The Summerslam 2008 Breakdown

Posted by J.D. Dunn on 08.18.2008

Undertaker returns and sends Edge down to Hell!

Summerslam 2008
by J.D. Dunn

Interesting fact: The Summerslam commercial features Chris Jericho, Batista, and Rey Mysterio – two of whom don't even have matches on the show.

August 17, 2008

Live from Indianapolis, Ind.

Your hosts are Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, Todd Grisham, Tazz, Jim Ross and Matt Striker.

Opening Match: MVP vs. Jeff Hardy.
Jeff uses his quickness to avoid MVP early, but MVP keeps backing into the corners to stall. Jeff charges him but gets belly-to-bellied into the turnbuckle. MVP settles into a Butterfly Lock and reverses a monkeyflip to a heel hook. Jeff makes the ropes and tries to slingshot back in, but MVP cuts him off with a right. Back in, Jeff hits a neckbreaker, but when he goes for his corner dropkick, MVP just kicks him away. Jeff seems a little sluggish. MVP charges for his Yakuza Kick, but Jeff counters with a sleeper drop. Jeff goes for another corner dropkick, but MVP counters *again* to a powerslam. Jeff slips out of it, though, and hits the Whisper in the Wind. Jeff goes up, but Shelton Benjamin runs down. Jeff jumps on him instead of hitting the Swanton. Back up, Jeff misses the Swanton and eats a Drive-by Kick at 10:13. Pretty straight-forward match without much risk from Jeff. I did like how they kept the theme of Jeff going for the dropkick only to have it backfire. Nothing spectacular, especially after some quality Smackdown matches involving Shelton. Hopefully, the aftermath gives us a good three-way feud. **1/4

Maria talks intergender tag. Santino makes fun of Maria for letting herself go.

WWE Women's Title & Intercontinental Title: Kofi Kingston & Mickie James vs. Santino Marella & Beth Phoenix.
Santino looks like Kurt Angle's "special" brother in that doublet. The women do a little serious wrestling early – if you can call it that. Mickie dropkicks Beth's right knee, but Beth sells the left. It's all comedy after that. Santino ducks to the floor and, instead of catching Beth when she gets dropkicked off the apron, he gets out of her way and lets her splat on the outside mat. Kofi uses the Matt Cross fake tope, and Marella hops into Beth's arms. Ha ha! Back in, Kofi gets dumped, and Mickie DDTs Santino. Beth sneaks up on her and hits the Chickenwing Buster at 5:41 to give her the Women's Title and Santino the Intercontinental Title. Just a bunch of goofball fun. I await the power couple of 'Glamarella' on Raw. Santino hops on Beth's shoulders to celebrate in an image that should rival Elizabeth's skirt, Undertaker's face-to-face with himself, and Shawn's pinball sell of the Hogan boot as iconic Summerslam images. *1/2

Shawn Michaels brings his wife Rebecca out to discuss his future. First rule of wrestling: never, ever bring your family to the show if you're involved in a feud. He announces that the doctors told him to retire, and that's just what he's going to do. Chris Jericho interrupts, of course, and demands that Shawn give him credit for ending his career. Shawn says he can do that if Chris Jericho can go home and tell his wife and kids that he will never be Shawn Michaels. OH SNAP! Jericho spins Shawn around to punch him, but Shawn ducks, and Jericho knocks out Shawn's wife. Jericho looks upset but shrugs it off and walks out, leaving Shawn to glare at him as they check on Shawn's wife. Just great stuff all around. She even took a decent bump off the punch. And to top it all off, some lady in the crowd yelled, "Do you feel like a big man?" at Jericho. Kayfabulous.

ECW Heavyweight Title: Mark Henry (w/Tony Atlas) vs. Matt Hardy.
Mark Henry has been the best-booked champion of the three brands since winning the title. Well, until now. Matt avoids a charge and hits the Twist of Fate! Atlas yanks him out, though, for the DQ at 0:26. Atlas puts the boots to him, but Jeff Hardy makes the save. I know ECW is the ugly, bastard child of the WWE, but they really deserve better than this. [N/R]

Promo for Punk vs. JBL – it actually runs longer than the previous match.

World Heavyweight Title: CM Punk vs. John Bradshaw Layfield.
One of the problems I've had with Punk's matches as champion is that he tends to be a slow starter, and the audience's attention just kind of drifts. That's not a problem here as he peppers JBL with kicks and hits a tope to pop the crowd. Back in, JBL steamrolls him and hits a Steinerish Super Fallaway Slam. Bradshaw grabs a bearhug. Punk comes back with the corner knee but takes a short clothesline. Punk slugs his way back and cuts off the Clothesline from Hell with a flying kick. A replay shows that JBL fell on Punk's head and busted the back of his head open. JBL comes back with a backdrop superplex, but Punk ducks a swing and hits the Go2Sleep at 11:13. It looked like JBL had to cover a bit for Punk, who seemed to be knocked silly for a moment. Nothing egregious, though. This was a good way to get Punk over as the resourceful kid who may take a beating but finds a way to win. **3/4

