SummerSlam (2014)

SummerSlam (2014)

Promotional poster featuring John Cena and Brock Lesnar
Theme
song(s)		 "Sunshine" by Teddybears ft. Malte Holmberg and Natalie Storm
"GDFR" by Flo Rida ft. Sage the Gemini and Lookas
"Lights Go Out" by Fozzy
Information
Promotion WWE
Sponsor(s) Totino's Bold
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
Diet Mountain Dew
Date August 17, 2014
Attendance 14,079[1]
Venue Staples Center
City Los Angeles, California
WWE Network event chronology

Battleground (2014) SummerSlam (2014) NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way
SummerSlam chronology

SummerSlam (2013) SummerSlam (2014) SummerSlam (2015)

SummerSlam (2014) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on August 17, 2014 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California.[2] It was the twenty-seventh annual SummerSlam, and the sixth and final consecutive one held at Staples Center. This was also the first WWE pay-per-view to use the new WWE logo but it not used on air and on the turnbuckle pads until the next night on WWE Raw. This was the last WWE pay-per-view to feature the championships with the scratch logo.

Eight professional wrestling matches were scheduled on the event's main card and one match took place on the pre-show, which was streamed on the WWE Network. The main event saw Brock Lesnar defeat John Cena to become a four-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The event had 147,000 buys (excluding WWE Network views), down from the previous year's 296,000 buys.[3]

Background

The professional wrestling matches at SummerSlam featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, WWE. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown.[4][5]

At Payback, Brie Bella quit WWE after her husband Daniel Bryan was given an ultimatum by the principal owner of WWE Stephanie McMahon to either forfeit the WWE World Heavyweight Championship or have Brie fired. Brie decided to quit and slapped Stephanie in the face. Following that incident, McMahon would repeatedly put Brie's twin sister Nikki Bella in matches which invariably ended with Nikki being beaten down. On the July 21 episode of Raw, Brie returned to the WWE as a fan in the audience to support her sister, but was slapped in the face by McMahon, who came to ringside to confront her. Later in the same episode, Stephanie was arrested by the police for assault and battery, due to Brie not being part of the WWE roster.[6] On the July 28 episode of Raw, Brie confronted Stephanie and said that she would drop the charges as long as Stephanie rehired her and accepted her challenge to a match at SummerSlam, which Stephanie accepted.[7] On the August 11 episode of Raw, Stephanie brought in Megan Miller, Bryan's physical therapist, who confessed to having an affair with her client. An infuriated Brie stormed into the ring and slapped Megan before attacking Stephanie. Later on the show, Brie was arrested by the police after Stephanie revealed that Megan was pressing charges against her.[8][9]

At Battleground, AJ Lee defeated Paige to retain the WWE Divas Championship. On the July 21 edition of Raw, Paige attacked AJ after they defeated Emma and Natalya.[6] On the July 28 edition of Raw, AJ confronted and attacked Paige.[7] On the August 1 edition of Smackdown, after AJ defeated Rosa Mendes, Paige attacked AJ and threw her off the stage ramp, resulting in AJ suffering a whiplash injury.[10] On August 4, it was announced on WWE.com that AJ would defend the title against Paige at SummerSlam.

On the June 30 episode of Raw, Chris Jericho made his unexpected return to the WWE, only to be attacked by The Wyatt Family. This led to a match at Battleground, where Jericho defeated Bray Wyatt. On the July 21 episode of Raw, Jericho was to have Wyatt on his Highlight Reel show, but the Wyatt Family attacked Jericho in the locker room.[6] On the July 28 episode of Raw, Triple H made the official announcement of the Wyatt-Jericho rematch at SummerSlam.[7] On the August 1 edition of SmackDown, Jericho defeated Erick Rowan, banning Rowan from ringside during the match at SummerSlam as per match stipulation.[10] On the August 4 edition of Raw, Jericho defeated Luke Harper by disqualification due to interference by Wyatt, causing Harper to be banned from ringside.[11]

