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SummerSlam (2022) -- Results & Afterthoughts

The 2022 SummerSlam was the 35th annual SummerSlam professional wrestling live event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event aired on pay-per-view (PPV) worldwide and was available to livestream through Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network internationally. It took place on Saturday, July 30, 2022, at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, marking the first SummerSlam to not be held during the month of August.

Eight matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar in a Last Man Standing match to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. In other prominent matches, Pat McAfee defeated Happy Corbin, Logan Paul defeated The Miz, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) defeated The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) to retain the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship, and in the opening bout, Bianca Belair defeated Becky Lynch to retain the Raw Women's Championship. The event also saw the returns of Bayley, Dakota Kai (who had been released from her WWE contract in April), Iyo Sky (formerly known as Io Shirai), and Edge. The event received mixed-to-positive reviews from critics, who praised the main event, Logan Paul's performance, and the Raw Women's Championship match, but criticized the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship match, the SmackDown Women's Championship match and the United States Championship match.

This was the first WWE PPV event following the retirement of WWE owner Vince McMahon, who had served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company since 1982. McMahon announced his retirement on July 22, just a week before SummerSlam.

Match Card:

Singles Match for the WWE Raw Women's Championship

Bianca Belair (c) defeated Becky Lynch by pinfall

(Laughs) It took me two weeks to get the time to watch this match on the stream archive since I missed this match live when the show originally aired. With that being said, it was well worth the wait. Bianca’s homestate gave her a hero’s welcome that she rightfully deserved going into this match with redemption on her mind to correct the course of what happened at SummerSlam a year ago, where Becky Lynch returned from her maternity leave and dethroned her for the RAW Women’s Championship in less than a minute. Fortunately, this match lasted MUCH longer than that and it was great from bell to bell, even though I was a little surprised that they opened this show with such a marquee match of its caliber on the card for tonight.

I thought that Becky’s selling of her shoulder as Bianca sought out to target a body part early on in this match was a great narrative as she kept going after the shoulder time and time again. Truth be told, it would wind up being that there was more than just genuine selling to Becky’s shoulder (and noticeable bruising as the match went on) as we wouldn’t know until days after this event that Becky suffered an injury. For the match itself during this show watching this live, it made for the icing on the cake to an already great story building up throughout this match with both women pulling out all of the stops to come out on top.

Becky Lynch turns babyface to align herself with Bianca Belair against Bayley's new faction after Bianca successfully retained the RAW Women's Championship against her.

Bayley returns with IYO SKY (renamed Io Shirai, hot off her NXT call-up) and the rehired Dakota Kai.

The talk of the town coming out of this match was the return of Bayley, returning with Iyo Sky (Io Shirai’s new name as she’s officially called up from NXT) and the rehired Dakota Kai. Both of Bayley’s new companions haven’t been seen on WWE programming in months, whether they were reportedly injured, lost in the shuffle from the NXT 2.0 rebranding/relaunch/restart, or part of that massive list of releases over the past few months. This was the first shot out of the cannon to make waves in the wrestling landscape as Triple H definitely laid his cards out on the table in a show of force to let everyone know that he’s back firmly into the drivers’ seat in his new roles of both head of talent relations and over WWE creative.

As of this posting, Karrion Kross and Scarlett have returned on the August 5th edition of Friday Night SmackDown!, so the returns and rehirings haven’t stopped here. It’s expected that more talents, especially those who were released but were fond of working under Triple H’s regime in NXT will be much more inclined about returning to the company with Triple H in charge instead of Johnny Ace. Good riddance I say.

The bad news coming out of this match was that Becky Lynch suffered a separated shoulder at some point during this match with her expected to miss several months of television time for recovery. They wrote her off TV with an injury angle on the August 1st edition of Monday Night RAW with Bayley’s new faction attacking her backstage.

