WWE Summerslam 2014 - Part 2
Lumberjack Match
Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins
I'll start this part off by asking the person who is reading this, has a friend, someone who you considered a brother, ever stab you right in the back? Hopefully anyone who's reading these words has never had that happen to them. But for those who did, it is exactly how Dean Ambrose feels. 6 months ago at Wrestlemania 30, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns, and Dean Ambrose were a group of guys who formed The Shield. They separated from The Authority by beating Kane and the New Age Outlaws at Wrestlemania 30 in under 3 minutes. The Shield then went on to directly attack the leader of The Authority, Triple H, on the RAW after Wrestlemania 30.
Triple H forcefully made Daniel Bryan defend his newly won WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Triple H himself. The Shield interrupted that match and drove Triple H out of the ring. This caused Triple H to reform Evolution with Randy Orton and Batista. The Shield and Evolution would have two matches at Extreme Rules and Payback respectively. The Shield came out victorious on both of those matches.
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Seth Rollins standing over his fallen Shield members
- WWE RAW 6/2/14 |
On the June 2nd episode of RAW, Batista quit the WWE because Triple H wouldn't grant him his WWE World Heavyweight Championship match. The main event of the night was Roman Reigns taking on Randy Orton. This was never a match as when Randy Orton came out, Triple H was in tow with sledgehammer in hand. Seth Rollins went outside the ring and grabbed two steel chairs to combat the former Evolution members. Triple H remarked, "Last night was plan A, tonight, plan B. There's always a plan B." Seth Rollins then took the steel chair he brought in and attacked Roman Reigns from behind. Ambrose was stunned as Rollins approached and attacked him. Plan B was none other than Seth Rollins. He turned his back on his fellow Shield members and joined The Authority. Some would say he sold out, but if you asked him, he bought in. Seth Rollins stabbed Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose in their backs.
Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns went their own ways after that, remaining friends. Roman would go after The Authority directly trying to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Dean had other plans. He wanted to go after the man directly responsible for destroying The Shield. Ambrose would always interfere in Seth Rollins matches. Ambrose would then violently attack Seth, often ending only because Rollins escaped his clutches.
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Dean Ambrose jumping out of a car's trunk
after being ejected from the building to
attack Seth Rollins - WWE Battleground 2014 |
At Money in the Bank, Seth Rollins would win the Money in the Bank Ladder Match with the aid of former DOO, Kane. This made Dean Ambrose much more determined to make Rollins life a living hell. Every time Seth would try to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase, Ambrose would always be there to stop that from happening. A match was scheduled for Battleground between the two, however that match never happened. Prior to the match, Seth Rollins was giving a backstage interview when Dean would jump him. This lead to Triple H throwing Ambrose out of the arena. So as a result of that, Seth went to the ring later in the night and declared himself the winner of the match by way of forfeit. And so, a match was scheduled between Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose for Summerslam. However there will be a stipulation added to the match.
On the August 4th edition of RAW, Seth and Dean had Beat the Clock challenge matches that night. Whoever beats their opponent the fastest gets to choose the stipulation for their match. While Dean got 15 minutes and 42 seconds as his time, Seth lost his match due to Dean Ambrose providing a distraction outside the ring. So Ambrose got the choice of the stipulation for their Summerslam match. On the August 8th edition of Smackdown, Dean announced the stipulation would be a Lumberjack Match. Now for those who don't know or ever saw a Lumberjack match before, let me explain.
A Lumberjack match is a match where two opponents fight inside the ring and the outside of the ring is surrounded by other wrestlers. Whenever someone gets thrown out, it's the other wrestlers, or lumberjacks, job to throw them back inside the ring. This allows the lumberjacks to throw a few punches at the active wrestler before shoving them back into the ring. While the concept sounds cool, it often leads to lackluster matches. I was a bit taken aback that Dean opted for a Lumberjack match. I mean since Seth always runs away, a Steel Cage match would be a better option for the two. But the reasoning Dean gave for the Lumberjack match is that the ring will be surrounded by people The Shield has beaten up over the course of two years. Now not everyone surrounding the ring was beaten up by The Shield, but most of them were. At least this made a Lumberjack match sound a little exciting.
The match opened with both Seth and Dean just slugging at each other. Dean got the upper hand and threw Seth outside the ring. Unfortunately the lumberjacks only rolled Seth back into the ring. Gee, for people that had a vendetta against The Shield, they seemed pretty gentle to Seth. Once Seth got his bearings, he sent Dean out over the top rope into the lumberjacks. Fandango was the first person to get to Ambrose. He was met with a nice shot to the jaw. Ambrose is not waiting for the lumberjacks to attack, he's going to attack first. Every time Dean is sent outside the ring he always starts swinging.
