Summerslam 2013

WWE Championship (c)John Cena Vs. Daniel Bryan

Wow, that poster is just so horrible. That aside, I am pretty excited for Summerslam. Where Wrestlemania has failed to deliver the last couple of years, Summerslam has really delivered, and this one is shaping up to be no different, if the rumours are true that is. Cena/Bryan should be tremendous, Bryan is always fantastic and when John Cena is motivated he can pull out come really outstanding performances. On top of that, I assume that Punk/Lesnar and Del Rio/Ziggler will be on the card as well.

Why is every WWE Summerslam poster terrible?

Summerslam should be a good one this year, however I doubt it will be the best PPV of this year, I believe Mania will be the biggest of this year due to it being the 30th Anniversary. But yeah Bryan v Cena is looking good, however Cena is getting to common and boring WWE need to do something about him, maybe change his role and charactor, like they did with Hogan back in the 90's

The funny thing about this poster being god awful is my friend is friends with the dude who is in charge of all the graphic design for WWE. The dude isn't even a wrestling fan and worked for Def Jam before he got hired by the WWE.

I have no doubt that Wrestlemania every year will continue to be a grand spectacle. That's what Wrestlemania is, but the bright lights, elaborate stages and celebrity involvement always tries to cover up for the lack of Wrestling. At least when it comes to the Wrestling, Summerslam i more often than not one of the better shows of the year and sometimes even the best. It mixes that big time feel with actually having Wrestling, kind of what Wrestlemania used to be, without the predictability factor and toned down a few shades. I agree with Manu about Cena and I assume everyone does. Unfortunately, the time for a heel turn to be really effective and a big deal has passed. He grants too many wishes to sick kids to be a heel, I fear we are stuck with this Cena until he retires or there is a new star emerging. Which seems unlikely looking at the roster.

Cena unfortunatly is our generation of hulk hogan, and this is Cena's prime. As for Summerslam it should be a fun show to watch! But to be honest Cena v Bryan isnt working for me, bryan is a great wrestler, but cena and bryan are just to different kind of performers and Im not exactly wowed by them having a match. Bryan is our generation of Bret hart, and looking back at the 90's Hogan v Hart never actually happened, and i think this is because both men were completly different kind of performers in the ring. However WWE has no choice to put Bryan in the main event as he is one of the most enjoyed performers of today, as for Cena he's just the moneymaker.

Manu Soldier wrote:

Cena unfortunatly is our generation of hulk hogan, and this is Cena's prime. As for Summerslam it should be a fun show to watch! But to be honest Cena v Bryan isnt working for me, bryan is a great wrestler, but cena and bryan are just to different kind of performers and Im not exactly wowed by them having a match. Bryan is our generation of Bret hart, and looking back at the 90's Hogan v Hart never actually happened, and i think this is because both men were completly different kind of performers in the ring. However WWE has no choice to put Bryan in the main event as he is one of the most enjoyed performers of today, as for Cena he's just the moneymaker.

Hulk Hogan vs. Bret Hart actually did happen on an episode of Nitro before . . . the match sucked. However I don't think that'll be the case here. Not sure why you're not excited for Bryan/Cena, them being a different kind of wrestler is no good reason to get discouraged from the match in my opinion. Especially since Cena's best matches are against those who don't wrestle his style like his bouts with Punk (which I expect will be akin to the actually product we end up seeing between these). I, myself, am rather excited for this bout.

Maybe its because im just bored of wrestling lol, I dont know, but Bryan should be interesting to see, as for Cena, I probally already know whats he going to do, and to be honest We all know Cena will retain. Even Lesner v Punk at summerslam isnt looking very wowing but It should be a good fight to see, Eventhough it wont be much of a wrestling match, it should be interesting with what twist WWE brings.

^If it's boredom I totally get that. I'm still mostly bored with wrestling but Bryan main eventing sparks my interest. Especially since I'm pretty sure WWE will have Orton go on and cash-in at SummerSlam, or Night Of Champions at the latest. I mean, the fact that Orton lost a mini-feud with Bryan right before he won the briefcase, then Bryan immediately is propelled into the main event scene, and considering how over Bryan is (he's the best bet, perhaps the only person, to turn Orton heel on and have it be effective), it would be idiotic not to have Orton cash-in very soon. Maybe not SummerSlam but the next PPV at the very latest (Night of Champions?).

I see what your saying, maybe if bryan does win the title which wouldnt be bad, could then be beaten by orton or he could even beat orton, which either way will make orton a heel, which orton needs right now! He needs a change and tbh he is better as a heel. Randy suits a team, if only evolution was back, randy could be a great leader, Randy could follow in hhh's footsteps being a leader of a team and having new and young talent being apart of the team. It would be great only if the story line went well.

They gave Orton a group of his own with two young guys in it, and it was good for the short term but then quickly derailed when Triple H stepped on the scene. This Money in the Bank win is definitely the catalyst for him turning heel, which I have no problem with. Orton can pull off both roles very well, I would rather see an Orton/Bryan in an extended feud than them revisit the Cena/Orton feud yet again. Giving Orton and Bryan a proper program on PPV would be tremendous. Sadly, I just can't see Cena losing to Daniel Bryan. If Orton and Bryan feud then what does Cena do? He has only ever played second fiddle to Triple H and that's because it was Triple H.

