WWE Summerslam 2007 Review
Summerslam 2007 was weird. It had some good matches and feuds that had either been huge or were going to be huge moving forward, and matches that kinda just seemed to be there to fill out the card. It also had Great Khali as World Heavyweight Champion, so there's that. All the matches were all super quick as well, with only two going over 10 minutes and one going over 15 minutes. It almost felt like the entire show was really rushed. The show did feature two big returns, as Rey Mysterio and Triple H made their returns from a knee injury and a quadriceps tear respectively. Would there returns save the show, we'll just have to wait and see.
Kane Vs. Finlay
It never really seemed in question as to who would win this match. Kane was 'injured' going in and injured wrestlers usually win their match at a pay per view. Finlay was someone that I was always a fan of, but he never really got a chance in WWE. This was a good match opener and a simple match for fans to use to get into the show.
Umaga (C) Vs. Mr. Kennedy Vs. Carlito (WWE Intercontinental Championship)
All three guys in this match were very underrated in the ring. Kennedy usually had good matches and was going to be a main event player, but injuries and Randy Orton politicking changed that. I was a big fan of both Carlito and Umaga, so this was a fun match to watch. It's weird to see Umaga working as a face in this match, as I always knew him as a heel. Umaga as a face just didn't feel right, as he didn't really act like a face. He dominated and looked strong, but didn't play to the crowd at all. The biggest issue to this match however, was that it felt like it was to quick and not given enough time. If they had five more minutes then it would have been better.
Rey Mysterio Vs. Chavo Guerrero
This was Rey Mysterio's return from knee surgery nine months prior. Anytime Mysterio and Chavo were in the ring together, we were in for a good match at least. The result of this one never really felt like a question, as this was Rey's return. This match did show just how good of a wrestler Chavo Guerrero was, as he may be one of the most underrated wrestlers in history. This wasn't there best match, that will always be No Way Out 2004 for me, it was one of their better matches.
Women’s Battle Royal (No.1 Contender for the women’s championship)
This was the sad state of the women's division at the time. Outside of Beth Phoenix, Mickie James, Michelle McCool and Melina, no women in the match was ever at the level in there career where they could challenge for the women's championship. There were no real highlights to speak of, which is a shame as I am a huge fan and supporter of women's wrestling. Phoenix would win the match to little fanfare. I say this a lot about Beth Phoenix, but it feels like she is someone that was born in the wrong generation of women's wrestling. She would have been huge today if she was still wrestling.
MVP Vs. Matt Hardy (Drinking Contest)
This was weird as the duo just had a beer drinking contest on one of the big 4 pay per views. Hardy had a replacement since MVP has one a few weeks before. Matt's replacement, Stone Cold Steve Austin. That went as you would expect.
John Morrison (C) Vs. CM Punk (ECW Championship)
I love some early WWE CM Punk. Him and Morrison working together in ECW meant that regardless of time, we were going to get a good match. These two have that chemistry that just seems to naturally be there. This match was short like almost every match on the show. One of the problems with the ECW relaunch was that nobody watched the show except for the diehard WWE fans. It was a relatively quiet match from the crowd as they seemed to just not know the two wrestlers. It still was a good match, but the lack of crowd engagement and a short match didn't really help establish Morrison as a dominant champion.
Triple H Vs. King Booker
Everytime I see these two names going against each other, I get flashbacks of the Wrestlemania XIX match these two had that Booker should've won. But the right call here was Triple H winning as he was also returning from an injury like Rey Mysterio. Hunter was returning from his second quadricep tear, and the match going short was also a good call. You don't want someone to wrestle a long match after major surgery like Hunter had. It was obvious that Hunter was going win so the result was never in question. WWE didn't decide to pull a swerve and it was the right call.
The Great Khali (C) Vs. Batista (World Heavyweight Championship)
This match had no hope to be good. Khali just couldn't hang with the main event level wrestlers, but we all know Vince has a type and that is tall and muscular wrestlers which Khali is. I think that Batista did what he could to pull a decent match out of Khali, but that's like trying to drag a crocodile out of a swamp, literally impossible.The DQ finish was not only to help keep Batista looking strong, but to set up a rematch at Vengeance where Mysterio was added so Khali could look strong while losing his championship. To be honest, I try to forget the time that Khali was champion, it's just not a fun time.
John Cena (C) Vs. Randy Orton (WWE Championship)
This was the only match on the whole show to go over 15 minutes on the whole show. This was also the first time these two went one on one that I can remember. This also was a very good match that played to each guys strength. Orton was able to slow down the pace of the match, but Cena was able to pick up the pace for the end. This match kind of set the tone for the two whenever these two would match up. This was also just before Cena's pec tear. Cena had started to mixed reactions at this time. This was the start of the rest of his career. The big thing with this match was the second half of the match when it picked up as it showed just how good Cena and Orton were in the ring. With how much these two matched up, it was something that often went over looked. Of the entire Orton vs Cena feud, at least from what I can remember, this was the best of the series and helped these two established main eventers try to reach yet another level in their career.
Overall, this was a good show, just not one of the best. The quick matches weren't a huge issue, but it just felt like every match needed five more minutes and they would've been better (except for Khali's match). This show was right about the middle of the pack as far as Summerslams, but the main event pushed it above a few of the other ones.
Rating: 6.5/10
Overall, this was a good show, just not one of the best. The quick matches weren't a huge issue, but it just felt like every match needed five more minutes and they would've been better (except for Khali's match). This show was right about the middle of the pack as far as Summerslams, but the main event pushed it above a few of the other ones.
Rating: 6.5/10