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Lumberjacks fallen on the ground after
Dean Ambrose hit Seth Rollins with
a suplex onto them - WWE Summerslam 2014 |
Seth had Dean on the apron of the ring and was going to suplex him back into the ring. Dean had other plans. He reversed the suplex, and did a suplex to Seth outside the ring and onto the lumberjacks near them. Bodies went flying everywhere! All chaos broke loose and a melee ensued. Eventually Seth and Dean were broken apart as the lumberjacks tried to separate them. However Rollins broke loose and went full steam ahead at Ambrose, who was leaning against the barricade. Ambrose responded by throwing Seth over the barricade and into the crowd. The lumberjacks finally got ahold of Ambrose and sent him back into the ring. However the Lunatic Fringe, Dean, would have none of that as when he got into the ring, Ambrose got up and hit a suicide dive outside the ring into the lumberjacks. He then climbed on the commentators tables and jumped off of them and into Seth and two lumberjacks who were trying to get Seth back inside the ring area. Poor Kofi Kingston and Bo Dallas, they were just trying to do their jobs! They got welcomed for their efforts by being thrown back ringside by Ambrose. Seth was trying to escape into the crowd but Dean was hot on his tail.
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Seth Rollins ready to hit a powerbomb to Dean Ambrose before
the lumberjacks break them apart - WWE Summerslam 2014 |
The lumberjacks did nothing to try to get the two back into the ring after that. They just stood around and watched them go at it from afar. I thought it was the lumberjacks jobs to keep the competitors inside the ring. The Director of Operations, DOO, Kane came out and tried to restore order to this lumberjack match. He sent some lumberjacks into the crowd to go retrieve the two heated rivals. Ambrose and Rollins battled their way up to the top of an entrance way. Dean was going to give Seth his finishing move,Dirty Deeds, off the top of the entrance way! Seth then reversed the finisher attempt and was going to powerbomb Ambrose off the entrance way! These two are nuts! The lumberjacks finally got to the two and dragged Ambrose back to the ring. Seth however had no one going after him so he decided to go the other way, away from the ring and that maniac. One lone lumberjack did try to bring Rollins back. Poor Sin Cara had no chance against Seth.
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Dean Ambrose jumping off the turnbuckle into all
the lumberjacks and Seth Rollins - WWE Summerslam 2014 |
As Rollins was making his way to the backstage area, he was met by Stardust, Big E, and the Usos. With nowhere to run anymore, the four managed to finally capture Mr.Money in the Bank. The rest of the lumberjacks met the five of them and finally were going to send Seth back to the ring. For some reason, the lumberjacks thought it would be a good idea to body surf Seth back to the ring instead of dragging him back. I felt dragging him would be infinitely easier than body surfing. This ended up working for Ambrose's favor as he climbed the turnbuckle and jumped off of it into all the lumberjacks and Rollins. Literally bodies are spilled everywhere! There was only one person standing after that, and it was the lunatic who jumped off the turnbuckle in the first place.
Ambrose and Rollins finally got back into the ring with Dean in control. Ambrose tried putting Seth away by hitting Dirty Deeds. However Plan B still had some fight left in him and reversed that by sending Ambrose into the ropes. I always love it when is sent into the ropes because he does this thing where he bounces off the ropes and that looks so cool. He falls into the ropes with his head and body going under the top rope. He holds onto the ropes and bounces off of the ropes back into the ring. It's kinda hard to explain in words, you just need to see it to understand what I'm trying to say. Ambrose hits Rollins with a devastating clothesline which might have well turned Seth inside and out. Dean goes for the pin, hoping to end this match. However Rollins is not down for the count and kicks out. This left Ambrose with no choice but try to finally end this match.
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Dean Ambrose hitting Seth Rollins's Curb Stomp on
Seth Rollins himself - WWE Summerslam 2014 |
In an almost poetic moment, Dean hits Seth with the Curb Stomp, Rollins own finishing maneuver. The look on Ambrose's face was just exhaustion. Just tired of this fighting between former brothers. It seems like this match is over as Dean goes and covers Seth for the pinfall. This would have been the perfect ending for Dean, hitting the person who he felt was a brother, with his own finishing move. A move Seth hit Dean with on the night The Shield was torn apart by Seth Rollins. This would have been the end as Rollins showed no more life left but, that dirty, crooked DOO, Kane went into the ring and broke up the pinfall. Kane saved Rollins yet again.
