SummerSlam (2024)

SummerSlam
Promotional poster featuring The Bloodline (Jacob Fatu, Tonga Loa, Solo Sikoa, and Tama Tonga)
Promotion	WWE
Brand(s)	Raw SmackDown
Date	August 3, 2024
City	Cleveland, Ohio
Venue	Cleveland Browns Stadium
Attendance	57,791[1]
WWE Network event chronology
← Previous NXT Heatwave Next → Bash in Berlin
SummerSlam chronology
← Previous 2023 Next → 2026

The 2024 SummerSlam, also promoted as SummerSlam: Cleveland, was a professional wrestling event produced by WWE. It was the 37th annual SummerSlam and took place on Saturday, August 3, 2024, at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. The event aired via pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming and featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. This was the second SummerSlam event to emanate from Cleveland, after the 1996 event, which was held at the Gund Arena (now known as Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse). WWE wrestler and Cleveland area native The Miz served as the host of the event.

This was the first SummerSlam held after WWE merged with the Endeavor subsidiary Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in September 2023, under the banner of TKO Group Holdings. It was the final SummerSlam to livestream on the standalone WWE Network, which is set to close in any markets where the service is still available in January 2025, with WWE content moving to Netflix.

Seven matches were contested at the event. In the main event, which was the main match from SmackDown, Cody Rhodes defeated Solo Sikoa in a Bloodline Rules match retain the Undisputed WWE Championship. In another prominent match, which was Raw's main match, Gunther defeated Damian Priest to win the World Heavyweight Championship. The event marked the return of Roman Reigns to WWE since going on a hiatus following WrestleMania XL in April 2024.

SummerSlam is an annual professional wrestling event traditionally held in August by WWE since 1988. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer",^[2] it is one of the promotion's five biggest events of the year, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, Survivor Series, and Money in the Bank, referred to as the "Big Five".^[3][4] Out of the five, it is considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania.^[5][6]

Announced on March 12, 2024, the 37th SummerSlam was scheduled to be held on Saturday, August 3, 2024, at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio and featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. This was subsequently the second SummerSlam held in Cleveland, after the 1996 event, which was held at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse when the venue was still known as the Gund Arena.^[7]

On July 15, 2024, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul "Triple H" Levesque announced two official theme songs for the event by country singer Jelly Roll: "Dead End Road" and "Liar". Triple H also invited Jelly Roll to sing "God Bless America" and "Liar" at the event.^[8] Jelly Roll was subsequently featured in the SummerSlam promo video.^[9] During the July 22 episode of Monday Night Raw, it was announced that Jelly Roll would perform "Liar" live at SummerSlam.^[10] Japanese wrestler Naomichi Marufuji from Pro Wrestling Noah was also announced to be a special guest at SummerSlam, which was later confirmed to be a guest commentator role for the event's broadcast on Japan's Abema streaming service. This announcement came just days after WWE wrestler AJ Styles faced Marufuji at Noah Destination 2024.^[11] Additionally, WWE wrestler and Cleveland area native The Miz served as the host of the event.^[12]

SummerSlam was broadcast live on traditional pay-per-view worldwide and was also available to livestream on Peacock in the United States, Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia, Disney+ in the Philippines, Binge in Australia, Abema in Japan, SonyLIV in India, and the WWE Network in all other countries. In January 2024, WWE announced that all of the WWE Network content would move to Netflix in all countries where the former is still available as a standalone service starting in January 2025, making the 2024 event the final SummerSlam to livestream on the WWE Network.^[13]

As part of SummerSlam weekend, the August 2 episode of Friday Night SmackDown was held at the nearby Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, while Damian Priest, Sami Zayn, and WWE Hall of Famer The Undertaker all held events at the nearby Agora Theatre and Ballroom. Priest hosted a showing and panel discussion of his documentary on Friday afternoon prior to SmackDown, Zayn hosted a comedy show late Friday night following SmackDown, and Undertaker hosted his 1 deadMan Show on Saturday afternoon prior to SummerSlam.^[14]

The card included seven matches 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 programs, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.^[15][16]

On May 23, 2024, during an appearance at the WWE Experience attraction in Saudi Arabia, Triple H announced that the winners of both the King of the Ring and Queen of the Ring tournaments would receive a match for the world championship of their respective brand at SummerSlam.^[17] At King and Queen of the Ring two days later, Raw's Gunther and SmackDown's Nia Jax won the respective tournaments, thus earning matches for the World Heavyweight Championship, held by Damian Priest, and the WWE Women's Championship, held by Bayley, respectively.^[18]

