By Graham "GSM" Matthews Here on SummerSlam Recall, I will be ranking my top 20 favorite matches in WWE SummerSlam history. A new installment will be posted every day leading up to SummerSlam 2016, culminating with my No. 1 favorite match on Saturday, August 20th. Each article will offer an in-depth look at each match and an analysis of why it is among my favorites. As I write this, I just finished watching Dean Ambrose's interview with Stone Cold Steve Austin on the WWE Network from this past week, and among the controversial topics that were brought up, Austin asked Ambrose if The Shield should have split up when they did. And I absolutely loved Ambrose's answer that it was best for them to go out on top, because let's face it: no one saw Seth Rollins' heel turn coming, and if you say you did, you're a liar! I bring that up because the unpredictability of Rollins' heel turn was one of the many reasons his subsequent rivalry with fellow Shield stablemate Dean Ambrose has been a favorite of mine as a wrestling fan. I haven't strayed away from comparing it to what Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels was in the early to mid-2000s, and that backstabbing moment was akin to when HHH turned on his longtime friend when D-Generation reunited on Raw, later leading to HBK coming out of in-ring retirement.
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By Graham "GSM" Matthews Here on SummerSlam Recall, I will be ranking my top 20 favorite matches in WWE SummerSlam history. A new installment will be posted every day leading up to SummerSlam 2016, culminating with my No. 1 favorite match on Saturday, August 20th. Each article will offer an in-depth look at each match and an analysis of why it is among my favorites. So soon after discussing Alberto Del Rio vs. Christian from this past Monday, we're already back to talking about SummerSlam 2013, and for good reason. It was an amazing event! What more can be said? And one of the reasons it was such a monumental night was because of the main event, which saw John Cena defend his WWE Championship against Daniel Bryan. A match many years in the making, it was the perfect way to close out such a stellar summer for WWE. Over the course of 2013, similar to CM Punk in 2011, the fans gradually got behind Daniel Bryan. Unlike The Voice of the Voiceless with his patented "pipebomb" promo, however, Bryan didn't have a breakout moment. Rather, fans simply started to appreciate his in-ring work more through his sensational series of matches with The Shield and how they felt they could relate to him. Rumors ran rampant that Bryan was slated to be Cena's next WWE Championship challenger at SummerSlam, but no one seemed to believe it. By Graham "GSM" Matthews Here on SummerSlam Recall, I will be ranking my top 20 favorite matches in WWE SummerSlam history. A new installment will be posted every day leading up to SummerSlam 2016, culminating with my No. 1 favorite match on Saturday, August 20th. Each article will offer an in-depth look at each match and an analysis of why it is among my favorites. I often talk about my retrospective admiration for 2005 in WWE (meaning I wasn't watching at the time but looking back I appreciate how awesome of a year it was), and 2002 was no different. From the institution of the Brand Split to the debuts of John Cena, Randy Orton and others to SmackDown catching fire, there was a lot to love about 2002, including its incredible SummerSlam pay-per-view that hailed from the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island. I already discussed how stacked of a show it was earlier on in SummerSlam Recall when I reviewed Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio, so I'll try no to echo those same thoughts here, but it was quite the perfect storm for WWE. Speaking of the perfect storm (what a segue!), SummerSlam was destined to be Brock Lesnar's night, who after months of running rampant over the Raw roster, was ready to take his place atop the card as the new WWE Champion. By Graham "GSM" Matthews Here on SummerSlam Recall, I will be ranking my top 20 favorite matches in WWE SummerSlam history. A new installment will be posted every day leading up to SummerSlam 2016, culminating with my No. 1 favorite match on Saturday, August 20th. Each article will offer an in-depth look at each match and an analysis of why it is among my favorites. I had always liked Christian dating back to his return to WWE on the ECW brand in 2009 ("It's...Christian!" -Todd Grisham), but for whatever reason, I never considered him to be one of my favorite wrestlers until he returned from injury at 2011's Elimination Chamber pay-per-view event. Something just clicked on that night, and from that point forward, I wanted nothing more than to see him hold the World Heavyweight Championship he had long deserved. Luckily for fans of Captain Charisma, he was finally successful in fulfilling his destiny at Extreme Rules a few short months after that, beating Alberto Del Rio in a Ladder match to capture his premier World Heavyweight Championship. That came months after the two traded victories on TV and Del Rio put Christian on the shelf with a shoulder injury (in storyline, of course), so it was a magical moment to say the least. As we all know, however, he went on to drop the title mere days later to Randy Orton on SmackDown. |
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