Ranking every WWE SummerSlam PPV in history

7. WWE SummerSlam 2014

• Dolph Ziggler def. The Miz to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship
• Paige def. AJ Lee to win the WWE Divas Championship
• Rusev def. Jack Swagger (Flag Match)
• Seth Rollins def. Dean Ambrose (Lumberjack Match)
• Bray Wyatt def. Chris Jericho
• Stephanie McMahon def. Brie Bella
• Roman Reigns def. Randy Orton
• Brock Lesnar def. John Cena to win the WWE Championship

As he did on numerous occasions over the years, Dolph Ziggler kicked off SummerSlam in 2014, taking on The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship, one of so many bouts between the two. This wasn’t the greatest match they ever had but it was fast-paced and entertaining and it was nice to see Ziggler get a big win for some gold.

In what was an all-too-common occurrence at the time, the Divas Championship Match between AJ Lee and Paige only got about five minutes but the two really tried to get the most out of their time. It’s hard to build anything in such a short match but they did the best with what they were given. Paige got her title back but only held it for a month before AJ won it back. The two traded the title for months.

Rusev and Jack Swagger had a Flag Match next and this was another one that didn’t get quite enough time. It was still good enough for what it needed to be and Rusev got a dominant win as he was being built as the next big heel. .

Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins was up next and this was a lot of fun. Ambrose was still upset about Rollins’ big heel turn and Roman Reigns was moving up the card so this match between the two made sense. Rollins had won the Money in the Bank briefcase over the summer and was turning into the star he would eventually become and used the briefcase to get the win here in a very entertaining matchup that properly used the lumberjacks, which sometimes isn’t the case.

Bray Wyatt got a nice win over Chris Jericho, who didn’t have a problem putting over some of the younger talent at this point in his WWE career, and that was followed by a surprisingly entertaining match from Stephanie McMahon and Brie Bella. Stephanie hadn’t been in the ring in about a decade but looked great here and she got the win after Nikki turned on her sister.

The next match was Reigns’ biggest singles match to date as he took on Randy Orton. Orton was an established star and Reigns was now out of The Shield and on his own so this actually had a big-match feel to it, and Reigns was up to the task. Orton seemed like he wanted to be there, which isn’t always the case, and they had a great match. The RKO spot at the end was nice as Roman just jumped into it but he was able to come back and win after Orton took a little too long with the punt spot.

The main event is what will always be most remembered about this night. This was the decimation of John Cena by Brock Lesnar. The Beast was being built as an unbeatable monster, which is why the decision was made for him to end The Undertaker’s WrestleMania streak just a few months earlier, and that continued here.

Cena took 16 German Suplexes. I remember watching this live and just being in awe of what was happening. Cena got a little offense in but that turned around pretty quickly and an F5 closed things out. This was an unexpected result but it worked beautifully as far as building Lesnar’s character was concerned.