WWE SummerSlam 2018: The Lesnar Ends with a Whimper

Just finished watching the 2018 edition of SummerSlam a mere half an hour. As one of the big four and a long-time cornerstone of WWE PPV's, this year's SummerSlam did not disappoint!


Heck, if you inverted the awfulness of last month's Extreme Rules, that was how good SummerSlam 2018 was. Not quite as good as WrestleMania 2018 but a solid PPV nonetheless. I would have felt okay paying old-fashioned PPV prices for it.


In fact, I was going to change formats since there's no point doing a match-by-match breakdown and do good, bad, and the ugly. Quite a bit of good. There's some things I didn't like *cough* the squash matches *cough* but writing them felt like padding.


The Lesnar loss was among them.


Don't get me wrong. Lesnar needed to lose the title. His reign had grown stale. He's fighting a match in UFC. Other than Strowman, no other Raw wrestler has been booked a credible winner than Reigns.


Yes, I am not a fan of Reigns. As a babyface, he's simply not at the level to be the Top Guy. However, I can accept him finally winning the belt and defeating Lesnar. The company would be damaged long-term if he hadn't.


Note: I have not yet Raw, probably won't, but I see the Shield has reunited. So I am guessing Reigns is now a heel. Fair enough.


I liked the irony of how by not costing the champion in the usual Money in the Bank fashion, Strowman cost Lesnar the title by distracting him.


Still, the match was meh. Lesnar was booked as being far more resilient in prior matches. Must not want to take bumps in preparation for his upcoming UFC fight? The story was more about surprises than a competitive match this time around.


When Reigns won and defeated Lesnar finally, it felt... anti-climatic... The Lesnar dominance lasted too long. Reigns wasn't the decisive victor. A whimper instead of a bang.


In any case, hopefully this means when Brock Lesnar does return to the WWE he isn't booked as an indestructible monster. Cause this first go-round proves booking him as invincible simply isn't worth devaluing the rest of the roster.


Next time.