Night one of WWE SummerSlam 2025 takes place tonight (Sat., Aug. 2) from MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The main card begins at 6:00 pm ET, live on Peacock in the United States and on Netflix elsewhere.
The most interesting WWE star at SummerSlam isn’t even booked on the show
The main event of SummerSlam night one is CM Punk challenging GUNTHER for the World Heavyweight Championship. Punk and GUNTHER have been going back and forth on the mic for a couple weeks pushing the idea that this match will show everyone who really is the Best in the World. That’s
pretty much the extent of their story, as WWE’s busy schedule of events only left time for a three week build to SummerSlam.
CM and GUNTHER’s talking points are all well and good, and this does look like the best bell-to-bell wrestling match on tonight’s show, but it’s not necessarily the most interesting angle for a SummerSlam main event. That’s where Seth Rollins potentially comes into play.
Rollins was mysteriously injured back on July 12 at Saturday Night’s Main Event in a match against LA Knight. There have been conflicting rumors and reports about Seth’s status ever since then, with some saying he was legitimately hurt in that match and won’t be back for a long time, some claiming it was cover for a prior injury that will put him out for a little while, and others saying the whole thing is a work with the idea of Seth doing a surprise Money in the Bank cash in on Punk after tonight’s main event is over.
The end result is that nobody really knows what the hell is going on with Rollins. He’s not booked on this card even though there were two obvious opponents lined up for him (LA Knight & Roman Reigns), and has been seen in public on crutches. On the surface, it looks like he is legitimately hurt and won’t be a factor tonight. But wrestling fans know better than to always believe what’s presented on the surface, so there is a lot of intrigue about what will happen tonight after the final bell rings between Punk and GUNTHER.
Has Seth Rollins’ injury been a work this entire time just so he can screw over his hated rival Punk with a surprise Money in the Bank cash in? Tune into night one of SummerSlam to find out.
The rest of the card
Here are the five other matches that are currently advertised for SummerSlam night one:
Roman Reigns & Jey Uso vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed
The sheer number of big WWE events over the last few months didn’t leave much time for a proper build to SummerSlam, and Roman Reigns returning to WWE less than three weeks ago to be thrown into a tag team match on this PLE against Seth Rollins’ henchmen is a reflection of that. Or maybe it’s a consequence of Seth’s injury being legit, if the original idea was to run Reigns vs. Rollins here. Regardless, main eventers Reigns and Uso look like big favorites on paper going up against the Two Bron Power Trip. Roman can’t actually lose after the heels stole his sneakers on the go home show, right?
Roxanne Perez & Raquel Rodriguez (c) vs. Charlotte Flair & Alexa Bliss for the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship
Charlotte Flair got a big babyface pop teaming up with Alexa Bliss last month at Evolution 2, so they are keeping the momentum going by challenging for the women’s tag team titles again at SummerSlam.
There’s always been a stigma about Flair winning too many titles in WWE, so it might be risky to put another one on her if WWE doesn’t want fans to reject her as a babyface. Then again, it’s been over two years since The Queen last held gold. There’s potential for the Allies of Convenience to become the next odd couple success story like Team Hell No if WWE plays its cards right. Bliss and Flair are not friends, but perhaps that will change if they can beat the Judgment Day tonight.
Tiffany Stratton (c) vs. Jade Cargill for the WWE Women’s Championship
There really isn’t much juice to squeeze in this title match between babyfaces now that Naomi left Jade’s story. Jade and Tiffany have remained peaceful with each other, only going so far as to have a tug of war over the belt. There were no interesting angles between them to build up this championship fight. A lot of people expect this is where Jade wins her first singles belt in WWE, whether she’s ready or not.
Jelly Roll & Randy Orton vs. Logan Paul & Drew McIntyre
Country singer Jelly Roll had a cup of coffee at last year’s SummerSlam when he chokeslammed that jabroni Austin Theory. Jelly is back this year for his debut match, and now he’s in there with top stars like Randy Orton and Drew McIntyre. The match also includes a YouTube douchebag who is hilariously trying to protect the purity of pro wrestling from celebrity outsiders like Roll.
This is WWE’s typical celebrity guest match, so there’s some curiosity to see where Jelly’s performance falls on the celebrity spectrum from taking Stone Cold Stunners as badly as Donald Trump to doing amazing Canadian Destroyers like Bad Bunny. Roll has been training hard, but his moveset appears to be very limited. Will he actually pin a former WWE Champion (McIntyre) or future WWE Champion (Paul) with a chokeslam in his very first match?
Sami Zayn vs. Karrion Kross
Karrion Kross has been preoccupied with Sami for months, and was always there to remind Zayn that he’ll never win a world championship in WWE without embracing the dark side. Karrion’s words proved to be true once again when Sami failed to beat Randy Orton in the King of the Ring tournament in June. Kross and Zayn have split their two matches since then, so this is a rubber match. Kross keeps attacking Sami with a steel pipe and says he won’t stop the beatings until Sami admits that he’s right about him. A rumor about Karrion’s WWE contract expiring soon looms over this match.
Summary
SummerSlam takes place across two nights for the first time ever this year, but WWE rushed the build to the event, leaving a lot to be desired in certain stories like Stratton vs. Cargill’s women’s title fight. WWE could potentially make up for that tonight with big memorable moments, such as Seth Rollins doing a surprise cash-in of his Money in the Bank contract, or if host Cardi B gets to punch one of the wrestlers in the face. Jelly Roll is also on hand for the celebrity match to create the kind of moments that WWE loves. This card is fine, I guess, but there could certainly be more hype for what’s supposed to be one of WWE’s biggest events of the year.
What will you be looking for at WWE SummerSlam night one?
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