WWE SummerSlam 2024 goes down tonight from Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio.
On tap for tonight’s premium live event is Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa in a Bloodline Rules match for the WWE Universal Championship, Damian Priest vs. GUNTHER for the WWE World Championship, as well as CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre with Seth “Freakin’” Rollins as the special guest referee.
Also scheduled for the show this evening is Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley for the WWE Women’s World Championship, Bayley vs. Nia Jax for the WWE Women’s Championship, Sami Zayn vs. Bron Breakker for the WWE Intercontinental Championship, as well as Logan Paul vs. LA Knight for the WWE United States Championship.
Featured below are complete WWE SummerSlam results from Saturday, August 3, 2024. The following report was written by PWMania.com reporter Matt Boone (@MattBoone0709) as the show aired live on the WWE Network on Peacock.
WWE SUMMERSLAM RESULTS – AUGUST 3, 2024
The “Countdown to WWE SummerSlam 2024” pre-show kicks off outside in sunny Cleveland, OH., where Michael Cole welcomes us to the panel. Joining him are Pat McAfee, Wade Barrett and Big E.
Following their opening banter, they send things to Byron Saxton and Jackie Redmond, who check-in from outside of Cody Rhodes’ “American Nightmare” bus and The Judgment Day Clubhouse.
Also checking in is Cathy Kelley, who talks about CM Punk being eerily calm during her discussion with him ahead of tonight’s big event. She also plugs the Michael Cole sit-down interview with Punk, which is already available on WWE’s YouTube channel.
We head into a number of promotional video packages in between additional banter and hype from the pre-show panelists. We then see a lengthy hype video package promoting The Miz as a darling son of Cleveland in an attempt to ensure he gets a favorable crowd reaction tonight.
We then see footage of him on The Miz Express tour bus, which Cole calls the SummerSlam Express bus. Live outside the arena in Cleveland, R-Truth, DIY, Miz and Maryse come out of the bus, interact with the fans waiting to get in, and then we return to the panelists for some more time-killing chit-chat.
Cathy Kelley is live in The Judgment Day Clubhouse with “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio. He talks about The Judgment Day having a big night with Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley in title matches. Dom-Dom says they’ll return on Raw with all the gold and then asks her to leave.
Byron Saxton takes it from there for some interaction with crowds waiting outside the building in Cleveland, OH. He also introduces the winner of the SummerSlam t-shirt design contest, which we see.We catch up with Bron Breakker entering the building, who vows Sami Zayn’s Intercontinental Championship reign ends tonight.
The panel goofs around for a bit again and throw it over to The Miz. The WWE SummerSlam 2024 host awkwardly stumbles through his words trying to interview a random shy kid in the “Fan Zone” with Peter Rosenberg. Back to the panel for a few and then we see Michael Cole’s lengthy sit-down interview with Seth “Freakin'” Rollins.
They promote him joining the panel later in the pre-show. We move on to a walk-and-talk with Peter Rosenberg and Damian Priest in Bronx, and inside Yankees Stadium. After that wraps up, footage of GUNTHER crashing Damian Priest Live on Friday in Cleveland.
Back at the panel, Cole tags out and Jackie Redmond tags in as the panel host. Also swapping out is Pat McAfee, and swapping in is Peter Rosenberg. The talk shifts to Cody Rhodes vs. Solo Sikoa for the first time on the pre-show, and the elaborate “Road to” pre-match video package for it airs.
We return to Big E. with a selfie stick in a sea of fans. He also teases the possibility of fans seeing someone they haven’t seen in quite a while tonight. Wonder if another chief is in the house? The talk at the panel shifts to the Liv Morgan vs. Rhea Ripley match for the women’s world title.
We see a sit-down interview between Redmond and Ripley. Then we shoot to backstage interviews with WWE Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan, as well as “Queen” Nia Jax and 2024 Ms. Money In The Bank Tiffany Stratton. After that wraps up, we shoot inside Cleveland Browns Stadium for the first time, where Michael Cole is standing in the middle of the ring.
