WWE SummerSlam results and recaps
SummerSlam represents a mile marker at the halfway point of WWE’s annual calendar of events. Most of what’s happened since WrestleMania typically culminates at this showcase event, and influences much of what carries the WWE through the end of the year and the start of the road to WrestleMania in January.
After four years in Brooklyn, SummerSlam moves to Toronto. Sunday’s show at Scotiabank Arena is headlined by Brock Lesnar for the sixth straight year; this time around, he’ll run back his WrestleMania match against Seth Rollins with the Universal championship on the line. Legends like Goldberg and Trish Stratus are back in action, Shane McMahon is set to wrestle Kevin Owens for Owens’ job in WWE and a handful of solid title matches round out the card.
Tim Fiorvanti, Marc Raimondi and Matt Wilansky are here to run down the action in real time, with Sean Coyle breaking down each match on a scale from 0-5.
(c) denotes champion
Women’s tag team championship: Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross (c) def. The IIconics
Alexa Bliss hit Twisted Bliss on Peyton Royce to retain the tag team titles. Full recap to come.
Buddy Murphy def. Apollo Crews via disqualification
While this match was destined for the Kickoff show, the all-out athleticism and somewhat unexpected interference at the end made for an entertaining few minutes of action. Murphy nearly won his match against Crews early with a running power bomb, but Crews quickly changed the trajectory of the match by tossing his opponent over the top rope. Eventually it was Murphy’s time again, converting a 360-top rope flip on Crews.
But that’s when the match came to an abrupt end. Rowan stormed the ring, an,d in retribution for Murphy blaming the heel for nearly running over Roman Reigns a week earlier, began to pummel Murphy. Certainly this storyline is hardly over, and given the names involved, Murphy will see a lot of spotlight moving forward.
WWE cruiserweight championship Drew Gulak (c) def. Oney Lorcan
Cruiserweight champion Drew Gulak and Oney Lorcan didn’t deliver your typical Cruiserweight championship match. There were no flips, no aerial attacks or acrobatics. Instead, the combatants treated us to a fine display of mat wrestling and some hard-hitting strikes. In the end, Gulak caught Lorcan with the Cyclone Crash and retained his title.
Still to come:
WWE championship: Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Randy Orton
Universal championship: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Seth Rollins
SmackDown women’s championship: Bayley (c) vs. Ember Moon
Raw women’s championship: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Natalya
United States championship: AJ Styles (c) vs. Ricochet
Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon
Finn Balor vs. “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt
Goldberg vs. Dolph Ziggler
Trish Stratus vs. Charlotte Flair