You know, I wasn’t going to do a WWE SummerSlam 2025 review, let alone covering this show night-by-night… But damn, Night #1 of SummerSlam delivered MASSIVELY for the WWE and instantly made the decision of splitting SummerSlam into 2 nightly shows seem like a wise decision? Why? Simply put, I’d rather watch 2 nights of 2-3 hour shows rather than sitting through 1 4-5 hour show. LESS IS MORE, plus, splitting the card into 2 nights is giving each match some room to breathe and it gives the audience more time to digest what happened.
Atmosphere wise, Metlife Stadium in New Jersey was amazing tonight, as the weather was absolutely perfect for the crowd and with the event being in partial sunlight to start, we didn’t get to see the overuse of lighting like we do for other WWE stadium events. And if you’ve attended one of these shows, those lights are absolutely brutal if you’re in the upper rows. Starting shows earlier and ending earlier is a recipe for success that neither promotion realizes. The Super Bowl starts at 6:30pm Eastern Time for a reason and that’s to reach a wide audience and it’s over by 10:30pm.
Here’s one complaint that is growing with me since Vince McMahon left… TKO really loves to shove advertisements down our throats. This segment is sponsored by this, this segment is sponsored by that. Why, it’s a bunch of midcarders backstage and hot arse Nikki Bella is here to deliver some Papa Johns poor quality pizza to the wrestlers. Between raising ticket prices, raising merchandise prices, getting more money from Saudi Arabia, these massive TV deals, and underpaying most of your wresters… Does WWE really need to shill for more dollars and hawk products? And yes, I’m quoting the great Bill Hicks on that. Bad enough that Peacock keeps raising their prices to buy to see these shows, but even more so that WWE is becoming cheap looking like MLB, NHL, or NBA with ads everywhere.
And they showed Triple H appearing at the White House recently, supporting restarting of a fitness initiative in public schools. Lots of boos in the arena, apparently, and outrage that Triple H is associating himself with Donald Trump. For one, Triple H is a rich guy and most anyone with 7 figures or above is supporting these 2025 policies. The “Big Beautiful Bill” retains WWE’s Corporate Tax Rate at 21% versus it being possibly raised to 35% while Triple H’s own tax bracket would have gone from 37% to 39.6% without the bill. Trump is a WWE Hall of Famer and has close ties to the WWE thanks to past history with Vince McMahon and with Linda McMahon as a cabinet member. Surprise, surprise, Triple H is going to attend a White House event for free publicity and he pretty much did just stood there and said a brief harmless speech. Whether HHH is in charge or if Vince returns, both men are going to support Trump… If you don’t like it, well, stop paying high SummerSlam prices and take charge of your life.
Man, I’m already on a roll and I’ve yet to actually review the show!
Before I get started, I wanted to say props to Alicia Taylor. She’s doing a great job as WWE announcer and it makes me say “Samantha Who?”. The great gig of announcing people in the ring for a living…
First match was Roman Reigns/Jey Uso vs. Bron Breakker/Bronson Reed. Yeah, based on Night #1’s main event, it’s good that Roman remained in the “hot” opener of Day #1. This match was OK, with Roman and Jey playing their greatest hits. Then, Bron Breakker is like “me very very fast and athletic”, though not much hint of psychology with that one just yet. But damn, we keep trying with Bronson Reed as a top guy and I’m just not feeling Bron and especially Bronson as Seth’s henchmen. They just don’t fit whatsoever and lack chemistry. Take the NWO from 29 years ago (holy cow, I’m old!). Hall and Nash had perfect chemistry, but Hulk Hogan had a different style to the way he conducted his character. YET, both the Outsiders worked with Hulk to incorporate their style and mannerisms with Hogan and they soon got in sync. Seth, Bronson, and Bron are 3 separate guys who feel like they get into separate cars and stay at different hotels. Roman and Jey won the match, with Jey pinning Bronson, as it should have been with 2 former World Champions wrestling against 2 younger wrestlers who haven’t main evented yet. [ **1/2 ]
Honestly, there were some issues with Charlotte Flair/Alexa Bliss versus Raquel Rodriguez/Rosanne Perez. I think Charlotte just doesn’t look like she’s having fun out there anymore and seems put off by wrestling a tag match, let alone against other wrestlers who haven’t reached her heights. Alexa was trying out there, but the vibe wasn’t there for this tag match. Hopefully, with time, some enthusiasm of Alexa rubs off on Charlotte and she finds her mojo again… But I don’t know, as Charlotte has reached so many highs in the past 10 years that she may have burned herself out, especially with some struggles outside-the-ring. Charlotte needs to rebuild her character and fully embrace this Alexa Bliss partnership. If I were WWE, I’d make Charlotte and Alexa hold these tag titles for a while and maybe have them break-up before Wrestlemania 42 to set-up a singles match there. Then, figure out what Charlotte is and go from there. [ ** ]