He talks about the Punk-McIntyre bout and sends things to his sit-down interview with CM Punk himself. When that’s in the rear-view mirror, we head back to the pre-show panel, where the panelists are joined by the one-and-only Seth “Freakin'” Rollins.
“The Visionary” and “The Revolutionary” of WWE settles in with his zebra-colored, referee-style suit and bowtie, and talks about what exactly Rollins Rules means. Essentially, it’s anything goes and he may or may not get involved himself at some point, from the sounds of it.
WWE Hall of Fame legend Sean Waltman joins the panel for the next few segments with the panelists and then we shoot to a Pat McAfee sit-down interview with Jelly Roll, the artist who did the themes for tonight’s show and an apparent big deal in modern music. Don’t ask me!
We also see a video package on iconic entrance themes and the rest of the top-ten countdown of all-time SummerSlam moments feature. A video package airs promoting “The Last Time Is Now: John Cena Farewell Tour 2025,” complete with an official graphic for the tour that will travel the globe over the next year.
WWE also promotes the move of SmackDown from FOX to the USA Network in September, and then ESPN analyst Joe Tessitore appears alongside Michael Cole. They announce that Cole will move to the SmackDown commentary team, and that Tessitore will be leading the commentary crew on Monday night’s for Raw starting September 2 in Denver, CO.
WWE Women’s World Championship
Liv Morgan (c) vs. Rhea Ripley
Soon after this, the “Countdown to WWE SummerSlam 2024” pre-show wraps up. “WWE Then. Now. Forever. Together.” flashes on the screen and then we shoot into the cold open for tonight’s premium live event. Inside the jam-packed Cleveland Browns Stadium, WWE SummerSlam 2024 Host The Miz has some fun in the crowd to start the show.
Backstage, we see Rhea Ripley walking the halls with “Dirty” Dominik Mysterio. The camera follows them all the way to Gorilla position and through the curtain, all the way down to the ring. Liv Morgan is introduced next and out comes the reigning, defending WWE Women’s World Champion. It’s time for our first match of the evening.
The bell sounds and off we go. Morgan quickly gets out of the ring and taunts her from ringside. Ripley goes outside and chases her, but Morgan gets in the ring and laughs at her. Ripley looks frustrated. Ripley gets in the ring, but Morgan quickly gets out. Ripley shouts at her and goes outside, but Morgan gets in the ring.
Ripley is not happy. Ripley gets in the ring, and once again, Morgan gets out. Ripley fakes getting out of the ring, so Morgan gets in the ring and finds herself face-to-face with her challenger. Ripley blocks a right hand and hits a pair of short-arm clotheslines. Ripley ducks an attack and hits a third short-arm clothesline. Ripley connects with a half-and-half suplex, sending Morgan in a heap to ringside.
Ripley goes outside and high-fives Mysterio before licking his cheek in front of a jealous Morgan. Ripley attacks Morgan and bounces her off the barricade before chopping her chest. Ripley bounces Morgan’s face off the ring steps a few times before putting her in the ring. Ripley sizes Morgan up on the mat and goes for a clothesline, but Morgan ducks it. Ripley quickly rebounds with a vicious head-butt.
Ripley hits a Rip Tide into the top turnbuckle. Ripley goes for a Rip Tide in the center of the ring, but Morgan slides off and retreats to the corner. Ripley approaches, but Morgan pulls her into the second turnbuckle. Morgan grabs Ripley and shoves her recently healed shoulder into the ring post. Ripley’s shoulder appears to be dislocated and her right arm is dangling. Ripley shouts, “It’s out!” The referee asks if she wants to stop the match, but Ripley refuses.
Ripley gets out of the ring, but Morgan attacks her at ringside and big boots her into the ring steps. Morgan stomps Ripley and puts her in the ring for a two-count. Morgan stomps her down before wrenching the injured arm and slamming her down. Morgan covers for a two-count. Morgan pulls Ripley’s hair and shouts, “This is my revenge tour!” Morgan applies an armbar to Ripley’s injured shoulder. Morgan gets up and kicks away at the shoulder.
