Yeah, I know I'm about 4 days late but here's my review of the show.
Jeff Hardy vs. MVP
This match was a good opener. Much better than their last-minute add-on at Judgment Day. Hardy was mostly grounded during the match and took a lot of bumps. He had some cool spots at the end. Shelton Benjamin's interference at the end made me think that both Hardy and MVP could be seeing U.S. Title shots in their future. Overall it was a pretty solid match
Intercontinental and Women's Championships: Santino Marella and Beth Phoenix vs. Kofi Kingston and Mickie James
I expected this to be the opening match but it ends up being second. It was a very quick match but wasn't terribly interesting. The only good action in this match was between Mickie and Beth. Obviously Santino and Beth were going to win the titles otherwise that would have defeated the purpose of the match. Overall I thought that this match would have been better suited for an episode of Raw than a slot on a PPV. Below average.
Shawn Michaels Announcement
Right when Shawn's wife enters the ring you know Jericho's going to do something to her. Obviously Shawn is not retiring, this incident is going to serve as the perfect buildup for a hopefully hardcore-style match between Michaels and Jericho at Unforgiven, hopefully a Street Fight or Last Man Standing.
ECW Championship: Mark Henry vs. Matt Hardy
World Heavyweight Championship: CM Punk vs. JBL
Not sure why JBL continues to receive title shots. Pitting Punk against Jericho would have been something fresher and new. The match was decent but unspectacular. Punk performed extremely well but for an 11 minute match it seemed to drag on forever. It had an exciting beginning and the ending satisfied but it seemed slowly paced mostly. At this point I'm just counting the matches until Hell in a Cell. But nothing could compare to what was next.......
WWE Championship: Triple H vs. The Great Khali
Khali was chosen as Triple H's opponent so that the WWE Championship match could take the backseat and let Hell in a Cell carry the PPV for Smackdown. The match was awful. Started off with some promise, but any hope that Triple H could save this thing was quickly abolished. Khali had a fair amount of dominance in the match, and Khali dominating a match translates into slowly hitting people and locking them in boring submission holds. Come on, they couldn't at least book Triple H to hit a Spinebuster on him to add some excitement? Oh and the ending, that was the worst Pedigree I've ever seen. Khali barely falls and slides out once Triple H drops him. It was terrible. I want to turn the TV off so badly, but then I remembered that we still have Hell in a Cell.
John Cena vs. Batista
This match on paper seemed to have interference written all over it. This feud wasn't built up extremely well, with WWE chossing to focus on the "unlikely partners" angle for each Raw leading to Summerslam. It got excessive and didn't focus enough on their personal rivalry with each other. Also with rumors flying aorund about an Orton return, I hoped to see him come back during this match. Somehow, the match occured with no interference at all. The match itself was exciting and very fast paced. This can be good or bad. It was both. The match felt way too rushed and only lasted 13 minutes, very short for a brand's "main event". On the plus side, it helped to keep the crowd interested after a lackluster card thus far. Both of them kept trying to hit their finishers very early on in the match, which was surprising. The match had a nice ending, but I was hoping Cena would win. The mid-air powerbomb confused me at first, I actually thought that Cena performed some kind of head scissors on Batista. It seemed to be over too quick. By far the best match on the card thus far, and gave people something to cheer for other than the impending Hell in a Cell.
Hell in a Cell: The Undertaker vs. Edge
Definitely one of the best Hell in a Cell matches in recent memory. Much better than Undertaker/Batista at Survivor Series. Undertaker returns from his 2.5 month layoff and delivers a great performance. Edge may have been extremely better, he performed his ass off. The match was weapon filled and extremely exciting from start to finish. Edge introducing Tables, Ladders, and Chairs was innovative but also predictable. The best part of the match was when Edge speared Undertaker through the Cell wall and the two brawled outside the ring. Edge's spear through the ECW announcer's table was incredible. This whole timeframe when they were outside the Cell put a big smile on my face because no one goes outside the Cell anymore. I was hoping they would go on top of the Cell but they went back inside. Undertaker's chokeslam through the tables was cool. Nice at the end to see Undertaker getting revenge on Edge by using his own tactics against him, by spearing him and hitting a conchairto. I thought Undertaker just might break out his modified-gogoplata submission hold, but it wasn't meant to be. Would have been funny to see Vickie's reaction this time, as she is rooting against Edge but also banned the submission hold. This match almsot had me believing that Edge would spoil the Phenom's return, but Undertaker was able to win his return match. After the match was a cool finish, the kind of which we haven't seen in a while from the Deadman. This match saved the show and is an instant Match of the Year candidate. Overall Summerslam was a pretty mediocre show. Hell in a Cell was awesome and Cena vs. Batista was good but everything else stunk up the place. The show was somehwat well booked but wasn't executed well. Hopefully Unforgiven with its 2 Championship Scrambles will make up for this.