SummerSlam 2020 Recap

To begin I have to say this was a very enjoyable Pay-Per-View, no wonder they call it the biggest party of the Summer. I thought my first proper post on here should be doing a brief review on this event so here we go.

1st Match – Apollo Crews vs MVP for the United States Title

This match was originally meant to be part of SummerSlam but got moved to the kickoff show. Although we got to see what the Thunder Dome looks like on last weeks Smackdown this really reminded me why it’s so much nicer than the Performance Centre.

In regards to the match, it was good to watch but nothing that would go down in history. The match started off with MVP trying to avoid Crews then doing his usual cheap tactics by pretending to tie his shoe then hitting Crews as soon as he was being moved by the ref. Crews was mostly maintaining control until MVP sent him flying over the ropes which found him land face first.

Crews was shook for a while but returned the favor later on by doing a flying dive outside the ring to hit MVP. They sort of went back and forth for a while until Crews hit MVP with a toss Powerbomb which let him to get the 3 count.

Of course as soon as the bell rang and Crews was declared the winner, The Hurt Business ran to the ring to help MVP but Crews managed to avoid both Lashley and Benjamin to make a clean escape.

I personally quite like Crews and his athleticism so it was good to see him get the win. Although it’s unlikely to happen, a friendly feud between him and Mustafa Ali for the US title would be interesting to see.

2nd Match – Asuka vs Bayley for the Smackdown Women’s Championship Title

Admittedly as someone who grew up watching the Attitude Era I was never one for women’s wrestling back then. When I started watching again this year I was shocked to see how much it had changed and grown. These two of course are some of the best performers regardless of gender.

I was laughing at Asuka’s funny dancing as she entered the arena. Sasha Banks looked really happy and confident accompanying Bayley since she wasn’t going first. Clearly she thought this meant an easy win for their match later on.

Now this match was really great and full of action. There was moments where Asuka dominated like a DDT to the floor which left Bayley in pain and Sasha in fear. Asuka managed to do quite a bit of damage with a double knee strike later on too.

Asuka also took quite a beating from Bayley throughout the match. This included a stunner of sorts between the middle ropes and her knee being driven into the apron which was a weak point later on.

Towards the end we unsurprisingly see Banks get involved who ends up taking a hit and gets sent flying. This allows Bayley to take advantage of the situation and roll up Asuka for the 3 count. Sadly they didn’t take the win gracefully and end up double teaming Asuka for a slam that leaves her down and hurt.

I won’t lie, I was hoping that Asuka would win both belts and then maybe lose one at Payback. I thought it would be great to see her dancing around with both belts and calling herself two belts Asuka.

3rd Match – Street Profits vs Angel Garza & Andrade for the Raw Tag Team Titles

Nothing against these wrestlers in particular but this wasn’t one of my most anticipated matches of the night. In saying that it was great to have Kevin Owens as guest commentator. He made a joke that everyone in the virtual crowd was his friend and his wife was part of it and said hi to her which made me laugh.

In terms of crowd sound and ambiance, you could actually hear the boos that Garza & Andrade were getting as they entered the arena which is good to hear from a technical sense. As soon as the match started Ford showed off his athleticism right away and does a huge clothesline to knock his opponent outside the ring.

Ford then tries to do a flying dive but is caught and receives a double powerbomb. After this he struggles and despite Garza and Andrade making regular tags, he struggles to get Dawkins in to help. Although he eventually gets Dawkins in, his momentum doesn’t last long as he gets hit with a strong elbow.

He quickly returns the favor and hits back with a big spear.  They go back and forth for the rest of the match and Gaza tried to cheat by elevating Andrade’s feet during a pin but got caught which is where everything went wrong.

Next Zelina Vega gets up on the apron to argue with the ref but gets knocked off. Andrade was then busy checking on Vega when Dawkins gets lands the Cash Out and Ford follows up with a frog splash and wins the match.

4th Match – Sonya Deville vs Mandy Rose in a Lose Leaves WWE No DQ Match

Although the basis of this match is mean to be something big, neither are my favorite so I wasn’t really invested in this match. They right away took it out of the ring to make the most of the No DQ stipulation and Mandy did a suplex on the runway which left Sonya in pain.

