WWE: SummerSlam 2016 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

WWE: SummerSlam 2016 Blu-ray Movie Review

It's a new era! Yes it is!

Reviewed by Martin Liebman October 4, 2016

The four-hour SummerSlam extravaganza was a critical Pay-Per-View for the WWE, fresh off the brand split and draft. There was a new title up for grabs, fresh talent in the spotlight, and evolutions of preexisting and, from the weeks leading up to the event, burgeoning storylines. The results were decidedly mixed. Cena-Styles stole the show -- no surprise -- while several other key competitors held their own. But it was a night of disappointment, too. Two of the biggest matches -- Rusev-Reigns and Lesnar-Orton -- ended too soon and to poor crowd and critical reception. Little drama was evident in the inevitable WWE Championship Match. Rollins-Balor proved intriguing, but the storyline would take an abrupt about-face the following night. Overall, a good effort but hardly the stuff of PPV legend.

Bloodshed at Suplex City.

Note: Match reviews were written after viewing the PPV on the WWE Network. They reflect the state of the WWE at the time of the event so as not to be influenced by what would come in the weeks after between 'SimmerSlam' and its Blu-ray release. Video, audio, and supplementary sections were, of course, written after acquiring the Blu-ray disc and re-watching the program.

The following matches comprise 2016's SummerSlam:

Enzo & Cass vs. Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens
Who better than Enzo & Cass to kick off a New York-based Pay-Per-View? The hyperactive and smooth-tongued Enzo, dressed up in a too-small Yankees shirt and pinstriped overalls, entertained with his usual spiel, with a New York bend. The cobbled-together, but nevertheless interesting, newly formed tag team of Chris Jericho (who is looking quite goofy with the mustache) and Kevin Owens, or "JeriKO" (which is awfully close to "jerk"), entered without flair beyond their intro music and opened the match double teaming the smallest man in the ring (can't teach that!), Enzo Amore. A match featuring two of the best in the business in Jericho and Owens and the most entertaining tag team going today (sorry New Day!), the match had "winner" written all over it. And it was a fun match, but with no hardware on the line, a relatively new rivalry between a rookie team from NXT and a couple of veterans pieced together seemingly out of nowhere, and a match without a ton of highlight reel moments, it never elevated beyond the level of "solid." A good start to the night, but nothing more. Grade: B.

Women's Championship Match: Sasha Banks (Champion) vs. Charlotte
Nobody but Charlotte had ever held the newly-minted Women's Championship. That all changed on July 25th's episode of RAW, the debut of the brand split program in which the title was put on the line in a match between the titleholder and the fan-favorite Sasha Banks, who upset the champ by way of tap out, earning The Boss the coveted title. Certainly, a rematch would be in the works for SummerSlam. And it didn't disappoint. A violent, hard-hitting, all-in match, the two top women in the business left it all in (and outside of, in a few instances) the ring. In the end, it was Charlotte gaining the upper-hand to reclaim her title. Grade: A-.

Intercontinental Championship Match: The Miz (Champion) vs. Apollo Crews
The Miz, holding the title down for the SmackDown brand, faced off against the upstart Apollo Crews, the muscled, high energy Georgia native whose quick ascension through the ranks comes most deservedly. Crews defeated Baron Corbin and Kalisto to earn the number-one contender spot. The two didn't build much of a serious rivalry leading up to the match. Crews is, so far, no match for The Miz on the microphone, but he's every bit the A-lister's equal -- if not superior -- in the ring. The match was a little short, but not short on entertaining spots featuring both wrestlers. In the end, though, the veteran Miz got the best of the rookie Crews to retain the title, but watch for Crews in future title matches; he'll be there. Grade: B-

