10 Things You Didn’t Know About 2000s SummerSlams

7. The Hardys were going to Win TLC I – SummerSlam – 2000

Somewhere along the way, WWE decided that no one shall ever get to win in their hometown. This is a philosophy that exists to this day.

One of the biggest examples of it is The Hardys losing the first TLC match at SummerSlam 2000. The event took place in Raleigh, North Carolina, a short drive from their hometown of Cameron.

Shockingly, The Hardys were supposed to win the match. Edge even went to bat for the team, saying Matt and Jeff Hardy should win the match.

However, Vince McMahon put the kibosh on it, saying it would be too obvious. Someone should tell Vince that “obvious” doesn’t mean bad.

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6. This was the Birth of Bizarro-Land – SummerSlam 2004

Fans in Canada have gotten a reputation over the years because of their reactions.

Whenever WWE comes to the country, they make sure to call it Bizarro-Land when the fans react to things in ways not intended. This all started at SummerSlam 2004.

The two biggest examples of this were the poor reaction to Edge and the positive reaction to Randy Orton.

You would think the people in Toronto would cheer for their hometown boy but many believed Edge had grown stale as he returned from his neck injury and his teased heel turn was rubbing some the wrong way.

Orton was a clean-cut, cool heel who became World Heavyweight Champion by beating Chris Benoit.

The fans cheered this despite Orton being a heel. The reactions throughout the night dubbed Toronto and Canada Bizarro-Land, a monicker that still exists today.

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5. Kurt Angle Wanted in the ECW Title Match – SummerSlam 2006

Many forget about Kurt Angle jumping to the WWECW brand in 2006. It was the last thing he did in WWE before being released but what you may not know is he wanted in the ECW Championship match at SummerSlam.

Angle wanted to be put in the match between Big Show and Sabu, a move that would have undoubtedly made the match better.

Instead, Angle was released following a house show match with Rob Van Dam with WWE growing more and more concerned for his health and well-being.

Why you wouldn’t try and help that person instead of releasing them? Who knows.

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4. The Intercontinental and Cruiserweight Titles were going to be Defended – SummerSlam 2003

The SummerSlam 2003 show was a bit of a downer, especially considered to the great show the year prior.

What could have helped the show would have been the two additional championship matches that were originally scheduled. One for the Intercontinental title and one for the Cruiserweight title.

Christian was the Intercontinental Champion after winning the title from Booker T. A rematch was planned for the two at SummerSlam but a back injury to Booker T prevented that from happening. Rather than finding a new opponent, the title was kept off the show.

Over on SmackDown, Rey Mysterio was the Cruiserweight Champion and he was going to defend his title against another masked icon. That icon would have been Ultimo Dragon.

Dragon was a legend in pro wrestling and was brought to WWE to be their next masked star. However, WWE soured on him and the proposed match between Mysterio and Dragon was dropped from SummerSlam.

• 2000s
• lists
• SummerSlam
• wwe

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