Ranking every WWE SummerSlam PPV in history

2. WWE SummerSlam 2013

• Bray Wyatt def. Kane (Ring of Fire Match)
• Cody Rhodes def. Damien Sandow
• Alberto Del Rio def. Christian by submission to retain the World Heavyweight Championship
• Natalya def. Brie Bella by submission
• Brock Lesnar def. CM Punk (No Disqualification Match)
• Dolph Ziggler & Kaitlyn def. Big E Langston & AJ Lee
• Daniel Bryan def. John Cena to win the WWE Championship
• Randy Orton def. Daniel Bryan to win the WWE Championship (MITB cash-in)

So we’re down to the top two and honestly, I could flip-flop these final two and be completely okay with it. It was a hard decision to make, but the runner-up spot goes to SummerSlam 2013.

The night began with Bray Wyatt taking on Kane in a Ring of Fire Match (after an intro from The Miz and Fandango dancing), which was Wyatt’s first big match on the main roster with this character. He got the win and while the match wasn’t spectacular, it did what it needed to do in giving Bray a victory over an established star.

Damien Sandow and Cody Rhodes didn’t get a ton of time but they did the best he could with what they were given. Sandow was holding one of the Money in the Bank briefcases at the time so he took the loss here. It was decent but it was hard to get connected to the match with it being so short.

Business picked up with the World Heavyweight Championship Match as Christian challenged Alberto Del Rio. Del Rio worked Christian’s left arm throughout the match, which made sense given his finisher, and the two told a great story in the ring. There were a lot of excellent near-falls and Christian sold the injury beautifully. This was Christian’s last shot at the title and he just couldn’t get it done, as he finally had to tap to the Cross Armbreaker.

Natalya and Brie Bella got the usual five minutes the women were getting at the time and Nattie got a submission win. It wasn’t bad and the outside involvement at least got a few more of the women on the roster some exposure.

Next up was the highly-anticipated No Disqualification Match between CM Punk and Brock Lesnar, both of whom have ties to Paul Heyman, who was at ringside and heavily involved in this feud.

Lesnar hadn’t been built as the unbeatable monster just yet so Punk was actually able to get some offense in, making the match beautiful to watch. It went back and forth so many different times and featured a number of great sequences and spots. The fallaway slam from the ropes was excellent. The usage of the steel chair later on was great. Punk’s counter of the F5 into a DDT was one of the best counters to that move I’ve ever seen and the near-falls were breathtaking.

Lesnar did pull out the win but it was actually believable that Punk could emerge victorious, which made things even better. This is easily one of Lesnar’s best matches in his second run with the company.

Dolph Ziggler and Kaitlyn beat Big E (who was still using the Langston name at the time) and AJ Lee in a mixed tag match that was fairly predictable. But nothing was going to be able to follow Punk-Lesnar, so this was a good booking call.

The main event was up next and was the definition of a big-time match. On on side, there was WWE Champion John Cena, the face of the company, and on the other was Daniel Bryan, who had become nearly just as popular. Cena had handpicked Bryan to be his opponent for SummerSlam and it was just clear that this was going to be a great match, which it certainly was.

People can knock Cena all they like but when it’s time for a big match, he steps up. It might take people some time to realize it but look at how many great matches he’s been involved in over the years. This one belongs in that category. Triple H was the special guest referee, so you knew something was coming. We’d find out soon enough.

For close to half an hour, Cena and Bryan went back and forth in an epic battle. Both men were in top form and it was hard to tell what was going to happen. There were awesome near-falls and submission attempts and everything in between. It was actually quite shocking when Bryan got the clean win as that didn’t happen often with Cena. It was one of those great moments in WWE history that solidified Bryan’s spot on the roster. But the night wasn’t over.

Typically, when the confetti gets dropped, that’s usually it. I don’t think I noticed that Triple H was still in the ring while all that was going on, and now I know why. Randy Orton, who was holding the other Money in the Bank briefcase, hit the aisle during the celebration. He teased getting in the ring but then began to walk away and all of a sudden, Triple H whipped Bryan around and hit him with the Pedigree, which led to Orton cashing in and making the easy pin to become the new WWE Champion.

It was a shocking finish that started Bryan’s big march to WrestleMania XXX. It was a great finish to a card that featured some good matches and two Match of the Year candidates. While that could easily top the list, it fell just a little bit short.