Supercard Review: WWE No Mercy 2016 - John Cena v Dean Ambrose v AJ Styles (+ WWE No Mercy 2016 Kick-Off + WWE Talking Smack #11)

On 9th October, WWE's Smackdown brand presented the resurrection of No Mercy, as the event made it's return after an eight year hiatus. With matches likes Chris Benoit & Kurt Angle v Edge & Rey Mysterio and Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker's original Hell in a Cell bout from the 2002, as well as Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels' epic ladder match from 2008 in the event's history, how would this new edition shape up? 

In the main event, AJ Styles put the World Championship on the line against John Cena and Dean Ambrose, whilst Bray Wyatt, Dolph Ziggler, Randy Orton and Intercontinental Champion The Miz completed the top of the card. Would No Mercy 2016 be an event to remember? 

The main event of the show actually opened the show (in an attempt to secure viewers outside of the US Presidential debate), as AJ Styles retained the World Championship by pinning John Cena in a Triple Threat that also included Dean Ambrose. It felt very odd indeed to start with the biggest match for the biggest prize on the brand, but the crowd was hot for it and the trio kicking things off with a trade off of their finishing moves allowed it to settle into the slot quite well. The match flowed particularly well throughout, as the trio used the gimmick effectively to create a number of striking highspots and even incorporating it into simple moments like rest holds. A personal favourite moment was Ambrose trying to suplex Styles to the floor, which built seamlessly into Cena hitting a German suplex on the pair in the ring. A mental situation with all landing big strikes one after another later in the contest also stands out for it's fluency.

Where the match didn't quite come off for me was in the finish, or more accurately, finishes. The first of these saw Styles tap out with Ambrose had the Calf Crusher locked on and Cena had the F of the STF cinched in, leading to a confusing moment where the referee decided to continue the match. It was very Dusty. So very Dusty. The actual ending would see Styles level Cena with two chair shots, one to the stomach and one to the back, after Cena had hit an Avalanche Attitude Adjustment on Ambrose. After the big moment Cena's move (which is also steadily beginning to lose a little of it's shine due to overuse) a couple of chair shots felt a little anti-climactic. An exclamation point of a Styles Clash or just about anything else in Styles' arsenal would have done the moment justice, short of Styles being able to twat Cena in the face with his weapon (ooh). Obviously, this whole situation was born out of trying to keep Ambrose in the running for a title shot (He submitted Styles and didn't take the pinfall), whilst adding a further feather to Styles' "I Beat John Cena" cap and give The Cenation Leader a reason to continue the feud with Styles when he returns from whatever it is he's going off to do for a bit. When you consider they had about twenty different things they needed to do, fair play to those who put this match together for actually managing that without everything breaking down entirely.

The semi-main came midway through the show as Dolph Ziggler defeated The Miz (seconded by Maryse) and won the Intercontinental Championship for the fifth time, saving his career and perhaps having it's best match in the process. This was a terrific bout, helped in part how involved the audience were with the storytelling as they seemed to react to every little movement, with the noise increasing towards the end. The career v title gimmick was mined for all it was worth. With Ziggler's WWE future up in the air (helped by some great build up work where Ziggler emphasised how he had other ventures set up should he lose) it appeared and sounded like every fan in the arena was unsure of how things were going to go, perhaps in way not seen since CM Punk walked out of Chicago with the WWE Championship in 2011. Both men threw so much into their performances, with Ziggler's selling obviously being a crux of the bout as he sold the leg following a Figure Four Leglock superbly. Miz more than held his weight as a vicious methodical heel, desperate to get rid of a rival and add a few more sweet McMahon dollars to his paycheck.

Miz's near falls seemed to be building and building only one way, a dramatic and emotional exit for Ziggler, and by the time Maryse beckoned down The Spirit Squad (Mikey (Mondo) & Kenny (Dykstra)) and their distraction allowed The Awesome One to nail his second Skull Crushing Finale (the first coming after Maryse sprayed perfume in The Show Off's eyes in a mimic of the conclusion of their Backlash encounter) it felt almost fitting that Ziggler's employment would perish in the same way it started. Perhaps only having Chavo Guerrero come out on a golf cart would have been able to top it for the Ouroboros vibe it created. But Ziggler kicked out. It felt magical. The man who no one could have given a fuck about in the SummerSlam World Championship match just two months prior was suddenly the man the Golden 1 Centre, Sacremento and the entire WWE Universe couldn't bare to see go. After that the finish was near perfect, as the referee chucked Maryse and Spirit Squad out of the arena and with Miz distracted Zig-Zag kicked him in his weird face and got the victory and was raising the Intercontinental Championship in the air before the sound of Sweet Chin Music had finished buzzing in the former champion's ears. This was the best match either man has ever had and also easily in the Top 10 matches WWE has produced this year.

A huge part of me wishes that Dolph Ziggler and The Miz were allowed to close out this show, as even with the return of Luke Harper, Bray Wyatt's victory over Randy Orton didn't quite cut the mustard in that role. The bout showed early promise with The Viper's RKO attempt blocked by Wyatt, who rolled to outside and began laughing. It got my attention early, but as soon as Orton did an exaggerated flat back bump off an uppercut, I was taken out of the action. Perhaps, Orton is still feeling the effects of the beatdown from Lesnar at SummerSlam, because for a man that was willing to take multiple legit elbow blows from The Beast Incarnate, he worked particularly safe on a number of the match bigger moments. Whilst being "safe" shouldn't be a criticism of a wrestler in this injury plagued era, being overly-so can effect a match and this was notable when Orton took a clumsy apron DDT spot and ended up falling nowhere the edge of the apron, taking away massively from what should have been a major near fall in a WWE ring. 

Despite that criticism, Orton and Wyatt did put on a good match. There was a decent story, that saw both men trying to nail their big moves as early and often as they could, which worked well into the finish when it seemed inevitable that The Apex Predator had Wyatt ready for the RKO following his elevated DDT. There was also some fine work on the outside with the steel ring steps being introduced mid-match by Wyatt, before in the closing moments he'd take a big bump onto them as he went for a running senton in a nice piece of symmetry. Overall, I thought the story they told was pretty good, it kept me entertained and I never felt bored or uninterested, because the action was mostly tight and Wyatt is such an interesting character. I just feel like there was a lack of passion or emotion in the contest, especially considering Wyatt had attacked Orton backstage on the previous Smackdown supercard, and for a feud that has been all about mind games and dramatic segmented narratives, there was a surprising lack of any of that sort of thing. Only the Luke Harper return at the conclusion of the show saved this from being a completely throw-away show closer.

