The WWE SummerSlam 2016 Card Fans Wanted (But Didn't Get)
You can't always get what you want...
The SummerSlam card that fans will bear witness to on Sunday, August 21 is entirely different from that of what fans wanted and expected months ago when the topic of the summertime spectacular started to be brought up.
Finn Balor and Seth Rollins will wage war over the newly-created WWE Universal Championship. Dean Ambrose will defend his WWE title against Dolph Ziggler. Brock Lesnar will headline what is turning into his signature event against Randy Orton and John Cena will battle AJ Styles in a PPV rubber match.
Those matches are a far cry from the ones fans dreamed up, speculated over and wanted to await them by the time they rolled into Brooklyn's Barclays Center for the epic event.
What were those matches and how would they have changed the face of SummerSlam, one of WWE's premiere presentations?
Take a look for yourself...
8. Sasha Banks Vs. WWE Women's Champion Charlotte
Fans will get to see Sasha Banks and Charlotte square off on one of the biggest stages known to professional wrestling but it will not be in the fashion most expected.
From the moment that Banks was screwed out of the WWE Women's Championship at WrestleMania 32, fans circled SummerSlam on the calendars as the moment The Boss would realise her girlhood dream of wearing gold on the main roster by beating her spoiled, second-generation rival.
The build was solid and the story one everyone could understand. All of the ingredients for a grand championship victory and celebration were in place.
That is, until the July 25 episode of Raw, where Banks unexpectedly defeated Charlotte to capture the title.
That's right, a title victory that had been months in the making was sacrificed for the sake of popping a rating and making an otherwise forgettable broadcast a little more meaningful.
Banks and Charlotte have undeniable in-ring chemistry and in many ways they are perfect opponents, their styles meshing and their characters providing fans with a dynamic that makes it easy to invest oneself in their story.
No matter how extraordinary their match may be in Brooklyn's Barclays Center, it will lack that emotional moment that would have ranked among Bret Hart's Intercontinental Championship victory in 1991, Brock Lesnar's coming of age in 2002 and Randy Orton's title tribute to his father and grandfather in 2004.