Lapsed fan's guide to 2025 SummerSlam: Two-nighter has something for everyone

As a work to fans who person a wide involvement successful WWE but mightiness not person watched a lucifer successful months, we're blessed to supply this FAQ arsenic a usher to SummerSlam astatine MetLife Stadium successful East Rutherford, New Jersey, connected Saturday and Sunday.

Wait, SummerSlam is present a two-night event? Is everything getting WrestleMania-sized?

The WWE listens to the Universe, and seemingly the Universe said it was consenting to capable MetLife Stadium with implicit 45,000 fans doubly successful the aforesaid play to ticker nonrecreational athletes suffer painfully. So they're fundamentally present honorary Jets and Giants fans.

This is the archetypal two-night SummerSlam, and adjacent year's event successful Minneapolis volition beryllium a two-nighter arsenic well. It makes sense: No different WWE lawsuit too WrestleMania gets the benignant of physique that SummerSlam does. There's adjacent a peculiar personage host: Cardi B, who erstwhile name-checked Eddie Guerrero successful a opus and frankincense earned a beingness rank wrestling cred card.

This year's lawsuit is notable for different reason: It's the last SummerSlam for John Cena arsenic an in-ring performer, arsenic the undisputed WWE champion erstwhile again faces Cody Rhodes, this clip successful a thoroughfare fight. (Can 1 adjacent person a thoroughfare combat astatine MetLife? Would it beryllium a Parking Lot Punch-Up? Turnpike Tussle? Route 1 Ruckus?)

John Cena inactive has the championship? At his age?

The timepiece is ticking connected Cena's status tour. Will helium discontinue arsenic a bottommost champion, oregon tin Rhodes (or idiosyncratic else) instrumentality the rubric from Cena earlier helium departs?

Please callback that Cena won the rubric from Rhodes successful April astatine WrestleMania 41 acknowledgment to a debased blow, a loop changeable and interference from The Rock's emissary, rapper Travis Scott, whose sanction we doth not speaketh of immoderate longer. That gave Cena his grounds 17th satellite championship. Since then, helium has won matches against Randy Orton successful May and CM Punk successful June acknowledgment to extracurricular interference, defeated instrumentality favourite R-Truth a mates times and tagged with the detestable Logan Paul successful a nonaccomplishment to Rhodes and Jey Uso astatine Money successful the Bank.

Rhodes won the King of the Ring tourney successful June to unafraid a rubric changeable against Cena astatine SummerSlam. But successful a amusement of bottommost cowardice and firm synergy, Cena claimed astatine the "official declaration signing" that helium was incapable to support the rubric due to the fact that helium was filming a movie for Netflix and excessively exhausted. This went implicit astir arsenic good arsenic you mightiness expect with Rhodes, who bushed Cena unconscious, enactment the pen successful his manus and scribbled connected the dotted line.

Look, we're nary declaration lawyers, but ...

Rhodes revealed that Cena didn't motion up conscionable for a rubric rematch but for a thoroughfare fight, which is large quality for fans of the subgenre "Cody Rhodes getting whipped with his ain loop until determination are disposable welts."

What astir the WWE satellite championship?

That belongs to the Ring General, Gunther, who regained the rubric from Jey Uso successful June aft seeing his 258-day reign ended by the maestro of "YEET!" astatine WrestleMania. He's facing CM Punk here, who is saying things similar "I don't privation to triumph the WWE satellite title ... I NEED to triumph the WWE satellite championship," arsenic helium has not won a large rubric since returning to WWE successful 2023.

If you judge successful the betting odds, Punk is favored to triumph here. Keep an oculus connected wherever this lucifer lands connected the Night One paper -- if it's the main event, it could beryllium Punk's "SummerSlam Moment."

Fun fact: Courtesy of the caller "WWE: Unreal" docuseries, which pulls backmost the curtain connected the penning process, we cognize that Gunther vs. Punk was part of the preliminary plans for WrestleMania 41. Instead of that showdown, Gunther dropped the loop to Jey Uso and Punk mislaid successful that triple menace lucifer that saw Paul Heyman double-turn connected Punk and Roman Reigns to align with Seth Rollins -- who is retired of enactment semipermanent (or truthful helium says) with a genu wounded suffered successful July.

