WWE SummerSlam 2017: The full rundown and why you should care

SummerSlam is going to be real long. It also should be real good! Just know going in that, as one of WWE’s Big Four events, SummerSlam is going to be four hours long — six hours with the full pre-show that will include three matches. That’s what happens when you’re a show that isn’t exclusive to one of WWE’s two main brands, though.

This should be a show that changes much in the WWE landscape, and helps set the company on its course for WrestleMania 34 next April. SummerSlam, then Survivor Series, then Royal Rumble, then Mania: The last is still a ways off, but the first seeds of stories that might grow by Mania will be planted at the Barclays Center on Sunday night, starting at 7 p.m. ET.

What am I looking at here? Finn Balor hasn’t used his Demon persona very much on the main roster of WWE — thank injury and a lack of high-profile matches since said injury for that. Bray Wyatt tormented Balor into unleashing the Demon, though, to the point that WWE is making a point of saying that that’s the version of Finn we’ll be seeing at SummerSlam.

Why you should care: Well, Finn has stepped up his game since returning from the injury that made him give up the Universal Championship the day after winning it at SummerSlam one year ago, but he hasn’t had many spotlight opportunities that let him build on that momentum. Wyatt, in theory, should be one of them, given he was WWE Champion earlier this year. “In theory” is the key part there, as Wyatt hasn’t been reliable in the ring for much of 2017, outside of the match that won him the title in the first place.

What am I looking at here? Big Cass turned on Enzo Amore, and while he was a real jerk about it, it was also totally understandable: Enzo is annoying as heck and doesn’t have an off button and you’d get tired of him, too. Hell, Enzo is the wronged party and face in this match, and he’s the one suspended in a shark cage so he can’t interfere and/or be annoying.

Well, OK, maybe he can still be annoying depending on whether he brings a mic into the cage with him. Please don’t let Enzo bring a mic into the cage.

Oh, and Big Show is here fighting for Enzo because Cass tried to implicate Show in the backstage beatdowns of Enzo that Cass was responsible for.

Why you should care: This should be the end of Cass vs. Show and also Cass/Enzo as a story, and it’s about time. It’s certainly worked to put over Cass as a jerk and make Enzo sympathetic to an audience that had been trained to not feel bad for him anymore, but it’s also time to move on and see what solo Cass and solo Enzo are going to be like.

What am I looking at here? Randy Orton is no longer in the WWE Championship feud after losing a whole bunch of times to Jinder Mahal, but he’s far too big a star to not be on a SummerSlam card if he’s healthy. Rusev never got a chance at the WWE Championship, and he’s not the kind of star Orton is, but he’s too talented to not be on a SummerSlam card if he’s healthy. So, here we are. Rusev wanted a challenge, Orton answered the challenge, and the feud doesn’t really go beyond that.

Why you should care: Sure, there’s little story buildup, but it’s two good wrestlers wrestling to prove that one of them is better than the other. Sometimes, that’s all you need.

What am I looking at here? For one, I’m much more excited about SummerSlam than my reactions to the first few matches listed indicates. It’s not my fault that the ones I’m most lukewarm about also happen to be the first three WWE put on its card. Part of that excitement here stems from WWE finally deciding to put one-on-one title matches on major cards for the women instead of just lumping them all together to get everyone on the show. Natalya won a No. 1 contender’s match, so she’s facing Naomi. Simple, sure, but that can work when it comes to championship bouts.

Why you should care: Naomi was the only face champion in WWE for months and months, and has managed to hold on to her title despite the entire division gunning for her and the existence of the first-ever women’s Money in the Bank briefcase holder, Carmella. Natalya has never won a WWE Women’s Championship — she’s a one-time Divas Champion, and that was all the way back in 2010. That has a lot to do with how WWE (unsuccessfully) utilized its female wrestlers for years, but regardless of the why, Natalya is overdue both for a chance and for a championship.

And, as mentioned, Carmella having the Money in the Bank briefcase, which allows her to cash in and fight for the SmackDown Women’s title at a time of her choosing, means that Naomi or Natalya just might end up fighting two matches for the championship in one night.

What am I looking at here? Bayley was supposed to be the challenger to Alexa Bliss’ title, but a (legitimate) shoulder injury put her out of commission for SummerSlam. Sasha Banks ended up winning her way to the vacated slot following that injury, and that’ll work just fine, too, since Sasha and Alexa have already matched up in the past and have bad blood between them as well.

