SummerSlam: The WWE Show That Never Found Itself
- Thomas Hall
- 3 hours ago
- 5 min read
We are about two weeks away from SummerSlam and that is a rather exciting time for wrestling fans. It means we’re about to start the last push of big stories for the year and SummerSlam can often be... well it’s hard to describe really.
READ MORE: The Universal Language Of Wrestling
SummerSlam is... and that’s where we’re going today, as we look at what is honestly one of the hardest to define shows on the WWE calendar.
What Makes WWE SummerSlam Special?
Back in 1988, SummerSlam debuted as the final of the Big Four pay per views (close enough with the first Royal Rumble event being on TV but you get the idea). That put it in the same conversation with the biggest show of the year in WrestleMania, the team battle show in Survivor Series and the show focused on the namesake Royal Rumble. With all of those out of the way you have SummerSlam which is… and I don’t think anyone ever bothered to fill in that blank.
That’s something that absolutely fascinates me about SummerSlam: it’s kind of just a show. What is there about SummerSlam that makes it stand out? Honestly, nothing in particular. It takes place at or near the end of the summer, ranging anywhere from late July to late August. For years it was described as the second biggest WWE event of the year after WrestleMania, but the Royal Rumble has pretty clearly surpassed SummerSlam in that regard.
A History Of Unpredictable WWE SummerSlam Main Events
So what is it about SummerSlam that makes it stand out? Well in a way, it might be just how all over the place it is. Consider the show’s main events. Prior to this year’s two night edition, there have been 38 SummerSlams. While most of these shows have ended with a traditional one on one match for a World Title (about half of them), look at what else has headlined SummerSlam over the years.
To get them out of the way, the World Title match main events have taken place in:
a steel cage
matches with a special referee
multiple triple threats
fatal four way
Elimination Chamber
Hell in a Cell
TLC Match
Falls Count Anywhere Match
Last Man Standing Match
Tribal Combat
Bloodline Rules
Street Fight
Money in the Bank cash-ins
Heck one year the main event of the second biggest WWE show of the year was a match for the WCW World Title. That’s one heck of a list of stipulations, with multiple versions of them eventually being concepts that would headline their own pay per view events throughout the years.
In addition to that, we’ve had non-World Title main events in the forms of:
tag team matches
Intercontinental Championship matches
a handicap match
multiple grudge matches
No DQ Match
Elimination tag team match
Nothing on the show is really consistent, save for it being not very consistent. It’s almost to the point where a standard one on one World Title match is out of the norm for the show (the last time there was one that closed the show without Money In The Bank being involved: 2021). The show has gotten to the point where it’s kind of a random guess as to what you might get for a main event, but that was always the case, as the World Title didn’t headline the show until the third edition in 1990 (in a cage) and not again until the sixth edition 1993 (with the World Title change not coming until the tenth edition in 1997).
Sidenote: one of the things that hasn’t headlined SummerSlam? A women’s match. That’s pretty much the only thing the women of WWE haven’t done and the fact that you have to go that far down the list to find a box that hasn’t been checked is a pretty good sign for how far the women’s division has come.
Who Is Mr. SummerSlam?
Continuing the theme of the show not having an identity, let’s shift over to Mr. SummerSlam. Who in the world is that supposed to be? For WrestleMania you have Shawn Michaels as the namesake, the Undertaker with the unimaginable success, and Hulk Hogan as the reason the show was started. Hogan also put the Royal Rumble and Survivor Series on the map (close enough), but SummerSlam… not so much.
Really when you look at the first few years, the Ultimate Warrior was arguably a bigger focus of the show than Hogan.
Look at Warrior at the first five SummerSlams:
Year | Opponent(s) | Stipulation | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1988 | The Honky Tonk Man | WWF Intercontinental Championship Singles Match | Win |
|
1989 | Rick Rude | WWF Intercontinental Championship Singles Match | Win | Warrior regained the WWF Intercontinental Championship |
1990 | Rick Rude | WWF Championship Steel Cage Match | Win | Warrior retained the WWF Championship in his first (and only) successful world title defense on PPV |
1991 | The Triangle of Terror
| 3-on-2 Handicap Match (Hulk Hogan was Warrior's partner) | Win | Ultimate Warrior was let go by Vince McMahon immediately after this match |
1992 | Randy Savage | WWF Championship Singles Match | Win (Via Count-Out) | Savage retained the WWF Championship |
If that’s not ahead of Hogan, it’s pretty evenly tied with him, and certainly put quite a bit of spotlight on the Warrior.
The thing is, there really isn’t anyone who takes the ball and runs with it as the face of SummerSlam for a LONG time. The first person to headline five SummerSlams? John Cena, and that took 25 years into the event’s run. Brock Lesnar has the most main events in the show’s history, most of which were him smashing through various challengers to retain whatever title he held at the moment.
WWE SummerSlam's Identity Is Its Variety
And look at what you’re getting this year. The show is stretching to two nights for the first time and so far features a ladder match and a match inside the Cell. There’s also the standard assortment of title matches and a six man tag, with the real possibility that the Cell could headline over one of the World Title matches.
In other words, this year’s show is turning into a perfect microcosm of SummerSlam as a whole. It’s a big mixture of stuff with multiple possibilities for what might headline either night. That fits perfectly well as SummerSlam is on the verge of turning 40 years old and has yet to really find its identity. The interesting thing is that very well might be its identity, as it has to start from scratch every year and has managed to stay relevant over the decades. That is incredibly impressive and hopefully it gets to stay this way, as there is something fun about having no idea what you might see at the Biggest Party Of The Summer.