10 Fascinating WWE SummerSlam 2002 Facts

7. Edge Was Originally Set To Face Chris Benoit For The Intercontinental Title

Brock Lesnar The Rock
WWE

In the early days of the Brand Extension in the summer of 2002, wrestlers crossed from Raw over to SmackDown and vice versa, as WWE sought to find the perfect place for their talent, and strike a workable balance between brands. July alone saw tons of criss-crossing, including Jericho headed to Raw, and Benoit and Eddie Guerrero to SmackDown. That double-switch nixed a looming Jericho/Edge feud, but provided a fallback.

Edge was told he would be working with Benoit at SummerSlam for Benoit's newly-won Intercontinental belt that he'd just brought over Raw. However, WWE officials decided they wanted to get the belt back onto the Raw brand, so they programmed Benoit against the Raw superstar that he'd won it from, Rob Van Dam. As a consolation prize, Edge was placed into a feud with Guerrero.

Contributor
Contributor

Justin has been a wrestling fan since 1989, and has been writing about it since 2009. Since 2014, Justin has been a features writer and interviewer for Fighting Spirit Magazine. Justin also writes for History of Wrestling, and is a contributing author to James Dixon's Titan series.