10 Fascinating WWE SummerSlam 2013 Facts
The ultimate yin and yang: two all-time classic matches, and the birth of The Authority.
You can call it the WrestleMania 10 of SummerSlams. The 1994 'Mania featured two genuine five-star matches in Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart, and the ladder match between Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels. Just because Dave Meltzer gave the Harts' match a ****3/4 rating doesn't mean I can't give it five. It's five stars, damn it.
SummerSlam 2013 is in that boat of delivering two matches at or near perfection: CM Punk's no-disqualification war with Brock Lesnar, and John Cena's WWE Championship defense against Daniel Bryan, at a time when Bryan's popularity was going off the charts. It's not your ordinary two-match show, either: the Alberto Del Rio/Christian World Heavyweight title match would've been the best match of many pay-per-views, and takes a respectable third place here.
On technical merit, it's one of the greatest pay-per-views in WWE history, as the big matches delivered beyond even high expectations. However, tempering that enjoyment is the fact that SummerSlam 2013 birthed The Authority, which is probably due to respawn any time now (perhaps as you're reading this), going on four years of sucking the life out of Monday Night Raw like suit-wearing parasites.
Eh well, at least it led to the "YES" movement.
Here are ten facts about SummerSlam 2013 you may not have known.
10. A Shield-Related Match Was Under Consideration
No doubt that aside from Bryan and Punk, the next-most over act in WWE was The Shield. Booking the trio properly went a long way toward building strong fan sentiment for the group (even for Roman Reigns). Six months after their NXT call-up, Dean Ambrose won the US Title, while Reigns and Seth Rollins took the Tag Team straps.
The trio was conspicuous by their absence from the SummerSlam main card. Though Ambrose would defend the US Title against Rob Van Dam in a dark match, the early card had either the entire Shield facing Big Show and Mark Henry in a handicap match, or Reigns and Rollins defending the Tag belts against the dual colossi . Show had been out since May with an unspecified injury, and wouldn't cleared until days before the pay-per-view, so the idea was scrapped.