Photos courtesy: Fetch, Fremantle Media
The hottest entertainment show of the Summer hit Brooklyn, New York hot on the heels of the well received NXT event the previous evening so it had a lot to live up to. Could SummerSlam 2015 deliver? Well as ever in WWE world the answer was a little bit yes and a little bit no.
Although I can see why the WWE had John Stewart host the show (and at least he is a genuine wrestling fan) the opening segment with Mick Foley failed to entertain me but it was always clear that when the WWE announced this show was four hours long that the extra time would not be filled with, you know, wrestling.
The action opened with chapter 358 of the interminable Randy Orton and Sheamus rivalry. It was by no means awful but we’ve seen it so many times that there simply wasn’t anything new to offer here. Still, it was an adequate opener. The Four Corners tag team match for the World Titles was OK, but simply a bit too busy and unstructured to actually register much emotion. And we had the always ridiculous spot where a guy attempts to pin his own partner to win the match.
The Rusev and Dolph Ziggler soap opera continued in the next match. The decent work was undone by a terrible non finish and the biggest thing your reviewer took from this one was that Lana suits the denim jacket look. Next was the celebrity match as Arrow’s Stephen Amell teamed with Neville to take on Stardust and King Barrett. As shocking as it was that Amell handled himself extremely well, it was perhaps even more shocking that it was his non-celeb partner who got the pinfall victory. It was by no means Match of the Year territory but it was very good for what it was.
The Triple Threat match for the IC title between Ryback, The Miz and Big Show existed to fill a spot. I refuse to believe that even their mother’s were looking forward to this one. It wasn’t awful, but its a match I never want to see again.
The remnants of The Wyatt’s and The Shield assembled a basic, but heated and entertaining, tag team match that went down well with the crowd before we got to one of the main events of the evening in the form of Seth Rollins vs John Cena. That it was on so early was a clear sign of shenanigans though few would have suspected that a John Stewart heel turn would be the result. It was a very good match, though some will have hated the finish. Still most will be happy that it was Rollins who had his hand raised.
The three team women’s match couldn’t match that but it was a decent effort, albeit significantly less memorable than the NXT Women’s Title match the previous night. Still, a fifteen minute women’s match on a “WWE” PPV? That doesn’t happen often.
Cesaro and Kevin Owens brought fans back to life with a great match before it was time for the main event of Brock Lesnar vs The Undertaker. Ignoring the storyline plot holes (did Taker forget about wanting revenge in the build up for this years Mania?) this was a match that many were looking forward to. And for the most part it delivered. Until the non-finish that is. You can argue all you want about setting up match number three, but a non-finish in the main event of a SummerSlam in 2015 is simply an insult to paying fans. Even if it is only 9.99 these days.
The extras are a bit on the thin side with the DVD having two kickoff interviews and two home video exclusives, none of which are essential. The lone BluRay exclusive is the Brock/Taker face to face from the Rae before SummerSlam.
Although the show wasn’t perfect, and dragged in places, as an overall experience it was a fun night of wrestling that, if anything, was dragged slightly down by the booking rather than the effort of the wrestlers.
Format reviewed: Blu-Ray
Thank you to our partners, WWEDVD.co.uk and Fetch for providing our review copy of WWE SummerSlam 2015, which is available on DVD & Blu-Ray in the UK now. You can buy your copy from WWEDVD.co.uk now by clicking here.