The 2007 SummerSlam was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It was the 20th annual SummerSlam and took place on August 26, 2007, at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brand divisions. Tickets for SummerSlam went on sale on December 30, 2006, and sold out in 40 minutes.

The main feud, a staged rivalry between wrestlers, heading into the event from the Raw brand was between John Cena and Randy Orton. On the July 23 episode of Raw, Jonathan Coachman announced Orton as the number one contender to the WWE Championship. Over the proceeding weeks, Orton provoked Cena by interfering and attacking him during his matches. From SmackDown!, the predominant feud was between The Great Khali and Batista. After Khali defeated Batista and Kane in a triple threat match, Theodore Long booked Khali to defend the World Heavyweight Championship against Batista at SummerSlam. The primary feud from ECW was between John Morrison and CM Punk. By defeating Morrison in a 15 Minutes of Fame match, Punk became the number one contender to the ECW Championship at SummerSlam.

Several of the existing feuds carried on after the event. Notably, CM Punk continued to face John Morrison, defeating him for the ECW Championship the following month on ECW on Sci Fi. The day after SummerSlam, Orton, as part of the scripted events, interfered in a match between Cena and King Booker and intensified the feud by attacking Cena's father. Khali and Batista faced each other at Unforgiven, the following pay-per-view, as part of a triple threat match; Batista was victorious in this match and won the World Heavyweight Championship. This event marks the in-ring returns of Rey Mysterio and Triple H, who had been out due to injury since October 2006 and January 2007 respectively.

SummerSlam is an annual pay-per-view (PPV) produced every August by World Wrestling Entertainment (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, referred to as the "Big Four". It has since become considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. The 2007 event was the 20th SummerSlam and was scheduled to be held on August 26, 2007, at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. It featured wrestlers from the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brand divisions.

WWE had originally planned a storyline between the cast of the Jackass television series and Umaga, with the conclusion in a match at SummerSlam. It was scheduled to begin at the previous pay-per-view event, The Great American Bash, but was canceled after the Jackass cast dropped out due to the negative media attention surrounding the Chris Benoit double murder and suicide. However, 14 years later, the Jackass cast and Johnny Knoxville himself would later have a match at WrestleMania 38 against Sami Zayn.

The main staged rivalry heading into SummerSlam on the Raw brand was between John Cena and Randy Orton over the WWE Championship. At The Great American Bash, Cena defeated Bobby Lashley to retain the WWE Championship. The next night on Raw, after a Handicap match involving Cena, Orton came out and executed an RKO on Cena. Shortly thereafter, Executive Assistant Jonathan Coachman announced Orton as the new number-one contender to the WWE Championship. Before that, Orton claimed that he had never faced Cena in a one-on-one WWE Championship match. On the July 30 episode of Raw, Carlito defeated Cena in a non-title match after Orton interfered and distracted Cena. Three weeks later, on the August 18 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event XXXV, Cena faced off against Carlito in another non-title match, which Cena won. After the match, Orton came out and attacked Cena, which led to a RKO from Orton through a steel chair.

The main storyline on the SmackDown! brand was between The Great Khali and Batista over the World Heavyweight Championship. On the July 6 episode of SmackDown!, Khali issued an open challenge for a match at The Great American Bash, which was accepted by Batista later that night. On SmackDown! the following week, the match between Khali and Batista was made official after a contract signing. That same night, then-World Heavyweight Champion Edge, who was scheduled to face Kane for the title at The Great American Bash, suffered a legitimate injury—a left pectoral muscle tear—after Kane interrupted his Mardi Gras style celebration. On the July 20 episode of SmackDown!, Edge was forced to vacate the World Heavyweight Championship due to the severity of his injury. He later commented-

I'm still the rightful champion. My pectoral muscle is hanging on by a single fiber; literally hanging from the bone. Theodore Long comes out and strips me of what I've worked for my entire career—from childhood until now. My mood is obviously not great right now. I'm disgusted.