10. WWE Championship Match
Jinder Mahal def. Shinsuke Nakamura
Match time: 11:25
It pains me so much to have to put a WWE Championship match at SummerSlam so far down the list but this is the Jinder Mahal era we’re living in so that’s where we are right now in WWE.
Nakamura’s entrance was pretty great as always and I will admit to liking Jinder Mahal’s entrance music. However, the fun pretty much ended there as the penultimate match of the night got underway. Oops, I forgot how much I did actually enjoy the international announce teams getting some air time. But notice how everything I’m opening with has nothing to do with the match itself. That’s not a good thing, is it?
The two combatants stalled a bit to get things going before moving the action to the outside in the early minutes. Not much going on there either. Back in the ring, Jinder got some amazing chinlocks in before Nakamura started to use his feet like he does. The kicks to the chest were decent and Jinder did a good job of selling them but that was honestly the only thing I remember enjoying about this one. Shinsuke hit some knee strikes and locked in a triangle before hitting a kick to the head. Yawn.
The Singh Brothers made their way in as I thought they would do and Nakamura was able to fight them off. One of them got kind of a punch in but the ref must have had his eclipse glasses on because there was no disqualification. Again, as it’s happened way too many times, Mahal took advantage and hit his really dull finisher to end it. It’s not that I have a problem with Shinsuke Nakamura losing the match but this formula is getting stale. Now I’m sure they’ll go with the angle that only a Hell in a Cell will keep these guys from getting involved. That’s the next pay-per-view for the blue brand anyway. Unfortunately, it’s not until October.