I’m glad that Sami Zayn won at SummerSlam against Karrion Kross, as there is such joy and positivity in the way Sami works and wrestles. There is always that extra spring in Sami’s step, always full of charism, and his upbeat personality makes you want to root for him in any match. That’s contrary to Kross, who just seems like he’s wrestling with 2 right-foot boots and has a darker, brooding personality when he performs. He’s part of the NXT Triple H “clone factory” where HHH was training wrestlers to work exactly as he did, which is why Damien Priest, Karrion Kross, Tommaso Ciampa, and Aleister Black all have the same characters and work virtually the same way. With Kross, the look could be better if he didn’t have a poor choice of tattoos. What’s going on with that right sleeve and what was drawn on his back? Look and presentation matter, but personality, connectivity, and charisma matters. Sami Zayn actually looks more like a regular guy, yet his character is beloved by fans and they’d run off a cliff for him. They just don’t seem that motivated to do the same for Kross, and that’s a shame because the building blocks for a good wrestler appear to be there but the execution is not. [ ** ]
I was honestly shocked that Tiffany Stratton defeated Jade Cargill cleanly… But, I’m happy for Tiffany. Her Women’s Title reign has been poorly managing, from having to wrestle moody Charlotte at Wrestlemania 41 to pretty much limping through the rest of the Spring and early Summer. I honestly thought Jade was going to win here, but am pleasantly surprised… Jade is an AEW homegrown talent and it shows. She either doesn’t want to learn or she lacks legitimate talent to learn how to become a legitimate professional wrestler. I think she works too much on the cosmetic side of her look versus getting better inside the ring. It’s time to fix that balance or do less worrying about how you may look. Reason Tiffany Stratton made it to be Women’s Champion because she looks great but more importantly can perform well in the ring. Jade needs carried in EVERY match and that’s a major issue. Furthermore, I don’t think she’s that strong at all… Yes, she looks strong, but I’d be willing to bet that Tiffany could out-lift Jade and beat her easily in an arm wrestling match. Cosmetic muscles aren’t the same as legitimate strength or bulk. Tiffany may not have veins popping out of her arms, but she’s strong as hell. [ * ]
At this point, I’m like “why did SummerSlam have 2 nights”, but then the show got cooking…
I enjoyed Randy Orton/Jelly Roll vs. Drew McIntyre/Logan Paul, though with a few nitpicks… First and foremost, I really liked what Wade Barrett said about Drew getting stuck in an airport, as he said that “anyone getting stuck at that airport goes straight to the pub”. I think besides Wade’s comment there, they missed a real opportunity present a reason why Drew was weaker for the match. Instead, there were moments where they allowed Jelly Roll to actually competed with professional wrestlers and they had to sell for him. Big mistake. Personally, I would have ended the match close to the incredible froggy splash that Logan hit on Jelly Roll through the table, as that was an impactful spot that would hurt a non-wrestler even more. Then, the 2 on 1 against Orton could have ended the match earlier and sell the impact of that amazing splash by Paul. Instead, Jelly Roll put on his Mick Foley at King of the Ring 1998 impersonation and re-entered the match after a devastating spot. Come on… BUT, we has fans have to realize that this match was for CASUAL FANS and not for longtime fans. With that in mind, I’m relaxing some of my criticisms. For the most part, Jelly Roll sold that he was “out of his league” while showing some reasonable efforts that he actually learned something with training. Still, it should have been closer to a handicap match than it should have been, but I’ve seen much, much worse attempts at wrestling with celebrities than this. [ *** ]
And then we have the gemstone of the night with CM Punk vs. Gunther. Let me just rate this one right now with [ ***** ] and it’s up there within my top 5 matches of the year. It was amazing… Gunther was dominant throughout and it looked like CM Punk was beginning to lose against father time. That was the story, but Gunther’s cocky character kept keeping that door open for CM Punk to somehow steal this match. Gunther wasted so many opportunities to put Punk away and that’s been Gunther’s character, especially since his Wrestlemania loss to Sami Zayn to end his amazing IC Title reign. Being cocky and arrogant, while enjoying torturing his opponents slowly is his weak spot… And then it burned him hard, as he was standing up on the announcers’ table to taunt Punk some more when Punk tripped up Gunther and he came smashing down, face first, onto that table. Gunther got up and he was bleeding profusely that it impaired him with the loss of blood and visibility due to the crimson mask he was now wearing. That was his downfall and CM Punk seized the opportunity for a big comeback after being tortured throughout the match. Two Go To Sleep finishers and CM Punk became the NEW WWE World Heavyweight Champion, the first WWE considered World Title since his 2011-2013 extensive reign with the WWE Title. It was so great to have this moment.