Morgan applies an overhead wristlock and comes off the ropes with a codebreaker to the shoulder. Ripley manages to get to her feet and big boots Morgan down. Ripley goes to ringside, and Mysterio checks on her. Mysterio then pushes Ripley out of the way and takes a suicide dive from Morgan. Ripley attacks Morgan and puts her in the ring. Ripley paces at ringside before slamming her shoulder into the commentary table to pop her shoulder back into place!
Morgan looks shocked. Ripley gets in the ring and unloads on Morgan with stiff forearm shots, followed by a kick to the head. Ripley viciously dropkicks her into the corner. Ripley lifts Morgan and slams her down onto the mat for a two-count. After some more back-and-forth action, we see Ripley hit a Rip-Tide and have this one finished off, when she is given a chair by Dom-Dom. She goes to use it, but when she goes to swing it, Dom-Dom grabs it and stops her.
The crowd gasps. Ripley looks pissed. Dom-Dom tries explaining he just doesn’t want her to win it this way. Morgan ends up hitting her finisher and retaining her title. Ripley is pissed. Outside of the ring, Dom-Dom shrugs his shoulders and then he and Morgan have a big make-out session as an enraged Ripley watches on from in the ring.
Winner and STILL WWE Women’s World Champion: Liv Morgan
WWE Intercontinental Championship
Sami Zayn (c) vs. Bron Breakker
After we see Sami Zayn stretching and warming up backstage, and a shot of Bron Breakker getting ready, we head into the in-depth pre-match video package that tells the story leading up to our second match of tonight’s premium live event, which is for the WWE Intercontinental Championship.
When the package wraps up, we see an enraged Damian Priest asking The Judgment Day guys where Dom-Dom is. Finn Balor comes in and Priest snatches him up by his shirt. He asks if Balor knew about this. Balor insists he didn’t, and they all assure him they too want to find that dirt bag. They head off to do exactly that and Balor assures him they’ll find him. Uht oh.
Back inside Cleveland Browns Stadium, it’s time for the dogs to get ta’ barkin’, as former multiple-time WWE NXT World Champion Bron Breakker makes his way out and heads to the ring. After he settles inside the squared circle, Sami Zayn’s catchy-ass entrance tune hits and the crowd in Cleveland goes bonkers as he makes his way to the ring for his latest title defense in a rematch against Breakker.
Breakker starts off charging across the ring as soon as the bell sounds. Zayn side-steps him and Breakker crashes shoulder-first into the steel ring post with authority. Zayn enjoyed some offensive control for a few minutes from there, but it wasn’t long before Breakker took over.
He hit a few vicious spears, turning Zayn inside-out in the process, and scores the pin fall for the relatively easy victory to become your brand new WWE Intercontinental Champion. The crowd ate up Breakker as the new champ afterwards, with a lot of barking and clearly excited fans in the background of the camera shot, as Breakker holds the I-C title high in the air.
Winner and NEW WWE Intercontinental Champion: Bron Breakker
WWE United States Championship
Logan Paul (c) vs. LA Knight
A very skinny Stephanie McMahon-Levesque is shown sitting ringside at WWE SummerSlam 2024 in Cleveland, OH., with the crowd giving her a big reaction.
Our third title bout in three matches is up next, as it’s time for the WWE United States Championship to be put up for grabs by Logan Paul, as he defends it against “The Mega Star” LA Knight next.
The elaborate pre-match video package for that one airs now. When it wraps up, the reigning and defending U.S. Champion is introduced first. Out comes Logan Paul, who is met by Cleveland music star Machine Gun Kelly.
Logan Paul and MGK head to the ring together and settle inside the squared circle. After that, we see LA Knight with Logan Paul’s PRIME hummer once again. Inside the big host venue for “The Biggest Party of the Summer,” out comes “The Mega Star” for his big title opportunity.
Paul immediately attacks him as he’s getting in the ring. They continue to brawl at ringside while still wearing their entrance attire. The match finally gets going in the ring and Knight takes over control of the offense. After a few more minutes, things slow down a bit.
