SummerSlam 2018 Results and Recap: The Biggest Event of the Summer

LaToya Ferguson

SummerSlam—the biggest party of the summer—is finally here! Every piece of WWE gold is up for grabs at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, and new champions are ready to be crowned.


Andrade “Cien” Almas & Zelina Vega def. Rusev & Lana, on the SummerSlam Kickoff Show (SmackDown)

Sans Aiden English yet again, the handsome and ravishing pair of Rusev and Lana went out to defend the honor of Rusev (and Lana) Day. After their past in-ring confrontations on SmackDown! LIVE, Zelina Vega did all that she could to prevent Lana from getting into the ring (which would of course force her to get in the ring too, due to Mixed Tag rules), even going as far as to yank Lana off the apron to prevent a tag from Rusev.

But “The Super Athlete” used his strength to get rid of Almas for enough time to get the tag to Lana, and from there, Lana Day truly began. We got a Lanaroonie and Lana slapping the taste out of Almas’ mouth. And she didn’t even break a sweat doing it. However, the latter Lana moment led to Zelina Vega taking advantage with a stealth roll-up and her feet on the second rope.


Cedric Alexander (c) def. Drew Gulak, for the Cruiserweight Championship, on the SummerSlam Kickoff Show (205 Live)

With less than an hour away from the main SummerSlam show, Philly’s Drew Gulak channeled his inner Apollo Creed—as much as Drew Gulak has an inner Apollo Creed—to take on Cedric Alexander, a man he considers to be “the Brock Lesnar of 205 Live.” However, Alexander honestly competed like the Rocky Balboa of this match and division. And not just because the match seemed to transform into something of a boxing match at one point. After an intense back and forth, Alexander—whose neck was softened this entire match by Gulak, in preparation for his Gu-Lock submission—just barely got the three count to pin Gulak and retain the championship.


The B-Team (c) def. The Revival, for the RAW Tag Team Championship, on the SummerSlam Kickoff Show (RAW)

“B-Team! B-Team! GO! GO! GO!” is probably the third catchiest chant in WWE now, behind “YES!”/“NO!” and “RUSEV DAY,” isn’t it? This is the biggest match of both The B-Team and The Revival’s WWE careers, and The Revival came to play. Meaning, they came to Shatter Machine Curtis Axel immediately (taking him out of the action for as long as possible) while they went to town on Bo Dallas’ leg. Some good old-fashioned tag team wrestling strategy, of course. But the power of The B-Team (GO! GO! GO!)… and their extreme dumb luck led to them essentially tripping into a pinfall victory. The “B” really does stand for “best.” Or “Daniel Bryan,” as they would later tell their former boss, The Miz.


You can watch the whole SummerSlam Kickoff Show here.


Seth Rollins def. Dolph Ziggler (c), for the Intercontinental Championship (RAW)

If no one else is going to say it: The returning Dean Ambrose looks like he just got out of prison and is ready to pull one more bank job. It’s a great look. And it’s the type of look that comes with a matching personality to boot, one that “The Scottish Psychopath” Drew McIntyre is hesitant to come to blows with. (For such a big guy, McIntyre sure spent the majority of the match slinking away and just avoiding conflict with both Ambrose and Rollins.)

And speaking of McIntyre, while both competitors and their corner men all got their individual entrance music played, it says something that Ambrose walked down the ramp to Rollins’ music and Ziggler—the defending champion, as the championship drawn onto his tights also informed us—walked down the ramp to McIntyre’s. Who is whose sidekick again? As the first “official” match of SummerSlam, this match stole the show from the very beginning.

It wasn’t until the end—after Ziggler attempting to win the match with a very deep chin lock, after Rollins hitting possibly the best ripcord knee of his career, after Ziggler tried to just get a countout, after Rollins starts pulling out moves no one has seen before—that McIntyre tried to cause pandemonium for Ziggler’s benefit. But a bloody Rollins did what he said he would do, and that was defeat Ziggler to win back the Intercontinental Championship.


The New Day def. The Bludgeon Brothers (c) by DQ, for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship (SmackDown)

After months of dominating, The Bludgeon Brothers finally met their match in the form of actual competition, The New Day—and the never-dying heart of Xavier Woods—and we found out just how they handle that. By putting the hammers to good use and losing by disqualification, just so they don’t lose their championship titles. Because The Bludgeons were totally going to lose their championship titles, especially the way Woods (a true MVP of this match) was helping Big E hit tandem offense out of nowhere and pulling out all the stops. All they needed was one Up Up, Down Down, and it would have been a wrap. Hopefully Bludgeon hammers are banned from ringside next time.


Braun Strowman def. Kevin Owens, for Strowman’s Money in the Bank contract (RAW)

Despite the new “KO in the Bank” t-shirt and gear, Kevin Owens just couldn’t find an answer to getting Braun Strowman’s hands. It looked like maybe Owens was attempting to tire Strowman out, but that didn’t work. Then he tried to superkick the crap out of him, and Strowman didn’t even flinch. A chokeslam onto the metal ramp was really the end of Owens, but Strowman made sure KO knew there was nowhere to run before he hit a running powerslam for the win.


