WWE Summerslam 2014 - Part 1
6 months ago, I made the bold proclamation that Wrestlemania XXX would be an event where we would look back on it, and say that this defines the current era of WWE, the Reality Era. Summerslam 2014 will be the event that we will call the end of an era. No, I'm not talking about the "End of an Era" Undertaker and Triple H Hell in a Cell Match at Wrestlemania 28. I'm talking about the era of John Cena being THE top guy in WWE.
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Floor Seats - Summerslam 2014 |
Since the WWE turned more toward the family friendly PG style of programming, John Cena has been the main attraction for the WWE. Between 2008 and 2012, there was a total of 66 Pay-Per-View events by the WWE. John Cena has main evented 34 of them. Thats 51.5% or 52% of the total Pay-Per-View events in a 5 year time span that had John Cena wrestle in the last match. Most of them had him competing for the WWE championship and some he even main evented over the current champion. The worst offender to this was Over the Limit 2012 where John Cena vs. John Laurinaitis was more important than CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship.
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John Cena congratulating Daniel Bryan
on his win - Summerslam 2013 |
For the past two years, you could really tell that the WWE is trying to put John Cena out of the limelight and give the spotlight to new, younger talent. It was most prevalent when John Cena lost to Daniel Bryan at last year's Summerslam. Though since then, Cena won the World Heavyweight Championship and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. While overnight he won't be pushed out of the top spot but this Summerslam will be the start of it. Summerslam 2014 is significant for two reasons. It's the last WWE televised event using the old "scratch" logo. And in the main event, the WWE's own superman, the hero to all the women and children, a 15 time world champion got COMPLETELY demolished with no offense whatsoever. As I did last time, this will be a three part series where I go through all the matches in each hour, so without further ado!......
Intercontinental Championship
Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz (c)
Last month, Bad News Barrett who was the reigning Intercontinental Champion had to vacate the title because of an injury. So at Battleground there was an over-the-top rope battle royal to determine the new Intercontinental Champion.While Dolph Ziggler should have rightfully won, he ended up losing because The Miz, who was hiding outside the ring the whole match, went up from behind him and dumped him out of the ring. On the July 21's edition of RAW, Ziggler defeated The Miz in a non-title match, so this set up a rematch at Summerslam for the Intercontinental Championship.
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The Miz defeating Dolph Ziggler by
hiding outside of the ring
- WWE Battleground 2014 |
The Miz just recently returned from starring in a WWE Film, "The Marine 4: Moving Target". Since coming back, Miz has created a Hollywood persona. He became a big movie narcissist who calls his face the "Money Maker". Dolph Ziggler has been a person who always seem like to get the raw end of the deal. He is a two time World Heavyweight Champion but you probably wouldn't believe that. His first reign was not won but awarded to him, only to lose it 11 minutes and 23 seconds later. His second reign was the night after Wrestlemania 29 where he cashed in on Alberto Del Rio but to only get a concussion and lose his next two matches against Del Rio. Everytime Ziggler seems to finally get into the main event scene, he always losses. Because of this, fans have been getting behind him in support of maybe one day, he'll win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Dolph Ziggler has everything to win in this match. If he loses, there is no hope that he'll evolve into anything but for someone to win against.
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Dolph Ziggler hits The Miz with a devastating superkick
- Summerslam 2014 |
This match opened Summerslam and thanks to WWE Network technical difficulties, I missed this whole entire match. But thanks to the WWE Network, I was able to re watch it on VOD (Video On-Demand). At least my $9.99 is worth it still. This match was a very solid match. Both had spots where they had the advantage in the match. One thing I liked that the crowd chanted at one point was "You can't wrestle!" to The Miz. Usually that insult is thrown at John Cena so it's refreshing to hear it yelled at someone else. It fits Miz's character too because he's a Hollywood movie star who wrestles in the WWE just for fame and fortune instead of wrestling because he loves to. The biggest weakness for The Miz is that he has to protect his face as to not to ruin his good looks. At one point Ziggler finally got a clean shot at his face with a swift punch and superkick. Man those two shots sounded painful. One move sequence I liked was when Ziggler hit a fameasser on Miz, he moved out of the way at the last second and hit the skull crushing finale on Dolph. It did look weird at first watch because if you didn't pay attention to how Miz moves, it looks like Ziggler hit Miz with the fameasser and Miz just gets up and hits his finisher with no ill-effects. But rewatching it Miz did definitely moved out of the way.
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The Miz is in disbelief that Dolph Ziggler
kicked out of the skull crushing finale - Summerslam 2014 |
Dolph kicked out of the pinfall attempt after the skull crushing finale. Miz was distraught and could not believe that Ziggler kicked out at 2. He then bounces off the ropes to kick a now sitting Ziggler in the head. But Ziggler counters by laying back down and jumps up to hit the zig-zag on Miz. 1,2, and 3! Dolph Ziggler defeats The Miz to become a 2 time Intercontinental Champion.