We see Paul hit an absolutely insane springboard moonsault to the floor on Knight. His leg almost buckled under him on the landing. Yikes. Back in the ring, Paul decks Knight with a KO shot and covers him, but only gets two and looks shocked. Knight hits an insane top-rope brainbuster.
The action spills out to the floor again. Knight beats down Paul and has two of his friends yapping in his face over the barricade. Knight no-look yanks them both over it to the floor at ringside and stomps them both as fans chant “YEAH! YEAH!” Paul attacks him from behind.
MGK sneaks the brass knuckles to him. He KOs Knight with them. He drops them and heads to the ring apron for a buckshot lariat, but Knight counters and pins him for the win. We have a new WWE United States Champion, and he’s “The Mega Star.”
Winner and NEW WWE United States Champion: LA Knight
WWE Women’s Championship
Bayley (c) vs. Nia Jax
After a goofy-ass sponsored segment with Baron Corbin helping to shave Apollo Crews head, and Otis coming in with Akira Tozawa and Maxxine Dupri to grease up his big gross stomach, we shoot to the pre-match video package for our next match, which features yet another title on-the-line.
The WWE Women’s Championship is up next, as Bayley defends her title against 2024 WWE Queen of the Ring winner Nia Jax. “Queen” Nia comes out with her crown on to a bunch of boos. Bayley comes out to a huge pop and settles in the ring. The bell sounds and off we go.
We see some good back-and-forth action for several minutes, and then things start to pick up. Bayley takes Nia off the ropes for a huge power bomb for a close near fall. Bayley seemed to have things finished up and out came Tiffany Stratton to cash in her Money In The Bank briefcase.
When she goes to cash it in, however, she gets bumped and then Bayley hits a running kick to Nia. Nia recovers and takes Bayley out with two power bombs. She drags her lifeless body to the corner and hits two Annihlators for the pin fall victory.
We have a new WWE Women’s Champion. She and Stratton celebrate after and then Jax hugs some family members, including The Rock’s mom, at ringside.
Winner and NEW WWE Women’s Champion: Nia Jax
CM Punk vs. Drew McIntyre
A video package airs promoting WWE NXT moving from the USA Network to The CW starting on October 1. We then set the stage for our next match of the evening, which is the one the majority of fans tuning into tonight’s show are most looking forward to.
“The Best in the World” CM Punk has his first televised singles match in WWE in over a decade next, as he squares off against bitter-rival “The Scottish Warrior” Drew McIntyre, with Seth “Freakin'” Rollins serving as the special guest referee.
The pre-match video package airs to tell the story leading up to this one. When it wraps up, we return inside Cleveland Browns Stadium where we hear, “BURN IT DOWN!!” as “The Visionary” and “The Revolutionary” of WWE makes his way out.
Seth “Freakin'” Rollins comes to the ring in special referee attire that has to be seen to be believed. Very Seth Rollins-esque stuff, as you come to expect from the WWE veteran at this point in his legendary career. He settles in the ring to a big pop from the fans singing along with his music.
Thankfully, the wild zebra-colored gear Rollins wore to the ring was just his entrance attire. He takes it off and has a bedazzled sleeveless referee shirt and silly-ass shiny pants. The theme for Drew McIntyre hits and out comes “The Scottish Warrior.”
McIntyre and Rollins glare at each other for quite a bit and the camera closes in on this to soak up the moment. McIntyre is overheard telling Rollins all he has to do is ring the bell and count to three. The theme for CM Punk hits and out comes “The Best in the World” to a rock star reaction in the home of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Hall of Fame.
This one has “big fight feel” written all over it, and on a night with an insane boxing pay-per-view stacked mega-card, where Martin Bakole breaks through as a new Heavyweight star, Eminem puts on a concert and the pound-for-pound king of boxing takes a big challenge up in weight, as well as a stacked UFC card on ABC from Abu Dhabi, that’s saying a lot.