Every inch of me has loved Heath Slater and Rhyno's ride up the tag team ranks and all the razzamatazz that has gone with it, a good few inches of me has enjoyed The Usos recent heel turn and all their general shenanigans and bastardery. Therefore when they came together again in a rematch of the Smackdown Tag Team title tournament final from 11th September, it took me to a happy, happy place. Whilst part of the shine of Slater's contract chase alongside title dreams was now absent, I felt like The Usos upped their game with Jey especially getting in some good heel work as he riffed on the "He's Got Kids" chants by reminding the crowd that he also has kids. Two kids, Jey, two kids, Slater's got seven wonderful children, don't be a dick Jey. No one cares about your kids, Jey. Okay, got a bit carried away there. Either way, this bout saw both teams begin to explore what they can do in their new roles more, with Slater getting to do a pretty damn sweet hot tag sequence and Jimmy & Jey scrapping away on the larger Rhyno. The finish could have been a little slicker with the Tequila Sunrise being a difficult move to manoeuvre out of, but The Man Beast continued the fairytale with a gorgeous Gore, so crack open the squirty cheese and move on!

Skipping forward to Talking Smack's headlining segment, the new Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler spoke to Renee Young, Smackdown Commissioner Shane McMahon and Smackdown General Manager Daniel Bryan. As with a lot of the work done on the show, the interview felt very real and raw for Ziggler, who put over the emotion of his win well, questioned McMahon and Bryan for not kayfabe putting the match on last and put over The Miz for his hard work, whilst also calling him a jerk to supposedly keep the feud running without completely blowing the kayfabe doors off the sports-entertainment van. Some of the best work done was in explaining the effects of the perfume spray from Maryse, with Zig-Zag doing a stellar job of describing how it was painful, why it was painful and how it impacted the rest of the match. It's that kind of stuff that will make a second, third or fourth viewing of that contest even more enjoyable. Well done Mr. Nemeth on a superb performance all evening.

Skipping back to the Kick-Off show, because I'm crazy motherlicker who don't play by no rules, American Alpha (Chad Gable & Jason Jordan) and The Hype Brothers (Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder) bested The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor) & The Vaudevillains (Aiden English & Simon Gotch) in an Eight Man Tag Team bout that outshone it's stature as the depth of Smackdown's Tag Team division continued to be showcased. The contest worked smartly around the ad break, before heading into the more meaty second act as Ryder worked the face in peril role, whilst English, Konnor, Gotch and Viktor tried their best to keep The Long Island Iced Z from tagging out. All four heels did some strong work here, with some nice booking seeing Jordan left as the only team member left to tag. This negated the more logical tag from Ryder to Rawley who is arguably the least over of anyone involved. The finish came soon after as all eight men got their own moments in a busy breakdown, leading to Jordan pinning English after a Grand Amplitude that came almost out of nowhere, with a nice touch of Gable having fight off Gotch in the ropes. This was a great advert for anyone unsure about the show and the kind of thing WWE should be doing more often with the Kick-Off programme.

The higher profile of two female matches was a grudge contest that saw Nikki Bella go over Carmella. This match had some good sizzle but had apparently forgotten to actually put the steak in the pan. The storyline elements like Bella going straight after Carmella got me interested in where the two would go, with a pair of well-done slaps also helping to get over the distaste that the two had for each other, perhaps better than the Orton v Wyatt closer managed. However, after the opening slap-fest, when the two had to actually wrestle is where the match fell apart for me. There was a lot of sloppy hair pulling from Carmella, awkward hope spots for Bella, Carmella slapping on another wear down when they appeared to get lost, more clumsiness from the Princess of Staten Island on a rana and thrust kick, this was not good stuff at all. The last stretch with Carmella getting the Code of Silence locked in twice was a slight improvement, but Bella's TKO, now going by Rack Attack 2.0 is not a pretty move at all. I feel like Bella isn't a strong enough wrestler to carry the still green Carmella to a decent match. They've still got roles to play if positioned with stronger talents like Becky Lynch, but this one didn't help the women's cause.

Baron Corbin's victory over Jack Swagger was poorly received by the live crowd and received "Boring" and "Delete" chants from portions of the crowd, which has a lot to do with how the pair have been handled since the brand split and even more so on how Swagger has been treated for years. It's unreasonable to expect an audience to care about The Real American when he's only just turned up on Smackdown, had his repackage apparently sidelined, had only four singles matches on RAW or Smackdown in 2016, hasn't had a PPV singles match since December 2015, hadn't won a PPV singles match since February 2012! Therefore, Corbin and Swagger wrestled the wrong type of bout here. Corbin went after Swagger's hand after it got caught in the steel steps, which would have been a great story with an invested audience, it was sold well, it went on to effect a major moment when Swagger couldn't do the Patriot Lock (which should have been the finish, being able to do the move later on didn't make much sense), but it wasn't right. Here was the time to try to get the crowd on board! Do the Real American schtik, work out two or three big spots that will make the 7 minutes or so stand out and grab the crowd by the balls, but that wasn't to be. A good chunk of the blame has to go with whoever the agent or producer was for this one.  

Rounding off the evening, Alexa Bliss suffered a surprise loss to Naomi, after Becky Lynch was unable to defend the Smackdown Women's Championship against her #1 Contender, Bliss. This ended up being a six minute mess as Naomi and Bliss seemed to just throw a load of random stuff together, without particularly trying to have a clear and coherent contest. Naomi hit a decent split leg moonsault early on, but the move was completely out of place a few minutes in to, what I guess was supposed to be, the face-shine. Bliss sort of worked the arm a bit, Naomi sold the arm a bit, but it never felt like it was the driving story for the contest, despite being awkwardly involved in the finish. Bizarrely, Naomi hit a wicked spinning facebuster thing, but then fucked up her Rear View finish. Drop the Rear View, Naomi, it's red reels. The finish went from bad to worse as Naomi got a flash pin after shifting the weight whilst Bliss had an arm bar locked on. I struggle to understand the booking for this one, with Bliss rescheduled to face Lynch on a November episode of Smackdown in Glasgow, a win here would have solidified her at the top contender, Naomi winning unnecessarily muddies the situation.

Best of the Rest 

• On Talking Smack, Alexa Bliss was interviewed by Renee Young, Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon, as the Smackdown Women's Championship picture got even more muddied.

• On Kick-Off, Nikki Bella joined Renee Young, Booker T, Jerry “The King” Lawler and Lita for a short interview, that was mainly Lawler perving on Bella.

• Tom Phillips interviewed The Usos on Kick-Off – The Miz and Maryse interrupted Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan backstage prior to the Intercontinental Championship Match - Curt Hawkins announced he'd be having his “very first match” on the next Smackdown Live on Kick-Off - Bray Wyatt did some creepy singing in his rocking chair before his match.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating

No Mercy 2016 - 5.5/10
+ Kick-Off - 5.71/10
+Kick Off + Talking Smack - 5.73/10

Show in a Sentence - An higgeldy piggeldy card, propped up by one very good match and one great match with two career-best performances.

