WWE SummerSlam 2007
Date: August 26, 2007
Location: Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey
Announcers: Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross, John Bradshaw Layfield, Michael Cole, Joey Styles & Tazz
The Setup
Summerslam 2007 was built on the first big singles match between John Cena and Randy Orton, as well as Hunter’s second return from a torn quad injury. For the title match, saying this match was the first one feels so odd because it was a match they eventually ran into the ground so much that the company had to advertise a last match between the two, basically as “We promise we aren’t doing this anymore.”
The Business
The show was announced as a sellout, with 17,441 fans in attendance. Wrestlenomics has 545,000 PPV buys, pretty much on par with the year prior’s 541,000 for DX vs. Shane & Vince and Cena defending the WWE title against Edge. Interesting that both members of Rated RKO drew about the same amount of money in the same spot.
The Results
Kane def. Finlay in 8:50 **3/4
Intercontinental Title Triple Threat Match: Umaga (C) def. Carlito and Mr. Kennedy in 7:25 **
Rey Mysterio def. Chavo Guerrero in 12:20 ***
WWE Women’s Title #1 Contendership Battle Royal: Beth Phoenix def. Brooke, Jillian Hall, Kelly Kelly, Kristal, Layla, Maria, Melina, Michelle McCool, Mickie James, Torrie Wilson, and Victoria in 7:10 1/4*
ECW Heavyweight Title Match: John Morrison (C) def. CM Punk in 7:21 *3/4
Triple H def. King Booker in 7:55 **
World Heavyweight Title Match: Batista def. The Great Khali (C) by DQ in 7:00 1/2*
WWE Heavyweight Title Match: John Cena (C) def. Randy Orton in 21:18 ***1/2
Notable Happenings
Steve Austin subbed for Matt Hardy in a beer-drinking contest with MVP that led to an Austin stunner on the US champion. The segment was fun, if not perhaps a little too bogged down with Hardy and MVP dialogue. The crowd was thrilled to see Austin.
Kahli got frustrated in the world title match and bashed Batista with a chair to end a bad match by DQ. I can’t believe they tried with Kahli and Batista so soon after Kahli feuded with Cena. That program showed that Kahli was most effective when he could throw someone around and beat him up, sort of the opposite of Dave Batista.
Triple H was victorious over Booker in his return, in a match that didn’t feel nearly as big as they promoted it to be.
Rey Mysterio also returned from a serious leg injury, but he beat Chavo in a better return match than Hunter.
The Best, The Worst, and The Underrated
The Best: Cena vs. Randy Orton. Not only was the match very good, but it didn’t feel like they gave too much away to the point where they killed a rematch.
The Worst: The women’s match was awful. Beth looked like a beast at the very end, but overall, it was pretty abysmal.
The Underrated: I thought Kane vs. Finley was a good, snug match that just lacked a little crowd heat. They told a good story with Finley working on Kane’s injured ribs. The match may have been more psychological than what fans were used to from a Kane match in this era
Backstage Notes
Booker was not happy that his match with Hunter basically ended up as a Hunter showcase, not even getting ten minutes in the ring. His frustration is part of the reason he left the company in two short months.
The company had Umaga vs. the cast of Jackass on the books, but the plans were aborted after the Benoit murder-suicide brought a ton of negative mainstream attention to the company.
Rating: 5.0/10.0
Even with the main event being strong, this felt like a very average show and more of a B PPV than the third-biggest event of the year. There was a lot of filler and mediocre wrestling, and the crowd didn’t help things much at all.
The Video
Back Then Wrestling 