The 2020 SummerSlam was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It was the 33rd annual SummerSlam and took place on August 23, 2020, from the WWE ThunderDome, a bio-secure bubble that at the time was hosted at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. This was WWE's first PPV and livestreaming event to be produced from the ThunderDome, which debuted with the broadcast of Friday Night SmackDown two days prior.
The event was originally scheduled to take place at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Boston mayor Marty Walsh announced the suspension of all large-scale gatherings and that no permit would be issued for an event that could draw a large crowd before September 7. Since mid-March, WWE had presented the majority of Raw and SmackDown's shows from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando with no fans in attendance due to the pandemic. With the move to the Amway Center, SummerSlam was the first major WWE event held outside of the Performance Center since March, although still without fans physically in attendance; fans were instead able to attend and be seen virtually on LED boards in the venue through the ThunderDome arena staging. This also marked the last SummerSlam to be held in a traditional arena, as all future events have been held in stadiums. This would also be the final SummerSlam to livestream on the American version of the WWE Network, which merged under Peacock in April 2021.
Eight matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, which was the main match for SmackDown, "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt defeated Braun Strowman in a Falls Count Anywhere match to win the Universal Championship for a second time. Following the match, Roman Reigns returned following a five-month hiatus and attacked both men, turning heel. In the penultimate match, which was the main match for Raw, Drew McIntyre defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE Championship. In other prominent matches, Mandy Rose defeated Sonya Deville in a No Disqualification Loser Leaves WWE match, and Asuka defeated Sasha Banks to win the Raw Women's Championship for a second time after losing her match against Bayley for the SmackDown Women's Championship in the opening bout. The event was also notable for the in-ring debut of Rey Mysterio's son Dominik Mysterio, who fought Seth Rollins in a street fight in a losing effort. Additionally, it was the first SummerSlam since 2009 to feature MVP, and it was also the first SummerSlam since 2011 to not feature Brock Lesnar, who competed in the main event match for the past six years and in 2012.
Production
Background SummerSlam is an annual professional wrestling event produced every August by WWE since 1988. It was originally broadcast exclusively via pay-per-view (PPV) before it began simultaneously livestreaming on the WWE Network in 2014. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is one of the promotion's original four PPVs, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". It has since become considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. Announced on August 8, 2019, the 33rd SummerSlam featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions.
Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, WWE had to present the majority of its programming for Raw and SmackDown from a behind closed doors set at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida beginning mid-March, although in late May, the promotion began using Performance Center trainees to serve as the live audience, which was further expanded to friends and family members of the wrestlers in mid-June. SummerSlam, as well as the preceding night's NXT TakeOver XXX, were originally scheduled to take place in Boston, Massachusetts at the TD Garden, with SummerSlam on August 23, 2020. On May 8, the ongoing pandemic forced Boston mayor Marty Walsh to suspend all large-scale gatherings until September 7, effectively canceling WWE's planned events in the city.
Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer reported that the promotion was open to moving SummerSlam to September if it meant having fans in attendance. However, an advertisement that aired during The Horror Show at Extreme Rules confirmed that SummerSlam would still be taking place on August 23, but with no reference to a city or venue. Although Pro Wrestling Insider had reported that the event would be held at the WWE Performance Center, the promotion put out an official statement on July 23 that the announcement of a new location would be forthcoming. WWE also stated that refunds would be issued at original point of purchase. PWInsider then reported that WWE were looking into hosting SummerSlam on a cruise ship or on a beach.
On August 17, it was made official that SummerSlam would emanate from the Amway Center, a larger venue also located in Orlando. This made SummerSlam the first major WWE event to be held outside of the Performance Center since March. WWE also entered into an agreement with the Amway Center in which all future broadcasts of Monday Night Raw, Friday Night SmackDown, and PPV and livestreaming events would be held at the venue "for the foreseeable future". Along with the move, WWE partnered with the full-service fan experience company The Famous Group to provide a "virtual fan experience", a bio-secure bubble named the WWE ThunderDome, which was first utilized for the August 21 episode of SmackDown. Drones, lasers, pyro, smoke, and projections were utilized to make the wrestlers' entrances "better than WrestleMania", according to WWE Executive Vice President of Television Production Kevin Dunn, who further noted that "We can now do things production-wise that we could never otherwise do". They also installed nearly 1,000 LED boards in the Amway Center to allow for rows and rows of virtual fans, who could register for a free virtual seat. Arena audio was also mixed with that of the virtual fans so that chants from the fans could be heard.
