WWE SummerSlam Preview

· by · in Pay-Per-View, WWE. ·

The following is the advertised card for the WWE SumerSlam Pay-Per-View, taking place  at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. 

Roman Reigns (c) vs. Jey Uso in Tribal Combat for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and recognition of Tribal Chief

Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar

Asuka (c) vs. Bianca Belair vs. Charlotte Flair in a Triple threat match for the WWE Women’s Championship

Seth Rollins (c) vs. Finn Balor for the World Heavyweight Championship

Gunther (c) vs. Drew McIntyre for the WWE Intercontinental Championship

Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler in an MMA Rules Match

Logan Paul vs. Ricochet

20-Man “Slim Jim” SummerSlam Battle Royal

Advertised Participants: LA Knight, Sheamus, Tommaso Ciampa, Shinsuke Nakamura, Otis, and Chad Gable

Trivia

  • The WWE Championship has changed hands just seven times at SummerSlam: 1997, 1999, 2002, 2011, 2013 and 2014. It changed hands twice in 2013 after Randy Orton cashed in the Money In The Bank contract on new champion Daniel Bryan, who had defeated previous champion John Cena in the main event of that show.
  • Brock Lesnar is the only superstar to win the WWE Championship at more than one SummerSlam, doing so in 2002 and 2014, respectively.
  • In contrast, the WWE Championship has been successfully defended 23 times at SummerSlam (including the last six in a row). Of those, only Steve Austin and John Cena have successfully retained the WWE Championship at more than one SummerSlam: Austin successfully defended the gold in 1998 and 2001, respectively, while Cena accomplished the feat in 2005 and 2007, respectively. The other 20 individuals to successfully defend the WWE title at SummerSlam were: The Ultimate Warrior in 1990, Randy Savage in 1992, Yokozuna in 1993, Bret Hart in 1994, Diesel in 1995, Shawn Michaels in 1996, The Rock in 2000, Kurt Angle in 2003,  JBL in 2004, Edge in 2006, Triple H in 2008, Randy Orton in 2009, CM Punk in 2012, Seth Rollins in 2015, Dean Ambrose in 2016, Jinder Mahal in 2017, AJ Styles in 2018, Kofi Kingston in 2019, Drew McIntyre in 2020, Bobby Lashley in 2021, and Roman Reigns in 2022.
  • The Undertaker has posted a record of 10-5-1 at SummerSlam during his career. The Phenom’s victories at SummerSlam came against Kamala in 1992, Giant Gonzales in 1993 (in a Rest in Peace match), The Fake Undertaker in 1994, Kama in 1995 (in a Casket Match), X-Pac & Kane in 1999 (for the World Tag Team Titles w/ Big Show), DDP & Kanyon at SummerSlam 2001 (In a Steel Cage, Tag Team title Unification match w/ Kane), Test in 2002, A-Train in 2003, Edge in 2008 (in a Hell In a Cell Match) and Brock Lesnar in 2015. Conversely, The Undertaker’s SummerSlam losses came at the hands of Mick Foley in 1996 (in the now famous Boiler Room Brawl), Bret Hart in 1997 (for the WWE Championship), Steve Austin in 1998 (also for the WWE Championship), JBL in 2004 (also for the WWE Championship) and Randy Orton in 2005. Additionally, The Deadman also fought his brother Kane to a No Contest in 2000.
  • The 1992 SummerSlam event took place at Wembley Stadium in London, England. This is the only SummerSlam to take place outside of the United States or Canada.  That year’s SummerSlam was headlined by the now famous Intercontinental Title match between Bret Hart and The British Bulldog. Additionally, the 1992 event is also the highest attended SummerSlam event with 80,355 fans.
  • It was at the 2000 SummerSlam PPV in which the Tables, Ladders and Chairs match debuted.
  • The Intercontinental Championship has changed hands 15 times at SummerSlam, more than any other PPV. The most recent title change was in 2018 when Seth Rollins defeated Dolph Ziggler to win the gold.
  • Since 2009, every Intercontinental Championship match at SummerSlam has featured The Miz and/or Dolph Ziggler.
  • Brock Lesnar has main evented the most SummerSlam’s with 8. Next on the list is John Cena with 6 SummerSlam main events, followed by The Undertaker and Triple H with 5, Randy Orton and Hulk Hogan with 4.
  • Six SummerSlam events have featured a guest referee in the main event of those respective shows. Jesse Ventura (1988 and 1999) and Triple H (2011 and 2013) have been the guest referee of a main event match twice while Sid Justice and Shawn Michaels did the honors in 1991, and 1997, respectively.
