Ranking every WWE SummerSlam PPV in history

1. WWE SummerSlam 2002

• Kurt Angle def. Rey Mysterio by submission
• Ric Flair def. Chris Jericho by submission
• Edge def. Eddie Guerrero
• The Un-Americans def. Booker T & Goldust to retain the WWE Tag Team Championship
• RVD def. Chris Benoit to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship
• The Undertaker def. Test
• Shawn Michaels def. Triple H (Unsanctioned Street Fight)
• Brock Lesnar def. The Rock to win the WWE Undisputed Championship

Just look at the matches on that card for the 2002 edition of SummerSlam. That’s a list full of current and future WWE Hall of Famers putting on outstanding matches all night long.

In his WWE pay-per-view debut, Rey Mysterio took on Kurt Angle in a fantastic opening bout. It’s difficult sometimes to put on a good match in under 10 minutes but these two pulled it off that night. Knowing they weren’t getting a lot of time, they kept the pace up the entire time. I was a little surprised to see Angle get the submission win with this being Mysterio’s first pay-per-vew match with the company, but it worked out just fine.

The night continued with Ric Flair taking on Chris Jericho, and while this wasn’t the best match either of them has ever had (plenty to choose from there), it was perfectly acceptable. It was a fun match that Flair won with a low blow that led into the Figure Four for the submission. It was a good win for The Nature Boy at the time and a rare victory using his signature submission.

Eddie Guerrero and Edge were up next in another good match, which wasn’t surprising. Eddie was working Edge’s left shoulder throughout the match but it wasn’t enough, as Edge was able to fight through it and still hit the spear with that same shoulder to get the win.

Lance Storm and Christian, who were working the Un-Americans gimmick at the time (which was hilarious at times), successfully defended their WWE Tag Team Championship against the interesting duo of Booker T and Goldust in what was a good tag match. The finish was a little cheap, with Test running in and kicking Booker T while the ref was down, but it was fitting for the heels to get the win that way.

The Intercontinental Championship was on the line in the next bout as Chris Benoit defended against Rob Van Dam. In keeping with the theme on the night, this was yet another solid match. Both got plenty of offense in and they told a good story with Benoit working the arm of RVD. I really dug the three Northern Lights suplexes with Benoit hooking the arm in a great sequence. But it was RVD who stood tall at the end after a fun finish.

In what was probably the worst match of the night (which was still fairly decent), The Undertaker defeated Test in what was also the shortest match of the night. Lance Storm and Christian tried to return the favor in helping out their buddy, but ‘Taker was too much.

That led to the match that would be the best of the evening, the Unsanctioned Street Fight between Triple H and Shawn Michaels, who was returning to the ring for the first time in more than four years. The build for this was amazing and the match was even better. After all that time away, Michaels looked better than ever and somehow went nearly half an hour in what was a bloody mess of a match. This was violent and emotional and compelling to watch.

There were so many great moments and spots thrown in there and the “yeah, I’m crazy but I’m still doing this” gesture from Shawn before he jumped from the top rope onto Hunter on the table on the outside remains memorable. The finish was beautiful. Triple H stopped Sweet Chin Music and tried to counter with a Pedigree, but Michaels countered that into a pinning combination for the 1-2-3.

The main event was a passing of the torch as The Rock took on Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship, after Lesnar had risen so quickly to the top of the ladder in WWE. Remember when he bloodied up Hulk Hogan on the way to this match? So good, as was this match. It wasn’t HHH vs.HBK but it couldn’t and didn’t need to be. The point here was to make Lesnar the top dog and that’s what they did. The Rock was taking off for Hollywood for a while and he went out the right way, making Lesnar look good in an entertaining match that featured a fun finish.

Top to bottom, this card was just a lot of fun that never really slowed down. The last two matches were fantastic and HBK’s return combined with the changing of the guard in the Lesnar-Rock match and the other entertaining bouts gives the 2002 edition of SummerSlam the top spot on this list.

What was your favorite edition of WWE SummerSlam? Feel free to join in the conversation in the comments section below.