WWE SummerSlam 2018 Results: Braun Strowman and Biggest Winners and Losers

WWE delivered its best pay-per-view of 2018 Sunday night at SummerSlam, a show that featured four title changes, including Roman Reigns' victory over Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship and Ronda Rousey's total demolishing of Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women's title.

While both of them made the list of biggest winners from the event, it was a Monster Among Men who left the greatest impact and now faces the most potentially rewarding scenario in the wake of the show.

Not everyone was quite as lucky as those three Superstars, though.

SummerSlam had its fair share of losers, too.

Who were they and why did they not have the nights one would have hoped?

Find out now with this recap of SummerSlam 2018 through the experiences of the night's most prominent winners and losers.

Winner: Braun Strowman

Braun Strowman not only demolished Kevin Owens in mere minutes Sunday night at SummerSlam, he factored heavily into the night's main event and will likely be at the center of the Universal Championship picture for the foreseeable future as a result.

A few hours after defeating Owens to retain his Money in the Bank contract, Strowman marched to the ring before Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar could begin and promised to cash in after the match because he does things face-to-face.

From there, he proceeded to heavily influence the outcome of the match, his presence at ringside distracting Lesnar more than once. After he was wiped out by a Reigns suicide dive and a flurry of chair shots by Lesnar, Strowman proved to be a non-factor.

But just being there distacted Lesnar enough for Reigns to deliver a third spear and win the Universal Championship.

Strowman's night did not end up as he expected but that does not mean he was not one of the show's biggest winners. His mere presence in the main event ensures he will be positioned as one of Reigns' first challengers and the briefcase creates an air of unpredictability.

With no other Superstars possibly strong enough to convincingly beat Strowman, a main event run with Reigns is the only possible direction to take him in. That means bigger things for Strowman, who has been an integral part of Raw but has also treaded water with some of the programs and storylines he has been given to work with.

All of which have felt beneath him.

Loser: Shinsuke Nakamura

Poor Shinsuke Nakamura.

A year ago, he lost the WWE Championship match to Jinder freaking Mahal and this year, the United States champion was thrown onto the SummerSlam card in a title defense against Jeff Hardy that was a mere afterthought amid the other higher profile, more anticipated bouts on the lineup.

That he was a bit player in the real rivalry between Hardy and Randy Orton only further demonstrated just how poorly The Artist has been utilized at times over his current run on the main roster.

Sunday night, Nakamura and Hardy wrestled a mediocre match that was not given the time it needed nor had the heat it should have and the result was a, at times, sloppy bout fans will be hard-pressed to remember much of by the time this article is posted.

Nakamura, an internationally recognized star just months removed from a main event run against AJ Styles, deserved better Sunday night. Unfortunately, neither he nor Hardy was the recipient of a worthwhile effort on the part of WWE Creative.

Winner: Roman Reigns

Love him or hate him, The Big Dog took back his yard from Brock Lesnar in the main event of Sunday's pay-per-view, defeating The Beast Incarnate on his third try here in 2018 with a massive spear to capture the Universal Championship.

The moment was months in the making and absolutely needed to happen, regardless of your opinion on Reigns as a performer or WWE Creative's seeming obsession with focusing its attention on the second-generation star.

Reigns' victory is his first world title win since 2016, something most haters will fail to take into consideration when bashing him for his accomplishments or his lineage. Unlike some who preceded him, he has not consistently held a title for the entirety of his main event run.

If anything, it has been the exact opposite.

Reigns' victory at SummerSlam really should have come in the main event at WrestleMania and thought four months late, the second-generation member of the Samoan wrestling dynasty can now embark on the run he deserves with a title he has consistently busted his ass for after his victory Sunday in Brooklyn.

Losers: The Revival

The Revival had the opportunity to roll into Brooklyn, site of some of one of their most memorable victories as members of the NXT roster just two years earlier, and defeat The B Team for the Raw Tag Team Championships.

Except, Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson did not.

No, they lost in relatively short order to a comedy team whose biggest contribution to the Raw tag team division has been ridiculous theme music that has failed to capture the attention of the WWE faithful. 

The Revival, once thought to be the best tag team in the world, could not beat Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel in the kickoff show prior to the main card, leaving some to wonder where that leaves them in the post-SummerSlam landscape.

There are no better teams for Dallas and Axel to feud with but surely Dash and Dawson cannot be believable opponents given the complete fluke of a way the finish went down. A major disappointment of a match given the manner in which it went down and how much of a non-factor The Revival has become.

Winner: Ronda Rousey

The Baddest Woman on the Planet rolled into Brooklyn and did exactly what she had to in order to make the biggest, most lasting impression imaginable: she beat the unholy hell out of Alexa Bliss and took the Raw Women's Championship in a surprisingly short, completely one-sided whooping.

