Has The Royal Rumble Surpassed Summerslam As the WWE's Second Biggest Event?

[Tenta]

Just something I'm thinking about; Summerslam, when it was first created, was supposed to be the second biggest event on the WWE' calender year. When events weren't building up to Wrestlemania, they were building up to Summerslam. See; The Megapowers forming, and taking on the Megabucks, Hulk Hogan facing off against Zeus (With some help from Randy Savage and Brutus Beefcake, of course) Wembley Stadium. Wrestlemania was always an event, but for a long time, Summerslam was actually every bit of the event Wrestlemania was. See; Filling over 80,000 seats at Wembley Stadium, regularly holding the event at MSG. I mean, sure, The Royal Rumble was always important, but Summerslam was the event, outside Wrestlemania, everyone couldn't wait for. It was the build up to so many summer angles, and to some extent, I guess you could say it is now, what with this whole Nexus thing.

Still, is it just me, or do more people care about the Royal Rumble than Summerslam? To me, it seems like people rarely treat Summerslam with the same bated anticipation of a Royal Rumble, which has become a spectacle of its own. Perhaps the most anticipated match of the WWE's year is probably the Royal Rumble match, and though the card is typically weaker than Summerslam, it seems as though people are more excited for the Rumble than Summerslam. Personally, I love Summerslam, and think it should be the spectacle it should be. But to you, has Summerslam been surpassed from being the second biggest show of the calender year? And, if so, why do you feel this way?

 

[Father Uncle Oscar]

I 100% agree with you. I believe the Royal Rumble brings much more to the table than Summerslam if there aren't any huge storylines when Summerslam rolls around. Have you ever heard of the Summerslam Match? Did you know the winner of the Summerslam Match gets a free title oppertunity at Night of Champions? No. That doesn't happen. I don't know about you guys, but I enjoy the Royal Rumble a LOT more than Summerfest.

 

[Ferbian]

Yes I would definitely say that. Back when we had the 4 big ones, we were seeing a longer period of time between Wrestlemania and Summerslam than we would be seeing between Survivor Series and The Royal Rumble (If I have my calender correct).

Now we got numerous Pay Per Views, and between them. Royal Rumble has a longer period of time to build up to it. This year we were seeing it late January, and TLC was mid December, we saw Rey Mysterio getting a world title shot in the end of December, as well as John Cena getting to feud a bit more with Sheamus before moving on to Randy Orton. In this manner we're seeing more time to build a new feud, than to build something between what is now Money in the Bank and Summerslam.

Because of the extra time to build it, it gives a bigger feel to it. Also now Summerslam is just a regular Pay Per View with a bit extra input on some wrestling matches to give a bigger feel. Royal Rumble, no matter what you do, has a bigger feel. It has the Royal Rumble match included, it determines who will definitely appear for Wrestlemania, it builds Wrestlemania.

There's no way you can truly promote Summerslam other than the regular promotion for a world title match. Royal Rumble has qualification matches, they have people that were allies turning on each other (Shawn and Triple H at Royal Rumble 2010 here). It's obvious that WWE is building Royal Rumble as something bigger now, and it's primarily due to it automatically having a bigger feel, no booking needed. As well as it having a longer period to book it larger.

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

Survivor Series was the original 2nd biggest ppv..but that slowly startd dying in mid 90's IMO..

I still think Summer Slam is just their behind WrestleMania..Rumble is great but its like a preview of WrestleMania..and where the road begins...which is still huge and we always get a few surprises...but SummerSlam..bak in the day..no doubt about it..it was huge..and still now I think they don't dissapoint us with Summer Slam..they still provide us with a great ppv..take last year as an example..i think it was great!!

I agree with Ferbs...back in the early 90's, we had long build ups to the feuds because there was no ppv's in between Mania and Slam. but now there are and the build ups have died down..and they get less time to build...

But I still consider Summer Slam bigger than Royal Rumble...I mean its the biggest party of the summer!!!

 

[Ruthless-RKO]

I 100% agree with you. I believe the Royal Rumble brings much more to the table than Summerslam if there aren't any huge storylines when Summerslam rolls around. Have you ever heard of the Summerslam Match? Did you know the winner of the Summerslam Match gets a free title oppertunity at Night of Champions? No. That doesn't happen. I don't know about you guys, but I enjoy the Royal Rumble a LOT more than Summerfest.

were you have gone on to say does SummerSlam have a Summer Slam match where the winner goes to night of champions..and the obvious answer is NO..because Summer Slam was like Mania... It was bigger than Rumble..remember....Back in the 90's...the winner of KitR went on to face the champion at SummerSlam... so its like this..

Royal Rumble winner > WrestleMania title match!

King of the Ring winner > SummerSlam title match!!

That's your answer!! thank-you!

 

[The Holy One]

I still think Summerslam is bigger than the Royal Rumble. The only reason the Rumble is remembrable is for the Rumble match itself. Other than that hardly any other match is looked forward to, this is greatly personified at this year's Rumble. Summerslam still has the big match feel and anticipation as always even now. The past few years have given Punk/Hardy, Edge/Undertaker, Cena/Batista, Cena/Orton, HBK/Hogan, and Cena/Edge. This year you have team WWE vs the Nexus which is a big angle going on right now. I still believe that Summerslam provides the main event calliber fueds and angles that people are interested in.

 

[Father Uncle Oscar]

were you have gone on to say does SummerSlam have a Summer Slam match where the winner goes to night of champions..and the obvious answer is NO..because Summer Slam was like Mania... It was bigger than Rumble..remember....Back in the 90's...the winner of KitR went on to face the champion at SummerSlam... so its like this..

