Ranking All 30 WWE SummerSlam Main Events
The summer classic has seen wide range of closing matches.
WWE’s summer classic is almost upon us, and as usual, the company is pulling out all the stops. SummerSlam has become the promotion’s summer WrestleMania, a major show where major angles culminate and big-money matches take place.
This year is no exception on paper, as you have Brock Lesnar facing Roman Reigns in what should be the end of their epic(?) feud, Ronda Rousey challenging for the Raw Women’s Championship, AJ Styles and Samoa Joe tangling for the WWE Championship, and Daniel Bryan finally getting his hands on The Miz in a rivalry that is long overdue for a match.
Of course, that doesn’t guarantee a blockbuster of a show, but it’s clear WWE views SummerSlam as a big deal. SummerSlam has produced some truly amazing matches throughout the years, and it’s given us some turkeys – and that range of match quality applies to the main events of each of the previous 30 summer PPVs. Some main events have bored fans to tears, while others have brought them to their feet.
Sometimes the strength of the PPV is measured by how good the main event is. A truly memorable last match can elevate fans’ and critics’ opinions of the event, while a forgettable bout can damage the PPV’s reputation.
With that said, let’s take a subjective look at the SummerSlam main events through the years and see how they stack up.
30. 1994 – Undertaker Vs. Underfaker
As a match, as a storyline and as a main event, this flopped – completely.
The backstory is that at the Royal Rumble that year, Yokozuna (and about 10 other wrestlers) beat Undertaker in a casket match. The casket started smoking, then 'Taker levitated into the heavens to be reborn. (No, seriously.) In the interim, Ted DiBiase debuted his Undertaker, who very clearly was not the Undertaker. At SummerSlam, the two collided.
The match was doomed from the start because it followed the excellent WWF title cage match between Bret and Owen Hart. Throw in that the two Undertakers spent a lot of the 10-minute match no-selling moves and you have a recipe to suck the oxygen out of the arena.
You know it’s a bad match when it’s never referenced again, except by fans when assembling “Worst of…” compilations.