WWE Heavyweight Title: Triple H vs. The Great Khali (w/Runjan Singh).
I guess this is the 2008 equivalent of Ric Flair vs. El Gigante. HHH hits a clothesline, but Khali shrugs him off and hits the Tree Slam. He doesn't cover, though, and instead goes for the melon squisher. Hunter kicks at his knee and chopblocks him. Man, that makes Batista look like a real pussy. Khali ducks to the floor and hits Hunter with the big chop. Back in, Hunter staggers to the corner. Man, that makes Undertaker look like a real pussy. Khali goes to the nerve pinch as the fans assail him with a "You can't wrestle" chant. Hunter fights out and hits a facebuster than sends Khali back into the Andre tied-in-the-ropes spot. Khali backdrops out of the Pedigree and sends Hunter to the floor. Hunter knocks him into the post, but Khali just reaches up and swats him off the apron. Hunter powers out of the vise-grip, avoids a swing, and hits the Pedigree at 10:20. This bordered on frustrating because it wasn't that Hunter was "the Cerebral Assassin" – Khali was just that stupid. Also, Hunter's ring generalship is wasted as a babyface. I was at least entertained by Hunter trying to come up with *any* offense that would work on the big guy, though. *3/4

John Cena vs. Batista.
In a funny twist, these are apparently the WWE's two marquee names, but all of the heat in this match is negative. People are either booing Cena or booing Batista. It's pretty standard power stuff, with both guys failing to get their finishers. Batista gets a figure-four leglock out of nowhere to perk the crowd up. Cena makes the ropes and dumps Batista to the floor. Batista elbows out of the FU, but Cena snaps his knee down and locks in the STFU. Batista gets turned around and makes the ropes. Cena goes for the FU again, but Batista slips out and grabs the rear naked choke. He lets that go and hits the spear. ONE, TWO, THR-NO! Cena reverses a powerslam and hits the FU but can't cover immediately. It only gets two. Up to the top, they slug it out so the fans can do the "Yay/Boo!" thing. Cena wins and comes off for the Cena Slice, but Batista catches him with a powerbomb. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Batista is pissed, hauls Cena up, and finishes with the Demonbomb at 13:45. Damned fine babyface match. Mostly, it was trading power moves, and that's really all I expected from them. Batista really needs a serious regular submission finisher like Cena's FU to play off. ***1/4

Hell in a Cell: Edge vs. The Undertaker.
It's all Undertaker early as he beats Edge around the ring and Snake Eyes Edge into the ring steps into the corner. Edge apparently blocked, though, and sends Taker into the steps. A few chairshots rock the Taker enough for Edge to set him up on a table. Edge splashes him through the table. Taker sits up and goes for a chokeslam, but Edge fights out of it. To the floor, Edge slips out of a Snake Eyes and spears Taker THROUGH THE CAGE! That knocks over part of the cell wall and lets them get out. Taker whips Edge into the barricade. They fight up to the announce tables where Edge runs across all three tables to SPEAR the Undertaker. Back in, Edge nails Taker with a camera in a play on the Survivor Series match. That gets two. Edge readies for another spear but gets chokeslammed. Taker sets up for the Last Ride, but now Edge goes low. Taker shrugs it off and tries again, but Edge slips out and spears him for two. Taker sets up for a Tombstone on the steps, but Edge counters to the Edge-o-Matic. Edge goes up, but Taker catches him and chokeslams him through a pair of tables on the outside. Now Taker hits a spear and nails Edge with the camera. That sets up a Conchairto and the Tombstone at 26:41. I've been reading a lot of MOTY talk, but like the TLC match it felt more like a walk-through than an actual match. The match did have three great spots – Edge's spear through the cell, the spear on the tables, and the chokeslam through the stacked tables – but it felt like they had just written down a bunch of spots they wanted to do and went through them one by one without anything to hold the match together. I think the crowd reaction demonstrates that, as they would pop for the big spots and then get listless waiting for the next setup. That's not to say it's a horrible match. It was actually very entertaining in patches, but it's more of a collection of spots than anything. ***1/2

After the match, Taker lifts Edge up onto one ladder, gets another ladder, and chokeslams Edge through the ring (or rather shoves Edge through the ring). Then, to top off the Black Scorpion-ness of it all, Taker prays to Prometheus and sets the hole on fire. Jim Ross, who seemed to be sleepwalking through the commentary in the main event, is remarkably calm considering Edge might be on fire.

The 411: The highlight of the show was the exchange between Shawn and Jericho, but that's not necessarily a knock on all the matches. The Hell in the Cell was a pretty good spotfest. Cena versus Batista was fine for a babyface power match a la Luger/Sting, but not the EPIC encounter they were hyping (especially at less than 15 minutes). Everything else fell into the "mildly interesting" category. Tough call, but I'm going to give it a very mild thumbs up for the last two matches and the Jericho/Shawn segment. I'd wait for the DVD, though.

Thumbs slightly up.