The Big Dog is back, and The Fiend is Universal Champion – Completing his Rivalry with Braun Strowman
Roman Reigns stepped away from WWE for several months starting a few weeks before ‘Mania in March primarily to ensure that his newborn twins would have a healthy father – which is extremely respectable. Many WWE fans were hoping that he would be able to return in time for SummerSlam (the second biggest Pay-Per-View of the year next to WrestleMania. As it turns out that’s exactly what happened, and it would be safe to assume that Reigns will go after the Universal Championship – since he was scheduled to face Bill Goldberg at WrestleMania 36 for that title before COVID-19 hit and threw a wrench into the entire world. We are all in the process of changing the way we operate on a day-to-day basis and establishing new norms – not necessarily a bad, just a new normal.
As for the Universal Title, Braun Strowman received an unexpected opportunity in a run with the Universal Championship in place of The Big Dog, and he delivered in a big way over the past four months by showing the most charisma and character development the WWE universe has ever seen out of The Monster Among Men. It was expected that The Fiend would win the Universal Title from Braun because The Fiend/Bray Wyatt is by far the most captivating character on SmackDown – FOX right now. This should be the first of many world championship runs for Strowman as he performed much better in that role than anyone could have expected.
Mr. McMahon’s plan for Roman Reigns’ return as far as what his character is going to be is for The Big Dog to bring more of an “edge” to his character (that’s what WrestlingNews.co is reporting). Fans have been clamoring for a heel turn for Roman’s character for years – it may not be a completely traditional heel turn, but it will be extremely nice to see WWE allowing Roman to show more of his authentic personality rather than trying to force-feed the WWE universe a character that is not completely authentic to him. Roman has proven over the past eight years that he doesn’t need a whole lot of guidance anymore – as long as Mr. McMahon gives him a basic outline of what he wants The Big Dog’s character to be, Roman can do it and has earned the trust of the boss.
This semi-heel version of Roman Reigns will be reminiscent of the later Shield days at the very end of 2013 and the first half of 2014 when Roman was getting on the fast track to be “The Guy” (this was ancient history, before any of the WWE universe turned on Roman and they all absolutely loved what he was doing because it felt authentic). This is the key to building a character that will consistently get over in WWE. Roman’s new shirt says everything one needs to know about what his new mentality will be: Wreck Everything and Leave. This was the original plan for the direction of Reigns’ character right after he beat Goldberg at WrestleMania 36, but those plans were put on hold when Roman decided to take a few months off and focus on raising his newborn twins (which is very commendable).
In addition, a happy birthday goes out to Vince McMahon, who turned 75 years old on August 24 (an important episode of Monday Night Raw also aired on that night, with some major storyline development). All of us as fans need to express our appreciation to Mr. McMahon for bringing the world of WWE into existence. Even if not everyone completely agrees with the direction all the storylines go, it would not exist if it were not for Mr. McMahon. Thank You and Happy Birthday!
Drew McIntyre is cemented as a legitimate Superstar and Leader of the Company after defeating Randy Orton for the WWE Championship
So Drew McIntyre was claiming that Randy Orton never reached down and to pull younger superstars up to his level by putting them over, which is true to a certain degree. Orton has not done this very often throughout his WWE career. But it cannot be refuted that he absolutely did this at SummerSlam by putting over McIntyre, who has gained the necessary maturity and perspective throughout his journey in wrestling to become grounded in his own energy.
This is exactly the kind of victory McIntyre needed to establish himself as a legitimate threat in WWE. Now he has legitimate victories over probably two of the top three stars in WWE at the two biggest shows of the year – in the same year. However, a scenario easily could have been executed where Randy Orton wants his 14th world title (Ric Flair could have returned at SummerSlam to distract Drew McIntyre and help Orton win the WWE Championship. No one would have expected that because Orton obviously punted Flair on Raw, albeit WWE smartly went the safe route and orchestrated a power outage caused by Retribution to ensure Ric’s safety by not making the 71-year-old take that bump. This could have been great storytelling had WWE decided to go down that route, but McIntyre defeating Orton is great in its own right).
