10 Times WWE Booked The Wrong SummerSlam Main Event

SummerSlam has been WWE’s biggest event of the summer for over three decades.

While many of those shows have been done well with stellar main events, they have also had their fair share of blunders. A number of these main events have been poorly booked or poorly executed.

Here we will break down ten times WWE booked the wrong SummerSlam main events.

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10. Team WWE vs. Nexus – SummerSlam 2010

This list will feature a mix of matches that shouldn’t have main evented SummerSlam and matches that were poorly executed. This one is the latter.

The Nexus’ invasion of WWE was a major angle for summer 2010. Naturally, this should build to a SummerSlam main event against WWE’s biggest stars. That much they got right.

However, that is where the success stops. This show could have been the culmination of the Nexus’ introduction, earning them a big win over the likes of John Cena, Edge, and Chris Jericho. All reports indicate that was the plan.

However, Cena insisted on beating Nexus decisively, a choice protested by Edge and Jericho. Sure enough, Cena got the win and any momentum the Nexus had was stopped dead.

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9. Hulk Hogan & Brutus Beefcake vs. Randy Savage & Zeus – SummerSlam 1989

Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake taking on an actor who was playing a wrestler? What could go wrong? Whereas the last entry was the correct match with the wrong finish, this match should never have been booked, to begin with.

Trying to capitalize on the No Holds Barred film, Zeus was booked for a tag team match at SummerSlam 1989.

Instead of this lousy tag team match, WWE could have instead had a WrestleMania rematch between Hogan and Randy Savage.

If they did not want to beat Savage again, they could have replaced Beefcake and Zeus with The Ultimate Warrior and Rick Rude, the Intercontinental title program at the time.

This would have given them a chance to build to the Hogan vs. Warrior match at WrestleMania VI instead of this tag match which accomplished nothing.

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8. Triple H vs. Goldberg vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Kevin Nash vs. Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton – SummerSlam 2003

The Elimination Chamber match from SummerSlam 2003 is a difficult one to place. It is clear what WWE was trying to do with this match, as Goldberg decimated half the participants en route to a showdown with Triple H.

Had Goldberg sealed the deal and won the World Heavyweight Championship, this may have worked. But he didn’t so it didn’t.

There are a couple of options here. Either have Goldberg defeat Triple H to win the title in the Elimination Chamber, or have the two wrestle a singles match for the title.

There was no reason for Triple H to walk out of this show with the title. Trying to extend this program by a month cost Goldberg his momentum and frustrated fans once again. Let’s not frustrate our fans, yeah?

• main events
• lists
• SummerSlam
• wwe

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