SummerSlam (2020)


SummerSlam is an upcoming professional wrestling pay-per-view and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. It is scheduled to take place on August 23, 2020 at a location yet to be announced. It will be the thirty-third event under the SummerSlam chronology.
The event was originally scheduled to take place at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Boston mayor Marty Walsh announced the suspension of all large-scale gatherings and that no permit would be issued for an event that could draw a large crowd before September 7. While most of WWE's events since mid-March have taken place at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, on July 23, the promotion said they would be announcing SummerSlam's new location soon.

Production

Background

is an annual pay-per-view, produced every August by 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, dubbed the "Big Four". It is considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. 2020 will be the thirty-third event in the SummerSlam chronology and feature wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brands.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WWE has had to present the majority of its programming from the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida since mid-March with no fans in attendance, though in late May, the promotion began using Performance Center trainees to serve as the live audience, which was further expanded to friends and family members of the wrestlers in mid-June. SummerSlam, as well as the preceding night's NXT TakeOver event, were originally scheduled to take place in Boston, Massachusetts at the TD Garden. On May 8, the ongoing pandemic forced Boston mayor Marty Walsh to suspend all large-scale gatherings until September 7, effectively canceling WWE's planned events in the city. Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer reported that the promotion would be open to move SummerSlam to September if it meant having fans in attendance. However, an advertisement that aired during The Horror Show at Extreme Rules confirmed that SummerSlam would still be taking place on August 23, but with no reference to a city or venue. Although PWInsider had reported that the event would be held at the WWE Performance Center, the promotion put out an official statement on July 23 that the announcement of a new location would be forthcoming. WWE also stated that refunds would be issued at original point of purchase.

Storylines

The show will include matches that result from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portray heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters in scripted events that build tension and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. Results are predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines are produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
On the July 27 episode of Raw, Randy Orton cut a promo listing many of his accolades before declaring that he wanted the WWE Championship again. He then issued a challenge to Drew McIntyre for a title match at SummerSlam. Later that night, McIntyre accepted Orton's challenge and then defeated Dolph Ziggler in an Extreme Rules match, a rematch from The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, preventing Ziggler from earning the title match at SummerSlam. Following the match, Orton attacked McIntyre with an RKO.
On the July 20 episode of Raw, Andrade and Angel Garza lost to Raw Tag Team Champions The Street Profits. The following week, Andrade and Garza won a triple threat tag team match to earn a title match at SummerSlam.

Matches