The 2025 SummerSlam, also promoted as SummerSlam: New Jersey, was a two-part 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 38th annual SummerSlam and took place as a two-night event from August 2–3, 2025, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Rapper Cardi B served as the hostess of the event.
This marked the first SummerSlam to take place across two nights, which was previously only reserved for WrestleMania since 2020. This was the first SummerSlam to broadcast on Netflix in most international markets after the WWE Network merged under the platform in January 2025 in those areas. This was the third WWE event to be held at MetLife Stadium, after WrestleMania 29 and WrestleMania 35 in 2013 and 2019, respectively. This was the fourth SummerSlam to take place in East Rutherford after the 1989, 1997, and 2007 events. The event also featured John Cena's last match at SummerSlam due to his retirement from professional wrestling at the end of 2025.
The card comprised a total of 13 matches, with seven on the first night (including an impromptu match) and six on the second. In the main event of Night 1, CM Punk defeated Gunther to win Raw's World Heavyweight Championship, after which, Seth Rollins cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and defeated Punk to win the title. In other prominent matches, Tiffany Stratton defeated Jade Cargill to retain SmackDown's WWE Women's Championship and in the opening bout, Roman Reigns and Jey Uso defeated Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed.
In the main event on Night 2, Cody Rhodes defeated John Cena in a Street Fight to win SmackDown's Undisputed WWE Championship. In other prominent matches, Dominik Mysterio defeated AJ Styles to retain Raw's WWE Intercontinental Championship, The Wyatt Sicks (Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy) won a Six-Pack Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match to retain SmackDown's WWE Tag Team Championship, and in the opening bout, Naomi defeated Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky in a triple threat match to retain Raw's Women's World Championship. The second night of the event was notable for the surprise return of Brock Lesnar, who had been on hiatus from WWE since the 2023 edition of SummerSlam.
The event received mostly positive reviews, with the main events of both nights being universally acclaimed, whilst the first night's opening tag team match, the TLC match, the Women's World Championship match, the WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship match, and Jelly Roll's performance during his bout, where he teamed with Randy Orton in a losing effort against Logan Paul and Drew McIntyre in a tag team match, garnered widespread praise. Criticism was directed towards Sami Zayn vs. Karrion Kross and the WWE Women's Championship match. The return of Lesnar amidst his involvement in the Vince McMahon sex trafficking scandal was met with intense controversy among analysts and fans alike.
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.
On September 26, 2024, in conjunction with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA), WWE announced the 38th SummerSlam, scheduled to be held across two nights on Saturday, August 2, and Sunday, August 3, 2025, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey with a special start time of 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) for both nights. MetLife Stadium previously hosted WrestleMania 29 and WrestleMania 35 in 2013 and 2019, respectively, and this is the fourth SummerSlam in East Rutherford, after the 1989, 1997, and 2007 events. This would also be the first two-night SummerSlam, though WWE had previously announced that the event would expand to two nights beginning with the 2026 edition in Minneapolis. Previously, only WrestleMania had been held as a two-night WWE event since WrestleMania 36 in 2020 (originally done as a precaution due to the COVID-19 pandemic before becoming permanent with WrestleMania 37 the following year). The event features wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions, with rapper Cardi B serving as the event's hostess.
To help secure the event, NJSEA committed US$7.125 million from New Jersey's allotment of federal funds under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP), specifically from a fund intended to provide aid to industries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including travel and tourism. NJSEA said it expected the event to generate US$80 million in economic impact for the region. Bergen newspaper The Record reported that the US$6.24 billion in total funds New Jersey received under the ARP had to be allocated by the end of 2024 and spent before the end of 2026, and noted there was "still money to be used".
During SummerSlam weekend, WWE partnered with independent wrestling promotion Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) to co-promote a WWE ID Showcase event on August 1 at The Williams Center in Rutherford, New Jersey, which saw the inaugural Men's WWE ID and Women's ID Champions crowned. WWE had also scheduled a comedy event called WWE Late Night, which was to be hosted by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey after SummerSlam Saturday's conclusion; however, on July 25, ticket holders were notified that the event was cancelled and refunds would be issued.
