Thanks to WWE 2k16, Sport360’s Barny Read travelled to New York City for WWE SummerSlam. Here is what he gleaned from attending the WWE’s flagship summer event.
NEW YORK CITY — Highly controversial, equally entertaining and surprising, it’s been a somewhat normal week for the WWE.
SummerSlam rolled into Brooklyn’s Barclays Centre with the promise of some mouth-watering matchups and fans left the arena aghast, angry and delighted.
A go-home Raw and Smackdown followed, which added further fuel to the fire and made sense of some of the things witnessed at this week’s pay-per-view.
– WWE TLC: Amell joins Mayweather & co as wrestling celebrities
– WWE TLC: The five most controversial moments in WWE history
1) WWE UNIVERSE ALWAYS HARD TO PLEASE
As SummerSlam came to a close and intentional replays of the Undertaker tapping out before going on to beat Brock Lesnar played out in the Barclays Centre, fans were fuming.
Boos rang out around the stadium and the general feeling in the crowd was one of disappointment and a sense of being cheated out of a clean win in the Main Event.
Having witnessed the theatre of The Undertaker vs Lesnar and the intensity of the pair’s work in the ring, it was a harsh reaction from the WWE crowd but one that was perfectly orchestrated.
Infuriating the fans and sustaining momentum around a rivalry is par for the course and knowing the superb work of Paul Heyman (as witnessed on Raw this week where he blended storyline with reality in typically brilliant fashion) was yet to come, the WWE nailed it.
2) A HEEL TURN ALWAYS WORKS
While TLC was left infuriated by the conclusion of Seth Rollins vs John Cena and comedian John Stewart’s unfunny turn to help the former unite his World Heavyweight title with Cena’s US gold, the rest of the WWE Universe was delighted by events.
It is safe to say that everyone loves a turn, even more so one from a celebrity cameo (look no further than this list).
Stewart’s intervention was perceived by many in the stadium as a fair one, considering he is a genuine fan and the explanation on Raw that it was to honour Ric Flair’s record did enough to justify his actions in the eyes of many.
What left a sour taste was that it defined an otherwise enthralling encounter between the two wrestlers.
3) EVERYONE LOVES A COMEBACK
“D-Von, get the tables!”
That crowd-igniting phrase from the WWE’s Attitude Era is returning to the ring for the company’s most successful run since those heady days of Stone Cold, The Rock and Mick Foley.
This week saw The Dudley Boyz back in the WWE, Bubba Ray and D-Von putting tag team champs The New Day on the back foot as they look to reassert themselves as the division’s top team following their win at SummerSlam.
While the Dudleyz may be ageing, the reaction of the crowd and the superb mic and ring work from New Day will make this an intriguing rivalry.
4) DIVAS NEED DIRECTION
We have long stated in this column that the Divas division is in rude health right now.
This is still the case but the numerous team battles and tag matches have slowed momentum and started to dull the competition.
If there was a Divas tag-team belt to vie for then at least these matches would have a sense of worth and that there was something to fight for.
As it is, we must still wait for Brie Bella’s history-making run to finally fulfil its prophecy before we see the likes of Charlotte, Alicia Fox and Becky Lynch add true credence to the division.
5) BIG SHOW: AN ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM
Another week, another babyface turn for The Show.
It really has become a tired affair as the WWE desperately tries to find a way to shoehorn Big Show into meaningful storylines.
We argued some time ago that Show needed to be sidelined to allow an increasingly competitive roster to blossom but the WWE remains set on trying to keep the giant in the spotlight.
The latest casualty is the burgeoning (and crowd pleasing) rivalry between Rusev and Dolph Ziggler, which ended in ignominy with the double count out at SummerSlam.
