The dust settles . . .

SummerSlam was a baffling bit of wrestling programming. There were a couple of solid matches, a couple of truly great matches, and few segments that left me scratching my head. While I won't go into every occurrence from Sunday here, there are a few things I have to comment on.

First, the good. The tag team opener between Enzo & Cass and Jeri-K.O. (Love that team name) was a great bout, even if I don't think the heels really needed the win here. I think both Jericho and Owens are performers who can "bounce back" from any number of losses. The AJ Styles/John Cena match was incredible, with the Doctor of Thugganomics throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the Phenomenal One, only to come up short and ultimately lose clean, establishing the Smackdown brand's newest star. Same for the Balor/Rollins match. Strange new title belt aside, this was a fantastic display of wrestling featuring two guys the audience isn't burnt out on yet. (It also makes Finn's injury all the more deflating.)

There were a couple of matches that were pretty good, but fell into a strange place on the card. The Women's title match between Charlotte and Sasha Banks was as good as any of their NXT encounters, with the right woman coming out on top and a hot crowd behind it. It troubles me this match went on second, however, as this is supposed to be one of the most important belts the 'E has and there was a far inferior six woman tag match later on. (Yeah I know it was intended to be a "cool down" match, but Charlotte and Banks should not have gone on so early. Give them some prestige, for shucks sake.)

Roman and Rusev's encounter was more of an angle than a match. This and the Women's title match probably should have switched places. I like what they're doing with Roman and the US Title feud in general, but it shouldn't have gone on right before the main event.

And the main event between Orton and Lesnar . . . whoa. I didn't expect things to go quite that way. On one hand, I like Brock looking like a monster and having him attack Shane is a nice way to get him off of television for a bit, but on the other I feel like the bloody finish to the match sucked the air out of the building, and not in the hype-generating way his defeating The Undertaker in 2014 did. Brock's Suplex City gimmick is wearing thin, and I'm not sure what Orton is getting out of this other than a little babyface sympathy. It was an odd last match, and for whatever reason not as effective as Brock's previous SummerSlam massacre (John Cena).

It was an oddly paced show with some great wrestling. Shuffle the card around a bit and it could have been great. As for Raw . . .

Finn's injury forced their hand creatively, and the Raw brand responded with something rather predictable: a series of match designed to set up a fatal four way match for the Universal Title next week. Finn's speech was stirring, but knowing he'll be back in time for next year's Wrestlemania helped me keep my emotions in check. The crowd was chanting "You deserve it!" and rightfully so.

The four men who ended up winning their qualifying matches by the end of Monday night were Rollins, Owens, Big Cass, and Reigns. Unless they have a big ol' swerve planned for next Monday, the outcome for this isn't hard to predict. Both Owens and Big Cass have partners that will interfere on their behalves, a situation of two interested parties cancelling each other out. I fully expect Rusev to stomp down to the ring and take Roman out for the night, seeing as their feud is just starting to gain some steam. That leaves Seth Rollins in a very Edge-like role where he can pick the scraps and steal away with the title.

I'm fine with Rollins resuming his title reign, but the thought of Roman being bumped back up to feud with him again so soon bores me. I'd like to see Sami Zayn or even Big Cass in the number one contender spot. Zayn will add instant gravitas to their matches with his unmatched charm, not to mention the matches will be spectacular. Big Cass and Enzo are probably the two other biggest babyfaces right now, so I don't see the harm in penciling them in for a month or two. The matches won't be as strong as Rollins/Zayn would, but the promos would be pure fire.

Overall, it was a great weekend of wrestling, anchored by NXT Takeover (no surprise there) and the rise of several key new talents who are rapidly proving (to me, at least) that this really is a "new era". Thanks for reading! And you can hit me up on Twitter (@ChrisBComics) or via e-mail (backissuechris@gmail.com) for more rasslin' chatter.

Results and Predictions

Despite a build that left much to be desired, NXT Takeover delivered a solid wrestling show, with a new champion being crowned in Shinsuke Nakamura and two new competitors making their in-ring debuts in Bobby Roode and Ember Moon.

Austen Aries defeated No Way Jose and attacked him after the match, until Hideo Itami made the save. Hideo hitting the G.T.S. on Aries got a rise out of me. I haven't seen that move since a certain someone took his ball and went home a couple years back. Following that, mysterious newcomer Ember Moon destroyed Billie Kay in quick fashion. I'm not familiar with Moon's earlier work, so I look forward to seeing what she's capable of. (I should mention Kay got in some good offense too!)

Despite his acrobatic shenanigans, Bobby Roode put the kibosh on "Cien" Almas. No big surprise here. Expect Roode to be challenging Shinsuke in the near future, but you don't need to be a fortune teller to see that coming. 

The first real breakthrough match of the night came from the tag champs, The Revival, defending against Gargano & Ciampa. The Revival showed they have a few more tricks up their sleeve than the challengers were ready for, retaining the titles via submission. Asuka and Bayley put on a show, with the champ retaining. And Bayley got a hug from Asuka to boot!

Samoa Joe and Shinsuke had a damn fine main event match, but I feel like something was held back in case of future rematches. The bit mid-match where they were reversing each other's holds into various other submissions was top notch. That kind of mat work warms the cockles of my heart. They kicked out of each other's finishers until Shinsuke sealed the deal with a trio of kicks to the back of Joe's head. Nakamure joins the ranks of Seth Rollins, Neville, etc. as the 9th NXT champion!

But that was just night one of WWE's invasion of the Empire State. Howabout Summerslam? Here are some quick and dirty predictions:

The Miz vs. Apollo Crews (Don't care. This has zero heat behind it.)

Enzo & Cass vs. Y2J & K.O. (Will make a great opener. Enzo and Cass need this one. Jericho and Owens are the type that can bounce back.)

