WWE SummerSlam: New Jersey (2025) Nights 1&2 -- Results & Afterthoughts 

Tag Team Match

Roman Reigns and Jey Uso defeated Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed (with Paul Heyman) by pinfall

To add insult to the injury and/or pour salt into the open wound of embarrassment that Roman and Jey suffered at the hands of the Brons on Monday Night Raw, Bronson Reed came out with the shoes that he stole/removed from Roman's feet draped around his neck as if it was the sacred ula fala. 

This was your run of the mill tag team match, but the narrative of this match saw Roman taking several bullets for Jey Uso in order to be a team player. I guess this was to contrast the lack of his benevolent/giving nature while acting as the Tribal Chief during his lengthy title reign. The finish saw Roman shove Jey out of the way to take Breakker's spear while Jey responded with one of those horrible looking super kicks of his (and his brother's) to lay out Breakker. He then hit the ropes and came back with a Spear of his own to the incoming Reed, who I thought shouldn't have sold that shit at all given their size difference. Jey hit the Uso Splash and that's all she wrote. It wasn't a bad opener but warranted a huge meh for me if I'm perfectly honest. 

Given that beating the Brons gave Roman and Jey on Raw, it was a given that they weren't winning tonight, so it made this ending pretty goddamn obvious.

Tag Team Match for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship

Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss defeated The Judgment Day (Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez) (c) by pinfall

I found myself growing annoyed at how many times commentary kept going on and on how well Roxanne Perez has fit in on the main roster. She's been bouncing back and forth working with the women on the main roster for the better part of a year or two prior to her call-up from NXT, so why is anyone surprised? She's definitely one of their better call-ups and workers in general. She even makes Raquel's lackluster game look good when they are in tandem together in spots. 

I haven't been keeping up with the antics of Charlotte and Alexa's tag team on WWE's weekly television and on social media, so I honestly don't remotely care about these "Not Friends" or latest odd couple of a tag team that WWE has half-assed put together just to fill bodies into this lackluster women's tag team division. 

I understand that WWE are stalling for time with Liv Morgan's injury with Roxanne Perez pretty much standing in as her filler/replacement in the Judgment Day - echoing Liv's rise to power during Rhea Ripley's lengthy injury. That was an unfortunate circumstance and couldn't be helped, but I didn't feel that Raquel and Roxanne needed to drop the titles to Charlotte and Alexa. These people act as if Charlotte breaks out into hives if she's not holding a title of some kind every few months. Then again, I wouldn't be surprised if they end up hot-potato'ing that title right back to Raquel and Roxanne on the next set of weekly WWE programming episodes or on the next PLE, so who knows. 

And for the record, if Alexa and Charlotte truly have found some sort of genuine connection/friendship behind-the-scenes/off-camera, then that's good for them, especially after hearing about Charlotte's ongoing issues with her mental health following her most recent divorce. I may not be fans of these wrestlers as talents but I would never wish ill will onto them as people.

Singles Match

Sami Zayn defeated Karrion Kross (with Scarlett) by pinfall

Had Kross won, Zayn would have had to admit that Kross was right that Zayn was not a good person.

Since Zayn won, Kross had to admit he was wrong about Zayn.

I don't care about this storyline and for the second PLE in a row, I really didn't care about this match. Everyone else keeps telling me that there's something special about Kross as far back as when he was in Lucha Underground and I STILL don't see it. I didn't see it then. Didn't see it in TNA/Impact Wrestling. Didn't see it when he was in NXT outside of the cool entrance with Scarlett and I definitely don't see it here. This is allegedly his final WWE PLE match if he hasn't signed a new contract. At this point, I feel like he is one of those guys who needs to go away and reinvent himself on the indies before coming back for another WWE run. It's apparent that he's not going to elevate to that next level as long as he's still in this company and it's a darn shame to have to see Scarlett go with him. 

On the topic/story of this match, I didn't get why Kross was begging Sami to go heel. Isn't that the same thing that we were seeing with countless other people for months in this company, including the same thing that Cody Rhodes was battling against in his feud with John Cena? It just seems like WWE is starting to show more and more cracks with Triple H in the drivers' seat of creative/storytelling.

