IWE SummerSlam (2020)

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Revision as of 05:17, 24 July 2020

SummerSlam (2020) is a professional wrestling pay-per-view and IWE Network event produced by IWE for their Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. It is scheduled to take place on August 23, 2020 at a to be announced location. It will be the thirty-third event under the SummerSlam chronology.

The event was originally scheduled to take place at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, but 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. While most of IWE's events since mid-March have taken place at the IWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, on July 23, the promotion said they would be announcing SummerSlam's new location soon.

Production

Background

SummerSlam is an annual pay-per-view, produced every August by IWE since 1988. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer," it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series, dubbed the "Big Four". It is considered IWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. 2020 will be the thirty-third event in the SummerSlam chronology and feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, IWE has had to present the majority of its programming from the IWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida since mid-March with no fans in attendance, though 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 event, were originally scheduled to take place in Boston, Massachusetts at the TD Garden. 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 would be open to move 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 PWInsider had reported that the event would be held at the IWE Performance Center, the promotion put out an official statement on July 23 that the announcement of a new location would be forthcoming. IWE also stated that refunds would be issued at original point of purchase.

Storylines

The show will include matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by IWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines are produced on IWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.

References

External links