Mishal checks in with his big takeaways from WWE SummerSlam 2020 and NXT Takeover XXX!

SummerSlam Weekend has now come & gone, and we have a lot to look back on after this fairly eventful weekend.

Being positioned as the 2nd biggest series of nights in the wrestling calendar is no easy mantle to carry around for a company, brand or show, but this year it seemed like WWE was intent on making the biggest impact they could under the circumstances handed to them. In the midst of a pandemic the company went all out to create intrigue around their product at a time when it is struggling to gain traction with mainstream audiences, enhance their presentation beyond the restrictions of a Performance Centre & give us the fans more to chew on heading into the fall with changes started to be made to how they present the storylines in the future.

This weekend consisted of two shows; SummerSlam itself & NXT TakeOver XXX, both carrying a gigantic level of potential on their shoulders.

TakeOver XXX was for the resident, hardcore wrestling fan. It was a night focused on one aspect; the in-ring action, not spectacle or the bright lights we’re used to seeing from the main roster. It was a smaller show, outside the larger scale arena of its follow-up event & gave wrestling’s most pure fans something to drool over.

SummerSlam, on the other hand, was all about the spectacle. Haling from the newly designed ‘Thunderdome’, an arena packed to the brim with LED boards to encourage fan interaction, a new lighting stage to make the superstars feel as large as they’re presented, a new setup which signals some kind of familiarity with the product prior to COVID-19 & the biggest news of all, the return of pyro to a WWE stage. On top of the new layout there was an abundance of storylines to juggle, from Strowman vs Wyatt, McIntyre vs Orton, Rollins vs The Mysterios, Mandy vs Sonya or Asuka facing both Bayley & Sasha Banks, it was a card with so much potential despite some of the gripes the product has at the moment.

And while both shows were highly entertaining in their own right, there is simply too much content to cover for me to include every noteworthy moment on a single list, so for the time being, here are the 5 biggest takeaways from the 2020 SummerSlam weekend.

5. Pat McAfee is a natural

Let’s give credit where credit is due, SummerSlam weekend hosted not one, but two big-time debuts over the course of its run, the one that’s received the most overall build & attention is that off Dominick Mysterio, primarily due to the standing of his family in the company & link to Seth Rollins, one of WWE’s biggest stars. And even though Dominick’s debut served as a really nice piece of history, as well as an incredible feel-good moment to those who saw him on TV back in 2005, I can’t help but think Pat McAfee stole the weekend for me.

As someone who was never an avid viewer of the NFL or mostly any other sport for that matter, my initial investment in this feud as a whole was minimal at best. At the very least it was something different for the NXT brand & while I’m not the biggest fan of celebrity involvement in professional wrestling outside of a few exceptions, seeing something entirely different on NXT was a welcome change.

What I wasn’t expecting, was for this to be nearly as good as it ended up being when the bell rang.

Unlike the Dominick Mysterio match 24 hours later, both McAfee & Cole wrestled under no restraints, no stipulations, no way of covering up any potential hiccups, instead they went the traditional route, wrestling their hearts out for close to 20 minutes. Nothing about the match was necessarily special, nor was it meant to be, what it did do, however, was display the raw, natural talent possessed by the former NFL star himself. From the stunning Senton off the top rope, backflip off the top to the mat, the leaping Superplex late in the match or just his natural ability to excel at the art of professional wrestling, watching the man in a ring was a delight. I’d even go as far to say it was one of my favourite moments of 2020 so far, just based on the sheer surprise everything came as.

Wrestling, as we’ve seen in the past, isn’t for everyone who takes a small role on from outside the industry, MacAfee, on the other hand, looked better than a good chunk of current talent on the roster. He never looked out of place (aside from his awkward lock-up) & felt as much of a wrestler as anyone you can put in the ring, particularly against the likes of a former NXT Champion like Adam Cole.

4. The ‘Thunderdome’ blew me away

On paper, the idea of WWE’s ‘Thunderdome’ seemed ridiculous to me. It came across as a concept too ambitious for its own good, relying on an obscene level of technology that in my head would have made the show even harder to watch than without a live audience, thankfully I was pleasantly surprised.

WWE’s ‘Thunderdome’ worked wonders, at least for myself personally. While the actual feeling of the live audience interacting with their favourite superstars is still sorely missing, any kind of change at this point is better than what we previously had. The use of LED screens to bring the audience at home into the arena, the unique soundstage that breathes new life into a product that was previously occupied by roughly 30 people in a small training centre, the set design at least brings that ‘larger than life’ feel that WWE is known for & at the very least the company is trying to replicate what their average audience is used to seeing. Which is no easy task under the circumstances.

Whether we talk about SmackDown or SummerSlam, both shows had a distinct feeling to them that brought back some of that glory & grandeur you always hear Michael Cole & Corey Graves gush about on commentary, and while the authenticity is another subject entirely, the level of effort put in by everyone involved blew me away on its own. Say what you will about WWE, nobody puts on a show quite like them.

Getting used to fans being present via LED screens will be an adjustment I’ll have to weave in over the coming weeks, but it’s the first time in a long time that watching a WWE show felt like a ‘WWE show’.

