2024 WWE SummerSlam Report Card

Venue

Cleveland Browns stadium

Attendance of 57,000

I don’t know, I saw ALOT of empty seats.  However, 57K is still very impressive!

Pre-Show

Grade – F

Reason – It is hard to believe such an amazing night started off so poorly.  But it was 30 minutes of nothing. No pre-matches, no interviews, no video’s, no anything. I was a bit shocked sitting in my seat in the sun, just baking as absolutely nothing happened.

Opening Match Liv Morgan retains her Women’s World Championship 

Grade – A

Reason – It may have been obvious, but it was well worth it. The story was simple and the pop for Ripley was massive!  This will continue to push Liv Morgan hard as a heel and pushing her with Dom, is the smartest thing they can do. Ripley will continue to chase the belt she never lost and the fans will soak it in.

Bron Breakker defeats Sami Zayn

Grade –  B

Reason  I was a little shocked it went under 6 minutes, but at the time, fans were still coming down from the opening match and the WWE needed to make Breakker continue to look dominant, so this made sense. Albeit short, still a good match and Breakker should have a long run.

LA Knight defeats Logan Paul to win the WWE United States Championship 

Grade – A

Reason – The win for Knight was long overdue and much deserved.  Also, the heat on Paul, despite wearing Cleveland Browns colors was nuclear! This was a fantastic match that the crowd was very into as well.

Nia Jax defeats Bayley to win the WWE Women’s Championship 

Grade – C

Reason – This match had a bad slot on the card, and it didn’t help that Nia Jax just isn’t fun to watch.  The match dragged on far too long and Bayley had next to no offense.  The only thing keeping this from being a D is the powerbomb of Nia Jax by Bayley deep into the match and the possible cash in drama from Tiffany Stratton. What a terrible title run for Bayley after such an emotional start to it.

Drew McIntyre defeats CM Punk

Grade – A

Reason – WOW, was this good!  The intensity was off the charts and while we all thought they would go the 1997 Bret Hart / Undertaker / Shawn Michaels SummerSlam angle, they took it in a different way but still got the message across with Rollins costing Punk the match.  Drew is so damn good, and Rollins can play any angle you need him too.  This was played out perfectly.

Gunther puts Damian Priest to capture the World Heavyweight Championship 

Grade – A

Reason – A fantastic match with plenty of drama and because Priest got screwed over by Judgement Day teammate Fin Balor, it allowed him to look strong even in the loss.  Gunther can just straight up go in the ring with just about anyone. This match was fantastic and physical.  It will be interesting to see how long Gunther will go with this title run. Will we get a rematch of this classic in Berlin later this month?

Cody Rhodes retains his Undisputed WWE Championship over Solo Sikoa 

Grade – A

Reason – Despite the fact that this was the last match of a long and hot night, it didn’t matter because it delivered.  The challenge for this match was to keep everyone interested in it until the inevitable Roman Reigns appearance we all hoped was coming.

The fallout of the Cody win is brilliant, now Reigns can take back the Bloodline eventually, and then we head full steam towards a rematch with Cody.  All of this will go on with the possibility of a Rock return looming in the background as well.

Overall, this was a great card that absolutely delivered.  Cleveland got a gem while CM Punk picked up another loss along the way.

CM Punk Cannot Escape Cleveland Curse At WWE SummerSlam