5. WWE World Heavyweight Championship (2014): John Cena (c) vs. Brock Lesnar
It wasnt even close. Michael Cole Time will tell where this ranks in terms of the best SummerSlam title changes, but it was earth-shattering in the here and now. Brock Lesnar absolutely mauled John Cena to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. During the course of the 16-minute match, Lesnar hit Cena with two F-5s and 16 German suplexes, while Cena barely managed more than a minutes worth of offense. Despite the lack of blood from their previous encounter at Extreme Rules 2012, this match was equally gruesome if not more so. As a statement match, this was an exclamation point. Lesnar beat WWEs Superman just four months after conquering the Undertakers unbeatable WrestleMania undefeated streak. Michael Coles quote was frighteningly accurate. Aside from a brief flurry in the middle of the match where Cena hit an Attitude Adjustment, at no point did Cena come close to winning, much less give his fans any hope. But what remains to be seen is how this plays out during the next few weeks and months. Does Cena come back and start running over challengers en route to getting his win back and a 16th world title? Does Brock disappear with the title for the next three months? Weve seen WWE go with a part-time world champ before, and it wasnt too well received, but at least The Rock wrestled on three straight PPVs and showed up for several episodes of Raw. Will Lesnars deal allow him to make consistent enough appearances? Imagine if the WWE World Heavyweight Championship isnt defended at Night of Champions, where every title supposedly is up for grabs. Nonetheless, Sunday nights main event title change was way up there, and history may have it land even higher.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
