SummerSlam 2018

SummerSlam 2018 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event produced by WWE for the Raw and SmackDown brands. It took place on August 19, 2018 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It was the thirtieth first event under the SummerSlam chronology.
==Background==
SummerSlam featured professional wrestling matches that involve different wrestlers from pre-existing feuds, plots, and storylines that played out on WWE's primary television programs. Wrestlers portrayed villains or heroes as they follow a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
=== Raw ===
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, who Bliss had attacked at Money in the Bank, cost her a championship match, and who had been suspended, came out from the crowd and attacked Bliss and Mickie James. Raw General Manager Kurt Angle then came out and stated that as Rousey had broken her suspension, she would be suspended for another week. Angle then scheduled Bliss to defend the title against Rousey at SummerSlam as long as Rousey did not break her suspension again.
At Extreme Rules, Kurt Angle said that if Universal Champion Brock Lesnar did not show up for Raw or agree to the terms of when he would defend the title, then he would be stripped of the championship. The following night on Raw, Lesnar's advocate Paul Heyman interrupted Angle, who was about to strip Lesnar, and stated that Lesnar would defend the title at SummerSlam. Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins, Elias, Finn Bálor, and Roman Reigns all pleaded their cases as to why they should face Lesnar. In response, Angle scheduled two triple threat matches that night, with the winners facing each other the following week to determine who would face Lesnar at SummerSlam. Reigns won the first triple threat match by defeating Bálor and McIntyre, while Lashley won the second by defeating Elias and Rollins, thus setting up Reigns and Lashley facing each other the following week, in effectively a rematch from Extreme Rules, in which Reigns won to face Lesnar for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam.
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 announce table. On the July 23 episode or 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 Drew McIntyre. On the July 23 episode of Raw, Rollins and Finn Bálor defeated Ziggler and McIntyre. A rematch between Ziggler and Rollins for the title was scheduled for SummerSlam.
At Extreme Rules, Finn Bálor defeated Baron Corbin. 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.
=== SmackDown ===
At Extreme Rules, AJ Styles retained the WWE Championship against Rusev. On the July 24 episode of SmackDown , SmackDown General Manager Paige was about to announce Styles' opponent for SummerSlam with an open contract, but was interrupted by James Ellsworth, who tried to claim the contendership and was subsequently fired by Paige after insulting her. As Paige saw to Ellsworth being kicked out of the building, Samoa Joe attacked Styles with the Coquina Clutch. Joe then signed the contract, thus making their match for the title official at SummerSlam.
On July 21, Paige announced a #1 contenders tag team title tournament with the winning team earning a championship match against The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam. The tournament began on the July 24 episode of SmackDown . The New Day's Big E and Xavier Woods and Cesaro and Sheamus advanced to the finals by defeating Sanity's Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain and The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso). The New Day's Big E and Kofi Kingston defeated Cesaro and Sheamus in the final and would face The Bludgeon Brothers for the title 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 Carmella for the title at SummerSlam. The following week, Charlotte Flair returned and saved Lynch from Carmella. Paige then scheduled Carmella to face Flair with a stipulation that if Flair won, she would be added to the match. Flair won the match, thus making the match a triple threat.
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 with Hardy winning by disqualification after he was attacked by Randy Orton. On August 3, another match between the two for the title was scheduled for SummerSlam.
On February 23, 2010, WWE debuted a new game-show styled seasonal television program named NXT, with the premise of the show seeing wrestlers from WWE's Tampa, Florida-based developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling competing to become members of WWE's main roster. In the first season of the show, The Miz served as the "WWE Pro" of "NXT Rookie" Daniel Bryan. Throughout the season, Miz would constantly berate Bryan, claiming he was not WWE material and expressing his displeasure at Bryan being his Rookie. The feeling was mutual as Bryan would regularly make comments on the show alluding to the fact that he had been wrestling longer than Miz, and 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 would make an appearance on NXT attacking The Miz and Michael Cole. Six years later, on the August 24, 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 would have sporadic interactions for over a year. On March 20, 2018, Bryan was officially cleared to return to the ring 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 would initially decline 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.
===205 Live===
On the July 24 episode of 205 Live, Drew Gulak defeated Mustafa Ali, Hideo Itami, and TJP in a fatal four-way match to earn the right to challenge Cedric Alexander for the Cruiserweight Championship. On July 30, the match between Alexander and Gulak for the title was scheduled for SummerSlam.
