5 unforgettable WWE SummerSlam main event conclusions
It is less than a week before SummerSlam marks its 32nd year when it goes to Toronto, Canada. With nine scheduled matches already on the card, the WWE Universe will already be looking forward to a number of high-quality matches with Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins’ ongoing feud most likely being the main event of what promises to be another memorable night.
Throughout the years, SummerSlam has given us many classic matches that have gone down as some of the best the WWE Universe has ever seen. Some classic examples include Bret Hart and Owen Hart in a Steel Cage match in 1994, Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels in a Ladder match in 1995, and the first-ever Tables, Ladders and Chairs match being contested at SummerSlam 2000.
Whilst these are just a few of a plethora of high-quality matches that have featured at SummerSlam over the years, another thing that is noteworthy at SummerSlam is how the events usually conclude.
Some of the conclusions of SummerSlam pay-per-view events have been solid, some of them below average, but a handful of them have been simply unforgettable.
#5 CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy – Tables, Ladders and Chairs Match (Summerslam 2009)
When CM Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank Contract against Edge back in 2008, the WWE Universe completely erupted. It was an element of karma for Edge after cashing his contract against an unsuspecting John Cena in 2006 and then The Undertaker the following year.
However, when CM Punk cashed it against Jeff Hardy, who had won a brutal ladder match at Extreme Rules, it left a sour taste to many Jeff Hardy fans who had just captured his second premier Championship. The two feuded for the next few months after which Hardy managed to win back the World Heavyweight Championship.
This culminated in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match at SummerSlam between the two. Taking into account CM Punk had won the last two Money in the Bank Ladder matches, whilst Jeff Hardy was one of the original participants in the first TLC match nine years earlier, this match was going to be a treat for all WWE fans.
Some of the highlights in this brutal match included Punk delivering a superplex to Hardy onto a ladder, Hardy throwing Punk out of the ring onto a table and Hardy’s Swanton Bomb off a high ladder onto the announcement table.
This match ended up becoming Hardy’s penultimate match in the WWE before he went back to TNA, and whilst his seven-and-a-half-year absence was felt by the WWE, he left one more historical match to savor.
However, the WWE Universe witnessed one more twist to the night, because even though CM Punk managed to re-capture the World Heavyweight Championship, the night concluded when Undertaker was lying where Jeff Hardy was and gave CM Punk a chokeslam.
As far as high adrenaline action goes, this match was a visual treat to watch. High spots were sprinkled throughout the encounter and this will indeed go down as one of the most brutal and exciting fixtures in SummerSlam history.