Rousey was vocal and animated, popping the crowd as she mockingly offered Bliss her back at the start of the match. Having none of the champion's nonsense, Rousey fired up and tapped her out in short order.

Still early in her journey through the world of professional wrestling, Rousey's victory represented the faith management has in her to continue making every week of its flagship show and the confidence it has that she can continue performing at a high level whenever the lights are brightest.

Sunday night, they shined on her and she delivered another show, albeit short, that suggested Rousey may one day go down in the annals of sports entertainment as one of the best big-match performers in history.

Loser: Kevin Owens

Kevin Owens lost to Braun Strowman in less-than two minutes.

Let that sink in for a moment.

One of the elite performers in WWE was decimated and left in a heap by The Monster Among Men in one minute, fifty seconds. While the outcome made sense within the context of the story he and Strowman had told in the weeks ahead of the show, one cannot help but feel badly for a Superstar who has been universal champion, headlined pay-per-views and has consistently been at or near the top of the card since 2015.

Owens was humbled and now, the bigger question is not how he recovers but in which direction his character goes now that the one-sided rivalry with Strowman has concluded.

When there is no obvious answer to that question for someone of Owens' stature, the writing team has a problem on its hands.

Winner: Finn Balor

Finn Balor dug deep in the darkest recesses of his mind Sunday, pulling out The Demon for his match with Constable Baron Corbin.

Repeatedly told he was too small to matter, Balor proved size is no match for fury as he obliterated Corbin in 1:35, putting an emphatic exclamation point on their rivalry.

While there are some that will argue the wiseness of dusting off The Demon character for such a throwaway match, it was a perfect reminder to fans and his fellow Superstars that deep within Balor is a dangerous element that cannot be stopped.

Whether or not Balor can build some momentum for himself coming out of the show is the real question. For now though, he is a very clear winner from Sunday's event and one of the most captivating performers on the entire roster.

Loser: Randy Orton

So Randy Orton spends weeks beating the ever-loving hell out of Jeff Hardy ahead of the United States Championship match between The Charismatic Enigma and Shinsuke Nakamura. Then, his music plays and he enters the arena moments after the United States Championship match Sunday night, only to turn around and walk away without as much as an explanation?

Yes, he will probably cite wanting to do things on his time, when he wants to, rather than when he is expected to but it still begs to question why so much of the build to SummerSlam was centered around Orton and Hardy when there was absolutely no followup whatsoever Sunday night in Brooklyn.

Orton may be one of the more compelling characters on WWE television but Sunday's utilization of him left much to be desired and, more importantly, left fans wondering what the hell the point of trotting him out in front of them really was.

Winner: AJ Styles

All it took was for Samoa Joe to insult the integrity of AJ Styles' family and the WWE Champion snapped, blasting Joe with a steel chair and drawing a disqualification.

Then blasting him with several more chair shots and showing a rage we had yet to see from The Phenomenal One to that point.

Styles has been the franchise player for SmackDown since the brand split of 2016 and while he has been a fantastic champion on two separate occasions, he has, at times, lacked the aggression and intensity one would hope for out of a performer of his caliber.

Sunday night, he reached within himself to pull out an anger and furor we have not seen out of Styles since his attack on Shane McMahon in the backstage area prior to WrestleMania 33 and beat the ever-loving hell out of Joe. He proved in one instance that he will not have his family attacked by any man, let alone someone he once considered a friend.

While he may have lost the match via disqualification Sunday night, Styles set up what should be a raw, emotional and intense rivalry with one of his most familiar foes.

Both Styles and the product will benefit exponentially for it.

Winner: Becky Lynch

After a year of climbing her way back into title contention, Becky Lynch watched as Charlotte Flair waltzed right back into the SmackDown Women's Championship picture and was essentially handed an opportunity to compete for the title at SummerSlam.

Sunday night, moments after Flair defeated her to win the title from Carmella in a Triple Threat match, Lynch snapped.

The Lass Kicker pummeled her friend, leaving Flair in a heap before walking off into the locker room.

The crowd's response to Lynch's attack was evidence of their love for the Irishwoman and her plight. She did, after all, take them on an emotional roller coaster ride so many were absolutely certain would culminate with her winning the top prize on the blue brand's women's roster Sunday night.

When that did not happen, because of her friend and the woman who stole her thunder weeks earlier, she finally stood up for herself by beating down her bestie.

In an instant, Lynch went from women's division afterthought to, arguably, the hottest star in the division.

Now, it should be fun to see what tone she strikes Tuesday night when she will be forced to explain her actions.