This did not go over well with some of the lumberjacks. One person entered the ring to confront this blatant abuse of power, Goldust. The person whose life was almost ruined by The Authority one year ago, went into the face of The Authority's second in command, Kane. Goldust was then responded by getting punched in the face. This led to every single lumberjack entering the ring and just start brawling. It was madness in the ring as people were just throwing punches at each other left and right. Eventually everyone got thrown out of the ring except for Luke Harper and Erik Rowan, the Wyatt Family. They set their eyes on Dean however, he sent both of them out of the ring. With this distraction, Seth went outside the ring and grabbed his Money in the Bank briefcase. Just like the coward he is, he used that briefcase on Dean and got him for the 3 count. Dean Ambrose was screwed out of victory yet again by Kane and The Authority.
This is far from over between Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. This is the second match Seth won with the help of Kane and the second match Dean was screwed out of victory, by Kane. This is no mere coincidence as it is obvious they don't want their golden boy, Seth Rollins, to lose to that crazy, maniac, lunatic, Dean Ambrose. This is not over between the two. Dean Ambrose will get his revenge one day. As long as he is still breathing, Seth cannot cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase because Dean Ambrose will always be there to stop him. You can't stab someone in the back and expect them to forget.
Winner: Seth Rollins
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Seth Rollins after pinning Dean Ambrose with the aid of his
Money in the Bank briefcase - WWE Summerslam 2014 |
Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt
In the past few years, Chris Jericho has transitioned from an active competitor to a part time wrestler. Showing up for a couple months before leaving and returning at a later date. On the June 30th edition of RAW, it was advertised that a former WWE champion would be returning. That champion was The Miz, who recently was gone due to shooting the movie, "The Marine 4: Moving Target". However, The Miz was just a red herring as the real return was for Chris Jericho.
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The Wyatt Family attacks Chris Jericho - WWE RAW 6/30/14 |
The Miz was upset that Chris would interrupt his return and steal the spotlight from the must-see former WWE Champion. Miz was however silenced by a Code Breaker from Jericho. As he grabbed the mic, ready to make one of his usual return promos, the lights went out. When they came back on, Chris Jericho was surrounded by the Wyatt Family. Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, and Bray Wyatt all performed a heinous beat down to poor little Chris. This left everyone with one question. Why? Why did the Wyatt Family target Chris Jericho? A definite answer was never given by Bray Wyatt. From what I can gather, he basically wants to mess up Chris Jericho's life because he referred to himself as a savoir. As Bray Wyatt is a cult leader type person, he must of felt offended by Chris. Bray has the whole world in his hands, and he wants to keep it that way. Or perhaps after failing to ultimately defeat John Cena and failed to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, he wanted an easy target to torture.
Whatever the reason is, a match was set between the two at Battleground. Chris Jericho walked away the victor of that match but ultimately, this feud was far from over. On the July 21st episode of RAW, Jericho was going to have Bray on his Highlight Reel show. That didn't turn out well for Chris as Bray attacked Jericho in the locker room before the Highlight Reel. So a rematch was set for the two of them at Summerslam. On the August 1st and 4th episodes of Smackdown and RAW respectively, Jericho had two matches against Erick Rowan and Luke Harper. If the representing member of the Wyatt Family lost their match against Chris, they would be banned from ringside at Summerslam. Jericho wound up winning both of those matches so both members of the Wyatt Family were banned from ringside at Summerslam. Now it's only up to Bray Wyatt to fight Chris Jericho alone and without any help. Will the Eater of Worlds defeat The Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla? Or will the first ever Undisputed Champion show that he can still hang with the best.
The whole theme to this feud is whose side are you, the fan, on? Are you an Jericholic? Or are you one of Bray Wyatt's Fireflies? As Bray Wyatt makes his entrance, you can see what side the crowd there, is on. It's like the whole arena is filled with people holding up their cell phones or lights in support of Wyatt. While Chris Jericho had a few people holding lights up for him, they no way match the sheer amount of Bray's Fireflies.
While Jericho was in control in the beginning of the match, it didn't take Bray long to take control of it after slamming his knee into Chris against the steel steps. The crowd started singing Bray's signature tune, "He's got the whole world in his hands". People are waving their arms back and forth almost in a trance from Wyatt. Bray stands there in the ring, moving his hands like a conductor conducting an orchestra.
