Posted on 7/29/125 by Bob Magee
Opening segment
Jey Uso entered to his customary reaction. He was about to
run it back and play his music again, but Paul Heyman
interrupted.
Heyman said he was not out there to disrespect “Main Event”
Jey Uso, who was, in fact, in tonight’s main event. Heyman
wanted to talk about family. Heyman was about to enter the
ring, but after seeing the look on Jey’s face, he scampered
back to the aisle.
Heyman couldn’t believe Jey accepted Roman Reigns’ invite to
be his partner against Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker.
Heyman knew Jey loved his family, but he told him that
family would always let him down and get him in trouble.
That wasn’t a prediction, that was a prophecy. (The crowd
chanted, “OTC.”)
Heyman informed Jey that Santa Claus wasn’t the one who left
presents. His mother lied. The crowd booed, so Heyman said
their mothers all lied, too—except for the Jewish ones. (“My
tribe knows better,” he said.)
Rikishi may have told Jey that he wanted him to be more
iconic than him. But his father lied, too. When Reigns named
the next in line for Tribal Chief, he picked Solo Sikoa, not
Jey Uso. That didn’t work out so well. Now, Reigns might
tell Jey he wants Jey to be as big as him, but Reigns was
lying too.
Heyman was simply telling this to Jey because he loved him.
He loved Jey just like family. Heyman yelled, “Yeet,” and
dropped the mic.
Jey responded: family was the reason he was out there. Jey
would pull up for his family every single time. The
bloodline still ran deep in his veins. Heyman was being
disrespectful by talking about the things Jey could do
without Reigns. Jey already did those things. He went out on
his own and won the world title to prove to himself that he
could. Jey wondered where Heyman’s family even was.
Jey said Heyman screwed Reigns at WrestleMania, while his
boys screwed him out of a world title shot. Whatever
happened to them at SummerSlam was on Heyman’s ass.
Since he wasn’t able to earlier, Jey had them play his music
again so the crowd could Yeet.
(It was good to give Jey his own talking segment here with
Heyman so he doesn’t feel so secondary to Reigns in this
program.)
********
Six-person mixed tag team match: AJ Styles, Asuka & Kairi
Sane vs. Women’s Tag Team Champions Raquel Rodriguez &
Roxanne Perez & Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio
The babyfaces were in control until Dom pulled Perez to
safety, causing Sane to collide with the bottom turnbuckle,
in full view of the referee. The ref turned her attention to
a pissed-off Styles, and that distraction allowed Rodriguez
to boot Sane while outside the ring. (This happened in the
ref’s peripheral vision.)
There were duelling chants of “AJ Styles” and “Dirty Dom”
during a break. Sane speared Perez, but she couldn’t make a
tag because Rodriguez yanked Asuka off the apron. (It was
meant to be a surprise, but you could see Rodriguez run
over.) Sane couldn’t tag Styles either, because Dom
blatantly entered the ring and decked Styles. This all
happened in front of the ref.
Styles finally got the hot tag, and he ran wild on Dom to
the crowd’s delight. Styles set up for a Phenomenal forearm,
but Perez stepped in front of Dom to stop it. Asuka and Sane
assisted in taking out Perez. Styles assisted Sane in
hitting a big dive to wipe out Rodriguez.
Styles finished off Dom with a Phenomenal forearm for the
pinfall win.
Match result: AJ Styles, Asuka & Kairi Sane defeated
Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio and Women’s Tag
Team Champions Raquel Rodriguez & Roxanne Perez (10:42)
This match was really all about the last minute or so. The
crowd was into Styles, so it came across well enough despite
not being much of a match.
********
Jackie Redmond congratulated Sheamus on his win over Rusev.
He quoted Big E by saying it was an example of big, meaty
men slapping meat. That got a laugh out of the crowd.
Speaking of Big E, Sheamus’ interview was interrupted by
Grayson Waller, flanked by The New Day.
Waller talked tough and said the greatest tag team of all-
time had his back. An argument between the two led to a
match being made. Waller turned around to realize that New
Day had vanished and suddenly did not have his back.
