The 2023 SummerSlam, also promoted as SummerSlam: Detroit, was a professional wrestling premium live event (PLE) produced by WWE, held for wrestlers from the promotion's main roster brands, Raw and SmackDown. It was the 36th annual SummerSlam and took place on August 5, 2023, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, returning the event to its traditional August slot after the previous year's event was held in July. This was the first SummerSlam livestreamed on Binge in Australia. It was the first WWE event held at Ford Field since WrestleMania 23 in April 2007. Michigan previously hosted SummerSlam in 1993.
Nine matches were contested at the event, with four promoted as main event matches. In the final match of the night, which was one of SmackDown's two main matches, Roman Reigns defeated Jey Uso in Tribal Combat to retain the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship and recognition of Tribal Chief of the Anoaʻi family. For SmackDown's other main match, Bianca Belair defeated defending champion Asuka and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat match to win the WWE Women's Championship, after which, Iyo Sky cashed in her Money in the Bank contract and defeated Belair to win the title. For Raw's two main matches, Seth "Freakin" Rollins defeated Finn Bálor to retain the World Heavyweight Championship and Cody Rhodes defeated Brock Lesnar, in what was Lesnar's last WWE appearance until the 2025 SummerSlam, as he was later named in the Vince McMahon sex trafficking scandal. The event also featured Ronda Rousey's final WWE appearance; she lost to Shayna Baszler in an MMA Rules match at the event and then left WWE in October.
According to WWE, this was the highest-grossing SummerSlam of all time, as well as the company's highest-grossing event outside of WrestleMania. WWE claimed an attendance of 59,194; however, this number has been disputed, with an actual paid attendance of 51,477. It was the second-largest crowd in SummerSlam history, after the 1992 event. This would subsequently be the final SummerSlam in which WWE was majority owned and controlled by the McMahon family before the company's deal with Endeavor was finalized on September 12, 2023, which saw WWE and Endeavor-owned Ultimate Fighting Championship subsequently merging to become divisions of a new jointly formed corporate entity called TKO Group Holdings. This was also the final WWE event to be officially distributed on Blu-ray in Europe, as WWE opted not to renew Fremantle's contract for home video releases after 2023, and shut their home video division down in 3 months later at the end of the year. SummerSlam had a 1-disc Blu-ray and 2-disc DVD release on September 25 in the United Kingdom.
Production Background
SummerSlam is an annual professional wrestling premium live event (PLE) traditionally held in August by WWE since 1988. It was originally broadcast exclusively via pay-per-view (PPV) before it began simulcasting on WWE's livestreaming platforms in 2014. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is one of the promotion's original four PPVs, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four", and is considered one of the "Big Five" with the elevation of Money in the Bank in 2021. Out of the five, it is considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania.
Announced on February 7, 2023, the 36th SummerSlam was scheduled to be held on Saturday, August 5, 2023, at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, returning SummerSlam to its traditional August slot after the previous year was held in July. This also marked WWE's first event to be held at Ford Field since WrestleMania 23 in April 2007, and the first SummerSlam to be held in Michigan since the 1993 event. The event featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. Detroit area native, musician, and WWE Hall of Famer Kid Rock did the cold open for the event.
Tickets went on sale on April 14. Pre-sale opened the previous day, with a reported 25,000–30,000 tickets sold. By July 28, a reported 45,971 tickets had been sold.
From January 2023, there had been speculation that WWE had been placed up for sale. Hours before WrestleMania 39 Night 2 began, CNBC reported via multiple sources that a deal between WWE and Endeavor, the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) via Zuffa, was imminent. The deal involved a merger of WWE with the UFC into a new publicly traded company, with Endeavor holding a 51% stake. The sale was confirmed the next day on April 3 and was finalized on September 12, with WWE merging with the UFC to become divisions of TKO Group Holdings. The 2023 SummerSlam was in turn the final SummerSlam held in which WWE was still owned and controlled by the McMahon family.
SummerSlam took place on the same night as the boxing match between Jake Paul and Nate Diaz in Dallas, Texas. To support his brother, Logan Paul requested, and was granted, the opening spot on the show's card so that he could make the two-hour flight in order to accompany his brother for his boxing match.
Broadcast outlets SummerSlam was available on traditional PPV worldwide and was also available to livestream on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in most international markets. This was also the first SummerSlam to livestream on Binge in Australia after the Australian version of the WWE Network merged under Foxtel's channel Binge in January.
Storylines The event included matches 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 Friday Night SmackDown.
