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- SummerSlam is arguably the second biggest premium live event after WrestleMania, although the Royal Rumble will have something to say about that. It's a major premium live event in the summer, and generally SummerSlam has seen some feuds that happened around WrestleMania season, and continued months later into the summer. However, whilst SummerSlam is a major event, and the main event should be reserved for the biggest names, there has been some surprising wrestlers that have managed to main event WrestleMania. Some of their participation in the main event of SummerSlam raised eyebrows, and there were better candidates who were deserving to headline SummerSlam instead of them.
SummerSlam has been viewed as the second most important WWE PPV of the year every year since the show was created. WWE wanted to have a show coming a few months after WrestleMania to provide that big show feel to pay off feuds. The timing of the summer adds a festive feel that made it fun enough to take off in the early years.
WWE has booked some outstanding main events involving names like John Cena, Bret Hart, Steve Austin and Brock Lesnar. Everyone expects memorable main event performances from legends of that caliber. However, there were some surprising names to have the show closing spot on their resume. The following wrestlers somehow main evented SummerSlam.
UPDATE: 2023/08/06 07:30 EST BY TEVON KING
SummerSlam is arguably the second biggest premium live event after WrestleMania, although the Royal Rumble will have something to say about that. It's a major premium live event in the summer, and generally SummerSlam has seen some feuds that happened around WrestleMania season, and continued months later into the summer. However, whilst SummerSlam is a major event, and the main event should be reserved for the biggest names, there has been some surprising wrestlers that have managed to main event WrestleMania. Some of their participation in the main event of SummerSlam raised eyebrows, and there were better candidates who were deserving to headline SummerSlam instead of them.
13 Heath Slater
Heath Slater went on to have a relatively successful WWE career as he won the WWE Tag Team Championship three times alongside Justin Gabriel, and he was the inaugural SmackDown Tag Team Champion with Rhyno in 2016. However, the One Man Rockband was a member of the Nexus and he main evented SummerSlam 2010 as he was involved in the 14-man elimination match between The Nexus and Team WWE.
Slater should have been nowhere near the main event of SummerSlam as he is an average competitor. Nevertheless, Slater managed to eliminate former World Champions Chris Jericho and Edge but Daniel Bryan eliminated him from the match.
12 Skip Sheffield
Skip Sheffield was familiar to some WWE fans as he appeared on Tough Enough in 2004, but he was repackaged as a member of the Nexus in 2010. Sheffield wasn't the best in-ring wrestler, but he had a good look.
It's easy to forget that he headlined SummerSlam and like Slater he managed to eliminate two wrestlers. He removed former Intercontinental Champion John Morrison and former United States Champion R-Truth from the match. His involvement was curtailed by Edge, who saw him off with his patented Spear.
11 Darren Young
Darren Young's involvement in the Nexus was brief as his was participation in the seven-on-seven elimination match between Team WWE and the Nexus. Young was still incredibly green, and he was eliminated by Daniel Bryan within a minute of the match.
Young was nowhere near ready to be headlining a major event like SummerSlam. When people are asked about who main evented SummerSlam, Young would hardly be at the forefront of many wrestling fans' minds.
10 Vader
Most wrestling fans respect the legacy of Vader as a great talent, but he never had a main event push in WWE. Vader found more success in WCW as a world champion and in Japan as a tremendous foreign attraction performer. WWE signing Vader was meant to give them another main event heel.
Vader scored by far his biggest match in WWE losing to Shawn Michaels in the main event of SummerSlam 1996. Michaels reportedly hated working with Vader, which played a role in him instantly moving down the card and never reaching that top WWE spot.
9 General Adnan
General Adnan is a name few wrestling fans talk about unless watching a show from the era of his character. WWE turning Sgt. Slaughter heel by having him hating America led to him aligning with Adnan and The Iron Sheik.
SummerSlam 1991 featured the main event of Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior facing all three heels in a handicap match. Slaughter and Iron Sheik main eventing wasn’t that crazy, but Adnan is a name almost no one would have expected in this spot.