Punk and McIntyre are staring darts through each other. Punk takes his jacket off and throws it and it ends up around Rollins’ shoulders. Rollins semi-no-sells it, dramatically picking it up and throwing it out of the ring. He then ends up jawing with Punk. He jaws with McIntyre as well. Meanwhile, the crowd is chanting “CM Punk! CM Punk!” like crazy.
The bell sounds and Punk and McIntyre charge at each other, meeting in the middle and wildly trading strikes, ala the infamous Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Akiyama fight from the old PRIDE FC days. The good old days. Punk gets McIntyre down and stomps away at him. McIntyre gets back up and does the same to Punk.
Punk takes McIntyre down and unloads on him with shots. McIntyre gets back up and shoves Punk and chops him. McIntyre goes to hit the ropes, but Punk follows him in and clotheslines him out to the floor. He runs off the ring apron and hits a flying clothesline on the floor.
Now we see CM Punk send McIntyre sailing over the ring barricade and into the timekeepers area. He follows him over and beats him up some more before launching him back over to the floor at ringside. He runs McIntyre face-first into the steel ring post, as we see Seth Rollins laying across the top-rope, Shawn Michaels heel style.
McIntyre takes back over control of the offense when the action spills out to the floor again. He hoists Punk up and swings him by his feet, slamming him face-first into the commentary desk over and over again. McIntyre continues to beat down Punk on the floor, as Rollins once again watches on without a car in the world, smiling and laughing at certain violent points in the action.
After some more back-and-forth action, we see McIntyre go to ringside and grabs a steel chair. Rollins looks at McIntyre, but he doesn’t take the chair away. McIntyre tells Rollins to let it happen. Rollins turns his back on this. McIntyre goes to hit Punk with the chair, but Rollins shows he has a conscience and takes the chair away. Rollins argues with McIntyre. McIntyre shoves him, so Rollins charges with the chair and nearly hits Punk before putting the brakes on.
Rollins throws the chair out of the ring. As he’s doing that, Punk has McIntyre rolled up. Rollins sees it too late, and McIntyre kicks out. Punk had him pinned for a while. McIntyre hits Punk with a swinging neckbreaker and kips up. McIntyre goes into his trunks and pulls out the bracelet with Punk’s wife and dog’s names on it. McIntyre puts it on and goes for a Claymore Kick, but Punk kicks him down. Punk then drops him with a swinging neckbreaker.
Punk gets to his feet and hits McIntyre with a running knee in the corner. Punk backs up and hits a second running knee to the face. Punk backs up and hits it a third time before hitting a clothesline. Punk heads to the top rope for a diving elbow drop. Punk covers for a near fall. Punk quickly transitions into an Anaconda Vice attempt. McIntyre fights it, but Punk eventually locks it in. As he applies the hold, Punk pulls his bracelet off McIntyre’s wrist.
Punk picks it up and turns into a Claymore Kick! McIntyre covers for a near fall. We see some more back-and-forth action and then Punk has Drew down and out and calls for the GTS. Rollins distracts Punk and Punk notices Rollins has his bracelet on. Punk decks McIntyre and approaches Rollins and doesn’t look happy. McIntyre attacks Punk from behind, sending him crashing into Rollins. With Rollins bumped and all of a sudden down and helpless from one shot like a wimpy referee and not a future WWE Hall of Famer, Punk recovers and hits the GTS on McIntyre.
He goes for the cover, but Rollins is still out and unable to make the count. When he finally does recover and begin to count, McIntyre kicks out. Punk yells at Rollins. Rollins reminds him about Rollins’ Rules. Punk yells that this isn’t about him. He hits Rollins with a GTS. McIntyre low-blows Punk and hit a Claymore. He wakes Rollins up and covers Punk. Rollins counts 1. Rollins counts 2. He looks hesitant, but ultimately counts three. McIntyre takes the bracelet back off Punk’s arm and puts it on his own. He stands on Punk’s chest with one foot and raises his hand in victory.
Winner: Drew McIntyre
WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Damian Priest (c) vs. GUNTHER
Backstage, we see Finn Balor catch up with Damian Priest. They talk about the Dominik Mysterio situation and how Priest wants to go this one alone, but that if he wants Balor, all he has to do is call for him. Priest thanks him, grabs his title belt and heads out to get ready.
