Review for WWE Summerslam 2023

Summerslam is one of the biggest shows of the year and this event could have easily been the ending to one of the most perfect storylines in recent history. That is not the case and though that is disappointing, the whole event has some good and bad moments so definitely not the huge let-down it could have been.

First up, I think I need to take back anything bad I have ever said about Logan Paul. This man is possibly the greatest Heel the WWE has at the moment and if he was ever to go full time, I could see him holding a World Title. His match against Ricochet was phenomenal. Unlike a lot of ‘celebrity’ matches, these two worked so well together and this was one of, if not THE, match of the night.

Almost of par, we have Brock Lesnar against Cody Rhodes in their third match and I thought this was going to be just another ‘suplex city squash’ which I never really enjoyed, but both had some amazing moments and I really enjoyed this match and it had a fantastic ending.

The SummerSlam Battle Royale was essentially a bathroom break. It wasn’t bad, it just was of no consequence. Maybe if they had put a title shot or something on the line it would have felt more worthwhile. The same could be said for the simply awful ‘MMA Rules’ match between Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler. This match between two gifted MMA fighters felt more like a Brawl for All match and maybe they should have used those rules as a throwback to it. It just didn’t work and I’m not sure who was supposed to benefit from it. Neither did.

Thankfully after all that we have Gunther defending his Intercontinental Championship against Drew McIntyre in a simply fabulous match that was given just the right amount of time. It will be interesting to see where Gunther goes as he seems unbeatable at the moment. As is Seth Rollins who took on Finn Balor in a fantastic match for the World Heavyweight Championship. This had some great back and forth and my only real issue with this match was that while Damien Priest holds the Money in the Bank briefcase, it makes no sense for anyone else in The Judgment Day stable to go after a belt.

The triple threat with Asuka defending the Women’s Championship against Bianca Belair and Charlotte Flair was great and definitely had its moments. It didn’t need the ending and I understand why they do it, but this kind of match didn’t need it and maybe if they were going that way they should have had a different ending altogether.

Finally, we have the main event between Undisputed WWE Champion Roman Reigns and Jey Uso. If there was ever a time for Reigns to put someone over, it would be this time. Sadly, not to be. I could almost accept a simple defeat, I could accept interference by Paul Heyman and Solo Sikoa. What I can’t accept is what happened at the end and it just felt like such a slap in the face for everyone who had followed this amazing storyline. This was the time to change and this was the time to move on to something different. Instead it was just back to square one and almost ruined it completely. This was not how to end a PPV.

The only Special Feature is the post event Press Conference. That’s it. No promos, no Kickoff show or matches. Now it could be argued that as the event is over four hours long then this is fine, but seeing as WWE only release a few events and disks on Bluray that this would be the time to expand to another disk and make this a must have item. This includes speaking to Cody Rhodes, Paul Heyman and Triple H amongst others. As always this is fine and it is nice to hear their reactions, but it would be better if there was more features.

Summerslam 2023 was a tale of two sides. On the one hand there are four almost perfect matches that I would happily watch again. On the other hand, we have four matches which vary in quality, but not ones I would want to watch again. I’m glad I watched it and it shows just how easy it is for WWE to seesaw the quality of their product, but this is overall not a PPV I would watch fully again.