page_title: SummerSlam (2013)
section_title: Storylines
hierarchical_section_title: SummerSlam (2013) / Production / Storylines
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Daniel Bryan en 2013.
context_page_description: SummerSlam (2013) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by WWE that took place on August 18, 2013 at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. It was the twenty-sixth annual SummerSlam, and the fifth consecutive one held at Staples Center.
  The event's card consisted of nine matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Daniel Bryan defeated John Cena to become the new WWE Champion, with Triple H acting as special guest referee, only to be attacked by Triple H and lose it minutes later to Randy Orton, who cashed in the Money in the Bank contract. In other prominent matches, Alberto Del Rio defeated Christian to retain the World Heavyweight Championship and Brock Lesnar defeated CM Punk in a No Disqualification match.
  The event received 296,900 buys, down from last year's event of 358,000.
context_section_description: 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.
  On the July 15 episode of Raw, new Raw General Manager Brad Maddox announced that WWE Champion John Cena could choose his own Summerslam opponent. Later that night, after taking an informal poll of the live audience, he chose Daniel Bryan. In the weeks before SummerSlam, Vince McMahon would berate Daniel Bryan by trying to make him shave his beard, putting him into a gauntlet match against his former friend Kane. On the August 12 episode of Raw, Maddox served as special guest referee in a match with Bryan facing Wade Barrett. After making a quick count to let Barrett win the match, Maddox offered his services as the guest referee for the Cena vs. Bryan match at the PPV when Triple H interceded, and announced he'd serve as referee instead (punctuated by a Pedigree to Maddox).
  After AJ Lee retained her Divas Championship against Kaitlyn at Money in the Bank and later cost Dolph Ziggler his attempt at winning the World Heavyweight Championship, Ziggler broke up with AJ the next night on Raw, causing her to distract Ziggler in his non-title rematch against Del Rio and leaving Big E Langston to attack him. On the July 29 episode of Raw, Kaitlyn defeated AJ in a non-title match to stay in contention for the Divas Championship, but four days later on SmackDown, AJ defeated Kaitlyn to retain the championship after Layla interfered and protected AJ. A week later on SmackDown, The Miz (the host of SummerSlam) announced that Kaitlyn and Ziggler would face AJ and Langston in a mixed tag team match at the PPV.
  At Payback, CM Punk defeated Chris Jericho in his return in his hometown. The next night on Raw he challenged World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio to a match, turning face. He won by countout, but a returning Brock Lesnar attacked him. Over the next few weeks, tension rose between Punk and Paul Heyman, who cost Punk the WWE Championship Money in the Bank Ladder Match at Money in the Bank. The next night on Raw, Lesnar again attacked Punk. The next week, Punk challenged Lesnar to a match at Summerslam. Heyman accepted on Lesnar's behalf. During the SummerSlam kickoff show, Heyman announced that both Lesnar and Punk had agreed to make the match no disqualification.
  On the July 19 episode of SmackDown, Randy Orton defeated World Heavyweight Champion Alberto Del Rio in a non-title match. However, on the July 29 Raw, Christian also defeated Del Rio in a non-title match. To determine the next challenger for Del Rio's championship, new SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero decided to make a triple threat match between Christian, Orton, and the returning Rob Van Dam. The match ended with Christian reversing Orton's attempt of an RKO into a backslide pin, winning the match and becoming the new #1 contender for the title before being attacked by Del Rio. On the August 9 episode of SmackDown, Christian defeated Del Rio in another non-title match.
  At the Money in the Bank pay-per-view on July 14, Damien Sandow won the Money in the Bank briefcase for a future World Heavyweight Championship shot, betraying his former tag team partner Cody Rhodes in the process. Rhodes attacked Sandow after the latter's loss to Christian the following night on Raw.  On the July 26 SmackDown, while Sandow was facing Randy Orton in a singles match, Rhodes took his briefcase, causing Sandow to lose the match and search for it. Rhodes threw it into the Gulf of Mexico, and Sandow was unable to retrieve it because he couldn't swim.  It was announced on the August 5 Raw that Rhodes would face Sandow at SummerSlam.  Four days later on SmackDown, Sandow debuted his new, brown Money in the Bank briefcase with a new World Heavyweight Championship contract.  Later on, after Christian defeated Del Rio in a non-title match, Sandow attempted to cash in his contract, but his effort was thwarted by
caption: Daniel Bryan became the WWE Champion after defeating John Cena.
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