WWE SummerSlam 2017: Most Controversial Moments in PPV's History
SummerSlam may be a fun show dubbed The Biggest Party of the Summer, but that does not mean WWE's annual spectacular is without controversy.
Throughout its three decades, it has been home to its fair share of controversial booking decisions and moments that have had a long-reaching effect on WWE programming.
From championship changes to the questionable inclusions of Superstars in high-profile positions, they are the instances that have left fans screaming at their televisions profusely or furiously pounding away at their keyboards, questioning what WWE Creative was thinking.
In celebration of the 30th SummerSlam, which takes place on August 20, relive these eight moments that brought controversy to the event.
8. King Mabel: Main Eventer (1995)
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King Mabel as the No. 1 contender to the WWE Championship stuck out like a Star Trek fan at a Star Wars convention. He was big, yes, and could match up physically with Diesel, but he never quite fit.
Perhaps it was the purple outfit that made him look like Barney the Dinosaur or the fact he was a tag team specialist months earlier in a B-level duo, Men on a Mission.
His credibility was nonexistent ahead of his match with Diesel, and the result was the coldest SummerSlam main event this side of Undertaker vs. Underfaker.
To this day, one is hard-pressed to find a main event competitor more out of his element than Mabel was in 1995, when he had his cup of coffee at the top of the card.
7. 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin's Injury (1997)
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A tombstone piledriver nearly changed the course of professional wrestling forever in 1997, when Owen Hart dropped to his rear instead of his knees, bringing the weight of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's body down on his neck.
The Texas Rattlesnake laid motionless for several moments while Hart played to the crowd, recognizing the gravity of the situation. Eventually, Austin crawled over to Hart and executed the worst rollup in history to win the Intercontinental Championship.
Titles and the quality of the rollup were not of the utmost importance, though. Instead, it was the health of a Superstar tapped to carry WWE into the future. Luckily, Austin would take a few months off, return to action and guide the company to victory in the Monday Night War with WCW.
Unfortunately, his run atop the industry was cut short by the injury, which never fully healed and would eventually require surgery in 1999.
6. Shawn Michaels Oversells the Hulkster (2005)
3 of 8Smartass Shawn Michaels re-emerged from his 1997 slumber and was on full display when he battled Hulk Hogan in the main event of SummerSlam 2005.
Working with a severely limited Hogan, Michaels was at his irreverent best.
He sold every punch, kick, clothesline and bodyslam as if he had been shot. It was ridiculous, over-the-top and even comical. While some will bemoan that behavior, it added an interesting element to a match that needed as much smoke and as many mirrors as possible.
In the wake of the match, criticism of Michaels' antics became ingrained in the match's legacy. Forget the fact The Heartbreak Kid delivered a phenomenal performance and carried Hogan to his best match in years. Instead, talk turned to his unprofessional conduct, which Michaels addressed in a 2017 interview on the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast (h/t Wrestling Inc for the transcription).
"I was out there trying, obviously too hard, I guess, in some people's eyes," Michaels said. "I was just trying to make it a good match because I felt like it wasn't going to be."
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5. The Cash In, Part 2 (2013)
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For the second time in three years, a fan favorite was ousted as champion by an opportunistic scourge who cashed in Money in the Bank and left the audience unexcited about the immediate future of the company.
Moments after Daniel Bryan exploded across the ring and blasted John Cena with the running knee in 2013, Triple H shockingly betrayed the Bearded Wonder, dropping him with a Pedigree and allowing Randy Orton to easily capture the WWE title.
The moment left fans feeling a sense of dread, as if their favorite was destined to come close but always falter under an oppressive management unaware of what made him so special.
4. Lex Luger Doesn't Win the Title (1993)
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All of the pieces were in place for Lex Luger to defeat the mighty Yokozuna and become WWE champion at SummerSlam 1993.
A cross-country bus tour, patriotic fervor and a sudden babyface turn created an American hero out of Luger, who battled the massive foreign fanatic in the main event of the summertime spectacular. He should have won, paying off the fastest and most sudden push in WWE history.
Winning would have firmly established Luger as Hulk Hogan's replacement, a hero kids all over the globe could look up to and all other fans could invest in. Instead, in his biggest match as a member of the WWE roster, he failed to capture gold.
Sure, he won by count-out, but a victory in that manner did more damage than good.
He looked like an imbecile as he jumped around the ring with the glee of a fourth-grader at lunchtime.
Hoisted on the shoulders of Tatanka, Randy Savage and The Steiner Brothers, he raised his arms among the red, white and blue balloons that fell from the sky, a smile on his face as if he just realized mom packed him Lunchables pizza.
It was as if he were the only one who had not realized he did not win the WWE title.
That booking decision derailed Luger's massive push and forced the former WCW champion into an uphill climb he never quite mastered.
3. The Cash In, Part 1 (2011)
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CM Punk was the hottest star in pro wrestling by the time SummerSlam started in 2011 and, quite frankly, the most interesting thing about a WWE that had become bogged down in the great SuperCena experiment.
He was fresh, intriguing and spoke his mind. He also crossed over, appearing on talk shows such as Jimmy Kimmel Live! on the strength of his infamous pipe-bomb promo.
Naturally, WWE Creative brought his momentum to a screeching halt at the event, first having him beat John Cena through controversial means rather than in a clean and decisive manner. From there, the ancient and somewhat immobile Kevin Nash came through the crowd and dropped him with a powerbomb.
To hammer home to the attempt to derail Punk, Alberto Del Rio rushed the ring and cashed in Money in the Bank to win the WWE Championship.
The whole ordeal felt too much like a machine geared toward bringing Punk down. It did not work thanks to a passionate fanbase, but it killed the heat he had in the wake of his breakout promo just two months earlier.
2. Goldberg Loses (2003)
7 of 8Goldberg exploded into the Elimination Chamber match at SummerSlam 2003 ready to kick ass, take names and win titles.
Instead, he became another victim of Triple H's backstage political pull.
Goldberg was beaten by The Game, who was suffering from a torn groin muscle and had no business going over. That he laid unconscious from a superkick for the majority of the match only highlighted how poor in health he was.
That he beat a machine-like ass-kicker was unfathomable.
It was also a massive booking misstep that Goldberg never recovered from during his first run.
His title win would be delayed until Unforgiven in September, when it had less effect and failed to capture fans' imaginations.
1. John Cena Overcomes the Odds (2010)
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John Cena pulled on his purple shirt, zipped up his jorts and took to the ring like a pro wrestling superhero to battle The Nexus at SummerSlam 2010.
Given the fact he overcame a late numbers disadvantage to win anyway, one has to wonder why he even enlisted the aid of six tag team partners for a war with Wade Barrett and his merry band of jobbers.
Cena's victory in the high-profile 14-Man Tag Team match had long-reaching effects. Barrett and his Nexus teammates immediately lost all credibility as the unstoppable invaders. They were suddenly an enormous faction of young guys without an identity or legitimacy.
They were not particularly dangerous—not after Cena won the match—and were merely a plot device. They were generic bad guys whose contributions to the show were simply to play as tackling dummies for Superman himself.
The SummerSlam loss was painful to watch. It spelled the end of Nexus' effectiveness and essentially confirmed the fear every fan had: WWE Creative cared only about its franchise star.
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