WWE Matches Of The Week #17 – SummerSlam Special

NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV
NXT Championship
Tommaso Ciampa (c) vs. Johnny Gargano

Where to even begin? This has been the greatest wrestling rivalry I have ever seen. And it was made that much better with the inclusion of the NXT Championship. Gargano has been brought down to Ciampa’s level, jumping the champ before the bell, putting him through multiple tables, hitting a draping DDT on the exposed wood of the ring and finally hitting Ciampa’s patented knee strike, poetically costing Johnny the match.

Seriously, multiple books could be written on the feud alone, the psychology is just incredible. They were out to end each other’s careers here and had every opportunity to. A particular spot where Ciampa took a chair and kneed his nemesis through the barricade with it then covered him in everything he could was just magnificent.

This match, much like the tag team bout from earlier in the night, is full of history and subsequent callbacks. Each one hitting home harder than the last just how much they despise each other. It was absolute perfection.

Also, I do realize that I have put every single NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV match on this list. Take that as a very strong hint and go watch the whole show if you haven’t already.

 

WWE SummerSlam KickOff
WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Cedric Alexander (c) vs. Drew Gulak

Now, with TakeOver out of the way, we can get started on the main roster’s attempt to finally outdo the “developmental brand.” Spoilers, it didn’t. That does not mean that there weren’t any outstanding matches though. We just had to sit through some less than average ones to get there.

Kicking things off on the KickOff show (funnily enough) we had the WWE Cruiserweight Championship match between champion Cedric Alexander and challenger Drew Gulak. It continues to baffle me how little respect is shown to 205 Live. I get that Finn Bálor finally brought back the Demon for a two-minute match but what right did that have on the main card when this was relegated to the pre-show.

Gulak is a worthy successor to the Cruiserweight throne and could lead as a brilliant heel champion. Alexander did everything in his power to keep that at bay though and put on a phenomenal performance. The two are so impressive and every though it all came down to a roll up, the match was edge-of-your-seat stuff and will continue to progress on Tuesday nights.

• ricochet
• johnny gargano
• pete dunne
• Aleister Black
• rowan
• kofi kingston
• 205 live
• NXT TakeOver Brooklyn IV
• RAW
• Cedric Alexander
• adam cole
• Maryse
• shayna baszler
• AJ Styles
• Bludgeon Brothers
• drew gulak
• big e
• shield
• Kalisto
• kyle o'reilly
• Trent Seven
• Gran Metalik
• Tyler Bate
• Roderick Strong
• Lince Dorado
• nxt news
• SmackDown Live
• tony nese
• lucha house party
• nxt takeover
• wwe matches
• The Miz
• Undisputed Era
• Zack Gibson
• wwe matches of the week
• Dolph Ziggler
• the shield
• Xavier Woods
• Velveteen Dream
• Finn Balor
• harper
• Brock Lesnar
• Samoa Joe
• Seth Rollins
• kairi sane
• Moustache Mountain
• Drew McIntyre
• Tommaso Ciampa
• Roman Reigns
• ec3
• dean ambrose
• Daniel Bryan
• Smackdown
• SummerSlam
• New Day
• BRAUN STROWMAN
• BUDDY MURPHY
• nxt
• wwe

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