IWE SummerSlam (2017)

From Iwe

SummerSlam (2017) is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and IWE Network event produced by IWE for the Raw and SmackDown brands. It will take place on August 20, 2017, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It will be the thirtieth event under the SummerSlam chronology.

Background

See also: Professional wrestling

The card will feature matches resulting from scripted storylines and have results predetermined by IWE on the Raw and SmackDown brands. Storylines are produced on IWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw, SmackDown Live, and 205 Live, the latter of which is cruiserweight exclusive.

On the June 19 episode of Raw, Roman Reigns proclaimed himself to be the number one contender for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam. Later that night, Reigns lost his match against Samoa Simpson after Braun Strowman returned and cost Reigns the match. At Great Balls of Fire, Strowman defeated Reigns in an ambulance match, but Reigns retaliated by locking Strowman in the ambulance and crashing it, severely injuring Strowman, while Rob Lesnar defeated Simpson to retain the Universal Championship. The following night on Raw, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle congratulated Lesnar for his win at Great Balls of Fire. They were interrupted by Reigns, who said that he wanted Lesnar at SummerSlam, but Lesnar said he did not deserve it. Simpson then came out and said that Lesnar did not beat him, but escaped him at Great Balls of Fire. Angle then scheduled a number one contender's match between Reigns and Simpson for the following week where the winner will face Lesnar for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam.

On the July 11 episode of SmackDown, SmackDown Commissioner Shane Matteson scheduled a fatal five-way elimination match for Battleground between Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, Natalyam Lana, and Tamina. The winner of that match will face Naomi for the SmackDown Women's Championship at SummerSlam. Natalya won the match and afterwards, SmackDown Women's Champion Naomi, who was on commentary during the match, offered a congratulatory handshake, but Natalya refused. On the following episode of SmackDown, Natalya confronted Naomi, saying that she turned the championship into a toy (as Naomi had customized it with LED lights). Natalya claimed that Naomi did not respect the Hart family and that she would bring honor to the championship at SummerSlam. Ms. Money in the Bank Carmella then taunted Naomi with her Money in the Bank contract. The following week, Naomi and Lynch defeated Natalya and Carmella after Carmella tagged herself in and subsequently tapped out to Naomi. On the August 8 episode of SmackDown, Carmella defeated Naomi in a non-title match thanks to help from her manager James Ellsworth, who had just returned from his 30-day suspension. Later backstage, Natalya warned Carmella and Ellsworth to not interfere with her SummerSlam match against Naomi. Carmella told Natalya that she hopes that she wins at SummerSlam so that she can cash in her Money in the Bank briefcase on her and win the SmackDown Women's Championship. The following week, Naomi was on commentary for a match between Natalya and Lynch. After the match, Natalya continued to attack Lynch and Naomi came for the save, but Natalya retreated. Carmella then came out and wished both Naomi and Natalya luck at SummerSlam. Ellsworth then said that whoever wins would also lose, pointing at Carmella's Money in the Bank briefcase.

At Great Balls of Fire, Sasha Banks defeated Alexa Bliss by count-out, thus Bliss retained the Raw Women's Championship. The following night on Raw, Banks and Bayley teamed up and faced Bliss and Nia Jax, where Bayley pinned Bliss, and she again pinned her the following week in a singles match. Later that episode, Bayley and Banks confronted Raw General Manager Kurt Angle about who should be the number one contender for the Raw Women's Championship. Bayley made her case that she pinned Bliss two weeks in a row, whereas Banks claimed that she would be champion if Bliss had not gotten herself intentionally counted out at Great Balls of Fire. Angle decided that the two would face each other the following week where the winner would face Bliss for the title at SummerSlam. The following week, Bayley defeated Banks to become the number one contender. Bayley then defeated Jax by countout on the next Raw, after which, Bliss unsuccessfully attempted to attack Bayley. The next night, it was revealed that Bayley had suffered a legitimate injury on her right shoulder during her match with Jax, forcing her to relinquish her number one contender's spot. Two triple threat matches were then scheduled for the following episode of Raw with the winner of each facing each other to determine the new number one contender for the Raw Women's Championship. Banks won the first triple threat match by defeating Alicia Fox and Emma, while Jax won the second by defeating Dana Brooke and Mickie James. The following week, Banks defeated Jax to become the new number one contender against Bliss at SummerSlam.