At Battleground, John Cena defeated Randy Orton, Kane, and Roman Reigns to retain the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The following night on Raw, Brock Lesnar returned to the WWE and was chosen by WWE COO Triple H to face Cena at SummerSlam for the championship.[6]

At Battleground, Rusev defeated Jack Swagger by countout. On the July 22 edition of Main Event, Swagger defeated Rusev by disqualification after Rusev hit Swagger with a Russian flag. On the August 1 edition of SmackDown, after Swagger defeated Cesaro, Lana came out along with Rusev and challenged Swagger to a Flag match at SummerSlam on Rusev's behalf, which Zeb Colter accepted on Swagger's behalf.[10]

At Battleground, The Miz won a 19-man battle royal to win the vacated WWE Intercontinental Championship, last eliminating Dolph Ziggler. On the July 21 edition of Raw, Ziggler defeated Miz in a non-title match.[6] On the July 28 edition of Raw, Ziggler and The Usos defeated Miz and RybAxel.[7] On August 4, it was announced on WWE.com that Miz would defend the title against Ziggler at SummerSlam.

At Battleground, Seth Rollins defeated Dean Ambrose by forfeit when Ambrose was ejected out of the arena by Triple H for attacking Rollins before the match. On the August 4 edition of Raw, Triple H announced that Ambrose and Rollins would face off at SummerSlam. Triple H also announced that Ambrose and Rollins would face Alberto Del Rio and Rob Van Dam respectively in Beat the Clock challenge matches, and the winner would choose the stipulation for the match at SummerSlam. Ambrose defeated Del Rio to set a time of 15:42. Van Dam was switched out at the last minute for Heath Slater, who defeated Rollins, thus giving Ambrose the right to choose.[11] On the August 8 edition of Smackdown, Ambrose announced that their match at SummerSlam would be a Lumberjack match.[12]

On the July 21 edition of Raw, Roman Reigns defeated Kane and Randy Orton in a handicap match and attacked Orton during Triple H's announcement on who would face John Cena at SummerSlam for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.[6] On the July 28 edition of Raw, Orton attacked Reigns before his scheduled match against Kane.[7] On the August 1 edition of Smackdown, Orton challenged Reigns to a match at SummerSlam.[10] On August 4, it was announced on WWE.com that Orton would face Reigns at SummerSlam.

On August 16, it was announced on WWE.com that Cesaro would face Rob Van Dam on the SummerSlam Kickoff show.[13]

Event

The pre-show match saw Rob Van Dam defeat Cesaro with a Five-Star Frog Splash. An analytical show which was hosted by Renee Young consisted by a pre-show panel that contained Booker T, Alex Riley and Ric Flair. Hulk Hogan also made an appearance at the event before the main card got underway, promoting the WWE Network to the audience.

Main card

The event opened with The Miz defending the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler won the match following a Zig-Zag after kicking out of Miz's Skull Crushing Finale, thus winning the title.

Next, AJ Lee defended the WWE Divas Championship against Paige. In the end, AJ applied the Black Widow on Paige, who countered the into a RamPaige to win the title.

After that, Rusev faced Jack Swagger in a flag match Rusev attempted to attack Swagger before the match but Swagger countered into the Patriot Lock, thus weakening Rusev's ankle. Despite Swagger passed out to the Accolade. Following the match, Rusev assaulted Zeb Colter while he was tending to the fallen Swagger. The National Anthem of Russia was then played for the victorious Rusev.

In the fourth match, Seth Rollins faced Dean Ambrose in a lumberjack match. The match was a chaotic brawl, with both men fighting into the crowd and assaulting the lumberjacks at ringside, which prompted Kane to come out to try and restore order. Eventually, with both men back in the ring, Ambrose executed a Curb Stomp on Rollins but Kane interfered and broke up the pinfall. This triggered a mass brawl involving all the lumberjacks, and in the melee, Rollins grabbed his Money in the Bank briefcase and hit Ambrose with it for the victory.

