The 2007 SummerSlam was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the 20th annual SummerSlam and took place on August 26, 2007, at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brand divisions. This was the third SummerSlam held at the Continental Airlines Arena, after 1989, when it was known as the Brendan Byrne Arena, and 1997. Tickets for SummerSlam went on sale on December 30, 2006, and sold out in 40 minutes.
The main feud, a staged rivalry between wrestlers, heading into the event from the Raw brand was between John Cena and Randy Orton. On the July 23 episode of Raw, Jonathan Coachman announced Orton as the number one contender to the WWE Championship. Over the proceeding weeks, Orton provoked Cena by interfering and attacking him during his matches. From SmackDown!, the predominant feud was between The Great Khali and Batista. After Khali defeated Batista and Kane in a triple threat match, Theodore Long booked Khali to defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Batista at SummerSlam. The primary feud from ECW was between John Morrison and CM Punk. By defeating Morrison in a 15 Minutes of Fame match, Punk became the number one contender to the ECW Championship at SummerSlam.
Several of the existing feuds carried on after the event. Notably, CM Punk continued to face John Morrison, defeating him for the ECW Championship the following month on ECW on Sci Fi. The day after SummerSlam, Orton, as part of the scripted events, interfered in a match between Cena and King Booker and intensified the feud by attacking Cena's father. Khali and Batista faced each other at Unforgiven, the following pay-per-view, as part of a triple threat match; Batista was victorious in this match and won the World Heavyweight Championship. This event marked the in-ring returns of Rey Mysterio and Triple H, who had been out due to injury since October 2006 and January 2007, respectively.
Production Background
SummerSlam is an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced every August by World Wrestling Entertainment (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, referred to as the "Big Four".Ian Hamilton. Wrestling's Sinking Ship: What Happens to an Industry Without Competition (p. 160) It has since become considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. The 20th SummerSlam was scheduled to be held on August 26, 2007, at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, which was the third SummerSlam held at the venue, after 1989, when it was known as the Brendan Byrne Arena, and 1997. It featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brand divisions.
WWE had originally planned a storyline between the cast of the Jackass television series and Umaga, with the conclusion in a match at SummerSlam. It was scheduled to begin at the previous pay-per-view event, The Great American Bash, but was canceled after the Jackass cast dropped out due to the negative media attention surrounding the Chris Benoit double murder and suicide. However, 14 years later, the Jackass cast and Johnny Knoxville himself would later have a match at WrestleMania 38 in 2022 against Sami Zayn.
Storylines
The main staged rivalry heading into SummerSlam on the Raw brand was between John Cena and Randy Orton over the WWE Championship. At The Great American Bash, Cena defeated Bobby Lashley to retain the WWE Championship. The next night on Raw, after a Handicap match involving Cena, Orton came out and executed an RKO on Cena. Shortly thereafter, Executive Assistant Jonathan Coachman announced Orton as the new number-one contender to the WWE Championship. Before that, Orton claimed that he had never faced Cena in a one-on-one WWE Championship match. On the July 30 episode of Raw, Carlito defeated Cena in a non-title match after Orton interfered and distracted Cena. Three weeks later, on the August 18 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event XXXV, Cena faced off against Carlito in another non-title match, which Cena won. After the match, Orton came out and attacked Cena, which led to a RKO from Orton through a steel chair.
The main storyline on the SmackDown! brand was between The Great Khali and Batista over the World Heavyweight Championship. On the July 6 episode of SmackDown!, Khali issued an open challenge for a match at The Great American Bash, which was accepted by Batista later that night. On SmackDown! the following week, the match between Khali and Batista was made official after a contract signing. That same night, then-World Heavyweight Champion Edge, who was scheduled to face Kane for the title at The Great American Bash, suffered a legitimate injury—a left pectoral muscle tear—after Kane interrupted his Mardi Gras style celebration. On the July 20 episode of SmackDown!, Edge was forced to vacate the World Heavyweight Championship due to the severity of his injury. He later commented-
SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long then announced that there would be a 20-man Battle Royal later that night to determine a new World Heavyweight Champion. Khali won the Battle Royal and became the new World Heavyweight Champion by last eliminating Kane and Batista. Khali defeated the two and retained the title at The Great American Bash. Five days later on SmackDown!, Batista interrupted Khali's celebration and challenged him to a match at SummerSlam. The next week, on the August 3 episode of SmackDown!, Long announced that Khali would defend his title against Batista at SummerSlam.
Another main rivalry on the Raw brand heading into SummerSlam was between the returning Triple H against King Booker. At New Year's Revolution, during a World Tag Team Championship match between Rated-RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) and D-Generation X (Shawn Michaels and Triple H), Triple H suffered a legitimate torn right quadriceps during the match that left him out of action. On the July 16 episode of Raw, Booker entered using Triple H's entrance music "King of Kings". Booker declared that neither Triple H nor Jerry Lawler could be known as "The King". On the August 6 episode of Raw, Booker defeated Lawler in a match where the loser had to crown the winner the next week. When the time came, Lawler refused, declaring that Triple H was still a king and announcing that Booker would face Triple H at SummerSlam. Booker then attacked Lawler, throwing him into the ring post and hitting him with a television monitor. Then the following week when Lawler was not on RAW due to the injuries suffered, Booker would force Jim Ross (with the help of Queen Charmell) to kiss his feet.