********
Detroit Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs and UFC fighter Jamahal Hill
were in the crowd.
Sheamus vs. Grayson Waller
Sheamus had it won and set up for a Brogue Kick, but had to
stop upon seeing Rusev hit the apron. Sheamus knocked him
down, but Waller caught him in a schoolboy for two. Sheamus
popped up and hit a Brogue Kick for the easy win.
— Rusev attacked Sheamus with a shillelagh and applied an
Accolade as some fans chanted, “We want Lana.” Rusev held
the submission for a while until officials finally got him
to let go.
Match result: Sheamus defeated Grayson Waller (4:09)
*******
Redmond interviewed Naomi about her upcoming title defence
against Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky. Naomi said she could bring
the brutality like Ripley, and fly like Iyo Sky. Everyone in
the division was passive-aggressive, but she was aggressive-
aggressive, and tonight’s tag match would be a cautionary
tale. She did her goofy evil laugh and warned everyone to
proceed with caution.
Byron Saxton interviewed New Day during a break.
********
They aired some words on Hulk Hogan from Logan Paul, AJ
Styles, Jim Duggan, Jimmy Hart, Natalya, Jey Uso, The Miz,
and Cody Rhodes. Rhodes said Hogan was the first
‘superstar,’ and the wrestling business no longer has its
Babe Ruth.
Michael Cole announced that net proceeds from Hogan’s
merchandise sales would be donated to his family.
********
Heyman told Bronson Reed that Jey Uso thinks they’re just a
group without a leader. Bron Breakker stepped in and said
they have a leader now. Breakker told Reed to take out Jey
with a Tsunami, and they could take control of WWE starting
tonight. Reed was on board. After Reed left, Breakker told
Heyman that he had a plan.
Lyra Valkyria segment
Valkyria entered. She did a little twirl to show off her
shoes, which she called “Becky stompers.” This got no
reaction. She then misspoke and said she would be standing
there in two weeks—then corrected herself to say one week—as
Women’s Intercontinental Champion.
She acknowledged that maybe she would fail and wouldn’t be
standing there at all, because Lynch would have to beat her
into the ground to walk out as champion. Valkyria knew Lynch
didn’t like to play by the rules, which was the reason she
won the title in the first place.
Valkyria was happy to play it Lynch’s way. Valkyria was not
playing into Lynch’s hand, because she knew exactly what
Lynch was capable of. But Lynch didn’t know what Valkyria
was capable of. Valkyria was prepared to go to a place she
had never gone before.
Lynch’s music hit, and Valkyria turned her attention to the
stage. Nobody entered, so Valkyria quickly realized what was
going on (Lynch was behind her, outside the ring). Valkyria
ran and hit a baseball slide to Lynch. Lynch had a kendo
stick, but Valkyria fought her off with it until Lynch
bailed.
********
Sami Zayn and Karrion Kross segment
Sami Zayn did a sit-down interview with Corey Graves. Zayn
wanted to be done with Karrion Kross. Kross was getting in
the way of achieving his goal, which was to be the world
champion.
Kross and Scarlett interrupted, and Kross took Graves’ seat.
Kross said he had every intention of attacking Zayn with a
steel rod, but he realized Zayn wouldn’t make it to
SummerSlam if he did. Everybody Kross has dealt with so far
has wound up showing their true colours, except for Zayn,
and that was starting to piss him off. When Kross beat him
at SummerSlam, he wanted to hear Zayn say, “Kross told the
truth.” Then they could go their separate ways. Kross said
Zayn was no better than him.
Zayn said he wasn’t sure what Kross wanted. If Kross did
win, Zayn was willing to say whatever he wanted. But Zayn
wanted Kross to know he was wrong about him—and maybe Kross
was wrong about himself. Zayn said he would beat Kross at
SummerSlam, and wanted to hear Kross say he was wrong.
********
Bayley interview
Redmond interviewed a downtrodden Bayley. She said she lost
her chance at the IC title and tag titles, did not wrestle
at WrestleMania, and wouldn’t have a match at SummerSlam.
