John Cena’s Greatest Pay Per Views: SummerSlam 2007

 Written By: Danny Albers 

No pay per view anthology highlighted John Cena’s greatest rivalries quite like SummerSlam. John Cena did battles with the likes of CM Punk, Batista, Edge, and Randy Orton. But the rivalry that sticks out to everyone as Cena’s greatest is Randy Orton. Two generational talents who came up with one another, one becoming the greatest baby face in history, the other becoming the greatest villain. They’d have more televised matches than just about any other duo in the history of professional wrestling, but their match at SummerSlam 2007 in the Continental Airlines Arena in New Jersey felt special. Let’s break down this iconic card and one of many chapters of the Randy Orton and John Cena rivalry. 

Match 1: Kane VS Finlay 

Result: Kane wins by pin 

The show started off with a bang as Kane and Finlay engaged in a hard fought match. Kane dominated most of the match hitting all his patented moves. Finlay worked his famous  Shillelagh into the match, and cracked the Big Red Machine with it. Things were looking good for the Irish brawler, until Kane sat up and hit a chokeslam for the win.

Match 2: Intercontinental Championship Match: © Umaga VS Carlito VS Mr. Kennedy   

Result: Umaga wins by pin to retain 

Carlito and Mr. Kennedy came in with a game plan in the match. They looked to double team Umaga and take him out of the match. However, neutralizing the Samoan Bulldozer was a task that was easier said than done. Umaga was on his war path during this time. It’s important to highlight Umaga’s dominance, as that would be one of the most memorable rivalries for John Cena during his dominance of the main event scene of WWE. So seeing Umaga run through two stars who were well established on the midcard was evidence of where creative was going with Umaga. 

Match 3: Rey Mysterio VS Chavo Guerrero

Result: Rey Mysterio wins by pin 

Rey Mysterio made his return after a year of recovering from a knee injury, one of the more serious of his career. They wrote into the storyline that Chavo did irreparable damage to the knee of Mysterio. Chavo was angry at Rey because he thought that Rey was using the Guerrero name to get over with the crowd after the passing of Eddie Guerrero. But he really was just jealous because of how close Eddie and Rey were. This is no doubt the best work Chavo Guerrero did in his career. Rey and Chavo’s chemistry in the ring was just as good as Rey and Eddie’s. After Chavo got Rey to say “I Quit,” the year off actually helped Rey out as fans had forgotten about that and were just happy to see him back. He also dropped the “Booyaka…Booyaka” theme for this match. The two went 12 minutes, and it was the last glimpse of how great the Mysterio and Guerrero rivalry was over the years. 

Match 4: Interpromotional Dvias Battle Royal 

Result: Beth Phoenix wins the battle royal 

Beth Phoenix, Melina, Mickie James, Maria, Jillian Hall, Michelle McCool, Torrie Wilson, Kristal, Victoria, Kelly Kelly, Layla, and Brooke took to it in a battle royal. This was a match to showcase the power and dominance of Beth Phoenix, who was impressive against many of the women who were made to be sex objects. WWE seemed to be trying to move to more competitive and athletic womens matches. Beth Phoenix was the perfect person to help carry this revolution. Although this was forgettable, this was a great showcase for Beth. 

Segment: Beer Drinking Contest MVP VS Matt Hardy

 

Matt Hardy and MVP continued their petty competitions. Matt Hardy called MVP out in a beer drinking contest. MVP was excited about this. But because Matt Hardy had to box Evander Hollyfield when MVP “opted out” of the boxing match, Matt Hardy “opted out of this beer drinking contest. In his place was the greatest beer drinker of all time, Stone Cold Steve Austin. Stone Cold came out to a massive pop. He did his normal strut to the ring, drank a beer, and stunned MVP before leaving. It was a fun and refreshing segment. 

Match 5: ECW Championship: © John Morrison VS CM Punk 

Result: John Morrison wins by pin to retain the ECW Title 

Not known to people at the time, this match was between two future stars of professional wrestling. John Morrison had a rockstar aura, and his promos at this time were poetic (overly scripted) to make him out to be a reincarnation of Jim Morrsion. Punk had clear skills in the ring that you couldn’t teach. The two had really good chemistry. Punk got the better of Morrison throughout most of the match. John Morrison would turn things around and counter a frankensteiner into a roll up. He’d use the ropes to pin Punk, promising a continuation of this feud on ECW. Punk doesn’t often acknowledge what these early feuds did for his trajectory on ECW, but feuds with Morrison, Big Daddy V, and Chavo Guerrero did a lot to get Punk over with the crowd. 

Match 6: Triple H VS Booker T 

Result: Triple H wins by pin 

The history between Triple H and Booker T isn’t the greatest. Triple H buried Booker at WrestleMania at the inception of the dominance of Evolution. And now, returning from injury on his knee, Triple H returned and destroyed Booker T. It felt more like a squash match than a match between two Hall of Famers. It would be one thing if Booker hadn’t been active, or if he wasn’t having success on the show. But he had just had a great run as King Booker. He was one of the top heels in the company. He had bitter feuds with John Cena and Batista. Although Triple H was still in great shape, he had gained a lot of weight. It would have made more sense if he had struggled through this match and pulled off a tough victory since he was returning from an injury. They didn’t want to give you any evidence of ring rust. 

Match 7: © the Great Khali VS Batista 

Result: Batista wins by Disqualification 

The Great Khali run on SmackDown was memorable. We’ve seen WWE find these giant men before, and although nobody has really ever done it as well as Big Show, Khali was pretty fun to watch for his size. It sometimes hurts to watch Khali as even at the peak of his fitness, his knees look like they can give out at any second. And he was in there with a physical specimen in Batista who was running through Khali towards the end of the match. Khali got all his offense in early, and Batista did his best to try and sell it, before getting a lot of momentum built up to battle back. Khali got frustrated and took a chair to Batista, losing him the match but retaining the title. A quick, rather forgettable world championship match. 

Match 8: WWE Championship: © John Cena VS Randy Orton 

Result: John Cena wins by pin to retain his title 

Arguably the most iconic rivalry for John Cena was Randy Orton. I always enjoyed watching their matches. They were always evenly matched, with counters and devastating maneuvers. Nobody really sold Orton as a dangerous heel quite like John Cena did. Every move Orton did on Cena felt meaningful and devastating. Cena would build momentum with shoulder tackles and pumping up his sneakers. The finish of this match was exciting as we got a series of counters as both men looked to hit their finishers, but it was Cena who picked up Orton and hit a AA for the pinfall win. John Cena came out of this match retaining his championship against his greatest rival in defiant fashion.