Match of the Night - Dolph Ziggler v The Miz 

Weakest Match of the Night - Naomi v Alexa Bliss

Supercard Review: WWE Backlash 2016 - AJ Styles v Dean Ambrose 2

Backlash 2016 had the somewhat unenviable task of re-introducing single branded "PPV" events to the WWE Universe after a ten year hiatus. With a main event like AJ Styles v Dean Ambrose and a supporting cast including Becky Lynch, Natalya, Kane, Dolph Ziggler and Bray Wyatt, but notably without the likes of John Cena, Randy Orton and American Alpha in action, could the Smackdown Live crew pull a rabbit out of the hat?  

The main event would see Dean Ambrose's World Championship run come to an end after 84 days (the longest since Seth Rollins vacated the title in November 2015) as AJ Styles would win his first title in WWE in a slow burning 25 minute collision. I'm a big fan of a slow burner, the kind of match that you think isn't quite living up to expectations, but then a flurry of action in the final third with some cute call backs to earlier in the contest makes you wonder why you ever doubted two of the best wrestlers in the company. The one moment in particular that caught my attention was Styles managing to block a suicide dive in the earlier exchange by dropping The Lunatic Fringe throat first into the bottom rope, before Ambrose would be able to hit the move twenty or so minutes later in a satisfying bit of symtetry that would see the then World Champ finally kick into top gear and scrap with his challenger all over ringside. 

The match was packed with little pockets of story, that kept things varied and interesting, like Styles going after Ambrose's knee after driving it into the canvas in the corner of the ring. This was used to set-up a series of Calf Crusher attempts, including the first which was a well-worked spot that saw Ambrose's knee give out on a suplex attempt and Styles transition seamlessly into the hold. I'd have liked to have seen this continue to be a theme after the spot had been used, as it was a shame that it seemed to be dropped later in the match, as it could have made the closing sections even more interesting. However, they added an extra level of drama to the bout with both men selling those moments and the build up very well, whilst also playing into the two other on-going storylines the match had going. 

The bout was built around the basis that the veteran Georgia native was always one step ahead of the Champion, with a counter for almost all of Ambrose's offence, but was unable to put him away. This would become very clear in a sequence that would see Styles getting three near falls in quick succession, off a Ushigoroshi, a Rack Bomb and the Superman 450 splash. Personally, I think throwing in a move that Styles has regularly won matches with, like the Phenomenal Forearm, would have hammered the point home with a convincing near fall, but also could have ended up as a bit of overkill. All of this was building to the finish, as Styles took advantage of a ref bump, to kick Ambrose in the nuts (calling back to their testicle based antics on Smackdown Live over the last two weeks) before hitting an awkward Styles Clash for the win. It was supremely satisfying to see that narrative conclude in a logical way, that leaves the door open for a possible rematch at No Mercy next month and with the two perhaps holding back some of their top draw sequences, I've got a feeling that they could top this match next time out.

In what would become the show's semi-main event, The Miz and Dolph Ziggler battled over the Intercontinental Championship, in a match that far surpassed my expectations. That isn't to say that I don't think either Miz or Ziggler are talented or capable of having good matches, but it's not exactly the most inspiring fixture to see on the card, especially after Ziggler fumbled his big World title match at SummerSlam. However, the pair worked an especially clever match, chock-full of story and paced almost to perfection, that held my attention throughout it's admittedly lengthy 18 minute run-time. Ziggler and Miz have an odd chemistry within the ring, one that is perhaps a bit clinical, at times, there's an efficiency about it, without any real fire, however on this occasion that ended up suiting the setting and produced a very good match. 

The contest had my attention from the beginning, featuring some interesting amateur wrestling from Ziggler, as the commentary talked about his background and upcoming Hall of Fame induction at his University, before Miz would take advantage of a rope break to get the upperhand. It was sound psychology that played off the storyline going in, that Miz was a coward and Ziggler had something to prove. Then there were the touches from The A Lister as he mimicked General Manager Daniel Bryan, by pulling out a number of very un-Miz like submissions, as well as Bryan's signature corner drop kicks. I think this could have perhaps been expanded upon later in the match, as Miz's obsession with Bryan could have been used to create some convincing near falls. There were some strong close calls though for both men, like Miz locking in the Figure 4 Leg Lock after we'd seen The Show-Off struggling to hit a superkick, followed up a Superkick where Miz would manage to get his foot on the bottom rope. The finish was a satisfying one though, as we came back to Miz's cowardly ways as his wife, Maryse, sprayed perfume into the eyes of Ziggler and a Skull Crushing Finale allowed Miz to retain. If these lads are allowed a similar stage for a rematch then I'd look forward to it much more than I did for this match. 

Becky Lynch would become the brand's Women's Champion in a Six Pack Challenge, pinning Carmella last, after Nikki Bella, Natalya, Naomi and Alexa Bliss had already been eliminated. A little sloppiness aside, this was a cracking contest, that keep a number of storylines ticking over, whilst also making use of having six women in the ring, in what was a cleverly crafted encounter. The build towards the first elimination, gave each and every woman involved the opportunity to showcase themselves, with strong sequences between Naomi and Lynch, Bliss and Bella and Lynch and Bliss, as well as a sweet dives sequence and a tower of doom. Whilst the match seemed to be well thought out as it unfolded, I feel like the first woman eliminated was the one who impressed me the most here, as Bliss' performance throughout, whether that be trying to steal pin covers immediately after the Tower of Doom spot or scrapping with more experienced performers, she made the most of her time in the bout and looked great doing it. 

The pinfalls would come thick and fast after Bliss had left the match, with Natalya stealing an elimination on Naomi after a Bella forearm, Bella eliminated Natalya with a TKO and Carmella catching Bella off guard with a jackknife cover. It was the Bella and Carmella story that would be the most obvious story running throughout the bout, with their battles being strategically placed to get the best reaction. The showdown after Bella was eliminated could have been played a little better, but with it coming just before Lynch would tap out Carmella to win the bout, anything stronger would have effected the quality of The Irish LassKickers submission win. The match did a good job of raising the profile of talents like Carmella and Bliss, whilst placing Lynch right at the top of the women's division, which has shown it has a lot more potential than I'd previously given it credit for. 

As stories leaked earlier in the afternoon that Randy Orton had still not been cleared to compete after his TKO loss to Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, it was clear that WWE would have to switch The Legend Killer out of his scheduled bout with Bray Wyatt on the PPV. It was a shame that WWE went down a fairly unimaginative route, having Wyatt assault Orton backstage before coming to the ring and celebrating a forfeit victory. It didn't really suit The Eater of World's gimmick and felt very weird seeing him involved in the backstage assault and even weirder seeing him basking in getting out of having a fight. With more than enough time to work out a creative decision on what to do with Orton (You'd have to think that a contingency plan should have been in place for if Orton hadn't been cleared by Sunday) I feel like the creative team should have been able to come up with a better angle than what was presented. 