She was at a loss for words. She left.
********
SummerSlam will begin each day at 6 pm ET/3 pm ET. The
countdown show is 3 hours long.
Cole announced a sold-out crowd tonight of 14,703.
Eight-woman tag team match: Women’s World Champion Naomi,
Chelsea Green, Piper Niven & Alba Fyre vs. Rhea Ripley, IYO
SKY, Stephanie Vaquer & Nikki Bella
It’s been 30 minutes since the Sheamus match ended, and that
match went 4 minutes.
Nikki was in control until Fyre made a blind tag and hit her
with a superkick. This led to a break and, of course, Nikki
made a hot tag to Sky moments after they returned.
Sky was cut off after a distraction from Naomi, and the
heels took over again. Niven and Green took turns hitting
moves on Sky, so Vaquer and Nikki broke up a pinfall
attempt. Ripley tried to get involved, but Naomi shoved her
into the steel steps.
Vaquer got a hot tag, and she laid out all four opponents.
With all four laid out against each turnbuckle, Vaquer
handed out running knee strikes to everyone except Naomi.
Naomi managed to block it, but Vaquer caught her with a
dragon screw instead. The crowd got louder when Vaquer hit
Green with Devil’s Kiss.
Nikki gave Fyre a Bella Buster. She stared down Naomi, who
was about to enter the ring. Naomi had enough, so she
grabbed her belt and began leaving, but Sky intercepted her
and chucked her in the ring. Nikki and Sky laid out Naomi.
Nikki and Sky did Sky’s pose. Niven laid out Nikki and Sky
with a double clothesline, and did Sky’s pose too. That got
a pop.
Ripley gave Niven a Rip-tide. Green slapped Ripley, so
Ripley got in her face until Green backed into Vaquer, who
hit an SVB for the pinfall win.
Match result: Stephanie Vaquer, Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY & Nikki
Bella defeated Chelsea Green, Piper Niven, Alba Fyre &
Women’s World Champion Naomi (14:36)
This was ok. Ripley did give Niven her finisher, but she
otherwise did surprisingly little in the match. Perhaps
saving her for the weekend.
********
Judgment Day were not in a good mood backstage after the
earlier loss, but Finn Bálor cheered them up by pointing out
all their gold despite Liv Morgan not being there. Dom asked
him if he wanted them at ringside, but Bálor told them to
chill backstage.
Perez handed Dom a new Nintendo Switch and suggested he play
WWE 2K25 (they already have it playing on the big TV and PS5
behind them). Rodriguez was annoyed and reminded Dom that
Morgan also liked to play that game.
********
Backstage, Sky told Ripley that she has never beaten her and
never will. Ripley said, ‘we’ll see.’
World Tag Team Championship match: Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh
vs. Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toro
Wilde hit a big dive before a break, but Judgment Day took
control during the break. Del Toro made a lukewarm tag and
woke up the crowd by hitting McDonagh with an impressive
coast-to-coast missile dropkick. Wilde and Del Toro followed
with suicide dives.
Wilde hit Bálor with a moonsault, and Del Toro followed with
a Phoenix splash, but McDonagh broke up the cover.
El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser) ran out and hit the
apron to distract Del Toro, but Dragon Lee ran out and they
brawled to the back. Bálor used the distraction to put Del
Toro in a small package for two. Del Toro superkicked Bálor
and kicked McDonagh off the apron. Wilde took out McDonagh
with a crazy flip dive off the top.
Del Toro went to the top, but was tripped by a different
masked man (dressed like Chad Gable). I have no idea how the
ref didn’t see this.
The masked man ran off, and Bálor hit Del Toro with a Coup
de Grâce for the pinfall win. Judgment Day retain.
Match result: Finn Bálor & JD McDonagh defeated Joaquin
Wilde & Cruz Del Toro to retain the World Tag Team
Championships (10:55)
Credit to LWO for getting the crowd into this even though
nobody would’ve thought they could win. The fans were also
into the shenanigans at the end.
