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Sunday is the 30th annual WWE SummerSlam, the fourth-longest running pay-per-view event in WWE history. Since the inaugural SummerSlam in 1988, the event has been held in 13 different states, as well as in Canada and England. This is the third straight year that SummerSlam will take place again at Barclays Center in Brooklyn after Staples Center in Los Angeles hosted the event from 2009 to '14. Eight different championships will be on the line, the most in SummerSlam history and one shy of the WWE pay-per-view record (nine at Vengeance: Night of Champions in 2007). The only title not currently scheduled to be defended: The Miz's Intercontinental Championship. Let's dive into some of the numbers behind the featured matches on this year's card.
Fatal 4-way match for the Universal Championship: Brock Lesnar (c) v. Roman Reigns v. Braun Strowman v. Samoa Joe WWE Championship: Jinder Mahal (c) v. Shinsuke Nakamura - The WWE Championship has been defended every year at SummerSlam since 1992. The title has changed hands eight times at SummerSlam, including five times in the past six years. - Despite first arriving in WWE in 2011, Mahal has never competed at SummerSlam. Mahal will become the third superstar in WWE history to defend the WWE Championship in his SummerSlam debut. Each of the previous two lost the match yet retained the title. United States Championship: AJ Styles (c) v. Kevin Owens - Shane McMahon will be the special guest referee for this match, and that could be bad news for Styles. This will be the sixth title match in SummerSlam history that features a special guest referee, and the champion lost in each of the previous five such matches. - The United States Championship has already changed hands seven times in 2017, the most in a single year since 2006 (also seven). - In his SummerSlam debut last year, Styles defeated John Cena in a critically acclaimed match. The bout was one of two matches that ESPN.com gave a perfect 5-point rating in its first year of WWE coverage (Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate at NXT TakeOver: Chicago). - Styles has lost each of his past three pay-per-view matches, tied for the longest losing streak of his career. Two of those losses came to Owens. - Owens looks to become the first four-time United States Champion since Cena won the title for the fourth time in 2015. Raw Tag Team Championship: Cesaro & Sheamus (c) v. Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose - Tag team titles have changed hands six times at SummerSlam but only once in the past 15 years. - If Rollins and Ambrose win the tag team titles Sunday, Ambrose will become the eighth "Grand Slam Champion" in WWE history, meaning he will have won the WWE Championship, Intercontinental Championship, United States Championship and Tag Team Championship during his career. - Two years ago at SummerSlam, Rollins defeated Cena to become the first superstar in WWE history to simultaneously hold the WWE Championship and United States Championship. - Cesaro's first career WWE pay-per-view match occurred at SummerSlam in 2012 when he defeated Santino Marella for the United States Championship, and he remains the only superstar in WWE history to win the United States Title in his WWE pay-per-view debut. However, Cesaro has not won at SummerSlam since that title win (0-3). - Sheamus has won each of his past three SummerSlam matches, defeating Alberto Del Rio in 2012, Randy Orton in 2015 and Cesaro in 2016. John Cena v. Baron Corbin - This will be Cena's 14th career SummerSlam match, passing Triple H for second most all time (The Undertaker, 16). Cena has not missed a SummerSlam event since making his first appearance in 2004. - However, Cena is currently in the middle of a SummerSlam slump. He has lost at each of the past six SummerSlam events, including five WWE Championship matches. Cena's last SummerSlam victory came in 2010 when Cena and "Team WWE" defeated "Team Nexus" in a 7-on-7 elimination tag team match. Overall, Cena has lost nine times at SummerSlam, his most losses at any pay-per-view event. - Corbin is the only WWE superstar to win both a Money in the Bank ladder match and an Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. - After going 6-1 at pay-per-view events in his debut year in 2016, Corbin is just 1-5 in 2017. The lone win: the Money in the Bank ladder match last month. Finn Bálor v. Bray Wyatt - In his WWE pay-per-view debut last year at SummerSlam, Bálor defeated Seth Rollins to become the inaugural Universal Champion. He remains the only superstar in WWE history to win a world title in his first career pay-per-view match. - Wyatt has not lost in singles competition at SummerSlam, defeating Kane in a Ring of Fire match in 2013 and besting Chris Jericho in 2014. - Wyatt once again finds himself outside the title picture. In the past five years, Wyatt has competed in 31 non-title pay-per-view matches, the most in the WWE during that span. Raw Women's Championship: Alexa Bliss (c) v. Sasha Banks - A women's championship has changed hands five times at SummerSlam but never in consecutive years. Last year at this event, Charlotte defeated Banks to win her second championship. - Bliss is the only woman to win both the Raw and SmackDown Women's Championships. - Banks is a three-time champion, but each of her title victories occurred on Monday Night Raw. Banks failed to walk out champion in each of her seven career pay-per-view title matches, including her victory by count-out over Bliss at Great Balls of Fire last month.
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