CAPE TOWN – WWE SummerSlam had moments of good and average moments. This seems to have taken a toll on viewership as reported by popular wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer.
Meltzer reports that the edition of Raw after SummerSlam took a 10 percent increase from last week as expected and averaged 2.73 million viewers.
By contrast, the episode of Raw after SummerSlam last year garnered 3.09 million viewers so this represents an 11.7 percent year to year drop.
Once again, the women’s action was superior in terms of quality as compared to the men’s matches. Despite being 43 years old, Trish Stratus showed her class during her match against Charlotte Flair. If this was really her final match, she can bow out with her head held high.
Even though Natalya lost against Becky Lynch, she put up a great fight against “The Man” with both wrestlers working hard.
The match should not have opened the show and should have been featured later on.
Goldberg made amends for his defeat against the Undertaker at SuperDown with a quick and explosive victory against Dolph Ziggler.
The WWE really needs to stop bringing back athletes who peaked 20 years ago such as Goldberg. Goldberg was a legend during his heyday but struggled during the match against Undertaker, looking devoid of energy.
He may have ended the match against Ziggler early but there is a good chance that he would have struggled had Ziggler managed to stay in the match.
The Kofi Kingston vs Randy Orton match for the WWE Championship ended in a double count-out and means that Kingston retains the title.
While certainly not the worst of matches, there was nothing spectacular about it. Seth Rollins showed great fighting spirit to overcome Brock Lesnar and claim the Universal Championship in spite of his injury.
Despite Lesnar not having an admirable persona, even his critics cannot deny he is one of the best strikers in wrestling entertainment history. When he hits, he hits hard. This victory could propel Rollins to one day establishing himself as one of the modern day greats alongside the likes of Lesnar, The Rock and John Cena.