Credit: Matt Boone
[spacer height=”20px”]
WWE SummerSlam “Kickoff Show”
The WWE SummerSlam 2014 “Kickoff Show” opens up with the expert panel, which consists of Renee Young, Booker T, Alex Riley and Ric Flair. The four talk about some of the top matches on tonight’s show.
An extended video package airs to highlight the history of the Stephanie McMahon and Brie Bella feud heading into their highly anticipated match later tonight.
Back live in the arena, the panel talk some more about tonight’s McMahon vs. Bella match. I believe they just said UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion and mega-star Ronda Rousey is in the building tonight.
Rob Van Dam vs. Cesaro
We kick it to the announce team of Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and JBL for tonight’s “Kickoff Show” match.
With that said, Rob Van Dam’s theme music hits and RVD makes his way to the ring. Out next is his opponent for tonight’s pre-show match, Cesaro, who I believe has new theme music. He also came out with a towel over his head and a big robe on.
Anyways, the final introductions are completed and it’s time for our first official match of the evening. The bell sounds to make this one official and here we go.
Early on, Van Dam takes it to “The King of Swing,” hitting a lot of his typical RVD-style moves. The action spills out to the floor, where Van Dam continues to deliver additional punishment to the former “Paul Heyman Guy.”
Back in the ring, a simple thumb to the eye from Cesaro allows him to take over the offensive lead in the match. On that note, we head to a quick mid-match commercial.
When we return from commercial, Cesaro is still in control of the action, taking it to Van Dam in the middle of the ring. Meanwhile, the announcers are basically ignoring the action in the ring to do one final hard-sell for the John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar main event title match later tonight, something that they’ve been talking about on commentary throughout the majority of this entire match.
As they continue to hype Cena vs. Lesnar, Van Dam starts making a bit of a comeback, including landing a big kick on Cesaro that knocks him out to the floor. Van Dam follows that up with a big moonsault to the floor, splashing onto Cesaro in the process. As all of this is going on, the announcers are still talking about Cena-Lesnar.
Back in the ring, Cesaro slows down RVD’s momentum with a big European uppercut. With 14 minutes left on the clock on the bottom of the screen, Van Dam leaps off the top rope, missing a Five Star Frogsplash attempt.
Van Dam heads back up to the top rope, but before he can do anything, Cesaro again stops him with a big European uppercut. Cesaro heads up after Van Dam for a superplex attempt, but Van Dam throws him off. RVD leaps off the top, but Cesaro catches him coming down with a big European uppercut yet again.
On the mat in the middle of the ring, Cesaro grabs a hold of RVD, looking for his Neutralizer finisher, but Van Dam escapes. Cesaro bitch-slaps Van Dam, which RVD responds to by hitting a big spinning kick to “The King of Swing” that floors the former “Paul Heyman Guy.” RVD heads to the top yet again, but this time he successfully connects with his Five Star Frogsplash. A three-count later and RVD is the winner.
Winner: Rob Van Dam
More SummerSlam “Kickoff Show” Coverage
After the match, with 11 minutes left in the “Kickoff Show,” we head back to the expert panel where the four talk briefly about the RVD-Cesaro match we just witnessed.
From there, Renee Young introduces a video package for the winner of the Totino’s “Show us your Superstar” contest. From there, the winner of the contest joins the foursome at the expert panel table.
They wrap up the contest winner stuff and the focus returns to more SummerSlam talk. They start discussing the Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton match scheduled for tonight. Flair calls Orton the best performer in WWE today.
Now the gang talks about the $9.99 price tag for a WWE Network subscription, before another Cena vs. Lesnar video package airs. Much like the build-up for Cena-Lesnar over the past several weeks, the final hype for their match during this “Kickoff Show” has been great. They are really pushing it to the point that it feels like something really big. Almost like a boxing or UFC “big fight” atmosphere for tonight’s main event.
After one final elaborate Cena vs. Lesnar video package airs, the “Kickoff Show” wraps up and we head into the pay-per-view portion of tonight’s big event.
