WWE’s biggest men’s champions couldn’t have had a more different SummerSlam.

The company went all-in on Seth Rollins, having him overcome the odds and a “rib injury” to beat Brock Lesnar clean in the middle for the ring for the second time in a little more than four months at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Sunday.

The Beast and The Beast Slayer delivered arguably the match of the night, though it wasn’t easy to suspend disbelief as Rollins showed super healing powers after the beatings he took the past two weeks.

It didn’t seem to bother the live crowd, which erupted after the 1-2-3 that made him the Universal champion for a second time thanks to a third Stomp. Rollins and Lesnar delivered the physical and explosive match you would hope with plenty of German suplexes and Rollins landing a frog splash to Lesnar on the Spanish announce table.

Rollins, who also had a backstage segment with Bret Hart to add a little extra rub, is back on the top of the mountain and has momentum again. What WWE can’t do is put him with another inferior opponent like Baron Corbin. Pair him with Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre or even Cesaro next so he can continue to have main-event worthy matches like this one.

While Rolllins got his energy back, KofiMania may have had its first real misstep. It didn’t even involve Kingston losing his WWE championship to Randy Orton. He retained after a confusing double-count-out finish that the crowd didn’t respond well to.

Kingston rolled out of the ring after taking an RKO. Orton went out to get him and began being playfully taunted by Kingston’s young son who was sitting in the front row. Orton stared the kid down and never touched him, but it sent Kingston in a rage.

The bell rings for the count-out with little warning or explanation from the announcers as Kingston is unloading on Orton. Kingston then unleashed multiple kendo-stick strikes and a Trouble in Paradise out of frustration for Orton’s actions toward his family.

The onslaught was met with some reluctant cheers, plenty of boos and mostly quiet bewilderment at what had just happened. Maybe there was some confusion over whether it was a bad DQ call.

The family-protection angle WWE tried is an admirable one to gain more sympathy for Kingston, but it was so poorly executed and may have hurt one of the company’s biggest babyfaces after a solid match.

One match that did exceed expectations was Trish Stratus versus Charlotte Flair. If this is the final time we see Stratus competing in the ring, the Hall of Famer went out with a worthy match. The Toronto native, who said this was her retirement match, lost to Flair thanks to a fully extended Figure Eight, but did so after proving she can still hang. Stratus got crisper and more confident as the match went on in her first singles encounter since 2011. Some of that is a credit to Flair being the best worker in the women’s division.

The crowd ate this one up thanks to both performers selling the emotion and physicality all over their faces. The match really picked up when Stratus put a Figure Eight on Flair and hit Stratusfaction, but it ultimately wasn’t enough.

Fellow Canadian Kevin Owens is so over he was able to save a match with Shane McMahon that lacked substance. McMahon making Elias the special enforcer led to a choppy match. The crowd still popped big when Owens used a chair — that McMahon begged him to hit him with — to distract the referee enough to deliver a low blow and then a Stunner to keep his job in WWE. The fear with this finish is we aren’t done seeing McMahon matches.

What we definitely aren’t finished seeing is Bray Wyatt’s Fiend, which had a superb in-ring debut. His entrance had a mix of his old and new character and the match with Finn Balor wasn’t a complete squash. The freaky Fiend still looked impressive winning with the Mandible Claw.

It was one of the highlights from a SummerSlam that left you satisfied enough despite a few missteps. We, however, still don’t have a satisfactory answer to who attacked Roman Reigns.

Other matches

Goldberg over Dolph Ziggler

Ziggler’s two flash superkicks to start added some doubt to the outcome. Ultimately, it was spear, Jackhammer and 1-2-3 for a Goldberg win. The crowd pop shows Goldberg, who got his signature pyro, is still an attraction despite his Super ShowDown disaster. He delivered two more spears to Ziggler, who got a microphone and continued to challenge Goldberg’s manhood.

A.J Styles over Ricochet to retain the United States championship

Styles taking out Ricochet’s leg allowed the younger star to prove he can have a good match without his full arsenal of aerial moves. Ricochet still did some off one leg, but him overcoming the injury is a much better story. Unfortunately, it led to this match being very good, but not quite the steal-the-show variety despite Styles catching Ricochet out of the air doing a Phoenix Splash for a Styles Clash to end it.

Bayley over Ember Moon to retain the SmackDown women’s championship

This match told a confusing story, got little crowd reaction and the in-ring action was sloppy at times, Moon moved her own foot up to get in the Tree of Woe and Bayley completely missed a running elbow before a Moon counter. Bayley hit a Bayley to Belly, with no build to it at all, to get the pin.

Becky Lynch over Natalya to retain the Raw women’s championship

The crowd was surprisingly 60-40 pro Lynch and was invested in this pay-per-view opener. Good storytelling with both working on the limb they needed to damage for their finisher. A sharpshooter spot from the top turnbuckle was excellent. Natalya pulling Lynch back into the center of the ring made you think she just might win before Lynch countered with a Disarm-Her to seal it.

Kickoff show

The WWE put together one of its better pre-shows, complete with Hall of Famer Edge delivering his first spear in years to Elias, a much-needed tag team match that saw Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross beat The IIconics to retain their women’s tag team championship. Bliss’ Buzz Lightyear-themed gear and imaginary red laser pointer on her arm was gold. Drew Gulak defeated Oney Lorcan to retain his cruiserweight championship and Rowan attacked Buddy Murphy during his match with Apollo Crews to further add to the Reigns intrigue.

Biggest winner: Seth Rollins

Biggest loser: Kofi Kingston

Match of the night: Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins

Predictions: 8-2

Grade: B