A somewhat funny part was Mandy struggling to set up the table which took ages and allowed Sonya to get a chair and hit her to even the playing field a bit.

The rest of the match they pretty much go back and forth and eventually Mandy Rose wins with a knee strike. Sonya sits at the commentary table banging her head and crying at the fact she must now leave WWE. I doubt this will be permanent and I’m sure we’ll see Sonya back again soon when the time is right.

The always funny Otis runs to the ring to celebrate with Mandy and they both start doing the worm although Mandy isn’t able to do it as well as Otis.

5th Match – Seth Rollins vs Dominik Mysterio in a Street Fight

This is a match I was very curios and nervous to see. The reason for this is that I wasn’t sure how much training Dominik has had and there’s always that concern that someone will get injured. Earlier in the night we seen a conversation that involved Dominic make Rey promise he won’t interfere in the match no matter what.

Rollins comes out with Murphy wearing an attire which was intended to mock Mysterio and get in his head. Next we see Dominik enter and his outfit looks good. I noticed he had a hood on his outfit but it didn’t really serve a purpose or act like a mask so I think it would be better off removing it for his next match.

Seth started off good messing around with Dominik and showing his dominance. Although Seth mainly maintained control throughout the match, Dominic did show what he can do with some Lucha moves. The Kendo Stick which seems to be the weapon of choice for these two was used quite a bit. You could see welts forming on Rollins which did not look nice at all.

There was quite a few more highlights for the match. One of those was when Rollins went for the stomp but Dominik managed to avoid it and when Rollins went back towards him he tripped him into the steel chair. We also seen Rollins go for the bronco bomb but Dom turned it into a Hurricanrana.

At one stage there was a table setup and Rollins was attempting to put Dominik through from the top rope. This backfired on him when Dominik got control and slammed them both through the table. Eventually Mrs Mysterio gets sick of seeing her boy getting injured and comes to the ring. Rey goes to convince her not to interfere and while this happens, Murphy starts to attack Dominik.

Rey eventually realizes then comes to his aid but is double teamed by Rollins and Murphy then handcuffed to the ropes. Dominik comes to the rescue and brings it back into the ring, he lands a 619 but Rollins counters the when he goes for the Leapfrog. Rollins then taunts Rey by doing a stomp to Dom in front of Rey and gets the win. After winning Rollins then gives the handcuff key to Dom who is lying in pain and walks off.

I will admit I was hoping to see Dominik win as the underdog but considering he it was his first match and Rollins is a seasoned veteran it’s not surprising he lost. It will be interesting to see if he ends up in NXT or goes straight to the main roster.

6th Match – Asuka vs Sasha Banks for the Raw Women’s Championship Title

The match started with Bailey accompanying Banks to ringside. When Asuka made her second entrance of the night she seemed to be in good spirits and not tired at all. Once the match started Sasha banks went for Asuka’s knee right away which was hurt in the previous match. We then seen them go back and forth a bit and Sasha tried to leave but Asuka caught her and sent her back.

This is when the most devastating move of the match happened. Banks done a very strong Powerbomb to Asuka in the outside and you can hear Asuka’s head bounce off the floor. I was half expecting her to have an actual concussion after this. Thankfully she did make it back in before the 10 count and Banks attempted 2 pins but was unsuccessful.

I would say Banks had the momentum for most of the match but there was multiple times where Asuka was in control. One of those times Asuka suddenly nailed a DDT from the top turn buckle but before Asuka could get a pin Banks rollEd out. There was also a period where each wrestler was doing everything they could to get a submission.

They would fight back and forth going from the Banks Statement into the Asuka Lock and back again. Eventually Bayley tried to distract Asuka and gets hit instead. Banks tried to capitalize off this but got herself stuck in the Asuka Lock and taps out. We then see Banks sitting there looking defeated and Asuka happily hugging her belt.

Although Banks went all out to help Bayley, the same wasn’t done for her during their match. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see this lead to some tension between the two and they end up losing their tag titles at Payback.

