WWE SummerSlam 2012: 25th Anniversary

In 1988 WWE began a PPV known as Summerslam, throughout the years its become known as "The Biggest Party of the Summer". Now at the 25th annual event we see if CM Punk can once again shine in the spotlight as he faces 2 challengers for his WWE Title, will Sheamus be able to overcome his injury and conquer Alberto Del Rio? Plus will The Game Triple H be able to gain revenge for all the pain and suffering Brock Lesnar has caused his family and friends and Trips himself?

-Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler: These two had some confrontations leading up to this contest, which it was expected since it could set the table for Ziggler to possibly cash in his briefcase later in the show. The crowd was hot with the "Y2J" chants, Chris did well playing to the fans but he missed his patented springboard dropkick to the outside. Dolph starts to work over the injured ribs, even locking on a sleeper hold, but Jericho comes back hitting a nice hurricarana off the top but only for two. Great spot where Ziggler hits a big Zig Zag, just for two though, Vickie holds Jericho's leg allowing for a small package just for two. Then the Walls of Jericho are locked on and Dolph taps out. 7/10.

-There's an interview with Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman, where they talk about how its simply a fight Triple H can't win.

-Daniel Bryan vs. Kane: Well its been quite a month for Bryan leading up to this as he has seemingly been on the verge of a breakdown, so his match with the 6'9" monster Kane won't help matters. There's the usual power dominance by Kane, but Daniel hits a nice suicide dive to the outside, then the "Yes" chants start which angers Bryan, then Kane hits a big diving clothesline off the top. Daniel slaps Kane, but he does launch him into the turnbuckle, goes for a diving headbutt, gets caught in a chokeslam. Bryan counters the Tombstone attempt and rolls up Kane for three, then runs off. 6/10.

-Backstage Josh Matthews tries interviewing Kane who is enraged and launches him over some cases in the back.

-WWE Intercontinental Championship Match, The Miz (Champion) vs. Rey Mysterio: We have a new costume for Rey as he has a Batman inspired them this time, Mysterio has some good offense, Miz comes back hitting a hard clothesline then a nice diving one in the corner. There's some good exchanges, Miz finally hits the Skull Crushing Finale and covers to retain his title. 6/10.

-CM Punk walks into AJ's office and basically says he's tired of being disrespected by her and the fans and that after he wins his match tonight, he says everyone will need to show him the proper respect.

-World Heavyweight Championship Match, Sheamus (Champion) vs. Alberto Del Rio: For seemingly forever these two have had a rivalry, with no real standout matches and a few decent segments. Sadly this is about as good as their previous face/offs, which means its very average, there's some labored exchanges, with one good move by Del Rio who hit a big arm stunner off the top. We have the Cross Arm Breaker, which Sheamus lifts Alberto up out of Bob Backlund style which gets a big reaction out of the crowd. There's the Sheamus comeback, but Del Rio hits a big kick in the corner just for two. Ricardo ends up throwing his shoe by accident to Sheamus who hits Alberto with it, then the Irish Curse, covers for three and the referee doesn't see Del Rio's foot on the rope. 5/10, the crowd boos the finish big time. Alberto is angry as he walks up the ring to the back.

-We have some pre-show segment where Triple H is talking to referee Scott Armstong, with Trips telling him to let he and Brock fight it out in their match.

-WWE Tag Team Championship Match, Kofi Kingston & R-Truth (Champions) vs. The Primetime Players: Its the usual bonus tag match where there's some good offense but nothing you haven't seen before on TV. Titus and Darren do cut the ring off working over Kofi before the hot tag to Truth, Kingston hits a nice crossbody off the ropes to the outside on O'Neill, then Truth hits a facebuster type move and covers Darren to win. 4/10.

-There's some footage of the Summerslam axxess which showed some good stuff with various superstars and fans.

