Smark Out Moment

Welcome to another edition of Triple Threat from Smark Out Moment, where three of us get together to discuss three questions based on one big topic going down in the week of professional wrestling.

This week, Dallas Allsopp, Ben Williams and Bodeen Green will be reviewing SummerSlam 2020.

SummerSlam 2020 was held at the Amway Center as WWE finally looked beyond the Performance Center. The WWE Thunderdome provided a grand environment that was befitting of the show's rich history, whilst the matches on the card largely lived up to or surpassed expectations. Is Sonya Deville really gone from WWE? Is Roman Reigns taking the WWE Universal Championship a certainty? And just how enjoyable was SummerSlam 2020 to watch?


ALLSOPP: Sonya Deville's personal life has been well documented at this point, and I can only wish her the best in getting justice for what happened. It is a real shame as she has worked so hard during the past 12 months, but I feel Mandy Rose can easily use this opportunity to set herself up as a challenger to the SmackDown Women's Championship. Not only that, she deserves a run with the belt if she can keep up her burgeoning momentum. I hope this would lead to the resumption of Rose vs Deville, with the perfect backdrop of their matches being competed over the title.

WILLIAMS: I’m very sad that Sonya Deville lost this match. She has been a superior performer to Mandy Rose throughout all of 2020 in WWE, and she genuinely felt more like a babyface than Rose during this storyline. The match didn’t really live up to it's high expectations, which I believe is due to Rose’s deficiency in the ring, which is why I don't see Rose as SmackDown Women’s Champion anytime in the near future. Hopefully this isn't the last we see of Deville either as she’s far too good to be gone so soon into her WWE career!

GREEN: The personal reasons for Sonya Deville's leave are well documented. I wish her the best in her personal life and hope she fully recovers from what she is going through. I can definitely see her continuing her feud with Mandy Rose when she returns, hopefully winning the feud in dominant fashion to prove how good she really is. As for Rose, I just don't see her as SmackDown Women's Champion material at the moment. She may be naturally charismatic, but her in ring skills don't match up to that of a champion, especially when you look at the rest of the women's division.


WILLIAMS: I am so excited to see Roman Reigns back! Reigns has been sorely missed, and SmackDown in particular has really suffered without the presence of a genuine superstar on it’s roster. I’ve absolutely no doubt that Reigns will win the WWE Universal Championship and I’m 100% here for it. It's been over 2 years now since Reigns last held any championship, therefore I think he’s a welcome breath of fresh air for the main event picture going forward.

GREEN: As much as it's an unpopular opinion, it's great to see Roman Reigns back on television. It is even better, as now it seems he has a new heelish attitude about him. I can easily see Reigns winning the WWE Universal Championship back as soon as Payback, with Braun Strowman taking the pin to avoid making The Fiend look weak. As for his time as champion, there is a ton of uncertainty when it comes to who he can defend the title against. Let's just hope WWE don't give us Goldberg vs Reigns. That being said, seeing Reigns back is awesome, whilst also giving SmackDown some life.

ALLSOPP: So excited! I am thrilled that Roman Reigns feels safe enough to return, whilst his long awaited match with The Fiend can finally take place. I cannot wait to see this titanic clash, although I feel The Fiend should retain the belt, purely to allow for his tendency to change his opponents to result in a heel Reigns. Yes, that is very wishful thinking, but I feel that would make for the best television over the next few months.


GREEN: The WWE Thunderdome will take some getting used to, but just like the empty arena matches, it is only a matter of time until fans get used to them. It's not perfect and there's still a lot of work and improvements that can be made, but hopefully these can be made to make the experience more enjoyable. Overall, the WWE Thunderdome helped the viewing of SummerSlam and even helped make some things like entrances even cooler. This was especially noticeable in The Fiend's entrance. The WWE Thunderdome is a great solution to the empty arena situation and definitely helped make SummerSlam an enjoyable show.

ALLSOPP: For a SummerSlam, it was an ok show. However, the WWE Thunderdome made for an intriguing aesthetic that allowed me to invest in the matches better than I otherwise would have been able to. Wrestling has been a hard slog to get through at times without fans, but this felt like a huge step in the right direction. It was a fun show overall, with Roman Reigns' return capping off the show perfectly.

WILLIAMS: The WWE Thunderdome will take some getting used to. It is visually impressive, but during matches the strange sort of buzzing sound is really distracting and definitely took me out of some of the matches I was less invested in. I do think this is a smart progression on WWE’s part and certainly feels more COVID friendly, which probably led to Roman Reigns being willing to return to work.