10 Fascinating Facts About WWE In 2014
4. WWE Ran A Mini-SummerSlam 24 Hours Earlier
This was certainly a choice.
WWE didn't always run house shows the night before major pay-per-views. Events like Royal Rumble, 'Mania and SummerSlam typically came pre-packed with all sorts of other shenanigans, so everyone was a little too busy for live touring. In 2014, the promotion hit San Jose on 16 August and previewed SummerSlam.
You're reading that correctly. WWE's house show card 24 hours before the tentpole PPV included no less than three of the same matches fans would pay to see on the show one night later. Rusev vs. Jack Swagger, Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt and even Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns were all on the format.
Two of those matches ended with pretty much the same finish people would witness at SummerSlam too; only Jericho vs. Wyatt was remarkably different due to Ric Flair's appearance as a special guest ref and 'Y2J' scoring the pin. It was brave to give away a significant chunk of the pay-per-view lineup ahead of time.
John Cena also wrestled on the show, but he worked Kane instead of Brock Lesnar. That might've been a step too far, eh?