Bray Wyatt continued his assault by crushing Jericho against the ring post and violently pulling him against the ropes. Jericho tried to turn the momentum in his favor but Wyatt quickly got the match back under his control. After Jericho kicked out of a pin, Wyatt just started to laugh. Almost as if he found humor in Jericho's resilience. Every time Jericho looked like he was regaining control, Bray always stops him. Laughing each time Jericho kicks out of pins. Jericho finally locked in the Walls of Jericho, only for Wyatt to reach the ropes. It seems like every single time Jericho tries to put in offense, Wyatt always puts an end to it. Perhaps all the years of fighting and being a survivor is finally catching up to him.
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Chris Jericho locking in the Wall of Jericho to Bray Wyatt
- WWE Summerslam 2014 |
Jericho hit a hurricanrana from the top rope to Bray Wyatt. Despite Bray laying down on the mat for really the first time in this match, Jericho just couldn't get the cover on him quick enough. Jericho would always hit a hurricanrana just fine other times before, why did it take him longer to recuperate from that one? Is it because Jericho is showing his age and just can not do it the same way he always has?
Jericho was going for one of his old favorites , the Lionsault, however, he could not do it. Like something out of a horror movie, Bray Wyatt raises his body up from laying on the ground and stands on his hands and feet. Almost like coming back to life after being killed. Chris Jericho could not believe that a competitor in a wrestling match would do something that strange and weird. Wyatt gets on his knees and starts screaming "I am invulnerable! I can not die as I'm already dead!" Jericho is not merely fighting a wrestler named "Bray Wyatt". He is fighting something much more than that.
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Bray Wyatt hitting Chris Jericho with Sister Abigail into the
barricade - WWE Summerslam 2014 |
Jericho hit a Code Breaker out of desperation, but that still did not put Wyatt away. Jericho was ready to hit a baseball slide on Wyatt, only to get hit by a Sister Abigail into the barricade in return. This is it for Jericho, he hit him with everything he's got and could not defeat Bray Wyatt. One last Sister Abigail inside the ring and Bray Wyatt secured victory. Even without his fellow Wyatt Family members ringside, Bray defeated Chris Jericho. I guess the loss at Battleground must have made Wyatt stronger as with no help, he beat Chris Jericho. Something he couldn't do with his Family members with him at Battleground. If this match proved anything, it's that no matter how many times Bray Wyatt losses, he is still as dangerous as ever.
Winner: Bray Wyatt
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Bray Wyatt leading a chorus of "He's got the whole world in his hands"
after defeating Chris Jericho - WWE Summerslam 2014 |
Brie Bella vs. Stephanie McMahon
There are many words that can describe the buildup to this match. Boring, stupid, nonsensical, however, there is one word that beats them all. One word that most accurately describes the whole buildup. Clumsy. Let me explain, this whole thing really started after Wrestlemania 30. Daniel Bryan, Brie Bella's real life husband, won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Since then, Brie has become more attached to Daniel's on-screen character. The DOO, Kane, put his mask back on to become the "Demon" Kane. A match was set between Kane and Daniel Bryan at Extreme Rules for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
Daniel Bryan ended up winning that match, however on May 12th on RAW, Daniel Bryan announced that he would undergo neck surgery. The surgery was successful, however Daniel would need time off to heal. On the May 26th episode of RAW, Stephanie McMahon tried to have Daniel relinquish his WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Bryan did not give his title up, so Stephanie gave him an ultimatum. If he didn't give up his championship at Payback, she would fire his wife Brie.
At Payback, in an effort to get around Daniel getting stripped of the title, Brie ended up quitting so The Authority would have nothing against Bryan to get him to give up the title. On her way out, Brie slapped Stephanie right across her face. This would spark a rivalry between the two. Brie and Daniel's plan ended up backfiring as Daniel's injury was worse than they thought. Due to a clause that, if you hold a championship title, you must defend that title at least once a month. Since Daniel would not be able to wrestle in a months time, The Authority had what they needed to strip him of the championship. On the June 9th edition of RAW, Daniel Bryan was forcefully stripped of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
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Brie Bella slaps Stephanie McMahon - WWE Payback 2014 |
In the following weeks, as punishment for Brie slapping her, she put Nikki, Brie's twin sister, in unfair handicap matches. At one point, Nikki had to wrestle against 6 other women. On July 21st, Brie returned to WWE as an audience member. Since Stephanie hates Brie, she came out to belittle her. This lead to Stephanie slapping Brie across her face and getting her kicked out of the arena. What didn't occur to Steph is that since Brie is not a member of the WWE roster anymore, she could press charges for that attack. That is what Brie did, so that same night, Stephanie was arrested for her attack. On the next week's RAW, Stephanie had Brie come back in order to try to get her to drop the charges she had against her. Brie agreed she would drop the charges under two conditions. That she would have her job back and she would have a match at Summerslam. Stephanie agreed however she didn't know what match Brie wanted. That match Brie would have would be against Stephanie McMahon. Unfortunately this upcoming part is where the storyline took a nosedive in quality.
