| Jeuron Dove talks WWE after SummerSlam |
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By Jeuron Dove This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Hello fans. The biggest blockbuster of the summer is over and things are looking way more interesting than they have in a while. Summerslam was a pretty good show for the most part. The matches that were expected to deliver did so and the ones that weren’t did not. Overall, the show was built on the Hell in the Cell confrontation between Edge and Taker. That match had the best build and totally overshadowed anything else on the show. The match was among the better HITC matches I’ve seen and both guys went above and beyond to make it one of the more memorable matches of the year. While it may have not been at the level of the Foley/Taker, HBK/Taker and HHH/Foley cell matches (not to mention the excellent six-man in 2000 that no one remembers), it was one of the better of recent times right along with Taker/Lesnar in 2002. Edge apparently went to storyline hell after the match and I presume he will be off television for a while to sell the effects. After all, going to hell is something that should be sold for more than a week! The other most notable moment of Summerslam wasn’t even a match, but the awesome segment between Michaels and Jericho. Michaels was in the ring with his wife Rebecca addressing the fans about how he was going to listen to the doctors for once and do the right thing for him and his family. His wife was there beside him as he discussed some of the most controversial and personal moments of his career. Jericho came out to ruin everything and wanted him to admit that he was the reason why he was retiring. They exchanged words and then Jericho took a shot a Michaels, which he ducked, and instead connected with Rebecca. Words literally cannot describe how great this segment was. The emotion and facials that both men showed as this went on was something that you don’t see much of in wrestling today. Rebecca played her role to a tee as well. Michaels was in a state of sorrow and rage over seeing his wife laid out and Jericho had a disturbed angry look on his face and was totally not showing any remorse. The following night on Raw, Jericho came out and cut another of his seemingly great heel promos. He talked about how Michaels was responsible and how he could have easily just made a simple announcement of his retirement instead of coming to Summerslam to make a live spectacle of it. In the midst of his promo, Jericho may have uttered the best line of any wrestler this year on the mic when he said that Michaels deserved it and had it coming. From a storyline/face vs. heel dynamic, that was a huge admission. He was basically saying that because of how selfish Michaels had been throughout his entire career, that his own wife deserved to be punished for his sins. If that isn’t effective heel storytelling, then I don’t know what is. Later in the broadcast, they showed a clip of when Michaels and Rebecca were leaving Summerslam and Michaels said he was going home to comfort his wife and children. This feud continues to be one of the best in recent years. It's been perfectly booked and is built on issues that everyone has been through at one time or another. Salvation, pride, selfishness, redemption, jealousy and the pain that one feels when letting the people closest to them down, are some of the issues that this feud has touched upon. We all know that Michaels is going to come back and accept a match with Jericho, but the way it will come about will give it so much more meaning than if they had just went ahead and had the match at Summerslam without any of this great emotional build. A big reason as to why this feud has clicked is because of Jericho’s tremendous presence as a heel. Everything from his promos to even his new ring attire and wearing three-piece suits to cut promos, has gone a great deal into making him the best heel in the business along with Edge. His win over Punk made him even hotter since he can now brag about having a pinfall win over the champ. I was upset that Punk lost in Chicago, but then again, when has the WWE let anyone win in their hometown? And if it was done to get Jericho over stronger, then I'm all for it. As far as other things go, Summerslam may have been the first time in a while that a HHH title match was the lowlight of a major show. I don’t think that anyone who watched will be having water cooler chats at their job about HHH/Khali being among the most memorable matches in Summerslam history. I have no idea why he would even want to work with someone like Khali, since he always wants to have the best and hottest opponents to fight. I guess at the end of the day he just wanted to say he defeated the largest guy in company. I’m sure that will look good on his long list of accomplishments. The MVP/Hardy situation was interesting only because it made perfect sense based on the storyline of Hardy being reckless, thus costing himself opportunities. I wouldn’t mind seeing their feud continue anyway, especially if they incorporate Benjamin into it. The whole Beth/Santino thing was pretty funny and entertaining for what it was. When Santino finally does decide he wants to move up the ladder and be taken seriously as a top player, I have to wonder how hard it will be for fans to accept him. Especially, after playing the role of a weakling who has his girlfriend fight his battles for him. Santino is one of the best talkers and entertaining characters in the WWE today, but it’s a big difference between being good and being on a Rock, Austin, Jericho, Edge or even Cena level, when it comes to getting people to take what you say on the mic seriously. Punk retaining clean against JBL was expected. Hopefully, he can now start working with others similar to him in ability. The best two matches that Punk had since being champion was his bout with Regal a few weeks back on Raw and the one with Jericho this past Monday. In both cases, the fans were into them and Punk looked phenomenal in each one. But for some odd reason that only Vince can understand, he is booked against guys like Batista and JBL. No offense to either of those two, but they don’t really complement Punk’s style like a Jericho, Mysterio, Regal or Michaels can. Speaking of Batista, he and Cena had a pretty good match. The company gave it the full dream-match build like it was Michaels/Hogan or Rock/Hogan, when it was only given a couple of weeks to build anyway. Nonetheless, I think that casual fans saw it as being a pretty big deal. With the way both interacted with each other on Raw the following night, it’s almost certain they will meet again, hopefully in a Wrestlemania main event. Just because they already fought and a little bit of the luster has been taken off of what could’ve been a first-ever Wrestlemania encounter, a properly booked rematch can work. For proof, all you need to look at is Austin/Rock from Wrestlemania X-7. The two had fought many times before that (even at WM 15), but that match was not only the best match between the two, it was one of the best matches of the best Mania in history. As far as the future is concerned, Vince has created one of the more unique concepts when it comes to a world title match. At Unforgiven, the Raw and Smackdown titles will be decided in a “Championship Scramble” match. According to the rules, there will be five men competing and anyone that makes a pin during the 20:00 time limit will be considered the temporary champion, but whoever has the title at the end of the 20 minutes will be considered the real champion. It’s terrifying that this concept sounds like something I expect to see on any TNA show. As long as Punk leaves the Raw Scramble with the belt, I’ll be willing to overlook the blatant stupidity of this match. Well, I’ve talked long enough. Thank you for reading. And always remember that your feedback, positive and negative, is much appreciated and always encouraged. {plug} |
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