==Kickoff Show==
This Sunday you can experience SummerSlam Kickoff like never before with Oculus Go and NextVR's 180-degree virtual reality experience, available through the NextVR and Oculus Venues apps.
The NextVR app will present a live 3D virtual reality broadcast on VR headsets where the NextVR app is available, including Oculus, Google Daydream, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality and PlayStation VR. SummerSlam highlights presented by Cricket Wireless will be available to all NextVR app users on Monday Aug. 27.
Additionally, Oculus Venues will offer a live 2D VR broadcast of SummerSlam Kickoff within the Oculus Venues app available to GearVR and Oculus Go users.
==Match Preview==
Rusev & Lana vs. Andrade Almas & Zelina Vega	Preview
The B-Team vs. The Revival 	Preview
Carmella vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte 	Preview
Cedric Alexander vs. Drew Gulak 	Preview
Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns 	Preview
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jeff Hardy 	Preview
Alexa Bliss vs. Ronda Rousey 	Preview
Finn Bálor vs. Baron Corbin 	Preview
AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe 	Preview
Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz 	Preview
The Bludgeon Brothers vs. The New Day 	Preview
Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins 	Preview
Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens 	Preview
==Results==
;
;
*Pre-show: Andrade "Cien" Almas & Zelina Vega defeated Rusev & Lana (7:00)
*Pre-show: Cedric Alexander (c) defeated Drew Gulak to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship (10:15)
*Pre-show: The B-Team (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel) (c) defeated The Revival (Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson) to retain the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship (6:15)
*Seth Rollins (w/ Dean Ambrose) defeated Dolph Ziggler (c) (w/ Drew McIntyre) to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship (22:00)
*The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) (w/ Kofi Kingston) defeated The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan) (c) by DQ in a WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match (9:45)
*Braun Strowman (MITB holder) defeated Kevin Owens for the Money in the Bank contract (1:50)
*Charlotte Flair defeated Carmella (c) & Becky Lynch in a Triple Threat match to win the WWE SmackDown Women's Championship (15:15)
*Samoa Joe defeated AJ Styles (c) by DQ in a WWE Championship Match (22:45)
*The Miz defeated Daniel Bryan (23:30)
*Finn Bálor defeated Baron Corbin (1:35)
*Shinsuke Nakamura (c) defeated Jeff Hardy to retain the WWE United States Championship (11:00)
*Ronda Rousey (w/ Natalya) defeated Alexa Bliss (c) to win the WWE Raw Women's Championship (4:00)
*Roman Reigns defeated Brock Lesnar (c) (w/ Paul Heyman) to win the WWE Universal Championship
===SmackDown Tag Team Championship tournament===
==Other on-screen talent==
;Commentators
*Michael Cole 
*Corey Graves 
*Jonathan Coachman 
*Tom Phillips 
*Byron Saxton 
*Vic Joseph 
*Nigel McGuinness 
*Percy Watson 
*Carlos Cabrera 
*Marcelo Rodríguez 
*Jerry Soto 
*Carsten Schaefer 
*Tim Haber 
*Calvin Knie 
;Ring announcer
*Greg Hamilton 
*JoJo 
;Interviewers
*Charly Caruso	
;Pre-show Panel
*Renee Young
*Booker T
*Sam Roberts
*David Otunga
*Jerry Lawler
;Pre-show correspondent
*Peter Rosenberg
*John "Bradshaw" Layfield
;Referees
*Danilo Anfibio
*Mike Chioda
*Rod Zapata
*Darrick Moore
*Charles Robinson
*Jason Ayers
*John Cone
*Dan Engler
*Chad Patton
==See also==
*List of WWE pay-per-view events
*World Wrestling Entertainment/Event history
*Event gallery
*SummerSlam
==DVD release==
* SummerSlam 2018 on DVD
==External links==
* SummerSlam 2018 Official website
* SummerSlam 2018 on WWE Network
* SummerSlam 2018 Kickoff Show on WWE Network
* SummerSlam 2018 Kickoff Show at CAGEMATCH.net
* SummerSlam 2018 at CAGEMATCH.net
Category:World Wrestling Entertainment pay-per-view events
Category:2018 pay-per-view events
Category:SummerSlam