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[2017-08-20-WWE-Summerslam] Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns vs Braun Strowman vs Samoa Joe


SmartMark15

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BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN.

 

Sheer spectacle. That's what this was and I loved it. I really did. Braun has been on a tear in 2017 and he just keeps making the absolute most of every single opportunity that he's been given. He went out there tonight and just showed why he is an absolute monster. The dominance of putting Brock through two tables and throwing an office chair in the faces of both Reigns and Joe. Add to that one of Lesnar's best sell jobs bumping like a nut for Braun and selling his ass off for Reigns. Sure, Joe was just a bit of an afterthought and that's a shame, but man when this match was on it was ON. I'm honestly unsure how to rate this right now. The first few moments with Braun killing everyone dead was five star material easily. Things do slow down once Lesnar comes back from his stretcher spot but even then you get great moments like Braun kicking out and shoving Reigns to his feet and Lesnar eating three Superman Punches.This is a shade under five for me, because the second half just doesn't maintain the momentum but what a showcase for these guys.

 

****3/4

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Lesnar and Braun were easily MVPs. Braun is what the Big Show or any other big man who has come through WWE over the years should have been. An absolute monster who can demolish anyone but also sell well. I am still super high on Brock despite suplex city but yeah I wish he tones down the weak looking germans and incorporates more stuff like his killer lariats and knee lifts and other suplexes. All of his non-german offense here ruled. Great bumping and selling, for Braun especially. Roman's selling was strong as usual but this was one of his weaker performances of the year, he didn't contribute much. Joe looked great initially but sort of disappeared later on. I didn't like how they used him for the break up a pin spots which made him look weak. Overall, a really fun spectacle. *** 1/2

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An utter nuts four way main event. You had 4 huge guys just splattering each other with big moves for twenty mins pretty much all of which looked really great.

 

Lesnar and Braun are obviously the stars here with this match really setting up the Braun Vs lesnar singles match down the line. Roman and Joe were both good in this match but took a backseat to the work of the two primary characters in lesnar and Braun.

 

I loved the first ten or so minutes as they just unloaded on each other and had little moments between each of the four guys in the ring with the most hype being Braun and lesnar followed by an awesome Roman Vs Braun exchange where Roman failed to push Braun over so Braun just one arm pushed him away.

 

Following the carting out of Brock I thought the match went down a gear as the heat was lost a bit. Once he returned it got a little better but I still think the oppening is the best part of the match.

 

The selling of lesnar is out of this world as he sells being the wounded monster so well with his staggered selling that he is one of the only guys in the world that can get away with it, with most others it looks like shit.

 

Braun and Roman had a great moment where he kicked out of a spear or superman punch or something by pushing Roman vertical which got a chuckle from me. I loved that all they went for was finishers at the end because they knew they had to get it if they wanted to survive and put across how desperate they were.

 

On a negative the crowd were really annoying with the undertaker chants throughout and I cannot take the table being pushed on someone as dangerous due to how flimsy it is Joe also disappeared in the final stretch which was a shame.

 

All in all a great hoss/final boss battle that really put over Braun as the only viable threat to Brock in a one on one match at this point. Apparently saved the show too but I am not watching the rest of it (outside of usos match) to find out if that is the case. ****1/4

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Thought this was such a well laid out, simple match. The key to all this was give people enough of Brock vs. Braun to whet their appetite, but not to give them too much. This was such a match full of bombs and big moves. Engaging all the way through. It left me wanting to see Braun vs. Brock. Excellent. ****1/2

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I'm going the full five for this one.

 

Strowman looked like a monster, Joe had his chances to steal the victory, Lesnar's promise to leave the company if he lost also added some drama to the match, and Roman was good as always, bringing the heat to a match where all 4 guys were massively over.

 

I can see why someone would say this was one of the "weaker" Roman performances, but still it was a great showing, even if the match was the Strowman show.

 

Those 4 guys are top level main eventers. By last year we had Jericho/Ko/Rollins/Roman. What an upgrade.