On the Raw after WrestleMania 39, for unknown reasons, Brock Lesnar viciously attacked Cody Rhodes before both were set to participate in a tag team match. This resulted in a match at Backlash that Rhodes won. A rematch occurred at Night of Champions, which Lesnar won via technical submission due to Rhodes passing out to the Kimura Lock submission. Due to Rhodes and Lesnar having 1 win each, and the fact that Rhodes passed out and did not give up, Rhodes issued an open challenge to Lesnar for anytime, anywhere on the following episode of Raw. Lesnar returned on the July 3 episode, where he brawled with Rhodes. The following week, Rhodes challenged Lesnar to a third match at SummerSlam. After viciously attacking Rhodes on the next episode, Lesnar accepted the challenge.
At Money in the Bank, Seth "Freakin" Rollins successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Finn Bálor after Judgment Day stablemate, Damian Priest, who had won the men's Money in the Bank ladder match earlier that night, accidentally distracted Bálor. On the following episode of Raw, in a match between Rollins and Judgment Day's "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio, Priest attacked Rollins, thus Rollins won by disqualification. As Priest attempted to cash in his Money in the Bank contract, Bálor appeared and attacked Rollins, costing Priest his opportunity, which caused some disagreement between Bálor and Priest. The following week, arguments between Bálor and Priest intensified, however, both Bálor and Priest agreed that Bálor should receive a title match first. Later, The Judgment Day defeated Rollins' team in a six-man tag team match. On the July 17 episode, Bálor challenged Rollins to a rematch for the title, however, Rollins declined and stated that they could settle their differences that night without the title as both had issues with each other. As Bálor seemingly left, he viciously attacked Rollins. A match between the two for the World Heavyweight Championship was then scheduled for SummerSlam.
At Night of Champions, Asuka defeated Bianca Belair to win the Raw Women's Championship. As a result of the 2023 WWE Draft, the title was drafted to SmackDown and on the June 9 episode of SmackDown, Asuka was presented with a new championship belt to resolve the issue, and the title reverted to its original name of WWE Women's Championship. Prior to the presentation, WWE official Adam Pearce requested Belair not to interrupt, who stated that she wanted a rematch for the title. However, Charlotte Flair, in her first appearance since Night 1 of WrestleMania 39, interrupted and challenged Asuka for the title. Asuka accepted, much to the dismay of Belair. The title match was scheduled for the June 30 episode. Belair watched as a fan from ringside where Flair accidentally struck Belair. This infuriated Belair, who attacked Asuka, ending the match in a disqualification win for Asuka. Following the match, Belair attacked Asuka and Flair. On the next episode, a brawl between the three occurred, which also involved Damage CTRL (Bayley and women's Money in the Bank winner Iyo Sky), with an unsuccessful cash-in attempt from Sky. A title match between Asuka and Belair was scheduled for the July 14 episode. Before the match, Belair and Flair agreed that if Belair won, she would defend the title against Flair at SummerSlam. During the match, however, Flair accidentally struck Belair once again after Damage CTRL once again tried to interfere. As a result of Flair's actions, Belair won the match by disqualification but not the title. On July 21, a triple threat match between Asuka, Belair, and Flair for the WWE Women's Championship was scheduled for SummerSlam.
At Night of Champions during The Bloodline's (Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa) match for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship, The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) interfered and unintentionally struck Sikoa. After an irate Reigns shoved both Usos around, Jimmy attacked Reigns out of pent up anger after weeks of disrespect from Reigns, thus leaving The Bloodline, and Reigns and Sikoa would ultimately lose the match. Jey would also leave The Bloodline on the June 16 episode of SmackDown, where he attacked Reigns and Sikoa, choosing to stand by his brother Jimmy's side. This led to a "Bloodline Civil War" tag team match at Money in the Bank, where The Usos defeated Reigns and Sikoa with Jey pinning Reigns, which was the first time Reigns was pinned since TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs in December 2019. On the following SmackDown, a trial for Reigns was held where Reigns feigned that he did not want to be the Tribal Chief any longer and attacked Jey with a low blow. Sikoa and Reigns brutally attacked Jimmy, who was taken to a hospital. Later that night, Jey viciously attacked Reigns and Sikoa with a steel chair before challenging Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. The following week, Jey spoke about his family's relationship with one another before he was interrupted by Sikoa and Reigns' special counsel Paul Heyman, who stated that Reigns would meet Jey the following week to discuss the "rules of engagement". The following week, during the "rules of engagement", it was agreed that Reigns would defend the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Jey in an anything goes match called Tribal Combat, where in addition to the title, the winner would be recognized as the Tribal Chief of the Anoaʻi family. This goes back to the early days of Reigns' Universal Championship reign, where he defeated Jey in a Hell in a Cell "I Quit" match in October 2020, and forced Jey to acknowledge him as the "Head of the Table".