Singles Match for the WWE Women's Championship

Tiffany Stratton (c) defeated Jade Cargill by pinfall

When Tiffy beat Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania I thought she was on borrowed time, especially when they put Nia Jax and Bayley back into her path at one point. Then nothing came out of that. Then Evolution II came up and she beat Trish Stratus of all people without any problems. That shit wasn't even close and I'm still wondering what was that about in terms of dragging Trish out of retirement for that one. At least Trish's matches with Charlotte and Becky were highly competitive; that one with Tiffy that I reviewed a month ago felt one-sided as all hell. 

(Laughs) I love Tiffany Stratton but I can't tell whether or not she's got on "boo-boo job face" or just legitimately pissed off going into these title defenses from how swollen her face looks from whatever she's doing to her face - either from plastic surgery or how much make-up she is caking on. 

When Jade Cargill won the Queen of the Ring at Evolution II and Naomi cashed in her MITB contract on Iyo Sky, I thought it was a given that Tiffy was going to lose during this match. Boy, was I wrong. Jade seemed to have her number bell-to-bell in this match in terms of the power advantage. I wouldn't mind seeing some more matches between these two as this was a LOT better than I was expecting going into this match. I don't know why either when I saw their first match against each other following WrestleMania on SmackDown. 

Speaking of Jade, I think her in-ring game would improve through leaps and bounds if she would just SLOW THE FUCK DOWN. It looks like she's always trying to rush to the next spot without giving herself, her opponent, or the audience any time to process anything. Gurl, we're not going anywhere. We want you to be every bit as amazing as your persona, aura, and charisma demands you to be when you step out from behind the curtain. 

By the end of this match, I was really feeling this. I wouldn't mind seeing them run this back again.

Tag Team Match

Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul defeated Randy Orton and Jelly Roll by pinfall

I'll be honest. I had ZERO interest in this match from the moment it was announced. Kudos to Jelly Roll for the punishment that he endured here and the few moves that he did that looked amazing, but at the end of the day, I felt sorry that Orton and McIntyre were dragged into this nothing of a celebrity match. 

Let's face it. Logan Paul and Bad Bunny have spoiled us all in terms of these celebrity appearances/matches and if these guest stars aren't willing to commit to that degree then I honestly don't want to see it. Mainstream attention, views, and appeal is one thing, but professional wrestling is at that point in pop culture where either you love it or hate it. There's little to no in-between in terms of dragging in a wealth of non-believers on a whim anymore. Matches like these are wasted time and talents that could be booked doing something much more constructive to elevate these cards. 

All of that being said, the right team won, but I'm dreading that they are going to run this back at the next PLE.

Singles Match for the World Heavyweight Championship

CM Punk defeated Gunther (c) by pinfall

When this was airing live, my attention and focus was split between this and the EVO Top 8 finals for Marvel vs. Capcom 2 livestream. What I did see saw that Punk and Gunther were working this slow and methodical, which is a benefit to both of their styles. Punk isn't a spring chicken anymore, but he doesn't need to be carried throughout an entire main event much like Goldberg at Saturday Night Main Event a few weekends ago. God bless Gunther's soul for carrying that man through his retirement match being as good as it could have been with Goldberg as broken down as he is currently. 

I thought this was a solid bout between the two, with Punk selling the hell out of Gunther's offense like death at points. (Laughs) Dude had Jerry Lynn's "game over laid out" selling down to the tee.  

Fast forward to Gunther taking a bump off the commentary table and coming up with a face full of blood as if he just graduated from the Ric Flair School of Blading. Reports are going around saying that he legitimately broke his nose during that spot, hence why the blood was flowing like a geyser in the final minutes of this match. Punk hit like two Go To Sleeps and we have a new WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

No Disqualification, No Countout Last Chance Match for the WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship

Becky Lynch (c) defeated Lyra Valkyria by pinfall

Since Lynch won, Valkyria can no longer challenge for the title for as long as Lynch is champion.