[spacer height=”20px”]
Hulk Hogan Kicks Off SummerSlam
WWE SummerSlam opens with the theme music of none other than WWE Hall Of Famer Hulk Hogan.
Hogan comes out, standing at the top of the stage and talks about how history will be made tonight. Hogan does a “$9.99” plug for the WWE Network, the price of which the fans in the arena chant along with Hogan.
“The Hulkster” mentions the next six pay-per-views that WWE is putting on, noting that if you subscribe to the WWE Network, you can watch all of them for only “$9.99,” brother. His theme music hits again and that’ll do it for the Hogan opener.
WWE SummerSlam 2014
From there we go to the normal bad ass, elaborate video package that opens every WWE pay-per-view. This one, like all of the others, is bad ass as hell.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
– The Miz (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler
After the video package concludes, Michael Cole welcomes us to the 27th annual WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view, which emanates live from Los Angeles, California.
From there, The Miz’s theme song and titan tron begins, then seems to get cut off, but quickly starts again. This time it continues and The Miz comes out. The WWE Intercontinental Champion gets on the mic at the top of the stage. He cuts a quick promo as he makes his way to the ring for tonight’s first PPV match.
After talking about his money-maker and doing a cheap-heat get by trashing the Los Angeles Lakers, The Miz’s opponent, Dolph Ziggler, makes his way to the ring. The Spanish announce team is introduced and then we shoot back to the ring for tonight’s PPV opener.
The bell sounds and here we go with WWE Intercontinental Championship action. Some celebrities are shown sitting at ringside for tonight’s big event in Los Angeles.
The announcers talk about the ALS Ice Buckett Challenge as Miz and Ziggler lock up in the ring. The crowd is already coming alive with cheers and chants as Miz knocks Ziggler down to the mat. It isn’t long, however, before Ziggler jumps off to an early offensive lead in this match.
After a lot of back-and-forth action, which included many near falls and false-finishes, Ziggler hits his finisher on Miz and scores the 1-2-3 to become the new WWE Intercontinental Champion.
Winner and NEW WWE Intercontinental Champion: Dolph Ziggler
Backstage: Brie Bella Interview
Backstage, Brie Bella is interviewed. Bella discusses her arrest from RAW and talks about how she has been pissed at Stephanie McMahon for a while now for calling her husband a “B+ player” and for torturing her sister Nikki. She says she’s going to take out Stephanie tonight and “that’s best for business.”
WWE Divas Championship
– AJ Lee (c) vs. Paige
After the Bella interview, we head back into the arena. Paige’s theme music hits and out she comes to the ring. As she stands in the ring, a video package is shown to highlight the history of the AJ-Paige feud.
From there, the WWE Divas Champion AJ Lee makes her way to the ring. As she makes her walk to the ring, another video package is shown to explain more of the history between these two WWE Divas.
The bell rings and here we go with our second title match here at the 2014 WWE SummerSlam pay-per-view. Literally as soon as the bell sounds, the fans break out into a loud “CM Punk” chant.
The two Divas lock up and AJ immediately yanks out a chunk of Paige’s hair. Paige rolls out to the floor and runs around complaining. Back in the ring, AJ continues to work over the former Divas Champion.
It isn’t long, however, before the tide is turned and Paige is in control of the offense in this match. Paige establishes control over AJ and then mocks her by skipping around outside and inside the ring.
The two battle back-and-forth a bit until Paige ends up outside the ring. AJ gets on the top rope and flies out to the floor, nailing Paige with a huge flying clothesline from the top-rope to the outside of the ring. Replays are shown of that as the action resumes inside the ring.
Back in the ring, Paige finds a way to re-establish control over AJ. It isn’t long, however, until Paige is caught in AJ’s “Black Widow” submission finisher. Paige struggles for a while and then reverses to a “Ram-Page” DDT. 1-2-3. Paige wins.
Winner and NEW WWE Divas Champion: Paige
Flag Match
– Rusev (with Lana) vs. Jack Swagger (with Zeb Colter)
The kick-ass WWE 2K15 commercial featuring Sting and the orchestra plays after the AJ-Paige match. From there, we shoot back into the arena to a close-up shot of a fan wearing an old Sting mask. The crowd pops and then the bell rings.
