Chris Jericho defeated Dolph Ziggler in a decent and enjoyable enough opener. The match up picked up in quality as it went on and the final third had some very effective near falls and sequences. A good choice to start off the show and get the crowd going, with the fans in the arena also split with their support for each man.
Daniel Bryan beat Kane in a solid contest. I wasn't expecting anything special here but it was a good effort from both men and a fun match to watch. Bryan scored the one-two-three with a quick roll up pin which caught Kane out.
The Miz (c) defeated Rey Mysterio to retain the Intercontinental Championship in a well executed match up. In one of the finest one on one performances I've seen from Miz both men put in a terrific effort and pulled off a very engaging title bout, they honestly didn't go a step wrong and had the crowd interested throughout. As usual Mysterio manages to bring the best out of his opponent.
Michael Cole also mentioned during the match regarding the champion "That's what you have to do for longevity in WWE, evolve." If only he would pass that on to his commentary partner Lawler.
Sheamus (c) defeated Alberto Del Rio to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. It was a fair bout, with a confusing finish. Don't get me wrong it wasn't a bad match, just a bit disappointing for me. Considering the build up and the two men involved I was expecting a bit more here, although there were a few exciting near falls and submission attempts here and there.
During the final few minutes Ricardo Rodriguez managed to throw his shoe without the referee seeing into the ring, but unfortunately for him it ended up with the champ who walloped Del Rio in the head with it. As Sheamus then went for the winning pin his opponent managed to get his foot on the rope but the ref didn't see. Could the Irishman who's been very well built up as a babyface for over a year now have had a more heelish finish? It certainly doesn't do any favours for his character in my mind.
R-Truth and Kofi Kingston (c) defeated Darren Young and Titus O'Neil to retain the WWE Tag Team titles. It was a passable contest, not particularly outstanding but not awful.
CM Punk (c) beat Big Show and John Cena in a Triple Threat to retain the WWE Championship. The match itself ranged from quite average to decent. Big Show managed to have most of the offense and dominate both Punk and Cena for the first third of the contest, which shortly grew quite drab. Fortunately the champ and Cena then made comebacks and the match started to liven up a bit, with the two causing a double tap out on Show as they both applied submission holds onto the giant. Raw General Manager AJ joined them and had the match restarted. For the finish Punk threw Cena out of the ring after he'd AA'd Big Show and grabbed the one-two-three.
It was another nice touch to the slightly more heelish mannerisms that CM Punk's adopted as of late since attacking The Rock at the 1000th Raw. I'd prefer it if they just kept him like this, in between face and heel like he was around Money in the Bank last year.
We then had Kevin Rudolf perform the theme song for the pay-per-view 'Don't Give Up'. As with most musical performances on a pro wrestling event they just feel out and place and are often skipped by me.
Brock Lesnar defeated Triple H in a terrific main event. As expected there was plenty of drama and intensity and these two went back and fourth in a battle that fortunately lived up to the hype. Lesnar and Triple H logically targeted their foes weak points during the match and broke them down, that being Lesnar's stomach and 'The Game's' previously broken arm, and sold it well. And while it wasn't understandably fast paced, it was an exciting and engaging bout. Lesnar won after forcing Triple H to tap to his signature armlock. Afterwards Triple H slowly made his way out of the ring on his own, and acted as if he was saying goodbye to the fans. He'll be back...
Overall SummerSlam was a pretty solid event, with most of the matches being entertaining enough and a only a few that maybe weren't quite up to standard but not bad by any means. The two world title matches didn't quite live up to the hype for me unfortunately, which was fairly disappointing but they're certainly watchable.
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