We’ve already seen half of the SummerSlam card on television this month

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WWE has been airing monthly pay-per-view (PPV) events for decades. The general idea is that weekly television shows are used to develop characters and build compelling storylines, while the big matches are saved for the PPV.

WWE hasn’t exactly followed that model when it comes to SummerSlam 2020. These eight matches are currently advertised for the event:

1. Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Randy Orton (WWE championship)
2. Braun Strowman (c) vs. Bray Wyatt (Universal championship)
3. Sasha Banks (c) vs. Asuka (Raw women’s championship)
4. Apollo Crews (c) vs. MVP (United States championship)
5. Bayley (c) vs. Asuka (SmackDown women’s championship)
6. The Street Profits (c) vs. Andrade & Angel Garza (Raw tag team championship)
7. Sonya Deville vs. Mandy Rose (Hair vs. Hair)
8. Seth Rollins vs. Dominik Mysterio (Street Fight)

Four of these eight matches have already taken place on television during the build up to SummerSlam. I’ll define that period as including any episode of Raw or SmackDown that has aired since the conclusion of WWE’s most recent PPV event, Extreme Rules 2020, which took place on July 19.

Here are the four matches that are booked for SummerSlam, which we’ve already seen on Raw during the build to SummerSlam:

• The Street Profits retained their Raw tag team titles against Andrade & Garza on the July 20 episode of Raw.
• The Raw women’s championship was on the line during a one-on-one match between Asuka and Sasha Banks on the July 27 episode of Raw.
• Apollo Crews successfully defended the United States championship against MVP on the Aug. 3 episode of Raw.
• Bayley and Asuka had a non-title match on the Aug. 10 episode of Raw.

All four of these matches will take place again at SummerSlam 2020, with Bayley’s match against Asuka now being a SmackDown women’s championship match. Some other differences include that Sasha Banks is now the Raw women’s champion, and MVP’s allies will be banned from ringside at SummerSlam.

It’s commonplace for a storyline to include rematches that span multiple PPV events, such as the current feud between Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt. But it’s quite another thing to ask fans to pay for matches that we’ve already seen on television during the build up to a PPV. WWE is using a tagline of “You’ll never see it coming” for SummerSlam 2020, which is worth a chuckle with this context in mind.

Does this sort of thing affect your interest level in SummerSlam at all, or has WWE done enough to make these rematches from television feel like they belong on PPV?

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