Justin Roberts introduces the Flag Match. First up, he introduces Rusev and Lana. Their theme music hits and out the two come. Once in the ring, the “U.S.A.” chants start as Lana cuts a typical anti-American, pro-Russian promo, dedicating tonight’s match to Vladimir Putin.
As Lana continues to talk, some soliders come marching out to marching orders from some kind of instructor. The fans in L.A. break out into some more “U.S.A.” chants until finally “The Real Americans” theme song hits. The crowd pops for that and then Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter make their way down to the ring.
Once inside the ring, Rusev waives the Russian flag. As Swagger goes to waive the U.S. flag, Rusev attacks him. Long story short, within seconds, Swagger snatches Rusev’s leg up and locks him into the Patriot Lock. The bell hasn’t even rung yet.
The referee restores some order to all of this and separates everyone. Rusev is selling his ankle as Lana is freaking out next to him. The bell finally sounds and here we go.
Swagger immediately goes to work on the softened up ankle of Rusev as the fans loudly chant “we the people.” It isn’t long, however, before “The Bulgarian Brute” is dominating “The Real American.”
A bit later into the match, Swagger goes for the Swagger Bomb but misses. Ever since that, he has been selling his ribs. Rusev ends up locking Swagger in his Accolade submission finisher, but Swagger reverses it into the Patriot Lock. Rusev is stuck in the hold for quite a while, but Rusev eventually fights his way out.
After fighting out of the Patriot Lock, Rusev hurts Swagger’s injured ribs yet again. He locks him in his Accolade submission finisher once again. Swagger remains stuck in the hold for quite a while and eventually has no choice but to tap out. The announcers claim Swagger didn’t tap out, he passed out. So technically, Swagger didn’t give up, but because he passed out, the referee called the match.
Winner: Rusev
After The Match:
After the match, with Swagger still unconscious, Rusev kicks Zeb Colter in the face and knocks him out. Replays are shown of some of the highlights of this match and then Rusev and Lana stand proudly as the Russian national anthem is played as a giant Russian flag is raised behind them in the arena, all-the-while Swagger and Colter are unconscious in the ring.
Lumberjack Match
– Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose
After the announcers talk in disgust about the Russian ceremony we just witnessed following the Rusev-Swagger “Flag Match,” a video package is shown highlighting the history of the Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose feud, leading into tonight’s Lumberjack Match.
Following the video package, we see a shot live inside the arena of all of the lumberjacks standing around the outside of the ring. From there, “Mr. Money In The Bank” Seth Rollins is introduced. After he makes his way to the ring, Dean Ambrose’s theme song plays and out he comes to the ring.
The bell rings and here we go. The two immediately start trading punches in the center of the ring, an exchange that Ambrose gets the better of. Ambrose follows up the punching exchange by putting the boots to his former Shield partner in the corner.
The fans are alive in Los Angeles for this lumberjack match. Already, Rollins has hit the floor twice and was immediately thrown back into the ring. The announcers are strongly putting over how Ambrose must be loving the fact that he chose a lumberjack match for the stipulation tonight, as it has worked to his advantage thus far. One would assume that will come back to bite him on the ass at the end of the match, where it counts the most, however that remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, back in the ring, Ambrose is still doing a number on Rollins. One mis-timed spot, however, and now Ambrose is on the receiving end of some punishment. Ambrose is thrown to the floor where the lumberjacks swarm and throw him back into the ring for Rollins, who is waiting to deliver more punishment. As soon as Ambrose is back in the ring, that’s exactly what Rollins does — delivers more punishment to Ambrose.
As it turns out, the lumberjacks aren’t able to do their job that well, as the next time the action between Ambrose and Rollins spills out to the floor, the lumberjacks cannot get them back inside the ring. Ambrose and Rollins fight through the lumberjacks and into the crowd, where Ambrose is beating Rollins up all over the arena.
