But how will the match stack up to previous SummerSlam main events? Sun Sport ranks every headline match from the 30-year history of SummerSlam.
10. Brock Lesnar v Roman Reigns v Braun Strowman v Samoa Joe – Fatal 4-Way for the Universal Championship – SummerSlam 2017
Multi-man matches are usually a poor substitute for proper storytelling and one-on-one rivalries – a trend that has reached epidemic levels in “New Era” WWE.
But this is gripping stuff from the opening bell, with Strowman tossing Brock around like he’s a cruiserweight.
Brock is stretchered off but returns to F-5 Roman and get the win like a true babyface hero.
How quickly things change.
9. Shawn Michaels v Vader – WWE Championship Match – SummerSlam 1996
Michaels bounces and flips around the The Mastodon, giving Vader the best match of his lacklustre WWE run.
A reminder of how lost WWE would have been without Michaels in 1996.
There’s weird booking though – Vader wins it twice, first by count out and them DQ, but the match is restarted both times. HBK hits a moonsault for the win.
It’s worth a watch to see Michaels – at the peak of his prima donna shenanigans – throw a tantrum mid-match when Vader is out of position for a top rope spot.
8. CM Punk v Jeff Hardy – TLC Match for the World Heavyweight Championship – SummerSlam 2009
A fun but wince-inducing match, thanks to some mega ladder bumps from Hardy.
Also far more interesting than John Cena v Randy Orton battling for the WWE title (again), which happened elsewhere on the card.
After Punk wins, the lights go out for a surprise Undertaker return and chokeslam on the new champ.
7. John Cena v Brock Lesnar – WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match – SummerSlam 2014
Cena haters got exactly what they wanted for years – the unrelenting destruction of the kiddie favourite and once invincible Cena.
Lesnar pummels Cena with 16 suplexes (this match is really the first inroad to Suplex City) for a stunning one-sided victory.
This came just months after Lesnar ended Undertaker’s ‘Mania streak – and he’s only been defeated twice since.
6. Brock Lesnar v Undertaker – SummerSlam 2015
Taker gets revenge on Brock breaking “the Streak” in this barnstorming brawl – a relentless back and forth complete with table spots and Taker’s weird laughing.
At 50 years old, the Deadman was still capable of having the best match of the night and plays it strangely heelish. Only a screwy finish ruins it.
The timekeeper rings the bell early, allowing Taker to hit a low blow before the match is restarted. He then renders Brock unconscious with the Hell’s Gate.
5. Triple H v The Rock v Kurt Angle – WWE Championship Match – SummerSlam 2000
Triple H knocks Angle senseless with a botched Pedigree on the announce table, forcing Trips and Rock to improvise the main event.
They put together a belting Attitude Era-style slobber knocker, before Angle returns to the action for the final minutes.
It shameless Attitude Era-style fun, though the idea of a wrestler with a serious concussion charging back into action would leave modern fans feeling queasy.
4. The Rock v Brock Lesnar – Undisputed Championship Match – SummerSlam 2002
One that’s as historically significant as it is exciting, with the alphas of two separate eras – the Attitude Era and Ruthless Aggression Era – colliding.
Fans are behind the rookie Lesnar to usurp the Hollywood turncoat, but it’s the last few minutes that make this match come alive.
Brock hits Rock with the F-5 to get the win and become Undisputed Champion.
3. John Cena v Daniel Bryan – WWE Championship Match – SummerSlam 2013
Bryan wrestles rings around Cena in a methodical, slow burner – and pins Cena clean for the title.
Guest ref Triple H turns heel post-match and Pedigrees Bryan – allowing Randy Orton to cash-in and steal the championship.
This begins the Authority vs Bryan storyline, leading to Bryan’s title win at Mania XXX and the greatest moment of the modern era.
2. Undertaker v Bret Hart – WWE Championship Match – SummerSlam 1997
There are two stories here: Bret systematically wears down Taker while tension builds between Bret and guest referee Shawn Michaels.
It erupts when Michaels swings a chair at Bret but clocks Taker, allowing Bret to win the title – setting up the Taker v HBK feud that ends with the first ever Hell in a Cell.
This match is irrefutable proof that Bret – at the height of his powers as WWE’s top heel here – was one of the all time great ring psychologists.
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1. Bret Hart v British Bulldog – Intercontinental Championship Match – SummerSlam 1992
Brothers in-law Bret and Bulldog slug it out in a technically brilliant master class.
It’s made all the more special by the surrounding spectacle – a wild crowd of 80,000 fans packed into Wembley Stadium.
Bret shows flashes of the heel character he’d play five years later, while Davey Boy is homecoming hero who refuses to quit.
Anyone who’s not welling-up as the family members hug and make up post-match has a heart (or hart) of stone.
SummerSlam takes place on Sunday August 19. See the history of the event on 30 Years of SummerSlam – out on DVD August 27.
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