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Wonderful match. Big bombs, huge moments, great use of pace and time... this match had everything you want out of a 4-way. It was also shot really well to highlight the surprise nature of some of the offense. My only real problem is that Joe seemed like sort of an afterthought in terms of how things seemed to be laid out. Beyond being a Joe fan, i think that is just unfortunate. They had a lot of momentum with Joe (the crowd was excited to see him hurt people) and didn't give him as many places to shine. I think some more Joe could have pushed this to elite territory.

 

still... pretty easy ****1/2 for me and I could bump it a 1/4 on second watch (which it is definitely getting soon). This is probably my favorite E match of the year so far.

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Easily the greatest fatal four-way I've ever see and one of the best matches in Summerslam history. They did a tremendous job of making sure everyone got their time to shine while continuing to make an absolute star out of Braun Strowman. Seriously, it can't be said enough how ridiculous his improvement has been this last year. He's literally one of the best they have now. Brock also did a tremendous job selling the beating he sustained during the match while continuing to look like a dominant force of nature. I cannot wait for the match at No Mercy.

 

****3/4.

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These kinds of matches are really WWE's forte, the indy workers they bring in to have watered down 2010 ROH matches but with more wear and tear on their body resulting in less actually impressive athletic spots, less room for creativity (for better or worse) and the same stupidity in match building and transitioning as well as shitty basics (Phil Schneider should have his reviewing license revoken for praising Seth Rollins' punches). They've struck gold by not having heavyweight title contenders under 250lbs. Unfortunately much of what makes matches like this work is what also limits how good they can be. It is said "matches like this are great because you can hit finishers but have saves instead of kick-outs!". But what happens then is that you have a million finishers done, and that's just not that interesting. You start feeling the repetition, and by the time Strowman hits the sixth Powerslam and Roman hits the fifeenth Superman Punch, the crowd reacts less than they did to a Joe Senton. And feeling the crowd is important in a match that is essentially built on star power and glamour. Joe may have been my favourite performer in this-for years I've thought he was just never going to hit his stride again, let alone reach his previous heigths, and I'm not going to expect him put on performances like he did in 2003 since he just doesn't have the athleticism to do so anymore, but his cunning character has given him new life. Picking his spots, making sure the timing is right (the roll-up, flash chokes and elbow suicida were all based on this) and, you know, not doing the same move fifty times-I appreciated it. Strowman's amazing feats of strength made the match feel special, but they could've done a better job with the rest of the match. The stretches spot has been used so much it's basically a waste of time, and Heyman's terrible acting really just hammered the whole thing in. It's not that against them being cartoony, but I think they're undermining the intelligence of their audience a bit with assuming they are going to forget Lesnar got Powerslammed through two tables and got another one thrown on top of him if they don't do a stretcher job. Offensively Lesnar didn't offer much, but he was pretty great at pinballing for Braun, and a direction with more selling should provide more quality from him. ***3/4

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These kinds of matches are really WWE's forte, the indy workers they bring in to have watered down 2010 ROH matches but with more wear and tear on their body resulting in less actually impressive athletic spots, less room for creativity (for better or worse) and the same stupidity in match building and transitioning as well as shitty basics (Phil Schneider should have his reviewing license revoken for praising Seth Rollins' punches).

 

Jeez, when did I do that? I can't even remember the last time I watched a Seth Rollins match, much less praised one, that does seem like my license should at least be suspended.

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  • 3 months later...

This went slightly down on my MOTYC re-watch, but just slightly. It's still an amazing, explosive heavyweight clash of the titans, but after the unreal 1st half, which indeed felt like a 4-men WWE style version of Joe vs. Necro (GREAT comparison), the match loses it's wildness & explosiveness a bit. It's still awesome, but if they had managed to wrestle with the same sense of urgency & explosiveness in the 2nd half as well, this definitely would've been at that ****3/4 level. Still an amazing match though, as I mentioned. ****1/2

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  • GSR changed the title to [2017-08-20-WWE-Summerslam] Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns vs Braun Strowman vs Samoa Joe

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