The camera shots aren’t all that clear at the moment, but it appears as though many of the lumberjacks have gone into the crowd to try and get them back in the ring. Rollins fights his way away from them and is trying to run backstage and quit the match. This doesn’t work, however, as right when Rollins reaches the entrance way, the lumberjacks carry him back to the ring. Once they’re back near ringside, Ambrose flies off the top rope and splashes onto Rollins and all of the lumberjacks that were carrying him.
Back in the ring — finally — and Ambrose and Rollins are going at it. Ambrose goes for his finisher, but Rollins avoids it. Ambrose remains in control of the offense, however, turning Rollins inside-out with a huge clothesline. A loud “this is awesome” chant breaks out in Los Angeles, as Ambrose and Rollins are living up to the high expectations that many die-hard pro wrestling fans had for this match.
As Rollins goes to get up, Ambrose hits him with his own Curb-Stomp finisher. As Ambrose goes to pin Rollins, however, Corporate Kane comes into the ring and blatantly breaks up the pin attempt. Goldust gets in Kane’s face so Kane punches him. Now, all of the lumberjacks hit the ring and all hell breaks loose. When the smoke clears, however, Rollins blasts Ambrose with his Money In The Bank briefcase. 1-2-3. Rollins wins.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Harper & Rowan Banned From Ringside
– Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt
A video package is shown highlighting the return of Chris Jericho and the feud he developed with Bray Wyatt and The Wyatt Family, resulting in tonight’s Jericho-Wyatt rematch, where Luke Harper and Erick Rowan are banned from ringside.
After the video package wraps up, Bray Wyatt appears on the titan tron with his latern. “Los Angeles, I’m here.” He blows out the latern, the lights go out, The Wyatt Family theme plays and Bray makes his way to the ring. We see a shot of thousands of cell phone lights in the arena being waived back-and-forth by the fans. The announcers put over the fact that Bray is alone tonight, as Harper and Rowan are banned from ringside.
Wyatt, by the way, is wearing some kind of weird butcher’s apron or something. Anyways, Chris Jericho’s entrance takes place and the first ever WWE Undisputed Champion makes his way to the ring for his big pay-per-view rematch with the leader of The Wyatt Family. Jericho won their first meeting, tonight is their second. Jericho’s light-up jacket, by the way, is a bit more colorful and lit-up than usual.
The bell rings and here we go. There are some dueling chants from the fans. Some are chanting “Y2J” and the others are chanting for Bray Wyatt. In the ring, meanwhile, Jericho jumps off to an early offensive lead in this contest. The action quickly spills out to the floor. Jericho delivers some additional punishment to Wyatt before the action returns to the ring.
Back in the ring, Jericho puts the boots to Wyatt in the corner as the announcers put over how awesome the previous Lumberjack Match between Rollins and Ambrose was. They talk about the $9.99 price tag for the WWE Network as Wyatt takes over the offense in this match outside the ring, beating up Jericho on the floor.
Wyatt continues to dominate Jericho for several minutes. Jericho finally makes a bit of a comeback, but while he is doing so, Wyatt does his freaky back-bridge and stops Jericho dead in his tracks. Jericho backs off, Wyatt kneels down and yells at Jericho that he can’t be killed because he’s already dead.
Finally, both guys stand up and a shocked Jericho composes himself and blasts Wyatt out of the blue with a Codebreaker. It isn’t long, however, before Wyatt is comfortably back in control of the offense in this match. The fans break out into a loud “let’s go Wyatt” and “Y2J” dueling chant. Wyatt simply picks Jericho up and hits him with his Sister Abigail finisher on the floor. Back in the ring, Wyatt blasts Jericho with another Sister Abigail. A three-count later and Wyatt wins.
Winner: Bray Wyatt
After The Match
Bray Wyatt gets on the microphone after his victory. He makes a comment about Chris Jericho “following the buzzard” and then sings the chorus to “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands.”
Stephanie McMahon vs. Brie Bella
After the Wyatt-Jericho bout, a video package airs to show the history between Stephanie McMahon and Brie Bella leading into their match tonight at SummerSlam.
The video package wraps up and then Stephanie McMahon’s theme song hits. Stephanie comes out in a black leather outfit looking as good as she wants to. Out next is her opponent for tonight’s grudge match, Brie Bella, who is looking pretty delicious herself, for the record.