I have been saying it since this feud started, but I just don't see it with this hard push to make something out of Lyra Valkyria. Excellent worker, yes, but she lacks any sort of a personality that makes me want to cheer for her or care about her in the least. Plus, it's bad enough that she's working with "Becky Hogan" whose ring work is looking more and more bland as the years go on. This was the point in this show where the multiple stipulations being booked back to back were to this show's detriment. You can't tell me that they couldn't have booked some of these gimmick matches on Night 1 to balance/level it out. 

I know Botchamania are going to have a field day clipping through this match from the sheer amount of botches in this match, including the infamous spot where Lyra's twist ties came loose and she just pretended to have her hands still locked up while the cameras continued to show the obvious. 

The only part of this match that grabbed my interest was Bayley's interference towards the end where it looked like she was going to help Becky finish off Lyra, but thought against it and remained babyface. Becky and Bayley as a heel team would have been hella interesting since I don't think they ever worked together in that capacity before. It would definitely add a breath of fresh air to this feud. I wouldn't mind if all three of them work together as heels if they are so dead set on getting Lyra over in all honesty. 

Instead, none of this happens and Bayley ends up costing Lyra the match, allowing Becky to retain anyway. If I were to speculate, Lyra is going to feud with Bayley out of frustration for costing her the title here while Becky already has her next challenger as of this posting. Nikki Bella came out during Monday Night RAW on Netflix the following night and named herself as the next challenger for Becky's title. I'm fine with that as long as it keeps Nikki as far away from the two World Women's Championships on either brand.

Steel Cage Match for the WWE United States Championship

Solo Sikoa (c) defeated Jacob Fatu by escaping the cage

As much as I adore Jacob Fatu, I feel like this was a complete waste of time. This ran for barely over 12 minutes and essentially felt like something they could have aired on Friday Night SmackDown two nights prior to this. Tons of interference that completely made the stipulation a non-factor and then all of the post-match attacks made this even more pointless. 

Are they stalling until Survivor Series to get another OG Bloodline vs. MFTs/New Bloodline match going in WarGames? If so, I might be yawning through that one. I feel like we are going to get a tag team match with Jacob and Jimmy together against two of the MFTs at the next PLE then some clusterfuck of a multi-man match for Solo to defend his title again before we get done with Jacob and Jimmy feuding with these guys. I can't say that any of this is exciting nor interesting either. I hate to say it, but the MFTs just come off as they are just coasting for paycheck and not offering to do much else in those roles with Solo and it's sad.

Singles Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

Dominik Mysterio (c) defeated AJ Styles by pinfall

In terms of ring gear, I thought both Dom and AJ brought straight fire in the lines of the homages to the late Eddie Guerrero and Dominik’s 20 year anniversary to his first appearance on WWE programming. If this is AJ Styles’ last SummerSlam like commentary were talking about, then I hope WWE gives him one more World title run before he bows out. I selfishly want to see him do one more run or a few matches for TNA/Impact Wrestling and NJPW/New Japan before he hangs up the boots for good. We got to hear him come out to “Get Ready to Fly” on Slammiversary a few weeks ago, but would it kill him to come out to “Demi-Gods” from his New Japan/Ring of Honor run on the indies prior to signing to WWE? That’s such a criminally underrated theme that he came out to and I would love to see him come out to that one more time. 

As for this match, it tied with the main event as my second favorite match of the entire evening. Dom’s ring work has progressed so fast and well in such a short time that it’s mind-blowing in terms of how fast he’s picked this up, but at the same time, we can’t deny who his father is. I’m glad that he didn’t become a carbon copy of his dad and decided to combine things to honor both Eddie and Rey in his style to make it his own. AJ Styles is crazy for doing the things that he is still doing so well at his age and making it look easy. The homages to Eddie Guerrero’s antics were a nice touch too, but the best part was the replays selling the story that Dom planned the removal of his shoe to escape the Calf Crusher early on to seal the win over Styles. It added to Dom’s heel resume that he was one step ahead over Styles, despite all of the mind games leading up to and in this match. It would be a shame if they don’t run this back.

