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The segments on Free For All were fine, promoting the I Quit match and the WWF Title match. The tension building between Austin and Slaughter, who is an authority figure, feels like a nice prelude of what's to come. I marked for seeing Tajiri getting a match here, and I feel like he loses nothing here. Tajiri looks impressive and the cocky Christopher picks up an underhanded victory. I was very happy to see the reference to Brian's hyena like laugh as well lol. Pretty solid Free For All, now to move onto Summerslam...
I loved the start of the Awesome/Juvi match with Juvi getting the jump before the bell. Going into this one, I almost felt like I couldn't see this being much more than an extended squash. So to see Juvi get the headstart like that, kind of gave me more of a reason to buy into the match as a competitive one. Typical speed vs. strength type match here which was solid, although I'm not sure on the booking at the end. I'm all for Juvi having this impressive effort, gaining face in defeat, but I don't think Awesome should have needed The Jackyl's distraction to beat somebody like Juvi. For me, this ending actually hurt the unbeatable aura of Awesome, so when you summarized at the end with "who can beat this man", my answer is "well, based on Juvi getting so close and Awesome needing help, probably a lot of people". In summary, I'm glad Awesome retained, but not quite sold on how you went about it.
Triple H/Shamrock was a good match. I think there was only one part where I was genuinely confused where you referred to Triple H risking disqualification by stomping on Shamrock's back. I would have thought that was a pretty standard move, so the DQ mention didn't make a lot of sense to me. Otherwise, this was all good. I absolutely loved the playing on Shamrock's inexperience so his ring awareness wasn't completely there, with H having his foot on the bottom rope. That was awesome. The ending works a treat to as Perfect comes down uninvited, unintentionally distracting Triple H to continue their budding issues, whilst Shamrock gets the win. Really well done.
The generic pro USA babyface promo before the six man was completely fine. I thought the six man followed a pretty basic formula, which isn't a bad thing by any means. It's a tried and tested formula which works. The faces were on top initially, before some nice, heel tag work got The Hart Foundation to isolate The Patriot. I will say I couldn't help but laugh when Owen and Pillman wanted to fight the guy in the crowd and Neidhart of all people was apparently the voice of reason. My only query was Owen was the legal man and copped the Doomsday Device, so I assume he would have been out in the centre of the ring, but then Neidhart blind tagged himself in. The way I envisioned this taking place, the blind tag wouldn't have actually been able to happen. Anyway, match was solid throughout, and I've no issues with the good guys getting the win in the USA.
I thought the booking of Bulldog/Goldust was good. Consistent with the build up. The build up was heavily focused on the women, so the match having plenty of moments where they were involved, whether by doing something or just being focused on by the wrestlers made sense. I must admit, I did wonder with Diana's constant involvement, how long until Marlena would take her down. After Diana ruined Goldust Suplex attempt earlier and nothing happened, I got a little concerned, but saving it for the hot finishing run made sense. And now we've got a new champ with Goldust getting the win. Good stuff.
Typical arrogant Shawn promo. I do wonder if you switch things up and do something with 'Cain' tonight, leading to Shawn getting the title here.
Mankind/Vader was a lot of fun. Felt again like a prelude to the Hardcore division that will come at some point with the brawling through the backstage area and what not. This would have felt very revolutionary for it's time though. Nice big spot with the ladder leap through the table to end, and glad to see Mankind got the win. Also appreciate the callback on the spot where Foley lost his ear. I kind of wish this would be the moment he transitioned into Cactus, when he got caught as he was Cactus in 93. Still, the transition to Cactus was nice, and then we still got a glimpse of Dude at the end.
I think I made it clear the whole Gang Warfare thing isn't something I'm a huge fan of so I was glad you kept this short. Even with the help of the Boricuas, I'd much rather The Nation win this than the DOA. I'm intrigued by the aftermath though, which is at least a step in the right direction. I can't see Johnson joining the Nation in this alternate reality, meaning this one renegade up against the gangs could be a really big way to get him back over. Watching this space.
Eh, I'm probably going to sound like a broken record here, but I loved the Bret/Austin match until the ending. Slaughter somewhat warning both men, Pillman getting involved, it all felt like it was heading towards a nice crescendo, and then, for me personally, the ending fell fat. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it in theory, but after spending time reading that whole match, for the ending to just be exactly the same as the Mania match, which in essence this basically is, was a bit of a letdown.
Well, I was off with the main event but that's fine. I've tried not to summarize the action to much throughout, so I'll just say well done on a fun main event. Really felt like a heel 97 HBK match, with him being dominated for a LONG time, before somehow staying around and then getting some offense in. Using Summerslam as the catalyst for DX work. It would have been a nice shock, and the title change to end the PPV is certainly a big one.