Storylines The event comprised eight matches, including one on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
At Money in the Bank, Braun Strowman retained the Universal Championship against Bray Wyatt, who wrestled as his Firefly Fun House character. After being absent for a few weeks, Wyatt returned on the June 19 episode of SmackDown, but was interrupted by Strowman. Wyatt stated their rivalry was just getting started before appearing as his old cult leader persona of The Wyatt Family, which formerly included Strowman and from where Strowman had originally made his WWE debut. This led to a non-title match between the two called the Wyatt Swamp Fight at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, where Wyatt, fighting as his old Eater of Worlds self, defeated Strowman, who disappeared somewhere in the swamp. As Wyatt tried to leave himself, he was pulled back into the water, only for his alter ego The Fiend to appear. On the following SmackDown, Wyatt stated that his old Eater of Worlds self was done for now and that The Fiend had been unleashed. The following week, Wyatt said that The Fiend wanted the Universal Championship and that no one was safe until he got it, which was made evident later that night when The Fiend attacked Alexa Bliss, Strowman's old tag team partner from Season 1 of Mixed Match Challenge. On the August 7 episode, The Fiend tried attacking Bliss again, who seemingly showed affection for The Fiend, causing him to back off. Strowman then appeared on the TitanTron, stating he did not care about Bliss and that he emerged a monster from the swamp. Strowman then accepted The Fiend's challenge for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam. The following week saw Strowman attacking Bliss to lure out The Fiend, who appeared in the ring to confront Strowman. On the August 22 episode of Talking Smack, the stipulation was changed to a Falls Count Anywhere match.
On the July 27 episode of Raw, Randy Orton cut a promo listing many of his accolades before declaring that he wanted the WWE Championship again. He then issued a challenge to champion Drew McIntyre for a title match at SummerSlam. Later that night, McIntyre accepted Orton's challenge and then defeated Dolph Ziggler in an Extreme Rules match in a rematch from The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, preventing Ziggler from earning the title opportunity. Following the match, Orton attacked McIntyre with an RKO.
On the July 20 episode of Raw, Andrade and Angel Garza lost to Raw Tag Team Champions The Street Profits (Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins). The following week, Andrade and Garza won a triple threat tag team match to earn a title match at SummerSlam.
After United States Champion Apollo Crews repeatedly declined MVP's offer to join his faction, later dubbed The Hurt Business, the two faced each other in a non-title match on the June 29 episode of Raw that was won by MVP. After the match, Crews was brutally attacked by MVP's teammate Bobby Lashley. The following week, MVP unveiled a new United States Championship belt and stated that he would face Crews for the title at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules. At the event, however, Crews was unable to compete due to failing his pre-match physical thanks to Lashley's attack. MVP then declared himself winner by forfeit and unofficially claimed himself as the new United States Champion. Crews, with the older United States title belt, returned on the August 3 episode of Raw where he formally faced MVP in a title match where Crews retained. Celebrating his victory, Crews later stated in a backstage interview that he would give the old belt to his children while he kept the new belt MVP introduced. MVP then demanded a rematch for SummerSlam and Crews accepted. On the August 17 episode, Crews defeated The Hurt Business's Shelton Benjamin, thus banning Benjamin and Lashley from ringside during the title match at SummerSlam, which was set to occur on the Kickoff pre-show.
Following several weeks of Seth Rollins tormenting and taunting Rey Mysterio, the two finally faced each other at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules in an Eye for an Eye match in which one opponent had to extract an eye of the other to win the match, which was won by Rollins. Mysterio's son Dominik appeared on the July 27 episode of Raw to confront Rollins and his disciple Murphy for Rollins's actions, as well as for Rollins gloating about it. Although Dominik attacked Rollins and Murphy, they eventually overpowered Dominik until Aleister Black came out to Dominik's aid. The brawl, however, resulted in Murphy injuring Black's eye using the corner of the steel steps. The following week, Dominik challenged Rollins to a match at SummerSlam. Later, after Rollins and Murphy taunted commentator Tom Phillips (which led to fellow commentator Samoa Joe defending Phillips), they were both attacked from behind by Dominik with a kendo stick. Rollins then accepted Dominik's challenge. During the contract signing the following week, in which Dominik also signed a contract to officially become a WWE wrestler, Rollins stated that Dominik could use any kind of weapon he wanted. After Rollins defeated Humberto Carrillo, Rollins and Murphy attacked Dominik with kendo sticks. Their SummerSlam match was later made a Street Fight.