It should be noted that they also announced that a tournament to crown a pair of new champions for the vacant Women’s Tag Team titles will be held starting this week (August 8th) with it looking more and more telling that Sasha Banks and Naomi would be coming back to the company.

Karrion Kross and Scarlett returning to the company a few days after this event on the August 5th edition of SmackDown!

Singles Match

Logan Paul defeated The Miz (with Maryse and Ciampa) by pinfall

This match had no business being as good as it was, despite me ogling at Maryse standing at ringside for a lot of it. Logan Paul turned a lot of heads with his performance at WrestleMania and he definitely proved that he wasn't a one trick pony with his performance here. If he wants to commit to a full-time WWE schedule and training, I think the sky's the limit with this guy.

I’ll say this much too. If that run-in from AJ Styles means that we’re going to get an AJ Styles and Tommasso Ciampa feud or a series of matches out of this, then I’m all for it.

As of the August 8th edition of Monday Night RAW, Ciampa seems to be going for the United States Championship for the time being, but I'm willing to wait a little longer for that feud.

Singles Match for the WWE United States Championship

Bobby Lashley (c) defeated Theory by submission

Theory jumped Lashley from behind to get a leg up early on, making a lot of people (myself included) question whether or not Lashley was going to retain after winning the title less than a month ago. Theory's scheming and foul play was all for nothing though as the right man won in the end with the US title remaining with the All Mighty one.

(Laughs) I'm surprised WWE hasn't tried to make some merchandise with Lashley doing the All Might face from My Hero Academia.

No Disqualification Tag Team Match

The Mysterios (Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio) defeated The Judgment Day (Finn Bálor and Damian Priest) (with Rhea Ripley) by pinfall

I'll be honest, I was pretty bored watching this match as I haven't had the slightest interest at all in this Mysterios versus Judgment Day feud. Fortunately, this didn't overstay its welcome as Edge came down to lay waste to Judgment Day to provide the assist for the Mysterios to pick up the win.

Singles Match

Pat McAfee defeated Happy Corbin by pinfall

After Logan Paul’s match earlier in this show, I thought I couldn’t be more impressed with a second celebrity match on this show, but then McAfee had to remind us how damn good he is. I don’t blame the guy for not signing a full-time wrestler contract when he has stupid good money coming in from his other, outside projects away from WWE, but it’s performances like this one and his two matches in NXT that make me wish he would reconsider that decision. He definitely can go - even showing up Adam Cole in a few spots in his two NXT matches. We already know that McAfee has the charisma on the microphone to talk up a fight too, so he definitely has all of the tools to succeed in this company - not to mention the size and legitimate athletic background from another professional sport that WWE loves to call back to and reference for these celebrities from other sports.

For as much shit that I give Baron Corbin at times for being bland as fuck and lame as an on-screen character, I can’t knock that his in-ring skills either. Much like The Miz with Logan Paul, Corbin was the perfect punching bag to bump his ass off for McAfee’s offense while making him look like a million bucks in the process. Mind you, I don’t want to see this feud continue, but I was fine with what we got here and that was more than enough. They sent the people home happy so that was a mission accomplished in my eyes.

Tag Team Match for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship

The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) (c) defeated The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) by pinfall

Jeff Jarrett served as the special guest referee.

Out of the million and one times that we have seen the Usos and Street Profits face off, I have to admit that I had absolutely no interest in seeing this match. The added stipulation of having Jeff Jarrett (who would be collecting another paycheck for working with Ric Flair in his “last match” the following night) as the special referee didn’t amount to dog shit when it didn’t even play into the finish either way. This felt like a by the numbers match between the two teams with a completely flat finish that made me go, “That’s it!!??” while watching it go down live.

