climax is when Roman Reigns returns and chooses to put Solo in his place instead of Cody Rhodes. Cody retains his title, and the Bloodline Civil War is on.
Reverse Hipster's Final Grade 86.8 B
Summerslam 2024 review: this was an excellent Summerslam. Triple H is doing a great job. Every match was either a title or an important one. There were FOUR TITLE CHANGES, and while I don't fully agree with all of them, I can't dispute that it was exciting. Between the title changes and the surprises like Dominik betraying Liv, Finn betraying Damian, and Roman returning, this Summerslam has been so eventful that non-wrestling fans are talking about it. Wrestling is truly at an all-time high of popularity in the Triple H & Khan era.
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