  • From 1996-2020, every SummerSlam PPV featured at least one of John Cena, Brock Lesnar, Triple H, The Undertaker, Daniel Bryan, Shawn Michaels, The Rock, Bret Hart, Edge, Steve Austin, Chris Jericho, CM Punk, and Roman Reigns in the main event.
  • The United States Championship has changed hands only three times at SummerSlam. The latest title change was in 2021 when Damien Priest defeated Sheamus to win the title.
  • SummerSlam 2005 was the final time in which Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit appeared on the same PPV card for WWE.
  • Seth Rollins is the only superstar to win four different championships at SummerSlam. Rollins won the US championship in 2015, the RAW Tag Team Championships (with Dean Ambrose) in 2017, the Intercontinental championship in 2018, and the Universal Championship in 2019.
  • Brock Lesnar, Steve Austin, The Undertaker, John Cena, Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Triple H, Roman Reigns and The Rock are the only superstars to main event consecutive SummerSlam PPV’s. Lesnar main evented six straight SummerSlam’s from 2014-2019, and The Rock main evented three straight SummerSlam’s from 2000-2002. The other superstars have all done it twice: Steve Austin in 1998 & 1999, The Undertaker in 1997 & 1998, Triple H in 1999 & 2000, John Cena in 2006 & 2007, 2010 & 2011 and 2013 & 2014, Randy Orton in 2003 & 2004, Reigns in 2017 & 2018, Hogan in 1989 & 1990 and Warrior in 1990 & 1991.
  • Hulk Hogan has never been defeated at SummerSlam, going 6-0. Two of these victories were in Tag Team matches (1988 and 1989) while the others were in singles matches (1990, 1991, 2005 and 2006).
  • Both Charlotte and Ric Flair are also undefeated at SummerSlam, with a combined record of 7-0. Charlotte’s five wins at SummerSlam consist of victories over The Bella Twins & Alicia Fox and Sasha Banks, Naomi & Tamina in a Triple Threat Six-Woman Tag Team Elimination match (with partners Becky Lynch & Paige) in 2015, Sasha Banks in 2016 (for the RAW Women’s Championship), Carmella & Becky Lynch in a Triple Threat match for the SmackDown Women’s Championship in 2018, Trish Stratus in 2019, and Rhea Ripley and Nikki A.S.H. in a Triple Threat Match for the RAW Women’s Championship in 2021. Ric Flair’s two wins at SummerSlam came against Chris Jericho in 2002 and Mick Foley (in an I Quit Match) in 2006.
  • Jeff Hardy has never won at SummerSlam, posting a dubious record of 0-6. Jeff and Matt lost a Tag Team Turmoil match (that was won by The Acolytes) in 1999, and the duo lost to Edge & Christian in the first-ever TLC match (which also involved the Dudley Boyz) in 2000. Jeff’s other four losses came as a singles wrestler. He lost to Rob Van Dam in 2001 (in a Ladder Match for the Hardcore Championship), MVP in 2008, CM Punk in 2009 (in a TLC Match for the World Heavyweight Championship), and Shinsuke Nakamura in 2018 (for the US Championship)
  • Trish Stratus holds the record for the longest gap between SummerSlam appearances at 19 years (2000-2019). The second longest gap between SummerSlam appearances belongs to Goldberg at 16 years (2003-2019). Stratus and Goldberg both surpassed the previous record belonging to Hulk Hogan, who had 14 years between SummerSlam appearances (1991-2005).
  • The 2017 SummerSlam event marked the first time that Dean Ambrose captured Tag Team gold in his WWE career.
  • John Cena is the only superstar to lose seven WWE Championship matches at SummerSlam (including five in a row), doing so in 2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively.
  • Charlotte is the only superstar to win both the RAW and SmackDown Women’s Championships at SummerSlam. She won the RAW Women’s title at the 2016 SummerSlam and won the SmackDown Women’s title two years later. She is also the only superstar to win the RAW Women’s Championship at more than one SummerSlam.
  • In 2017, John Cena won his first Singles match at SummerSlam since 2007 and his first overall win at the event since 2010.
  • The 2004 and 2019 SummerSlam events are the only ones to take place in Canada.

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