Summerslam was an odd Pay-Pay-View. Following CM Punk’s epic return the night before on AEW Rampage, SummerSlam had a tough job in outdoing the return of Punk. While there were some outstanding moments on the show such as Edge’s great match with Seth Rollins the show was a roller coaster ride as we saw some good matches mixed with terrible matches as well as pointless filler segments and the return of Brock Lesnar and Becky Lynch with Lynch’s return dividing fans both in attendance and online.

But, as always I am here to bring the power of positivity and look at the good side of things. So as we remove ourselves from SummerSlam and get ready for either ALL OUT and Extreme Rules it is time to look at the top 5 moments from this year’s edition of SummerSlam.

5. Becky Lynch returns and beats Bianca Belair for the SmackDown Women’s Championship, dividing fans

Before we get to the controversial part that divided fans, it should be noted that this year’s SummerSlam was a massive curse for Champions who won their titles at WrestleMania 37 with Sheamus, Bianca Belair and AJ Styles and Omos all losing their titles, however, Bianca lost her SmackDown’s Women’s Championship in an odd way. After rumours of Sasha Banks not being able to medically compete at SummerSlam surfaced many wondered if we would see the match between Banks and Belair, especially as WWE kept promoting the match heading into SummerSlam. Despite the rumour, we would get a hype package for the match and things seemed to be normal as Bianca Belair made her entrance. But things would soon take a weird turn after the announcer told fans that Sasha Banks was not medically able to compete and that Bianca’s opponent was actually Carmella. Boos rang all over the arena as Carmella made her entrance with chants of “We want Sasha” continuing after Carmella’s entrance. Bianca got on the mic and told Carmella, she was going to make quick work of her and as both women got ready for the match, Becky Lynch’s music hit for a massive pop with The Man returning to WWE  being out for a year after having a child with Seth Rollins.

The crowd were deafening as Lynch made her entrance with Lynch soaking in the moment as Bianca and Carmella watched on in the ring. After soaking in the moment Becky stared and both women and then took out Carmella forcing Carmella out of the ring. Lynch continued the assault on Carmella outside the ring as she threw Carmella into the ring steps before making her way back into the ring and grabbing a mic with Becky then asking with Belair wanted to have a match with Lynch for the SmackDown’s Women’s Championship. Belair accepted the challenge and as the bell rang Lynch offered her hand to Belair out of respect. But this would turn out to be a massive trap as Lynch was sucker-punched Bianca and hit her with the pumphandle slam to pin Bianca in seconds and become the new SmackDown Women’s Champion in just seconds.

Right of the bat, I will say, while this did feel bad for Bianca’s title reign to end like this, personally, I don’t think she looks as weak as some people are saying. While she did lose to seconds to Lynch it can easily be argued that she was caught off guard by Lynch’s appearance and had no time to prepare, Lynch also used a sucker-punch to catch Belair off-guard, perfectly playing to the fact that while Belair is talented she is still young and inexperienced. Of course, it could have made sense for Lynch to have a triple threat match with her pinning Carmella to protect Belair, however, I will wait to see how Lynch’s return will play out in the following weeks to come before I give my ultimate opinion on this. However controversy aside it is great to see Becky Lynch back in the ring as she no doubt deserves a place on this list.

4. Damian Priest takes on Sheamus for the United States Championship   

After a terrible match involving Alexa Bliss and Eva Marie, Damian Priest and Sheamus had a big job in recapturing the crowd’s attention. Luckily both men put on a great match that resulted in Damian Priest pinning Sheamus to capture the United States Championship. Both men started the match evenly exchanging strikes and holds throughout the match, Sheamus did a great job in interacting with the crowd during the match, with Sheamus calling out members of the crowd throughout the match and even stopping the Beats of the Bodhrán to stop the crowd from counting along. Damian Priest also had a good showing has his unique move set was on show as he continues to gain support from the crowd.

Late in the match, Priest jump of the middle rope only to be caught with a knee for Sheamus, giving Sheamus a close nearfall. Sheamus tried to attack the legs of Priest and put Priest and a heel hook but Priest was able to grab the mask of the United States Champion and rip it off, exposing Sheamus. Priest then unloaded on Sheamus with multiple strikes and smashed the champion with a heel kick and then hit The Reckoning on Sheamus to become the new United States Champion.

Priest, without a doubt, deserves this moment and hopefully, it’s a step in the right direction in making Priest a star for the future. Priest has charisma, in-ring skills and talent and has done an amazing job during his time on the main roster thus far, putting on a great match with Bad Bunny and The Miz and John Morrison at WrestleMania as well as somehow making a zombie lumberjack match work at WrestleMania Backlash. As for Sheamus, I can still see him being a big part of RAW’s midcard, knowing RAW’s obsession with rematches we will most likely see a rematch between Sheamus and Priest down the line, but after that, I think Sheamus will play the role of an in-ring veteran and help newer talent get over.

