Summerslam Dawn of a New Era

Saturday, July 30th was a massive night for WWE; their pay-per-view Summerslam and Summerslam being the first show with Triple H in charge of creative. The fans were in for a wild night, and boy did Triple H and his team deliver on excitement and newsworthy headlines. The card consisted of Logan Paul making his singles debut against The Miz, Bianca Belair Versus Becky Lynch for the Raw women's championship. Liv Morgan versus Ronda Rousey for the Smackdown Live women's championship. The Street Profits faced The Usos for the Unified Tag team championships, and Bobby Lashley defended his United States championship against Theory. Pat McAfee met rival Happy Corbin, and fans were also treated to a No disqualification match of the Mysterios battle Finn Balor and Damien Priest! To close out the night, fans watched The Beast incarnate Brock Lesner battled The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Championship in the last man standing match.

The show began with Becky Lynch facing Bianca Belair for the Raw women's championship. Exactly one year ago, fans were treated to Becky Lynch's epic return to wrestling after taking time away to give birth. That night, Lynch shocked the world by pinning Bianca seconds to win the championship. Since then, WWE has been building up Bianca Belair for her epic redemption story. The heated rivalry carried through the year, with the audience constantly being treated to phenomenal matches. At Wrestlemania, Belair won the title back. On Summerslam, we witnessed an instant classic between two of the top stars in the company. Lynch and Belair had a hard-hitting affair from start to finish. Each time we saw momentum changing in someone's favor, a massive move was used by one of the ladies to counter it and swing the momentum to someone else's side. Her ring psychology of Lynch was on full display as she tried to neutralize the tremendous strength of Bianca Belair by picking apart her arm of Bianca. The deadly dis-arm-her submission threatened Belair the entire time as she was forced to fight through the pain. Still, our resilient champion continued to battle through the pain. Finally, Bianca finished the epic encounter by hitting Becky with The KOD to get the win and successfully defended her title. The bigger story was after the match when Bayley returned from injury, but she did not come alone! Bayley was a woman with a plan. On this night, she brought some allies in Dakota Kai and Io Shirai (now named Iyo Sky)as the two made their shocking main roster debuts. We immediately felt the Triple H effect with this one due to the rumors and questions on if Shirai would resign her WWE contract. As for Dakota Kai, she was famously released By Vince due to the former chairman "not seeing anything" in the young woman. Kai was one of NXTs top stars over the years. The new stable of these three talented women is a much-needed adrenaline boost to the raw women's division. It has also opened the door to more former talent returning to Triple H's new era of WWE.

Following that match, social media star Logan Paul made his singles debut against The Miz. This match was a controversial matchup because the fans on social media rejected Paul, claiming the social media star couldn't succeed in WWE. Fans felt he would be unable to wrestle at the high level the WWE Universe expects nightly. Logan quickly shut down all his doubters with an astounding performance using his elite athletism and impressive wrestling pedigree to overwhelm The Miz. Logan dazzled the fans ringside when he leaped over the top rope, landing on top of the Miz, causing The A-lister to crash to the outside! As the match went on, unfortunately for Paul, the numbers game came into play as Ciampa and Maryse distracted the referee helping The Miz take advantage. Miz forced Logan to switch to defense as the veteran used his skillset to slow down and shut down Logan at every turn. Whenever Logan started to rebound and recover, Ciampa and Maryse made sure to cut off all momentum he could have built. Suddenly the tides changed when Aj Styles shockingly came out to even the odds for Paul as he eliminated Ciampa from the equation! That was when the tides of battle changed back in Logan Pauls's favor. He forced The Miz out of the ring. He got him prone lying on the announcers' table when Logan decided he wanted to have an iconic moment. Logan leaped off the top turnbuckle and landed on The Miz, driving the veteran through the table, and leaving the fans in shock! The end came when a Logan Paul reversal caused him to capitalize, landing a Skull Crushing Finale for the shocking Victory over The Miz. After the adrenaline-pumping matches we saw earlier, fans witnessed Bobby Lashley defend his United States title against golden boy Theory in a quick match. That saw Theory start off overwhelming The All Mighty, but fortunately for Lashley, he turned the tides. Lashley secured the win to successfully defended his title. The bigger story to follow this match was what Mr. Money in The Bank Theory would do at the night's end. Would he cash in and win his title? or would he hide and save his title shot for another day?

Finally, in the tag match between Rivals The Judgment Day and The Mysterio family, the beloved Mysterio family was forced to come back from behind. Balor and Priest had shut down Dominick's fast-paced action he and Rey brought to the table. Luckily for the two fan favorites, the shocking return of The Rated R superstar Edge came out to a wild reception. The Hall of Famer flattened his former stablemates leading Rey to finish up the match with a 619 to get the victory for his team. The night rolled on with Pat McAfee facing his rival Happy Corbin in a quick matchup. The strength of Corbin was too much for McAfee for most of the match, causing the charismatic McAfee to take heavy damage. This was a longer match for Pat McAfee. Halfway into the contest, we started to see a tired and gassed Pat struggle to keep up with Corbin; the finish came when Pat mounted an impressive comeback for a victory. This fun matchup was challenging for Pat as his inexperience shined a bit more than he and the WWE would have liked, but this was Pat's third match. Pat will only improve and continue to show why he belongs in WWE. Later in the night, an injured Riddle returned to call Seth Rollins for hurting him. Unfortunately for Riddle, he ate a curb stomp for his troubles. I found the segment odd and anti-climatic due to the rumors of someone returning to face Seth, but this segment did its job. It built up the feud between Riddle and Rollins, making their inevitable clash even more exciting.