Luckily, they managed to redeem themselves by actually giving us Wyatt match, that was another surprisingly good bout as he went up against Kane in an impromptu No Holds Barred bout. Wyatt and Kane really went at each other in satisfying big lads action, with the No DQ stip adding just what the bout needed to take it above what I can only imagine would have been a fairly dull contest otherwise. It wasn't the most violent display you'll ever see, but it was plenty of fun, that included a cracking running senton through the announce table spot from Wyatt. Apart from that spot it had a cool house show vibe about it  and considering the duo have had five or six Street Fight's opposite each other on the live event circuit this year, I'd guess that a lot of this match was going over what fans in Kalamazoo and Corpus Christi had got to witness earlier in 2016. Orton would manage to make it out for the finish, selling the knee that Wyatt had attacked like his life depended on it, before hitting an RKO that would gift The Big Red Machine the victory (following a Chokeslam of his own). It would be easy to moan about Wyatt putting Kane over, but the focus was all on the Wyatt and Orton feud which now has some extra fuel and hopefully the pair will get their bout in four week's at No Mercy in Sacramento, California. 

HEATH SLATER AND RHYNO WON THE TAG TEAM TITLES! Does anything else really matter in this world? It was Rhyno's first title victory in WWE since he defeated Tajiri at Unforgiven 2001 for the WCW United States title and Heath Slater's first win since teaming with Justin Gabriel, as part of The Corre, to beat John Cena and The Miz and win what is now the RAW Tag Team Championship on a February 2011 episode of Monday Night RAW! This is the Heath Slater who won ONE match out of 132 last year. The Heath Slater who hasn't won a PPV match since early 2011. Slater has managed to build on the connections he'd made consistently doing his best with whatever shite he was given [3MB and Social Outcasts] and whilst others have moaned, complained and been released, Heathy Baby just kept plugging away and ended up getting rewarded for his hard work. The free agent storyline has been one of the best things about wrestling in 2016. 

Okay, so that was me getting excited about the result, but that doesn't really matter if the match was a load of old shite, does it? However, it wasn't it was a good quality tag team bout that built well to it's finish and used the characters well to create a compelling bout. I've written barely any notes on this one, because I was so invested in the action, perhaps more than I've been in years for a WWE bout. The Usos were glorious as they turned up their heel meter up to cunt, doing dastardly things like suplexing Slater into the big ringpost. Slater put on a performance that made me like him even more, selling his beatdown wonderfully, whilst knowing his character and doing things like tagging himself back into the match moments after a Rhyno hot tag, because he was a man on a mission and that mission was to get Beulah a motherfucking double wide. And Rhyno, well Rhyno was just a bloody man beast and the moment when he dragged Slater into the cover after nailing a Gore on one of them Usos was pure wrestling perfection. HEATH SLATER AND RHYNO WON THE TAG TEAM TITLES!   

The Usos got to debut their new look and feel opposite The Hype Bros [Mojo Rawley and Zack Ryder] in a match that was billed as a "Second Chance Challenge", after Jey & Jimmy had injured the previous Tag title Tournament finalists, American Alpha. This match outdid my expectations with the new gimmick for The Usos allowing Hype Bros to fit into the babyface role much better than previously, as Ryder scrambled against the cocksure Usos. In particular, the lengthier match allowed Rawley to shine, with a number of power spots, including running around the ring and nailing both Usos with a shoulder ram and sending them into the barricade. Plus Ryder was doing stupid moves like dropkicks off the apron and bumping like he wanted to cause himself somekind of bodily harm. The finish was especially busy, with Rawley ending up in same wall he pushed the Usos into and Ryder tapping out to an arm trap single leg Boston crab, cementing 2 time WWE Tag Team Champions as nasty heels and give them their match against Heath Slater and Rhyno. 

The Kick-Off match was a bonus bout between Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin as the pair put in a solid outing before the main show began. When they announced the bout in a cheesy backstage segment, I have to admit that I wasn't exactly chomping at the bit to see a rematch from NXT Takeover: London but the lads actually managed to put on a good little match in their spot. The bout was structured well and told a strong story, as both were presented as strong and powerful, with Crews having the advantage on speed and Corbin being a bit more ring savvy. Repeating the spot where Corbin runs out and straight back into the ring was a cool moment and this managed to propel the contest into an exciting close sequence. The crowd seemed to get into the action as soon as the match came back from the ad-break, meaning that when Corbin managed to pick up the victory with End of Days it felt like both men had made some kind of gains in getting over with the audience. 

The show started with a segment that can only be described as a time-filler, as Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan headed out to the ring and ran down the card for the evening. It was clear that the show was going to struggle to fill the three hour time slot, but this was a bit silly. McMahon and Bryan are always going to pop a crowd and keep them interested, because of their undoubted popularity, which is a good way to get the crowd warmed up at the start of the show, I suppose. However, on the actual PPV it stinks of desperation to fill space on a rushed event! 

Best of the Rest 

• Rhyno and Heath Slater went in hard during an interview with Tom Phillips in the Social Media Lounge, pulling out a series of above ground pool based references.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating -  6.63/10 

(6.57 with Kick-Off show)

Backlash 2016 was a good wrestling show, that didn't feature a single match that I'd consider below a good rating and entertained me throughout the majority of it's two and half hour run time. The main event was clearly the match of the night, with AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose producing a great World title clash, that was a gratifying watch. Having the World title change hands on the first of these new supercard events, instantly lends them some prestige that they perhaps didn't have going into the show and will hopefully make them feel more must-see events. 

Outside the main event there were a number of sleeper bouts, that outperformed my expectations, such as Dolph Ziggler and The Miz's semi main over the Intercontinental Championship and the bonus match between Bray Wyatt and Kane. The Six Woman bout was also much better than I'd felt it would have been after the six woman tag they had together on this week's Smackdown Live. The Tag Team tournament offered a feel good moment with Rhyno and Heath Slater winning the belts, as well as the debut of a new exciting look and gimmick for The Usos. Had it not been for the filler at the beginning of the show, then Backlash 2016 would have gotten an even higher rating! 

This was a great start to the new run of shows, taking a decent card and producing a PPV verging on being very good, that will hopefully make fans think twice before deciding to skip one. 

All content - James Marston 

Poster Credit - World Wrestling Entertainment

TV Review: WWE Smackdown Live #888 - Dolph Ziggler v AJ Styles

Show Aired - 23rd August 2016

As Dolph Ziggler and AJ Styles battled to decide the main event of 11th September's Backlash supercard, how would the first Smackdown Live after SummerSlam shape-up?

