Thanks to John Permaul for the following:
I just got back from WWE SummerSlam. Here are some more live notes.
Overall the show was spectacular. Despite the short Benoit/Jordan, the fans went crazy when Jordan tapped. It must have set some type of record for shortest SummerSlam match.
The fans were really disappointed by the Hardy/Edge ending. The fans were really into it, and were shocked when the referee called for the bell. Hardy was escorted by 2 or 3 referees after the match was over.
The fans were really into the ladder match. We were surprised by all of the spots that they did. Many thought Eddie was going to win, but they were happy to see Rey win.
Eugene was cheered during his entrance, but that was about it. Besides the usual “You Suck” chants for Angle, the entire crowd was behind Kurt. Every time Eugene went for any type of offense (the Stunner, Rock Bottom, etc), the fans hated it. After the match Eugene appeared injuried and had to be escorted away by 4 referees.
The backstage Vince segment was loved by the fans. It’ll be interesting to see if any Presidential office possibilities stems from it. Like Vince use to say “Anything can happen in the [WWE]”.
Undertaker’s entrance was awesome to see. Before he came out the fans could see the backstage crew setting everything thing up. Many fans in my section also noticed that a WWE camera man was sent into the crowd. This camera man ended up being located where Bob Orton made his run in from, so WWE made it obvious that some type of run in would occur.
The crowd reaction for Cena/Jericho was unbelievable to hear. I’m not sure how well it picked up on air, but the fans were insane for that match. The “Let’s go Cena”, “Let’s go Jericho” back and forth cheers kept getting louder and louder. Besides the cheers for Hogan, that part of the match had the next highest ovation.
During JBL’s entrance all the fans tried collecting the JBL bills that fell than paying attention to his entrance. After the first Batista bomb the fans started a big “One more time” chant, which lead to the second Batista bomb on the steps. An interesting note is that when Batista left, the steps were still inside the ring. About 10 backstage crew members came to the ring, and then 4 of them had to remove the steps and put it back outside (so that shows that JBL is really strong, or the backstage guys are really weak). The fans found that to be one of the funniest moments of the night.
The HBK/Hogan match was full of suspense when it came to the closing. As soon as the first referee got knocked down everyone stood up and started a Bret Hart chant. Everyone was hoping Bret would make an appearance. The fans were disappointed when a second referee came out when Shawn had the sharpshooter on Hogan. When this referee got knocked down, the “We want Bret” chants started once more. The fans were about 90% for Hogan, 10% for Michaels. When HBK nailed the superkick the fans were all shocked. When he kicked out and then came back to win the match the whole arena went crazy. Many thought HBK was going to trick Hogan with the handshake, but were relieved when they “made peace” of sorts.
I’m not sure when the pay-per-view went off air. Hogan posed in the ring after the match, and then went up and posed in the entrance way. Lilian Garcia then thanked the fans for coming. I made the trip from NYC to DC to see SSlam, and it was definitely worth it.
Hogan/HBK Future Plans + Details ON Brock Lesnar & Other WWE Superstars Backstage Last Night