SummerSlam (2023)
SummerSlam | |||
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![]() Promotional poster featuring Roman Reigns, Jey Uso, and various WWE wrestlers | |||
Promotion | WWE | ||
Brand(s) | Raw SmackDown | ||
Date | August 5, 2023 | ||
City | Detroit, Michigan | ||
Venue | Ford Field | ||
Attendance |
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WWE Network event chronology | |||
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SummerSlam chronology | |||
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The 2023 SummerSlam was the 36th annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place on Saturday, August 5, 2023, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, returning the event to its traditional August slot after the previous year's event was held in July. This was the first SummerSlam to be livestreamed on Binge in Australia. It also marked the first time a WWE event was held at Ford Field since WrestleMania 23 in April 2007, and the first SummerSlam to be held in Michigan since the 1993 event.
Nine matches were contested at the event, with four promoted as main event matches. In the final match of the night, which was one of SmackDown's two main matches, Roman Reigns defeated Jey Uso in Tribal Combat to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and recognition of Tribal Chief of the Anoa'i family. For SmackDown's other main match, Bianca Belair defeated defending champion Asuka and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat match to win the WWE Women's Championship, after which, Iyo Sky cashed in her Money in the Bank contract and defeated Belair to win the title. For Raw's two main matches, Seth "Freakin" Rollins defeated Finn Bálor to retain the World Heavyweight Championship and Cody Rhodes defeated Brock Lesnar. In other prominent matches, Gunther defeated Drew McIntyre to retain Raw's Intercontinental Championship, and in the opening bout, Logan Paul defeated Ricochet.
According to WWE, this was the highest-grossing SummerSlam of all time, as well as the company's highest-grossing event outside of WrestleMania. The event also had an attendance of 51,477. This number has been disputed, with an actual paid attendance of 51,477, but still giving it the second-largest crowd in SummerSlam history, after the 1992 event.
Production
Background
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/05/Detroit_December_2015_09_%28Ford_Field%29.jpg/220px-Detroit_December_2015_09_%28Ford_Field%29.jpg)
SummerSlam is an annual professional wrestling event traditionally held in August by WWE since 1988. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer",[2] it is one of the promotion's five biggest events of the year, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, Survivor Series, and Money in the Bank, referred to as the "Big Five".[3][4] Out of the five, it is considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania.[5][6]
Announced on February 7, 2023, the 36th SummerSlam was scheduled to be held on Saturday, August 5, 2023, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan,[7] returning SummerSlam to its traditional August slot after the previous year was held in July.[8] This also marked WWE's first event to be held at Ford Field since WrestleMania 23 in April 2007,[9] and the first SummerSlam to be held in Michigan since the 1993 event.[10] The event featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions, and in addition to airing on pay-per-view worldwide and the livestreaming services Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in most international markets,[7] it was also the first SummerSlam to livestream on Binge in Australia after the Australian version of the WWE Network merged under Foxtel's channel Binge in January.[11] Detroit area native, musician, and WWE Hall of Famer Kid Rock did the cold open for the event.[12]
Tickets went on sale on April 14. Pre-sale opened the previous day, with a reported 25,000–30,000 tickets sold.[13] By July 28, a reported 45,971 tickets had been sold.[14]
From January 2023, there had been speculation that WWE had been placed up for sale.[15] Hours before WrestleMania 39 Night 2 began, CNBC reported via multiple sources that a deal between WWE and Endeavor, the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) via Zuffa, was imminent. The deal involved a merger of WWE with the UFC into a new publicly traded company, with Endeavor holding a 51% stake.[16] The sale was confirmed the next day on April 3, 2023, with the merger to be finalized by the second half of the year. The 2023 SummerSlam was in turn the first SummerSlam held in which WWE was not owned by the McMahon family.[17]