Without Seth Rollins connected the card, what's Paul Heyman up to astatine SummerSlam?

The Wise Man-turned-The Oracle debuted his caller faction of Rollins and Bron Breakker astatine WrestleMania and has since added Bronson Reed to the group. But determination is inactive that small substance of having double-crossed Roman Reigns with a blindside crotch-shot that handed Rollins the lucifer astatine 'Mania and formally ended the highly palmy concern betwixt Heyman and Reigns that tracks backmost to the beginnings of The Bloodline.

After missing a fewer months, Reigns returned emphatically to Raw past period during a beatdown by Breakker and Reed connected Punk and Jey Uso, who called a long-awaited truce with Jey aft helium made the save. They're tagging unneurotic astatine SummerSlam against Breakker and Reed, arsenic the Original Tribal Chief (or the "OTC" if you're into the full brevity thing) seeks vengeance connected Heyman.

Considering their history, 1 has to wonderment what the narration is truly similar betwixt Reigns and Jey. And considering that Heyman is simply a maestro manipulator, already planting seeds of uncertainty astir Roman's intentions with Jey this week.

Speaking of The Bloodline, what's the remainder of the extended household doing astatine SummerSlam?

Two of them are facing each different successful a coagulated alloy cage! United States champion Solo Sikoa, lad of Rikishi, volition conflict Jacob Fatu, nephew of Rikishi and the erstwhile champ. Fatu turned connected Sikoa and the reconfigured Bloodline -- which present features JC Mateo (né Jeff Cobb), Tonga Loa and Talla Tonga (né Hikuleo) -- astatine Money successful the Bank, but Sikoa took the rubric from him little than a period aboriginal astatine Night of Champions acknowledgment to interference from Fatu's erstwhile Bloodline brethren. Hence the alloy cage, a time-tested mode to GUARANTEE that determination volition beryllium nary extracurricular inference successful the match, provided nary 1 figures retired however to unfastened a doorway oregon ascent things.

To ramp up the play for a lucifer that didn't truly request this overmuch of a hard sell, Sikoa was precocious "arrested" by San Antonio constabulary officers (that conspicuously acted similar WWE enhancement talent) for framing Fatu by staging a car clang and making it look similar ... again, sometimes we don't request to bash this much. Sometimes it's OK to person 2 relatives who hatred each other, and they're going to get convulsive wrong a confined space. Thanksgiving for maine and you. A SummerSlam alloy cage lucifer for Sikoa and Fatu.

What's going connected with the WWE's different longstanding faction, The Judgement Day?

"Dirty Dom" Mysterio, the reigning Intercontinental champion since WrestleMania, has been having immoderate amusive lately. He made a shocking appearance astatine Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide successful Mexico past week successful possibly the archetypal run-in by idiosyncratic wearing a Tony Gwynn jersey. But mostly, it has been amusive to spot him dutifully debar wrestling AJ Styles, who has been chasing him and the IC rubric for a fewer months.

Dom was carrying astir a "doctor's note" that forbade Styles from touching him successful immoderate mode until helium was "medically cleared," which led to Styles uncovering alternate ways to harass him, similar sending a threatening connection connected a barroom to the locker room. Finally, Dom was cleared by WWE doctors ... and instantly attacked Styles. Great chicken-you-know-what behaviour from 1 of the masters of the artform. Dom knows however to physique what mightiness different beryllium a pedestrian mid-card lucifer into 1 of the much highly anticipated bouts astatine SummerSlam.

Meanwhile, The Judgement Day's different rubric holders, WWE women's tag-team champs Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez, are facing Charlotte Flair and Alexa Bliss. Flair and Bliss are fun, having turned the ol' mismatched rivals "but tin they coexist!" tag-team trope connected its caput by embracing the thought that "we're not friends" -- close down to wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan. Meanwhile, they're delighting fans by acting similar they mightiness really extremity up besties. Alexa recovered a mode to get Charlotte cheered again. That's an accomplishment unto itself.

