In a week of pro wrestling superstar returns, SummerSlam ended with Brock Lesnar rising from the ashes like a great phoenix to stare Roman Reigns in the face. And, ugh, that was it. It was not exactly CM Punk showing up to AEW Rampage on Friday; though that bar of craziness was near impossible to hit if this was indeed a move by the WWE to try to overshadow their competitor's wild week.
WWE fans are fickle to begin with. Not as fickle as the company itself, but the cheering for Lesnar was a bit wild, as they were likely the same folk who claimed to be tired of him and his type (Goldberg, Edge, John Cena and the never ending cycle of returning “older” talent while consistently laying off younger, potentially viable talent).
Nonetheless, as someone who appreciates Lesnar as the rare special attraction that he is, it still somehow felt flat. In fact, all of SummerSlam felt a bit that way.
This wasn't really the fault of any of the performers, either. This was just several years worth of the WWE using matches to get to stories instead of stories to get to matches and no one really giving a flying elbow drop about anything anymore. When everything is always at stake — titles, careers, but neither really because everything always reverses course — there's never truly anything on the line ever.
Hopefully WWE will prove me wrong, but the programming following SummerSlam this week will likely just be a rehash of the network special. Brock Lesnar might appear. He might stare down Roman Reigns AGAIN. Paul Heyman will look shocked and be in awe and beg for all sorts of mercy and… we've seen all of this a billion times before. Furthermore, whatever the WWE claims will be at stake for this storyline, it won't matter.
On the other hand, AEW has done a wonderful job of showing how wins and stories impact programming and their characters. CM Punk showed up at Rampage, cut an amazing promo, then announced he was going to fistfight Darby Allin at All Out. Punk will be on Dynamite on Wednesday, but it won't be a rehashing of his return. AEW, as well as the wrestlers, will actually use his appearance to PROGRESS THE MOTHER BLEEPING STORY FORWARD.
And when all of this story involving CM Punk and Darby Allin is over, everyone will then move to other fun stories and matches. As importantly, AEW won't pretend as if the feud (if this does end up being that) never happened because of whatever reasons as the WWE does that on the regular.
As a fan, AEW has earned my trust in that regard. I believe they will handle Punk's arc well. As for WWE, even if I believe Lesnar is incredibly valuable and fun and entertaining, I don't trust that they'll use him in new and/or entertaining ways because the company has forced me to devalue everything of theirs that SHOULD have worth but doesn't since the company itself fails to value its own talent, stories and programming.
Anyway, to avoid more word vomit, let's finish it off like this. If you're reading this, you're likely a WWE fan. You probably watched SummerSlam. Perhaps you even popped when Brock Lesnar showed up. If all those things are true, and while entertainment is obviously only subjective, so if you're happy about all of this then I am happy for you, are you actually excited too see Lesnar vs Reigns part eleventy-billion?
And if you are, do you trust Vince and company to tell it in an engaging way?
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