CM Punk, Rhea Ripley and Real Winners and Losers From WWE SummerSlam 2024 Match Card
Kevin BergeAugust 4, 2024CM Punk, Rhea Ripley and Real Winners and Losers From WWE SummerSlam 2024 Match Card0 of 7
Rhea Ripley could not recapture the Women’s World Championship after a betrayal by Dominik Mysterio.Credit: WWE.com.
SummerSlam 2024 stood out as an important night in the legacy of WWE. It was the biggest night of the year for WWE since WrestleMania 40.
The biggest stars in the business went to war for all the gold, with every singles title on the line.
Cody Rhodes, Damian Priest, Bayley and Liv Morgan faced the biggest challenges of their careers. Solo Sikoa, LA Knight and Bron Breakker had a chance to win their first main roster championships.
Some would walk out as made Superstars, but others would fall short of their intended goals.
The following are the real winners and losers coming out of SummerSlam.
Loser: Rhea Ripley; Winner: Liv Morgan1 of 7
Rhea Ripley walked into Cleveland Browns Stadium with confidence and walked out with a loss and a broken heart. Meanwhile, Liv Morgan walked in and out as women’s world champion and added a new boyfriend.
Dominik Mysterio played the key role in this fight, setting up Mami to take an obLIVion on a steel chair.
This result is important on two fronts: Ripley only got one guaranteed shot at her gold…and failed. Moreover, The Judgment Day may be falling apart based on this result.
It is all going wrong for Ripley, which is exactly what Morgan wanted.
This was where her “revenge tour” truly came together. She is on top of the world and may finally get a chance to run long as champion.
Ripley, meanwhile, will need a long time to recover from what Morgan has taken from her.
Loser: Sami Zayn2 of 7
Bron Breakker should have won at Money in the Bank, but because he didn’t, the second match was a complete squash.
Over just five minutes, Breakker dominated and then picked up the victory with a Spear. It was a nice moment for the 26-year-old son of Rick Steiner, who finally reached his destiny.
This is all about Breakker, which was a shame for Sami Zayn at the end of the longest championship run of his career.
Zayn has repeatedly shown he can make the most of any situation, but he walked out of Cleveland Browns Stadium with a devastating loss on his record at one of WWE’s biggest shows.
Hopefully, the former champion will not be forgotten because he remains one of WWE’s best.
Winner: LA Knight3 of 7
LA Knight’s rise to a title has been a long time coming, but he finally got his big moment.
He defeated Logan Paul in what may be the best match of his career.
It was a phenomenal story of the popular babyface overcoming every single trick in his opponent’s playbook to capture the United States Championship.
Hopefully, the U.S. title is only the first of many Knight captures in WWE, but this will stand as a special moment in his career.
The Megastar can carry the gold with pride and compete with the best and brightest stars in the company. He already has a feud ready to be revisited with Carmelo Hayes.
Winner: Nia Jax4 of 7
When Nia Jax officially returned to WWE on September 11, 2023, few fans were excited. Since then, though, she has slowly won over the crowds with her steady, strong work.
This past year has delivered the best work of her career, and her journey has led all the way to capturing the WWE Women’s Championship.
With Tiffany Stratton watching her back with the women’s Money in the Bank briefcase, Jax has been established as the top female heel on SmackDown.
This was a moment of vindication for the Queen of the Ring, and she will likely carry the gold for a long time.
Loser: CM Punk5 of 7
CM Punk finally got his in-ring return singles match in WWE, but it did not go his way by any measure.
Most importantly, he lost his first match back, and the story sold was that it was all the fault of The Best in the World, who could not get out of his own way emotionally.
The match itself also did not live up to the massive hype.
Punk looked fragile and out of breath early. Much of the match was highlighted by Drew McIntyre and guest referee Seth Rollins mean-mugging each other.
The dramatics got to be a bit much, especially the hokey inclusion of Punk’s family bracelet.
This was supposed to be the match of the night, but it was an inconsistent contest that mainly set up the promise that better will come when Punk is back working at full pace.
Loser: Damian Priest6 of 7
After years of teasing, The Judgment Day seems to have finally broken up. Finn Bálor turned on Damian Priest and cost him the World Heavyweight Championship.
Much like Rhea Ripley, Priest lost his friends and his title in one fell swoop. Gunther walked out with the gold, while The Prince likely will take over The Judgment Day as the new leader.
Priest and Ripley will be on their own in a new-look WWE now. The two have always backed each other up, so they should do well together.
In the long run, they will likely overshadow a new-look Judgment Day that is likely reliant on JD McDonagh and Carlito.
For the moment, though, this was the ultimate betrayal and one of the lowest moments in both stars’ careers.
Loser: Solo Sikoa7 of 7
Solo Sikoa walked into the biggest match of his career, and WWE used every trick in the book to protect him from working a full main event.
The action in the match against Cody Rhodes was slow to start, basic in construction and barely utilized the Bloodline Rules stipulation.
Once the interference started, it defined the rest of the contest, relying on a shock Roman Reigns return to sell the moment.
The Head of the Table walked out in a shirt with the logo “OTC,” possibly standing for Original Tribal Chief. Reigns is most certainly selling that, and he is back and taking over again.
Sikoa will never have a better chance to be world champion, and he may struggle to return to the main event scene entirely based on how his feud with Reigns goes.
