WWE SummerSlam 2020: Live updates, results and match ratings – CNET [CNET]

The second biggest wrestling show of the year gives us a huge main event to look forward to: Drew McIntyre defends his WWE Championship against Randy Orton. Since winning the title at WrestleMania, McIntyre hasn’t had any particularly big threats against his reign. But with Orton coming off his huge win against Edge at Backlash, the veteran could conceivably end McIntyre’s championship run.

And more good news: Asuka challenges for not one, but two titles. She’ll take on Sasha Banks for the Raw Women’s Championship, and then Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s championship. One of these will probably be great — and if we’re lucky, both will be. 

The show takes place within the WWE ThunderDome, an arena with no physical fans but thousands of virtual fans who tune in via LED boards throughout. Piped-in crowd noise replicates audience cheers — or tries to, at least. The ThunderDome got a warm up on SmackDown, but gets its first big showing at SummerSlam.

Check back to this page from when SummerSlam starts (4 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT) as we’ll be updating with live results and analysis. 

Sonya Deville vs. Mandy Rose

This No Disqualification, Loser Leaves WWE match is up next.

Street Profits retain Raw Tag Team Championships 

Kevin Owens was out for commentary for this match. Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins got the W after Ford hit a wicked Frog Splash on Angel Garza, who was teaming with Andrade. 

This bout was a little disjointed at points, but it was a solid tag match. Dawkins is a freak of an athlete, which makes it fun to watch him do basically anything. Andrade is an underrated performer, and was another highlight. 

It began with Ford getting the advantage over Garza, but the bad guys quickly turned things around by double teaming and beating down on Ford. Things picked up when Dawkins got the hot tag and cleared house. He had a strong — but too brief — exchange with Andrade. In the end, Andrade would be distracted when Zelina Vega was knocked off the apron, allowing the Street Profits to get the pin on Andrade.

Rating: 2.5 stars. A simple, but decent match.

Bayley beats Asuka

The main show kicked off with Asuka’s first championship opportunity as she took on Bayley for the SmackDown Women’s Championship. Bayley would end up retaining by securing a rollup after interference from Sasha Banks.

It was not a particularly good match. The story is that Bayley, towards the end, put the hurt to Asuka’s knee. This began with Bayley dropping Asuka knee-first into the apron. She then followed with some leg-based submissions. After the match, Banks and Bayley beat down on Asuka further. 

In other words, this match was a warmup for the Asuka versus Sasha Banks for the Raw Women’s Championship. That is likely to be the better bout. Bayley and Asuka didn’t really click here. There’s also the issue of Bayley’s offence, which is often not convincing. This was noticeable here, where she applied some weak-looking “submission holds” that poor Corey Graves had to try and explain (“it’s a knee bar, sort of, but she hasn’t got it all…”)

Rating: 2.5 stars. 

Apollo Crews retains United States Championship

Crews defeated MVP in a short match to retain his US title. He pinned MVP after a spinning powerbomb. 

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