The SmarK Rant for WWE Summerslam 2022 – 07.30.22

The SmarK Rant for WWE Summerslam 2022 – 07.30.22

Live from Nashville, TN. I didn’t even know this was a stadium show, to be honest.

Your hosts are Jimmy Smith, Corey Graves & Bryon Saxton

RAW Women’s title: Bianca Belair v. Becky Lynch

Becky goes for a headlock and Bianca throws her off, so Becky goes to a facelock while they’re got the ring mic’d WAY too hot and you can hear them conversing. Becky goes for the arm and works on that with some stuff, but Bianca flips into a dropkick and hits a Glam Slam into a standing moonsault for two. They were looking a bit nervous on that one. Becky bails and fight on the floor, and Becky drops her on the railing and back in for two. Becky with the Bexploder, but Bianca tries a suplex and Becky reverses to a cradle for two. Bianca tries to fight back, but Becky rolls her into an armbar on the mat and that gets two. Bianca bails to the apron and manages to fight her off, but Becky boots her to the floor. They fight for a suplex out there and that goes nowhere, so Bianca runs Becky into the post and they’re both down. Back in, Bianca gets a moonsault for two. Becky goes up and hits a Diamond Dust press for two. They slug it out and Becky tries a rana, but Bianca counters into a reverse powerbomb. Becky hangs on and rolls into an armbar, but Bianca makes the ropes and they tumble to the floor off that. Bianca hits the KOD on the floor and Becky beats the count at 9, so Bianca tries it again and Becky blocks it. Bianca goes up and they fight over a superplex, but Becky pulls her down into the uranage for two. Becky tries the armbar again and Bianca rolls her up for two, but she goes up and Becky cuts her off again. But Bianca brings her down with a Spanish Fly and finishes with the KOD at 15:27. Thought it was pretty disappointing and kind of clunky compared to some of the other matches they’d had, but the finish was really good. *** And then after they reconcile and hopefully turn Becky babyface, Bayley comes out to finally make her big return after a year. And then Dakota Kai also comes out, apparently unfired, and so does Io Shirai, although they keep calling her “Io Sky” so they’re still doing the name change thing. Well that’s certainly something different.

Logan Paul v. The Miz

Are they still seriously trying to sell Logan Paul as a babyface? They trade takedown attempts and Miz boots him down, but Logan flips him into a fireman’s carry and gets his own boot. Logan slugs him down and gets a rollup for two, and then clotheslines Miz to the floor and gets a pretty decent moonsault off the apron. Back in, Miz beats on him with chops, but Logan gets his own and goes to the middle rope, where Miz brings him down with a codebreaker. Miz chokes him out on the ropes and Ciampa gets a cheapshot on his behalf, having apparently lowered himself to Miz’s stooge now, and Miz goes to a chinlock. Paul fights out and goes up with a blockbuster, and both guys are out off that. Paul fights back with a running powerslam for two and takes out the knee, which sets up a figure-four, but Miz makes the ropes. Logan with a crossbody and standing moonsault for two. Ciampa gets involved again and the ref tosses him and AJ Styles makes a cameo and drags him to the back. Logan with a Phenomenal Forearm for two and Miz bails to the floor. Logan preps the announce table and hits a frog splash through the table for some impressive athletics, but Maryse takes the ref while he makes the cover. This allows Miz to find his chain, but Logan counters him with a skull crushing finale for the pin at 14:19. Well this way overdelivered for what was expected, and was probably one of Miz’s best ever matches in fact. Logan’s got a real natural feel for the mechanics, and if can connect as a babyface like he desperately wants to, he can be really great. **** He should still be a heel, though.

Meanwhile, the Maximum Male Models teach us that water is the essence of wetness.

US title: Bobby Lashley v. Theory

Theory lays him out with the briefcase before the bell, but Bobby is good to go, so Theory slugs him down, but Lashley comes back with a slam, which is apparently “Theory getting launched into orbit”. I really wish they’d tone down the hyperbole sometimes. Theory tries to take a walk with the case, but Bobby chases him back for a beating at ringside. Theory gets a dropkick for two, but Bobby hits him with a flatliner and they slug it out. Bobby with a running powerslam, but he misses a spear and hits the ringpost. But then he recovers with the full nelson and Theory taps at 4:45. Pretty much the same match as last time. *1/2

Finn Balor & Damian Priest v. Rey & Dominick Mysterio

Everyone brawls to start and the Mysterios clean house and follow with dives, and back in for a crossbody from Dom on Balor for two. Double team splash gets two. Priest gets a shot from the apron and Balor puts the boots to Dom in the corner. Priest with a legdrop for two. Priest goes to a chinlock and Balor adds a suplex, but Rey gets the hot tag and runs wild on Priest. Seated senton on Priest and he steals a chair from Balor as the no-DQ stip finally comes in play. Priest gets a superkick for two, but Rey reverses him for the 619. Balor cuts him off and goes up to finish, but Dom cuts that off, and Rey gets a rana off the top for two. This sets up a double 619, but Rhea breaks that up and takes out Dom. Things look bad, but then the lights go out and Edge makes his return, looking like a skinny Gangrel, and takes out the Judgment Dorks, allowing Rey to finish Balor at 11:10. Gotta say, the effectiveness of these run-ins is lessened when it takes 5 minutes to get to the ring. This was just kind of a match, that was more there to set up Edge’s return than anything. **1/2

