Here’s our final review of WWE SummerSlam 2016!
American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable), The Hype Bros (Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley) and The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) vs. Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze), The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) and The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch) (12-Man Tag Team Match)
Reactions: So the first time this match happened, it was decent enough. But on a much bigger stage, this huge 12-man team match was taken up a notch. This was a fine preview of what’s to come when SmackDown gets its own tag team titles. The opening moments were a good back and forth between both teams, the middle portion saw Ryder get downed by a bunch of cool tag team moves and the finishing stretch was full of insane move exchanges. American Alpha, Breezango and shockingly The Ascension shined the most during this Kickoff Match. The good guys won and built up to some future competition between the winning members, which built up some anticipation for the Blue Brand. This was a good way to start off the show.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
Sami Zayn & Neville vs. The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley)
Reactions: This was the type of match that would feel more at home on an episode of RAW. This seemed like more of a showcase for Zayn and Neville to pull out their best moves instead of a competitive tag team meeting. The Dudleyz continue to screw up up due to miscues, which we’re hopping leads to Bubba ditching D-Von and adopting his prior “Bully” moniker. This was just there to fill time, to be quite honest. Skip this one if you must.
Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars
Cesaro vs. Sheamus (First Match in a Best of Seven Series)
Reactions: These international talents have developed a nice chemistry with each other lately. They brought that chemistry to SummerSlam and put on a hell of a stiff encounter. Sheamus came ready to work and Cesaro was his usual European Uppercutting self. Some crazy new stuff was seen here, such as Cesaro jumping off the ring post to land a graceful flying body splash. Sheamus pulled off a cool moment when came off the top rope with Cesaro locked in a Rolling Senton slam. Sheamus got dirty to take the win, which is just what we expected. That nefarious ending didn’t sully the rest of the great match that took place, though. Judging by this match, we now have a feeling that the best of this series will continually improve.
Rating: 3 & a Half out of 5 Stars
Enzo Amore and Big Cass vs. Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens
Reactions: Man, that opening promo from NYC’s own G’s was magnificent! Enzo and Cass made the NYC crowd happy with their awesome words of inner city wisdom. The match itself was a solid contest that was full of humorous trash talk from the Canadian greats. Enzo was his usual scrappy self and Big Cass threw out his best big man offense. Jeri-KO pulled off some great moves, especially Owens’ Cannonball Splash to Cass on the outside. The finish was insane, though. Owens launched Enzo behind him right into Y2J’s devastating Codebreaker. The hometown heroes lost? What a surprise (not the sarcasm). This was a fun little tag match.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars