The Universal Championship changed hands at SummerSlam on Sunday night.
Seth Rollins defeated Brock Lesnar in the main event of the pay-per-view to become Universal Champion. The finish saw Rollins hit his third curb stomp of the match to win the title.
Rollins gave Lesnar a frog splash from the top rope through an announce table near the end of the match. He then hit another frog splash back in the ring. Lesnar kicked out after Rollins gave him a curb stomp, but Rollins avoided an F5, superkicked Lesnar, and pinned him after another curb stomp.
Going into SummerSlam, Lesnar laid out Rollins in angles on each of the past two episodes of Raw. Following the second beatdown, a subdued Rollins vowed to be at SummerSlam and guaranteed that he would defeat Lesnar.
This is the second time Rollins has held the Universal Championship. His first reign began when he defeated Lesnar at WrestleMania 35 in April. Lesnar then cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the title back at Extreme Rules last month.
WWE’s biggest event of the summer takes place tonight as the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada hosts SummerSlam.
After being beaten down by Brock Lesnar on Raw each of the last two weeks, Seth Rollins will challenge for Lesnar’s Universal Championship tonight. The WWE Championship match will see Kofi Kingston defend his title against Randy Orton.
Becky Lynch defends the Raw Women’s Championship against Natalya in a submission match tonight. On the SmackDown side, Ember Moon will challenge for Bayley’s title.
Goldberg returns to the ring to take on Dolph Ziggler. In her hometown, Trish Stratus will be in action against Charlotte Flair. Stratus has said this will be her final match.
Also on tonight’s main card: Kevin Owens takes on Shane McMahon (Owens will “quit WWE” if he loses), Ricochet challenges for AJ Styles’ United States title, and “The Fiend” version of Bray Wyatt makes his in-ring debut against Finn Balor.
We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s show, as well as last night’s Takeover, and all three G-1 shows at Budokan Hall to [email protected]
The two-hour pre-show begins a 5 p.m. Eastern time and will feature Drew Gulak vs. Oney Lorcan for the Cruiserweight Championship, Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. Peyton Royce & Billie Kay for the Women’s Tag Team titles, and Apollo Crews vs. Buddy Murphy.
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DREW GULAK VS. ONEY LORCAN FOR CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE
A lot of striking late in the match after solid wrestling early. The ref was distracted when Gulak pulled the ring skirt into the ring and Gulak punched him and used the Cyclone crash.
Drake Maverick is out talking about the 24/7 title. He’s back looking for R-Truth. He vowed that he would leave Toronto as 24/7 champion. R-Truth and Carmella were hiding on the set. R-Truth was eating popcorn. Maverick threw popcorrn at R-Truth he ran oiff. Maverick hurt his knee chasing and R-Truth and Carmella got away..
APOLLO CREWS VS. BUDDY MURPHY
They went just over 4:00. Murphy did a running flip dive and that woke the crowd up. Erick Rowan then showed up and attacked Murphy for the DQ. Rowan was mad at him for outing him on Smackdown and beat Murphy down including finishing him with a power bomb into the post. The match was all action until Rowan ran in.
Elias is out now. He’s ripping on Toronto, about the Maple Leafs not winning a Stanley Cup and said the Blue Jays don’t draw. Edge came out. Edge speared him. It’s notable they let him even do that because he was for years not cleared for any physical activity.
This network is not doing well today. Lots of complaints I’ve seen. It’s gone out for me five times since the pre-show started. And a lot of people don’t even bother tuning in until the main show starts.
NIKKI CROSS & ALEXA BLISS VS. BILLIE KAY & PEYTON ROYCE FOR TAG TITLES
Bliss & Cross retained the title when Bliss punched Royce in the face and used Twisted bliss to pin her. The match was pretty bad. It was like a Raw match with no time to build. Royce got a near fall on Bliss with a Gori especial bomb but Cross saved.
BECKY LYNCH VS. NATALYA FOR WOMEN’S TITLE IN A SUBMISSION MATCH
Real good match here. Lynch retained with the disarm her. The crowd was cheering both of them. Lynch had more chants but the loudest the crowd was for the match was when Natlaya had the sharpshooter on and Lynch was booed when she used the sharpshooter and when she pulled herself out of the ring when Natalya had the sharpshooter on her. Natalya also got the disarm her on Lynch at one point.
Trish Stratus interview. This felt very scripted with the WWE style verbiage. .