The matchup I had the highest expectations for was; next, The Usos defending their unified tag team championships against The Street Profits. These two teams faced each other in a heart-stopping match at Money In The Bank. Still, it ended in controversy with The Usos getting the win. Still, the official missed Montez Ford's shoulder wasn't down when he counted the three count. That caused WWE to have Jeff Jarrett return to be a special guest referee for the match in the hopes the legend would be able to lay down the law between the two rivals. The match didn't disappoint as the Profits, and The Usos went to war over the titles. It was filled with nonstop action and heart-stopping near falls that had me and others on the edge of our seats. Ford and Dawkins threw everything they had at the current champs, but it wasn't good enough. Jimmy and Jey wouldn't stay down; they kept comping and fighting to keep the titles around their waists. The champs took charge and picked apart the Street Profits one by one, forcing several near falls of their own. When the dust settled, both teams were exhausted and frustrated. Still, unfortunately, Montez Ford his frustrations cost him and Dawkins the match. Ford went for a thrilling suicide dive hoping to take out the two men but ate a double superkick for his troubles. After that, it was in short order. The Usos finished off Dawkins and got the win to successfully defend their titles, leaving The Street Profits in the ring frustrated. The match was fantastic from start to finish; it was a perfect example of how special tag team wrestling can be. Something worth noting was the look on Montez Ford after the loss; he was frustrated and disappointed, heavily implying a potential heel turn in his future. People believe a Street Profits split is in the future due to Ford having the charisma and in-ring skills to help him become a megastar in the singles division. I don't want to see a Street Profits split just yet. Dawkins and Ford are a perfect duo that the fans easily get behind; in a struggling tag division, they shine and help keep the division afloat. Look at the New Day; all three members have had successful single runs and never split up. WWE can easily keep the Profits together as Ford keeps ascending to the top of the card.

The night's end inched closer when we got to the co-main event as underdog champion Liv Morgan faced Ronda Rousey in a Smackdown women's title match. The match itself was short but controversial. Ronda dominated the champion most of the match with her brutal judo tosses and armbars, but the champion wouldn't be denied; she dug deep and kept fighting. The finish came when Liv rolled up Ronda for the three count, but the ref missed Liv tapping out at the last second; due to the ref's mistake, Morgan retained the title. This made Ronda snap and turn heel and attack Liv Morgan and a WWE official trying to injure them. I'm very conflicted about this booking decision. The match was so short and didn't do Liv any favors, but fortunately, it did give a dangerous top-level heel for the beloved babyface to battle. Liv plays the underdog perfectly, and you can easily support that brutal beating helps her character by showing her never say die attitude. If WWE plays their cards correctly and they have Liv defeat Ronda clean at the following premium live event, they will have a megastar in their mitts. Finally, the main event arrived, and the fans got treated to a memorable last-man-standing match between Brock Lesner and Roman Reigns. The two massive men waged war as I've never seen, all for the Undisputed Universal Championship Brock brought a tractor to the ring for his entrance. To kick start the action, Brock leaped off the tractor and started the war with a bang. Watching it live was like watching a car wreck; I couldn't take my eyes off the action! Lesner and Roman ate all the big moves they threw at each other. Brocks's deadly F5 finisher couldn't keep Roman down for the ten count. The Tribal Chief came back and dominated the Beast, hitting him with spears, superman punches, and more, all hoping to keep Lesner down for that ten count. Roman looked on in horror as Brock rose to his feet, ready to continue fighting. When a barrage of suplexes couldn't keep Roman down, Brock did something shocking he took his tractor and tipped over the ring leaving fans in awe of the wild scene. The battle remained at ringside when Theory made a surprising comeback. He ran to the ring hoping to cash in his briefcase but was spoiled by Brock when he knocked Theory out cold with an F5. Roman got The Usos, and Paul Heyman involved because his title slipped away. Still, The Usos are a series of suplexes for their troubles, and Paul went through the announcer's table courtesy of Brock Lesner. The match culminated when Roman knocked out Brock with brutal shots to the head with the gold belt. To ensure Brock couldn't get back up, Roman and his crew buried Brock alive with chairs, broken tables, and steel steps, leaving Brock unable to reach his feet. This caused Roman Reigns to win the match, and the show ended with Roman standing tall.

Summerslam was the first show in the Triple H era as head of creative, and the King of Kings did not disappoint! His show was filled with shocking events and great in-ring action that had fans wondering what would be next. If this is an example of what's to come for the new era of WWE, fans can sleep comfortably at night knowing the WWE is in safe hands. In one night of total control, Triple H planted the seeds of success and began establishing future stars for the company. WWE feels fresh for the first time in a very long time, and the product can't miss due to the newfound unpredictability. My rating of this event is an A+ from start to finish. The fans received a fresh product that felt unpredictable, which the fans embraced with open arms.

I'm looking forward to what Triple H and Stephanie will bring to this exciting new era.