The predominant staged rivalry from the ECW brand was between John Morrison and CM Punk over the ECW Championship. Morrison (then known as Johnny Nitro) won the vacant title at Vengeance: Night of Champions defeating Punk. At The Great American Bash, Morrison defeated Punk to retain the championship. On the July 31 episode of ECW, Punk defeated Tommy Dreamer and Elijah Burke in a Triple threat match to earn a 15 Minutes of Fame match with Morrison. The following week on ECW, Punk defeated Morrison by pinfall after executing a GTS (Go To Sleep). As a result of this victory, Punk earned himself a championship match against Morrison at SummerSlam.
One of the primary preliminary matches was a standard one-on-one match between Rey Mysterio and Chavo Guerrero. Their storyline first began in July 2006 at The Great American Bash. Guerrero interfered in Mysterio's World Heavyweight Championship match with King Booker by hitting Mysterio with a steel chair, costing him the championship. Guerrero defeated Mysterio the following month at SummerSlam 2006, winning the match after performing a frog splash At No Mercy, Mysterio defeated Guerrero in a Falls Count Anywhere match, pinning him after performing a crossbody off a guard rail. On the October 20 episode of SmackDown!, Guerrero defeated Mysterio in an "I Quit" match by forcing him to quit after hitting his left knee repeatedly with a steel chair. During the match, Mysterio suffered a real injury—an ACL and patella tendon tear in his left knee. Ten months later, on the August 3 episode of SmackDown!, a match between Mysterio and Guerrero was booked for SummerSlam.
Event + Other on-screen personnelRole:Name:English commentatorsJim Ross Jerry Lawler Michael Cole John "Bradshaw" Layfield Joey Styles Tazz Spanish commentatorsCarlos CabreraHugo SavinovichInterviewerTodd GrishamRing announcersLilian Garcia Justin Roberts Tony Chimel RefereesMike Chioda Jack Doan Marty Elias Chad Patton Mickie Henson Jim Korderas Charles Robinson Scott Armstrong John Cone Before the event went live on pay-per-view, World Tag Team Champions Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch defeated Paul London and Brian Kendrick in a dark match.
Preliminary matches
The first match that aired was between Kane and Finlay. Kane controlled the opening minutes of the match, performing a variety of moves including a scoop slam and a big boot. After some back and forth action, Finlay was able to hit Kane with a shillelagh in the ribs. Kane kicked out of the pin attempt and executed a chokeslam, pinning him afterwards for the win.
Next was a triple threat match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship that involved Umaga, Carlito, and Mr. Kennedy. Kennedy attempted to form an alliance with Carlito in the beginning, but Umaga quickly turned the match in his favor. Kennedy and Carlito soon gained the upper hand after Carlito dropkicked Umaga to the outside. Shortly thereafter, Carlito turned on Kennedy and attempted to pin him with a roll-up. After a back and forth match between the three, Umaga regained control and performed a Samoan Spike on Kennedy, which led to Umaga pinning Kennedy for the win and successfully retaining the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
The third match was Rey Mysterio versus Chavo Guerrero, which was Mysterio's first match since Guerrero injured his knee in October 2006. Mysterio gained the early advantage when he was able to perform an arm drag and a plancha on Guerrero. Mysterio then performed a low dropkick to Guerrero's left knee, followed by a diving hurricanrana. Towards the end of the match, Guerrero was able to perform a Gory Bomb on Mysterio after Mysterio had missed a crossbody. Mysterio kicked out of the pin attempt and performed a 619 followed by a springboard splash for the pinfall victory.
Next was an Interpromotional Divas Battle Royal involving Beth Phoenix, Melina, Mickie James, Jillian Hall, and Maria from Raw, Michelle McCool, Torrie Wilson, Kristal, and Victoria from SmackDown!, and Kelly Kelly, Layla, and Brooke from ECW. Shortly after the match began, Phoenix threw Brooke over the top rope. Soon after, Hall eliminated Maria and Layla was thrown out by Melina. Kristal then eliminated Victoria, but was then thrown over the ropes by James and accidentally knocked off the apron by McCool. Shortly after, Phoenix and Hall eliminated Kelly, and Hall and James began pulling each other over the ropes. Wilson threw Hall out to the floor whilst Melina knocked James off the apron. McCool and Wilson then worked together to eliminate Melina. The two continued their alliance, but Phoenix was able to get the upper hand, first eliminating Wilson, followed by throwing McCool over the ropes to win the match and a future WWE Women's Championship match.