Street Fight for the Undisputed WWE Championship

Cody Rhodes defeated John Cena (c) by pinfall

Forty-eight hours prior to this match, John Cena came out on Friday Night SmackDown and completely washed his hands of the entire heel turn, burying The Rock and Travis Scott, and apologized to both the fans and Cody Rhodes - effectively turning back babyface. Cody Rhodes was standing in the ring looking more confused than the fans sitting in attendance after hearing all of this. This was one of the most confusing decisions of this entire retirement tour, but left me HIGHLY skeptical going into this show. I was expecting it to be a swerve, only for Travis Scott and/or The Rock to show up and aid Cena in retaining the title or we end up with a double turn at the end. To my surprise, we got absolutely none of that and this match was better for it. 

On the surface, we heard for months that their match at WrestleMania would have been lame if they went into it, babyface vs. babyface. Here we are, a few months later, with that same scenario and we got one hell of a match from it. I wish this was their match that they had at WrestleMania instead of that shit show we got instead with Travis Scott’s involvement. With everything else on Night 2 being a laundry list of stipulation matches really took away from this main event, especially with this being the second street fight/no disqualification match on this show. Becky vs. Lyra went for nearly thirty minutes with this match doing the exact same thing in a lot of aspects. To Cena’s credit, he looked a lot better in this match than his previous defenses to date and didn’t look like he was gassed or completely off his game. This was definitely better than his match against CM Punk a month or two ago. 

Towards the end of this match, that’s where they were bordering into the AEW realm of multiple kickouts of stuff that should have ended the match any other time under the sun. They definitely got me when Cena kicked out of Cody’s trifecta of Cross Rhodes and Cody kicked out when Cena did the same with the Attitude Adjustment. My only knock on this match was Cody not hesitating to use weapons in this match, but what could the fans say? It was a Street Fight after all - and one that Cody himself made Cena agree to. What was Cody supposed to, not bother using the foreign objects for the entire match? That was just poor booking/planning on WWE’s behalf and not thinking about how that would look. Cody really didn’t have a choice either, especially when he was looking like a complete wuss of a babyface without a backbone with all of these heels walking all over him. He had to get his receipt(s) back somehow and this was the match to do so.

I was fine with Cena dropping the title back to Cody here as that heel run wasn’t working at all and that would be a lousy way to end his retirement tour if he wasn’t going to turn back babyface for the end of it. My only question is now what? It’s not like Cody has a laundry list of opponents waiting for him now that he has the title back but it feels like we went back to the months prior to WrestleMania with the list of challengers for Cody looking like a barren wasteland. 

What’s more bizarre and shocking is the arrival of Brock Lesnar returning to the company following Cody’s win and exit from the ring. Brock quickly ran down to the ring and laid out Cena with an F-5, leaving me more confused than anything. In terms of TKO’s decision to bring Brock back amid the ongoing allegations and charges in that sex trafficking lawsuit Janel Grant filed against Vince McMahon, I’m not condoning it in the least, but I’ll say this much. People’s heads would explode if they knew how many of their favorites in wrestling have skeletons in their closets that haven’t been widely exposed and brought to the light, yet they are still allowed to compete and appear on WWE programming without any blow-back nor resistance . Brock was the last person I thought that we would be seeing back anytime soon, but it really makes me wonder if Vince McMahon is trying to sneak in through the back door behind him. Remember that Brock was the one who said that he wanted nothing to do with WWE’s new regime once Triple H’s team took over once Vince McMahon stepped down, so it’s very telling to me that he suddenly had a change of heart and wanted to come back to work. WWE wisely decided NOT to have one of their usual press conferences for either night of this PLE to avoid any questions about this AND Triple H’s appearances with President Donald Trump over the past week. Triple H spoke to media outlets, stating that Brock Lesnar’s return is due to John Cena wanting to work with him before he retires, so take that as you will. It just comes off as extremely tone deaf to me, but it would not be the first time that this company would do something like this, nor will it be the last either.