Stephanie would bring out a woman called Megan Miller on the August 11th RAW. She is the physical therapist for Daniel Bryan. Stephanie had Megan confess that she had an affair with Daniel. A furious Brie came out and attacked both Steph and Megan. Ironically, Megan pressed charges against Brie and had her arrested just like Stephanie. I really did not like this whole segment as it made Brie look like an idiot. It also was not believable what so ever that Bryan would cheat on Brie. It just took Daniel Bryan's good image and dragged it through the mud. I have to be honest, I was not exactly excited for this match. It's someone who hasn't been in the ring for over a decade wrestling someone who hasn't wrestled for 2 months. I was surprised that this match was better than I thought it would be.
Right from the get go Stephanie took control of the match. Someone who hasn't wrestled since WWE No Mercy 2003, was completely dominating someone who last wrestled only 2 months ago. Brie tried to get Stephanie into the "Yes!" Lock but she just couldn't lock it in, Stephanie ran out of the ring. Just like her husband, Brie was going to hit a suicide dive to the outside of the ring but Stephanie countered that by punching her in the face. This really impressed me as I didn't think Steph would counter that move.
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Stephanie McMahon rubbing her foot in Brie Bella's face
- WWE Summerslam 2014 |
As this match went on, I found myself cheering for Stephanie just on the fact that she is a much better wrestler than Brie. I can't believe I even said that but Brie just did not look good at all in this match. Brie finally got a move in when Steph was trash talking her. Shades of her husband, Brie started to kick Stephanie in the corner of the ring. With every kick the crowd started to chant "Yes!" in tribute to Daniel Bryan. It looks like Brie finally started to actually wrestle instead of getting beat up. Brie hit Stephanie with good looking missile dropkick from the second rope. Wish she hit the dropkick from the top rope. I guess Brie didn't want to ruin her good looks or anything, I mean she is just wrestling after all.
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Brie Bella with a "Yes!" Lock on Stephanie McMahon
in tribute of her husband, Daniel Bryan
- WWE Summerslam 2014 |
With Stephanie out of steam and defeat looming, Triple H came out to provide a distraction in order for Stephanie to gain an advantage. Also following close behind him is Brie's sister, Nikki. Stephanie did gain an advantage as she went to go hit Brie with a Pedigree, however Brie countered that and put Steph into a "Yes!" Lock. A last deprest attempt to save his wife, Triple H pulled the ref out of the ring so Stephanie wouldn't lose if she tapped out. Brie enraged, hit Triple H with a dropkick from inside the ring. With Triple H laying on the ground, Brie stood over him and did the "Yes!" taunt with the crowd following along. Stephanie was moving outside the ring but Nikki went around and met her. Both Bella's trapped Stephanie inside the ring, it looked like they are about to exact revenge for the months of torment she cause the both of them.
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Nikki Bella aligning herself with The Authority
- WWE Summerslam 2014 |
Right in this moment, Nikki took Stephanie by the arm and threw her aside and clobbered Brie in the head. Nikki, someone who stood by Brie's side all along, just cost her the match. Stephanie was in shock but a smile went across her face as Nikki helped her up. Nikki has just aligned herself with The Authority. Stephanie hit a fallen Brie with a Pedigree and won the match. Nikki has turned her back on her own flesh and blood.
I can't say I blame her though. Nikki was put in unfair matches because of Brie's actions. Brie could have just quit and left the ring, but no, she had to slap Stephanie on the way out. All through this build up to the match between Brie and Steph, Nikki was pushed to the background. It was all about Brie fighting Stephanie instead of the Bella Twins fighting against Stephanie. Brie could have had any match she wanted at Summerslam. She could have requested Nikki to have a Diva's Championship title shot. She could have also had Brie and Nikki fighting Stephanie in a Handicap match. But no, it was just about Brie fighting Stephanie. If I was Nikki, I would have done the same thing.
Winner: Stephanie McMahon
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Stephanie McMahon with Triple H after winning her match
against Brie Bella - WWE Summerslam 2014 |
To Be Continued....
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