7th Match – Randy Orton vs Drew McIntyre for the WWE World Championship

This was the match I had been waiting for and anticipating for weeks. If you read rumor sites then you’ll know many claimed McIntyre would lose the title so that there could be a match between Orton and Edge at Wrestlemania 37.

As the match started we seen McIntyre enter and express how impressed he was by The Thunder Dome. It was quite intense between these two as McIntyre kept staring a hole through Orton and didn’t want to let go of the title. One concern I had about this match is what the pacing would be like. Hate me if you will but Orton has a very slow and boring pace to his matches which I didn’t want.

It started off intense with McIntyre chasing Orton around the ring and falling for his mind games. It did start to shake McIntyre up a bit and eventually Orton managed to get control but not for long. He tried to hit the RKO multiple times but kept getting pushed away. McIntyre was mainly dominating the match until he went for a corner tackle but hit the ring post instead, kayfabe injuring his shoulder. Orton now had somewhere to focus and kept working on this spot.

They fought on the outside for a bit with Orton slamming McIntyre on the announcers table. Then once back in the ring, McIntyre managed to do an innovative knee breaker on Orton in the corner which kayfabe injured him and evened out the playing field. McIntyre appears to be struggling then out of nowhere he does a kip up and and goes on the attack.

Both men are eventually bleeding from the head which appear to be natural and not from blading which was a surprise to see. Although we didn’t get to see the Claymore, McIntyre does land a Future Shock DDT but Orton manages to kick out after a 2 count. This is where I thought something major might happen as we see McIntyre get a Glasgow Kiss and Orton lands a Draping DDT from the ropes.

At this point I’m starting to freak out as I’m worried that Orton will actually win. He starts to signal for the RKO by banging the mat but then walks back for the punt. As he goes to kick McIntyre gets up at the last second to catch him and turns it into a Powerbomb. McIntyre then goes for the Claymore and misses. When it seems like all hope is gone and Orton goes for an RKO, McIntyre counters and rolls him up with both arms hooked for the 3 count, McIntyre retains!

At this point my girlfriend thought I was crazy as I was jumping and running around in excitement that McIntyre managed to get the win and retain. Originally I thought we’d see either HBK interfere and get his revenge or even Edge come back to land a spear.

Regardless I’m happy with how the match ended and even more happy McIntyre retained his title. I would say he is probably my favorite wrestler since I started watching again and it’s been great to see his journey this year.

8th Match – The Fiend Bray Wyatt vs Braun Strowman for the WWE Universal Championship

For this match I didn’t have many expectations but I did see Strowman as coming out victorious. I thought it would happen this way as Strowman started off quick by attacking but it didn’t take long for The Fiend to quickly take control.

Aside from Strowman Chokeslamming Wyatt into the announcers table, he was actually the one being beat for most of the match. They went out backstage for a bit which seen Wyatt land a Sister Abigail but wasn’t enough for the 3 count.

They eventually worked their way back to the ring which is where it got interesting. Braun brings a box cutter into the ring and cuts a hole in the mat to expose the wood and removes any padding. It was interesting to see how light the padding actually is so when you see them do moves like a Powerbomb or Superplex they would actually feel it quite a bit.

Suddenly The Fiend lands a Uranage and Two Sister Abigail’s on the exposed part of the mat which helps him get the 3 count and win the Universal Title. This really surprised me and I didn’t expect Strowman to lose so easily, he is the monster among men after all.

It wasn’t long before possibly the most exciting part of the night happens. Braun was outside the ring recovering while Wyatt was in the ring celebrating when he looks to the side and out of nowhere Roman Reigns returns to land the Spear on him.

From the angle they showed it I couldn’t quite tell who it was at first so I was shocked to see Reigns. All the rumors had said he wasn’t returning any time soon and apparently only Vince and himself knew about the return. After this he then put his attention on Strowman who he speared then continued to beat down with a chair.

He then went back in the ring to deliver another spear to Wyatt and hold up the Universal Title declaring the title is always going to be his. This makes me very excited for what will happen at Raw and Packback.

Well that’s my summary of WWE Summerslam 2020 which I think is my favorite PPV of the year. I hope you enjoyed reading this and you can subscribe at the bottom of the page if you want to see more.