It’s coming up to the biggest party of the summer, and like a lot of parties, things go wrong – whether it be someone gets a bit too drunk and starts arguing with everyone, or things get broken in the house.
Nevertheless, we are talking about one of WWE’s self-proclaimed largest PPV’s in the calendar – SummerSlam. Having been on our screens on a yearly basis since its inception on August 29th 1986, it has always been unpredictable, and typically a time where feuds are truly underway. We have seen many flops, as well as some amazing matchups, but we have also seen matches where we end up shouting at the screen “NO, WHY DIDN’T _____ WIN!?”. We wouldn’t be true WWE fans unless we felt like we knew more than the writers, so with that in mind, here are five matches where the wrong person won:
5. Jinder Mahal defeats Shinsuke Nakamura – SummerSlam 2017
Who genuinely remembers that just a few years ago, Jinder Mahal was pushed to be the next big figure on the WWE roster and 90% of the audience hated every second of it? It was SummerSlam 2017, and Mahal was the WWE Champion who got as much crowd response as the sounds of watching paint dry. Nakamura was the big attraction, coming to WWE from the indies after years of success and building respect, and a few weeks before this match had earnt an opportunity to face Mahal for the championship. The result? A 3-minute wasted match where Mahal got the upper hand on Nakamura and won yet again.
WWE’s politics at the time gave Mahal a huge upper hand in his storyline at the time, as they were promoting their brand in India (despite the fact that Mahal is Canadian… anyway…), and the whole set up and match left the majority of us feeling frustrated.
4. Team WWE defeats The Nexus – SummerSlam 2010
I couldn’t possibly make this list and not talk about one of the biggest travesties to happen in the WWE in the 21st century. The Nexus was one of the best stables to come for a very long time, and in 2010 had some very prominent figures – Ryback, Wade Barrett, Heath Slater, Darren Young, and Justin Gabriel just to name a few, and up until then became the new exciting heel for everyone to boo. They were to become the ultimate bullies who were perceived by many at the time to be around a lot longer than they did.
Wade Barrett, the leader of the group began a feud with Cena which ultimately led to Cena forming his own team (Team WWE) to match up against this formidable force. Despite the hype and speculation, after everyone else was eliminated, Cena ended the match by eliminating Barrett for the win. Many believe that this was the beginning of the end for the faction, who seemed to only be beginning their rise to stardom on the WWE roster. Surely even the writers should have known that The Nexus would have benefited highly from defeating Cena’s clan, and proving that they are a match for the rest of the roster!?
3. Sasha Banks defeats Charlotte – SummerSlam 2016
I know what you’re probably thinking – which time? Charlotte has been pushed as one of the top wrestlers on the roster for as long as many of us remember it seems, and these two have had more than their fair share of matches against each other.
We are casting back to SummerSlam 2016, where the tussle between the two seemed endless, and the championship seemed to jump between the two of them for ages and continued to do so long after this match. Despite this, the match was actually one of the best matches of the night, with the reigning champion Sasha suffering from an injured back after a botched manoeuvre on the top rope at the beginning of the match. They both displayed lots of athleticism, but after the gruelling match, Charlotte defeated Sasha to much dismay and unhappiness from the WWE universe.
It did feel like Sasha deserved a longer reign as champion as she hadn’t held it very long at the time and many were just getting used to having Sasha as champion.
2. Big Show beats The Straight Edge Society – SummerSlam 2010
The second entry to come from SummerSlam 2010, certainly a reflection on perhaps WWE being off the mark in terms of the storyline at the end. We get the big strong man eliminating the smaller figured wrestlers. The Straight Edge Society consisted of CM Punk, Luke Gallows and Joey Mercury – a heel faction who promoted no smoking, drinking or drugs (anyone else remembers The Right to Censor?), and generated a lot of heat-based off of this.
Also, CM Punk was garnering lots of fan attention as his promo and match skills awed many of the audience. The Big Show was already kayfabe injured with his right hand being taped up before the match, and he still beat this up and coming faction. Do you see a pattern?
Batista beating The Great Khali By Disqualification – SummerSlam 2007
It has to be said that 2007 is a year in WWE that I’ve never been too fond with. Filled with forgettable feuds and women’s matches not being at the calibre they are today (you have the writers to thank for that), it was also a time when The Great Khali of all people was the WWE Heavyweight Champion. The semi-main event featured himself and Batista for the title, and although this might be a cop-out because it ended with Khali DQing (losing, but still maintaining his championship), it was clear that Batista should have defeated Khali for the championship.
Khali hadn’t been champion for very long (weeks even), but at the time no one was particularly behind it, especially because he won it as part of one of Teddy Long’s wacky matchups (a random 20-man battle royal on Smackdown). If I seem sour about the fact that Khali was champion once, you’re right.
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