Royal Rumble winner > WrestleMania title match!

King of the Ring winner > SummerSlam title match!!

That's your answer!! thank-you!

I wasn't trying to ask if there was a Summerslam match, I was trying to directly compare the Summerslam main event to the Royal Rumble match. And of coarse I remember King of the Ring. I loved it! I want it to come back and replace Fatal 4 Way or WWE TLC

 

[Find'er Woo'er Ryder]

i think that summerslam use to be bigger but just became another ppv when the brands shared ppvs as did survivor series...and RR as always been my fav ppv because of the matches are better because there is only like 4 plus the RR match itself

 

[Lionheart_Y2J_fan.]

I've never looked at summerslam as being the second biggest ppv of the year. to me its always been Wrestlemania #1, Royal Rumble #2, Survivor Series #3. Summerslam has just always been so boring.

 

[Jonnie Walker]

I think so. Summerslam isn't really as anticipated as it used to be. The Royal Rumble has, as Tenta said, arguably the most anticipated match of the year. Royal Rumble also kicks off the Road to Wrestlemania, while Summerslam is just another PPV with more promotions toward it. I agree with Miz_is_awesome69, Summerslam lost it's luster as soon as the brands started sharing PPV's. I always am more excited about the Rumble than I am with Summerslam, so from my perspective, I feel that yes, the Royal Rumble is the WWE's Second Biggest Event.

 

[Davi323]

Yeah, I would have said that the Rumble surpassed Summerslam a long time ago as the #2 PPV in the WWE. The Rumble match itself is special, which always makes it something to look forward to, but with the added stipulation that the winner gets a title match of his choosing at Wrestlemania pretty much automatically bumps it up a notch, because it ties directly into the Wrestlemania build up.

 

[Ming]

For me the Royal Rumble has always been bigger than Summerslam strictly because of the rumble match and that it begins the Road To Wrestlemania but Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania aside Summerslam has always been better than Survivor Series and the other PPV's in my opinion.

 

[wushady]

The WWE still promotes Summerslam as a bigger PPV for example they're running a promotion right now with 711. For me personally I've always liked the Royal Rumble more. Mainly because it's the beginning to the road to Wrestlemania plus I love the rumble match.

 

[boozinjedi]

I agree
The Rumble passed SummerSlam long ago,

because the rumble helps build into Mania..as long as rumble winner gets mania title shot....it always will

and the crowd is into the rumble more as well...the countdown..the wait for the next guy...the big "suprise/return"
Nothing else like it.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

I'm gonna disagree here and say that SummerSlam is still the 2nd biggest PPV.

I think the simple reason being: the card!

Whenever we have the Royal Rumble coming, the biggest buzz is for the Royal Rumble match whereas all other matches (save a couple maybe) are just blow-offs.
Whereas a SummerSlam will atleast have the culmination of 3 to 5 feuds that have been built over the summer and we are eager to see.

The match card has mostly been better at SummerSlam, and therefore it is my pick.

And yes King of the Ring is sorely missed, an up-and-comer could build incredible momentum in one night than in an entire year of cajoling or abusing the fans!

 

[The Brain]

To me personally SummerSlam is still the second biggest ppv of the year, but I could see why people would say the Rumble is bigger. One reason is because of the timing. The Rumble gets an extra rub because it’s tied in with the hype of WrestleMania. The road to WrestleMania kicks off with the Royal Rumble so the Rumble benefits from the mania buzz. The Rumble would not be as big if it were in October. SummerSlam was hurt a little when the ppv schedule expanded many years ago. In the early years the SummerSlam main event would be announced in early July with the angles already in place and the entire summer was built up for SummerSlam. I think for the most part WWE has done a good job putting together a better card for SummerSlam over the years, but occasionally it gets lost in the ppv shuffle. I’m a traditional kind of guy so I still like SummerSlam better, but I won’t try to convince anyone who disagrees.

 

[Big Nick Dudley]

The only reason the Royal Rumble is seen as more important is due to the winner of the Rumble match main-eventing Mania. Outside of that Rumble match, great/special matches are usually few and far between (yes, there have been great matches at the Rumble, I know).

So, yeah, I would say the Rumble has moved ahead of Summerslam in terms of overall importance, in the eyes of most. But I think Summerslam is more of it's own event. The Rumble, as some have already said, basically rides Wrestlemania to the finish line. People want to see who's going to main event Mania. But, with the addition of an Elimination Chamber PPV, WWE has shown the winner of each big title match at the Rumble isn't always the guy to go on and face the Rumble winner at Mania. No Way Out was always bullshit. No surprises. EC is different. I think it may eventually take a bit of steam away from the Rumble.

While the Rumble is usually my favorite gimmick match of the year, I still enjoy Summerslam more. Summerslam is it's own event. It's the spectacle of the summer. Summerslam is where every important post-Mania feud leads to.

I think the novelty of the Rumble winner going on to main event Mania is what has moved it ahead in hype. But, in all honesty, Summerslam is a better show 90% of the time.

 

[Khalifa]

I have been thinking for ages SummerSlam was never that high on the "Main 4 PPV's". Royal Rumble is just as good and really brings out new story lines and has alot of unpredictability, which alot of the fans like. SummerSlam doesn't even produce those good of matches anymore. Edge and Takers HITC is the only one that stands out for me lately. Every single person is looking forward to the Royal Rumble every year, I cant say it's the same case for the "biggest party of the summer".