-Triple Threat Match for the WWE Champion, CM Punk (Champion) vs. The Big Show vs. John Cena: Some good build-up for this one, the typical boofest for Cena, almost no reaction for Big Show, with some good cheers for Punk. The fans do the dueling "Let's Go Cena", "Cena Sucks" chants while Show dominates to no reaction, there's some double teaming by Punk and John on Show. They both seperately try picking up Show but both fail, later a huge Show spear on Cena only for two, the domination continues as Show works over both. Punk cuts off Cena with a clothesline then hits a massive diving elbow for two, then a unique leg lock that Show gets out of, Cena then locks on the STF which Show also powers out of. Punk hits 3 high knees, Cena hits a diving leg drop, they both lock on their submission moves on Show who taps out. There's much confusion over the finish, AJ's music hits she grabs a mic and says "Restart the match". Show hits a double chokeslam, covers Cena first the Punk each for two, Cena hits the AA on Show, Punk pushes him out of the ring and covers Show for three to retain. 9/10.

-Now its time for the typical concert, where singer Kevin Rudolf performs some single of his, they bring some divas out to dance on stage, but it doesn't help the lack interest the crowd has. This wasn't as bad as the Kid Rock concert at Wrestlemania 25 but it was pretty bad.

-Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar: This had quite a bit of hype around it, not a ton of good though as the stuff with Brock breaking Shawn Michael's arm felt pretty forced to try to add more emotion coming into the contest. Brock doesn't get much of a reaction, Triple H gets quite a big pop, the bell rings and it starts out much like the Cena/Lesnar at Extreme Rules, with Brock trying for the Kimura Lock, Trips sends him to the outside a couple of times. They both brawl around the ring some, Lesnar keeps targeting the left arm, even slamming Trips onto the announce table which doesn't break. Trips tries coming back but gets thwarted by Brock, before hitting a DDT, but Trips soon gets sent into the steel steps, then hits a hammer blow jumping off the announce table onto Trips.

Lesnar keeps up the offense, but gets sent into the announce table hitting the corner and he seems to be favoring his stomach (which for anyone who followed his UFC career knows he suffered from diverticulitis). Trips works on the gut with knees then hits the spinebuster, he hits the pedigree but Brock kicks out, then hits a lowblow, the F-5 but Trips kicks out. The Kimura is on, but Trips doesn't give up, hits the Pedigree but Lesnar pops up locking the Kimura on again and Trips taps out. 7/10. Trips is trying to get up with one arm and the crowd cheers a bit then starts a "You Tapped Out" chant, before a good amount of booing occurs, with a little cheering mixed in. Trips walks up the ramp pretty dejected as he keeps saying "I'm sorry" to the fans.

Pretty good showing for this being their big PPV of the summer, I would recommend you watch it at least once. It certainly has some good matches on the card.

Just a couple of notes here in that with Booker T recently becoming the General Manager of SmackDown, he was removed from the commentary team so it's only the RAW announcers of Michael Cole & Jerry Lawler calling the action while later in the show Kevin Rudolf performed the SummerSlam theme.

Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler - Jericho came into this match with his ribs taped from an attack by Dolph on SmackDown days earlier but remained in control in the beginning with impactful elbows & chops that kept knocking Dolph down. Ziggler would gain control working over Jericho's ribs with moves like a grounded abdominal stretch to the point where Jericho would hurt himself on offense including a top rope frankensteiner while Dolph was able to keep breaking any momentum being built by Jericho by going to the ribs. This was the athletic contest you would expect from both men as they had a very fast paced back & forth match telling a good story in regards to the injury in the process.

Kane vs. Daniel Bryan - This shaped up to be a "David vs. Goliath" contest with Bryan doing the hit & run offense only for Kane to keep catching him with a big offense move like a slam or big boot but Bryan continued to work over Kane by chopping him down various kicks to the legs & chest including the top rope missile dropkick. Kane however continued to show his power advantage with a clothesline that almost turned Bryan inside out while going aerial himself with the flying clothesline but Bryan stuck to his game plan with his kicks before going aerial himself with the flying headbutt that ended up working against him. The match was a solid "big man vs. little man" contest while both men were able to play off the other factors in the match like Bryan's reactions to the crowds "YES!" chants along with Kane losing his temper.