Charlotte Flair def. Carmella (c) and Becky Lynch, for the SmackDown Women’s Championship (SmackDown)

After getting called “a Diva in a Women’s Era,” Carmella showed she’s got a lot more to offer as a competitor on SmackDown! LIVE. Unfortunately, that role as a competitor will now have to be as a former SmackDown Women’s Champion, who may have beaten Charlotte Flair twice but just lost her championship to her tonight. Carmella had a sound strategy trying to cause dissension between best friends Charlotte and Becky Lynch during this match, but honestly, she really didn’t have to do anything: The fate was sealed once Charlotte found her way into what was supposed to be Becky’s one-on-one title match with “The Princess of Staten Island.” And it became even clearer every time Charlotte prevented Becky from getting the win on Carmella, culminating in a Natural Selection on Becky to win the match and the SmackDown Women’s Championship.

It also culminated in Becky Lynch snapping on Charlotte after the match. But can you blame her? The Brooklyn crowd sure couldn’t: It was supposed to be her time.


Samoa Joe def. AJ Styles (c) via DQ, for the WWE Championship (SmackDown)

Samoa Joe had a strategy going into this WWE Championship match with AJ Styles, but the problem was, his strategy was almost too good. Joe didn’t realize that he could go to the well of bringing up Styles’ family only so many times before family man Styles—who Joe was sure was “mentally broken” and bound to be a “phenomenal victim”—before Styles finally snapped in a way that would make him pay. Unlike on SmackDown, no one was going to hold Styles back from coming after Joe. Within reason, that is.

So Joe getting on the mic during the introductions and informing Styles’ wife Wendy and daughter Anney that “daddy’s coming home” would have been enough to psych Styles out. The two men know each other so well inside the ring though, that Joe still didn’t have quite the edge he wanted—and that’s when he decided to get on the mic again and say “I’ll be your new daddy.” That is what sent AJ Styles into a rage, crashing into Joe and then just destroying him with a chair. Not exactly the end result Samoa Joe was hoping for.


SummerSlam may be “The Biggest Party of the Summer,” but there was no party to be had after Elias’ concert was cut short. In fact, it was cut nonexistent. But the show must go on…


The Miz def. Daniel Bryan (SmackDown)

Maryse watching from the front row should’ve been a tip-off something iffy was about to happen, but now that the Mizanins have fake babies and brass knucks in their arsenal, who knows what to expect? At the very least, Daniel Bryan got what he wanted: to punch The Miz in the face. Unfortunately, The Miz also got the chance to punch Daniel Bryan in the face as well.

He also got to win the match, which is especially disappointing—not just because of the brass knucks—because so much of the match was also him continuing to do all of Bryan’s moves. Poorly. As Tom Phillips noted on commentary, “Miz is playing the part of Daniel Bryan right now.” Only, a Daniel Bryan who’s not a submission specialist, who everyone chants “NO!” at when he connects with a hit, and as mentioned, has to use brass knucks to score a win off one of his punches. Hell of a match though.


(Demon) Finn Balor def. Constable Corbin (RAW)

THE DEMON IS BACK! While Constable Corbin argued that a one-on-one match with The Demon wasn’t the agreed upon terms of this particular SummerSlam match, that didn’t seem to matter to Finn Balor or his alter ego at all. Like a man possessed, literally, Demon Balor made short (no pun intended) work of the big man. In fact, Corbin never had a chance, and that made the “THIS IS AWESOME” chants even sweeter.


Shinsuke Nakamura (c) def. Jeff Hardy, for the United States Championship (SmackDown)

In a surprising turn of events, this match didn’t begin with a low blow. And while Nakamura eventually had a moment of wanting to go to that old well, Hardy was able to prevent it… though that meant there was absolutely no excuse when Nakamura ended up beating him clean in the middle of the ring. At least Hardy got to give Nakamura a bit of his own medicine when it came to early match mind games, as “Brother Nero” himself went from starting a “DELETE” chant to mocking Nakamura’s gesticulations and “COME ON” taunt.

We all know Nakamura can dish it out but definitely can’t take it, so it’s a miracle cooler heads prevailed for “The King of Strong Style” in this match. In fact, it looked like both men scouted each other. But Nakamura got the upper hand, moving from the ring apron at the last minute when Hardy hit a Swanton Bomb. One KINSHASA later, it was all over.


Ronda Rousey def. Alexa Bliss (c), for the RAW Women’s Championship (RAW)

You can read the full match recap here.


Roman Reigns def. Brock Lesnar (c), for the Universal Championship (RAW)

During the Kickoff Show, Paul Heyman said he was giving away “a spoiler” that Brock Lesnar would defeat Roman Reigns again, and Reigns would no longer “come back for more.” Well, at least now Reigns doesn’t have to come back for more, because he finally did what he said he’d do, and he beat “The Beast.”

All it took was three Superman Punches, four spears, a couple of times getting choked out by a guillotine submission, a trip to Suplex City, and an accidental dive onto a monster—after said monster respectfully made his Money in the Bank cash-in intentions clear—to do it. As Reigns celebrated with the Universal Championship, he said, “No more part-time, baby.” We could get used to that.



You can go back and watch this year’s SummerSlam on the WWE Network.

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