Summerslam was solid, looking forward to the fallout.
I loved the start of the Awesome/Juvi match with Juvi getting the jump before the bell. Going into this one, I almost felt like I couldn't see this being much more than an extended squash. So to see Juvi get the headstart like that, kind of gave me more of a reason to buy into the match as a competitive one. Typical speed vs. strength type match here which was solid, although I'm not sure on the booking at the end. I'm all for Juvi having this impressive effort, gaining face in defeat, but I don't think Awesome should have needed The Jackyl's distraction to beat somebody like Juvi. For me, this ending actually hurt the unbeatable aura of Awesome, so when you summarized at the end with "who can beat this man", my answer is "well, based on Juvi getting so close and Awesome needing help, probably a lot of people". In summary, I'm glad Awesome retained, but not quite sold on how you went about it.
Triple H/Shamrock was a good match. I think there was only one part where I was genuinely confused where you referred to Triple H risking disqualification by stomping on Shamrock's back. I would have thought that was a pretty standard move, so the DQ mention didn't make a lot of sense to me. Otherwise, this was all good. I absolutely loved the playing on Shamrock's inexperience so his ring awareness wasn't completely there, with H having his foot on the bottom rope. That was awesome. The ending works a treat to as Perfect comes down uninvited, unintentionally distracting Triple H to continue their budding issues, whilst Shamrock gets the win. Really well done.
The generic pro USA babyface promo before the six man was completely fine. I thought the six man followed a pretty basic formula, which isn't a bad thing by any means. It's a tried and tested formula which works. The faces were on top initially, before some nice, heel tag work got The Hart Foundation to isolate The Patriot. I will say I couldn't help but laugh when Owen and Pillman wanted to fight the guy in the crowd and Neidhart of all people was apparently the voice of reason. My only query was Owen was the legal man and copped the Doomsday Device, so I assume he would have been out in the centre of the ring, but then Neidhart blind tagged himself in. The way I envisioned this taking place, the blind tag wouldn't have actually been able to happen. Anyway, match was solid throughout, and I've no issues with the good guys getting the win in the USA.
I thought the booking of Bulldog/Goldust was good. Consistent with the build up. The build up was heavily focused on the women, so the match having plenty of moments where they were involved, whether by doing something or just being focused on by the wrestlers made sense. I must admit, I did wonder with Diana's constant involvement, how long until Marlena would take her down. After Diana ruined Goldust Suplex attempt earlier and nothing happened, I got a little concerned, but saving it for the hot finishing run made sense. And now we've got a new champ with Goldust getting the win. Good stuff.
Typical arrogant Shawn promo. I do wonder if you switch things up and do something with 'Cain' tonight, leading to Shawn getting the title here.
Mankind/Vader was a lot of fun. Felt again like a prelude to the Hardcore division that will come at some point with the brawling through the backstage area and what not. This would have felt very revolutionary for it's time though. Nice big spot with the ladder leap through the table to end, and glad to see Mankind got the win. Also appreciate the callback on the spot where Foley lost his ear. I kind of wish this would be the moment he transitioned into Cactus, when he got caught as he was Cactus in 93. Still, the transition to Cactus was nice, and then we still got a glimpse of Dude at the end.
I think I made it clear the whole Gang Warfare thing isn't something I'm a huge fan of so I was glad you kept this short. Even with the help of the Boricuas, I'd much rather The Nation win this than the DOA. I'm intrigued by the aftermath though, which is at least a step in the right direction. I can't see Johnson joining the Nation in this alternate reality, meaning this one renegade up against the gangs could be a really big way to get him back over. Watching this space.
Eh, I'm probably going to sound like a broken record here, but I loved the Bret/Austin match until the ending. Slaughter somewhat warning both men, Pillman getting involved, it all felt like it was heading towards a nice crescendo, and then, for me personally, the ending fell fat. I mean, there's nothing wrong with it in theory, but after spending time reading that whole match, for the ending to just be exactly the same as the Mania match, which in essence this basically is, was a bit of a letdown.
Well, I was off with the main event but that's fine. I've tried not to summarize the action to much throughout, so I'll just say well done on a fun main event. Really felt like a heel 97 HBK match, with him being dominated for a LONG time, before somehow staying around and then getting some offense in. Using Summerslam as the catalyst for DX work. It would have been a nice shock, and the title change to end the PPV is certainly a big one.
Summerslam was solid, looking forward to the fallout.