Heading into the 2019 edition of the show, we look back at the nearly 32 year history of WWE SummerSlam and look at the very best moments in its history.
As of this writing, we are one week and one day away from the Biggest Party of the Summer, WWE SummerSlam 2019. The event will be the 32nd show in the event’s history. An event which remains held and contested as the second biggest, most hotly anticipated WWE Pay-Per-View of the year every time it airs. Considering that the biggest in WWE’s PPV slot is WrestleMania, that is some high praise for SummerSlam and high praise that the PPV constantly lives up to every year.
This year is expected to be yet another hot show thanks to main event features like WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defending against Randy Orton, Seth Rollins challenging Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship, Natalya facing Becky Lynch for her Raw Women’s Championship in front of her home country of Canada, and a good ole fashioned grudge match between Kevin Owens and Shane McMahon. And don’t even get us started on the undercard, which looks spectacular in itself.
SummerSlam has always had a knack of producing phenomenal cards. And in rare cases, the SummerSlam card winds up looking better than the WrestleMania card of that year. SummerSlam is special for the same reasons that WrestleMania remains special: the unforgettable moments. Moments that you can only find and receive a special vibe from at these kind of marquee PPVs. Here are just some of the special moments – not matches, so don’t expect something like TLC 1 to make the list – to take place in the event’s history.
5. Brock Lesnar takes John Cena to Suplex City – SummerSlam 2014
This one is a moment that was viewed as a bigger shock when watching for the first time in the moment, but even five years later, it’s shocking to look back on. This was less of a match and more of a one-sided beatdown of a segment. This was mere months after Brock Lesnar became the first man in the history of WrestleMania to defeat The Undertaker, thus ending The Streak. To highlight Lesnar as an unparalleled monster, WWE wanted Lesnar to not only win the WWE Championship, but receive a defiant win as well.
Despite just winning his 15th World Title the previous month and despite still being the proverbial face of the company, John Cena received little to no offense in over the course of 16 minutes. All of over 17,000 fans in attendance at the Staples Center were unglued to their seats in shock and awe as Lesnar delivered several suplexes to Cena before capping the match off with a title win.
Understanding that Daniel Bryan was originally meant to be in the Cena role adds some sense into why Cena of all people would be booked to lose in such clear fashion, but seeing WWE allow what was essentially a squash take place against a multi-time World Champion who at the time rarely lost was shocking. Cena also turned out to be the first inductee into Suplex City.
4. The beginning of the Yes Movement – SummerSlam 2013
Speaking of Daniel Bryan, now is the perfect time to bring up another rare loss that John Cena received the year before, this time against Daniel Bryan for the WWE Championship. Going into the match, Bryan had been pegged as a B+ player not in Cena’s league, mostly due to his much smaller size and stature. Plus, Cena was obviously viewed as much higher on the totem pole in WWE than Bryan was at the time as the latter continued to rise up the ranks.
Still, against all odds, Bryan won the match and his first WWE Championship for a reign that lasted all of five minutes before he would receive a Pedigree from Triple H and a Money in the Bank cash-in from Randy Orton. While a heel turn from Triple H and a cash-in from Orton were all predicted by several fans and critics beforehand, few – if anyone – at the time could have imagined that a 5’10 indie darling would be booked to not only defeat the biggest star WWE produced in the last decade, but win clean.
What makes this moment even more significant was that it kicked off the now infamous Yes Movement that forced WWE to push Daniel Bryan into the main event of WrestleMania XXX and have him win the WWE Championship in “a miracle on Bourbon Street.”
3. Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar face to face – SummerSlam 2015
The Undertaker’s summer feud against Brock Lesnar was an interesting one in itself. A year after Brock ended The Streak at WrestleMania, Undertaker returned to confront Lesnar and for the first time in over a decade, worked as a heel; resorting to low blows against The Beast. It was as if The Last Outlaw was on his last legs and had become desperate to recapture whatever he lost when he lost The Streak. It was a fascinating feud.
This all culminated to a long awaited rematch at SummerSlam that was equal parts interesting. The controversial ending of the match could be discussed as a moment in itself, but the moment we are going to talk about is the moment halfway through the match where Undertaker hit his signature sit-up, only for Lesnar to mimick him and do the same thing before both men laughed in each other’s faces.
It was a simple moment, but it was a moment that fans still talk about to this day. Out of everything that happened on this night, this moment continues to get meme’d to death, highlighting just how strongly it connected with audiences in this day and age, as goofy as it probably was. It was entertaining in the goofy way that only wrestling can be.
2. The Wembley Pop – SummerSlam 1992
We could use this whole entry to talk about British Bulldog vs. Bret Hart for the WWE Intercontinental Championship in the main event of SummerSlam 1992, as the match itself was fantastic. We could talk about the story behind the match where Hart essentially called the whole match in the ring on the fly for a hungover Bulldog, which makes the match all the more fantastic. We could even talk about Bulldog winning the IC Title in his home country of England, which is a big moment in itself.
Instead, we are going to focus on the closing moments of the match where Bulldog reversed Hart’s sunset flip into a pin attempt of his own to win the belt. Specifically, we are going to talk about the crowd reaction, as the sight of their hometown boy getting the three count inspired one of the loudest crowd reactions in WWE history.
When we talk about the loudest pops in WWE – or even wrestling – history, we would be remiss if we did not mention this moment. The second that the bell rang, 80,355 people sitting inside of Wembley Stadium jumped to their feet and offered a positive reaction that still holds up almost 30 years later as one of the loudest in the company’s history. They continued to applaud as The Hitman raised his brother in law’s arm in victory. It truly still is a sight to behold.
1. A Match Made in Heaven – SummerSlam 1991
SummerSlam 1991 had two main selling points as a double main event of sorts heading into its show: A Match Made in Heaven and a Match Made in Hell. The Match Made in Hell was quite literally a match pitting the team of Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior vs. Col. Mustafa, General Adnan and Sgt. Slaughter with Sid Justice in between them as a special referee.
Admittedly, the match itself has been long forgotten in the history books – at least compared to what happened after the show when Warrior was fired immediately after the match – but one thing that fans remember fondly is the Match Made in Heaven, which simply showcased the onscreen wedding between “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth.
Wrestling segments – especially wedding segments – notoriously end in disaster somehow, but one of the earliest weddings in WWE was refreshingly calm and serene. It was refreshing to see a wrestling segment that you’d expect to go awry, but go – in kayfabe – perfectly as planned instead. In real life, Savage and Elizabeth had been married since 1984, but bringing their marriage to the screen for a spectacular ceremony made for a beautiful sight.
Granted, the post-show shown exclusively on Coliseum videotapes showed how the post-wedding shenanigans divulged into pure chaos, but as for the wedding itself, it was perfect. The perfect wedding in terms of average wrestling wedding segments, perfect as far as SummerSlam moments, and perfect as far as rare, calm moments in wrestling are concerned.