The three most surprising events which took place at the pay-per-view were:
- Brock Lesnar cashing in
- Shinsuke Nakamura becoming Intercontinental Champion
- And all three members of The New Day leaving the event as champions
Let’s start with Lesnar, shall we?
We all have no choice but to give Lesnar major credit because every time he makes an appearance, although everyone wishes it was more often, he draws major excitement, and everyone pays attention to whatever he does. I personally love him, I simply wish he was around more often, but why would he be if WWE is willing to pay him the kind of money they are? He is once again the reigning defending undisputed Universal heavyweight Champion, and the entire WWE universe has to feel for Seth Rollins. It is anyone’s guess in terms of what direction Seth’s character development goes from here. One proposal I do have for Brock Lesnar is for his first challenger at SummerSlam to be Bobby Lashley. I make this proposal now because both men are getting older (Lesnar 42, Lashley 43) and there may not be a whole lot of time left for WWE to take advantage of this.
There are two reasons why this would be an epic confrontation:
- Lashley is one of the few superstars who looks like he would stand a chance in a real fight on the street with Brock Lesnar
- Lashley is one of the few WWE superstars (besides Lesnar) with extensive MMA experience – the only other one I can think of off the top of my head is Matt Riddle
He has put together an impressive 15-2 Bellator record. Seth Rollins is very deserving of a rematch against Lesnar for the Universal Championship and he will surely get it, but WWE would be unwise to not capitalize on the Lesnar-Lashley match while they are both still young and agile enough to make it a great match. Fans have been talking about this potential match since Lashley returned to WWE in April 2018.
Another major surprise was the fact that all three members of The New Day walked out as champions. Big E and Xavier Woods won the SmackDown Tag Team Championships from the champions Daniel Bryan and Rowan to become six-time champions. We also saw some Caterpillar action from Otis of Heavy Machinery.
It will be interesting to see what direction WWE chooses for Daniel Bryan in the coming months. He may get thrown into the upper midcard title scene or before into contention for the WWE Championship. What is even more unbelievable is the fact that Kofi Kingston was able to retain the WWE Championship by surviving Samoa Joe. Personally, I thought Joe should have won the title, being 40 years old and in the wrestling business for two decades and never having won a major title in WWE. It was a great opportunity for Joe, and frankly, I’m surprised WWE opted not to pull the trigger.
The final surprise from the pay-per-view was something that I saw coming, but it’s always a nice surprise to see when it actually happens: Shinsuke Nakamura won the Intercontinental Championship from Finn Balor, who has been largely forgotten about and is in a state of creative limbo. But this victory will absolutely get Nakamura’s career back on the right track and give him a solid position on TV for probably the remainder of 2019. This move may coincide with him re-signing with the company, although I don’t know that for sure. His deal that he signed with WWE in 2016 expired right around the same time AJ Styles’ contract expired, so maybe.
What may indeed be a smart idea is for WWE to have this sudden push of Kevin Owens individually (without Sami Zayn) be the start of a massive Daniel Bryan-like push for Owens culminating in a WWE Championship match at WrestleMania. His quick victory over Dolphh Ziggler was the perfect way to kick off a major push like this.
Ricochet is going to be a massive star in the WWE, but it is a great idea for WWE to implement a heel faction again, because we all know how well it worked the last time there was a dominant one by the name of The Shield, maybe you have heard of them.
There were no real surprises in the Undertaker match. It made absolutely no sense for Roman Reigns to be his partner, because as Cole said, they are bitter rivals (because Reigns beat The Undertaker at WrestleMania two years ago). That said, I love all aspects of WWE, even the ones that don’t make sense.
I also am amazed each time I see Shane McMahon do elbow on somebody through the announce table.
It is somewhat disappointing that Braun Strowman has not won more titles in his basically three years on the main roster. The only thing he has won is a Tag Team Championship with a kid, and he only held it for one day. He is simply not viewed as someone who is trustworthy enough to represent the company. He did look fantastic in his last man standing match with Bobby Lashley.
Aleister Black and Cesaro put together a great match (let’s be honest, did you expect anything different?). This match, however, was clearly a stepping stone for Black, as he will be launched possibly into WWE Championship contention with this victory.
It was also a smart move on WWE’s part to book Bayley to win her match against Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss. The rivalry between Cross and Bliss will surely culminate in a match between the two at SummerSlam and it does not need the title involved to make it interesting.
Side Note: The Revival put on a surprisingly entertaining performance in their successful title defense against The Usos.