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SummerSlam will emanate from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on August 19 for the fourth time in a row. SummerSlam took over Brooklyn in 2015, after emanating from the Staples Center in Los Angeles for five years in a row, and Brooklyn has been home to SummerSlam ever since. However, it is speculated that WWE will change their venue after this year's event.
Only Sportskeeda gives you the latest Wrestling News, rumors and updates.
The past three SummerSlam events have received a mixed response from both fans and critics alike for controversial booking decisions. These three shows have a lot in common. All of them were headlined by Brock Lesnar and all of them ran for four hours.
In 2015, Jon Stewart was the host of SummerSlam. The show was headlined by a grudge match between The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar. Other notable events were Seth Rollins' win over Cena to become the first ever United States and WWE World Heavyweight champion, New Day kick-starting the longest tag-team reign in WWE history, Stephen Amell's WWE in-ring debut and Roman Reigns' and Dean Ambrose's victory over The Wyatt Family.
In 2016, the event was headlined by a massive dream match between Randy Orton and Brock Lesnar. The controversial TKO finish of the dream match provoked a critical response from the fans. Finn Balor became the first-ever Universal Champion by defeating Seth Rollins. AJ Styles defeated John Cena clean in an instant classic and Dean Ambrose successfully retained his title over Dolph Ziggler.
Last year's SummerSlam saw one of the best matches in the event's history and a sure-fire match of the year candidate in the fatal four-way Universal title match between Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman. Jinder Mahal retained the WWE title against Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles retained his US title against Kevin Owens with Shane Mcmahon as the guest referee and the recently-reunited team of Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose won the Raw tag team championships.
Now, let's rank the previous three SummerSlam events.
#3 SummerSlam 2015
SummerSlam 2015 was an entertaining show, but it could have been better had WWE made the correct booking decisions.
The Undertaker defeated Brock Lesnar in the main-event after hitting him with a low-blow behind the referee's back and by locking in the Hell's gate. The finish ruined what was a decent match between the two titans. Seriously, Why did Taker have to hit a low-blow to gain an advantage? Just to protect Lesnar? I mean there's no shame in losing to a legend like The Undertaker and the loss wouldn't have hurt Lesnar.
Taker winning clean would have been the preferable option. Elsewhere, Jon Stewart's involvement in the match between John Cena and Seth Rollins ruined the match of the night. These great matches deserved a clean finish.
The rest of the card was decent too with a few underwhelming matches in between. The Intercontinental title match was boring and mediocre-at-best, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose's tag match with the Wyatt Family was a little disappointing.
Team PCB's win in a great match was a feel-good moment, New Day winning back the title was a good decision, Stephen Amell's debut was well-received and Randy Orton vs Sheamus was a fun encounter.
Overall, SummerSlam was good,but not great.
Grade: B-
#2 SummerSlam 2016
This show was a real mixed bag. Some matches exceeded expectations and some were massive disappointments.
Starting with the positives, AJ Styles vs John Cena was an awesome match. It stole the show and Styles' clean win put him over big time. Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens started their alliance at this event in a great match against Big Cass and Enzo Amore.
The kick-off show had some great matches with Cesaro and Sheamus putting on a good match. Dean Ambrose's match with Dolph Ziggler was decent and the Universal title match was worked greatly by Finn Balor and Seth Rollins.
The Raw tag-team title match was a mess. Jon Stewart's involvement was needless and the disqualification finish was horrendous. Roman Reigns and Rusev's match never even started after a pre-match assault. Charlotte and Sasha Banks' match was the worst of their entire series and Charlotte's win made Sasha's reign pointless.
The crowd didn't like the Universal title design and it turned on the match regardless of how good it was. The crowd wasn't interested in the WWE title match either. The women's tag -team match saw Nikki Bella's return but the match, itself, was pretty much forgettable.
Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton's match ended too quickly and the TKO finish was unfit for a dream match of such calibre. Bray Wyatt was nowhere to be seen on the show,
All in all, SummerSlam 2016 was pretty underwhelming and forgettable.
Grade:C
#1 SummerSlam 2017
Last year's SummerSlam received yet another mixed response. The show had some unforgettable and forgettable moments.
Coming to the good parts, the main-event was incredible to witness. It was one of the best matches of the year and the crowd was red-hot throughout the match. The Raw tag-team championship match was an underrated classic. Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose winning was cool to watch.
The New Day vs The Usos was one of the best matches of the year and was better than most of the matches on the show. Sasha Banks winning the Raw women's title was a good moment too.
Big Cass Vs Big Show was a bore-fest, it had no right to be on the show. Randy Orton's burial of Rusev was painful to watch. John Cena winning over Baron Corbin took away all the momentum Corbin ever had up until that point. Finn Balor vs Bray Wyatt was mediocre, but the entrances were better than the match. AJ Styles and Kevin Owens failed to live up to expectations.
Natalya winning the women's title came out-of-nowhere and wasn't exactly good for the blue brand. The Usos vs New Day didn't deserve to be on the pre-show. The Miz and The Hardy Boyz performed in front of an empty crowd on the pre-show. The less said about the WWE title match, the better. It was Shinsuke Nakamura's worst match ever.
Grade: C