We see Ronda Rousey in a Roddy Piper shirt (both of their nicknames are “Rowdy”) along with some members of her Four Horsewomen stable sitting in the front row and then the bell rings. Stephanie takes it to Brie early on, using her apparent strength advantage to push Brie around.
Stephanie is dominating Brie with ease thus far in the match, throwing Brie around like a rag doll. Finally, Brie manages to land a shot on Stephanie. She tries following it up by locking Stephanie into the “Yes! Lock” but Steph manages to avoid it. Within seconds, Stephanie is back in control of the match.
It’s worth noting that this match isn’t exactly the best wrestling contest you’ve ever seen, but the mere fact that Stephanie is working a rare match and the fact that the build-up for their angle was so strong, the crowd is treating this like a main event and are being patient with it. They also seem to be on the edge of their seats so far. It really “feels” like a big match, especically for a Divas match.
The fans begin chanting “you still got it” to Stephanie McMahon, who continues to dominate Brie with ease. Finally, Brie hits a Lou Thesz press and begins firing away with punches at Steph. Brie is now finally getting some offense in.
As Brie begins to deliver punishment to Steph, out to the ring comes Triple H. HHH distracts Brie, setting her up to turn around into a Pedigree from Steph. Brie escapes, however and reverses into the “Yes! Lock.” HHH pulls the ref out of the ring, however, before Steph can tap out. We see Nikki Bella down at ringside as well. Brie hits a baseball slide into HHH, knocking him on his ass at ringside and then leading fans into a “Yes!” chant.
Steph is now in the ring with Nikki Bella. Steph butt-scoots away from her, begging Nikki not to hurt her. Steph scoots right into Brie. She stands up in between both of them and looks nervous. Nikki grabs Steph, but moves her out of the way and blasts her own sister. Steph smiles. Steph gets up and hits Brie with the Pedigree. 1-2-3. Stephanie McMahon beats Brie Bella with the help of Nikki Bella.
Winner: Stephanie McMahon
After The Match
After the match, as Michael Cole freaks out and JBL continuously says “wah,” we see Stephanie and HHH standing over a fallen Brie. They make out and we see Nikki Bella staring on from ringside. Cole is still freaking out, with help from Lawler as JBL mocks them and says “good for Nikki!”
Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton
The video package airs to show the history leading into tonight’s Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton match. From there, Orton makes his way to the ring. Next, Reigns’ theme plays and he makes his way to the ring. Reigns has new ring attire, as he isn’t wearing a Shield-type vest anymore, however from a distance, it looks identical to what he’s always worn. Very subtle change to his ring attire.
Anyways, the bell rings and here we go with our next SummerSlam pay-pay-view contest. Early on, the fans are loud and cheering on Reigns as he dominates Orton with ease.
Reigns dominates for a while until Orton reverses him on the floor and whips him into the ring steps. Orton is now in control of the action as the match returns to the inside of the ring.
Orton has Reigns where he wants him now, controlling the former Shield member with ease and offensively dominating him for several minutes. Orton hits a huge superplex on Reigns off the top-rope for a near fall.
The master of the RKO continues to dominate Reigns. Reigns gets a few hope spots in, but ultimately, Orton cut him off each time and remained in control of the offense. Orton punishes Reigns a bit longer until after a punch exchange, Reigns manages to start making his comeback.
Reigns is picking up the pace in this match now, taking it to the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The fight spills out to the floor where Reigns beats up on Orton a bit more. Just when it seems like Reigns was in control, however, Orton cuts him off on the floor and whips him into the barricade.
Back in the ring, Orton is once again in control of the offense. The two quickly end up back on the floor again and Orton continues to deliver more punishment to the former Shield member. Orton slams Reigns on the announce table, which partially collapses as a result.
As they go to head back into the ring, Reigns catches Orton coming in and drops him throat-first across the top rope to buy himself some time. Once both guys are back inside the ring, they end up on the top rope together. Instead of Orton hitting a superplex, like he did earlier, Reigns is trying for one now. Orton ends up knocking Reigns off the top. Before he can do anything, however, Reigns blasts Orton with a punch and climbs back up top. In the end of all of this, Reigns ends up hitting Orton with a huge Samoan Drop off of the top rope.