Broadcast outlets In addition to airing on traditional PPV worldwide, SummerSlam was available to livestream on Peacock in the United States, Netflix in most international markets, and the WWE Network in any remaining countries that had not transferred to Netflix due to pre-existing contracts. This marked the first SummerSlam to livestream on Netflix following the WWE Network's merger under the service in January 2025 in those areas. The select few territories that still had the standalone WWE Network eventually merged under Netflix once the pre-existing contracts expired in early 2026. WWE also partnered with Fandango to broadcast WWE's PLEs in select theaters across the United States, beginning with the 2025 SummerSlam, which was exclusive to select Regal Cinemas, with events after SummerSlam expanding to other theater chains.
Storylines Night 1's card had seven matches, including one impromptu one, while Night 2 included six, for a total of 13 matches, which 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 programs, Monday Night Raw and Friday Night SmackDown.
Main event matches
At Night of Champions, the King and Queen of the Ring finals took place, with the winners receiving a match for the world championship of their respective brand at SummerSlam. The King of the Ring final was won by SmackDown's Cody Rhodes, while in the main event of Night of Champions, John Cena retained SmackDown's Undisputed WWE Championship; this confirmed that Rhodes would challenge Cena for the title at SummerSlam, setting up a rematch from the main event of Night 2 of WrestleMania 41 where Cena had controversially defeated Rhodes to win the title. During the contract signing on the July 18 episode of SmackDown, Cena feigned that he was not ready to defend the title and refused signing the contract so that he would not have to face Rhodes at SummerSlam, after which, a brawl ensued which ended with Rhodes forcing Cena to sign the contract and subsequently then revealed the fine print; which was that their match would be a Street Fight. On the final SmackDown before SummerSlam, Cena seemingly turned face, stating that Rhodes's actions knocked sense into him and that he should have never turned heel.
On the July 14 episode of Raw, a gauntlet match was held to determine the number one contender for the brand's World Heavyweight Championship against reigning champion Gunther at SummerSlam. The match was ultimately won by CM Punk, who vowed to win the championship at the event.
Undercard matches The Queen of the Ring final at Night of Champions was won by SmackDown's Jade Cargill. Subsequently, at Evolution the following month, Tiffany Stratton retained SmackDown's WWE Women's Championship, thus confirming that Cargill would challenge Stratton for the title at SummerSlam.
On the July 4 episode of SmackDown, Drew McIntyre made a return in his first appearance since Saturday Night's Main Event XXXIX interrupting Randy Orton, and taunted him for not punting Cody Rhodes's head in the final of the King of the Ring tournament at Night of Champions, stating that the legend of Orton was dead; Orton responded by performing an RKO on McIntyre. On the following episode while country singer Jelly Roll was performing his song "Liar", he was interrupted by Logan Paul, who stated that no one wanted to see an outsider in WWE. Orton interrupted, demanding that Paul show respect to Jelly Roll. McIntyre appeared and performed a Claymore Kick on Orton. Paul then attacked Orton further only for Jelly Roll to intervene. Paul then dismantled Jelly Roll's music set. The next evening at Saturday Night's Main Event XL, Orton, who was accompanied by Jelly Roll, defeated McIntyre, who was accompanied by Paul. Following the match, Paul attacked Orton, which prompted Jelly Roll to attack Paul, only for McIntyre to attack Jelly Roll with a Claymore Kick. Later, Jelly Roll stated that he wanted both McIntyre and Paul in a match, with Orton suggesting that the match should take place at SummerSlam. It was subsequently confirmed that Jelly Roll and Orton would face McIntyre and Paul in a tag team match at the event.
At Evolution, SmackDown's Naomi cashed in her Money in the Bank contract during a singles match between champion Iyo Sky and Rhea Ripley, converting it into a triple threat match to win Raw's Women's World Championship; Naomi was subsequently transferred to the Raw brand. During Naomi's celebration on Raw the following night, both Sky and Ripley interrupted, wanting another title match. Raw General Manager Adam Pearce then announced that Naomi would defend the title against both Ripley and Sky in a triple threat match at SummerSlam.
At Evolution, Becky Lynch defeated Bayley and Lyra Valkyria to retain the WWE Women's Intercontinental Championship in a triple threat match. The next night on Raw, Valkyria defeated Bayley in a two out of three falls match to earn a rematch against Lynch for the title at SummerSlam. On the following episode, Lynch proposed for the match stipulation to be a Last Chance match in which Valkyria would never be able to challenge for the title again for as long as Lynch was champion, the same stipulation from Money In the Bank where Lynch had defeated Valkyria to win the title. Valkyria accepted and added that the match should be a No Disqualification, No Countout match to guarantee a winner, which Lynch accepted.