SummerSlam (2020)

Poster featuring various WWE Superstars

**SummerSlam** was a profession wrestling pay-per-view produced by WWE. It took place on August 23, 2020 and was the thirty-third event under the SummerSlam chronology. SummerSlam is WWE's second biggest PPV of the year, just behind WrestleMania. Eighteen matches where contested on the card, with the main event seeing Bayley defending the SmackDown Women's Championship against Sasha Banks.

## Overview

### Production

SummerSlam is an annual pay-per-view, produced every August by WWE since 1988. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer," it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series, dubbed the "Big Four". It is considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. The 2020 event was the thirty-third event in the SummerSlam chronology and featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown and NXT brands. All active championships from the three brands were defended on the card.

### Storylines

The show will include matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by WWE's writers on all three brands, while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows. This was the first time that SummerSlam featured a women's match in the main event picture. The event originally planned to have Randy Orton face Edge for what was supposed two be the final chapter in their 'trilogy' of matches. Each superstar had previously picked up a win - Edge at WrestleMania 36 and Orton at Backlash (2020), and this match was meant to give a definitive winner to their feud. However, Edge was injured at Backlash and put out of commission for an undisclosed length of time (likely to be several months).

Meanwhile, the story of Bayley and Sasha Banks has been one of the longest running stories in WWE history, dating back to their debut in NXT. The two were initially allies before transitioning into a feud that culminated at SummerSlam (2015), in what would later be called the match of the night, the greatest women's wrestling match of all-time and one of the greatest wrestling matches in general of all time. The two were later paired up as partners and best friends on the Raw brand the following year, with WWE teasing a feud between the two over the next four years. The storyline picked up speed when they were both a part of a Fatal 5-Way for the SmackDown Women's Championship, where Sasha helped Bayley win the gold. Sasha would help Bayley resin the title on a number of occasions before officially asking Bayley for a title match at Extreme Rules (2020). After what seemed like healthy competition between two friends, the feud finally exploded when Bayley brutally attacked and injured Banks, claiming she had never cared about her and was only ever using her. As the long-anticipated match kicked into high-gear, it became clear that this was the fan-favorite storyline to headline the second biggest pay-per-view of the year.

## Trivia

* This was the first SummerSlam where the WWE Championship was successfully defended.
* This was the first SummerSlam to feature women in the main event.