BILL GOLDBERG VS. DOLPH ZIGGLER
This was exactly what you’d think. The idea was to rehab Goldberg after the Undertaker match. Ziggler superkicked him right away and Goldberg kicked out at one. Then he gave him a second superkick and Goldberg kicked out at two. Goldberg then speared and jackhammered Ziggler and pinned him.
Ziggler said that was like being hit by a little baby. He was still selling and Goldberg got back in the ring. Goldberg gave him another spear.
Ziggler grabbed the mic again. He said anyone can get lucky twice. Said Goldberg doesn’t have the balls to face me man to man and that’s why he’s a laughing stock in this business. Goldberg came out again. Goldberg acted like he was going to let it go but then speared him again. This feels like it was too early in the show to do this, but time will tell on that.
New Day promo. Said Dre was here. It was Drake Maverick pretending too be Dre. Maverick then said this was a waste of my time as I have more important things to do. Kingston said he’d been waitiing for a decade for this match because Randy Orton tried to hold him down.
A.J. STYLES VS. RICOCHET FOR U.S. TITLE
This was a weird match. Finish saw Ricochet come off the top rope with a what appeared to be a twisting Dragon rana but Styles caught him with a Styles clash fo’ the pin. Ricochet had a bodysuit on. Almost the entire match was Styles working on Ricochet’s legs so he didn’t do much in the way of acrobatics. Ricochet early on did jump off the apron on Gallows’ shoulders and then Anderson’s and then hit the huracanrana on the floor on Styles in once spot. Ricochet also did a moonsault off the middle rope to the floor on Gallows. The real story is the crowd was totally dead as putting anyone after Goldberg probably would have been death. Styles at one point used the calf crusher but Ricochet got out of that. Match was fine but not what you’d think from a Styles vs. Ricochet match. Not even close.
Anderson & Gallows gave Ricochet the magic killer after the match.
The Street Profits were out. Ric Flair showed up with them. They treated him with reverence and he talked about his alligator shoes.
BAYLEY VS. EMBER MOON FOR THE SMACKDOWN WOMEN’S TITLE
Bayley won with a Belly to belly off the middle rope. The crowd was dead the entire match. That positioning of Goldberg has now killed two matches although this one probably wasn’t going to get a lot of reaction either way. Moon did a few cool spots but stuff was awkward in spots. Not a good match.
KEVIN OWENS VS. SHANE MCMAHON WITH OWENS’ CAREER AT STAKE
This match worked with the crowd but as a match it wasn’t much. The people were heavily into Owens. Elias was brought out as the enforcer. Elias kept interfering. Shane’s offense was brutally bad. Owens used a senton off the top and frog splash but Elias pulled the ref out of the ring. Owens had a few chances to use a chair shot and Shane taunted him to get him to use it for the DQ. So Owens ended up hitting Elias over and over with a chair shot. Earlier Owens did a cannonball off the apron onto both Elias and the ref. So logically he should have been DQ’d both times. In the end, Owens had the ref throw the chair out of the ring, so he gave Shane a low blow behind the refs back and hit the stunner for the pin.
CHARLOTTE FLAIR VS. TRISH STRATUS
Flair won a long match with the figure eight. Some early spots were sloppy, but Stratus tested herself and did a lot more than you’d think. This was better than most women’s matches on WWE PPV shows. The crowd was quiet early but they got into it at the end. Stratus took a big bump off the apron, did a great looking top rope Frankensteirner, did the Stratusfaction, Flair’s figure eight and the chick kick. She did some lucha spots early. It was definitely a very good performance for her not having done a singles match in eight years. Flair left the ring to let Stratus get the applause whne it was over. The crowd chanted “Thank you Trish” after the match. They got a “this is awesome” chant during the match.
Bret Hart did a cameo wishing Seth Rollins well.
KOFI KINGSTON VS. RANDY ORTON FOR WWE TITLE
The match ended with a double count out. They had a deliberate match. Not much heat. Kingston did a backwards dive to the floor. There were a few near falls. Kingston came off the top rope into an RKO but laid on his back rather than went for the pin. Kingston rolled out of the ring. Orton went out of the ring with him and started taunting Kingston’s family in the front row. Or at least that was hte idea. Both were counted out. Kingston then got a Kendo stick from under the ring and hit Orton with hit over and over and then laid him out with Trouble in Paradise. Way below the caliber of what you would exepcxt from a WWE title match.
They pushed the idea that this feud is continuing which is why they did the double count out finish.