I need to make 2 specific opinions…
1) Let’s stop messing around with Gunther here. WWE needs to push him like the 2014-2015 dominant Brock Lesnar model where he was unbeatable and didn’t pause for a moment. He was just a pure killer. We’ve seen too much of the Gunther character where he’s a heel and his desire to purposely extend the match by slowly destroying his opponent needs to end. Stop being so cocky and arrogant and just bulldoze your opponents. Gunther has the brutal offense to make it seem credible as another dominant Brock Lesnar style of wrestler. What WWE needs to do is having him go NUCLEAR after losing this match and become that machine. Especially with the WWE refusing to bring back Lesnar, why not make another one who may be equally as talented but held back by a cocky/arrogant character who misses so many easy opportunities to win a freakin’ match.
2) SUCK IT, AEW FANS! You had CM Punk during 2021-2023, yet you let swarmy marks such as Hangman Page and the Young Bucks to internally sabotage him by shooting on-camera with unscripted promos and then leaking lies to the Observer Boys about Punk being “toxic” or denying Colt Cabana the ability to work for AEW. And look what it got ya… You’re stuck with the Young Bucks as performers and EVPs, while Hangman Page is your champion. Instead of taking care of an all-time great talent, which CM Punk is, you cater to unprofessional and snitches instead. Meanwhile, CM Punk returned to the WWE and proved you wrong on what happened during 2022 and 2023. CM Punk wasn’t toxic, AEW owned by wimpy Tony Khan and led by the Young Bucks is toxic. Seeing Punk win a WWE World Title tonight reminded me of why I don’t like watching or covering that sham of an AEW promotion anymore. Enjoy that less than 650,000 viewership on a TBS station available to just over 70 million households and that nobody watches on HBO Max.
My lord, it felt so great to type that second point!
Now, after the match, things became very, very interesting… Major props to the WWE for perfectly executing the Seth Rollins injury angle at Saturday Night’s Main Event. During his match with LA Knight, Seth Rollins acted like he may have torn something and even allowed himself to lose to LA Knight while injured. So well sold and WWE was able to suspend most fans’ disbelief by making it appear that Rollins tore his leg up. Rollins throws the crutches, removes the knee brace, and runs to the ring with the MITB briefcase in hand. He bashes Punk’s head repeatedly with that briefcase, too, and then he cashes in the contract to get a World Title shot. Just like that, CM Punk’s World Title reign ended and now we’ve got lots of heat on Punk vs. Rollins again.
LAST WORD: While the match quality may not have been there for about half of the show, the results were. I’m pleased with the results of the show, as I hope Charlotte/Alexa works out, Roman/Jey should certainly defeat Bron & Bronson, always root for Sami Zayn, glad that Tiffany defeated Jade cleanly, Jelly Roll/Orton vs. Paul/McIntyre mostly delivered, and CM Punk vs. Gunther was exceptional. The story told with Rollins faking his injury and then re-capturing the World Heavyweight Title was nicely done and perfectly executed. That said, I really don’t like the Rollins/Bron/Bronson trio, I’ve seen Rollins pushed non-stop for over 10 years now, and WWE needs to figure out Roman’s availability to confidently push him as a top star again.
Results-wise and for the last 2 matches, I enjoyed my Night #1 experience. We’ll go [ B ] with the grade… Honestly looking at Night #2, looks like we’ll be primarily looking forward to Cena vs. Cody Part Deux while being hopeful for surprises for the rest of the card. That said, it’s nice to be done with a WWE Pay Per Views at like 9:30pm at night.
My predictions for Night #2:
– Rhea Ripley regains her Women’s Title
– Becky retains
– Jacob Fatu regains U.S. Title, possibly with some help from friends of his own…
– Dirty Dom retains, though I could see AJ Styles winning it as a reward for helping TNA…
– Don’t care about the cluster 6-pack TLC tag match. I’m sure it will be fun, but I just am not excited for WWE’s tag team division right now. Sorry.
– Cena retains WWE Title over Cody, but maybe via DQ or No Contest to retain. Something controversial is going to happen. Many think that Cody joins Rock and switches Cena back to babyface. I don’t know… But I think something screwy is going to happen regardless. In my head, I’m thinking that a third Cody vs. Cena match will somehow happen.
See ya tomorrow (possibly)!
Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ
The post Mr. Tito’s PHAT WWE SummerSlam 2025 Night #1 Review: CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Jelly Roll, and More appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.