8 Zeus
Another odd name selected to have a tag match main event on the other side of Hulk Hogan was Zeus. Popular actor Timmy Lister Jr. played the Zeus character in WWE’s No Holds Barred film, but WWE wanted to make that part of the product as well.
Zeus teamed up with Randy Savage in the main event of SummerSlam 1989 since both hated Hogan. WWE trying to build Zeus up as the same intimidating character he played in the movie allowed him to main event the second biggest night of the year.
7 Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake
The other end of the SummerSlam 1989 main event featured Hulk Hogan having to find a partner to face Randy Savage and Zeus. Hogan teamed with top names like Savage or Ultimate Warrior in other SummerSlam main events, but this saw a downgrade.
Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake benefited from being Hogan’s real best friend by getting an unlikely main event spot. Hogan having backstage power influenced the move to get his buddy into a bigger spot than he was used to and added a nice PPV main event bonus that WWE used to give to talents.
6 R-Truth
Nexus feuding with the entire promotion of WWE led to an all-star team being assembled to face them in the SummerSlam 2010 main event. Legends like John Cena, Chris Jericho, Edge and Bret Hart were all on the team together for the star power.
Daniel Bryan returned to join the team in a huge moment for his career, and even John Morrison made sense as someone who worked occasional main events. R-Truth felt most out of place as a lower mid-card face getting added to the team. It wasn’t even until the following year that R-Truth had a main event push to make the timing even more confusing.
5 Lex Luger
WWE never found the same success with Lex Luger that WCW did in a main event role. Luger was a solid mid-card heel with the Narcissist gimmick until a drastic change out of the blue. The patriotic face character and a forced main event push led to a title shot.
Yokozuna retained the WWE Championship at SummerSlam 1993 when Lex won by count out. Luger had a very short stint coming off as a main eventer. WWE otherwise always stopped him short in the mid-card scene to make it quite surprising he main evented such a big show.
4 Michael Tarver
SummerSlam 2010 had the most total competitors in a main event of that show given the 14-man tag match. Nexus existed as a group of young talents getting their first chance to break out with a compelling invasion angle.
Names like Wade Barrett, Skip Sheffield and Heath Slater are commonly mentioned when discussing Nexus. One forgotten name to spend some time in the faction and get a few big matches was Michael Tarver. Most fans would think there was no chance Tarver main evented SummerSlam given how short his time on the main roster was.
3 The British Bulldog
WWE used The British Bulldog in various roles throughout his career. Davey Boy Smith was often placed in tag teams with the likes of Owen Hart and Dynamite Kid. There were a few solo pushes for Bulldog, but he never reached that true main event status.
The timing of SummerSlam 1992 allowed Smith to get his chance in a massive main event match. WWE took advantage of the hometown advantage by having Bulldog challenge Bret Hart for the Intercontinental Championship in England. Smith had a few more PPV main events, but they always case on secondary In Your House events.
2 King Mabel
The King of the Ring win for Mabel in 1995 led to an instant main event push that he was not ready for. WWE wanted to have another monster heel after that era of characters started to get phased out. Mabel was criticized for being sloppy in the ring and often injuring opponents.
Kevin Nash learned this the hard way during his time as Diesel. The SummerSlam 1995 main event featured Mabel challenging Diesel for the WWE Championship in a stinker. Mabel lost his push shortly after and never main-evented another WWE PPV in his career.
1 Brian Lee
Wrestling journeyman Brian Lee had many different characters and roles throughout his career trying to get to the next level. WWE gave Lee his biggest push in a storyline that didn’t even get to showcase his actual self. Lee was tasked with playing a fake version of The Undertaker hired by Ted DiBiase.
WWE paid off this story by having the real Undertaker defeat Lee’s character in the SummerSlam 1994 main event. Lee bounced around having stints in every promotion of the time, but his unlikely SummerSlam main event was his biggest accomplishment.