Ranking All 30 WWE SummerSlam Main Events

22. 2016 – Lesnar Vs. Orton

brock lesnar john cena summerslam 2014
WWE.com

What a weird match this turned out to be.

While a match between Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton sounded like a good one on paper that had some history (Lesnar defeated Orton in all their dark and televised matches during their debut year in 2002), this one came out of nowhere. Orton was simply announced as Lesnar’s SummerSlam opponent, and then they backfilled the rivalry.

The match didn’t really click, but it would take a bigger nosedive with how it ended. Lesnar mounted Orton and began pummeling him, busting him wide open. Randy gushed blood – a sight very rarely seen on WWE TV these days – and the match was basically ended right there. It apparently was ruled a TKO, with Orton unable to continue.

SmackDown GM Shane McMahon came out to complain, and he was given an F-5 for his troubles. And then, there was no real follow-up to the match. Orton and Lesnar had a house show match a month later, but that was it. There was no televised bout showing the Viper trying to avenge the brutal loss.

Just a complete downer of a PPV main event.

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.