BRAY WYATT VS. FINN BALOR
This was what it shoudl have been. It was more the spectacle of Wyatt’s debut with the new character. He came out wiht a Bray Wyatt head and lantern. He had a new version of his old music. Wyatt is in much better shape and the entire presentation was star-like for him. It was a quick match. Wyatt mostly dominated, Balor got a comeback, missed a double foot stomp and Wyatt won with the mandible claw. Then the lights went out and Wyatt disappeared. Fans chanted “that was awesome” so it worked.
BROCK LESNAR VS. SETH ROLLINS FOR UNIVERSAL TITLE
Rollins regained the title with a superkick and curb stomp after escaping an F-5. Really good match. Rollins used the curb stomp at the beginning for a near fall and did a second one later in the match and Lesanr kicked out of both of them. Lesnar did a lot of German suplexes. It was the basic Lesnar framework of almost all big moves. It worked and went longer than a usual Lesnar match. Rollins did a splash off the post putting Lesnar through an announcers table to the floor, At one point Rollins did three topes but Lesnar caught him on the thrid and drove his back into th epost. Rollins had his ribs taped and sold the ribs much of the way. People were into this because it’s all big moves.
Drew Gulak will defend the Cruiserweight Championship against Oney Lorcan, Women’s Tag Team Champions Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross will defend their titles against Peyton Royce & Billie Kay, and Apollo Crews will face Buddy Murphy.
Bliss & Cross vs. The IIconics and Crews vs. Murphy are new additions to SummerSlam, while Gulak vs. Lorcan had already been set for tonight’s card.
Bliss & Cross became Women’s Tag Team Champions by defeating Royce & Kay, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville, and Asuka & Kairi Sane in a fatal four-way elimination match on Raw last week. Royce & Kay were the champions heading into the match but were eliminated first.
WWE has already announced that Asuka & Sane will challenge for the Women’s Tag Team titles on tomorrow’s post-SummerSlam episode of Raw.
The Roman Reigns mystery attacker angle continued on SmackDown last week, with Murphy accusing Rowan of being the person who attacked Reigns. Reigns beat Murphy down until Murphy would give him an answer.
Tonight’s two-hour pre-show begins at 5 p.m. Eastern time. The PPV is taking place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Oney Lorcan is getting a Cruiserweight title shot at SummerSlam.
Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak will defend his title against Lorcan at Sunday’s pay-per-view. Lorcan was set up as Gulak’s challenger for the PPV by defeating Tony Nese, Jack Gallagher, Akira Tozawa, Kalisto, and Ariya Daivari in a number one contender’s six-pack challenge on this week’s 205 Live.
There was a sequence of finishing moves at the end of the six-pack challenge, with Lorcan hitting a half-and-half suplex on Nese to get the win. Gulak then came out to the ramp and had a staredown with Lorcan.
The Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada is hosting SummerSlam on Sunday. Here’s the updated list of matches that have been officially announced:
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Seth Rollins
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending against Natalya in a submission match
WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defending against Randy Orton
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley defending against Ember Moon
Goldberg vs. Dolph Ziggler
Charlotte Flair vs. Trish Stratus
United States Champion AJ Styles defending against Ricochet
Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon (Owens will “quit WWE” if he loses)
“The Fiend” Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor
Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak defending against Oney Lorcan
Goldberg vs. Dolph Ziggler is officially set for SummerSlam.
Tonight’s Raw ended with Goldberg appearing and his match against Ziggler being announced for Sunday’s pay-per-view. It will be the first time Goldberg has wrestled since facing The Undertaker at Super ShowDown in June.
A Miz TV segment with Ziggler and Shawn Michaels took place at the end of tonight’s Raw. It was set up as the contract signing for The Miz vs. Ziggler at SummerSlam. After Ziggler signed the contract, Miz said he would be facing Ziggler on Raw next Monday. Miz said Ziggler had a different opponent for the PPV, Michaels said that it wasn’t him, and Goldberg’s music then hit.
Ziggler bailed when Goldberg came into the ring. Goldberg signed the contract and cut a brief promo where he told Ziggler that he’s next.
As Ziggler went back up the ramp, Michaels laid him out with Sweet Chin Music to close the show.
Dave Meltzer reported last week that Goldberg vs. Ziggler was planned for SummerSlam. The PPV is taking place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Sunday.
Natalya did a backstage interview on last week’s Raw where she teased challenging Lynch to a submission match at SummerSlam, but Natalya said she wasn’t going to issue the challenge because she doesn’t think Lynch has the guts to accept it.