The pre-match video package airs now to set the stage for our next match of the evening, which features the WWE World Heavyweight Championship on-the-line. When it wraps up, the theme for the 2024 WWE King of the Ring hits and out comes “The Ring General” GUNTHER. He settles in the ring.
Damian Priest’s entrance tune hits next and out comes what GUNTHER calls “Street Trash,” the reigning and defending WWE World Heavyweight Champion and as of right now, the leader of The Judgment Day. He heads to the ring alone as promised and settles inside for the pre-match ring introductions.
The bell sounds and off we go. GUNTHER and Damian Priest stare each other down. They trade chops early on and almost immediately GUNTHER’s chest is ripped open and bleeding. We see GUNTHER fight back and take over for what feels like forever. It seems like he’s got Priest dead to rights.
Finn Balor makes his way down to the ringside area. GUNTHER notices him and heads over and big boots him in the face through the ropes to knock him down. Priest recovers and saw what just happened and looks pissed and ready to defend his friend. He goes to work on GUNTHER as the crowd explodes.
Now we see Priest have GUNTHER finished off and in the weirdest situation ever, Priest purposely rolls GUNTHER closer to the ropes where Balor was at ringside to set up the finishing sequence. Balor throws GUNTHER’s leg on the ropes to screw Priest over.
Priest sees this on the replay and Balor does the slow turn evil facial expression for a close-up. Priest goes to rush at Balor to make him pay, but GUNTHER grabs Priest from behind and locks him in a sleeper hold. Priest fades. Balor gets close to the ring to see Priest go out, which brings Priest back to life.
He fights free and charges right back at Balor again. GUNTHER once more capitalizes and hits a big power bomb and another sleeper hold. GUNTHER wins. We have a brand new WWE World Heavyweight Champion, and his name is “The King General” GUNTHER.
Winner and NEW WWE World Heavyweight Champion: GUNTHER
Jelly Roll Helps Awesome Truth Take Out A-Town Down Under
Michael Cole and the commentary crew run through highlights of tonight’s matches and key moments thus far, focusing a lot of Dominik Mysterio screwing over Rhea Ripley and locking lips with Liv Morgan afterwards, and the continuation of the crumbling of The Judgment Day as we know it, with Finn Balor turning on Priest.
Back live, WWE SummerSlam 2024 host The Miz and his pal R-Truth are shown in the ring for a special attendance announcement. The Miz reveals that tonight’s show has broken the all-time American attendance record with 57,791 fans inside Cleveland Browns Stadium tonight.
As they go to wrap up, they are cut off by former tag-team champions A-Town Down Under. Austin Theory and Grayson Waller join them in the ring to taunt them and the city of Cleveland, as well as the artist who performed the theme songs for tonight’s show, Jelly Roll, who is shown in the crowd reacting.
R-Truth is confused and thinks he is talking to Ricky Martin and Robert Gibson, the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express. Obviously there is so much wrong with that. Anyways, Jelly Roll appears behind A-Town Down Under in the ring with a chair and helps Awesome Truth take them out and leave them laying.
Jelly Roll and Awesome Truth do John Cena’s “You Can’t See Me” five knuckle shuffle routine for an explosive pop.
WWE Universal Championship (Bloodline Rules)
Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Solo Sikoa
It’s main event time!
“The Biggest Party of the Summer” hits the final stretch, as we set the stage and prepare for our main event of the evening, as “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes defends his WWE Universal Championship against “The Tribal Chief” of The Bloodline 2.0, Solo Sikoa, in a Bloodline Rules match.
WWE Raw on SyFy is promoted for tomorrow night in Baltimore, MD., with the focus being on the in-ring debut of The Wyatt Sicks against Chad Gable and The Creed Brothers, as well as the fallout from tonight’s WWE SummerSlam. A commercial for WWE Bash In Berlin airs next for the show on August 31 in Germany.
