WHEI SummerSlam (2018)

The logo for the 2018 SummerSlam

LWL

205 Live

 NXT UK

**WHEI SummerSlam (2018)** was a professional wrestling pay per view event, produced by War Hawks Entertainment Inc. for the Raw, SmackDown, LWL, 205 Live, and NXT UK brands. It took place on Sunday, August 26, 2018 from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It was the first event in the WHEI SummerSlam chronology as well as the first pay per view of season 3.

At the event, Daniel Bryan defeated Sami Zayn in a tournament final to win the vacant WHEI WWE Championship. While AJ Styles defeated "Woken" Matt Hardy and Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Samoa Joe to win the LWL World Heavyweight and WHEI Universal Championships respectively.

Also at the event the team of Charlotte Flair and Mariya WGP won the WHEI Women's Tag Team Championship making Mariya the 4th GP member, after Sydney, Drea, and Kenz, to win a championship with the promotion.

## Background

The card consisted of matches resulting from storylines that played out on WHEI's Raw, SmackDown, LWL, 205 Live, and NXT UK brands, the latter two of which are cruiserweight and United Kingdom exclusive. Unlike real life WWE the War Hawks don't predetermine their matches outcomes, prefering to let them play out for wow factor. Storylines played out on the weekly shows on Twitch *Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live, LWL: Leathal Wrestling Legends, 205 Live,* and *NXT UK.*

Wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters as they built tension that resulted in a match or series of matches leading into the event.

### **Raw**

The primary feud on the Raw brand going into SummerSlam was between Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura with the two feuding over the WHEI Universal Championship. On the third episode of Raw of Season 3 Nakamura defeated Kevin Owens to become #1 Contender to the title at SummerSlam. After the match Joe came out and had a staredown with the challenger while holding the title high.

A secondary feud on the Raw brand heading into SummerSlam was between Big Boss Man ('91), Dean Ambrose, Zack Ryder, and Raw Co-General Manager Juggernaut, with the four of them feuding over the WHEI Intercontinental Championship. During the season 3 draft, WHEI Intercontinental Champion John Cena was drafted to LWL. As a result, per the pre-draft stipulation he was stripped of the title.

As a result, Interm Raw General Manager Nick Nitro announced a Fatal 4 Way for the vacant title at SummerSlam with four qualifying Fatal 4 Way Matches in the weeks leading up to the event. On the second episode of season 3 of Raw Big Boss Man defeated Johnny Gargano, Kassius Ohno, and Roderick Strong to advance. Later that night Dean Ambrose defeated Adam Cole, The Miz, and Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat to advance. The next week Zack Ryder defeated Bray Wyatt, JBL, and Christian while Juggernaut defeated John Cena ('06) Andrade "Cien" Almas and fellow War Hawks member Shay to qualify for the match.

### **SmackDown**

The primary feud on the SmackDown brand heading into SummerSlam was between Sami Zayn and Daniel Brayn with the two of them feuding of the WHEI WWE Championship. During the season 3 draft WHEI WWE Champion Finn Balor was drafted to LWL. As a result he was stripped of the title per the stipulation. On the second episode of season 3 of SmackDown Ironman announced a tournament to crown a new champion. The finals would take place at SummerSlam. On the second episode of SmackDown of season 3 the tournament started. Sami Zayn defeated Batista and Eric Young defeated Kofi Kingston to advance to the semi-finals. After Kenny Omega interfered in the latter match he was inserted into the tournament against the Undertaker, who he defeated to advance while Daniel Bryan defeated Dolph Ziggler to advance. The following week, Zayn defeated Young and Bryan defeated Omega, each by submission, to advance to the finals.

The secondary feud on the SmackDown brand for the event was between The Authors Of Pain (Akam & Rezar) and The Outsiders (Scott Hall & Kevin Nash). With the two teams feuding over the WHEI SmackDown Tag Team Championship. During the season three draft the Authors Of Pain were drafted to SmackDown and awarded the tag team titles. This upset the Outsiders, who were also drafted to SmackDown, so they were placed in a #1 Contenders Match on the second episode of season 3 against fellow draftees The Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) which the Outsiders won. Ironman later decided that the two teams would face off at SummerSlam. On the final episode of SmackDown before SummerSlam SmackDown Women's Champion Nikki Cross won a triple threat champions match to give SmackDown the right to main event the show by defeating Raw Women's Champion Asuka and LWL Leading Lady Champion Ember Moon.

### **LWL**

The primary feud on the LWL brand heading into SummerSlam was between "Woken" Matt Hardy and AJ Styles for the LWL World Heavyweight Championship. During the first episode of SmackDown before the season 3 draft, Styles won a Fatal 4 Way to earn the right to challenge the world champion of the brand he was drafted to. He was subsequently drafted to LWL and a match was scheduled between him and champion Matt Hardy for SummerSlam the following episode of LWL.