The New Day vs. Gallows & Anderson (Are we still calling them The Club? I want Gallows and Anderson to win here just so more gold can go to Bullet Club Alumni--Kenny Omega won the G1 Climax and Adam Cole won the ROH title the other night.)

Rusev vs. Roman Reigns (Are they having another match tonight? I'm not sure . . . Either build sympathy for Roman or make him a monster. I want Rusev to retain; if their match on Raw was any indication, this could really surprise people.) 

John Cena vs. AJ Styles (Fall is coming, so expect Cena to take some time off to film a show or two. I want AJ to take this one for the same reason as Gallows & Anderson. Bullet Club 4 Life dur dur dur.)

Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler (Dean ain't losing that belt yet. Dolph is gonna wrestle circles around him though.)

Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte (Was Sasha more interesting when she was chasing the belt? Maybe Flair's baby girl should win this one? I dunno, I'm torn.)

Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins (Could be a Match of the Year contender if all goes well, although I think they gave away Finn's "Demon" character a little early. In my personal fan fiction, Balor wins the new belt and a big ol' Bullet Club banner appears. See also: AJ Styles and The Club. I'M CALLING FOR A WORLDWIDE TAKEOVER!)

Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton (I want to care about this more, but Brock's Suplex City shtick is wearing thin with me. I want Orton to take him out of his comfort zone. Let's see a little of that 2013 Brock that was jumping all over C.M. Punk and stuff. Orton wins to punish Brock for his various doping scandals and whatnot with an RKO onto a table covered in barbed wire and possibly set aflame.)

Thanks for reading! You can hit me back on Twitter (@ChrisBComics) or via e-mail (backissuechris@gmail.com).

It's a new era and I'm digging it.

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the Work/Shoot blog is back! Okay, I'm probably the only one that excited about it . . .

We're a few weeks into a new era for the WWE, thanks to the brand extension and roster split. In my opinion, both Raw and Smackdown have really put their best foot forward, establishing new feuds and storylines that will carry us on through the summer and into the fall, when the NFL emerges from the sea like a mighty kaiju to destroy the prime time sports-entertainment landscape for yet another season.

But who cares about football when you have Finn Balor and Seth Rollins main event-ing the Raw brand? With apologies to Kevin Owens and Cesaro, the two best workers in the 'E are going to square off later this month at Summerslam to crown a new champion with a new belt.

How does everyone feel about the "Universal Championship"? Is it too intergalactic for the WWE, or is it par for the course?

Silly new title names aside, this is going to be a barn burner, folks. No other way to phrase it. If you missed Balor's spectacular debut on Raw a few weeks ago or you haven't seen him do his thing on NXT, you've been missing out. With or without the demonic face paint, Balor is a demon in the ring, with a lithe form and a flashy style that will force Rollins into the strongman role. Even their promo exchanges, which were lackluster at first, have gradually gotten more heated, although I don't feel the tension brewing quite as thick as with the Dean Ambrose/Dolph Ziggler stuff over on Smackdown.

Raw viewers have also been gifted a great, if only slightly too-comedic tag team feud between Enzo Amore/Big Cass and Cheris Jericho/Kevin Owens. The Jericho/Owens team sees two of the best pure wrestling villains pairing up to give a hot new tag team the rub. Regardless of who goes over at Summerslam, this should be a good one.

I want to like the Charlotte/Sasha title feud, but the issues between them haven't reached that boiling point that really gets me excited yet. Their in-ring work is always incredible, as any viewer of their NXT matches can tell you, so the grappling will be the redeeming factor for this disappointing* feud.

Let's stay positive here: it's nice to see Roman Reigns in a new role, challenging Rusev for his United States title. I like the physicality between these two, and there's a great "hoss fight" to be had, but I wish Reigns (and the writing staff) would lay off the comedy bits. Roman should come out every week, destroy someone, cock an eyebrow to the crowd, smile at your girlfriend, and walk triumphantly to the back. If you're listening WWE, let's put the monster back in Roman Reigns. Remember when he was the muscle for The Shield? No one was laughing at that Roman.

The title matches are hot on both brands, but I feel like they will still play second fiddle to a pair of other big matchups I haven't mentioned yet: Cena vs. Styles and Orton vs. Lesnar.

AJ Style's issues with John Cena echo a lot of fan sentiment, but he's not as striking on the mic as C.M. Punk or Kevin Owens, both of whom filled the "outlier" role previously. Where AJ really shines, naturally, is in the ring. He can bounce off of beefy John like a ping pong ball, as well as force Cena to step up his game and keep the pace up. This match up interests me because normally the heel will try to slow the pace and isolate one of the other wrestler's limbs, but considering their styles, I think Cena might benefit from trying to keep AJ grounded. It'll be interesting to see unfold, and I can't wait to see how the crowd reacts, since John Cena matches are really about the audience reaction as this point.

Brock Lesnar is walking into Summerslam virtually unfazed by the UFC doping scandal, and Randy Orton is fresh off another injury, so the main draw here is we get two guys who not only don't wrestle a whole lot anymore, but also haven't been paired against one another. The back and forth surprise attacks on Smackdown, along with a little of that Paul Heyman magic, have made this the true main event of Summerslam, no matter where it falls on the card.

That's just a brief overview of the big stuff coming out of Raw and Smackdown as we head toward Summerslam and whatever lies beyond. There's a lot more to talk about, but I'll save it for the future. Look forward to future ramblings about NXT, the Cruiserweight Classic, Ring of Honor, and all kinds of grappling goodness. Thanks for reading, and follow me on Twitter if you like! (@ChrisBComics)

*I don't even know why I consider it "disappointing", it's just that something isn't clicking for me. Oh well, who cares--the match will kick ass and that's what matters.