In the main event of the episode, AJ Styles would face Dolph Ziggler, in a match that if Ziggler won he would earn a World Championship opportunity and join Styles in a Triple Threat match with Dean Ambrose on 11th September. I'll get into how this came about and if it was any good in a moment, but I'd like to talk about the match first, because I'm a backwards kinda dude. I'll start at the start though, which, to be honest, wasn't all that great. The Mohegan Sun Arena began split between the two, but after the first ad-break they were almost silent. This could have been down to the fact that Ziggler still hasn't been taken to as a main eventer by the audience again but for me, this was down to Styles and Ziggler failing to gel in the ring, there was a couple of occassions were simple looking moves looked odd and it all became a bit awkward to watch. I was worried that the bout would end up going to same way as Ziggler and Ambrose's SummerSlam bout, as there was no pace, no particular narrative to follow and no intensity or urgency behind the performances. 

Luckily, unlike Ziggler v Ambrose, this contest had a gear change and once that happened the pair looked much more comfortable with each other, everything suddenly became much crisper and the Uncasville crowd woke up, creating an exciting five or six minutes that was helped by the clever stipulation. The idea that Styles already had a title match and Ziggler was fighting to join him, meant it was much more conceivable that The Show Off could somehow pick up a victory, than if there was another set of circumstances. This meant that when Ziggler hit a Zig Zag after escaping a Styles Clash the crowd were convinced that the 36 year old former World Heavyweight Champion had got the win, leading to a brilliant reaction when The Phenomenal One got his shoulder off the mat. It would a Styles Clash that would break Ziggler's heart however, with The Lunatic Fringe doing a superb job of putting this over on commentary, before the show went off the air with a staredown between Champion and #1 Contender.

In the top match from the undercard, American Alpha (Chad Gable & Jason Jordan) and Breezango (Fandango & Tyler Breeze) met in a splendid Quarter Final match in a tournament to crown the first Smackdown Tag Team Champions. The four lads took their ten minutes and ran with in a match that in my opinion managed to elevate the stock of both teams and add to the prestige of the Tag Team Championships before anyone has even won them. Smooth action, clever booking, great near falls for both sides, crisp reversals and a satisfying finish. A false finish were Fandango would thwart American Alpha going for a variation of the Doomsday Device, allowing to nail a victory roll on Jordan made it genuinely believable that Breezango might win the contest, which is credit to how everyone involved played the moment. American Alpha may have lifted the tag division since their debut, but Fandango and Breeze showed that they just needed the opportunity and despite losing to Grand Amplitude it was Breezango that got the most out of this one. 

The show began with Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan unveiling the new Tag Team Championship and Smackdown Women's Championship in front of the rosters of both divisions. The belts look much better than that of the Universal title, generally being the reverse of their RAW counterparts, with the Tag titles featuring blue leather and silver plates, instead of bronze. McMahon and Bryan also announced a Tournament for the Tag Team titles commencing on the show and concluding at Backlash, as well as a Six Package Challenge for the Women's Championship on the same event, which will include Alexa Bliss, Becky Lynch, Carmella, Naomi, Natalya & Nikki Bella. This was a busy segment though as Heath Slater interrupted in a humourous moment, that saw him added to the Tag title tournament, if he could find a partner, but only be offered a Smackdown Contract if he won the entire tournament. Dolph Ziggler attacked AJ Styles as The Phenomenal One was putting a case together for being #1 Contender to Dean Ambrose's World Championship. 

Perhaps surprisingly, Randy Orton made an appearance on the show, just two days after getting ten stitches in his head in the closing scenes of SummerSlam 2016, thanks to Brock Lesnar. With Lesnar nowhere to be seen on RAW, it felt like a long time to wait to get to see one half of the main event of the second biggest show of the year. It seemed like WWE wanted to quickly distance Orton from Lesnar, as he spent more time talking about Shane McMahon getting involved than he did about the man who made him piss blood out of his forehead. Things moved even more quickly when Bray Wyatt appeared and began to talk about Orton only being a man and himself being a God. It was Wyatt's usual cryptic mumbo jumbo, which is captivating but meant very little at this point. I did like that it looked like The Eater of Worlds was going to accept Orton's offer of a scrap, only for the lights to go out and disappear, as it made the crowd realise they wanted to see the fight and then took it away. I would seem like Orton v Wyatt will be one of the upper card bouts for the 11th September supercard.

So, I've talked about the Ziggler v Styles match, but I haven't talked about how it was booked. The Phenomenal One was on fire when given the opportunity to cut an in-ring promo, addressing his victory over John Cena on 21st August and continuing to add to his case for deserving a World title opportunity. He passive aggressively called The Show-Off jealous because of his win over Cena, coming across like a real jerk as he told the crowd "You don't have to be John Cena fans anymore, you can be AJ Styles fans" and generally droned on and on about being "The Face that Runs the Place". It was a great heel rant of a promo. I couldn't stop watching, but boy, did I want someone to stop him from talking. That's what a heel needs to be in 2016, someone entertaining enough that you don't want to change channel, but annoying enough that you want to see them get beats. The segment closed with Ziggler being held back by various WWE staff, including 3 time WCW World Cruiserweight Champion Billy Kidman, before Daniel Bryan would come out to book the show's main event. 

In the other Tag Team Championship tournanment Quarter Final, The Usos (Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso) would seal their place in the final four with a straight-forward victory over The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor). This was your regular run of the mill tag bout, with Konnor & Viktor dominating Jimmy, before a Jey hot tag would lead into the finish. A couple of back and forth flourishes in the last exchanges upped the quality, but it would still be Viktor who took the pinfall after a superkick from Jey and a Samoan Splash from Jimmy. It was a shame that John "Bradshaw" Layfield spent a good deal of time talking about fellow commentator David Otunga's wife, singer Jennifer Hudson, and The Miz, instead of talking about the importance of the contest.

The only women's match on the show was a rematch from Smackdown Live #886, as Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss got to an extra few minutes to showcase their ability, ahead both women competitor to become Women's Champion on 11th September. Whilst longer than their previous match, I feel the Lynch and Bliss deserved to be given more time, with the fact that the crowd were loudly behind The Lass Kicker showing that the audience wants to see more of her and her division. The wrestling was all done well and both ladies added little flourishes to their performances that will get people invested in them and make these short contests worth watching. Lynch would get the submission win after a sweet transition into the Disarmer, essentially getting her win back from two weeks ago. If Smackdown Live only has this much time for it's women on TV, they better make up for it when it comes to their own supercards.

Best of the Rest 

• In a shocking double turn, Carmella would attack Nikki Bella from behind as Bella was being interviewed by Renee Young, meaning that their match never got started.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 5.81/10 

Smackdown Live picked up some momentum heading out of SummerSlam and towards Backlash, adding three matches to that card and producing some quality wrestling along the way. Either Ziggler v Styles or American Alpha v Breezango was the match of the night and if pushed I'd probably give it to the tag match for being a more balanced affair. The build to the main event, featuring the great Styles promo was also up their for the best thing on the show. The opening segment and Orton's confrontation with Wyatt were both positive parts of the show as well. 

