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A NEW HOPE, AN EXCELLENT MAIN EVENT, LET THE GAMES BEGIN: MIKE'S COMPLETE SUMMERSLAM BLOG

Next up is Ronda Rousey challenging Liv Morgan for the Smackdown Women's title.  This is a BIG moment for Liv Morgan.  She could use a massive win here, not a cash-in on a hurt Ronda win, and a great performance here, even with a loss will help solidify her.  A legitimate WIN would place her in an even bigger position  Rousey was very aggressive and kept attacking the arm with Judo throws and cross armbreakers.  Morgan did a very good job selling the damage and they teased stopping the match to show Morgan's fighting spirit.  Rousey went for another armbar, but the way she was positioned, her shoulders were down and the referee counted three with the idea that Morgan tapped before the three count but the referee didn't see it.  Unless Rousey is going on a break from storylines for awhile, that was a lame finish for one of the biggest shows of the year.After the bout, Rousey (rightfully) snapped since she was screwed over and attacked Morgan and then rhe referee.  Several officials including Jamie Noble and Shawn Daivari hit the ring.  If the idea was making Rousey a heel, I can see some merit in that but Rousey was completely in the right here.   That makes Liv a babyface who didn't deserve her win.  Not a great way to get her over to a larger portion of the casual audience in my opinion.

They announced 48,449 fans in attendance.  We had noted earlier the company was saying 48,000 internally.

They aired a WWE Network promo.  NO MENTION OF THE VLADIMIR DOC.  Give us what we want, HHH!

They aired a promo for upcoming live events.

I can't remember the last time a WWE PPV was hitting 11 PM and it didn't feel like we were watching it for 147 years.  Great pacing here.

There were lots of little changes in the commentary tonight too - mentions of the word FANS, mentioning referees by names, announcers having opinions, etc.

The main event, Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar, Last Man Standing is up next.  Long entrance from Roman and Brock drives in on a massive tractor.  That was something.  Lots of pyro.  They brawled all over, in the crowd, at ringside, near lighting structures and it was gloriously fun.  Lots of tables being smashed.  Brock hit Roman with a table piece so hard you'd have believed it was a TKO.  Roman was even put in the tractor and dumped into the ring.  Lots of near countouts.  Very strong work.  Roman grabbed a guillotine but Brock nailed a DDT and held onto one of his own.  Lesnar choked him out and they began counting Roman again.

Brock went back to the tractor and pushed the referee, then lifted it so Roman went rolling out of the ring to the floor, where he was almost counted out again.  That's great.  The Usos hit the scene and were suplexed into oblivion.  Paul Heyman tried to defend Roman but was hit with an F5 through an announcing table, leaving Reigns enough time to recover and spear Lesnar.  They barely made their way to their feet when Theory ran out to cash in his Money in the Bank contract.  He went to cash in but Lesnar smashed him with an F5.  I don't believe he OFFICIALLY entered the match, so the MITB case is still his.

The Usos attacked Brock but he got back up, only to be speared again.  Reigns grabbed the MITB briefcase and destroyed Lesnar with it.  Brock rose.  Roman nailed him with a title belt.  Brock beat the count again!  This is an absolutely fantastic spectacle.

Roman smashed Brock with the other title belt.  He and the Usos buried Brock under all the remnants of tables and trash at ringside.  Roman stood atop of the pile as Lesnar was finally counted down. 

WWE sent a hell of a message here, up and down the card.  Well worthy of watching the replay.   WWE showed they are willing to up their game, which means everyone else is going to have to do the same to keep up..and all of that is excellent if you are a pro wrestling fans.

Let the games begin.

Thank you for watching, and Blackjack, I love you my friend.  Thanks for everything.  You will be missed, every day.

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