Kester's WWE SummerSlam Rundown: Triple H loses his smile, CM Punk stands tall, Chris Jericho wins the big one, and more

By Ryan Kester

Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar

The right man went over here. A lot of this match felt like it lacked the magic that Lesnar vs. Cena had, but I imagine a lot of that came from the lack of blood and it had to deal with the fact that Lesnar had already suffered a loss. Still, Lesnar winning this match via his new kimura finisher was the right call.

Triple H acting like he had just been retired felt odd. I like the storytelling potential here as it could be an almost perfect setup for Undertaker vs. Lesnar at WrestleMania, what with Lesnar taking out the man that gave Undertaker almost more than he could handle. I just wish that triple H would have out his career on the line as a stipulation. That would have been a better way for Triple H to have coaxed Lesnar into the match in the first place and would likely have sold several more buys.

It would have also made that conclusion to the show actually make sense.

CM Punk vs. John Cena vs. Big Show

Again, the right man went over here. I didn't care for the overbooked finish but I did enjoy seeing CM Punk break out the Koji Clutch again. I wish he'd do that more often and I also wish someone would sit Cole down and explain the difference between Punk's finisher, the Anaconda Vise, and every other submission hold he may employ.

WWE is doing themselves no favors with the slow burn turn for Punk. He's still getting massively cheered and they even had Punk playing to the crowd after the match rather than rubbing his victory in their faces. I see money in Punk as a heel. I do not see money in WWWE pussy footing with his character change.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Chris Jericho

While I would have preferred to see Ziggler go over because he needs to be built up, I am fine with the route WWE took here. Ziggler looked like an absolute beast in this match. He needed a performance like this to help launch him into his main event role.

Although I was disappointed to not see Ziggler cash in on Sheamus later on in the evening, I am alright with Ziggler continuing to have the briefcase in play. I wish the announce team did a better job of reminder viewers that that threat is still there.

Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio

This match, simply put, was a chore to sit through. Both of these men have one dimensional characters that are crying out for some development, and putting them together only compounds their individual issues.

I really had nothing to like about this match. Sheamus looked like the bigger heel than Del Rio, both in the build and in the execution of this match, and WWE failed to make me care about this feud or the men involved heading into the show. What's worse, we look to be getting another moth out of this feud when it was already a month past its expiration date.

Overall Show

SummerSlam this year was lukewarm. WWE failed to make it feel like the big show that many fans consider SummerSlam to be and I left the show feeling like nothing major happened. Still, we got enough solid wrestling to make me feel like I hadn't wasted money on the show, but it simply didn't feel like an event.

If you have any questions or comments or just wish to chat with a fellow wrestling fan about whatever, then feel free to email me at ryan.kester@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter at @TheRyanKester.