Next, Chris Jericho faced Bray Wyatt, with Luke Harper and Erick Rowan banned from ringside. Wyatt won the match after escaping from the Walls of Jericho, kicking out of a Codebreaker and executing two Sister Abigails on Jericho, one into the barricade, and one in the ring.

After that, Stephanie McMahon faced Brie Bella. Midway through the match, Triple H emerged from the back, soon followed by Nikki Bella. Triple H would then interfere by pulling the referee out of the ring when Brie locked in The Yes! Lock, before being taken out by a baseball slide from Brie. Nikki then entered the ring, seemingly to prevent Stephanie from escaping, but instead attacked her sister, turning heel. Stephanie then executed a Pedigree on Brie to win the match.

In the seventh match, Randy Orton faced Roman Reigns. Reigns took early control by attacking Orton. Reigns used his power to continuously knock Orton to his knees and out of the ring, but Orton soon countered. Reigns would try a desperation move by choking Orton from behind, but Orton slammed Reigns down. A few seconds later, Reigns attempted the same desperation move again, but was again slammed down. Roman would execute a Superman Punch and would attempt a Spear, but Orton would counter with a Snap Scoop Powerslam for a near-fall. Reigns would try a Leaping Clothesline, but Orton countered with an RKO, which led to a near fall. Orton then attempted a Punt Kick, but Reigns would trip Orton with his hand and follow up with a Spear for the victory.

Main event

Lesnar won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, becoming a four time champion.

In the main event, John Cena defended his the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Brock Lesnar. After an initial offensive burst from Cena, Lesnar executed an F-5 within the first 30 seconds of the match. Cena kicked out, but from then on the match was a one-sided beatdown, with Cena managing only brief and ineffectual spurts of offense while Lesnar continued to throw Cena over and over again. At one point, Cena was able to execute an Attitude Adjustment for a near-fall. Lesnar then proceeded to sit up (mimicking The Undertaker) and laugh. In total, Lesnar performed 16 German suplexes to Cena, with commentators questioning whether referee Charles Robinson should step in and stop the match. Eventually, Cena applied the STF on Lesnar, but Lesnar escaped and executed a second F-5 and pinned Cena to become the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion

Miscellaneous

The English commentators were Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and John "Bradshaw" Layfield, with Spanish and German commentators also at ringside. Lilian Garcia and Justin Roberts were the ring announcers while Tom Phillips conducted backstage interviews.

UFC's Ronda Rousey, Jessamyn Duke, Marina Shafir, and Shayna Baszler (known as "The 4 HorseWomen of MMA"[14][15]) were all present at SummerSlam.[16]

The cast of Pitch Perfect also appeared at the event, quite notably Adam DeVine, Anna Kendrick, Chrissie Fit, Kelley Jakle and Brittany Snow, with the latter being seen in a backstage segment with Lana.[17][18]

Aftermath

The following night on Raw, Stephanie McMahon came out to Daniel Bryan's music to celebrate her victory. She also invited Nikki Bella out to address her betraying Brie Bella. Nikki said she and Brie were supposed to be a team, but that she had felt betrayed by Brie's actions in quitting the company at Payback. Brie came out and confronted Nikki, but Nikki said she would never forgive her and slapped Brie across the face (cementing her heel turn), leaving Brie in tears.

On the same event, Seth Rollins fell victim to a surprise Ice Bucket Challenge and beating from Dean Ambrose during an interview segment. Triple H then set up a SummerSlam rematch in order to 'finish off' Ambrose, with the WWE Universe voting on the stipulation; the vote was made for a Falls Count Anywhere match. Ambrose was closing in on a victory when Kane (who had been sitting at ringside) once again interfered and set up Ambrose for Rollins' Curb Stomp through a pile of concrete blocks next to the announce table. Rollins was awarded the victory via knockout and Ambrose was stretchered out of the arena. Ambrose was then reported to have refused treatment and 'gone missing' afterwards.[19] The storyline was put to place to allow Ambrose's absence from television in order to film the movie 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown.[20] Ambrose returned at Night of Champions and attacked Rollins before being carried off by security.