SummerSlam took place on the same night as the boxing match between Jake Paul and Nate Diaz in Dallas, Texas. To support his brother, Logan Paul requested, and was granted, the opening spot on the show’s card so that he could make the two-hour flight in order to accompany his brother for his boxing match.[18]
Storylines
The event included matches that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands,[19][20] while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.[21]
On the Raw after WrestleMania 39, for unknown reasons, Brock Lesnar viciously attacked Cody Rhodes before both were set to participate in a tag team match.[22] This resulted in a match at Backlash that Rhodes won.[23] A rematch occurred at Night of Champions, which Lesnar won via submission die to Rhodes passing out to the Kimura Lock submission.[24] Due to Rhodes and Lesnar having 1 win each, and the fact that Rhodes passed out and did not give up, Rhodes issued an open challenge to Lesnar for anytime, anywhere on the following episode of Raw.[25] Lesnar returned on the July 3 episode, where he brawled with Rhodes.[26] The following week, Rhodes challenged Lesnar to a third match at SummerSlam.[27] After viciously attacking Rhodes on the next episode, Lesnar accepted the challenge.[28]
At Money in the Bank, Seth "Freakin" Rollins successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Finn Bálor after Judgment Day stablemate, Damian Priest, who had won the men's Money in the Bank ladder match earlier that night, accidentally distracted Bálor.[29] On the following episode of Raw, in a match between Rollins and Judgment Day's "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio, Priest attacked Rollins, thus Rollins won by disqualification. As Priest attempted to cash in his Money in the Bank contract, Bálor appeared and attacked Rollins, costing Priest his opportunity, which caused some disagreement between Bálor and Priest.[26] The following week, arguments between Bálor and Priest intensified, however, both Bálor and Priest agreed that Bálor should receive a title match first. Later, The Judgment Day defeated Rollins' team in a six-man tag team match.[27] On the July 17 episode, Bálor challenged Rollins to a rematch for the title, however, Rollins declined and stated that they could settle their differences that night without the title as both had issues with each other. As Bálor seemingly left, he viciously attacked Rollins. A match between the two for the World Heavyweight Championship was then scheduled for SummerSlam.[28]
At Night of Champions, Asuka defeated Bianca Belair to win the Raw Women's Championship.[24] As a result of the 2023 WWE Draft, the title was drafted to SmackDown and on the June 9 episode of SmackDown, Asuka was presented with a new championship belt to resolve the issue, and the title reverted to its original name of WWE Women's Championship. Prior to the presentation, WWE official Adam Pearce requested Belair not to interrupt, who stated that she wanted a rematch for the title. However, Charlotte Flair, in her first appearance since Night 1 of WrestleMania 39, interrupted and challenged Asuka for the title. Asuka accepted, much to the dismay of Belair.[30] The title match was scheduled for the June 30 episode. Belair watched as a fan from ringside where Flair accidentally struck Belair. This infuriated Belair, who attacked Asuka, ending the match in a disqualification win for Asuka. Following the match, Belair attacked Asuka and Flair.[31] On the next episode, a brawl between the three occurred, which also involved Damage CTRL (Bayley and women's Money in the Bank winner Iyo Sky), with an unsuccessful cash-in attempt from Sky.[32] A title match between Asuka and Belair was scheduled for the July 14 episode. Before the match, Belair and Flair agreed that if Belair won, she would defend the title against Flair at SummerSlam. During the match, however, Flair accidentally struck Belair once again after Damage CTRL once again tried to interfere. As a result of Flair's actions, Belair won the match by disqualification but not the title.[33] On July 21, a triple threat match between Asuka, Belair, and Flair for the WWE Women's Championship was scheduled for SummerSlam.[34]
