WWE SummerSlam: 10 best non-title singles matches in the PPV's history
There is a reason why SummerSlam is considered the second important show for WWE after WrestleMania. While Royal Rumble and Survivor Series have often relied on gimmick matches for their popularity, SummerSlam has gained all the popularity and excitement thanks to the innumerable great moments since it's very first edition back in 1988.
While title matches are a part of all pay-per-views, it is the other traditional matches that take place at Mania and SummerSlam that separates them from Royal Rumble and Survivor Series. Much like Mania, SummerSlam has also seen several great singles matches, with no title on the line, that have helped in turning that year's edition into a much-watch show.
For 2020 so far, the match between Seth Rollins and Dominik Mysterio is the only 1-on-1 non-title match, but we can expect a few others to be added on the card soon. Till then, here are the 10 best non-title singles matches in SummerSlam's history.
#10 Eddie Guerrero vs Kurt Angle (SummerSlam 2004)
The WrestleMania XX encounter between Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle is often considered one of the best World Title matches in the history of the show. A clinical masterpiece in its own right, the match is often considered the best title defense of Latino Heat's sole World Title reign. What people often forget is the fact that Mania was not the only card on which these two legends faced each other one-on-one, and they met again only 6 months later at SummerSlam 2004.
Despite losing to Guerrero at Mania, Angle, as Smackdown General Manager, continued to act as a thorn to the WWE Champion. Not only did Angle cost Latino Heat his WWE Title to JBL by unfair means, he also cost him his rematch a week later by causing a distraction during a steel cage match. With Angle fired as General Manager for faking his injury, the two were scheduled for another match at SummerSlam to finally settle their differences.
Given that both wrestlers were in-ring magicians, it wasn't a surprise that a huge part of the match consisted of mat wrestling and submission moves. Angle targeted Guerrero leg throughout, and it played a huge part in the match. Guerrero tried everything - Angle Slam, Ankle Lock, even a faking act like he did at Mania, but none of it was enough for him to topple Angle again as he had no option but to tap out to the Ankle Lock after a good fight.
#9 The Miz vs Daniel Bryan (SummerSlam 2018)
This is a match and a rivalry that needs no introduction. Even though this encounter from SummerSlam 2018 was only their second 1-on-1 pay per view encounter, The Miz and Daniel Bryan had been at loggerheads with each other since the summer of 2016, when the former verbally assaulted the latter in a now memorable shoot promo on Talking Smack.
Given that Bryan was not an active in-ring performer in 2016, no one expected this match to come to fruition. His return in 2018, coupled with Miz's arrival to Smackdown, finally laid the building blocks to one of the most anticipated feuds in recent times. SummerSlam was the perfect place for the two sworn rivals to settle their score.
Even though the match fell short of the lofty expectations that fans had, it was still a pretty good affair. Both performers gave everything that they had to topple the other for 22 minutes, but the opponent always managed to fight back somehow. It was only after help from Maryse, who handed Miz knuckles which he used to knock out Bryan, that the Awesome One managed to finally defeat his biggest rival.