The only parts of the show that I'd considered below average were The Usos v The Ascension and Bliss v Lynch, even then they weren't bad matches, had some highlights and were well wrestled, if both had been afforded more time then you'd have to think that Smackdown Live would have had a better rating.

This was an above average show, that was close to getting a good rating on the scale. The strongest episode for three weeks and marginally better than this week's Monday Night RAW (3-2 Smackdown Live) almost everything on the show was of a good quality and had some thought behind it, with nothing bad to the shit on the picnic either. 

All content - James Marston 
Banner Credit - Kai Stellar

Supercard Review: WWE SummerSlam 2016 - AJ Styles v John Cena 2

WWE's second biggest evening of the year was here, with a six hour spectacular featuring twelve matches, including John Cena v AJ Styles 2 and the first ever meeting between Finn Bálor and Seth Rollins to become the first ever Universal Champion. With a quarter of a day to fill could WWE deliver a quality event? 

In what was arguably the main event and should have closed the show, John Cena and AJ Styles managed to up their game and improved on their 19th June contest. Without the involvement of Styles' The Club stablemates, the match was able to reach a much more satisfying conclusion and with the duo not having to worry about building something for another contest. This meant they could go all in and hold nothing back, throwing in their best ideas and pushing themselves to keep up the pace. The Money in the Bank original was a tasty little taster that left me wanting more, like a decent soup with a crusty roll, Number 2 was a fine main course with plenty of steak for the sizzle. 

The Phenomenal One and The Leader of the Cenation produced a captivating tit for tat "Anything you can do" style match with the two being presented as extremely evenly matched and almost always having a reply for their opponents offense. From the back and forth respectful opening that turned with Styles' suplex onto the apron, the real moment when the match became something special was after Styles' had kicked out of an Attitude Adjustment and Cena had returned the favour with the Styles Clash unable to put him away. The moves were done early enough that they weren't believable false finishes, but late enough to where I knew that the duo had something bigger and better coming up. Inside the structure of the bout the two were almost exclusively smooth and crisp, catching each transition, including plenty of risky switches and a collection of marvelous submission sequences. 

Styles picking up the win genuinely shocked me, as it almost seemed inevitable that Cena would over come, especially after losing the 19th June clash. Cena nailing an avalanche Attitude Adjustment and Styles kicking out of what seemed like it would certainly be the finish, but was only the beginning of the end. Cena's face directly after this as he watched Styles crawl to the ropes was a picture as he sold the bewilderment that anyone had kicked out of his fail safe last resort move. Styles slipping out of another AA attempt and hitting a Styles Clash felt like it could have ended the match also, but the Phenomenal Forearm with the pad removed added that exclamation point that and it was those extra details and thought that made this contest the match of the night and Styles' best match since coming to WWE in January. The win for The Phenomenal One surely slots him into a World Championship match at 11th September's Backlash, but Cena leaving his "Never Give Up" arm band in the ring as he walked out leaves his future up in the air.

The RAW brands strongest showing was the battle to become the first Universal Champion, between Finn Bálor and Seth Rollins. In their first encounter The Demon King and The Aerialist put on a great title match, that was put together astutely with a natural feeling ebb and flow, rising and falling like the tide without ever losing my interest always finding away to hold my attention. It was crying shame that the Brooklyn crowd, which was a piss-poor audience throughout the whole show, was more focused on making their disdain for the new Universal title belt known, booing the announcement of the match and chanting about the the design. Yes the belt is ugly as sin and lazily designed, but you've got two of top ten best wrestler in the company working their fucking arses off to entertain you, barely putting a foot wrong in this process, respect that instead of constantly trying "rebel" against any minor element of the product. As Rollins said on Twitter "More important than a title's appearance is what it represents to the men fighting over it". 

The match came straight out of the traps with a series from Bálor, that included him going straight for Coup de Grâce, which become the main theme of the match. I think that's what made the contest so enthralling, the urgency behind everything, even when Rollins was taking time to trash talk Bálor there was a purpose behind his actions. Whether it was mind games or attempting a big move, every movement from both men was to get them closer to becoming the top dog on RAW and grabbing the Universal belt. The match progress well with the both men showing pulling out new and old moves, with Rollins in particularly digging deep into his deep arsenal of moves like a near fall for off of God's Last Gift, as well as a Phoenix Splash attempt and attempting to turn a superplex into a Pedigree as opposed to his regular Falcon Arrow. Balor went for the Coup de Grace on a number of occasions with Rollins always having a counter, up until the very last moment. 

The finish kept to the motif, as it Rollins attempt to do something different that would ultimately be his downfall as his Pedigree attempt would be reversed, leading to two corner dropkicks from the Demon King before the victory was claimed with Coup de Grace.
Balor winning the Universal Championship on the second biggest show of the year on his WWE PPV debut in only his third broadcast (non-NXT) match is an incredible achievement, that instantly legitmises him and lifts his credibility to WWE's fanbase who might not watch anything outside the company and even more so to those who only watch these big shows. This was simple story, embellished with skillful in-ring performances and some great commentary by all three RAW announcers. 

The task of opening the show was handed to RAW's tag team division as Big Cass & Enzo Amore tangled with Jeri-KO (Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens). Enzo & Cass have become a reliable act to kick off a show with, they were famed for it during their run in NXT and have opened a number of episode's of Monday Night RAW recently and they didn't disappoint in Brooklyn. Despite having more than a passing similarity to The New Day's work on last August's Brooklyn shows, The Realest Guys in the Room's New York cliche-laden promo remained a fun watch, thanks to their undeniable energy and charisma. It was also a pleasant surprise that Cass has pretty decent singing voice! Not having Jericho & Owens get a chance to reply before the match was a missed opportunity though. 

This was a decent match, that was unfortunately let down by a handful of slips on risky moves. This included the finish which saw Owens launch Amore into the air, as if going for his Pop-up Powerbomb, and sending him straight into a Codebreaker from a waiting Jericho. Regrettably, Amore and Owens didn't get enough air on the Pop-up, meaning that Y2J double knee facebreaker had much less of an impact than it usually did. When the match was sticking to a relatively straight forward tag formula, everything was fine and dandy, with everyone playing their roles well, creating an entertaining mid-section to the contest. It was however when the four tried to produce something a bit different and more precarious that the fight ended up not delivering on the promising build. 

In the Smackdown Live's World title match, Dean Ambrose and Dolph Ziggler wrestled an oddly paced contest, that got a reaction of almost complete indifference from the Barclay's Center. The pair put on some decent wrestling, they went through a number of different styles and began with an interesting story, but it never changed gears. Fifteen minutes of plodding wrestling with more than a little lying around, isn't going to get a crowd excited in 2016. It might keep their interest, but it's not going to make them get behind anyone. The pair did some lovely detail work in the match, like Ambrose being out-wrestled in the early going and certain applications of simple moves like the Single Leg Boston Crab, but the broad strokes, like fleshing out the character work and changing the pace were missing.

