WWE's 15 Hottest Stars Of The Summer Since 2001

There is little question that the summer season for WWE tends to be their most prosperous period in pretty much every sense.

Ratings aren't exactly through the roof, mind you, but at least they aren't competing with football and other sports for numbers. No, it's in the in-ring product itself that is almost always at its peak, even more so than the road to WrestleMania.

As this current summer season has proven, just about anything can happen in the sweltering months of June, July, and August. In fact, there seems to be a major angle of some sort every summer, whether it be the crowning of new champions, unpredictable face/heel turns, or even rowdy rebels airing their grievances on live television.

That said, there tends to be at least one superstar in particular that breaks out during this time every year and begins to build momentum toward SummerSlam. Whether WWE capitalizes on that up-and-coming athlete's buzz is another story, but among everyone who is hungry to make an impact en route to the biggest party of the summer, that one star will rise above the rest and stand out from the pack thanks to their immense popularity with the audience.

Just as Finn Bálor has quickly caught the attention of everyone in the WWE Universe since arriving on the scene in late July, these 15 men (and women) from the past decade and a half have earned the right to call themselves the boys (and girls) of the summer.

The year of 2001 is widely remembered by WWE fans for its botched Invasion angle, but lest we forget, the storyline wasn't entirely atrocious. Sure, WCW was made to look inferior to WWE at almost every turn, but a few stars were born out of it, including one Kurt Angle.

Angle had already solidified himself as a star having had an extremely impressive rookie year in WWE, but he had yet to break out as the babyface he was destined to be. As excellent a heel as Angle was, he had far too much charisma to remain on that side of the coin for long, and when he started feuding against The Alliance, the fans got behind him in a major way.

Angle rode a wave of momentum into SummerSlam where he and Stone Cold Steve Austin contested a fantastic match over the WWE Championship. Although he technically emerged victorious, it was via disqualification, and thus he didn't capture the championship. At any rate, he went on to win the belt in his native Pittsburgh the very next month, capping off what was a stellar summer for the Olympic Gold Medalist.