Don’t get me wrong though. I was happy that the Usos retained, but I was expecting more than that from this match. I guess they were running short on time or something since the next match was cut down dramatically…

Singles Match for the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship

Liv Morgan (c) defeated Ronda Rousey by pinfall

This was the match that I was scared for going into this show as I was thinking that they would either do the stupid thing and have Ronda steamroll over Liv and get the belt back without much of a fight or have Liv fight from underneath and kill Ronda’s credibility by losing to her clean. To my shock and awe, they did NEITHER of these stupid ideas. They somehow managed to protect both women with the finish here. Ronda targeted Liv’s arm early on and didn’t let up in the least by applying hold after hold to wear her down. They even had trainers coming in to check on Liv at one point with the referee and trainers wanting to make sure if she was in any condition to keep fighting, much to Ronda’s chagrin. The finish saw Ronda apply another armbar to Liv, who managed to pin Ronda’s shoulders to the mat while the hold was still applied to retain. The controversy came when the replays showed that Liv tapped out at the same time as the 3-count, but the multiple replays of this footage showed that Liv tapped out right after the 2 count if you watched it enough times. That was on WWE for ruining their own angle with the constant replays there, but I appreciated the effort to protect both women.

The decision caused Ronda to go off and go heel, beating up the officials in the process. Adam Pearce and several trainers and agents came down to maintain order, in which Pearce found himself forced to suspend Ronda for her misconduct.

As of this posting, Liv Morgan is set to defend the SmackDown! Women’s Championship against Shayna Baszler at Clash at the Castle later this month. It was a little jarring on the August 5th edition of SmackDown! that the fans were loudly booing Liv Morgan when the fans have been firmly behind her babyface underdog rise to the top up to this point. Maybe it is just the town that they were in following this PPV, but WWE still has a few weeks of damage control to repair Liv’s image before that show as I could see how some fans would interpret Liv’s strategy to retain here as “heelish”.

Liv pins Ronda's shoulders to the mat while she's trapped within a final armbar submission, ending the match in controversial manner after Liv submits right as the 3-count is made.

Last Man Standing Match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship

Roman Reigns (c) (with Paul Heyman) defeated Brock Lesnar

After the rumors/reports of Brock Lesnar “walking out” after Vince McMahon announced his retirement from his position of being CEO of WWE, there was a lot of speculation going into this match. Would WWE put all of the belts back onto Brock again to allow him to continue to hold the company hostage for more money and/or bend over backwards for his whims like how Vince McMahon catered to his demands?

While I can’t say much for the actual “wrestling” part of this match, this was one hell of a spectacle to watch unfold from bell to bell. Roman came down to the ring with just Paul Heyman after the Usos went backstage after posing with him decked out in all of the gold. I found this to be strange, not just for the fact that we KNEW that the Usos would come out and play a factor in the end result later in this match with interference since this is a Last Man Standing match after all with no disqualification, so I didn’t understand why didn’t they just stick around. On top of that, it annoys me to no end when champions come out first in title matches as it makes the champion seem “less than” for coming out before their opponent. Sue me, but I’m just a little old school in my ways for thinking like that. It was quickly revealed why Roman came out first as Brock Lesnar would drive up to the ring in a goddamn tractor and stand in the loading bucket raised high above the ring and look down at Reigns during the in-ring introductions. That would end up being the catalyst and setup for the jump-start to this match as Brock tackles Reigns to the mat with a Diving Lou Thesz Press from off of the bucket to get this match going. Most of this match was just brawling outside of the ring with Brock and Roman using the steel steps and other shit on each other before Brock dumped Roman into the buckle and dropped him back into the ring for a few Suplexes and a F-5. When that wasn’t enough, Brock left him in the ring and used the tractor to raise a corner of the ring - an INSANE image, mind you - which caused Roman to tumble out of the ring and down to the ringside floor at a 45 degree angle.

That didn’t end up being the finish either as there was more fighting at ringside once the Usos got involved along with Austin Theory ATTEMPTING to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase. I don’t think it counted as Brock bashed his brains in with the briefcase before he could even hand it off to the referee, so tough luck on that kid. All signs were pointing to Theory coming to this show and dying for our sins anyway as there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that WWE was going to allow him to sneak one by either of those guys.

