WWE SummerSlam 2017 review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections

RAW Women’s Championship Match

Alexa Bliss (c) vs. Sasha Banks

What we learned: We learned here that Alexa Bliss has a bright future ahead of her. I’m sure I’ve used that line before in these reviews but I really do believe that. She had a lot of skeptics when she was called up to the main roster, but she’s proven time and time again that she can hang with the best the women’s division has to offer, and I find her really entertaining.

When it comes to the match, it’s nobody’s fault that this didn’t have a big-fight feel to it. With Bayley’s injury keeping her out of this match, creative had to come up with something quickly and they did the best they could. However, there just wasn’t enough time to build up any real animosity between these two outside of fighting for the title, which is still a big deal.

The match got off to a hot start with Banks and Bliss trading blows back and forth, but the pace slowed down fairly quickly as the champ worked on the challenger’s arm for a while, which could have been better had Alexa Bliss gone for a little more. But she did a nice job of controlling the pace and controlling the action as the match progressed, which speaks well of her as it shows she can call the match out there. Bliss was in control for the majority of the match, but Sasha was able to slap on the Bank Statement to pull out the win in what was a bit of a flat finish. This was a good match but not great.

What’s next: The promo from Alexa Bliss on losing her title should be entertaining to watch, and she’ll get her rematch but I don’t know if she’ll get the title back anytime soon. Nia Jax is still waiting for her turn, a turn that may come sooner rather than later, and the big story will continue to be Sasha and Bayley, who listened to a chorus of boos (she’s becoming the female John Cena in that regard) when she was shown backstage. The two are on a collision course and will meet at a big event somewhere down the line. All this time, people have been waiting for Sasha to turn on Bayley but flipping that into a Bayley heel turn instead could do wonders and would be great to see.