There was also an angle on Raw last week where Alexa Bliss showed footage of Lynch attacking Natalya and putting her in the Dis-Arm-Her when she was training in the ring with Fit Finlay earlier in the day. After Lynch defeated Nikki Cross, Natalya put Lynch in the Sharpshooter.
Natalya was set up as Lynch’s next challenger by defeating Bliss, Naomi, and Carmella in a number one contender’s fatal four-way elimination match on Raw last month.
The Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada is hosting SummerSlam on Sunday (August 11).
Goldberg tweeted after his match against Undertaker: “Knocked myself out and thought I could finish…. love my fans…..but let u down. Everyone else that found ‘pleasure’ ….. hope ur happy”
Meltzer wrote about Goldberg facing Ziggler at SummerSlam: “The biggest news not yet announced is that Bill Goldberg will return on the show to face Dolph Ziggler. Currently they are advertising Ziggler vs. The Miz, which has been the match built up on television. But Ziggler vs. Miz is a red herring and the idea is that Ziggler by disrespecting Shawn Michaels and superkicking him, disrespected the legends. The idea was that Ziggler would have the locker room against him and that Goldberg, who Ziggler has mentioned in passing in every program, would come back.”
SummerSlam is taking place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 11.
fAs expected, Charlotte Flair and Trish Stratus will be facing off at SummerSlam.
Charlotte vs. Stratus was officially confirmed for SummerSlam during Stratus’ appearance on this week’s SmackDown. Charlotte interrupted Jerry Lawler’s King’s Court segment with Stratus. Charlotte insulted Stratus and issued a challenge for the pay-per-view, which Stratus accepted.
During a backstage interview on SmackDown last week, Charlotte called herself the “Queen of All Eras,” demanded a match at SummerSlam, and said she’s going to prove why she’s the greatest women’s wrestler of all time. It was then confirmed that Charlotte vs. Stratus was planned for the pay-per-view.
This will be Stratus’ first match since the night after Evolution last October.
SummerSlam is taking place at the Scotiabank Arena in Stratus’ hometown of Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 11. Here’s the updated card for the pay-per-view:
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Seth Rollins
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending against Natalya
WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defending against Randy Orton
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley defending against Ember Moon
Charlotte Flair vs. Trish Stratus
Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon (Owens will “quit WWE” if he loses)
“The Fiend” Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor
United States Champion AJ Styles defending against Ricochet
Dave Meltzer reports that — despite being announced for SummerSlam — The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler is a red herring and will be changed.
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Ahead of tonight’s SmackDown, WWE has added another match to the card for SummerSlam.
The Miz will take on Dolph Ziggler at the pay-per-view. It’s taking place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 11.
On last week’s SmackDown, there was a segment where Ziggler interrupted Shawn Michaels’ appearance on Miz TV. Ziggler went to hit Michaels but accidentally struck Miz. Ziggler then laid out Michaels with a superkick.
Miz and Ziggler’s current program began when Ziggler appeared on Miz TV earlier this month and accused Miz of selling out. Ziggler insulted Maryse, which led to Miz attacking him before Ziggler bailed out of the ring.
Here’s the updated card for SummerSlam:
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Seth Rollins
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending against Natalya
WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defending against Randy Orton
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley defending against Ember Moon
Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon (Owens will “quit WWE” if he loses)
“The Fiend” Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor
United States Champion AJ Styles defending against Ricochet
Ricochet is getting his rematch against AJ Styles at SummerSlam.
Ricochet won a number one contender’s gauntlet match on Raw tonight and will challenge for Styles’ United States Championship at SummerSlam. The pay-per-view is taking place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 11.
The gauntlet match led to Ricochet and Andrade being the final two, and Ricochet hit a 630 to get the win. Rey Mysterio defeated Cesaro and Sami Zayn in the gauntlet match before being eliminated by Andrade.
After interference from Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Styles won the United States title from Ricochet at Extreme Rules earlier this month. Styles turned heel and reunited with Gallows and Anderson during the build to that match.
Here’s the updated card for SummerSlam:
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Seth Rollins
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending against Natalya
WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defending against Randy Orton
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley defending against Ember Moon
United States Champion AJ Styles defending against Ricochet
Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon (Owens will “quit WWE” if he loses)
The match was first hinted about on last night’s SmackDown when Flair said she was the queen of all eras and that she would face someone far better than Ember Moon with the win establishing her as the greatest of all-time.
