Well WWE Universe, you finally have what you want – former world champions Daniel Bryan and The Miz will collide at Summerslam.
After initially declining Bryan’s challenge, The Miz accepted the challenge on the Aug. 7 episode of Smackdown Live and will face the “Yes” man in a match at the Biggest Party of the summer.
The Miz and Bryan have a storied past. When Bryan first appeared on WWE programming as a part of the first season of NXT, the Miz was his pro coach. This was at a time when the Awesome One was rising through the ranks and Bryan was a beloved figure on the indie scene. The two mixed like oil and water in the beginning.
After Bryan returned to WWE after being released, he was in a program with the Miz and won the WWE United States title. Their paths didn’t cross in WWE for a number of years.
The two came ahead on an episode of Talking Smack in 2015. Bryan, who was retired at the time, called The Miz a soft wrestler. In his response, The Miz delivered a promo calling a Bryan a coward for not fulfilling his promise to not return to the ring.
The two traded verbal jabs and glares over the next few years. While fans were always hoping for Bryan’s return, Miz was becoming one of the most talented wrestlers on the roster. When Bryan was cleared to return to the ring, fans were hoping these two would meet in the ring.
The build for this match has been fun so far. Both Bryan and The Miz shine on the microphone in their own ways. Bryan attacking the Miz is icing on the cake.
Bryan vs. The Miz is not the only match added to Summerslam after Smackdown Live.
The New Day defeated The Bar in one of the best matches on Smackdown to earn a shot at the Bludgeon Brothers Smackdown tag team titles.
The Blungeon Brothers have been on a tear since winning the blue belts at Wrestlemania. They have beaten former champions the Usos and The Club. They have a chance to solidify themselves as one of the best teams if they beat a high caliber foe like the New Day.
Of course, The New Day are looking for their fifth tag team title. Adding another trophy to their rainbow-colored case would bring them one step closer to being the best tag team in WWE history.
Some fans may cringe at the idea of the Bludgeon Brothers facing the New Day because most of the champions’ matches have been squashes. Harper and Rowan aren’t flashy wrestlers – they are powerful, dominating monsters. Still, the New Day is crafty and clever and will be able to get in some good offense.
Both matches are worthy additions for a large event like Summerslam.
WWE has touted SummerSlam as the party of the summer and in recent years has built their annual August cards to Wrestlemania-level in terms of talent and matches.
This year’s SummerSlam event appears stacked on paper. Sure fans will complain about Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns for the Universal Title match because it’s the fourth main event title between the two. But this time around fans aren’t getting the same promos as before – Lesnar shoving Paul Heyman around is a nice change from the advocate spewing his usual lines promoting Lesnar.
AEW superstar Swerve Strickland shared his thoughts on his former faction Hit Row, making their return to WWE. Since Strickland is currently in AEW, and one half of the tag team champions with Keith Lee, he is unable to join them.
“I’m happy for those guys and I’m happy they got their second chance, I really am” Strickland said during an appearance on the Grapsody podcast.
“Some people were like, ‘Are you upset about this? They’re back.’ Good, they deserve to be on TV. Now, this is their chance to be them and do what they do or however they want to do. There were times when I would discuss things and they wanted to do it this way, and I was like, ‘Okay, let’s try to mesh this together.’ It was a lot of teamwork and effort and family-type vibes to put these promos together. I don’t think I brought them up to the main roster, I think we did it together. A lot of people with these comments are trying to separate us and do the dividing thing. No, you’re not going to divide me from my friends. You’re not going to divide me from people that I was really grinding with at the PC [Performance Center] and every week on TV, trying to do something really special and being, literally, probably one of the most creative people in the entire PC because nobody was telling us what to do. We were literally coming up with it ourselves. We did that together to get to the main roster.” (quote courtesy of Fightful.com)
After over a year since his release from WWE, Braun Strowman made his surprise return to the company during Monday Night RAW, during the Fatal-Four Way Number One Contenders tag team match between The New Day, Alpha Academy, Los Lotharios, and The Street Profits.
Now we have more information has come out regarding where Strowman will find himself on the main roster.
According to PWInsider, despite making his return on RAW Strowman will be a member of the SmackDown Live roster, and is slated to be used as a babyface.
SmackDown Women’s Champion Liv Morgan is set to defend her title at WWE Clash at the Castle that takes places in the United Kingdom during Labor Day Weekend, but could an injury limit her?
Morgan was wearing an arm brace on SmackDown leading fans to think she is legitimately hurt.
According to Fightful, Morgan is not hurt and the injury is a work to advance the storyline of Ronda Rousey “snapping” following the controversial ending to their SummerSlam championship match which saw Morgan clearly tapping out to Rousey prior to Rousey being counted down for the pinfall, giving Morgan the victory.
Morgan wining walking away still champion, given the circumstances, has irked fans.