The match lacked a definitive heel or babyface and neither did it give a reason to get behind one guy over the other. It was this guy doesn't like this guy, because he doesn't like him and so he's going to half heatedly do his taunts, but with little conviction. If this was a babyface v babyface match, they should have both bought their A games, got the crowd whipped up in a frenzy. This was the biggest match Ziggler has been given for years and he decided to do it on autopilot. It's also notable than on one of biggest stages possible, Ambrose bottled it once again. They had an opportunity to steal the show with little storyline to pander to and they left it sitting on the table. 

In the strongest match on the undercard, Charlotte won back the Women's Championship in a great match with Sasha Banks. After the duo had a handful of slip-ups in the first couple of minutes and Banks seemed to be knocked silly by a nasty bump of a backbreaker onto the top turnbuckle, it was impressive that The Genetically Superior Athlete and The Boss were able to compose themselves, not just regain the crowd's attention and support but enliven them with some top class wrestling. The sequence that had the crowd sit up, take notice, then rise to their feet saw Charlotte hip toss a charging Banks into a tree of woe position, before after a battle on the top rope Banks would smoothly reverse an avalanche crucifix powerbomb into a hurricanrana in a Halloween Havoc '96 throwback.

The final five mintues or so was dramatic stuff, with both women getting strong near falls and Banks always looking to find a way of getting the Banks Statement locked in. A long sequence in the hold that saw Banks push off the ropes to bring Charlotte back into the ring at one point with Charlotte hitting a chop block to set up Natural Selection for two, leading to both women selling the pain and frustration of the match in their faces and throughout their entire bodies. It was a cool pause, that allowed the women and the audience to breath before the final stretch, allowing time to consider the previous action with the knowledge that there was more to come. The selling across the bout was very good. Charlotte getting the pin was somewhat of a surprise after only losing the belt three weeks earlier, but it does also present a more interesting story to go forward with. However, I would have like to have seen The Nature Girl grab the tights on the pin, instead of getting the clean, albeit flash, pin.

Heading into the show, I certainly wasn't expecting to be writing about Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton's match six matches into the review. But here we are, after a bizarre final match. The finish is what most people will remember here and it was odd to say the very least. About ten minutes into the show closer, Lesnar delivered a number of blows to Orton with the Viper on the mat. A few seconds into the series of strikes and Orton was PISSING blood from his forehead. The stream of claret coming from his dome was reminiscent of the Guerrero v JBL bout from Judgment Day in 2005 and perhaps looked even worse because of the ever-growing pool on the mat. I stay away from dirt sheets so have no idea what the plan was hear, but it appeared like something had gone wrong somewhere whether Lesnar caught Orton too strong or it was a blade job gone awry, but it felt to me like WWE had to call an audible by sending Smackdown Live Commissioner Shane McMahon in to take an F5 just to give the show an actual ending. If this was what was the plan all along, whoever had the idea shouldn't be booking wrestling. 

The thing is, I was enjoying the interaction between Lesnar and Orton and felt like the two characters has slotted together exceptionally well. Orton having the RKO blocked in the first few exchanges and then taking an absolute beating from The Beast was a clever start that played off the story that had been presented across the two months of build. Lesnar battering people is rarely boring and this was no exception. He dominated his opponent with the regular German suplexes hitting seven without reply, before also just lobbing The Apex Predator through an announce table. We'd been told throughout the build that Orton could pull out an RKO at any time and that's what happened with one coming onto the other announce table and putting and end to The Conqueror's momentum. The spot were Lesnar crawled back towards the ring, only for Orton to hit his rope assisted DDT  may have been ever better. After both had kicked out of each other's finishes in the ring, it looked like the match would head towards a finish similar to that of Cena v Styles, but that wasn't to be! 

I'm not sure that anyone had picked out the Smackdown Live six woman tag bout as one they were particularly looking forward to, but it was perfectly acceptable contest, that included on of the biggest pops of the night. That pop was the return of the 2 time Diva's Champion Nikki Bella. This was Bella's first match since November and Brooklyn initially seemed pretty happy to see Bella. The return was built up well, with Eva Marie's entrance music playing, despite her being suspended, with her personal voiceover explaining that she was unable to compete due to stress. The angle is great way to turn a negative into a positive and the heat upon Marie's return will be nuclear. The returning Bella bolsters Smackdown Live's women's ranks and after the strong run she had before her injury matches with Becky Lynch, Natalya and Alexa Bliss should create some good action. 

The wrestling was decent, nothing spectacular, but it kept a good pace, showcased six talents effectively and featured some nice exchanges between Bliss and Lynch and later Natalya with both Carmella and Naomi. For me, Bella seemed to have more than bit of ring-rust and has perhaps came back a little to early, with her timing being off at a couple of point during the match, but the other five performed well, with Bliss and Carmella both rising to the occasion in their biggest match of both of their careers. Lynch did a solid job of trying to get the shit Brooklyn crowd going (although one fan at ringside looked at her in utter disgust when she was getting the audience to clap with her) whilst the heel trio were working over Carmella, whilst David Otunga did some of his best work on commentary here also. The finish built up well with Lynch and Naomi both getting flurries of action in, before the breakdown allowed Bella to pick up the win with a Forearm strike and TKO on Carmella.

The most disappointing match of the evening came in the form of the Tag Team title match as The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) put their belts on the line against The Club (Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson). The most infuriating part was that the match flopping was nothing to do with Kingston, Woods, Gallows and Anderson, but everything to do with some horrible booking decisions. The first of those booking decision was having comedian and former Daily Show host Jon Stewart anywhere near the ring. It wasn't just his involvement in the finish getting physically involved and not allowing Gallows & Anderson to get the win after Magic Killer, but also the fact that the one thing you'd expect him to be good at, the introduction of Kingston and Woods, was fucking shambles. Maybe it's the whole American sense of humour being non-existent thing that leads to Stewart being a professional comedian and hosting a major chat show for sixteen years and still being painfully unfunny and seemingly unable to perform in front of a crowd, or maybe he's just shit. It was made even worse by it being a replacement for the usually magical New Day pre-match promo. Fuck you, Jon Stewart, you are to energy what a Dyson is to dust. 

So, Stewart getting in the ring and flapping about like a fish in a bush wasn't actually the finish, Big E running down to the ring to stop Stewart getting pulled dick first into the ring post was, because of the disqualification. Now, Big E hitting multiple suplexes on the outside and cleaning house is always going to be a joy to watch, but it made no sense for him to come out and especially not in full gear and clearly able to compete. He wasn't in the match because he was (kayfabe) injured when his testes got squashed into the ringpost a few weeks ago, okay cool, I can buy that. What I can't buy however is that an injured Big E was backstage watching the match and when he saw Stewart's nuggets were in danger, stripped nude, rushed to get his singlet and boots on, repaired his knackered knackers and legged it to make the save. It was a mind bending piece of booking, that felt very much like a first draft that no one had bothered to look at a second time.  