Why you should care: Sasha Banks seems to have wonderful in-ring chemistry with basically everyone — Bayley, Charlotte, Nia Jax, and Alexa Bliss, too. Alexa continues to improve and is already the first woman to hold both the RAW and SmackDown Women’s Championships — Banks might end up being her greatest rival for one or both of those titles when their careers are all said and done. This could be a pretty big deal both now and later, and just like with SmackDown’s Women’s title, it’s also unclear who is going to walk out of Barclays as champion Sunday.

What am I looking at here? Cesaro and Sheamus are great at beating the heck out of everyone, but they might have gotten themselves involved in something they can’t handle by beating on Ambrose and Rollins. Dean and Seth, former Shield mates who have understandable trust issues given Rollins’ betrayal of Ambrose years ago, finally seem united thanks to having a common foe. They wouldn’t, if Cesaro and Sheamus hadn’t interrupted the two working out their issues with each other, giving their fists somewhere else to land.

Why you should care: Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins are together again, and against one of the best pairings of wrestlers in a tag team in years. If Ambrose wins the tag titles, he’ll also be the 16th Grand Slam champion ever, as he’s already been WWE Champion, United States Champion, and Intercontinental Champion. Rollins will be a two-time tag champ if this happens — he and Roman Reigns were the Shields’ two-man tag team, with Ambrose the singles star at the time — and he’s an Intercontinental run away from joining Ambrose in the rare ranks of Grand Slam champs.

The glory of Rollins and Ambrose reuniting is the real story here, but hey, when some history can also be made, you have to recognize it. Especially history that the likes of John Cena and Randy Orton and Undertaker haven’t managed.

Since you’re wondering, Roman Reigns, like Rollins, is also just an IC reign away from a Grand Slam. Those Shield boys sure are something.

What am I looking at here? Kevin Owens and AJ Styles have traded the United States Championship back and forth for a few months now. Owens feels he’s been treated unfairly by officials, so SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan suggested Shane McMahon as the impartial referee. The thing about Shane as an impartial referee, though, is that his history suggests he’s anything but in that role, and he’s got historic beef with both Owens and Styles.

Why you should care: Owens vs. Styles is a good matchup with nothing else added to it. Having Shane McMahon as the special guest referee, though, adds another wrinkle: Owens and Styles have both inadvertently attacked Shane in segments building to this fight, and even if Shane does happen to be impartial here, there is the possibility that Owens or Styles will misinterpret his actions and start a feud directly with Shane O’Mac.

What am I looking at here? These two were already set to face each other, and then Baron Corbin interrupted John Cena against Jinder Mahal on last week’s episode of SmackDown by attacking Cena. Corbin then attempted to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase on WWE Champion Jinder Mahal, but failed — Mahal took advantage of Corbin trying to make sure Cena couldn’t interfere, and Corbin’s guaranteed shot came and went in seconds.

Why you should care: Cena hasn’t won a SummerSlam match since 2010, and it feels like this is going to be the one that ends that drought. With that being said, though, Corbin could use a win after his embarrassing defeat and loss of the Money in the Bank briefcase, so maybe we’ll see his anger at his own failure show up in this match and drive him to victory over a possibly overconfident Cena.

What am I looking at here? This is Shinsuke Nakamura’s first attempt at the WWE Championship, and it puts an end to the overdone USA vs. Not USA feuds they’ve had going on for too long on SmackDown of late. So, even if the match itself doesn’t end up being great, we’ve got that going for us.

Jinder Mahal’s reign as champ has actually been pretty good outside of the impossible-to-be-good Punjabi Prison match, and it seems as if he’s over as a heel with the crowd now. Nakamura might need the good match more here, as he’s kind of been reduced to mostly an impressive entrance on the main roster of WWE — maybe that will change in a title match, and we’ll see a Nakamura more like the one everyone was expecting WWE had signed.

It’s too soon to panic about all that, but if we get more of the same from Nakamura here despite the stage and stakes, that ... won’t be encouraging.

What am I looking at here? So. Much. Beef.

Why you should care: Listen, I could get all descriptive about what matters about this match and what it could do to change WWE’s main event landscape if Brock Lesnar were to lose the Universal Championship and bail on WWE for UFC (at least for a little while). I could talk about how, if Braun Strowman wins, it seals the deal for him as the monster of WWE. Or how about Roman Reigns finally surviving a bout with Brock Lesnar shows that it’s not just Goldberg who can do so, or how Samoa Joe really was as close to winning against Lesnar a month ago as he tells us he was.

Or! I could just reiterate that the ring is going to have Reigns, Strowman, Joe, and Lesnar together all at once, and there is no version of Lesnar more motivated than the one who gets to beat on multiple dudes at the same time while having to watch his back. Like I said before: So. Much. Beef.