WWE Summerslam 2007 Review

Match 1: Finlay vs. Kane
An odd match to open a Summerslam, kind of shows how much lack of depth and how many missing holes there were on the roster at the time. JBL, per usual, does a fantastic job of hyping up both the competitors in the ring and the match itself. He lets us know early on that this isn't going to be pretty and that Kane's heavily taped ribs are a target of attack for Finlay. They aren't going to wow you with dives and flips, but they will definitely wow you with their ring psychology. Finlay knows Kane is a bigger man and uses anything and everything to stop him. His focus on Kane's ribs was great. Kane wanted to hit his Chokeslam but was unable to lift Finlay due to his ribs. Genius. And Hornswoggle's interference only added some fun to the match as Kane bullied him around before finally hitting a Chokeslam on Finlay for the win.
Winner: Kane
Rating: **3/4

Match 2: Intercontinental Championship - Umaga (c) vs. Carlito vs. Mr. Kennedy
This looks like it's going to be tons of fun. I always have nothing but great memories of watching Umaga, so fast and so deceivingly athletic for a man of his stature. Here, he was reckless and resembled everything a bulldozer should resemble. His presence was almost overwhelming. Simply put, I loved watching Umaga. Carlito and Mr. Kennedy had a plan to take out Umaga first and see who the better man was after that. It didn't last long as Carlito tried to pull a fast one on Kennedy and hilariously convinced Kennedy once more after that their attention should still be placed on Umaga. They did a great job of trying to limit Umaga throughout the match and Umaga was fantastic in his role here. He controlled the match, even when it looked like he was in trouble, you still felt like he was in control. Kennedy took out Carlito before Umaga swooped up Kennedy and hit his Samoan Spike for the win. Great second match of the night but just had to ask, who is the babyface here?
Winner: Umaga
Rating: ***1/4

Match 3: Chavo Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio
Hard to believe that this is Rey Mysterio's first match in nearly a year. It's also hard to believe that these two are having a rematch from last year's event. Chavo Guerrero injured Mysterio's knee on an edition of SmackDown in late 2006 which forced him to remain out of action until here. Guerrero smartly focuses on Mysterio's knee and while the two have good chemistry with each other, this is Mysterio's first match in a long time and just never felt like he was rolling on all cylinders. Guerrero looked locked in and Mysterio seemingly couldn't get ahead of the traffic. However, Mysterio's second attempt of the 619 was perfect and allowed him to secure the big win. Short match but it's almost impossible to complain considering Mysterio hadn't worked in so long. I prefer their other bouts over this one but I'm sure there was plenty more to come after this one. "He's painted in silver, but he looks gold to me." - JBL
Winner: Rey Mysterio
Rating: **1/2

Match 4: Divas Battle Royal
The Women's Champion in Candice Michelle comes out to scout the competition as the winner of the battle royal would become her new challenger, at least that's what I think. Just a match to get all the Divas on the card as they shout and scream at each other before Beth Phoenix tosses Michelle McCool out of the ring to win. Crowd could not have cared less despite giving Mickie James a mini pop. Phoenix then stares down Michelle before MVP came out to challenge Matt Hardy in a beer drinking contest, making this match completely forgotten already.
Winner: Beth Phoenix
Rating: 3/4*

Match 5: ECW Championship - John Morrison (c) vs. CM Punk
As hard as it was to believe that Chavo Guerrero and Rey Mysterio were wrestling against each other on a second straight Summerslam card, John Morrison and CM Punk are having their third straight PPV match for the ECW Championship. And all of them have been carbon copies of each other, none with any added stipulations for whatever reason. Since this was their third encounter, the action was a little more sped up and they spent less time on rest holds with more emphasis on landing moves on each other. Even still, it felt like watching their last two matches over again and you never really got the feeling that a championship was on the line here. To make matters worse, they weren't given much time to play with and it just felt like they were cramming as much as they could. Plus, the finish didn't help. Morrison was able to hang on to the top rope when Punk looked to hit a hurricanrana which resulted in Morrison being able to barely place his feet on the ropes for a leverage pin to score the victory.
Winner: John Morrison
Rating: **1/2

