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SummerSlam 2021 was held in Las Vegas, NV, at Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders. WWE reported a total of 51,326 fans attended the event, this writer included. The crowd was ready from the get-go, helped primarily by Riddle opening SummerSlam for his hometown crowd.
With a lively crowd waiting to see the likes of John Cena, Edge, and a few other surprises, let's look at three things the SummerSlam crowd loved and two things they didn't love.
Loved: SummerSlam surprise returns
Let's get the obvious out of the way early. SummerSlam is billed as the "biggest party of the summer," but the 2021 version served as a welcome home party for two of the biggest names in wrestling today. Sasha Banks was originally scheduled to challenge SmackDown Women's Champion Bianca Beliar for the title but was pulled from the match.
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The minute they announced Carmella would be challenging Belair instead, the crowd was let down and began chanting Becky's name, and when her music hit, Allegiant Stadium went ballistic.
Many fans in attendance didn't seem all that pleased with the match's outcome, but the return was well received.
After the SummerSlam main event between John Cena and Roman Reigns, fans headed for the exits to avoid traffic. However, when Brock Lesnar's music hit, everybody that was moving stopped moving instantly.
Roman left the ring, however, to the dismay of many fans. The crowd was waiting to see what would transpire after Brock and Roman got into a staredown. But when Brock began taking Cena back to Suplex City after SummerSlam went off the air, the SummerSlam crowd behind Cena during his match started cheering for the Beast Incarnate instead. Those two surprise returns were the highlight of the night for many fans in attendance.
Didn't Love: Goldberg's SummerSlam appearance
SummerSlam's penultimate main event was Bobby Lashley (a heel) defending his WWE Championship against Goldberg (a babyface). When Goldberg made his SummerSlam entrance, some around Allegiant Stadium began chanting "Goldberg," but not as much as some may have thought. However, the way the crowd reacted, one would think Goldberg was the heel and Bobby was the face.
At first, the boos for Goldberg were scattered around the stadium, but they got louder as the match went on. Fans at SummerSlam were booing Goldberg so much that Bobby Lashley started getting cheered. We even heard fans chanting Bobby's name throughout the match.
Post-match, when Lashley decided to take a steel chair to Goldberg's injured leg, the crowd was still cheering. Goldberg's son jumped into the ring and jumped on Lashley's back, who in turn locked Goldberg's son in the hurt lock. When this happened, the crowd went wild, with even a few sections chanting, "Thank you, Bobby."
If WWE wanted Bobby Lashley to get more heat for attacking Goldberg's son in front of a capacity SummerSlam crowd, it didn't work because a good number of fans in attendance loved every second of it.
Love: Edge's SummerSlam entrance and match
Fans in attendance at SummerSlam were ready for Seth Rollins vs. Edge, as many knew it was bound to be a classic. After Seth entered, many fans started seeing WWE workers setting up a ramp by the curtain.
The SummerSlam crowd went crazy when Edge began coming out to the Brood's music. Everything about this entrance sent this crowd into a frenzy: Edge rising from below, the fire around the platform, Edge's old sunglasses, and him going straight into his Metalingus theme. The Brood entrance was an insanely massive hit with fans in attendance.
The match started, and the crowd was hot straight from the opening bell. The action was fantastic, with not many dry spots at all. I heard countless "this is awesome" chants starting through different sections throughout the stadium.
Every false finish had the crowd on the Edge of their seats (pun intended), and in the end, when Seth was locked in the submission, the crowd was waiting for a tap out to explode, and we got it.
From an all-around match standpoint, this seemed like the match of the night from inside the building. Becky and Brock's return was a bigger moment for the fans, but this match had the SummerSlam crowd energized from start to finish.
Didn't Love: Alexa Bliss and Eva Marie's SummerSlam match
This match just did not garner a reaction at all from the SummerSlam crowd. Eva Marie and Doudrop came out first with little to no interaction from the fans. Alexa Bliss came out to some scattered cheers and boos, but nothing like what we've seen in the past.
Alexa Bliss and Eva Marie went second on the SummerSlam card, following RK-Bro and AJ Styles & Omos, which could have added to the crowd not being so big into the match. At one point in the match, the crowd even started chanting "we want Wyatt" loud enough to even hear it on the SummerSlam stream. This match just could never get off the ground with the fans, and it honestly killed any momentum the Raw Tag Team Championship match garnered before.
Loved: RK-Bro win tag team gold
WWE made a great choice for the SummerSlam opening match. Riddle is from Las Vegas, NV, and fans were eager to cheer for him and his tag team partner Randy Orton. The SummerSlam crowd loved Riddle's hot tag to Orton, and Orton hitting Styles with an RKO sent the crowd into a frenzy early on in the night.
Riddle and Orton getting tag team gold in Riddle's hometown of Las Vegas made for an incredibly great moment to open SummerSlam. As stated earlier, this match could be the reason the Eva Marie vs. Alexa Bliss match didn't go over so well. The match only went a little over 7 minutes, but from the fans being excited to see Riddle, to the pair winning gold, it was an early bright spot for SummerSlam.
