-- 8/15 WWE Summerslam PPV Reax

Justin Shook, Student (6.0): Best: Daniel Freakin' Bryan. Worst: first half of the show and Super Cena. This show felt B-level until the main event went down. Two title matches had cheap finishes, which just sucks on PPV. The Undertaker returned, but I am dreading the coming Kane vs. Taker program. The main event was the only match worth seeing. The American Dragon returned and was the highlight of the match. How can you not want to see him main eventing? Cena even made the hot tag to Daniel Bryan, which was worth the $45 alone. Miz sneak attacking Bryan was smart as it keeps Bryan looking very strong heading into Monday night. Miz vs. Bryan? Yes, please! Then it happened...Super Cena to a whole new level. He got the crap kicked our of him for like ten minutes only to shrug it all off, win the match, and then celebrate post-match looking fresh as a daisy. It's so hard not to hate the guy's character. Overall, this show had some fun surprises, but it honestly felt like just another PPV.

Alex Mobley of Louisville, Ky. (1.0): I give this PPV a 1.0 just for the surprise return of Daniel Bryan. This had to be the only good thing about this whole event. It's too bad WWE has turned me away for good. I'm so sick of Super Cena. So, I'm sorry I won't be watching Daniel Bryan wrestling on WWE TV and I'm sorry to Nexus that WWE decided to book the PPV main event to seemingly bury Nexus and Wade Barrett at the end. I'm going to watch Hardcore Justice to get the taste of this PPV out of my mouth.

Elliott R. of Atlanta, Ga. (6.0): Best Match: Nexus vs. WWE. Worst Match: everything else (besides Kane-Rey). The show started off decent with Kofi and Ziggler, but the non-finish in match #1 set the tone for much of the night. Big thumbs down on this. Kofi and Ziggler are two guys who aren't great on the mic, but are really good in the ring, and having Nexus break up their title match was aggravating. Everything else on the show was mediocre, until the Kane-Rey match, which I thought was actually really good. It was interesting to note that Kane went over Undertaker during his return. The main event was actually a fantastic match. Danielson coming back would have been a nice surprise if WWE.com hadn't leaked it earlier in the night. But leaks aside, the match was really solid, and the unsung hero of the match had to be Heath Slater for taking bump after bump after bump, and making not only Bret Hart look decent in the ring, but making Danielson look like a top tier star. Danielson's performance during his second time in the match was reminiscent of Shawn Michaels in his prime. The main event was a great finish to an otherwise skippable PPV.

Justin James of Columbia, S.C., IT professional/author (7.5): Best Match: Team WWE vs. Nexus. Worst Match: Melina vs. Alicia Fox. This PPV felt like a decent commercial-free episode of Raw up until the final match. The announcers telegraphed the DQ finish of the IC Title match by constantly reminding us that the title could not change hands on a DQ. Kingston and Ziggler did a good job, and I liked that Ziggler clearly would have won. The Divas Title match was awful, I thought. I don't know if Melina was legit hurt or not, but selling the effects of the possibly real injury took away her ability to make Fox look good. The Lay-Cool situation at the end was pointless and felt like filler unless they are heading towards unifying the women's titles. Likewise, Miz's "decision" promo felt like more filler, albeit excellent filler. (His vignette with Jericho and Edge was hilarious.) Overall, it was a challenge to pack a mere six matches into a three-hour show. The Orton vs. Sheamus match was well done, but the two of them together tend to put on some really slow-paced matches and I do not like that style very much. Two non-finish endings early in the show really brought the crowd down and rubbed me the wrong way. It felt like lazy booking to lead into Night of Champions. The Big Show vs. SES match was more filler, nearly comedy filler. Why bury SES just to get over Big Show? I don’t get it. The Mysterio vs. Kane match was also rather dull, and "Undertaker in the casket" was obvious from the way that Kane nudged the casket up against the ring during his entrance. The faceoff between the two big men was good, though, and brought the crowd back for the final event. I knew that Cena wouldn't let Miz into the group, but I really expected Evan Bourne or Triple H as the seventh person, not Daniel Bryan. What an awesome surprise. The match was very well done, with excellent booking to cover the weaker wrestlers in Nexus (Tarver, Otunga, and Young) while still making the group look excellent. Each elimination was believable. Sheffield looked like the next Batista in so many ways (which is both good and bad), but he has great facial expressions. Gabriel and Barrett really carried Nexus, as expected, with help from Slater (has he ever won a pinfall other than via rollup?). Daniel Bryan was simply electrifying. Bret Hart was well protected and eliminated quickly to cover for him. I expected this match to be a mess and it was the best of the night. Kudos to all involved, and thank you, WWE, for bringing back Daniel Bryan. By the by, the announcing was horrible. They kept mixing up the names of Sheamus's moves, they argued so much during the IC match that I couldn't pay attention to the match, and they kept bobbling Daniel Bryan's name.

We welcome your 0-10 score and comments on this show for a "WWE PPV Reax" feature in the Torch Feedback section of PWTorch.com. Just to add a twist to this feature, include not just your hometown, but also your occupation (mechanic, lawyer, stay-at-home-dad, college student, etc.) so readers get a flavor for what everyone does as "day jobs." To contribute your thoughts on the PPV, click here.

[Torch photo credit Wade Keller (c) PWTorch.com]

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