AJ Styles vs. John Cena
One of the night's most anticipated matches, building on a well nurtured and ever growing rivalry between two of the best in the business, didn't disappoint. Even with no hardware on the line, the bad blood coursing through the ring was evident from the get-go, as was fan enthusiasm; dueling chants of "AJ Styles!" and "Let's go Cena!" coursed through the Barclay Center before the bell rang and as the competitors began their match after. The match was every bit as "phenomenal' as it was billed to be, and had proven to be in the past. Cena and Styles share tremendous ring presence and chemistry. It's arguably the hottest rivalry in WWE today and this match ranks right at the top of their clashes. Plenty of great spots, high flying moments, tons of kick-outs at 2+, and bountiful energy from the crowd throughout made it the best of the night. After tons of near falls, it was the well-traveled veteran, with no outside interference from Gallows and Anderson, hitting a Styles Clash and Phenomenal Forearm in quick succession to put down the 15-time WWE champ for the three count. A heck of a match and an instant classic. Grade: A+

Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day (Champions, minus Big E, plus John Stewart) vs. Gallows & Anderson

Though all strong wrestlers and putting on a solid match, this one had the feel of mid-program comic relief, if only for the ongoing storyline of Gallows and Anderson "injuring" Big E's nether regions and carrying around a jar holding a piece of E's supposed manhood. Their "Doctor Gallows" and "Doctor Anderson" schtick has made for a nice bit of entertainment in the lead-up, and bringing out a small jar to hold their would-be prize from Stewart was a nice touch. The match played out smoothly, about as expected, until Stewart once again interjected himself, but this time to near-disastrous result for the former Comedy Central host. Fortunately for him and his manhood, he was saved by a suddenly returning Big E in the night's biggest surprise. Grade: B-

WWE Championship Match: Dean Ambrose (Champion) vs. Dolph Ziggler.
The Unlikely pairing of Ambrose and Ziggler, the latter participating in his fiftieth PPV event, led to an entertaining build-up, made by several face-to-face back-and-forth moments between the superstars in the ring. Showing strong chemistry together and matching up about pound for pound, two of the company's best squared off in a match that started practically as the men arrived in the ring, jawing at one another even during introductions. The match was solid. Both competitors put on a show, hitting high energy and higher impact spots with several near-falls to give the Ziggler faithful hope, but it wasn't meant to be as Ambrose expectedly, this early into his reign and just recently drafted to be the face of SmackDown, retained the title. Hardly the match of the night or the year, but a fun bit of WWE wrestling. Grade: B-.

Becky Lynch, Naomi, and Carmella vs. Natalya, Alexa Bliss and Nikki Bella (replacing Eva Marie)
A women's filler match that featured the return of the long-absent Bella twin delivered enough sex appeal and wrestling prowess to entertain, but with nothing on the line and little to go on beyond Bella's return, the match fell relatively flat in the middle of a PPV that so far hadn't, and would not, live up to potential. Grade: C-

WWE Universal Championship Match: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor
It was the recently returned superstar vs. the hottest rookie in some time competing for the newly minted WWE Universal Championship. Who could want more, besides a belt that didn't look like the women's title married to Ambrose's WWE title? Regardless, and even as it didn't end the show, this was easily the most interesting match of the night, both for the debut of the new title and to find out if RAW would put its premiere title on the veteran or the up-and-comer. Common sense would say it would be Rollins to take the gold (red?), but Balor's push has rightly been fast and furious. It's a new era, and apparently time for a new champion. After a hard-fought match, with a number of finishers and near-falls, it was the Demon King -- Balor fully adorned in his makeup, or at least what was left of it -- hoisting the title and cementing his place in the WWE record books. Grade: A-

United States Championship Match: Rusev (Champion) vs. Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns doesn't like fairy tales, it seems. The fan not-favorite decided to crash Rusev's and Lana's in-ring wedding recreation, dissing the bride and groom alike and finally making sure Lana ended up wearing cake on her wedding dress. The rivalry seemed a little thrown together, but Reigns and Rusev have demonstrated good in-ring chemistry with a storyline that's become personal, not just antagonistically professional. Their hatred for one another was evident before the bell, with Rusev violently attacking his opponent literally as Reigns' music stopped playing and before the referee could order the bell rung. Soon, a handful of WWE officials arrived to break up the fight, which had transformed into a hard-hitting, chair-waving, barricade-crashing brawl. Finally, a battered Rusev was left on the mat, Reigns was escorted backstage, and chants of "we want Slater!" and "CM Punk!" echoed through the crowd. Rusev was deemed unfit to perform, which didn't stop Reigns from returning down the ramp to deliver one more spear. It was a beatdown reminiscent of the best of Reigns' badass, no-holding-back assaults on the likes of Triple H and Vince McMahon at the height of his push and his character's best. Hopefully WWE continues to portray Reigns as a no-nonsense brawler rather than a Brendan Fraser wannabe. The result: no match, no title changing hands. Grade: B

Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton

A match billed as "15 years in the making" began with Lesnar taking Orton to Suplex City, with German after German weakening the recently returned ex-champ. Lesnar also sent Orton through a commentary table, and just as it looked like Lesnar was about to finish off The Viper, Orton hit an RKO out of nowhere on another announce table, returning momentum to his corner. But as tends to happen, Lesnar again found the upper hand with a well-timed F5 and, after Orton kicked out and Lesnar preceded to beat him senseless, Orton's forehead finally split open, littering the ring with a pool of blood that lead to the match's premature finish, with Lesnar winning via TKO to a chorus of boos in a match that was heavily hyped and finished far too quickly, even as Lesnar continued to pound his opponent with the ring filled with medical personnel and even Smackdown Commissioner Shane McMahon, who was ultimately F5'd by The Beast. Grade: B-

WWE: SummerSlam 2016 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

SummerSlam 2016 throttles onto Blu-ray with the expected 1080i transfer framed at 1.78:1. As with just about all of the recent WWE PPV Blu-ray presentations, the image satisfies all around. Colors pop with a good bit of punch, whether handmade fan signs, bright digital signage around the arena and up above the ramp, or wrestler attire. Details is of high quality, revealing plenty of finer skin texture details, including facial hair, moles, scars, and bruises. Clarity is quite good, with fan signs and even faces fairly deep into the front rows plainly visible and complex enough to be identifiable. The image does suffer from some compression artifacts, mostly lingering in the background and through darker portions of the screen; it's not often problematic. Otherwise, this is a fairly healthy and enjoyable image that's good-to-go and a nice upgrade from the live WWE Network stream.

WWE: SummerSlam 2016 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

SummerSlam 2016 features the WWE Home Video-basic Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. It's perfectly fine in context, presenting ringside commentary with good natural clarity and definition in the center channel, obviously the most dominant element in the program. In-ring wrestler introductions (i.e., "and his opponent! from wherever and weighing however much...") play a little underneath, usually, but without much sense of diffusion or space beyond the center. Wrestler intro music is strong when isolated, featuring good, hard-edged notes and wide presence around the stage. It does dial back a little to prioritize necessary dialogue when the commentators chip in to set the stage as the wrestlers stroll down the ramp towards the ring. The surround channels do capture a little more activity when in-program, not in-arena, music plays atop various scenes and flashbacks. Crowd ambience lingers across the front, with the surrounds not often capturing a serious amount of action. It's nothing remarkable, but it fits the "live" material well enough.

WWE: SummerSlam 2016 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All that's included are three kickoff matches.

• The Usos, American Alpha, & Hype Bros. vs. Breezango, The Ascension, & The Vaudevillians
• Sami Zayn & Neville vs. The Dudley Boyz
• First Match in a Best of Seven Series: Cesaro vs. Sheamus

WWE: SummerSlam 2016 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

2016's Summerslam was a decent PPV but hardly the blockbuster WWE needed it to be to really push the brand split and new era. A few great matches -- notably the Cena-Styles classic -- were undercut by some bad endings in the Rusev-Reigns and Lesnar-Orton matches. Too long, oftentimes too dull, unbalanced, and failing to capture any real magic, one of WWE marquee events stumbled and forced the company to pick up the pieces with some lesser PPVs in its wake. WWE Home Entertainment's Blu-ray is fine, delivering the usual picture and sound quality along with a few light extras. Recommended to completists only.