Up next, the in-depth pre-match video package airs to tell the story leading up to tonight’s main event of the evening, the Bloodline Rules bout between Rhodes and Sikoa for the Universal title. When it wraps up, we return inside the show venue in Cleveland.
Solo Sikoa makes his way out first, by himself oddly enough, with “The Tribal Chief” boa around his neck. He looks ready for action and all business as he heads to the ring to a ton of boos from the record-setting Cleveland crowd. The leader of The Bloodline 2.0 settles inside the squared circle for what could be an interesting match, depending on who may or may not show up at the end.
All the way from his “American Nightmare” tour bus, where he walks his dog on a leash into the building with him, is the reigning and defending WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. He gets the Goodfellas single-camera kitchen scene shot of the evening. The long single camera shot follows him all throughout the backstage area, where he shakes hands with and hugs Arn Anderson, who gives him a classic Arn pep talk.
He settles inside and the final ring introductions are given before the bell sounds to get this one started. Things start off competitive, with Cody getting to shine coming out of the gate. It isn’t long, however, before Solo takes over and much like GUNTHER vs. Damian Priest, we see the champion on the defensive and fighting from underneath throughout the majority of the contest.
As soon as Cody finally starts to shift the offensive momentum into his favor several minutes into the bout, we see the Bloodline Rules play a factor, as Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa hit the ring and blatantly attack Cody in front of the referee with double-team action. Solo goes for the immediate follow-up cover, but Cody kicks out.
They go to continue the numbers game beat down until out of nowhere, Kevin Owens’ theme hits and “The Prize Fighter” runs down to the ring to a huge crowd reaction from the Cleveland fans. Owens ends up getting gobbled up as well, which leads us to our second in-match surprise, the theme for Randy Orton hits and “The Viper” heads to the ring.
This is almost identical to the last Bloodline Rules Universal title match on a big four PLE. That’s not necessarily a good thing, either. Cody goes for the follow-up cover after Solo is laid out, but he gets a shoulder up. Orton and Owens brawl with Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa through the crowd out of the picture. Cody grabs the top half of the ring steps and brings them into the ring.
When he goes to use them, however, Solo charges at him and spears him for a close two-count. Solo sets the steps in the corner with the steps part facing out. He sits Cody up against them and charges across the ring for a hip attack, but Cody moves and Solo violently crashes into the steps. Cody hits a Cross-Rhodes. And another. He goes for the third, but Jacob Fatu hits the ring out of nowhere and lays Cody out.
Fatu decks Cody and then hits a big top-rope moonsault. He takes him out to the floor and clears off the commentary desk. He super kicks Cody onto the top of the table and heads back to the top-rope again. He leaps off with a big splash that puts Cody through the table. Solo goes to pick the bones, bringing Cody into the ring and hitting a top-rope splash of his own for a close two-count. Cody is the modern day Super Cena, folks.
Solo stands over Cody and signals for the Samoan Spike. Cody springs to life out of nowhere and super kicks him, leaps to the top rope in a single bounce (see, Super Cody like Super Cena, or Superman, whatever). The theme for Roman Reigns hits out of nowhere and the crowd goes absolutely insane inside the jam-packed record sold out crowd inside Cleveland Browns Stadium. The real “Tribal Chief” emerges and the crowd roar grows.
Michael Cole pulls a Bobby Heenan and questions who Roman Reigns is coming down to attack. Corey Graves plays the Dusty Rhodes role, pretending it’s a dumb question and saying of course he’s coming for revenge on Cody, the guy who beat him and took his title the last time we saw him. Of course, Reigns, the Hulk Hogan in this scenario, hits the ring.
He attacks the other guy, Solo Sikoa, to the “shock” of ..well, Michael Cole. And to an equal extent, Cody himself. Cody, still shocked at what he just saw, finishes Solo off for the win to retain. Reigns keeps looking back at the ring as he walks off, and Cody keeps looking back out at Roman as well. Your winner and still WWE Universal Champion, “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes. That’s how WWE SummerSlam 2024 goes off the air. Thanks for joining us!
Winner and STILL WWE Universal Champion: Cody Rhodes