At Night of Champions during The Bloodline's (Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa) match for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) interfered and unintentionally struck Sikoa. After an irate Reigns shoved both Usos around, Jimmy attacked Reigns out of pent up anger after weeks of disrespect from Reigns, thus leaving The Bloodline, and Reigns and Sikoa would ultimately lose the match.[24] Jey would also leave The Bloodline on the June 16 episode of SmackDown, where he attacked Reigns and Sikoa, choosing to stand by his brother Jimmy's side.[35] This led to a "Bloodline Civil War" tag team match at Money in the Bank, where The Usos defeated Reigns and Sikoa with Jey pinning Reigns, which was the first time Reigns was pinned since TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in December 2019.[29] On the following SmackDown, a trial for Reigns was held where Reigns feigned that he did not want to be the Tribal Chief any longer and attacked Jey with a low blow. Sikoa and Reigns brutally attacked Jimmy, who was taken to a hospital. Later that night, Jey viciously attacked Reigns and Sikoa with a steel chair before challenging Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship.[32] The following week, Jey spoke about his family's relationship with one another before he was interrupted by Sikoa and Reigns' special counsel Paul Heyman, who stated that Reigns would meet Jey the following week to discuss the "rules of engagement".[33] The following week, during the "rules of engagement", it was agreed that Reigns would defend the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Jey in an anything goes match called Tribal Combat, where in addition to the title, the winner would be recognized as the Tribal Chief of the Anoa'i family.[36] This goes back to the early days of Reigns' Universal Championship reign, where he defeated Jey in a Hell in a Cell "I Quit" match in October 2020,[37] and forced Jey to acknowledge him as the "Head of the Table".[38]
At the Royal Rumble in January, Logan Paul and Ricochet were participants in the men's Royal Rumble match. During the match, both were involved in a high spot in which they performed simultaneous springboard clotheslines at each other from opposite sides of the ring and collided in midair, which went viral across social media.[39] In June 2023, issues resurfaced between Ricochet and Paul and resumed after Paul was added to the men's Money in the Bank ladder match without qualifying like the other participants, including Ricochet.[40] During the match, the two brawled with each other, where Ricochet performed a springboard Spanish fly on Paul through two tables outside the ring, taking both out for the remainder of the match.[29] Later in a backstage segment, Paul attacked Ricochet for costing him a title opportunity.[41] Ricochet then invited Paul to meet him face-to-face on the July 10 episode of Raw where he challenged Paul to a match only for Paul to decline.[27] Paul once again accepted Ricochet's invitation to meet him on the July 24 episode where Paul attacked Ricochet from behind and then accepted his challenge to a match at SummerSlam.[42]
On Night 2 of WrestleMania 39, Gunther successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship in a triple threat match, which also involved Drew McIntyre, who Gunther pinned to retain the title.[43] Following this, McIntyre went on hiatus for the next three months. After Gunther successfully defended his championship at Money in the Bank, McIntyre made a surprise return and brawled with Gunther. McIntyre then taunted Gunther with the title.[29] McIntyre then started a rivalry with Imperium (Gunther, Ludwig Kaiser, and Giovanni Vinci) over the next few weeks, including defeating Kaiser and Vinci in a tag team match on the July 10 episode of Raw.[27] The following week, after Gunther's match, Gunther called out McIntyre and challenged him with a face-to-face segment scheduled for the next episode.[28] On the next episode, McIntyre challenged Gunther to a match for his championship that night, however, Gunther declined, stating that he would defend it against McIntyre at SummerSlam, which was made official.[42]
At Money in the Bank, Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler lost the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship after Baszler turned on Rousey.[29] On the following episode of Raw, Rousey called out Baszler, who claimed that she was responsible for bringing Rousey into WWE, and while she had to work her way through the WWE system, beginning in NXT, Rousey skipped the process and competed in her debut match at WrestleMania 34. Baszler then claimed that she was the one who could finally shut Rousey up, after which, Rousey and Baszler brawled with each other.[26] and once again brawled the following week.[27] On the July 17 episode, Baszler challenged Rousey to come to the ring, however, Rousey declined, and stated that she would fight Baszler at SummerSlam.[28] The following week, both agreed to a match at SummerSlam,[42] which was later confirmed.[44] On the final Raw before SummerSlam, it was announced that the match would be a Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Rules match.[45]