New Intercontinental Champion
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
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Dolph Ziggler celebrating his Intercontinental Championship win
- Summerslam 2014 |
Divas Championship
Paige vs. AJ Lee (c)
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Paige after defeating AJ Lee in her debut match - RAW 4/7/14 |
This match is interesting because of the two individuals involved. AJ Lee, she is THE longest reigning Divas Champion of all time. Paige, she made her main roster debut on the night after Wrestlemania 30 where she confronted AJ in the ring. Now at Wrestlemania 30, AJ defeated 13 other divas to retain her championship. When she confronted AJ, she put her Divas Championship on the line in an impromptu match. Paige ended up defeating AJ in quick fashion. AJ never got a rematch against Paige because she took some time off until the RAW after Money in the Bank. Rumors began swirling around online that AJ was pregnant and that's why she seemingly disappeared for many months. I was at the June 30th RAW where AJ returned to confront Paige. I heard a guy in the row behind yell out, "Don't AJ! You'll have a miscarriage!" This was a reference that the now obviously false rumor of AJ having a baby. I thought that was funny.
On that RAW, AJ defeated Paige in a quick impromptu match to regain her Divas Championship. So the rematch was set for Battleground where AJ defeated Paige once again. But then Paige seemingly had a quick change of heart of AJ, calling them friends and enemies. This was just a ruse though as Paige eventually viciously attacked AJ on multiple occasions. Paige even at one point threw AJ off the stage. What's strange is that all the while doing these attacks, she still referred to AJ has her friend. Saying things like "I love you AJ!" "Hope you feel better" "She's fine!" "You're over-reacting!" All the while AJ hasn't moved after being thrown off the stage. AJ's character is someone who is crazy, she's not right in the head. Paige turned into another crazy person but different than AJ. She is the kind of crazy that is evil while AJ is the kind of crazy where she could explode at any moment. So the stage is set at Summerslam for AJ to defend her title against Paige.
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AJ Lee biting Paige's hand - Summerslam 2014 |
At the start of the match, Paige extended her hand for a friendly handshake. AJ, who now HATES Paige, takes her hand and proceeds to bite it. AJ then proceeded to pull out Paige's hair extensions. This match was brutal. These two didn't hold back anything. AJ hitting Paige's head on the announcer's table, Paige throwing AJ into the barricade neck first. Paige dragged AJ up to the top turnbuckle but, AJ then got the upper hand and pushed Paige from the top turnbuckle to outside the ring. AJ then jumped from the top to the outside onto Paige. AJ locks in the Black Widows submission hold and somehow Paige escapes the hold and hits AJ with the Ram-Paige, a modified DDT. Paige gets AJ down for the three count and regains the Divas Championship. This match was great but short, it was only about 5 minutes. I would have preferred this to go to at least 10 minutes as this match didn't feel like it had any breathing room. These two are great wrestlers instead of the models they hire for Total Divas. Hopefully their next match probably at Night of Champions will go longer as this match left me wanting more from them.
New Divas Champion
Winner: Paige
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Paige celebrating her win over AJ Lee for
the Divas Championship - Summerslam 2014 |
Flag Match
Jack Swagger vs. Rusev
The feud between Swagger and Rusev is as simple as can be. Rusev with his manager Lana, has been on a crusade mocking the USA every chance they can. For weeks, it seemed no one can defeat Rusev and defend America. I bet on some peoples minds, I know it was in mine, is one question. How come the person that is called a "Real American" isn't standing up to Rusev and Lana? Well on the June 30th episode of RAW he just did, Jack Swagger and Zeb Colter stood up to Rusev. The match was set for Battleground between the two. Swagger lost that match by a count out, getting knocked out from the ring post after Rusev countered the Patriot Lock. Since the match did not give a decisive winner, a rematch was made for Summerslam, but with an added stipulation, it will be a Flag Match.
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Jack Swagger and Rusev before their Flag Match
- Summerslam 2014 |
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Jack Swagger locks in the Patriot Lock - Summerslam 2014 |
Now traditionally a Flag Match is a match where two flags are suspended on opposite ring posts. To win the match, you must grab your opponents flag while your's is still hanging up. However this Flag Match was different which led to much confusion for the whole match. This Flag Match was that the winner of the match will have their flag raised and their national anthem played. If you saw their match at Battleground, it was basically the same match for Summerslam but with a different ending.
Before the match began, Rusev hit Swagger with a cheap shot but Swagger got the upper hand when he locked in the Patriot Lock. This led to Rusev having a bad ankle this whole match. Swagger also had bad ribs due to an attack in the prior weeks leading up to this match. Both men had a handicap of sorts which both men targeted. What's interesting is that both men have finishing moves that they need their injured body parts to use. The Swagger-bomb hurts Swagger's ribs more and Rusev's Accolade hurts his ankle more. What was cool is when Rusev put in a modified Accolade, Swagger countered it and got in the Patriot Lock again. However that wasn't enough and Rusev got Swagger in the full Accolade. Swagger lost the match there but not purposely. Swagger passed out which put the end to the match. Even though the big mean Russian won the match, he didn't break the heart and spirit of the Real American. Just his body gave up before he did. After the match, when Lana was taunting Zeb Colter for winning the match, Rusev kicked Zeb and knocked him over. What a despicable act! Then the Russian flag was raised and national anthem played. Right there it felt like someone should have came running out to defend Zeb but no one did. They just stood around while waiting for the flag to raise. Can anyone put an end to Rusev's reign of terror? Maybe someday, but not today.
Winner: Rusev
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Rusev stands victoriously over a fallen Jack Swagger
- Summerslam 2014 |
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