Intercontinental Champion Rey Mysterio vs. The Miz - Mysterio came into match dressed as Batman from the recent "The Dark Night Rises" movie as he outpaced & outsmarted Miz early on taking him down & out of the ring before Miz was able to finally catch him on the outside & dump him on the railing hurting his midsection. Miz targeted that with moves like the chinlock & even a version of Shock Treatment as he became so dominate to the point where he started to show off & allowed Mysterio to regain momentum with moves like the seated senton before both men traded impactful moves like a powerbomb & tornado DDT. Good match.

World Champion Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio - With the issue getting so personal between both men, it started off physical with both going over the top & brawling at ringside with the action continuing in the ring as Del Rio worked over Sheamus' head after he sent him off the apron landing face first on the floor with kicks & grounded headlock. The focus then switched to Sheamus' previously injured arm including a codebreaker off the top rope onto the arm & the cross armbreaker. Sheamus refused to stay down & kept fighting including powering out of the armbreaker at one point along with his beating of Del Rio's chest in the corner. It was a good contest between both men with the only thing really negative to say was how the ending got a little too out of hand but opened the door to another rematch.

Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston & R-Truth vs. Primetime Players - After being jumped by Titus & O'Neal on RAW, Truth was all business to the point where he didn't do his usual "Little Jimmy" antics & started the match with a take down & punches. This was your typical tag team match where the babyfaces were in control before double teaming & cheating behind the referees back gained the advantage for the heels building to the hot tag to the other babyface on the apron. It's a formula that always works but nothing much to this match past that.

WWE Champion C.M. Punk vs. John Cena vs. Big Show - Show was dominate from the start chopping both men down to the point where Cena & Punk tried to double team at one point to no avail before separately trying to work over Show like Punk doing kicks & his elbow drop while Cena would later on hit his top rope legdrop only for Show to showcase his power by tossing them out of the ring or hitting big moves like his spear. Both Punk & Cena were able at one point to get submission holds on Show only for him to power out of them so they pulled a page out of the "Benoit-Jericho-Austin" feud in the past that ended up having the same controversial result & actions afterwords. This match only served two purposes in that it continued to showcase Big Show as the dominate monster while also pushing the issue of "respect" involving C.M. Punk but past that, this match would have been good for a TV main event but not a major PPV like this.

No Disqualification/No Count Out Match: Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar - Brock took Triple H into the corner & kept going for his previously injured arm early before Triple H was able to keep knocking Brock over the top rope which Brock responded by getting more serious taking off his fighting gloves. Brock dominated from here with a grounded punch right to the back of the head before targeting Triple H's arm with a hammerlock slam & stomps while also using whatever he could at ringside like the announce table & ring ropes & the steel steps before Triple H was able to find a weakness on Brock & work over that area. They really picked it up from here by countering each others signature moves from the Triple H's Pedigree to Brock's F5 & kimora lock before eventually one of them was caught with no way to escape. This was one of those types of matches where it wasn't bad at all as they told a good story focusing on injured body parts but it didn't live up to the hype as it didn't really come off as a "fight" unlike how their last two singles matches have (HHH at "WrestleMania" & Brock at "Extreme Rules").

In the end, this was a solid event from top to bottom as there wasn't one match that was unwatchable but the top two main events were disappointing for reasons I've already stated but everything else past that was solid to outstanding (Jericho/Dolph) so it's an event I'd check out.

The Chris Jericho-Dolph Ziggler match was a pretty solid and hard-fought match. The Kane-Daniel Bryan match was not great but pretty good. The Miz-Rey Mysterio match for the IC title was so-so at best. The Albert Del Rio-Sheamus match for the World's title was pretty good but could have done better. The Tag Team title match between the team of Kofi Kingston & R-Truth against The Prime Time Players while both teams put good effort,it was nothing special to say the least. The CM Punk-John Cena-Big Show 3 way match for the WWE title was decent but we expected more. The Brock Lesnar-Triple H match while having its highspots and moments,it fell short to both wrestlers matches from months ago. I give this event a 6 out of 10.