10 Worst WWE SummerSlam Posters

First impressions are important, after all...

summerslam poster
WWE.com

In just over two weeks, WWE presents SummerSlam 2017. This will be the thirtieth iteration of the event, which despite being overshadowed by the Royal Rumble in the 21st century, has traditionally been seen as the second-biggest offering on the company's annual Pay-Per-View calendar.

In some ways, though, SummerSlam still lacks identity. It doesn't have a signature match like the Rumble, Survivor Series, Hell in a Cell, or Money in the Bank. It doesn't have the fanfare of WrestleMania, though it's become a bloated show that attempts to fit everyone on the card. It traded one longtime home, Los Angeles, for another in Brooklyn.

All of that goes to say that WWE doesn't always seem quite sure what it's doing with SummerSlam. Is it an epic show that rattles the foundation of the company? Or is it simply "The biggest party of the summer"? That indecision, especially in recent years, has been reflected in the posters that are produced for the event. As such, the artwork runs the gamut from corny to overproduced to just plain weird.

This list looks at the 10 worst posters in SummerSlam history, with analysis and "what were they thinking" packed in for good measure. And the absolute worst? You'll just have to wait and see...

10. SummerSlam 2007

summerslam poster
WWE

There's nothing like a tremendous picture of Triple H to remind WWE fans exactly what they're watching. In this case, SummerSlam 2007 marked HHH's return from his second torn quad, which forced him to miss much of that year's schedule. However, it's also misleading - in his comeback, "The Game" squashed King Booker in a midcard match, while the main event of the show (a then-fresh match between John Cena and Randy Orton) went unacknowledged.

To be fair, this art could very well have been hastily thrown together - after all, it wasn't the original poster for the event. The first one featured Umaga on the beach with the cast of Jackass buried up to their heads in the sand, but that was scrapped when Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, and the rest decided to pull out of a planned SummerSlam appearance following the Benoit murders/suicide.

Still, there's something kind of funny about seeing a massive picture of Triple H's face right next to the slogan "The Party Is Over." They might as well have just written "No More Fun."

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Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013