Headlining the Kick-Off event was a twelve man tag team rematch from this week's Smackdown Live as The Usos (Jey Uso & Jimmy Uso), The Hype Bros (Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder) and American Alpha (Chad Gable & Jason Jordan) took on The Vaudevillains (Aiden English & Simon Gotch), The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor) and Breezango (Fandango & Tyler Breeze) in a fun match, that also opened that portion of the show. With twelve men the action should always be exciting and giving the match over double the time it had on TV meant that all twelve men could get a time to showcase themselves as individuals and as teams. It also gave room for a nice face in peril sequence from Ryder, which came either side of flurries of action involving all competitors, as well as hot tag turmoil from both Jimmy and Jordan. 

The build towards a clash between The Usos and American Alpha got a whole lot more ammunition as the two teams were clearly the stars of the match, working together at points, trying to outdo each other at others and ending up like they might come to blows come the finish. It was an intelligent piece of build, with America Alpha hitting Grand Amplitude on Gotch, only for Jey to come flying off the top with a splash before Gable could get the pin, taking the victory for himself. Both Jey and Gable played the moment perfectly, staring at each other, as Gable tried to work out just what was going on. Jey had seemingly turned heel at the end of the match, putting his thing to his lips in "Shush" to the crowd, whilst also appearing to try to get in the face of American Alpha. There's some real potential for this feud, especially if given a slow burn and it could very well light up the blue brand before the end of the year.

The lone singles match on the Kick-Off was the 1st of a Best of 7 series between perennial rivals Cesaro and Sheamus. This was a match of two halves, as the first half was flat and the second half was an exciting stretch of action that had the crowd marking out and featured some creative spots and good quality wrestling. This was the tenth televised match between the two in just over two years and therefore the first part of the match felt like more of the same, lacked a bit of purpose, whilst also lacking the hard hits that have made their earlier bouts watchable on multiple occasion. You could easily have cut five or six minutes from this one and made it a better contest. 

Luckily for Cesaro and Sheamus they managed to end the contest on a high with strong final stretch. It would have been hard to continue a Best of 7 series otherwise! The crowd finally rememberedd that they like Cesaro when he started doing cool moves like using the new bulkier ringpost as a launching pad for a massive crossbody and the Cesaro Swing, whilst the two used their signature offence to create impressive reversal sequence and get good near falls. The finish was definitely the right way to go, after Cesaro had won two non-series matches previous, as Sheamus countered the Sharpshooter with a thumb to the eye, threw The Swiss Superman into the post and hit a Brogue Kick for the pin. It was a good combination of a dominant victory for The Celtic Warrior, whilst also have him cheat to win, leaving more room to create interesting and compelling narratives for the next three to six matches between the two.

Rounding of the Kick Off action was another tag match (making that five on the entire event) where Sami Zayn teamed with Neville for the first time since March to earn a victory over The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley). This was an enjoyable clash, that made the most out of all four of the competitors, using their strengths to communicate a simple story that was easy to watch. It was paint by numbers kind of stuff, but was done well with Dudley Boyz being superlative veteran heels, whilst Zayn and Neville are two exciting babyfaces that may have found a spot for themselves in the tag division. Some of the stuff that Neville & Zayn (The Underdogs that Gravity Forgot or The Men from The Underground?) were doing in their face shine was super pretty and added to the promise that they have as a team, they would only get better and more creative with their offense if working together consistently. The finish involved Neville escaping a 3D thanks to his agility, before Zayn would hit D-Von with a Helluva Kick and The Man That Gravity Forgot nailed a Red Arrow was a exhilarating finish that capped off a solid tag clash. 

Rusev defending the United States Championship against Roman Reigns would never happen as the two began to brawl before the bell, leading to Reigns picking apart his Bulgarian counterpart on the outside of the ring and having to be pulled away from the scrap. In my opinion, this should have been how their match the previous episode of Monday Night RAW should have gone down, because it was a really good angle with a great brawling and got over the problems that the two have with each well. The problem was that this was on PPV and the second biggest show of the year, using this show to have an angle in the place of advertised contest is a bit silly. On it's own merits this was a strong piece of action that did what it had to do to show how the problems between two men had gotten out of hand, but it also has to be taken in the context of the PPV and the fact it came before the Lesnar v Reigns match meant that the show concluded on a bum note.

Bringing up the rear at SummerSlam 2016 was an Intercontinental Championship match where Apollo Crews challenged for The Miz's belt. This was an okay match, but the crowd would have cared more about a someone standing in the ring with a sparkler. Only going five minutes meant that Crews got no face shine and no chance to get an audience that is yet to invest in him to care about what was going, so we Maryse causing the distraction from the bell ringing. Both worked pretty well with each other, with the two characters and performers both seeming to have a little chemistry in the ring, whilst Crews comeback and spot that saw him catch a clothesline from Miz and hit a Belly to Belly suplex were also nice moments. Miz would end retaining his title with Skull Crushing Finale after pushing Crews into the ringpost to make sure the match did nothing for the career of the 29 year old former Uhaa Nation.

Best of the Rest 

• Tom Phillips spoke to Jeri-KO in a funny but menacing interview ahead of their bout with Big Cass & Enzo Amore during the Kick-Off show.

Finally...

ATPW Scale Rating - 

Kick-Off - 6.1

Main Show - 6.43

Combined - 6.36

There matches stand out from SummerSlam for me, Cena v Styles, Balor v Rollins and Charlotte v Banks. Each one was worked was different from the other, but all three featured a big dollop of urgency and some great wrestling. Cena and Styles may have had the match of the night, but Balor and Rollins weren't far off and Banks and Charlotte produced another match that will help towards one day positioning women's wrestling in the main event slot. Even though Ambrose v Ziggler wasn't the match it could and should have been, I still think the stuff they did do was done well and it wouldn't have taken a whole lot more to boost it into the category of those first three matches. The Kick-Off event also managed to produce some strong action with the Twelve Man Tag and Sheamus v Cesaro worth a mention. 

It was, of course, the show was not without it's problems. Lesnar v Orton concluded the PPV in bizarre fashion, whether it was planned to unfold that way or not, which wasn't helped by the previous Reigns v Rusev having not actually started. Then there was New Day v The Club, which at no fault of the competitors turned into a shambles thanks to Jon Stewart and some first draft, no thought booking.

Nontheless, when you've got six hours of a mainstream product like WWE, especially on a show like SummerSlam, you aren't going to like all of it. That's just how it is, if something isn't directly at you, six hours of it isn't going to be all for you. However, I thought SummerSlam was a good PPV event, that had a mixture of styles across the show and featured some excellent wrestling at points. 

All content - James Marston