As Reigns stands tall, waiting for Orton to get up, the fans break out into a loud “we want tables” chant. Reigns waits for Orton to get up and then blasts him with a huge Superman punch. Reigns is now waiting for Orton to get up, calling for the spear. As Orton gets up, Reigns charges at him for a spear, but Orton — in one quick motion – catches Reigns sprinting towards him for a quick snapping-style powerslam. That looked really cool.
Orton is now standing tall and mocking the fans. Orton grabs Reigns and hits his draping-DDT off the middle rope. Orton is now waiting for Reigns to get up, likely setting him up for the RKO. That’s exactly what he’s calling for, as he turns into Viper Mode and pounds the mat. Reigns avoids it and goes for the spear, but Orton catches him coming in with an RKO. He immediately pins him in what seemed for sure to be the finish of the match, but somehow Reigns kicked out. The crowd popped huge for that and the announcers played up how shocking it was that Reigns kicked out.
As Orton looks frustrated and the announcers question what he has to do to beat Reigns, the announcers slowly realize — thanks to Orton’s facials — that he is setting up for the punt. As Orton waits for Reigns to move, Reigns explodes up and spears him. 1-2-3. Reigns wins out of nowhere.
Winner: Roman Reigns
Details On The 2015 WWE SummerSlam PPV
After the Reigns-Orton match, which was pretty damn great by the way, a video package airs promoting the 2015 edition of WWE SummerSlam. It is announced that next year’s SummerSlam will break a six-year tradition of running in Los Angeles, as next year’s SummerSlam PPV will take place in the New York-New Jersey market.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
– John Cena (c) vs. Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman)
The video package airs to highlight the history of the John Cena vs.Brock Lesnar main event, which is coming up next. WWE World Heavyweight Championship action is up next, closing out what has been a pretty damn good SummerSlam pay-per-view.
After the video package concludes, Brock Lesnar’s theme music hits and out he comes, accompanied to the ring as usual by Paul Heyman. The announcers put over many of Lesnar’s impressive accomplishments as we await the entrance of the champ.
We have a decent little dramatic pause as we wait for Cena’s theme to hit. Finally, it does and out walks a very serious looking WWE World Heavyweight Champion. It’s time for Cena vs. Lesnar, ladies and gentlemen! Our WWE SummerSlam 2014 pay-per-view main event is only a few seconds away.
Cena, sporting Hulk Hogan-style red and yellow once again, is quickly beaten down and dominated by Lesnar. “The Beast Incarnate” is having his way with the WWE World Heavyweight Champion thus far.
After taking a ton of punishment and Lesnar moving slowly, easily handling the champ, Cena fires up in the corner and throws a ton of wild punches at Lesnar, but a knee in the gut later, Cena is back on the mat getting beaten down with ease by “The Conquerer of the Streak.”
Lesnar continues to dominate Cena in the middle of the ring as some dueling pro-Cena and anti-Cena chants break out from the fans in the Staples Center. Lesnar, meanwhile, moves around slowly and with arrogance, easily controlling the champ. Cena again fires up with a ton of wild punches but once again, Lesnar blasts him with a knee to the gut and that’s the second time Cena has been cut short when trying to mount any kind of offense in this match.
Several more minutes of Lesnar dominating Cena with ease passes before Cena finally fires up and mounts his first bit of offense in this match. Lesnar tries cutting him off and even hoists him up for an F-5 attempt, however Cena escapes and hoists Lesnar up for an Attitude Adjustment. Cena hits it and immediately covers Lesnar, but Lesnar kicks out at two and immediately takes back control of the match.
Cena again gets in just a little bit of offense, but Lesnar cuts him off and beats him down yet again. It isn’t long after that — at all — before Lesnar hits Cena with his finisher and beat the champ to take his title from him. The announcers put over how this might be the most one-sided title match in history.
Winner and NEW WWE World Heavyweight Champion: Brock Lesnar