The actual match was fantastic with great pacing. This is easily the greatest match Drew McIntyre has been involved in since he became WWE Champion. Randy Orton has a special ability to elevate the game of anyone he steps in the ring with, and his next task will be to do the same thing for Drew McIntyre’s good friend Keith Lee at WWE Payback.
Seth Rollins defeats Dominik Mysterio in a somewhat Lopsided Match
Dominik Mysterio looked a little timid and somewhat nervous in his first WWE match. It’s totally understandable – you’re a 23-year-old kid and you are performing at the second biggest WWE Pay-Per-View of the year, in the ring with a veteran like Seth Rollins who has been doing this for about 15 years. You were also the son of a living legend who is right next to you at ringside. I have never been in that position, so it’s not fair to cast any sort of judgment. I have seen Dominik execute better frog splashes before (like back in November 2019 at Survivor Series when his father had a WWE Championship match with Brock Lesnar), so I know the kid has it in him to do much better but it just wasn’t his night.
Dominik’s character and the moment are a little too reliant on the legacy of his father. WWE might want to have him break out and develop his own persona by perhaps joining Seth Rollins in a heel turn and becoming a disciple alongside Murphy.
Asuka defeats Sasha Banks for the Raw Women’s Championship; Bayley keeps the SmackDown Women’s Championship
It doesn’t make much sense at all why WWE would book Asuka in two title matches on the same night when there are a plethora of other women on the WWE roster who have more than enough credentials to fill that spot. Asuka absolutely has earned a spot in one of the women’s championship matches, but not both.
It’s fine for Asuka to take the Raw Women’s Championship off of Sasha Banks, but the WWE universe is growing tired of Bayley being the SmackDown Women’s Champion for most of the last year and a half. She’s incredibly talented, but fans just want a fresh face as champion.
Mandy Rose defeats Sonya Deville in a Loser Leaves WWE match; A Match with many Underlying Layers and Stories
This match arguably had the most backstory of any match on the SummerSlam card, because one of the participants went through a legitimate crisis in her personal life very recently. Sonya Deville legitimately had an intruder break into her home recently and attempt to abduct her – unsuccessfully. The match at SummerSlam with Mandy Rose was originally supposed to be a Hair vs. Hair match, with the loser shaving her head (similar to WrestleMania XX when Molly Holly got her head shaved by Victoria).
However, Deville will be obliged to appear in court soon to settle the abduction dispute, and her lawyer advised her that it might not be such a good idea to appear in court with a shaved head. Instead WWE made the decision to do a Loser Leaves WWE stipulation, which will accomplish the same goal. It will give WWE an excuse to have Sonya off TV for a while so the company can repackage her character and introduce her in a couple of months as someone brand-new. Deville has blossomed in the last couple of months by delivering excellent promos on the microphone and showing that she is very comfortable in front of the camera.
The Street Profits successfully defended the Raw Tag Team Championships against Andrade and Angel Garza
The Street Profits have been entertaining and charismatic tag team champions who can do a little bit of everything in the ring (Montez Ford has ridiculous athleticism and Angelo Dawkins – who is from my hometown of Cincinnati – has proven over the last couple weeks that he is very capable). The whole is much greater than the sum of its parts with this team – neither one of them stand out by themselves, but they mesh together in a perfect way.
Angel Garza and Andrade, on the other hand, have serious potential to be a modern-day version of Eddie and Chavo Guerrero. Garza is doing a good job of embracing the lethario element of his character, but Andrade needs to find himself as a character more and develop a more authentic sense of charisma that will appeal to the WWE universe.
The WWE ThunderDome had an incredibly successful second night on-air – this will most likely be something that will work for the foreseeable future during the era of the pandemic and perhaps even longer. This might turn into the new normal for WWE as the primary way to bring entertainment into people’s homes.
Side Note: Keith Lee will be a fantastic addition to Monday Night Raw after dropping the NXT Championship this past weekend. This is a very exciting addition because no one has ever been called up to the main roster this quickly after dropping the NXT Title – a few have come close, but it’s never been this quick. WWE is striking while the iron is hot with Lee, and he will fit right in on Raw no matter what he does, with his level of presence and the fact that he commands everyone’s attention whenever he does anything.