12 Best WWE Title Changes At SummerSlam

4. WWE World Heavyweight Championship (2014): John Cena (c) Vs. Brock Lesnar

Randy Orton SummerSlam 2013
WWE.com

“It wasn’t even close.” – Michael Cole

This was an earth-shattering title change. Brock Lesnar absolutely mauled John Cena to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in 2014. 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 minute’s worth of offense. Despite the lack of blood, this match was equally gruesome – if not more so.

As a statement match, this was an exclamation point. Lesnar beat WWE’s Superman just four months after conquering the Undertaker’s “unbeatable” WrestleMania undefeated streak. Michael Cole’s 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.

Granted, Lesnar’s limited dates would lead to the world title disappearing from the scene for long periods of time. But it also would set in motion events that culminated in Roman Reigns winning the 2015 Royal Rumble and seemingly on course to win the title at WrestleMania XXXI, only to have Seth Rollins cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and win the title without pinning Brock.

Contributor
Contributor

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.