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While last-minute changes are often made to WWE’s weekly RAW and SmackDown shows, the storylines and matches for big events like WrestleMania and SummerSlam are usually planned several months in advance.
No matter how much preparation goes into making a WWE show a success, it is ultimately up to the Superstars involved to entertain the WWE Universe and make sure that everything goes according to plan.
Plenty of unscripted moments have happened at WrestleMania over the years, including the WrestleMania 35 main-event botch and Shawn Michaels mouthing “I love you” to Ric Flair. But how about SummerSlam?
In this article, let’s take a look at five SummerSlam moments that were not supposed to happen.
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#5 Steve Austin gets caught in the ropes (WWE SummerSlam 1999)
Mankind defeated Steve Austin and Triple H at WWE SummerSlam 1999 to win the WWE Championship. But the match is arguably best remembered for an incredible botch from Austin that forced Triple H to break character.
At one stage during the match, Shane McMahon raced down to the ring in an attempt to help Triple H. However, he soon found himself on the receiving end of a Stone Cold Stunner before Jesse Ventura – the special guest referee of the SummerSlam main event – threw him over the top rope.
Moments later, Austin stood on the bottom rope and tried to yell at McMahon. But he accidentally put too much weight on the rope and ended up getting his knee brace caught.
Triple H, who had to rescue his SummerSlam opponent, explained his side of the story on Austin’s WWE DVD.
“Steve is standing on the bottom rope of the ring, and Steve leans over the rope too far and he completely does a flip, and he’s hanging with his knee brace upside down by one leg, completely stuck! And I can see on his face that he cannot get out of this, so I have to run over there and try to pick his big 250-pound deadweight a**, which is very heavy, Steve, and try to get him back over the top rope.”
Triple H added that, despite being rivals in the main event of SummerSlam, they were “laughing like two little kids” throughout the unscripted incident.
#4 Brock Lesnar gets his shoulder up (WWE SummerSlam 2018)
Roman Reigns finally defeated Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship in the main event of SummerSlam 2018. But did you know that the result should not have stood?
The closing stages of the SummerSlam match saw Lesnar throw Braun Strowman’s Money in the Bank briefcase up the entrance ramp before he repeatedly struck The Monster Among Men with a steel chair at ringside.
With the steel chair still in his hands, The Beast returned to the ring and walked straight into a spear from Roman Reigns. The Big Dog promptly pinned his SummerSlam opponent to pick up one of the biggest victories of his career.
As you can see above, Alex McCarthy tweeted moments after SummerSlam 2018 that Lesnar actually got his left shoulder up between the referee’s one-count and two-count.
Looking back, it is very clear that Lesnar did not mean to lift his shoulder off the mat during the pinfall. But he wanted to get the steel chair out of the way after it cannoned back off the ropes and over his face.
WWE never addressed the SummerSlam incident as part of the storyline, which is proof enough that this was not supposed to happen.
#3 Finn Balor's serious shoulder injury (WWE SummerSlam 2016)
Just one month after joining the WWE RAW roster from NXT, Finn Balor faced Seth Rollins for the newly introduced Universal Championship in one of the featured matches at SummerSlam 2016.
Balor picked up the victory to become the first holder of the Universal Championship. But he also suffered a serious shoulder injury early on in the 19-minute match after receiving a Buckle Bomb against the ringside barricade.
Speaking on The Impressionable Hour with Al Foran, the Irishman said he instantly knew that the injury was bad and that he would not be able to defend the Universal Championship after SummerSlam. Therefore, he offered to lose to Rollins midway through the match.
“I said, ‘Just cut all that out, I’m too hurt. To be honest, dude, I’m not going to be able to wrestle tomorrow. I think you should go over as champ.’ He [Rollins] goes, ‘No, stay the course, stay the course.’”
Balor said his shoulder popped out three times during the SummerSlam match and he could even hear a “crunch, crunch, crunch” noise when he was being told to hold the title above his head during his post-match celebration.
One day after SummerSlam, Balor relinquished the Universal Championship and he did not compete again for eight months.
#2 Chris Jericho and Brock Lesnar’s argument (WWE SummerSlam 2016)
Two of the most famous backstage altercations in recent WWE history took place after the main events of SummerSlam 2016 and WrestleMania 34.
The latter incident saw Brock Lesnar throw the Universal Championship across the room at Vince McMahon. This happened after The Beast Incarnate walked back through the curtain following his victory over Roman Reigns.
WWE aired footage of the incident in a WWE Network documentary, featuring McMahon shouting “a**hole” in response to Lesnar. However, it is still unclear whether that moment was scripted or whether The Beast legitimately decided to throw the title at his boss.
As for Lesnar’s SummerSlam 2016 confrontation, it has been confirmed that his spat with Chris Jericho was very real.
Speaking to Sam Roberts and Jim Norton in 2019, Jericho explained that he took exception to Lesnar busting Randy Orton open in the SummerSlam main event.
“[Lesnar] did some stuff that I felt he shouldn't have done, and no one would tell me if it was supposed to happen or not. Then he started yelling at me, and I was like, 'F*** this guy' and started yelling back.”
Lesnar and Jericho were never involved in a WWE storyline together after the SummerSlam incident. And this is further proof that their verbal exchange was not set up in the same way that some people believe the WrestleMania 34 incident was.
#1 The Undertaker laughing at Brock Lesnar (WWE SummerSlam 2015)
The Undertaker defeated Brock Lesnar in the main event of WWE SummerSlam 2015 to exact revenge on The Beast for ending his undefeated streak 17 months earlier at WrestleMania 30.
At the time, The Undertaker vs. Lesnar was one of the most intense rivalries that WWE had seen in years.
The build-up to SummerSlam featured a segment on RAW where the entire locker room had to separate both men. Lesnar even yelled “I’m gonna kill you!” towards his SummerSlam opponent while being restrained by several Superstars.
Given how serious the promotion for the SummerSlam main event had been, nobody would have expected to see a comedy spot in the match.
However, as you can see below, Lesnar mocked his rival by sitting up off the ring canvas and laughing in his face. Seconds later, The Undertaker also sat up and began manically laughing back at his opponent.
Speaking on the Pardon My Take podcast, the man behind The Undertaker character, Mark Calaway, confirmed that he was not scripted to laugh back at Lesnar in that fashion.
"We both took bumps, and then I did the signature set-up. He was up, and I sat up. He started laughing so mine was kind of an evil, sarcastic laugh back at him. I was shocked at the people's [reaction]. They were so enthralled by the way that we were laughing at each other." [H/T Wrestling Inc.]
Without even trying, The Undertaker created a legendary SummerSlam moment that will forever be reposted as a GIF on social media.
