Welcome to the Barclays Center for night two of WWE action with SummerSlam!
Renee Young, Peter Rosenberg, WWE Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler and the returning David Otunga are hosting the Kick-Off panel.
In the pre-show matches, The Miz, Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas defeated The Hardy Boyz and Jason Jordan; Neville defeated Akira Tozawa to regain the Cruiserweight title; and The Usos defeated The New Day to regain the Smackdown Tag Team titles.
Shawn Michaels comes out as The Colonel from KFC. Major product placement. He just does his entrance, messes with the announce teams, and heads back.
Cool video opening. We got a graffiti artist spraying the SummerSlam logo on a wall as a montage of every SummerSlam match airs in between.
JOHN CENA VS BARON CORBIN
John Cena is the curtain jerker this year. Corbin trash-talked throughout the whole match, which was pretty hilarious. Cena was on the receiving end of a choke slam turns into a backbreaker, landing on his neck again. Cena hits the AA for the clean win. Wow. Cena hugs Arnie Skaaland’s widow after the match. No Nikki Bella as promised. This was quick in and out match for Cena.
Rocket League UpUpDownDown segment with Neville and Sasha Banks winning the whole tournament.
NAOMI VS NATALYA (SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH)
Natalya ties Trish Stratus with the most female PPV matches. Naomi has a coat that is LIT! The crowd was mostly dead for this match. Natalya puts Naomi in the Sharpshooter and Naomi taps! New champion, her first title in six years and 25 years after her uncle British Bulldog won the IC title at SummerSlam 92 from her uncle Bret. No MITB cash-in from Carmella.
Wicked commercial for No Mercy with Alexa Bliss airs.
BIG CASS VS BIG SHOW
Enzo Amore cuts a long promo and thankfully is cut off by Big Cass’ theme song. Locked in the cage, Enzo kept talking throughout the whole match. He strips down to his undies to fit between the bars and makes it out of the shark cage. After landing, he’s met with a big boot to the face and he plays dead. Big Show gets two big boots to the face one after the other and gets pinned.
John Cena Tapout men’s body spray commercial airs. Kurt Angle is shown backstage and is visited by Daniel Bryan. They both brag about their respective brands and start a Yes/No opposing chant.
RANDY ORTON VS RUSEV
Rusev quickly attacks Orton from behind while he’s doing his entrance. Ref pushes Rusev back as Orton recovers so he can ring the bell. When the bell rings, Orton hits the RKO in a matter of seconds and gets the pinfall. That was super quick! Poor Rusev.
WWE 2K18 commercial with Kurt Angle is next. And then we cut to the Brooklyn Bridge with SummerSlam graphics projected on it. That was awesome.
Bayley hugs Sasha Banks backstage and tells her to be safe. Crowd boos Bayley.
ALEXA BLISS VS SASHA BANKS (RAW WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH)
Sasha Banks has some cool outfit designed specifically for SummerSlam. Sasha is booed when she’s introduced, and Alexa gets a babyface pop. Both women looking fantastic. Crowd seemed more into this match than any of the previous ones on the PPV. Alexa had the upper hand for most of the time, working on Sasha’s shoulder but Banks pulled a Banks Statement and became a four-time Raw Women’s champion after Alexa tapped.
WWE Superstars attend an audition for KFC’s Colonel Sanders and they replay a bit of HBK from earlier today. Michael Cole says HBK delivered some “sweet thigh music.” Okay.
FINN BALOR VS BRAY WYATT
Finn Balor as the Demon King had an epic entrance as expected. Some sick paint on Balor today. Your basic match here, with Finn Balor winning with the Coup de Grace. Most of Finn’s paint stayed on! Amazing!
Total Bellas season two preview. They’re back on September 6. Mae Young Classic hype video too. Looking forward to this one.
SHEAMUS & CESARO VS AMBROSE & ROLLINS (RAW TAG TEAM TITLES MATCH)
With all titles changing hands so far, things are not looking good for the reigning champs! Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose have separate entrances. Rollins is in new red gear. Ambrose is in…jeans. A beach ball made an appearance and distracted the crowd. Cesaro got pissed off, ran into the crowd, grabbed the beach ball and destroyed it to the biggest pop of the night so far. Great match with the champs dishing out some big punishment later in the match but the challengers found a way around it. Ambrose hits the Dirty Deeds on Sheamus for the pinfall. New Raw Tag Team champions. The new champs finish their night with The Shield fist bump.
AJ STYLES VS KEVIN OWENS (US TITLE MATCH)
Shane McMahon is the special guest referee for this match. The Smackdown Commissioner has his kids and wife at ringside. AJ and KO attack each other before the bell is even rang, with Shane having to separate the two from the opening second. Good match with Shane taking some bumps. Owens kept ripping on Shane throughout the match which was funny. “You fall off buildings! And you can’t get up to make that 3 count?!” Classic KO! At one point Owens taps but Shane was out of the ring after a bump so he didn’t see it. AJ pushed Shane, so he pushed back, nearly costing him the title with a close pinfall. Owens pins AJ after a Pop Up power bomb but AJ puts his foot on the bottom rope. Shane counts to three but then cancels it after realizing the mistake. Owens is pissed and fights with Shane. AJ hits the Pele kick and then hits the Phenomenal Forearm, followed by a second Styles Clash for the pinfall.
Cricket Wireless video, showing John Cena surprising kids in an anti-cyber bullying event.
JINDER MAHAL VS SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (WWE TITLE MATCH)
Violinist Lee England Jr is back to do the live Shinsuke Nakamura theme as the Brooklyn crowd sings along. Incredible. WWE switched the Network audio feed to Hindi for a bit. First time for that. Fans clearly behind Nakamura as fans chant “3MB.” We then get Funaki on commentary from the Japanese feed. This is an international affair! The Singh brothers come in handy once again as they interfere and while Nakmura is getting rid of them Jinder Mahal hits his Khallas finisher to retain. Fans did not like it. At all.
BROCK LESNAR VS BRAUN STROWMAN VS ROMAN REIGNS VS SAMOA JOE (WWE UNIVERSAL TITLE MATCH)
Big pop for Strowman. Same for Samoa Joe with “Joe Joe” chants. Crowd booed Reigns before his theme song even hit. That was awesome! Lesnar also gets a good pop and so does Paul Heyman for his trademark intro for the champ. There was carnage all over with four heavyweights trashing each other and everything around the ring. Strowman was the overwhelming favorite in this match, doing some crazy spots including two running power slams on Lesnar through two announce tables and then overturning the remaining announce table on Lesnar. Lesnar did the stretcher job. Brock returns and destroys everybody until Reigns recovers and Superman punches everyone. Brock Lesnar escapes all the carnage after pinning Roman Reigns with an F5. No text recap can do this match justice. Go to the WWE Network to watch it!