Steven wrote:

They gave Orton a group of his own with two young guys in it, and it was good for the short term but then quickly derailed when Triple H stepped on the scene. This Money in the Bank win is definitely the catalyst for him turning heel, which I have no problem with. Orton can pull off both roles very well, I would rather see an Orton/Bryan in an extended feud than them revisit the Cena/Orton feud yet again. Giving Orton and Bryan a proper program on PPV would be tremendous. Sadly, I just can't see Cena losing to Daniel Bryan. If Orton and Bryan feud then what does Cena do? He has only ever played second fiddle to Triple H and that's because it was Triple H.

No reason that the feud coming out of SummerSlam (assuming Orton cashes in - which I'm assuming he will) couldn't/wouldn't be Orton/Bryan/Cena. If Bryan does win and then Orton cashes in, both Bryan & Cena would have the rematch clause. So I'd say the Night Of Champions would be Orton/Bryan/Cena and I wouldn't be too surprised to see Bryan win, just due to how over he is (that same principle holds true at SummerSlam too). They better not just use Orton cashing in to lead into another fucking Cena/Orton feud, and I don't think they will (optimism!).

There are plenty of things they can do with Cena, off the top of my head the Wyatt Family (not that I'd want that to happen but I can see it happen [keep in mind I'm talking post-Night Of Champions]). He could possibly get involved with McMahon-Helmsley thing going on. I don't know but they could definitely come up with something and still display it as super prominent due to Cena being involved. I mean, he doesn't need the title to be the main guy, and I'd have to think WWE would be fine with Orton/Bryan having a program considering how over Orton managed to stay despite doing nothing of importance in years really, and how ridiculously over Bryan is (strike the iron when it's hot).

So yeah, basically I'm looking at this optimistically and I don't see it implausible to see Cena lost the title at Slam and not staying involved in the Orton/Bryan feud. But maybe I'm being too positive.

I think The Nexus in 2010 proved that Cena feuding with any group is a bad idea. I am surprised The Shield are still a thing now after feuding with Cena, albeit for a short time. I want to think that Bryan will win at Summerslam, not ruling it out. It just seemed that last year they kept the title off Cena and gave the impression of him having a 'bad year' so I can't find it in my heart to suggest they will take the title off him so soon. Especially since Triple H has been pushing for longer title reigns too.

The McMahon/Helmsley feud is still in very early stages and I imagine won't really take off until around Wrestlemania time, and I am unsure how they could logically implement Cena into that feud. I would say you are right about having a 3 way feud as Cena needs to be kept at the top and that would be the best way to do. I do hope you are right that Bryan does win it and that's the feud we get. They could keep that going for a few months and there are some very interesting story threads we can get through that. I agree that WWE need to give Bryan the title as like you said, strike when the iron is hot. I just have little faith that WWE will do the right thing. It is possible for them to have Cena exit this feud with the title whilst still elevating Orton and Bryan, it's whether they want to do that or not.

Give Bry the title, let him keep it 'til 'Mania, have him lose it in record time again.

WWE forever trolls Bry.

Now that would be a moment worthy of Wrestlemania.

Steven wrote:

I think The Nexus in 2010 proved that Cena feuding with any group is a bad idea. I am surprised The Shield are still a thing now after feuding with Cena, albeit for a short time. I want to think that Bryan will win at Summerslam, not ruling it out. It just seemed that last year they kept the title off Cena and gave the impression of him having a 'bad year' so I can't find it in my heart to suggest they will take the title off him so soon. Especially since Triple H has been pushing for longer title reigns too.

The McMahon/Helmsley feud is still in very early stages and I imagine won't really take off until around Wrestlemania time, and I am unsure how they could logically implement Cena into that feud. I would say you are right about having a 3 way feud as Cena needs to be kept at the top and that would be the best way to do.  I do hope you are right that Bryan does win it and that's the feud we get. They could keep that going for a few months and there are some very interesting story threads we can get through that. I agree that WWE need to give Bryan the title as like you said, strike when the iron is hot. I just have little faith that WWE will do the right thing. It is possible for them to have Cena exit this feud with the title whilst still elevating Orton and Bryan, it's whether they want to do that or not.

I agree that Cena feuding with a stable is a bad idea but I'm not sure WWE agrees. Cena's had a pretty long reign already though, at least if you compare it to recent WWE reigns, ignore Punk's reign and Cena's already had the longest reign since 2010 when the Miz had it. And if Cena loses it at SummerSlam, it'll be tied for his third longest [WWE] Championship reign, so it'd fit well within the context of coming out of his worst year (which was pathetically built on so many levels, WWE really fucked up that story [but I could go on forever on how badly they ruined that build so I'll stop here]).

As for logically implementing Cena in that McMahon/Helmsley feud, that's ridiculously easy. The feud is basically a power struggle between two people who, as far as I know, kayfabe wise have the same amount of power (correct me if I'm wrong), and if you're looking to take full power, it seems logical to try and get the biggest active superstar on your side? I mean, Vince did lose his powers (thanks to the board) when he tried to fire John Cena, so obviously he could have a big impact on this story. I think it'd be wise (not that I think WWE would do it, it would just be wise) to have Cena involved with it for a few months (after Cena's exit from the Bryan/Orton feud). Just a couple of months of this feud getting some more high exposure before it can really kick into gear for the Road To WrestleMania (they can have a little bit of a rest period in between the Cena arc & the RTWM arc). So yeah, I think it could work. Granted, I'm more fantasy booking than anything at this point but still.

But of course, we'll have to wait and see, my optimism here can really bite me in the ass but if I didn't have it I'd have no interest in wrestling at all so I'm keeping it.