WWE Summerslam Live Report
August 23, 2015
Brooklyn, N.Y. at the Barclays Center
Report by Cory Nigrin, PWTorch correspondent

I got the pleasure of being live in the Barclays Center for Summerslam. I sat in the eighth row right next to the entrance ramp on TV side. Here are my notes and analysis from being live in attendance:

- The fans in my area were pretty irate at the Lesnar-Taker finish. When Lillian Garcia thanked everyone for attending, there was a pretty wild outburst of boos. Lots of "bulls---" chants and plenty more expletives were being shouted by angry fans. Even walking out of the arena, dozens of fans were shouting and cursing.

I think that the two top matches ending in screwy finishes upset the fans, especially when the highly anticipated main event had no decisive finish. Fans were really confused by the finish, and everyone I looked at was blank-faced. When Paul Heyman got on the mic after it was over, fans assumed the show was continuing, which may have contributed to the outburst when they realized it wasn't.

- Fans were hot for the WWE Championship match. Surprisingly, fans were more focused on cheering Rollins than they were booing Cena. There were more "Let's Go Rollins" chants than there were "Cena Sucks" chants, which was unusual. Rollins got a huge babyface reaction, which certainly was amplified with all the high-flying he did. Rollins lifting Cena for the AA may have been the biggest pop of the night. Fans would have been hotter for the finish if Jon Stewart wasn't awkwardly holding the chair for what seemed like five minutes. I don't know if it made the air, but a "Thank You Stewart" chant broke out after they exited.

- Fans were also hot for the IC title match. The Miz's nearfall on Ryback and repeated pin attempts were surprisingly exciting moments for the crowd. Ryback got a decent response overall.

- The tag match with Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs. The Wyatts may have received the worst response from the crowd. Fans popped for the spots, but for the most part they were bored and unexcited. Very pro-Ambrose and anti-Reigns, and fans especially booed after Ambrose tagged Reigns to finish the match rather than just pinning Bray Wyatt himself.

- Fans were very pro-New Day. They were invested more in New Day than they were any other team in the Tag Title match. They're the most popular team in the tag division by a mile, and fans were extremely happy to see them regain the titles. "New Day Rocks" and "Ayy, we want some New Day" chants were chanted throughout.

- For the spot they were put on the card, Cesaro and Kevin Owens actually produced a great response from the fans. Had they been put in a better spot, I think they would have received twice the reaction, but a lot of fans were recharging for the main event.

- In a funny moment, after the production crew tested Undertaker's pyro during Owens vs. Cesaro, fans began a "We Saw Fire" chant. Some fans misheard the chant, and started chanting "We Want Ryder."

- Fans were reasonably disappointed in the Ziggler-Rusev finish, probably because the rest of the match was really exciting and they invested in a match that didn't mean anything in the end. On the other hand, a lot of fans just wanted to see the women cat-fight again.

- Fans were having a lot of fun booing Sheamus, who did a great job playing off of them. However, they were generally unexcited for the Sheamus vs. Randy Orton match until the closing minutes.

- The Divas match and the Stephen Amell tag match both got reasonable reactions. Some fans were hell-bent on booing Amell (as WWE has trained people to do), but Amell won people over for the most part.

- The biggest pops of the night easily went to Seth Rollins, New Day, and The Undertaker, while Cena and Reigns received the most boos by a pretty large margin. Sheamus and Big Show also got decent heat as well.

I will be attending Raw tomorrow and am interested in seeing how WWE follows through on the Summerslam buzz.

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