In the WWE SummerSlam 2016 main event, Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton didn’t have quite the epic finish that some fans wanted.
In Brooklyn on Sunday night, the WWE SummerSlam 2016 main event was the epic Randy Orton vs. Brock Lesnar match. It would be the battle for superiority between a star from SmackDown and Raw. Would The Beast take Orton to “Suplex City” or would The Viper take Lesnar to “Viperville?”
The final moments of the match saw Lesnar beat Orton to a bloody pulp. A vicious elbow connected with Orton’s forehead and busted him open, leaving plenty of blood gushing out. Lesnar watched as a WWE staffer attended to Orton’s bloody face in the ring, but then decided to go on the offensive again.
A “Gold-berg” chant was soon heard from the crowd but it was in vain. Instead of Goldberg, Smackdown Commissioner Shane McMahon arrived on the scene and tried to restore order. Lesnar didn’t like the instructions and shrugged them off. From there, he gave Shane the F5 to leave him laying in the ring.
That was the closing match to the 2016 SummerSlam pay-per-view and it left plenty of questions. It was also the second-straight match on the card without a clean decision. It was simply a mess of a brawl.
Twitter users gave their thoughts on how it all played out. Some were in disbelief and felt it was horrible.
Just rewatched the elbows. That was pretty damn irresponsible by Brock. Went too far with working stiff. Orton looked concussed. #SummerSlam
— The Steel Cage (@thesteelcage) August 22, 2016
What a shameful way to lose. Randy Orton lost #SummerSlam main event against Brock Lesnar by TKO. Expecting a lot to come in this debate.
— 𝐖𝖎𝖗𝖏𝖎𝖑 (@Wirjil) August 22, 2016
Orton hit 3 moves in that match. #SummerSlam
— Ringside News (@ringsidenews_) August 22, 2016
There were other fans who actually found the finish to the main event to be a creative idea.
Lesnar/Orton was brutal. Brock remains unstoppable. Shane F5 was cool but Brooklyn expected someone big to save randy #SummerSlam
— Kenny McIntosh 🏳️🌈 (@KennyMcITR) August 22, 2016
I liked ending to Lesnar/Orton, it blurred the lines of scripted and non scripted.#summerslam https://t.co/bfiPRxRYUo
— Robert Flores (@RoFlo) August 22, 2016
Others found the humor in it all, as it was clear Orton was out of commission.
Brock v. Orton summed up in one picture...#SummerSlam pic.twitter.com/hlHhc6ZV71
— Straight Edge Devastator 🦁 (@NJsVillain) August 22, 2016
This seems like it should set up a future bout between these two superstars. It possibly gave WWE an out from giving Lesnar a clean win after his USADA controversy. It may also have been some sort of extra message to Conor McGregor, who also bloodied up his opponent Nate Diaz at Saturday night’s UFC 202 pay-per-view.
Lesnar just went UFC on Orton and broke his head open with multiple elbows and kept hitting him and they stopped it and it was super weird.
— Bill Simmons (@BillSimmons) August 22, 2016
It’s entirely possible that Vince McMahon wants McGregor to be aware of the fact that there is blood in the wrestling ring. While storylines are scripted, the real injuries that often occur to wrestlers certainly aren’t.
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Was the finish a UFC-inspired message? What comes next for Lesnar? The WWE Universe will certainly be waiting to see what unfolds after this latest incident.