The secondary feud on the LWL brand was between Xerios and SmackDown superstar Braun Strowman. With the two of them feuding over the LWL Global Internet Championship. During the season 3 draft, Strowman was drafted to SmackDown, being the current global internet champion, he would have been stripped of the title if not for the fact Xerios, who was drafted to LWL by default, had a match for the title coming up. Xerios came out during epsiode 2 of season 3 of LWL to request his title match that night. However he was denied his request by Sherania, who was then overriden by Ironman who gave him his title shot that Friday on SmackDown. On SmackDown, Xerios was pinned by Strowman following a running powerslam, however the referee didn't see his foot under the bottom turnbuckle, this led to him calling Ironman's referees incompitent, thus he demanded a rematch at SummerSlam, this time two out of three falls, which was granted by Steph. Braun countered by requesting that it be Falls Count Anywhere so that Xerios wouldn't have an excuse this time. He also requested that if Xerios lost he wouldn't recieve another title shot as long as Braun was champion. Both of these were also granted by Steph.

### **Tri-Branded**

The tri-branded feud heading into the event revolved around the reinstatement of the WHEI Women's Tag Team Championship. During the third episode of Raw of Season 3 it was announced the War Hawks would be bringing back the Women's Tag Team Title and that the new champions would be crowned at SummerSlam. It was announced that each brand would get a representative in the match. With the Raw and SmackDown representatives being teamed together against an LWL representative and a free agent. That night Nikki Bella defeated Bianca Belair to qualify for the match.

On the third episode LWL Charlotte Flair defeated Ruby Riot, Nia Jax and Alundra Blayze to qualify for the match. On the following episode of SmackDown Angelina Love defeated Peyton Royce, and Maryse to qualify for the match. On the final 205 Live before the pay per view, Mariya from WatchGirlsPlay defeated Jade, Ronda Rousey, Ivory, Lady Hawks member Hannah, and Tamina to qualify for the match.

### 205 Live

On the third ever episode of *WHEI 205 Live* Neville defeated Cederic Alexander and Adam Cole in a triple threat match to become #1 Contender to the WHEI Cruiserweight Television Championship. It was announced on Twitter on August 16, 2018 that the match would take place on the preshow of the event. Which marks the first time a War Hawks event has had a pre-show, not counting the WCW Universe Mode.

### NXT UK

After previously hinting at earlier in the week, in the same post about the preshow, Ironman announced that there he would be holding a tournament (off screen) to crown the first WHEI United Kingdom Champion. With the finals also taking place at SummerSlam, officially announcing the creation of the NXT UK Brand in the process. In the weeks that followed, Wolfgang defeated Zack Gibson, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Bram, and Tyler Bate to advance to the finals while Dave Mastiff defeated Danny Burch, Primate, Rampage, and Will Ospreay to advance to the finals.

## Event

WHEI Hardcore Champion
 Sherania | LWL General Manager
 Juggernaut | Raw co-General Manager
WHEI Intercontinental Champion
Color Commentator

### Pre-show

The preshow kicked off with a tournament final for the WHEI United Kingdom Championship between Wolfgang and Dave Mastiff. In The end, Mastiff countered an Irish Whip into one of his own into a corner and followed it up by Suplexing Wolfgang into a turnbuckle to win the match and become the first WHEI United Kingdom Champion.

That was followed by TJP defending the WHEI Cruiserweight Television Championship against "The King Of The Cruiserweights" Neville. In the end TJP hit a Detonation Kick to win the match and retain the title.

### Preliminary Matches

The pay per view itself opened with The Authors Of Pain (Akam & Rezar) defending the WHEI SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The Outsiders (Scott Hall & Kevin Nash). In the end Hall hit two consecutive Outsider's Edges and pinned Akam to win the match and the title for his team.

After that was the 2 out of 3 falls, falls count anywhere, last chance match for the LWL Global Internet Championship with Braun Strowman defending against Xerios. Strowman hit a Running Powerslam to win the first fall. Despite Xerios' best effort, Strowman hit a Reverse Chokeslam to win the match 2-0 and retain the title.

Then was the Fatal 4 Way Match for the vacant WHEI Intercontinental Championship between Big Boss Man ('91), Dean Ambrose, Zack Ryder, and the Juggernaut. In the end Juggernaut stole Ryder's finisher, The Rough Rider, to win the match and the title.

Next was the tri-branded tag team match for the WHEI Women's Tag Team Championship between the team of Raw's Nikki Bellla and SmackDown's Angelina Love and the team of LWL's Charlotte Flair and free agent Mariya from WGP. In the end Mariya hit a Belly To Belly Suplex to pin Nikki to win the match and the championship for her team.

### Main events

In the first of 3 main events, "Woken" Matt Hardy defended the LWL World Heavyweight Championship against AJ Styles. In the end AJ hit the Styles Clash to win the match and the title.

The penultimate match was Samoa Joe defending the WHEI Universal Championship against Shinsuke Nakamura. After working on his arm the entire match and great back and forth, Nakamura hit a flying Kinshasa followed by a nomal Kinshasa to win the match and the title.

The main event was a tournament final between Sami Zayn and Daniel Bryan for the vacant WHEI WWE Championship. In the end Bryan hit the Yes! Kicks on Zayn to win the match and the championship to close the show.