August 29, 2005 Observer Newsletter: SummerSlam recap, Fedor vs. Mirko Cro Cop preview

The WWE’s traditional No. 3 show of the year, SummerSlam, on 8/21 at the MCI Center in Washington, DC, anchored by the first ever meeting between Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels, ended up being a basic show that for the most part delivered.

There were no bad matches, nor any off the charts matches. Looking back at the show, you can see the company really had faith in four matches of the eight to carry things, Hogan vs. Michaels as the main event, John Cena vs. Chris Jericho as the Raw title match, Undertaker vs. Randy Orton because Orton was getting the win, and Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero because they had been carrying the Smackdown ratings. The other matches were given no time, but nobody tanked it, and most delivered about as good a match as they possibly could, given the time frames they were allowed. The only title change was a 25 second win by Chris Benoit of the U.S. title over Orlando Jordan. Even though Benoit is usually in contention for the show stealer on every PPV he appears on, fact was, nobody wanted to see Jordan in the first place, nor was anyone complaining about the non-match.

If there were complaints, they largely surrounded Edge vs. Matt Hardy, which was relegated to an undercard match with a strange finish. Edge beat the hell out of Hardy and the match was stopped. To their credit, they worked the exact match they should have, with every shot stiff, and it being the most believable looking match not only on the card, but in WWE in a long time. But the finish defied logic. They wanted to do a ref stoppage shoot fight like finish. But with Hardy as the prelim guy and Edge as the main eventer, Hardy had to get the first advantage instead of being beaten like a drum at the end to give the feud any legs. I know the argument about a guy being beaten to death for sympathy, but that was 1979. Today, nobody likes impotent babyfaces, although Hardy had more popularity than most. I hate screw job finishes and despise walk out finishes, but every situation is different, and if there ever was a time for a heel walk out finish, it was in that match. 

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