3. A reunited RK-BRO faces AJ Styles and Omos for the Raw Tag Team Championships to open the show 

While Big E and Baron Corbin did a good job in opening things on the kickoff show, RK-BRO would open the main show with the pair challenging AJ Styles and Omos for the Raw Tag Team Championships. The set-up for this match was great with Randy Orton returning a few weeks ago on RAW only to break up RK-BRO with The Viper ending the night by hitting an RKO on Riddle. However just as RK-BRO seemed dead, Riddle came to the rescue of Randy Orton when Orton was being attacked by AJ Styles and Omos forcing Orton to change his mind and bring back RK-BRO. RK-BRO dominated the early part of the match as they managed to use surprising teamwork on AJ Styles, but the tide would quickly turn as a frustrated Styles tagged in Omos to change the tide of the match. Omos dominated Riddle as The Viper had no choice but to watch on, despite dominating Riddle, Omos tagged in a cocky AJ Styles who controlled Riddle with full confidence until Riddle was able to knee Styles in the face and move to his corner to give Randy Orton the hot tag.

Orton changed the match with the hot tag as he took out Styles and kept attacking Omos keeping the big man off-balance, Orton finished the hot tag by hitting his legendary draping DDT onto Styles for a huge pop from the Las Vegas crowd. Orton then got ready for the RKO but Omos pulled Styles out of the ring, protecting his partner from The Viper, Riddle tried to get involved by jumping from the steel steps onto Omos but Omos was able to catch Riddle and chokeslammed Riddle on the apron. Orton tried to get involved but would be taken out by Styles with Styles inflicting more damage on Riddle by hitting the moonsault DDT from the ring apron onto the floor on Riddle. Just as things looked bleak for RK-BRO Orton managed to avoid the Phenomenal Forearm and after some back and forth from both men, Orton was able to hit the RKO on Styles to pin him making RK-BRO the new RAW Tag Team Champions and starting a curse for Champions who won their titles at WrestleMania. Later in the night, Mario Lopez (who made a WWF reference) interviewed the pair with Orton saying the most destructive letters in sports entertainment are RK…BRO.

This was a fun little match that did a great job in opening the show. While it wasn’t completely memorable and certainly won’t be in any match of the year list, it was fun and did a great job in hyping the crowd for the rest of the show. RK-BRO are an amazing and entertaining pair, both Orton and Riddle did a great job in carrying RAW after WrestleMania 37 during the ThunderDome period and I cannot wait to see how entertaining both Riddle and Orton will be as Champions. It is also great to see Orton’s reaction each week as he starts to like Riddle even more with Orton giving a genuine smile as both men celebrated their title win.

2. Roman Reigns and John Cena square off in the main event as Brock Lesnar returns with a new look 

After his epic return at Money In The Bank, it was finally time for John Cena to take on the Universal Champion Roman Reigns after weeks of amazing promos between the two men. This match had a big fight feel to it with the crowd being hot for both men with Cena having a great entrance as the Titantron showed off all of his 16 World Title wins. Cena tried to catch Reigns off guard early in the match by performing multiple roll-ups on the Universal Champion only to get a 2 count, but Reigns would assert his dominance as he began to beat down Cena, cutting Cena off at every turn as he talked trash to the camera. However, Cena was able to hit the 2 shoulder tackles as he started the 5 moves of doom, only for Reigns to reverse the five knuckle shuffle into a Guillotine with Cena being able to power up and escape the hold.

Despite surviving the Guillotine Roman still controlled the match, but Cena was able to hit a AA out of nowhere to score a close nearfall, After Reigns escaped the STF by grabbing the ropes both men went out to the floor, Reigns tried to hit Roman with a spear but Cena was able to counter, hitting another AA through the announce table with Cena throwing Reigns back in the ring for a nearfall. Late in the match Reigns attempted a spear but when shoulder first into the ring post, allowing Cena to lift Roman to the top corner and hit a super AA for another close 2 count. Cena attempted a spear of his own but Reigns was able to counter and would eventually hit a pair of Superman punches on Cena and would finish things with a spear, pinning Cena for the win to retain his Championship.

After the match Reigns stood over a broken John Cena but then out of nowhere Brock Lesnar’s music hit as Brock (now with a beard and a ponytail) made his entrance as Paul Heyman freaked out and Roman couldn’t believe it. Lesnar seemed generally pumped to be back as he stared down the Champion as Heyman panicked with Reigns and Heyman retreating to the back as SummerSlam went off the air. It would later be revealed then Brock Lesnar sent Cena to suplex city once again, proving old habits die hard. Love him or hate him, Brock being back was a great moment and I generally can’t wait to see his interactions with Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman and SmackDown.

1. Edge brings back The Brood as he steals the show with Seth Rollins  

Fans off the attitude era would be in for a treat at SummerSlam was Edge channeled his former brood character making for a truly epic entrance as he stole the show with Seth Rollins. Both men put on a great match despite high expectations with both men truly delivering the match of the night.

Rather than give a quick analysis of what happened during the match, I am just going to simply say it was an epic match that had great storytelling and great in-ring action that honestly made me feel like a young kid once again (especially as I am a huge Edge fan.)

This is honestly one of those matches that fans from different eras can rejoice watching as both men without a doubt put on a match of the year candidate.

These were my top 5 moments from the roller coaster ride that SummerSlam was. What were your top 5 moments from SummerSlam this year and what do you think of the return of The Beast, Brock Lesnar? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.