On the July 28 episode of SmackDown, it was announced that in a cross-promotion with Slim Jim, a SummerSlam Battle Royal would take place at the event and would feature male wrestlers from both Raw and SmackDown. After an argument between Sheamus and LA Knight, WWE official Adam Pearce named the two as the first entrants.[46]
Event
Role: | Name: |
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English commentators | Michael Cole |
Corey Graves | |
Spanish commentators | Marcelo Rodriguez |
Jerry Soto | |
Ring announcers | Mike Rome (SmackDown) |
Samantha Irvin (Raw) | |
Referees | Danilo Anfibio |
Jason Ayers | |
Shawn Bennett | |
Jessika Carr | |
Dan Engler | |
Daphne Lashaunn | |
Eddie Orengo | |
Chad Patton | |
Rod Zapata | |
Interviewer | Cathy Kelley |
Pre-show panel | Kayla Braxton |
Jackie Redmond | |
Peter Rosenberg | |
Booker T | |
Wade Barrett |
Preliminary matches
Main event
Reception
During the SummerSlam post-event press conference, WWE executive Triple H revealed that the 2023 event was the highest-grossing SummerSlam event of all time, as well as the highest-grossing event outside of WrestleMania. WWE also reported an attendance of 59,194.[47] This number has been disputed, with a reported actual attendance of 51,477.[1] Despite the dispute, this gives it the second-largest crowd in SummerSlam history, after the 1992 event, which had a reported attendance of 80,355 (although its actual attendance was 78,927, but still the largest).[48]
Aftermath
Raw
Cody Rhodes opened the following episode of Raw and stated that he respected Lesnar after his gesture following their match at SummerSlam. Rhodes spoke about finishing his story and that he could beat anyone. This prompted World Heavyweight Champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins to come out and challenge Rhodes. The Judgment Day then came out and confronted the two. Bálor attacked Rollins, which led to one-half of the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions, Sami Zayn, coming out for the save. Rhodes, Rollins, and Zayn then challenged Judgment Day to a six-man tag team. Later on, however, Zayn was attacked by JD McDonagh and was deemed unable to compete. Shinsuke Nakamura then offered to join Rhodes and Rollins in their match and he, Rollins, and Rhodes defeated Judgment Day. Following the match, Nakamura attacked Rollins, turning heel for the first time since 2021.[49]
SmackDown
SmackDown opened with a one-on-one match between Charlotte Flair and former WWE Women's Champion, Asuka, following their loss against Bianca Belair in the Triple Threat match for the title at SummerSlam. During the match, Damage CTRL appeared and the new Women's Champion, Iyo Sky (who had cashed in her Money in the Bank contract on Belair) proceeded to attack Flair and Asuka, thus ending the match in a disqualification. Sky and Bayley continued to attack Flair and Asuka while Dakota Kai reminded the crowd who their new Women's Champion is.[50]
As SmackDown was reaching its conclusion, Roman Reigns wanted to thank Jimmy Uso for helping him retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and his Tribal Chief status against Jey Uso by betraying his twin brother. To show appreciation to Jimmy, he offered him anything he would want. However, Jimmy rejected the offer and explained that his actions at SummerSlam had nothing to do with Reigns. Jey Uso comes out and demands an explanation as to why Jimmy betrayed him. Jimmy explains that he was afraid that he would lose Jey if he won the title, further highlighting how the title would corrupt him just as it has corrupted Reigns. Jey turned his back on Jimmy, prompting the latter to leave the ring. Reigns proceeded to mock Jey for being emotional, which led to him attacking Reigns and Solo Sikoa in retaliation. Just as Jey was about to forgive Jimmy, he attacked his twin with a Superkick for his betrayal. He then declared that he was quitting WWE following the mess within the Bloodline.[50]
Results
- ^ Order of elimination: Apollo Crews, JD McDonagh, Rick Boogs, Otis, Ivar, Erik, Shinsuke Nakamura, Tommaso Ciampa, Cameron Grimes, Austin Theory, Santos Escobar, Giovanni Vinci, Ludwig Kaiser, Ridge Holland, Butch, Matt Riddle, Omos, The Miz, Grayson Waller, Karrion Kross, Chad Gable, Bronson Reed, AJ Styles, and Sheamus.
