Summer Slam (2002) - Background

Background

The main feud heading into SummerSlam on the SmackDown! brand was between The Rock and Brock Lesnar, with the two feuding over the WWE Undisputed Championship. On the June 24 edition of Raw, it was announced that Brock Lesnar would face off against the WWE Undisputed Champion at SummerSlam. At the King of the Ring, Lesnar defeated Test in the Semi-Final tournament then during the latter event, he defeated Rob Van Dam in the King of the Ring tournament to earn the right to face the WWE Undisputed Champion at SummerSlam. At Vengeance, the pay-per-view one month before SummerSlam, The Rock defeated The Undertaker and Kurt Angle in a Triple Threat match to win the WWE Undisputed Championship by pinning Angle after executing a Rock Bottom. On the July 25 edition SmackDown, during The Rock's WWE Tag Team Championship match against The Un-Americans (Lance Storm and Christian), Lesnar interfered by nailing Rock's tag team partner Hollywood Hulk Hogan with an F-5. Due to Lesnar's interference, Rock and Hogan won the match by disqualification but not the titles. On the August 8 edition of SmackDown!, Lesnar would put his SummerSlam title shot on the line against Hogan with the stipulation added that if Hogan were to defeat Lesnar, he would face The Rock in a WrestleMania X8 return match at SummerSlam for the Undisputed title. At the end, Lesnar locked Hogan in a bear hug. When Hogan kayfabe passed out, the referee stopped the contest. After the match, Lesnar then nailed Hogan in the head with the steel chair, causing Hogan to bleed. The following week on SmackDown, The Rock took on the WWE Intercontinental Champion Chris Benoit in a Champion vs. Champion match, which again involved Lesnar. During the match, Lesnar taunted The Rock while Rock was placed in the Crippler Crossface by Benoit. Rock, however, was able defeat Benoit following a Rock Bottom. On the final edition of SmackDown!, after The Rock and Edge defeated Benoit and Eddie Guerrero in a tag match, Lesnar appeared to the ring for another stare down with The Rock, which led to a brawl between the two that ended the show.

Another feud heading into SummerSlam was between Shawn Michaels and Triple H. At Vengeance, Michaels returned after being out of wrestling (due to a back injury) for 4 years. Triple H was given the choice of deciding which brand he would appear for, SmackDown or Raw, and Michaels helped him decide by offering to reform D-Generation X (DX) on the Raw brand. Triple H chose to go to Raw, but the following night, as Michaels and Triple H were in the middle of reforming DX, Triple H turned on Michaels by nailing him with the pedigree. On the July 29 edition of Raw, Michaels was found in the parking lot, laying motionless following an ambush assault. He was also bleeding from the head due to someone putting his head through a car window. The next week on Raw, a security camera revealed to be Triple H that had attacked Michaels from behind. Triple H told Michaels that he did it to prove a point that Michaels was "weak". Michaels then told Triple H that he isn't 100% but he will be at SummerSlam. On the August 19 episode of Raw, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff announced an Unsanctioned Street Fight between Triple H and Michaels for SummerSlam then later that night, Michaels interfered in Triple H's non-title match with The Rock and assaulted Triple H. At the beginning of the show, Brock Lesnar brought a front-row seat ticket to watch the main event between Rock and Triple H but even when Lesnar tried to interfere on Triple H's behalf, Michaels delivered a Sweet Chin Music on Lesnar. Michaels then leaped on top of Triple H and the security and ended the show by knocking Triple H down, sending a clear message that he's not weak as they head into their match at SummerSlam.