Summerslam 08 is in the books and what was once something so special that every match stuck in your head for a lifetime, came off pretty much as "just another show." Thankfully the main event gave us something special, maybe a little touch of that old school feeling where u may not have even cared about who won or lost, it was just a great match featuring the returning Undertaker taking on a totally different Edge. Yes, Edge "snapping" on Mick Foley on Smackdown may be the moment we look back and realize that Edge took the final step he needed to take to become the major player that WWE so badly needs.Edge has always been "just OK" in my book, i just couldn't see him as a legitimate main event wrestler - I don't know why, it just never clicked. Maybe his character and mannerisms were too overdone and fake to me, but the moment Foley brought out the "real Edge," Edge brought a new character to the table - a character that said "Thanks Mick, I understand now"....then promptly kicked Foley's ass. Also a character who broke down a major barrier on Sunday at Summerslam, when he came down to the ring smiling, as if he was excited to be stepping into the Hell in a Cell and even more happy (not even intimidated ) about the presence of the Undertaker.
For years now, we've seen it's pretty much a rule that almost EVERY single wrestler that wrestles the Undertaker HAS to be scared of him, no matter how big or small, they must fear the Undertaker. Edge made me feel like I was seeing a bit of Brian Pillman in his performance tonight and also the classic performance from Friday's Smackdown, where he really came through the TV as a true psycho as he interacted with Vickie Guerrero, making her apologize to the Undertaker and more random psychotic ramblings. His new character almost makes me think it is semi based on Heath Ledger's Joker from the summers hit movie "The Dark Knight," fine by me, ANYthing to make things interesting again.
Tonight's match was a rare time when a character can lose the match, then get choke slammed through the ring, and you STILL want to see what he will do next because it's THAT interesting and it's been a LONG time since any character has had my attention in that way. The match had some big spots with Edge running across 3 tables to spear the Taker on the outside after they had broken through the cage and fought outside. Edge was choke slammed from the top rope to the outside through tables and then after Edge lost, the Undertaker came back to the ring, set up 2 ladders ,and gave Edge an awkward choke slam from the ladders and through the ring. After all this flame burst through the ring, signifying Edge had been "choke slammed to Hell." The end was a little awkward to set up, and a little over the top, but I can't complain, this match blew everything else out of the water by far, and is one of the only things I'm actually excited to see continue on Smackdown.
The rest of Summerslam was pretty much crap. Batista beat Cena clean which I was glad to see, and Jericho and Michaels had a great in ring angle that saw Jericho knock out Michaels wife; very good story there - very old school and probably the best story on RAW right now in my opinion. The title matches were in the middle of show, so yeah WWE is straight telling us that titles don't mean shit anymore and nothing else on the show is even worth mentioning. So in my eyes, the only things worth watching right now are Edge being the definite highlight on Smackdown and seeing how the Michaels/Jericho angle plays out on RAW.
It's sad that that is pretty much it, and even worse that such a boring show shamed the name "Summerslam"....thank God for the WWE Summerslam Anthology. For those of you who haven't seen the original Summerslams, I suggest buying it, to feel the electricity that was brought by the originals because I don't see it ever coming back.