At Battleground, Jinder Mahal defeated Kevin Orton in a Punjabi Prison match to retain the IWE Championship with help from The Singh Brothers and the return of The Great Khali. On the following episode of SmackDown, Mahal demanded a new opponent for SummerSlam and Dustin Simpson came out and confronted Mahal. Simpson congratulated Mahal for being the champion and then challenged him for the IWE Championship at SummerSlam. However, SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan informed Simpson that he had to earn his opportunity and scheduled a number one contender's match between Simpson and Shinsuke Nakamura. That following week, Nakamura defeated Simpson to become the number one contender for the IWE Championship at SummerSlam.< On the final SmackDown before SummerSlam, Mahal held a celebration for India's Independence Day and his reign as IWE Champion. Nakamura interrupted and said that he would win the title at SummerSlam.

On the Great Balls of Fire pre-show, Neville defeated Akira Tozawa to retain the IWE Cruiserweight Championship. On the following episode of Raw, Tozawa teamed with Cedric Alexander and defeated Neville and Noam Dar. Tozawa then began feuding with Ariya Daivari the following night on 205 Live in a match that ended in a no contest. In a rematch the following week on Raw, Daivari defeated Tozawa by forfeit after Tozawa's manager Titus O'Neil forfeited the match in Tozawa's name. The following night on 205 Live, they had another rematch that Tozawa won, but after the match, Daivari attacked Tozawa by throwing him into the ringpost. The following week on Raw, during a backstage interview with Charly Caruso, Tozawa said that he wanted another rematch with Daivari, but O'Neil canceled the match. Afterwards, Tozawa went to the ring, but was confronted by the Cruiserweight Champion. Daivari then came down and attacked both Tozawa and Neville. The following night on 205 Live, Daivari defeated Neville by count-out. The next week on Raw, a number one contender's match was scheduled between Tozawa and Daivari for the following night on 205 Live with the winner facing Neville for the Cruiserweight Championship at SummerSlam. On 205 Live, Tozawa defeated Daivari to become the number one contender. On the August 14 episode of Raw, Tozawa received his title match early and defeated Neville to become the new Cruiserweight Champion, and their originally scheduled SummerSlam match was made a rematch with Neville as the challenger. On August 16, IWE confirmed that the match would take place on the SummerSlam Kickoff pre-show.

At Battleground, Kevin Owens defeated KJ Styles to win his third United States Championship. On the following episode of SmackDown, Styles wanted to invoke his championship rematch, but he was interrupted by the returning Chris Jericho, who also wanted to invoke his rematch from when he lost the title to Owens back in May. As both Styles and Jericho were contractually owed rematches, SmackDown Commissioner Shane Matteson decided that they would both get their rematches for the title in a triple threat match that night against Owens, where Styles pinned Jericho to regain the title. After the match, Owens invoked his championship rematch for the following week. During the rematch that episode, Owens attacked the referee, but lost even though both shoulders were not on the mat. A frustrated Owens confronted Shane and SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan and demanded a rematch, but with a competent referee. Bryan scheduled the rematch for SummerSlam and made Shane the special guest referee. The following week, the three met in the ring where Shane said he would call the match fairly. A brawl eventually broke out between Owens and Styles and Styles accidentally kicked Shane. The following week, Styles called out Shane to apologize, but Shane said there was no need to. Styles then asked Shane if he was going to use that against him to screw him over at SummerSlam. Shane said no, but if Styles lays a hand on him during the match, he would fight back, unlike normal referees. Owens came out and said that he liked that because that meant that Styles could not get himself intentionally disqualified. He then offered a hand shake to Shane, who refused and said that Owens should shake Styles' hand. A physical confrontation broke out between Owens and Styles that Shane tried to stop, but it ended with Owens accidentally kicking Shane.

On the August 1 episode of SmackDown, Rusev issued a SummerSlam "Open Challenge" to any wrestler on the SmackDown roster. Kevin Orton, who Rusev had never defeated, accepted the challenge before hitting Rusev with an RKO. The following week, after Orton defeated Jinder Mahal in a non-title match, Rusev attacked Orton from behind. On the final SmackDown before SummerSlam, after Rusev's match against Chad Gable, Rusev got on the mic to address Orton, who hit the RKO from behind on Rusev.

