Ranking every WWE SummerSlam PPV in history

8. WWE SummerSlam 2011

• John Morrison, Kofi Kingston & Rey Mysterio def. R-Truth, The Miz & Alberto Del Rio (6-Man Tag Match)
• Mark Henry def. Sheamus by count-out
• Kelly Kelly def. Beth Phoenix to retain the WWE Divas Championship
• Wade Barrett def. Daniel Bryan
• Randy Orton def. Christian to win the World Heavyweight Championship (No Holds Barred Match)
• CM Punk def. John Cena to win the WWE Undisputed Championship
• Alberto Del Rio def. CM Punk to win the WWE Undisputed Championship (MITB cash-in)

Speaking of CM Punk, 2011 was the Summer of Punk as this was the year of the famous pipe bomb promo on Monday Night Raw during the build to his main event match with John Cena at Money in the Bank. Punk won the title and “left” the company, only to return a week later after Cena had won a new title. This led to the main event of SummerSlam 2011, and we’ll get back to that in a minute.

A six-man tag opened the show as John Morrison, Kofi Kingston and Rey Mysterio took on R-Truth, The Miz and Alberto Del Rio in a fun first match. Everyone could keep a good pace and it was a good way to kick things off. Mysterio was getting the winner of Cena vs. Punk the following night so it made sense for him to get the win for his team. Naturally, R-Truth took the loss. What a team player he’s always been.

Sheamus and Mark Henry had a fun little brawl in the second match of the night that got physical, especially at the end when Henry slammed Sheamus through the barricade, which kept him out just long enough for Henry to get a count-out win. I’m usually not a fan of the count-out but it worked for this match.

In what was a better match than it had any right to be, Kelly Kelly actually looked like a wrestler for a few minutes in a win over Beth Phoenix to retain the Divas Championship. The booking was good as she’d never be able to match strength with Beth and won via roll-up.

Daniel Bryan, who was holding one of the Money in the Bank briefcases at this time, took on Wade Barrett next in what was another very good match. This was back and forth with neither man getting a real advantage until the end when Barrett did just enough to emerge victorious. Again, another MITB contract holder taking a loss at SummerSlam.

The World Heavyweight Championship was up for grabs next as Randy Orton challenged Christian, who brought out Edge (who had history with both), to a nice pop before the No Holds Barred Match began. This was a fun match with weapons being used and the Spanish announce table coming into play, even if it took a little while to break. This was an all-out brawl and the live crowd was really into it. The finish was sick: Christian jumped from the second rope and Orton caught him with an RKO onto the steel steps in the ring. Brutal.

What’s crazy is that wasn’t even the best match of the night, as that goes to Punk and Cena, who closed out the show — sort of. I loved the matches between these two. They just fit with one another and everything seemed to go so smoothly when they were in the ring together. Triple H was the special guest referee and that became a factor at the end when he missed Cena’s foot being on the rope as Punk got the 1-2-3.

What happened next was pretty lame but it wasn’t able to knock down the ranking of this show. Kevin Nash attacked Punk and then Alberto Del Rio cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. None of it made much sense, but Punk would later get his title back at Survivor Series to begin his 434-day reign as champ.