SummerSlam (2018)

The 2018 SummerSlam was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was the 31st annual SummerSlam and took place on August 19, 2018, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for the fourth and final consecutive year, held for wrestlers from the promotions Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brand divisions.

Thirteen matches were contested at the event, including three on the Kickoff pre-show. Nine matches, including two on the Kickoff pre-show, were championship matches. In the main event, Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar to win Raw's Universal Championship, ending Lesnar's 504-day reign (although WWE officially recognizes it as 503 days). In the penultimate match, Ronda Rousey defeated Alexa Bliss to win the Raw Women's Championship, becoming the first woman to win a women's championship in both the Ultimate Fighting Championship and WWE. In other prominent matches, The Miz defeated Daniel Bryan, Samoa Joe defeated SmackDown's WWE Champion AJ Styles by disqualification (thus did not win the championship), and in the opening bout, Seth Rollins defeated Dolph Ziggler to regain Raw's Intercontinental Championship. The event was also the first SummerSlam not to feature John Cena since 2003.

Production

Background

SummerSlam is an annual professional wrestling event produced every August by WWE since 1988. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views (PPV), along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". It has since become considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. Announced on August 14, 2017, the 2018 event was the 31st SummerSlam and was scheduled to be held on August 19, 2018, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for the fourth consecutive year. It featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brand divisions. The event aired on pay-per-view worldwide and was livestreamed on the WWE Network. Tickets went on sale on February 2 through Ticketmaster.

Storylines

The event comprised 13 matches, including three on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands, with storylines produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live, and the cruiserweight-exclusive 205 Live.

Raw

As Universal Champion Brock Lesnar refused to defend the title at Extreme Rules, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle gave him an ultimatum: defend the title or be stripped of it. On the Raw after Extreme Rules, Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman agreed that Lesnar would defend the title at SummerSlam. Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins, Elias, Finn Bálor, and Roman Reigns all wanted an opportunity. In response, Angle scheduled two triple threat matches that night, with the winners facing each other the following week to determine Lesnar's challenger. Reigns won the first triple threat match over Bálor and McIntyre, while Lashley won the second over Elias and Rollins. The following week, Reigns defeated Lashley. Lesnar and Heyman then faked a break up before ambushing Reigns on the final Raw before SummerSlam.

After retaining her title against Nia Jax at Extreme Rules in an Extreme Rules match, Raw Women's Champion Alexa Bliss gloated that she had beaten every woman on the Raw roster. Ronda Rousey, whom she had cost a championship match at Money in the Bank and who had been suspended, came out from the crowd and attacked Bliss and Mickie James. Raw General Manager Kurt Angle extended Rousey's suspension for another week, and also awarded her a title match at SummerSlam, provided that she would not break her suspension again.

At Extreme Rules, Kevin Owens defeated Braun Strowman in a Steel Cage match after Strowman threw Owens from the top of the cage onto the broadcast table. On the July 23 episode of Raw, Owens vowed to take everything away from Strowman. A rematch was scheduled for SummerSlam with a stipulation that if Owens won, even by disqualification or countout, he would win Strowman's Money in the Bank contract.

At Extreme Rules, Dolph Ziggler defeated Seth Rollins 5–4 in sudden death overtime of a 30-minute Iron Man match to retain the Intercontinental Championship, thanks to interference from Ziggler's tag team partner, Drew McIntyre. On the July 23 episode of Raw, a rematch between Ziggler and Rollins for the title was scheduled for SummerSlam with McIntyre in Ziggler's corner. During the contract signing on the August 13 episode, Dean Ambrose returned from injury, confirming he would be in Rollins' corner.

At Extreme Rules, Finn Bálor defeated Baron Corbin. A few weeks later, a rematch between the two was scheduled, with Corbin defeating Bálor. The following week, another match between the two was scheduled for SummerSlam.

On the August 13 episode of Raw, The B-Team (Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel) retained the Raw Tag Team Championship in a triple threat tag team match against Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt and The Revival (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) when they pinned Wyatt. Afterwards, The B-Team was scheduled to defend the championship against The Revival on the SummerSlam Kickoff pre-show.

SmackDown

On the July 24 episode of SmackDown, SmackDown General Manager Paige was about to reveal AJ Styles's opponent for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam when James Ellsworth tried to claim the contendership. Paige fired him and saw him being kicked out of the building, when Samoa Joe attacked Styles with the "Coquina Clutch" and then signed the contract.

On July 21, Paige scheduled a tag team title tournament with the winning team earning the right to challenge The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam. The tournament began on the July 24 episode of SmackDown with The New Day (represented by Big E and Xavier Woods) and Cesaro and Sheamus advancing to the finals by defeating SAnitY (Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain) and The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso), respectively. The New Day (represented by Big E and Kingston) then defeated Cesaro and Sheamus in the finals to face The Bludgeon Brothers for the titles at SummerSlam.

On the July 24 episode of SmackDown, Becky Lynch defeated SmackDown Women's Champion Carmella in a non-title match to earn the right to challenge for the title at SummerSlam. The following week, Charlotte Flair returned and saved Lynch from an attack by Carmella. The same night, Flair defeated Carmella and was subsequently added to the title match, making it a triple threat match.

At Extreme Rules, Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Jeff Hardy to capture the United States Championship after a pre-match low blow. A rematch between the two for the title was scheduled for the following SmackDown which Hardy won by disqualification after he was attacked by Randy Orton. On August 3, another match between the two for the title was scheduled for SummerSlam.

In the first season of NXT in 2010, The Miz served as the "WWE Pro" of "NXT Rookie" Daniel Bryan. Throughout the season, Miz constantly berated Bryan, claiming he was not WWE material and expressing his displeasure at Bryan being his Rookie. The feeling was mutual as Bryan regularly alluded to the fact that he had been wrestling longer than Miz, stating that he should be the Pro and Miz should be the Rookie. On the May 11 episode of NXT, Bryan was eliminated from the show. The following week after his elimination, Bryan attacked The Miz and Michael Cole on NXT. The two would then feud over the United States Championship, which Bryan won from Miz at Night of Champions. Six years later, on the August 23, 2016, episode of Talking Smack, Bryan (then General Manager of SmackDown) got into a verbal altercation with The Miz, which consisted of Bryan criticizing Miz's wrestling ability and "safe style" of wrestling. The Miz responded by going on a rant about Bryan being unable to return to in-ring competition due to the various injuries he had sustained throughout his WWE career. From this point forward, Bryan and Miz had sporadic interactions for over a year. On March 20, 2018, Bryan was medically cleared to return to in-ring competition by doctors, after which he resumed his feud with The Miz. On the July 31 episode of SmackDown, Bryan challenged Miz to a match at SummerSlam. Miz initially declined the match, stating that he has always been above Bryan going back to NXT season one, and recommended that Bryan return to the independent circuit once his WWE contract expired. However, the following week, The Miz accepted Bryan's SummerSlam challenge.

On the July 24 episode of SmackDown, Andrade "Cien" Almas defeated Rusev. The following week, Zelina Vega defeated Lana. A rematch between Vega and Lana was scheduled the following week, with Vega winning again. On August 11, a mixed tag team match between Rusev and Lana and Almas and Vega was scheduled for SummerSlam Kickoff pre-show.

205 Live

On the July 24 episode of 205 Live, Drew Gulak earned the right to challenge Cedric Alexander for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship by winning a fatal four-way match. On July 30, the match between Alexander and Gulak for the title was scheduled for SummerSlam. Brian Kendrick and Gentleman Jack Gallagher were banned from ringside for the match.