Tuesday, October 5, 2021

SummerSlam (2021)

One of cornerstone PPV events of WWE, 2021's SummerSlam had some memorable moments, but not much in terms of memorable matches. Both main events showcased champions battling over-the-hill wrestlers coming out of retirement as Roman Reigns beat down the 44 year-old John Cena (who hasn't wrestled full-time for five years) for the Universal Championship and Bobby Lashley defeated the 54 year-old Goldberg to retain the WWE Championship.

The biggest moment of the night, and only real surprise, came in the shake-up for the SmackDown Women's Championship as Becky Lynch made an unexpected return and defeated Bianca Belair in under a minute in what can't really be referred to as a match. A contender for match of the night, in the Raw Women's Championship triple-threat match Charlotte Flair (as expected) defeated Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley to win another title and continue her run as the most decorated women's champion in WWE history.

Other matches include the fan favorite RK-Bro winning the Raw Tag Team Championship in yet another match featuring a competitor with a limited move-set (albeit due to size and inexperience in this case rather than advanced age). Speaking of people who can't wrestle, Eva Marie (who has shown no real ring talent since her return to the WWE) was quickly dispatched by Alexa Bliss in a disjointed match as WWE Creative continues to struggle with what to do with Bliss' current fiendish gimmick.

In the spot designated to push younger talent, Damian Priest defeated Sheamus to win the United States Championship in a rather lackluster match which could just have easily taken place on Raw. In terms of ongoing rivalries, Edge defeated Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre defeated Jinder Mahal. The Edge/Rollins match was certainly the more memorable of the two providing one of the night's better matches, although had it been the finale to the feud it would have more impact. And the Usos defeated the father/son team of the 46 year-old Rey Mysterio and his consistently underperforming son Dominik.

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