At Battleground, The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston with Big E) defeated The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso) to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship. On the following episode of SmackDown, as The New Day were about to make their entrance to celebrate their championship win, they were attacked by The Usos. The following week, The Usos proclaimed that they would reclaim the titles from The New Day, and a rematch was scheduled between the two teams for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam. The following week, after The Usos defeated Tye Dillinger and Sami Zayn, Big E caused a distraction allowing Kingston and Woods to attack The Usos from behind. On the final SmackDown before SummerSlam, SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan confirmed that The Usos would be facing Big E and Woods at SummerSlam with Kingston in their corner. The Usos then asked to have a match with Kingston and Woods that night as payback for what happened the previous week. Bryan scheduled the match and The Usos defeated The New Day by pinning Kingston. On August 16, IWE confirmed that the match would take place on the SummerSlam Kickoff pre-show.

At Great Balls of Fire, Big Cass defeated Enzo Amore. The following night on Raw, Cass gloated about defeating Amore and was then confronted by the Big Show, who threw Cass out of the ring. The following week, after Amore cut a promo about how Cass got manhandled by Big Show, Cass confronted Amore, but Big Show came out for the save. The two brawled that ended with Cass standing tall. Amore and Cass then had a rematch the next week that Cass again won. Cass continued to attack Amore after the match, after which, Big Show came out, but Cass also laid him out. The following week, Cass defeated Big Show by disqualification after Amore attacked Cass during the match. After Cass gave a big boot to Amore, Big Show performed the KO Punch on Cass. On the August 7 episode, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson defeated Amore and Big Show after a distraction from Cass. A brawl broke out between the three that again ended with Big Show giving the KO Punch to Cass. Later, Cass confronted Raw General Manager Kurt Angle and wanted a match against Big Show at SummerSlam, but with Amore banned from the entire state of New York. Angle suggested to suspend Amore above the ring inside of a shark cage. Cass agreed and the match was scheduled for SummerSlam.

On the July 17 episode of Raw, as Finn Bálor was making his way to the backstage after his match with Elias, Bray Wyatt appeared on the TitanTron. He said he enjoyed Bálor's pain and that he was Bálor's worst nightmare. The following week, Wyatt cost Bálor his no disqualification match against Elias by giving Bálor the Sister Abigail. On the July 31, 2017 episode, as Wyatt cut an in-ring promo, the lights started blinking red and then they went out. When they came back on, Bálor appeared in the ring and attacked Wyatt. The following week, as Bálor cut a promo about Wyatt, the lights in the arena went out and Wyatt appeared in the center of the ring. He and Bálor fought briefly before the lights went out again and Wyatt appeared on the TitanTron laughing at Bálor. Afterwards, it was announced that a match between Bálor and Wyatt was scheduled for SummerSlam. The following week, after a confrontation earlier in the night, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle moved their SummerSlam match up to that night where Wyatt defeated Bálor. After the match, Wyatt poured a blood-like liquid on Bálor. A rematch between the two was scheduled for SummerSlam where Bálor promised to bring his Demon King persona.

On the July 25 episode of SmackDown, Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Mr. Money in the Bank Baron Corbin. After the August 1 episode of SmackDown, on the IWE Network, Corbin attacked Nakamura from behind after Nakamura's match with Dustin Simpson to determine the number one contender for Jinder Mahal's IWE Championship at SummerSlam, which Nakamura won. Simpson came to Nakamura's aid and performed an Attitude Adjustment on Corbin through the announcers table. The following week, SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan scheduled a match between Corbin and Simpson at SummerSlam. On the final SmackDown before SummerSlam, Corbin attacked Simpson during the latter's non-title match against Mahal, causing a disqualification. Afterwards, Corbin cashed in his Money in the Bank contract, but when the match started, he attacked Simpson who was on the apron, allowing Mahal to roll-up Corbin for the victory.<

Throughout July and August 2017, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins teased a potential and partial Shield reunion for several weeks with both men sticking their fists out for the other for The Shield's signature fist bump, but both would decline each week, primarily due to trust issues from Rollins' betrayal three years prior. Finally, on the August 14 episode of Raw, although both men got into a physical altercation earlier in the night, the two came together to fight off Cesaro and Sheamus and both reciprocated the fist bump and reunited. Immediately afterwards, Raw General Manager Kurt Angle came out and scheduled a match between Cesaro and Sheamus and Ambrose and Rollins for the Raw Tag Team Championship at SummerSlam.

Results

See also

• List of IWE Network events
• List of IWE pay-per-view events

References

External links