Mr. Tito’s PHAT WWE SummerSlam 2024 Show Review with Match and Storyline Thoughts

WWE SummerSlam 2024 was a GREAT show thanks to the Creative Team putting forth great writing and the performers executing everything perfectly. This was an all-time great SummerSlam and I say that for a Pay Per View/Premium Live Event that has had many great events since 1988. While many of the results felt predictable, the execution of the of those results was done perfectly by everyone. Furthermore, any losers of the matches looked strong in defeat. THAT is what makes a great wrestling show when everyone involved has opportunities after the show thanks to great performances. Wins and losses do not matter when the match is performed correctly and connects with the emotions of fans.

Take note, AEW… Yeah, I know, I could not resist… But you’ve got an issue of QUANTITY over QUALITY. WWE is doing fewer matches but having more QUALITY results, while AEW has over 10 matches per Pay Per View and with the wrestlers doing like 15 moves per minute without much selling.

WWE had 7 matches… Less is more.

Now, let’s discuss the show…

Personally, I need more time to get use to all of the sponsors all over the ring, the turnbuckles, and the barricade and ring apron. I went from seeing no sponsors on anything for over 35 years to now seeing them all over the place.

Jelly Roll was one of the more tolerable music performers and celebrity guests. No complaints.

The first match was Rhea Ripley vs. Liv Morgan. Yes, Dominik turned on Liv and everybody seen this coming. HOWEVER, the match with Rhea and Live was EXCELLENT and a STRONG opener to SummerSlam that had the fans eating out of their hands. Liv Morgan is a DIFFERENT wrestler, as this new storyline has breathed life into her as a performer. This was excellent stuff… Yes, Dominik turned on Rhea, but it appeared questionable… He didn’t want Rhea to use the chair to get disqualified, but then he’d later distract the referee when Liv Morgan used a chair with her finisher. It was so well done that it seemed questionable on what truly happened, but then when Dominik kissed Liv, the fans got really upset. See, this is what I’m talking about… The writing and the execution, perfectly done.

Bron Breakker was what it was… It was time for him to win the Intercontinental Title and this match strongly put him over. Just had to be done after Bron last last month against Sami Zayn.

I really enjoyed LA Knight vs. Logan Paul. Knight is a great athlete, but Logan Paul is a freak of nature. That moonsault off the ropes to the outside by Paul was a thing of beauty and so graceful. Paul tried to use his friends on the outside to interfere, but it failed, and LA Knight got the win and won the title. Good LA Knight. As much as they’ve tried to push LA Knight, they finally did something with him and gave him a singles title. With Paul holding the title for so long, this is a big win for Knight. I wonder what Logan Paul will do next?

Nia Jax vs. Bayley was OK, as I really struggle with Nia Jax’s quality. I just think there are some physical limitations with her and every opponent needs to do a little more to make the match look good. Nia wins the title and that makes me predict that Tiffany Stratton will later screw Nia hard when Tiffany cashes in her briefcase on Nia.

CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre was amazing… So much heat between the 2 wrestlers but also for the referee Seth Rollins. They really sold that they hated each other and that allowed for both wrestlers to brawl convincingly as if they legitimately hated each other. Both guys milked the crowd being heavily into this and they heavily incorporated psychology to keep it easy on the older CM Punk. Again, the concept of “less is more”. Simple concept of Drew playing mind games with the friendship bracelet but I loved when referee Seth Rollins put on the bracelet and Punk later got mad at Rollins. This stuff caused distractions on CM Punk and for him to be out of his element, which is why I consider this to be a strong win for Drew especially when he continued to harass CM Punk afterward. Props to CM Punk for doing GREAT business here by putting over Drew. From this match, multiple storylines could spill out between Drew and Punk but Seth Rollins also has heat with both guys. Good to see CM Punk wrestling again and I’m glad he didn’t get hurt.

Gunther vs. Damien Priest was great and very, very physical. You know, I don’t know how these wrestlers don’t get their hearts knocked out of rhythm by these chops. Especially Gunther’s which have such incredible force behind them. Very satisfying match overall, though I didn’t care much for the Finn Balor drama taking away from Gunther getting a clean World Title win. Sorry Triple H, it’s NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN for Finn Balor and his barely 6’0, 190 pound frame. Go ahead and paint him up like the “demon”, too, and it’s still not going to happen. Sad to see Priest having his best match as champion during the match he loses the World Title, but Gunther brings out the best in everyone.

I’m not going to criticize the Miz/R-Truth segment with Jelly Roll joining them to push back on Austin Theory and Grayson Waller. Theory and Waller got softened up by Miz and R-Truth and then chairshots. Thus, don’t cry about Jelly Roll hitting a chokeslam.

Good to see Arn Anderson backstage, as he was giving advice for Cody on his upcoming match. I wonder if WWE scolded him for admitting to the likely attendance number of 54,000 versus what Miz announced with 57,000 something.

The Main Event was Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa… Solo is not ready for the Main Event scene, folks… He reminded me of Roman Reigns during the 2010s who was kind of unsure of his offense and was often looking to his opponent to carry the match. Solo needs more experience before wrestling matches over 25 minutes. Things were a struggle until the overbooking took charge with the “Bloodline Rules”. The Haku brothers invaded first and that called upon Kevin Owens and Randy Orton. Cody looked to be winning after both pairs fought off, but then the Samoan Werewolf Jacob Fatu attacked. Now, I do NOT believe Fatu truly got injured when he hit that splash on the outside table. He needed a reason to not enter the ring when Roman Reigns was there and thus selling his knee was that very reason.

Roman Reigns came back and it was great to see him back. Take that, Eric Bischoff, and his adoring marks who thinks that Eric has any wrestling wisdom beyond the year 1997. Roman attacks Solo with a Superman Punch and then a Spear, which allows Cody to get the easy win. Roman and Cody stared each other down, but nothing more. Fans were going bonkers for Roman finally returning. My only criticism was no Paul Heyman, unless they will tell the story that he’s still recovering from the injury.

So, where do we go from here?

Obviously, Roman vs. the heel Bloodline will commence and we’ll get lucky to watch it.

We have Gunther as World Heavyweight Champion but who will be his next opponent? And will we get that Brock Lesnar feud?

Where does Cody Rhodes go from here? If Roman is pre-occupied with the Bloodline, who does Cody feud with? He’s already burned through opponents.

Liv Morgan and Rhea Ripley will continue to have a great feud and now we’ll see roles firmed up with Liv and Dominik as heels and now Rhea can be a full blown babyface.

How does this fit into the build for Wrestlemania 41?

LAST WORD: Great storyline driven show and the performers executed the storylines well with their matches. Lots of changes occurred in this show that clears the decks for the Fall season of WWE shows as RAW is in its final days on the USA Network and Smackdown soon moves to USA Network. Overall, I give this show an [ A ]

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