********
Gunther and CM Punk segment
Gunther entered wearing an all-black suit, black t-shirt and
his gold title belt. The crowd chanted for Punk.
Gunther called last week a clean victory for him because he
went toe-to-toe on the microphone with supposedly the best
talker in the world, CM Punk. Gunther told him to his face
what would happen at SummerSlam and left the ‘voice of the
voiceless’ speechless. He made Punk understand that he does
not deserve to call himself the best in the world and will
never be a world champion. Most of all, he made Punk shut
the hell up.
Punk entered to a big reaction. Punk said he wasn’t
speechless last week, he was dumbfounded. Not by what
Gunther said, however. While standing across the ring from
someone as great as Gunther, it dawned on him that he
doesn’t want to be World Heavyweight Champion: “I need to be
World Heavyweight Champion.”
Punk fired up and said he needed to be champion like he
needed air in his lungs, and like he needed a heart to pump
blood through his veins. He needed to be a champion like the
Red Wings needed a 12th Stanley Cup.
He didn’t smoke or drink or do drugs, but he understood
addiction. This place was his addition. He needed to raise
the title over his head as a ‘thank you’ to the fans who
chanted his name for over ten years (while he was gone).
Punk said he doesn’t ‘deserve’ to call himself the best in
the world; he earned that right. He also earned the right to
be arrogant about it. Gunther was as arrogant as him, but he
couldn’t back it up. Punk left a pile of bodies behind him,
including Hall of Famers and legends that Gunther could only
dream of.
Gunther tried to tell him to shut up, but Punk cut him off.
Punk responded, “There’s levels to this, kid.” Punk would
teach him at SummerSlam that he was not on his level. Punk
planned on leaving Saturday as the champion. At least
Gunther would know what it was like to share the ring with
the one and only, best in the world, CM Punk.
(It was a little cliché, but this was a strong promo by
Punk.)
*******
The announcers ran down the SummerSlam card. Sunday is
overloaded with gimmick matches: a cage match, a TLC match,
a street fight and a no-DQ match. (Plus a triple threat,
which is technically no-DQ.)
Jey Uso vs. Bronson Reed (w/Paul Heyman)
Reed fended off some early offence and had complete control.
Literally the moment they returned from a break, Jey avoided
a senton and came back with right hands, a superkick, and a
suicide dive.
Bron Breakker sprinted out down the aisle and speared Jey
for the DQ. The crowd chanted, “OTC.”
— The heels attacked Jey until Roman Reigns entered to his
music. Reigns knocked Breakker out of the ring but couldn’t
get Reed up for a Samoan drop. Reigns avoided his charge,
and Reed went shoulder-first into the ring post. Reigns
helped Jey to his feet. Jey superkicked Breakker off the
apron, and Reigns gave Reed a Superman punch.
Reigns and Jey stepped out of the ring and went for running
spears, but Breakker cut Reigns down with a spear while Reed
knocked down Jey with a body block. (Because both things
were happening simultaneously, it was easy to miss Breakker
cutting down Reigns with a spear.)
Breakker speared Jey in the ring, and Reed followed with a
Tsunami. Breakker noticed Reigns getting to his feet, so he
flew off the apron and clotheslined Reigns over the announce
desk. Breakker tossed Reigns into the ring, and Reed hit him
with a Tsunami.
Breakker stood above a fallen Reigns and told him everything
around here was his now. The ring, the ropes, the cameraman,
the fatasses in the arena—they were all his.
Reigns and Jey found themselves near the part of the
barricade that always breaks, so Breakker ran around the
ring and speared them both through it. (This was followed by
a funny bit where Reed removed Reigns’ sneakers and happily
announced, “These belong to me now!”)
Breakker and Reed (holding Reigns’ shoes) stood tall with
Heyman in the ring as the show ended.
Match result: Jey Uso defeated Bronson Reed via
disqualification (7:09)
The match was an obvious waste of time, but the go-home
angle was what they needed to do with this team, with the
emphasis on Bron Breakker.