References
- ^ a b PWMania.com Staff (August 6, 2023). "WWE SummerSlam Attendance Update, Triple H Reveals More Records With Saturday's PLE". PWMania. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
According to WrestleTix, a total of 51,477 tickets were distributed.
- ^ Dee, Louie (May 17, 2006). "Let the Party Begin". WWE. Archived from the original on November 16, 2006. Retrieved May 12, 2008.
- ^ Hamilton, Ian. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition. p. 160.
- ^ News 3 Staff (August 22, 2021). "Las Vegas to host WWE's Money in the Bank in 2022". KSNV. Archived from the original on August 23, 2021. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Paddock, Matty (August 21, 2017). "WWE SummerSlam results: Brock Lesnar and Jinder Mahal survive as Finn Balor defeats Bray Wyatt". Independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
{{cite web}}
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- ^ a b Barnett, Jake (July 7, 2023). "WWE Friday Night Smackdown results (7/7): Barnett's review of the Trial of Roman Reigns, Austin Theory vs. Sheamus for the U.S. Title, Edge on The Grayson Waller Effect, AJ Styles vs. Karrion Kross". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on July 8, 2023. Retrieved July 7, 2023.
- ^ a b Barnett, Jake (July 14, 2023). "WWE Friday Night Smackdown results (7/14): Barnett's review of Asuka vs. Bianca Belair for the WWE Women's Championship, AJ Styles vs. Santos Escobar vs. Grayson Waller vs. Butch in a U.S. Title Invitational four-way". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on July 15, 2023. Retrieved July 14, 2023.
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- ^ Powell, Jason (April 2, 2023). "WrestleMania 39 results: Powell's live review of night two with Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, Bianca Belair vs. Asuka for the Raw Women's Title, Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus for the Intercontinental Title, Edge vs. Finn Balor in Hell in a Cell, Brock Lesnar vs. Omos". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 9, 2023. Retrieved April 2, 2023.
- ^ WWE [@SummerSlam] (July 27, 2023). "BREAKING: Former friends, allies, and WWE Women's Tag Team Champions @RondaRousey and @QoSBaszler will battle at #SummerSlam.🎟️ TICKETS: https://ticketmaster.com/event/08005E87913B1AA4" (Tweet). Archived from the original on July 29, 2023. Retrieved July 27, 2023 – via Twitter.
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- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (July 28, 2023). "SummerSlam Battle Royal Presented By Slim Jim Added To WWE SummerSlam". Fightful. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
- ^ Defelice, Robert (August 6, 2023). "SummerSlam Makes History, Fallout Videos, Asuka Comments On What's Next For Her | Fight Size". Fightful. Retrieved August 6, 2023.
- ^ Observer Staff (April 24, 2014). "Apr 14 2014 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Most newsworthy week in years, WrestleMania, Hall of Fame, post-Mania Raw, death of Ultimate Warrior, so much more". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved April 5, 2020.
93,173 (WrestleMania III), 80,676 (WM 29), 80,355 (SummerSlam 1992 at Wembley Stadium) and 80,103 (WM 23). The real numbers for those shows were 78,000, 72,000, 78,927 and 74,287.
- ^ Powell, Jason (August 7, 2023). "WWE Raw results (8/7): Powell's live review of the SummerSlam fallout edition". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
- ^ a b Barnett, Jake (August 11, 2023). "WWE Friday Night Smackdown results (8/11): Barnett's review of Jimmy Uso's "Hail to the Chief" segment, Asuka vs. Charlotte Flair, Austin Theory vs. Santos Escobar for the U.S. Title, AJ Styles vs. Karrion Kross". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 12, 2023.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i WWE.com Staff (August 5, 2023). "Jimmy Uso betrays Jey Uso to hand Roman Reigns a Tribal Combat victory at SummerSlam". WWE. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
- ^ Powell, Jason (August 5, 2023). "WWE SummerSlam results: Powell's review of Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso in Tribal Combat for the Undisputed WWE Universal Title, Asuka vs. Bianca Belair vs. Charlotte Flair for the WWE Women's Title, Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor for the World Heavyweight Title, Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 5, 2023.