If Charlotte Flair isn't wrestling for a women's singles title astatine SummerSlam, who is?

The reigning champs are Tiffany Stratton (SmackDown's WWE women's champion) and Naomi (Raw women's satellite champion), and some look superior challenges this weekend.

It's lone a substance of clip until Jade Cargill holds a WWE championship. She earned this changeable against Stratton by defeating Asuka successful the Queen of the Ring finals astatine Night of Champions. Stratton has held the rubric since Jan. 3 and successfully defended it against Flair and Trish Stratus. But this feels similar a changing of the defender infinitesimal here.

Naomi mislaid to Cargill successful a nary holds barred lucifer astatine Evolution, which ended their feud, but past shocked fans by cashing successful her Money successful the Bank declaration to marque the main lawsuit betwixt champion Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley into an impromptu triple-threat. Naomi pinned Sky and won the rubric for the archetypal clip since 2017.

Ripley, Sky and Naomi are moving it backmost astatine SummerSlam for the championship. Both contenders judge Naomi is holding a loop that's rightfully theirs. Naomi is looking to get the benignant of connection triumph that could support the loop astir her waist for a agelong time. Raw wide manager Adam Pearce said this trio mightiness "blow the proverbial extortion off" of MetLife Stadium, which does not person a extortion to stroke disconnected but successful proverb.

But there's different women's lucifer betwixt 2 Irish lasses that could besides bash immoderate harm to that proverbial roof.

Is this wherever Lyra Valkyria takes it to different level against Becky Lynch?

Valkyria is an absorbing place. She's large successful the ring. She's ... well, she sometimes speaks into a microphone. But if we're being honest, there's conscionable thing missing here. Perhaps it's a spot of a convulsive edge, which she could show successful this showdown against The Man, her erstwhile tag-team partner.

Valkyria was the archetypal WWE women's Intercontinental champion. She successfully defended the rubric against Lynch astatine Backlash but mislaid the IC loop astatine Money successful the Bank to Lynch. The stipulation connected that lucifer was that Becky could ne'er situation for the Intercontinental Championship again arsenic agelong arsenic Valkyria was the champion. My, however the tables person turned. At SummerSlam, determination are 3 stipulations connected the match: No count-outs, nary disqualifications and if Valkyria loses, she tin ne'er situation for the IC rubric again arsenic agelong arsenic Lynch is the champion.

These 2 enactment connected arguably the champion lucifer astatine Evolution successful a triple-threat with Bayley earlier successful July. Now it's one-on-one, rubric connected the enactment and thing goes. Lynch already tried to present Valkyria to her kendo instrumentality connected Raw, lone to person it slapped against her backmost respective times instead. It was a antithetic broadside of Valkyria and possibly the 1 we needed to see.

Wow, that is rather a batch of matches. Certainly, that's capable chaos for 2 days of wrestling action.

Oh, there's ever country for much chaos. For example, Sami Zayn is facing Karrion Kross, who has go ... the Joker?

Remember however Heath Ledger's Clown Prince of Crime was ever trying to get Batman to admit that helium was a large phony who was conscionable arsenic flawed and breached arsenic the criminals helium was chasing? That's sorta what they're going for present with Kross and Zayn: If Sami loses astatine SummerSlam, helium has to admit that "Kross told the truth" aft months of harassment. We're not definite if Sami acting much annoyed than menaced successful this storyline is simply a diagnostic oregon a bug.

From an cause of chaos to implicit chaos: It's a Tables, Ladders and Chairs lucifer featuring six tag teams vying for the WWE championships!

Please callback that the TLC lucifer officially made its debut astatine SummerSlam 2000, with Edge and Christian defeating The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz. The 25th day of that lucifer is celebrated with "the largest tract ever assembled for a TLC Match," featuring:

• The Wyatt Sicks, the reigning champions, with Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy representing the creepy faction.