I can't go without saying bless Paul Heyman for taking that F-5 bump through the table from Brock Lesnar here. The setup for it and everything was just *chef's kiss* Not to mention that Paul stayed down for the remainder of the match and didn't even move until the Usos helped him back up to his feet after the finish. Even then Paul was staggering around and limping like he just came out of car wreck.

I thought it was ironic that Roman Reigns and the Usos would win this match by "burying" Brock Lesnar LITERALLY underneath all of the wreckage laid out around the ringside area. I was personally indifferent to this finish as it was another finish that protected both men as WWE has done this countless times to "monsters/giants" in the Modern Era, with The Big Show, Braun Strowman, among others coming to mind. It definitely made for a match that felt like the "final chapter" in this feud, so I hope they don't have to go back into the well to revisit this feud again anytime soon. I don't mind seeing these Brock Lesnar versus Roman Reigns matches, but let's not come back to this until either Roman drops the title again or a few more years down the road.

Closing Thoughts

For Triple H's first official PPV or rather "Premium Live Event" (PLE) at the driver's seat of WWE Creative, I thought this was a great show from start to finish. It made me highly optimistic to tune in and see if things continue changing for the better. It's evident that there's a lot of people in that company that have a lot of faith in his vision, especially from those recently released talents that were among the 80+ personnel that WWE let go over the past year were willing the come back, starting with Dakota Kai, Karrion Kross, and Scarlett, but with Dexter Lumis as of the August 8th episode of Monday Night RAW. SummerSlam (2022) was the first big step in the right direction in terms of potentially getting back in good graces of fans who have turned away from the current WWE product from their lackluster booking practices and mishandling of rising stars from the NXT brand. Triple H just has to continue the course and prove that his new vision for WWE is one worth keeping an eye on and following. While I personally don't think that Triple H necessarily needs to run WWE entirely like how he did NXT as a "super-indie" (as honestly AEW has that niche covered for the most part...), I think has a strong foundation with this show to build towards something people can get firmly behind. WWE has been LONG overdue to abandon their booking practices and philosophies for booking shows towards an audience of one - Vince McMahon. With him out of the driver's seat, we can actually see what this company is truly capable of. The talent has always been there in terms of in-ring action and athleticism. Now they need the proper booking and storylines to elevate them to truly being stars in this business - something that has been truly lacking in professional wrestling for quite so time now. If WWE can truly generate stars again, then maybe, just maybe they won't have to resort to bringing back The Undertaker, Goldberg, The Rock, Lita, Trish Stratus, and so many other Legends that should have been retired AGES ago for matches again since WWE hasn't bothered to create anymore household names.

It should be mentioned that Riddle versus Seth Rollins was removed from this card with the company claiming that Riddle wasn't medically cleared to compete, but he doesn't have any legitimate injury since that was proven to be a storyline injury as he was on the show at one point to call out Rollins before referees and trainers got involved to keep them separated. I still don't get why that match was pulled from this show, but at the same time, I wasn't mad that it wasn't on here. They could easily save that for another PLE down the road or headline an episode of Monday Night RAW with it.

With Roman Reigns successfully defending the title here against Brock Lesnar, he still has Drew Galloway lined up as his next opponent set to challenge him at their upcoming show in the United Kingdom, Clash at the Kingdom. I've been waiting to see that rematch since their great champion vs. champion match at Survivor Series 2020 but WWE has wisely kept them apart until now. That's another match where I doubt that WWE will take the belts off of Roman Reigns before WrestleMania next where he is still rumored to defend at least one of those titles against The Rock. Then again, WWE could be looking to make a splash in the UK since they haven't had a PPV over there in a really long time (I think before the COVID-19 pandemic started if memory serves...) and actually have Drew (or Karrion Kross) win one of those two titles over there. Only time will tell though.

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