Cup of coffee in the big time: Only minor complaints after surprisingly good SummerSlam

WWE SummerSlam delivered in some fairly impressive ways last night.

This has been a bad year for WWE pay-per-views, there’s not much debate over that, but SummerSlam managed to mix some very good matches in with good storyline development to create a mostly enjoyable show from top to bottom.

One of the complaints coming out of the show was the lack of payoffs to some storylines with “cheap” finishes to Styles vs. Joe, New Day vs. Bludgeon Bros and Miz vs. Bryan. That the blue brand was stuck with all the iffy finishes is a bit unfortunate, but I have no real problem with the finishes as they were.

The idea “all your storylines have to pay off” at big events is misguided. The following Raw and SmackDown editions shouldn’t be a bunch of square one nonsense. Some stories should have their payoff, but others should use the big platform to pick up steam. Styles and Joe need more time to tell their tale and Bryan beating Miz the first time out would be a momentary high and a long-term loss for a program that should have the legs to last several more months.

The big criticisms I had coming out of the show were not all that big after a night’s sleep.

Ronda Rousey vs. Alexa Bliss was weird. Like, really, really weird.

I’m fine with the squash, but Ronda’s talking and yelling was distracting and came off like a bad indie act, which is mostly frustrating because she’s proven to be a fantastic professional wrestler in a short amount of time.

Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens was terrible. I don’t say that just because I’m desperate for Owens to get better treatment, but because it failed the potential weeks of TV had provided. Strowman should have cleared a few mental hurdles Owens set up through the match, come closer to getting counted out, nearly get himself a DQ, etc. Just play in the space created through Owens’ trickery through several weeks of Raw.

But failing to perfectly execute a few squashes is worlds better in the complaint department than the morning after nearly every other PPV this year.

I’ll take it.

• Check out our huge recap and reactions article coming out of SummerSlam. We also have your video highlights right here.
• Strowman is locked on to a new target after the events of last night. And that target had some words to say as a new champion.
• AJ Styles “apologized” to his family following his violent outburst to end the Samoa Joe match.
• Daniel Bryan wants to wrestle until he turns 70, which seems about right.
• Oh, and don’t forget about NXT! We have TakeOver reactions here and video highlights here for what was another great outing for WWE’s most consistent product.

I got to see D’Lo Brown hit a Sky High this weekend, maybe that’s why I’m do damn positive on a Monday.