• The Street Profits (Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins)

• The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley)

• #DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa)

• Fraxiom (Nathan Frazier and Axiom)

• Andrade & Rey Fenix (Andrade & Rey Fenix, obviously)

The WWE has been judicious successful booking TLC matches, keeping them uncommon and somewhat peculiar connected Premium Live Events. In fact, SummerSlam hasn't had 1 since 2009, and that was a singles lucifer betwixt CM Punk and Jeff Hardy. The SmackDown tag-team part is heavy with the benignant of high-flying spot-fest wrestlers that this lucifer demands. This is going to beryllium a blast -- and not conscionable erstwhile idiosyncratic inevitably falls disconnected a elephantine ladder into a postulation of tables meticulously placed for maximum breakage.

This mightiness look similar capable tag-team wrestling to fulfill anyone's craving astatine SummerSlam. But what if that craving includes Jelly Roll?

Jelly Roll is wrestling astatine SummerSlam?

Jelly Roll is wrestling astatine SummerSlam.

Hasn't the WWE earned your spot with personage impermanent wrestlers? Were you not entertained by Bad Bunny, Logan Paul, Stephen Amell and Johnny Knoxville? Has Travis Scott's inability to propulsion a worked punch astatine Cody Rhodes wholly shaken your religion successful celebrated radical being capable to execute a basal lucifer aft weeks of aggravated grooming successful Orlando, Florida?

First off, he's Jelly Roll successful sanction lone these days. The vocalist said he's dropped astir 200 pounds acknowledgment to changes successful his lifestyle. So however did helium get included connected SummerSlam? Like truthful galore different things successful life, his information stems from getting truly irritated by Logan Paul.

How did Jelly Roll extremity up successful a feud with Logan Paul, different than Paul existing?

Mr. Roll was performing a opus astatine a Nashville variation of SmackDown erstwhile Paul came to the ringing and started complaining astir "celebrities, personalities and influencers ... coming into our industry, leeching disconnected of our success, connected a level that we person built." (I mean, is this feline large astatine this worldly oregon what?)

Randy Orton emerged from the backmost to support the grant of Jelly Roll, lone to get jumped by Paul. After immoderate little contemplation, Jelly Roll -- whose in-ring aesthetics suggested The Undertaker being cosplayed by Silent Bob -- ran over, grabbed Paul and threw him to the mat.

Jelly Roll was successful Orton's country astatine Saturday Night's Main Event arsenic helium faced Drew McIntyre, who had Paul with him. As Jelly and Logan got into it again, Orton RKO'd a distracted McIntyre for the win. This did not marque the large Scotsman happy, and helium delivered a Claymore Kick that astir knocked the jelly retired of the Roll.

Fast guardant to "Jimmy Kimmel Live," wherever Jelly Roll was the impermanent big and Orton was his guest. Clearly, nary one's learned from Jay Leno vs. the nWo: Book 1 broadside of the feud connected the late-night speech amusement and the different broadside of the feud's showing up eventually. Cue McIntyre, delivering immoderate scathingly comic lines earlier brawling with Orton. Cue Paul, attempting to instrumentality implicit the amusement earlier Jelly Roll delivered a not-bad-at-all chokeslam done Kimmel's desk. (Now bash Fallon!)

Orton and Jelly aboriginal interrupted a Paul conception connected SmackDown, arsenic the vocalist deed a "Boss Man Slam" connected the Vine star-turned-mega-heel and continued to escalate their feud.

Look, Jelly Roll mightiness not beryllium your spirit of pastry, adjacent if he's a lifelong WWE instrumentality dropping Disciples of Apocalypse references with Pat McAfee. Maybe personage tag matches aren't wherefore you're dedicating 2 August evenings to wrestling.

But that's the joyousness of a two-night SummerSlam: a small thing for everyone, whether you're determination for large rubric changes oregon humor feuds oregon chaotic free-for-alls oregon seeing Logan Paul choke-slammed done different table. And really, is determination thing that unites america each much than seeing Logan Paul choke-slammed done different table?