Ranking All 29 WWE SummerSlam Main Events Ever
1. John Cena Vs. Daniel Bryan (2013)
Sometimes a match can truly make a new star. Daniel
Bryan was riding high as one-half of Team Hell No and had made a name for
himself in singles competition leading up to SummerSlam last year. When John
Cena chose Bryan as his opponent, fans knew they were going to see a really
good match, but what they got in addition was the kickoff to a feud between The
Authority and Bryan that persists to this day – even with Bryan on the shelf.
The match told an awesome story of Bryan’s ring prowess against Cena’s brute force, ending with what would become DB’s finishing move, the running knee smash (or Knee-Plus or Busaiku Knee Kick). Bryan’s celebration was the kind of true underdog reaching the mountaintop moment you don’t see often in a worked sport like pro wrestling, but in the midst of it, HHH would turn on Bryan. A quick Pedigree and MITB briefcase cash-in by Randy Orton and Bryan’s moment was ripped away.
Bryan’s long journey back to winning the WWE
Championship would take several twists and turns during the next eight months
(Daniel Wyatt, anyone?), but that WrestleMania XXX moment was born right here,
with Bryan winning a fantastic title match against WWE’s poster child and then
raging against the machine for the next half-year. Despite the detours, it’s a
great example of long-term storytelling that WWE would be smart to employ more
often.