Ranking every WWE SummerSlam PPV in history

19. WWE SummerSlam 2012

• Chris Jericho def. Dolph Ziggler
• Daniel Bryan def. Kane
• The Miz def. Rey Mysterio to retain the WWE Intercontinental Championship
• Sheamus def. Alberto Del Rio to retain the World Heavyweight Championship
• Kofi Kingston & R-Truth def. The Prime Time Players to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship
• CM Punk def. Big Show and John Cena to retain the WWE Championship
• Brock Lesnar def. Triple H by submission (No Disqualification Match)

SummerSlam 2012, which was the 25th edition of the show, is another one of those cases where there really isn’t one match that would be a considered any kind of classic, just a card that’s pretty good most of the way through.

Chris Jericho and Dolph Ziggler kicked things off with a fantastic back-and-forth match in which neither man really seemed to be able to get the upper hand. Jericho was having a bit off an off year as far as getting wins on pay-per-view, but he was finally able to pick up one here. Ziggler was holding the Money in the Bank briefcase at the time so it wasn’t a surprise to see him lose, since briefcase holders tend to lose quite often before cashing in. Of course, we now know that it would take Ziggler quite a while to cash that thing in.

Daniel Bryan and Kane weren’t Team Hell No just yet and Bryan picked up a win against his future partner in the second match of the night, which was followed by a solid match for the Intercontinental Championship between The Miz and Rey Mysterio.

The World Heavyweight Championship was on the line next as Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio went at it in a match that was a little boring and flat. These two worked each other so often that it just seemed like another match, not a World title match at SummerSlam. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. The tag title match that followed could pretty much be summed up in the same manner.

In what was one of many signs of disrespect during his historic WWE Championship reign, CM Punk defended his title, the one he held for 434 days, in a Triple Threat Match with John Cena and Big Show. Punk and Cena had put on a classic match a year earlier and the presence of Big Show here obviously meant that we weren’t going to see that again.

This was still good enough for what it needed to be, even if it didn’t go on last, which I think world title matches always should at big events like SummerSlam or WrestleMania. But much like AJ Styles’ long title reign, that’s what happened a lot with Punk back then. He had turned heel about a month before this when he turned on The Rock and picked up a heel win here after Cena hit Show with the Attitude Adjustment before Punk tossed Cena and made the pin himself.

“The Perfect Storm”, which is what they were calling the No Disqualification Match between Triple H and Brock Lesnar, was the main event of the evening and this all stemmed from a contract dispute, because that’s fun. After wanting to renegotiate after returning to WWE, Lesnar broke Triple H’s arm when he declined and The Game came back just in time for this matchup. Funny how that worked out so nicely.

Lesnar had also broken Shawn Michaels’ arm during the build when HBK said he’d be in his buddy’s corner. The match started out a little slow with Lesnar focusing on that same “broken” arm but things did pick up after a bit and the finish was done quite well. I always thought it was strange for Lesnar to lose his first match back — that coming at Extreme Rules to John Cena — but he made up for it here as he was booked like the monster he would become. He withstood two Pedigrees and got the tap out win with the Kimura Lock. These two would split two matches the following year.