The 43-year-old wrestled for WWE regularly from 2000 to 2006, winning the title seven times, and has made occasional appearances since she left. She wrestled at last year’s Evolution show, teaming with Lita in a win over Alexa Bliss and Mickie James.
SummerSlam will featuring Universal Champion Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins, WWE Champion Kofi Kington vs. Randy Orton, Raw women’s champion Becky Lynch vs. Natalya, SmackDown women’s champion Bayley vs. Ember Moon, and more.
The WWE Championship match has been confirmed for next month’s SummerSlam pay-per-view.
Kofi Kingston will defend his WWE Championship against Randy Orton at SummerSlam. The match was set up when Orton pinned Kingston in a six-man tag after giving him an RKO on last week’s SmackDown. Tonight, the SummerSlam title match was made official during a segment where Kingston challenged Orton.
Kingston cut a promo and showed footage of him defeating Orton on Raw at Madison Square Garden in 2009. Kingston claimed that Orton used his influence to hold him back. Orton responded by saying he was doing Kingston a favor — because Kingston wasn’t ready to be WWE Champion then and isn’t ready now.
Kingston defeated Samoa Joe by disqualification on SmackDown tonight, with Orton getting involved and trying to hit an RKO on Kingston. Kingston avoided it and they went face-to-face. Joe got up, Orton gave him an RKO, and Kingston laid out Orton with Trouble in Paradise.
Kingston will defend his title against Joe and Dolph Ziggler in a triple threat match at this Saturday’s Smackville WWE Network special.
The Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada is hosting SummerSlam on August 11. The updated lineup for the PPV is listed below:
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Seth Rollins
WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defending against Randy Orton
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending against Natalya
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley defending against Ember Moon
Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon is now official for SummerSlam.
The match was announced during the opening segment of tonight’s SmackDown, with Shane accepting a challenge that was issued by Owens. The match has a stipulation where Owens will “quit WWE” if he loses.
WWE posted a video last night where Owens issued the challenge to Shane and said he’d quit if he lost. On SmackDown, Shane brought up that Owens has said he was quitting before. Shane wanted to get the stipulation put into writing.
Owens cut a promo on Shane on SmackDown two weeks ago and called him out for taking up television time from other wrestlers. Their storyline saw Owens lay out Shane with stunners on SmackDown the past two weeks.
SummerSlam is taking place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 11. Here’s the updated card:
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Seth Rollins
WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defending against Randy Orton
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending against Natalya
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley defending against Ember Moon
Seth Rollins will get his rematch against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam.
Rollins won a number one contender’s battle royal on tonight’s Raw and will challenge for Lesnar’s Universal Championship at SummerSlam in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 11. Rollins last eliminated Randy Orton to win the battle royal.
Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Baron Corbin, Rey Mysterio, Sami Zayn, Big E, Bobby Lashley, and Cesaro were the other participants in the battle royal.
After winning the battle royal, Rollins cut a promo where he spoke directly to Lesnar and promised to stomp Lesnar’s head into the mat and win the Universal title at SummerSlam. Lesnar teased coming into the ring with a steel chair, but he hit the apron with the chair and walked back up the ramp.
Lesnar cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase to win the Universal title from Rollins at the end of Extreme Rules on Sunday. Prior to that, Rollins had been Universal Champion since defeating Lesnar at WrestleMania 35.
SummerSlam is taking place at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. Becky Lynch defending her Raw Women’s Championship against Natalya has also been announced for the pay-per-view.
Natalya is getting a title shot in her home country.
On tonight’s post-Extreme Rules edition of Raw, Natalya defeated Alexa Bliss, Naomi, and Carmella in a number one contender’s fatal four-way elimination match. Natalya will challenge for Becky Lynch’s Raw Women’s Championship at SummerSlam, which is taking place at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 11.
After the match, Natalya and Lynch went back and forth on the microphone and ended up going face-to-face. Natalya concluded by saying that she’s going to “kick the living hell” out of Lynch at SummerSlam.
Natalya submitted Bliss with the sharpshooter at the end of tonight’s elimination match. Natalya also eliminated Naomi during the match.
Lynch retained the Raw Women’s Championship when she teamed with Seth Rollins to defeat Lacey Evans & Baron Corbin at Extreme Rules. Brock Lesnar then cashed in his Money in the Bank briefcase on Rollins to win the Universal Championship.
