WWE SummerSlam 2018 review: What we learned, takeaways, future projections

Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens

What we learned: There wasn’t really a ton of time to learn anything as we got our first squash match of the night, one of a few too many on the SummerSlam card, but getting this out of the way early let the WWE Universe know that Braun Strowman was keeping his briefcase and could become a factor later in the night. Oh yeah … and Kevin Owens continued to take crazy bumps for Strowman.

I really just want to know what that conversation was like with KO before this program got rolling.

“Okay, Kevin, I think we’ve got something set up for you for the summer. You’re going to get a lot of attention but you’re likely going to hurt often in a lot of different ways … you know, since your opponent all summer long is going to be Braun Strowman. Here’s what we’re thinking: At Money in the Bank, you get to take the biggest fall of the night off of a ladder but not even in the ring. It’s going to be that really tall one onto a table by the entrance ramp. Cool? Then we’re going to follow it up at Extreme Rules where you again crash through a table, but this time an announce table off of a steel cage? Still good? At least you get to win that one, right? Oh, along the way, we’re also going to build you a new stage for your little show but only so Braun can tip it over. And then at SummerSlam, you’re going to get squashed in under two minutes, but you do get to get one kick in that he’s not going to sell at all. And we need one more huge bump on the really hard metal part of the bottom of the ramp. But we will make you a new T-shirt. Sound good? Great.”

Or something along those lines anyway. I understand the need for Strowman to come off looking like an absolute force here and kudos to KO for doing the job like that.

What’s next: Well, it looked like Strowman was going to have another match at the end of the night but that didn’t exactly work out for him like he had hoped. With Lesnar likely on his way out the door, Strowman has to be next in line for the Universal Championship. Some revenge on Brock may come down the line, but I’ll get more into that later on. As for Owens, he should be able to take a week or two off given what his body has gone through over the past couple of months. Even if that doesn’t happen, he’s going to need something new to do, and it will be interesting to see who his next opponent is.