Also on Raw, Dolph Ziggler faced The Miz in a rematch for his newly won Intercontinental Championship and retained the title, although Miz won the match via count-out when Ziggler fell to the floor. Miz would defeat Ziggler at Night of Champions and win his fourth Intercontinental Championship, though Ziggler would win it back the following night on Raw.

The Authority revealed a new belt (subsequently retiring the Big Gold Belt) to represent the WWE World Heavyweight Championship which was presented to Brock Lesnar. On August 19 edition of Main Event, Triple H announced later that John Cena would invoke his rematch clause at Night of Champions.[21] At Night Of Champions, Cena had almost pinned Lesnar, but since Cena was attacked by Seth Rollins, Cena got a disqualification victory and Lesnar retaining the title.

After winning back the Divas Championship, Paige and AJ Lee continued their rivalry, with AJ twice distracting Paige and thus causing Paige to lose during matches against Natalya. The Authority made a Triple Threat match, adding Nikki Bella set for Night of Champions. AJ would regain the title by making Paige tap out.

On the August 25 edition of Raw, Cesaro defeated Rob Van Dam in a rematch to become the number one contender for Sheamus' WWE United States Championship. The match was officially confirmed by WWE on August 29 when it was announced that the championship match will take place at Night of Champions. At Night Of Champions, Sheamus defeated Cesaro and retained the title.

After defeating Jack Swagger in a Flag match, Rusev was celebrating his victory until he was attacked by Mark Henry. In the ensuing weeks, they would interfere in each other's matches. Henry then challenged Rusev to a match at Night of Champions vowing to be the first to beat Rusev. Rusev would make Henry tap out at Night of Champions.

Chris Jericho's feud with Bray Wyatt ended on the September 8 edition of Raw, with Wyatt defeating Jericho in a steel cage match.[22]

Reception

The event received positive reviews. The main event match between Lesnar and Cena received 4.25 stars out of five from Dave Meltzer, the best of the event. The Reigns and Orton match received four stars, the Lumberjack Match received 3.75 stars and the Kickoff match received 3.25 stars.[23] Siddharth Deo praised Lesnar's performance and gave the match a raiting of 4.5/5

