SummerSlam (2007)

World Wrestling Entertainment pay per view event

The 2007 SummerSlam was the 20th annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay per view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brand divisions. The event took place on August 26, 2007, at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Tickets for SummerSlam went on sale on December 30, 2006, and sold out in 40 minutes. The main feud, a staged rivalry between wrestlers, heading into the event from the Raw brand was between John Cena and Randy Orton. On the July 23 episode of Raw, Jonathan Coachman announced Orton as the number one contender to the WWE Championship. Over the proceeding weeks, Orton provoked Cena by interfering and attacking him during his matches. From SmackDown!, the predominant feud was between The Great Khali and Batista. After Khali defeated Batista and Kane in a Triple Threat match, Theodore Long booked Khali to defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Batista at SummerSlam. The primary feud from ECW was between John Morrison and CM Punk. By defeating Morrison in a 15 Minutes of Fame match, Punk became the number one contender to the ECW Championship at SummerSlam. Several of the existing feuds carried on after the event. Notably, CM Punk continued to face John Morrison, defeating him for the ECW Championship the following month on ECW on Sci Fi. The day after SummerSlam, Orton, as part of the scripted events, interfered in a match between Cena and King Booker and intensified the feud by attacking Cena's father. Khali and Batista faced each other at Unforgiven, the following pay per view, as part of a triple threat match; Batista was victorious in this match and won the World Heavyweight Championship.

SummerSlam is an annual pay per view (PPV) produced every August by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 1988. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is one of the promotion's original four pay per views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". It has since become considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. The 2007 event was the 20th SummerSlam and was scheduled to be held on August 26, 2007, at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brand divisions. It was scheduled to begin at the previous pay per view event, The Great American Bash, but was canceled after the Jackass cast dropped out due to the negative media attention surrounding the Chris Benoit double murder and suicide.

The main staged rivalry heading into SummerSlam on the Raw brand was between John Cena and Randy Orton over the WWE Championship. At The Great American Bash, Cena defeated Bobby Lashley to retain the WWE Championship. The next night on Raw, after a Handicap match involving Cena, Orton came out and executed an RKO on Cena. Shortly thereafter, Executive Assistant Jonathan Coachman announced Orton as the new number one contender to the WWE Championship. Before that, Orton claimed that he had never faced Cena in a one on one WWE Championship match. Three weeks later, on the August 18 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event XXXV, Cena faced off against Carlito in another non title match, which Cena won. After the match, Orton came out and attacked Cena, which led to a RKO from Orton through a steel chair. On SmackDown! the following week, the match between Khali and Batista was made official after a contract signing. That same night, then World Heavyweight Champion Edge, who was scheduled to face Kane for the title at The Great American Bash, suffered a legitimate injury—a left pectoral muscle tear—after Kane interrupted his Mardi Gras style celebration. On the July 20 episode of SmackDown!, Edge was forced to vacate the World Heavyweight Championship due to the severity of his injury. He later commented

SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long then announced that there would be a 20 man Battle Royal later that night to determine a new World Heavyweight Champion. Khali won the Battle Royal and became the new World Heavyweight Champion by last eliminating Kane and Batista. Five days later on SmackDown!, Batista interrupted Khali's celebration and challenged him to a match at SummerSlam. The next week, on the August 3 episode of SmackDown!, Long announced that Khali would defend his title against Batista at SummerSlam. Another main rivalry on the Raw brand heading into SummerSlam was between the returning Triple H against King Booker. At New Year's Revolution, during a World Tag Team Championship match between Rated RKO (Edge and Randy Orton) and D Generation X (Shawn Michaels and Triple H), Triple H suffered a legitimate torn right quadriceps during the match that left him out of action. On the July 16 episode of Raw, Booker entered using Triple H's entrance music "King of Kings". Booker declared that neither Triple H nor Jerry Lawler could be known as "The King". On the August 6 episode of Raw, Booker defeated Lawler in a match where the loser had to crown the winner the next week. When the time came, Lawler refused, declaring that Triple H was still a king and announcing that Booker would face Triple H at SummerSlam. Booker then attacked Lawler, throwing him into the ring post and hitting him with a television monitor. The predominant staged rivalry from the ECW brand was between John Morrison and CM Punk over the ECW Championship. Morrison (then known as Johnny Nitro) won the vacant title at Vengeance: Night of Champions defeating Punk. At The Great American Bash, Morrison defeated Punk to retain the championship. On the July 31 episode of ECW, Punk defeated Tommy Dreamer and Elijah Burke in a Triple threat match to earn a 15 Minutes of Fame match with Morrison. The following week on ECW, Punk defeated Morrison by pinfall after executing a GTS (Go To Sleep). As a result of this victory, Punk earned himself a championship match against Morrison at SummerSlam. Guerrero defeated Mysterio the following month at SummerSlam 2006, winning the match after performing a frog splash At No Mercy, Mysterio defeated Guerrero in a Falls Count Anywhere match, pinning him after performing a crossbody off a guard rail. On the October 20 episode of SmackDown!, Guerrero defeated Mysterio in an "I Quit" match by forcing him to quit after hitting his left knee repeatedly with a steel chair. During the match, Mysterio suffered a real injury—an ACL and patella tendon tear in his left knee.