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WWE Summer Slam: Winners and losers
Sam Brown
Roar Guru
21st August, 2017
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(World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.)
Sam Brown
Roar Guru
21st August, 2017
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WWE Summer Slam has been and gone, but who looked best when the spotlight shon brightest and who fell flat?

Biggest winners
Brock Lesnar
The Beast Incarnate put in his best performance in well over a year in the main event, taking an insane amount of punishment but still manage to pin Roman Reigns to retain his WWE Universal Title.

The match was a fantastic concoction of hard-hitting chaos, with each of the fighters getting a chance in the spotlight, but the match truly centreed around the former UFC champion.

Not only did Lesnar look motivated and mean, he put the finishing touches on Strowman’s build into the monster face of Raw, letting Strowman ragdoll him through two announcer tables and then tip the third on top of him.

Perfore the match many were hoping someone else would pick up the win so the title scene could move in a different direction, but this timely performance reminded us all why Lesnar is held in such high regard.

Jinder Mahal
The table had been set and the champagne uncorked for the coronation of Shinsuke Nakamura as WWE Champion, but it was not to be, as Jinder Mahal held onto his title after an interference from the Singh brothers (just for a change).

In handing him the championship out of nowhere after Wrestlemania the WWE has taken a huge gamble and is now doubling down on what has been in my mind a completely mediocre title reign.

What the WWE continues to see in this guy is beyond me, but it is undeniable that with this surprise result he is one biggest winners of the night.

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Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins
The former Shield brothers made a triumphant return to the tag team ranks, reuniting and picking up the Raw Tag Team Championships off Sheamus and Cesaro.

Not only did the crowd explode when they won, in the process they put on an engaging and well-paced match to go with the story behind their reunion.

Going forward there is a host of possibilities for their characters: a full Shield reunion, one of them turning on the other or even just a solid run at the top of the tag team division with a match against The Revival (please, oh please).

These two have the best chemistry of any two wrestlers since CM Punk and Cena, so anything that keeps them involved with one another is a big win for everyone.

Sasha Banks
Banks picked up a handy win to take hold of the Raw Women’s Championship, and while she has previously held the title, she has never had the chance to truly put her own stamp on the division.

Now with Bayley still rebuilding, Nia Jax developing and Charlotte on a different show, it’s Banks’s chance to live up to her nickname and reign as ‘The Boss’ of the division.

Biggest Losers
Shinsuke Nakamura
It was all just too good to be true. Despite it feeling like it was destined to be, all the momentum behind him and the crowd eating out of his hand, Nakamura failed at the last hurdle to win the WWE World Championship off of Jinder Mahal.

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When it is your first shot at the title, when you get your own special entrance, when the video package is centred entirely around you and when you beat John Cena clean in the lead-up, it is hard to ever gain more momentum or crowd investment.

Nakamura may well get a second shot at the WWE title and will continue to be featured in a top spot on Smackdown, but it looks like Vince McMahon just doesn’t want the former NJPW star at the top of his company despite his overwhelming popularity.

Baron Corbin and Rusev
I’ve bracketed these two together because their situation is eerily similar. At times both have looked like they are being built into something special, they both came up against the torch bearers of the previous generation – John Cena and Randy Orton – and they were both defeated handily.

For Corbin this was the biggest match of his career and it is the first time he has really gone backwards since his debut last year. I still hold out hope he could use this and last week’s Money in the Bank loss to develop his lone wolf character, but historically speaking things do not look good for him.

For Rusev, this loss to Orton in less than a minute is his official stamping with the midcard-for-life label.

With his undeniable talent as a bruiser he may get the odd feature spot or US title reign, but it is pretty clear he will never reach the top of the card.

Jason Jordan
When Jason Jordan was told he was being moved to Raw as part of a big storyline as Kurt Angle’s long-lost son, I’m sure he didn’t think an undignified loss on the pre-show would be his PPV debut.

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Just about everyone in this match should be disappointed at where they ended up for Summer Slam. The Hardys and Miz had featured bouts at Wrestlemania; only the Miztourage have anything to be happy about.

But most disappointed should be Jordan, who has fallen completely flat in what should have been a career-making angle.

Enzo Amore
Amore was never going to beat his former tag team partner Big Cass in the ring, but the fact he is now falling flat on the mic is not a good sign for the Certified G.

It is one thing to get booed, it is another to cut an impassioned promo and hear crickets in return.

This falling stock combined with rumours of a backstage falling out has it looking like Amore will need to get the audience back on side quickly or be consigned to the role of comedy bit-player.

But over to you, Roarers: what did you think of Summer Slam? Who do you think got the rub and who missed out?

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