SummerSlam 2021: Brock Lesnar and Becky Lynch make WWE comebacks

Brock Lesnar and Becky Lynch made standout returns to WWE at SummerSlam in Las Vegas.

Both stars have been away from the WWE spotlight for well over a year – Lesnar with one of his regular hiatuses from the squared circle, and Lynch who took time away to start a family. Their respective comebacks were among the highlights of a packed night of action in front of a sellout pay-per-view crowd.

Titles changed hands throughout the night, not least with Lynch’s capture of the SmackDown Women’s championship at the expense of Bianca Belair.

While Lynch’s arrival was undoubtedly a huge hit with fans, its execution left plenty to be desired and appeared to look far better on paper than on screen.

Belair had been slated for a marquee defence of her title against Sasha Banks – whom she’d dethroned in an historic meeting in the main event of WrestleMania this year. With fans itching for them to meet again, WWE inexplicably announced that Banks would no longer be appearing and that, instead, Carmella would take her place.

The sheer randomness of that left the buzzing crowd decidedly flat, before Lynch’s surprise arrival was met with a thunderous ovation. Bizarrely, Lynch would then blindside Belair at the outset of an impromptu title match between them (with Carmella having been seen off as swiftly as she’d appeared), claiming the title within seconds and handing an unnecessary abrupt end to Belair’s championship reign.

While the positives of Lynch’s return and Belair’s undoubted qualities will eventually outweigh the negatives of the moment, it certainly hinted as a panicked decision by a company keen to bring some shock value in the wake of former star CM Punk’s debut for rival company AEW 24 hours earlier.

That may – or may not – have played a part in Lesnar’s return, too. After Roman Reigns had successfully defended his Universal Championship in a battle with legend John Cena.

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Reigns and Cena had thrashed each other around the ring and ringside, with plenty of Cena’s old superhero traits appearing as he mounted a big comeback, only to eventually fall at the hands of the imperious Reigns, whose title reign shows no sign of slowing down any time soon.

With Cena left laying and Reigns celebrating, Lesnar’s music hit to the delight of the crowd – he stared down the champ in the middle of the ring before Reigns withdrew. After the show went off the air, Lesnar would go on to attack Cena.

Another of the night’s title changes was the Raw Women’s Championship as Charlotte Flair again secured the gold, seeing off Nikki A.S.H and Rhea Ripley in a triple-threat match.

This was a solid outing for all three stars and Ripley for a while shone before Flair’s freakish Figure Eight submission hold forced champ Nikki to submit and end the affair.

WWE Champion Bobby Lashley was among a small number of WWE’s incumbents to keep hold of his championship after fending off the challenge of veteran Goldberg.

Fans were at least treated to a few minutes of action from the legend as opposed to a squash bout lasting a few seconds, with a curious ending seeing the match ended by referee stoppage following a serious knee injury inflicted by Lashley, who went on to attack Goldberg’s son who’d attempted to defend his father.

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The ending would seem to suggest these two will go at it again, but there doesn’t appear to be much mileage in dethroning Lashley to crown Goldberg at this point,

The first match of the pain portion of the show saw new Raw Tag Team Champions crowned in Randy Orton and Riddle. ‘RK-Bro’ were able to defeat AJ Styles and Omos after wisely removing Omos from the scene, allowing Orton to nail Styles with an RKO for the win. Orton and Riddle have consistently been one of WWE’s most entertaining acts in recent months and this win gives that another bow another string while hopefully allowing Styles to return to singles action.

There’s a new United States Champion in WWE after Damian Priest, perhaps surprisingly, was given the nod to take the gold from Sheamus. The pair have been battling across Raw over the last few weeks, with the villainous Sheamus always in good form. They were given the better part of 15 minutes at SummerSlam and used it well, building slowly at the outset towards a physical ending that saw Priest pick up the win thanks to The Reckoning.

One of the night’s more emotive moments was seeing Edge pick up a major win on a huge WWE stage again for the first time in what felt like forever. While the Rated-R Superstar has won plenty of bouts since his return from retirement, this success over Seth Rollins in front of some 50,000 seemed as cathartic for him as it was enjoyable for those watching.

The feud between the pair has been as intense as you’d expect for Edge, who crafts little less than art in anything he’s done since his comeback. The pair were careful enough to leave plenty of room in the tank – Rollins never able to execute his Stomp on Edge for instance – and it’s hard to see any fans object to seeing them wrestle again, this meeting settled by Edge’s crossface submission.

In some of the night’s other, more fleeting action, Alexa Bliss defeated Eva Marie while Drew McIntyre overcame Jinder Mahal. SmackDown tag champs The Usos also successfully defended against Rey and Dominik Mysterio.

During the Kick-Off show, the beleaguered Baron Corbin was beaten by Big E who reclaimed his Money in the Bank briefcase.