3. We never saw ‘The Big Dog’ coming

Roman Reigns’ return to WWE on Sunday night was one of the very few genuine surprises the modern-day product of WWE has handed us over the last number of years, considering everything we’ve seen.

Even the likes of Edge’s return (while awesome) always had that hint of predictability due to various backstage rumours & his SummerSlam appearance, but due to the pandemic taking its toll on others outside the company getting their hands on close information, for the most part, but Roman Reigns’ return felt like the most genuine shock seen on the program in months since his absence.

The lack of crowd didn’t hurt his appearance either, as the presence of Reigns has been missing since around March when the company lost arguably its biggest current name at a time when they never needed him more with so many talents either leaving the company due to budget cuts, creative difference or due to health reasons as a result of COVID-19. Along with him missing a big-money match opposite Goldberg of all people, SmackDown, in particular, has lacked the star-power it had prior to Reigns’ absence, with the likes of Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman having to carry most of the baggage as a result.

With Reigns’ back, the product as a whole feels somewhat rejuvenated, with a legitimate threat standing in front of two men who are now established main event talents & more importantly, the Universal Title feels like an actual item of value, rather than an element in the backdrop of a personal rivalry.

2. Seth Rollins, WWE’s hottest commodity

Listen, WWE has a lot of talent. I love Bray Wyatt, Drew McIntyre, Randy Orton, Keith Lee, AJ Styles, Matt Riddle, Daniel Bryan, Shayna Baszler, Bayley, Asuka, heck even MVP has been on fire as of late. But nobody, not a single member of their roster, defines their character quite as well as Seth Rollins does at this point in time.

Rollins has been searching for a definition for the longest time now, in particular following the dismal booking his character received following last years WrestleMania & victory over Brock Lesnar which left him with no clear path forward following a series of dreadful feuds that left fans more divided on him than ever in his career. And while the road to get to where we are with the ‘Monday Night Messiah’ has been bumpy, he’s finally come full circle as a character. With a gimmick that doesn’t just work despite the over-the-top nature, but oddly enough suits his personality perfectly with how fantastic his work is as a heel.

He more than anything embodies this god-like character he presents, through his in-ring work, promo work, incredibly bombastic theme music & even the manner in which he carries himself from the entrance down to the ring. After the longest time, Seth Rollins is his own man, not simply the man who broke The Shield & is riding that wave of momentum, it feels like he’s found his groove as a performer, and Sunday was further proof of his genesis from what he was not too long ago.

Many gimmicks in the company have their charms, but Seth Rollins is one of the odd ones that you never doubt has a gimmick behind the camera, this is simply him as a performer. Where his current feud with Mysterio’s goes is anyone’s guess, but no matter where he ends up, no star has me as interested as Rollins does.

1. WWE SummerSlam > NXT TakeOver XXX

It’s become somewhat of a ‘meme’ on the internet, social media & within the wrestling community to always state that the main roster of WWE stands no chance when placed opposite an NXT show.

And when you look at the historical record of both sides of the company, you wouldn’t be crazy for thinking so.

Unlike the abundance of main roster shows we get on a yearly basis, NXT’s Takeover events are insanely consistent in overall quality. They certainly aren’t all perfect, but the level of quality in terms of storytelling & even the basic wrestling goes, they’ve almost always outperformed their main roster counterparts. However, this past Sunday was one of the few times I’d say WWE’s main roster outdid the much smaller brand that acts as a warm-up to their much larger presentations.

Takeover shows always position themselves for the more hardcore wrestling fan, but to say they possess no qualities for a casual fan to admire is a bit of stretch to claim. This Sunday, however, was one of the odd times where the main roster arguably gave the better, more well-rounded show for fans of all kinds.

Takeover XXX, for my money, was a ho-hum event, with a plethora of solid matches (and one fantastic outing between Cole & MacAfee) but nothing that really ‘stood out’ per se. The shows ladder match did its job perfectly well despite feeling a bit more choreographed than I would have liked, the women did a fine job, Finn Balors clash with Timothy Thatcher started things off well, but the show never reached that ‘next level’ we’re used to seeing. Most of my issues lie with the main event, which had its moments, but was so overly long & plagued with the same issues so many other NXT main events hold that it tanked the pacing of the show to a grinding halt. Rather than all-out war or hoss fight, the shows closing match was a prolonged snooze when compared to the heated build it received in the days leading up to the event.

SummerSlam, on the other hand, was more or less booked to perfection, with not a single match not ending in a result I viewed as unsatisfactory at all. While the main event of the show is arguably its biggest blunder, the storytelling & action at least established the tension both Strowman & Wyatt had built up over the previous months, as clunky as it was at times. Elsewhere you had an excellent WWE Championship Match that was my match of the weekend, two great Women’s title matches, Dominick Mysterio putting on a solid debut opposite Seth Rollins, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville continuing to excel & the long-awaited return of Roman Reigns to cap things off. As far as a big-time show goes, it doesn’t get much better than SummerSlam 2020 for me, while NXT has a track record of outperforming the main roster, this past weekend showed that when they want to, the company’s main booking team has what it takes to craft something truly spectacular.