WWE.com SummerSlam will take place on August 20th, 2017.
After Great Balls of Fire wraps up tonight, WWE fans will be looking ahead to next month’s SummerSlam. This is one of the biggest wrestling events of the year, and certainly the biggest WWE show to follow WrestleMania 33.
Already there are rumors about possible matches being planned for SummerSlam. Some of these have been teased on WWE programming, while others are mainly just rumors for the time being.
As of early July, here’s a look at the matches that may take place at SummerSlam 2017.
AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
AJ Styles is rumored to be going up against Shinsuke Nakamura at SummerSlam. This is something that was teased at Money in the Bank last month, when Styles and Nakamura had a stare down during the Money in the Bank ladder match.
On a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Live (via Sportskeeda), wrestling journalist Bryan Alvarez said, “I would say with some degree of confidence that you’re gonna see Styles and Nakamura against each other at SummerSlam. That was the whole idea behind the tease they did at the Money in the Bank show.”
To be clear, this didn’t seem to be based on any actual insider tips and was just speculation. But Styles vs. Nakamura being booked for SummerSlam is certainly a strong possibility, and that Money in the Bank confrontation was clearly meant to get us amped up for a forthcoming match.
John Cena vs. Jinder Mahal
WWE.comJohn Cena returned to ‘SmackDown Live’ on July 4th.
John Cena recently made his return to SmackDown Live, and later this month, he’ll be fighting Rusev in a Flag Match at Battleground.
However, Cena seems like he’s going to stick around for a bit longer, and so obviously the WWE is going to use him at SummerSlam. The current rumor is that Cena will be facing off against Jinder Mahal in August.
This one is not just speculation but is instead based on actual reporting from Sportskeeda. They reported on June 12th, “John Cena is currently pencilled in to face Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship at this year’s Summerslam in Brooklyn.”
Presumably, this means Jinder Mahal will defeat Randy Orton at Battleground, as it’s hard to imagine Mahal would get a match against Cena unless he’s still the WWE Champion.
Kurt Angle vs. Triple H
Kurt Angle has a mysterious conversation with Corey Graves on ‘Raw.’
On the past several episodes of Monday Night Raw, the WWE has been developing a mysterious storyline in which Corey Graves showed Kurt Angle some sort of compromising information that threatened to undermine his ability to serve as general manager. Angle has been seen stressing out about this every single week since then, although we haven’t received any further hints about what is going on.
Well, apparently this has something to do with Triple H, and the WWE is leading towards a Triple H vs. Kurt Angle match. Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported in June that the current Angle storyline has to do with Triple H. Perhaps Stephanie McMahon will soon return to discipline Angle for something, and this will build up to Angle facing her husband, Triple H.
While the Wrestling Observer did not actually report that this match is set for SummerSlam, it’s hard to imagine that the WWE wouldn’t save Triple H vs. Kurt Angle for one of the “big four” pay-per-views, and it’s far too early for them to be teasing anything for Survivor Series. Kurt Angle has also repeatedly talked about his desire to get back in the ring.
Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar
Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar confront one another on ‘Raw.’ (YouTube)
Finally, there is some conflicting information about what the plan is for the Universal Championship, but some recent reports have suggested that Roman Reigns will face off against Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship.
For a while, it had been reported that Roman Reigns would face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 34 next year and that Braun Strowman would be the one to face Lesnar at SummerSlam. However, the Wrestling Observer recently reported that the WWE has changed its plans and that the Roman vs. Lesnar match is being moved to SummerSlam. This decision was evidently made shortly Roman made his Raw announcement that he wants to face the Universal Champion at SummerSlam.
“It was confirmed to us that a few weeks ago, probably just before the Roman Reigns interview where he said he wanted a shot at the Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe winner, that plans for SummerSlam on 8/20 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn changed from Lesnar vs. Braun Strowman as the main event to Lesnar vs. Reigns,” the Wrestling Observer reported on June 29th.
However, Sportskeeda subsequently reported that the Wrestling Observer is wrong and that Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns is still going to happen at WrestleMania 34. Sportskeeda says that Brock Lesnar will instead face Braun Strowman for the Universal Championship at SummerSlam. Either way, it seems that the two possibilities for SummerSlam are Roman vs. Lesnar or Strowman vs. Lesnar.