SummerSlam (2016)

The 2016 SummerSlam was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was the 29th annual SummerSlam and took place on August 21, 2016, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for the second consecutive year, held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. It was the first PPV event held after the brand extension, which was reintroduced in July, went into full effect.

Twelve matches were contested at the event, including three on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, which was an interbrand match, Raw's Brock Lesnar defeated SmackDown's Randy Orton by technical knockout. In another marquee match, "The Demon King" Finn Bálor defeated Seth Rollins to become the inaugural WWE Universal Champion, which was introduced to be Raw's world championship. In other prominent matches, Dean Ambrose defeating Dolph Ziggler to retain SmackDown's WWE World Championship, and AJ Styles defeated John Cena in a singles match.

SummerSlam is an annual professional wrestling event produced every August by WWE since 1988. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views (PPV), 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. Announced on September 28, 2015, the 2016 event was the 29th SummerSlam and was scheduled to be held on August 21, 2016, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York for the second consecutive year. In addition to airing on traditional PPV, the event was livestreamed on the WWE Network. Tickets went on sale on April 2 through Ticketmaster. It featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions, being the first pay-per-view to occur after the brand split went into full effect following its reintroduction the previous month. It was also the first pay-per-view to feature the WWE Universal Championship, following its establishment for Raw the previous month after the WWE World Heavyweight Championship became exclusive to SmackDown and renamed to WWE World Championship.

Ahead of the event, WWE and KFC, which was that year's event sponsor, held a promotional tie-in for its "Chicken Little" chicken sandwich. It featured a match between The Miz, dressed as "Puppers Cluckers" in a yellow chicken suit and Dolph Ziggler, as Colonel Sanders which took place after the conclusion of the August 16 episode of SmackDown Live where Ziggler emerged victorious.

The event comprised 12 matches, including three on the Kickoff pre-show, that resulted from scripted storylines. Results were predetermined by WWE's writers on the Raw and SmackDown brands, while storylines were produced on WWE's weekly television shows, Monday Night Raw and SmackDown Live.

On June 5, WWE granted Brock Lesnar a "one-off opportunity" to return to mixed martial arts competition at UFC 200 on July 9, while also confirming that Lesnar would compete at SummerSlam. On the July 7 episode of SmackDown, Lesnar's SummerSlam opponent was announced as Randy Orton, who was returning from injury. WWE billed the match as "15 years in the making". On July 15, WWE confirmed that the match would still be taking place, despite a USADA notification in regards to Lesnar's UFC fight, stemming from an out-of-competition sample collected on June 28, which tested positive for a banned substance. A second sample taken in-competition on July 9 was also tested positive for the same banned substance, believed to be hydroxy-clomifene, discovered in the previous sample. On July 26, WWE confirmed that Lesnar would not be facing any disciplinary action from WWE as he is exempt from the WWE Wellness Policy due to his status as a part-time performer. Orton returned at Battleground as the guest on Chris Jericho's "Highlight Reel". Orton said that he only needed one RKO to take down Lesnar and also took a shot at Lesnar's failed drug tests. On the August 1 episode of Raw, Lesnar's manager Paul Heyman proclaimed that Orton would never be able to execute his finisher on Lesnar when Orton suddenly appeared and attacked Lesnar with an RKO. Lesnar subsequently attacked Orton with an F-5 during his match against Fandango on SmackDown the next night. The last Raw before SummerSlam saw Lesnar and Heyman cutting another promo on Orton until Heath Slater interrupted, aiming to earn a WWE contract (as he was undrafted in the WWE draft) by defeating Lesnar. Lesnar attacked Slater with an F-5 to send a message to Orton. Slater faced Orton the next night on SmackDown to earn a contract. Orton intentionally got himself disqualified, mocking Lesnar before attacking Slater with an RKO.

After SmackDown draftee Dean Ambrose retained the WWE World Championship at Battleground against Raw draftees Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in a triple threat match, Raw was left without a world title. Subsequently, Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley announced a new championship, the WWE Universal Championship, the following night on Raw to serve as the brand's top championship. It was then announced that the inaugural champion would be crowned at SummerSlam in a singles match; Rollins, as Raw's #1 draft pick, was automatically set for that match, while his opponent was determined by two fatal four-way matches that night, with the winners wrestling each other in a singles match. Finn Bálor won the first qualifier by defeating Cesaro, Kevin Owens, and Rusev, while Reigns won the second by defeating Chris Jericho, Sami Zayn, and Sheamus. Bálor then defeated Reigns and was added to the title match at SummerSlam. Bálor and Rollins confronted each other the following week, both promising to win at SummerSlam. Rollins then attempted to attack Bálor, but Bálor countered, forcing Rollins to retreat. Two weeks later, Bálor's alter ego, "The Demon King", confronted Rollins after Rollins called him out.

On the July 26 episode of SmackDown, a six-pack challenge involving John Cena, Bray Wyatt, AJ Styles, Dolph Ziggler, Baron Corbin, and Apollo Crews was held to determine the #1 contender for the WWE World Championship at SummerSlam. Ziggler won the match by pinning Styles. The next week, after Dean Ambrose doubted Ziggler's ability, Wyatt attacked Ziggler and challenged him for his title shot. Ziggler accepted and defeated Wyatt. The next week, after Ambrose and Ziggler teamed up to defeat Wyatt and Erick Rowan, Ambrose performed Dirty Deeds on Ziggler. Ziggler responded by attacking Ambrose with a superkick on their "Miz TV" segment during the final episode of SmackDown before SummerSlam.