Match 6: King Booker vs. Triple H
The Game finally returns to the squared circle as he takes on King Booker in his return match. Like Rey Mysterio's return, the WWE held off Triple H's return until Summerslam. That meant, no appearances on Raw or anything, it was strictly Booker's responsibility to build the match on his own and let Triple H's credibility boost interest in his return. We get a cool little intro video on Triple H before he makes his highly anticipated return as his classic Motorhead music booms throughout the arena. You can say this was a glorified squash match because never once did you ever feel like Booker was going to sneak out the win. Queen Sharmell did her best to aid Booker but Triple H was in control for the better part of the match. He hit all his patented moves to Booker before hitting a Pedigree to secure the win in his return. Good match for what it was, didn't expect them to put on a clinic since this was Triple H's first match since the beginning of the year. Only a shame they didn't prolong this feud for a couple more PPVs.
Winner: Triple H
Rating: **1/2

Match 7: World Heavyweight Championship - The Great Khali (c) vs. Batista
The Great Khali's infamous title reign in the summer of 2007 continued as it hit its peak here at Summerslam against Batista. Poor Batista did his absolute best to carry Khali to a bearable match but to no avail. Khali dominated throughout the match with his boring submission holds as the crowd restlessly poured on the boos. Batista still managed to squeak in a bit of offense but Ranjin Singh decided to hand Khali a chair for whatever reason. Khali whacked Batista with it which led to the referee calling for the bell. Batista then chopped down the tree in Khali afterwards with the chair. I hate disqualification finishes on PPVs, especially at Summerslam. Batista would go on to win the title at the next PPV. Why couldn't he had just won it here? Poor booking from all perspectives on this one.
Winner: Batista
Rating: 3/4*

Match 8: WWE Championship - John Cena (c) vs. Randy Orton
This was the first big clash between these two as the hate for John Cena was still in its prime here in 2007. Randy Orton was absolutely loved by the internet fans who were definitely out and about for this match. For all the flack Cena got this year, he really was at the top of his game. He made took the Superman gimmick to a whole different level. The build for this match was remarkable, both for Cena and Orton. Orton came off as a terrifying heel and probably the biggest threat to Cena's belt. Cena, on the other hand, looked completely vulnerable and the idea of him losing to the slithering Orton wasn't very hard to believe. I can easily remember how hyped the internet was for Orton challenging Cena for the strap. The fans were ready to see Cena's long reign come to an end at the biggest show of the summer. I forgot how much of this match was dominated by Orton. I get that most Cena matches were like this back in the day but this was very evident. At the same time, it made sense. Orton got the better of Cena throughout the build for this match and him getting the better of Cena throughout the match only made sense. Any chance Cena had to score offense was put down by Orton and relentless pursuit to beat Cena. Crowd was really hot for this one as they cheered heavily for any type of Orton offense or any time Orton would counter anything Cena would try to hit. They popped big for the RKO which Cena kicked out of before later quickly hitting an FU to win and close out the show. There's two ways to look at this match. One, it was 20 minutes of Orton beating down Cena before Cena scored the win with an FU. Or two, the match followed suit to the build of the match and all made sense with Cena barely squeaking out the win with a very fast FU. Personally, I liked it. It wasn't the best match in the world but I enjoyed the atmosphere, I enjoyed the finish and I enjoyed Jim Ross on the headsets. A great match with a clean finish to close out the night. Something that is seemingly a rarity these days.
Winner: John Cena
Rating: ***

Overall Show Thoughts and Rating:
Despite a fairly strong main event, this event that relied big on the returns of Rey Mysterio and Triple H fell flat on its face. The match quality was poor and there was too much focus on the things happening outside the ring as compared to the action happening in it. One of WWE's worst PPVs in 2007 and one of WWE's worst Summerslam offerings.
Rating: 5.25/10