Every WWE SummerSlam Women's Match - Ranked From Worst To Best

As a pay-per-view, SummerSlam will always be loosely associated with the seismic shift experienced in WWE's presentation of women's wrestling.

Having burst onto Monday Night Raw weeks earlier, Becky Lynch, Charlotte and Sasha Banks made up the numbers in a nine-women trios match at the 2015 edition of the show that was a conscious (though bungled) effort to completely redefine the genre on the main roster.

It's an important distinction to make between WWE's top tier and developmental brand NXT, which at the time was around one or two years ahead of its bigger brother, and had been transcending expectations for women's matches since the first live Network special in March 2014.

On that event, Paige defeated Emma in what most considered the best WWE-branded women's match ever, as much for the care, time and attention it received as the in-ring action. They were main roster fixtures within the year.

A year and a half later and three of the fabled 'Four Horsewomen' had joined them, with Bayley left to carry the load on NXT, kicking off her run as Women's Champion and division leader with arguably WWE's match of the year against 'The Boss' just 24 hours before her friends made their far more restricted pay-per-view bow.

The non-match accompaniment to the Macho King/Dusty Rhodes match later in the card, SummerSlam's first ever scheduled woman's match was subsequently also its worst.

Booked early in the broadcast to contribute to a surprisingly gripping show-long storyline, the Sapphire/Sherri feud had already inched towards culmination in tandem with their charges' own rivalry, with spotlighted pull-aparts on January's Royal Rumble pay-per-view and multiple telecasts before and after a passable WrestleMania mixed tag team match in April.

The angle on this August Philadelphia night called for Sapphire to be curiously missing all evening, adding stress to Rhodes' packed plate and suspicion to many that had questioned her recent receipt of some very expensive gifts. The reveal came at the very worst time for the 'American Dream'.

Ahead of Dusty and Randy's outing, Ted Dibiase appeared on the stage with Rhodes' long-standing companion, callously noting how he'd bought her just because he could. Dusty was disconsolate, comfortably beaten by Savage and then left a fool as 'The Million Dollar Man' sped off in a limo with Virgil and his latest 'purchase'.

Decked out in a tight-dress and bizarre mask, it's hard to see how Sherri would have managed to wrestle a full match anyway, but her appearance perhaps provided inspiration for a young Jeff 'Willow' Hardy.