In mid-2023 after Rhea Ripley cost Liv Morgan the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship,^[19] the two were scheduled for a match, however, the match never began as Ripley viciously attacked Morgan with a steel chair, injuring Morgan's shoulder and taking her out for several months.^[20] Morgan made her return at the 2024 Royal Rumble in January,^[21] and embarked on a "revenge tour", with her goal to take the Women's World Championship from Ripley due to Ripley taking months of her career. On the April 8 episode of Raw, Morgan attacked Ripley backstage, which legitimately injured Ripley's right arm and forced her to vacate the championship.^[22] Over the next few weeks, Morgan began to display more villainous traits. At King and Queen of the Ring, Morgan won the Women's World Championship after accidental interference from Ripley's onscreen love interest, "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio.^[18] Morgan then began trying to seduce Dominik, believing him to have intentionally assisted her in her victories, though members of Dominik's stable The Judgment Day attempted to keep the two separated. On the July 8 episode of Raw, Morgan and Dominik teamed up to defeat the Latino World Order (Rey Mysterio and Zelina Vega). The two celebrated Dominik's first win over his father and Dominik almost gave in and kissed Morgan, but Ripley made a surprise return and Morgan ran off while Ripley confronted Dominik.^[23] The following week, Ripley called out Morgan and challenged her to a match at SummerSlam for the Women's World Championship. Morgan appeared on the screen and accepted the challenge.^[24]

At WrestleMania XL in April, Cody Rhodes defeated Roman Reigns in a Bloodline Rules match to win the Undisputed WWE Championship, despite The Bloodline's efforts of preventing Rhodes from winning.^[25] Following the event, The Bloodline's leader Reigns and fellow member The Rock took a hiatus while Solo Sikoa became the acting leader, subsequently kicking Jimmy Uso out of the group and adding The Tongans (Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa) and Jacob Fatu to The Bloodline. The group's manager Paul Heyman was also later kicked out after he refused to acknowledge Sikoa as the new Tribal Chief of The Bloodline. At Money in the Bank, The Bloodline (Sikoa, Fatu, and Tama) defeated Rhodes, Kevin Owens, and Randy Orton in a six-man tag team match with Sikoa pinning Rhodes.^[26] On the following SmackDown, The Bloodline talked about their win when Rhodes interrupted and said he knew Sikoa wanted a match for the Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam and accepted the challenge. The Bloodline then attacked him and fended off an attack by Orton before powerbombing Orton through the commentator's table.^[27] On SmackDown the night before SummerSlam, after Sikoa and Rhodes had a confrontation, Sikoa changed the stipulation of the match to a Bloodline Rules match and Rhodes accepted.^[28]

For months, LA Knight had been trying to get a match against Logan Paul for the WWE United States Championship. During a Money in the Bank qualifier match on the June 28 episode of SmackDown, Knight pinned Paul.^[29] Knight was unsuccessful in the Money in the Bank ladder match itself, but on the following SmackDown, he made an important note of how he pinned Paul to be in that ladder match and subsequently challenged Paul for the United States Championship.^[27] A contract signing was held on the July 19 episode, which made the match official for SummerSlam in Paul's native area of Cleveland.^[30]

At Money in the Bank, Sami Zayn defeated Bron Breakker to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship.^[26] Breakker then began to viciously target Zayn and Ilja Dragunov over the next few weeks with the intent of facing Zayn again for the title. On the July 22 episode of Raw, Breakker was scheduled to face Dragunov with the winner facing Zayn for the Intercontinental Championship at SummerSlam. Breakker brutally beat Dragunov, causing a referee stoppage and thus naming Breakker the winner.^[10]

At Survivor Series: WarGames in November 2023, immediately following the men's WarGames match that Seth "Freakin" Rollins and Drew McIntyre both participated in, CM Punk made his return to WWE after being away for nearly 10 years. This caused great anger from both Rollins and McIntyre.^[31] Rollins and Punk subsequently began feuding, and Punk entered the men's Royal Rumble match in January with the intention of winning and challenging Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XL. McIntyre also entered the Rumble and during the match, Punk legitimately tore his right triceps but not before Punk eliminated McIntyre from the match.^[32][33] Following this, McIntyre won the men's Elimination Chamber match at Elimination Chamber: Perth to face Rollins for the title at WrestleMania while also mocking Punk over his injury.^[34] Punk was subsequently appointed as a special guest commentator for Rollins and McIntyre's WrestleMania match, which McIntyre won to win the title. After the match, McIntyre gloated in front of Punk, who attacked McIntyre, allowing Damian Priest to cash in his Money in the Bank contract and ending McIntyre's reign at under six minutes.^[25] Punk would again cost McIntyre the title at Clash at the Castle: Scotland^[35] and at the Money in the Bank event when McIntyre cashed in the Money in the Bank contract he had just won. For the latter, Punk's interference not only cost McIntyre the title, but it also cost Rollins as Rollins was facing Priest for the title when McIntyre cashed in his contract.^[26] This would ultimately lead to a match between McIntyre and Punk, who was medically cleared, being scheduled for SummerSlam with Rollins appointed as the special guest referee.^[10] On the final Raw before SummerSlam, Rollins claimed he would be lenient in calling the match, implying there would likely not be a disqualification or a countout.^[36]

• SummerSlam Official Website