The Legend wrote:Joe vs AJ should be a great match, but truthfully, I'm a little puzzled how Joe just jumped to the front of the line.
As for the Roman vs Brock match, I would have had Lashley win and face Brock and further the whole keeping Roman away from the world title story they were trying to tell. That being said, now that he's fighting Brock again they just need to bite the bullet and pull the trigger on the Roman title reign. The stubborn fight on both the fans and the WWE thing is just insane. The fans are sure Roman will make a terrible champion and resent him at every turn, and the WWE are sure they can find a story where the fans cheer Roman. It's not working.
Roman needs to win the title at SummerSlam and start his reign, momentary reaction be damned. Once Reigns has the belt they need to work towards getting the crowd on his side through some aggressive and creative booking and just having him fight every week and see what happens. They can't bail the moment out with a cash in.
Joe vs Styles should hopefully be good. They're two of the most talented guys on the roster and they're capable of stealing the show. But they haven't booked Styles to steal the show in ages. They book his world title run like an IC championship run. His matches rarely have the time, layout or finish to steal the show in the way that we know Styles can.
Smackdown just hasn't been a well run show lately, despite the talent on the roster. For instance, as you touched on, they should have been building up Samoa Joe in preparation for this feud. Joe seemed like the obvious choice for Styles at Summerslam, they've probably been planning it for a month or two, so they could have given him a win at the last couple of pay per views to build him for a title match.
I should be excited for Joe vs Styles, and I do think it's the best title match for Summerslam, but given WWE's track record, I feel confident they'll find a way to fuck it up.
Reigns vs Lesnar on the other hand, is a train wreck. It's an embarrassment that they're running with this match again. Fans do not care about this match. They weren't interested in it three years ago, and they've completely turned on it now. Fans are sick of Lesnar, they hate Reigns, and they'll shit on this. And they should. Please nobody watch this pay per view. WWE deserve no encouragement for this stubborn bullshit.
I agree that Reigns should win here, because Lesnar's title reign is shit, and Lesnar brings nothing to the table. WWE keep bending over backwards for him because he's perceived as such a big star, but it doesn't matter how big a star he is if he actively makes the show worse, and that's what he's been doing for the last year.
Reigns isn't a face though. They've been working towards getting the crowd on his side for three years. It can't be done. Because the fans can be stubborn too. Imagine trying a new meal at a restaurant and it makes you vomit. A few months later you give it another chance and it makes you vomit again. If someone offers it to you a third time, you're going to turn it down. It doesn't matter how well the meal has been prepared, it just won't look appetising to you anymore. That's Roman Reigns.
Reigns can be a great top heel if they decide to pull their heads out of their asses. He can be a terrible top face if they stay the course. And I mean historically bad. Ratings and attendance are already way down, but they'd get much worse. Or they can kick the can down the road; do the cowardly thing and have someone cash in Money in the Bank and postpone Reigns' run AGAIN. I'm expecting that's the option they'll go with.