Results

No. Results Stipulations Times[24]
1P Rob Van Dam defeated Cesaro Singles match[25] 8:06
2 Dolph Ziggler defeated The Miz (c) Singles match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship[26] 7:57
3 Paige defeated AJ Lee (c) Singles match for the WWE Divas Championship[27] 4:55
4 Rusev (with Lana) defeated Jack Swagger (with Zeb Colter) by knockout Flag match[28] 9:01
5 Seth Rollins defeated Dean Ambrose Lumberjack match[Note 1][29] 10:55
6 Bray Wyatt defeated Chris Jericho Singles match[30] 12:53
7 Stephanie McMahon defeated Brie Bella Singles match[31] 11:06
8 Roman Reigns defeated Randy Orton Singles match[32] 16:30
9 Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) defeated John Cena (c) Singles match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship[33] 16:14
  • (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
  • P – indicates the match took place on the pre-show
  1. ↑ The lumberjacks were: Big E, Bo Dallas, Cesaro, Curtis Axel, Damien Sandow, Erick Rowan, Fandango, Goldust, Heath Slater, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, Kane, Kofi Kingston, Luke Harper, R-Truth, Rob Van Dam, Ryback, Sin Cara, Stardust and Titus O'Neil.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Recent WWE attendance figures". 2014-08-17. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
  2. ↑ "WWE.com: WWE Tickets and Live Events Information from WWE". WWE.
  3. ↑ Richard Gray. "Traditional WWE PPV Buys For Battleground, SummerSlam & Night Of Champions". WrestlingNewsWorld.com.
  4. ↑ Grabianowski, Ed. "How Pro Wrestling Works". HowStuffWorks, Inc. Discovery Communications. Archived from the original on 18 November 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2012.
  5. ↑ "Live & Televised Entertainment". WWE. Archived from the original on 18 November 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2012.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tedesco, Mike. "WWE RAW Results - 7/21/14 (Brock Lesnar returns)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved 22 July 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Tedesco, Mike. "WWE RAW Results - 7/28/14 (New matches for SummerSlam)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved 29 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "Brie Bella Is Arrested". WWE. 2014-08-11. Retrieved 2014-08-12.
  9. ↑ Tedesco, Mike. "WWE RAW Results - 8/11/14 (Hulk Hogan's Birthday Bash)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Trionfo, Richard. "WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT: NEW MATCHES FOR SUMMERSLAM; DO LAYLA AND SUMMER CONTINUE TO FRUSTRATE FANDANGO?; WITH FRIENDS LIKE PAIGE . . . ; JERICHO GAINS AN ADVANTAGE FOR SUMMERSLAM; AND MORE". pwinsider.com. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  11. 1 2 Tedesco, Mike. "WWE RAW Results - 8/4/14 (More hype for SummerSlam)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  12. ↑ Tedesco, Mike. "WWE Smackdown Results - 8/8/14 (Orton vs. Ambrose)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved 9 August 2014.
  13. ↑ Martin, Adam. "New match added to WWE SummerSlam Kickoff show". wrestleview.com. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  14. ↑ Watt, Alex (2015-04-29). "'Rowdy' Ronda Rousey and the Four Horsewomen: Who are the stable taking the UFC by storm?". Daily Mirror. London: Trinity Mirror. ISSN 9975-9950. OCLC 223228477. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  15. ↑ Davis, Andrew R. (2015-07-31). "Rousey fighting for Four Horsewomen teammates". espn.go.com. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  16. ↑ Boone, Matt (2014-08-17). "PHOTOS: Ronda Rousey, Four Horsewomen & Brock Lesnar At SummerSlam". mmanews.com. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  17. ↑ Murphy, Shaunna (2014-08-18). "Anna Kendrick Was Your Dream Girlfriend At WWE SummerSlam: See The Pics - MTV". mtv.com. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  18. ↑ "'Pitch Perfect 2' Cast Joins WWE? No, But They're Huge Fans". latinospost.com. 2014-08-20. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  19. ↑ "Dean Ambrose injured on Raw, refuses treatment". WWE. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  20. ↑ "WWE News And Rumors: Dean Ambrose Written Off Of Television, Seth Rollins Discusses His Character [VIDEO]". Sports World News.
  21. ↑ Namako, Jason. "WWE Main Event Results – 8/19/14 (Big Show vs. Rowan)". wrestleview.com. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
  22. ↑ Benigno, Anthony. "WWE Raw results, September 8, 2014: The Authority contains Roman Reigns, Bella brawl engulfs Jerry Springer and NXT Superstars 'take over' Raw". WWE. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  23. ↑ Philip Kreikenbohm. "WWE SummerSlam 2014". cagematch.net.
  24. ↑ "CANOE -- SLAM! Sports - Wrestling - Heels rule, Lesnar runs rampant at SummerSlam 2014". canoe.com.
  25. ↑ Clapp, John. "Rob Van Dam vs. Cesaro (Kickoff Match)". WWE. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
  26. ↑ Wortman, James. "Intercontinental Champion The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler". WWE. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  27. ↑ Clapp, John. "Divas Champion AJ Lee vs. Paige". WWE. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  28. ↑ Clapp, John. "Jack Swagger vs. Rusev (Flag Match)". WWE. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  29. ↑ Clapp, John. "Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins (Lumberjack Match)". WWE. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  30. ↑ Melok, Bobby. "Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt". WWE. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  31. ↑ Clapp, John. "Brie Bella def. Stephanie McMahon". WWE. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  32. ↑ Taylor, Scott. "[ Reigns vs. Randy Orton". WWE. Retrieved 4 August 2014.
  33. ↑ Clapp, John. "WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar". WWE. Retrieved 21 July 2014.

External links

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