Pat McAfee v. Happy Corbin

McAfee gets a rana and takes Corbin to the floor with that, and sends him into the post. Back in, Corbin fights him off on the top and hits him with a dropkick to take over. Corbin slugs away and takes him to the floor for some abuse out there, and that gets two. Corbin with the Deep Six for two. He tries the sliding clothesline, but McAfee cuts him off with a baseball slide and they fight to the floor again, where Corbin shoves Cole around while putting the badmouth on McAfee. Back in the ring, Happy goes up, but Pat cuts him off with a superplex for two. They slug it out and Pat tosses him, and then follows with a terrifying swanton to the floor, nearly slipping and falling on the way down. Back in, the ref gets bumped, and Pat goes low and gets a sunset flip for the pin at 10:44. This was, as Cole noted, definitely not pretty or scientific, but it was fine. **1/2 The commentary seemed to be teasing a Corbin & Graves v. Michael Cole & Pat McAfee tag team match at some point, which would be…something.

Drew McIntyre stops by to remind us that he’s in the main event of the Castle PPV.

World tag team title: The Usos v. The Street Profits

Jeff Jarrett is YOUR special referee here, in advance of working Ric Flair’s “last” match tomorrow on PPV. Jimmy slugs away on Dawkins in the corner and Jarrett pulls both guys off each other, and Jey comes in with a forearm on Dawkins for two. The Usos put the boots to him and Jimmy chokes him out and goes to a chinlock. Jimmy misses a charge and Ford gets the hot tag and comes in with a crossbody for two. He runs wild with an enzuigiri and back suplex on Jey, and a standing moonsault gets two. Standing blockbuster gets two. Jey gets a slam for two to cut him off, but Montez sends the Usos to the floor, where Dawkins hits them with a dive and gets two on Jimmy in the ring. Back to Ford with a double team suplex for two. They try for the Street Sweeper, but Jimmy breaks it up with superkicks and a Superkick Party on Dawkins sets up the flying Uso splash for two. So they set up for the double Uso splash, and that gets two. Everyone is out and Jey nearly superkicks Jarrett, but Jeff catches the foot and Montez hits From the Heavens for two. Ford freaks out on JJ over that near fall while the Usos bail, and they sucker him into a double superkick on the floor. Back in the ring, the One D on Dawkins finishes at 13:24 and the Usos win…again. This one definitely felt like a step down from last time. *** Would it not make sense to just beat them and actually make a new team into a threat? Also Jarrett didn’t really serve any particular storyline purpose here.

Riddle joins us, because he’s not medically cleared but still wants Seth Rollins. So Seth comes in and kicks his ass again and leaves. I’m not really sure what the point of doing a fake injury to cancel the match and then running an angle here anyway was.

Smackdown Women’s title: Liv Morgan v. Ronda Rousey

Ronda slugs on her in the corner and hits her with a knee strike, then follows with a judo throw for two. Liv counters an armbar into the Rings of Saturn, but Ronda escapes that and gets the armbar, forcing Liv to make the ropes. The ref checks on the arm, but Ronda takes her into another armbar, and Liv rolls her over for the pin at 4:42. Not much to this one, although they did the finish where Liv was tapping while making the pin, so THIS FEUD MUST CONTINUE. ** And Ronda snaps and beats up the ref afterwards, hopefully turning heel.

Mayor Kane announces the (fake) attendance and blows up some pyro.

World title, Last Man Standing: Roman Reigns v. Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar is a true Saskatchewan resident now, because he drives his tractor to the ring. Brock clotheslines him to the floor right away and suplexes him out there a few times for the first count. Brock suplexes him onto a stage for the next count, but Roman escapes an F5 and Brock runs him into a truss and tosses him into a cameraman on the floor. Back to ringside, Brock gets another suplex for a count, but Roman slams him through a table and follows with the stairs to the head. Back in, Roman with the superman punch to set up the spear, and that draws an 8 count. Brock dodges another spear and sends Roman to the floor, and then smashes him through a piece of table for another count. So Brock puts the tractor’s scoop down for some reason and throws more debris at Roman, for another count. Next up, Brock puts him in the tractor scoop and dumps him in the ring for another count. Back in, time for Suplex City for another count on Roman. F5 draws another count. Roman tries for the guillotine, but Brock reverses to his own and the ref talks him into releasing once Roman is out. Roman beats that count as well. So next up, Brock uses the tractor to lift the ring in the air and dump Roman to the floor, and that’s a spot you don’t see every day. Roman beats that one as well, so this prompts the Usos to come out and attack Brock, and they get suplexed as a result. And poor Heyman gets F5’d through the table, allowing Roman to spear him for another count. So at this point, Theory decides to cash in, but Brock F5s him on the briefcase to cut him off and he disappears. Roman spears Brock for another count and then brutalizes him with the remains of the briefcase for another count. So Reigns hits him with one of the belts and that’s another count. Another one more belt shot, before the Usos bury Brock under a pile of furniture, and that finally finishes at 22:51. The match was mostly excellent with a bunch of creative hard-hitting stuff leading up to the tractor spot, but really that was the peak and everything afterwards was just kind of running too long, leading to inevitable Roman win. Once you’ve destroyed the ring with farm equipment, it’s time to go home. Still, I really enjoyed it and it was very different than the other million matches they’ve had. ****1/4

Overall, nothing bad, but this didn’t really feel like the post-Vince creative resurgence that people had been looking for. Overall an enjoyable, easy show to watch, and an easy thumbs up.