SummerSlam 2024 could see two superstars win their first major championships on the same night.
Gunther battles Damian Priest for the World Heavyweight Championship. Solo Sikoa looks to take the Undisputed WWE Championship from Cody Rhodes, who fought long and hard to win from his cousin, Roman Reigns.
It’s rare for two wrestlers to win their first major championship on the same night. It has never happened at SummerSlam.
If Gunther or Sikoa leaves SummerSlam with a major WWE title, it will buck a mega trend. WWE SummerSlam airs live from Cleveland Browns Stadium on Saturday, August 3, 2024.
Let’s take a look at this trend, and who they need to emulate to win their first major piece of WWE gold at SummerSlam.
Nobody Wins Championships At SummerSlam
There’s a horror trend that Gunther and Solo Sikoa won’t want to hear. Nobody wins major championships at SummerSlam. Or at least they don’t often.
SummerSlam first took place in 1988 but we had to wait two years for a title match to even take place. The Ultimate Warrior retained the top prize in WWE at SummerSlam 90.
At SummerSlam 92, WWF Champion Randy Savage lost to The Ultimate Warrior via countout but kept the title.
A year later, Lex Luger beat Yokozuna in a WWF Championship match but also via a countout, so he didn’t take the title. Luger celebrated like it was the closest he’d ever get to winning the WWF Championship. Turns out it was.
So, even when people do beat the champion at SummerSlam, they still don’t win the gold. Bad, bad news for Gunther and Sikoa. Better watch out for those 10 counts.
Bret Hart defeated The Undertaker at SummerSlam 1997, marking the first time the major championship had changed hands at the ‘Biggest Party of the Summer’. But this was the fifth time Hart had won the major strap in WWE.
We had to wait until the 15th SummerSlam for a young star to use the ‘Biggest Party of the Summer’ as the stage for their first major win.
First-Time WWE Champions & World Champions At SummerSlam
Five people have won their first major championship in WWE at SummerSlam. Here are the summer success stories for Gunther and Sikoa to follow.
Brock Lesnar shocked the world when he beat The Rock for the WWE Undisputed Championship at SummerSlam 2002. Gunther should study this tape* because Lesnar had also won the King of the Ring that year.
*no need to borrow a VHS from The Wyatt Sicks, we’ve embedded the video below.
If Gunther sees off Priest, he will become the first person to win the King of the Ring and the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the same year. Lesnar was just 25 when he won the championship.
Two years later, Randy Orton also won his first major championship in WWE when he became World Heavyweight Champion at SummerSlam 2004. At just 24 years old, Orton won the championship a year younger than Lesnar.
We’d say Sikoa should look to these two for inspiration but the “New Tribal Chief” is actually 31. Let’s be honest, who else thought Sikoa was in his early 20s?
In 2011, Alberto Del Rio won the WWE Undisputed Championship against CM Punk at SummerSlam. The Mexican capitalized on the ending of Punk vs. John Cena to take his first major championship when he cashed in the Money in the Bank briefcase.
Don’t Copy The Last Two
Two years later, Orton ended Daniel Bryan’s first WWE Championship reign at SummerSlam, a mere five minutes and 25 seconds after it had begun. Orton cashed in the MITB briefcase after Triple H had hit a pedigree on Bryan.
Being part of these iconic moments and multiple championship matches at SummerSlam has led many to christen Orton ‘Mr. SummerSlam.’
Two years later, Finn Bálor became the inaugural WWE Universal Champion when he won his first major title at SummerSlam. But a shoulder injury meant he relinquished the championship the next night.
So definitely don’t look to the last two for inspiration, Gunther and Sikoa.
So, it has been almost a decade since a new star was made at SummerSlam with their first major championship. Seems like there’s never been a better time for Gunther or Sikoa to have their crowning moment.
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