10 Fascinating WWE SummerSlam 2016 Facts

4. Lesnar Became The Second Man To Main Event Three Straight SummerSlams

Brock Lesnar Randy Orton
WWE.com

With Brock Lesnar's part-time contract comes the responsibility of being a true headline talent. His name and presence are counted on to stir up interest in major pay-per-views, and SummerSlam 2016 was no exception.

Thanks to a cross-promotion with Lesnar's former UFC home, a SummerSlam commercial aired during UFC 200 in July (which Lesnar fought on). The event did 1.2M buys on pay-per-view, partially owed to Lesnar's stardom. And boy, it's still surreal to hear Mike Goldberg say Randy Orton's name.

Getting back to Lesnar, 2016 marked was his third straight SummerSlam main event, tying The Rock, who closed out the 2000-02 shows (putting over a young Lesnar in the last one). Had Lesnar gone on last at 2013 with CM Punk, he'd have headlined five straight, as he main evented with Triple H in 2012, before the 2014-16 stretch with John Cena, The Undertaker, and finally Orton.

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.