Summer Slam 2023 will come to you from Detroit in August - it's a 12 match card, here are the 4 title matches, +1.
WWF Title: Cody Rhodes v. Prince Devitt
IC Title: Logan Paul v. Tyler Black
Tag Titles: Dangerous Alliance (Walter/Lesnar) v. Triple Crown (Styles/Nakamura)
Womens Title: Ronda Rousey v. Asuka
Charlotte Flair v. Bianca Belair
Some announcing Changes as the new WWF season begins.
Steve Regal returned at Mania, he and Vic Joseph are the new Dark Ride commentary team; Samantha Irvin becomes only the third lead ring announcer in the Mania era.
Two segments on the post Mania RAW, Cody Rhodes has his Triple Crown ceremony (Undertaker appears, Orton makes his first appearance since the injury nearly a year prior, there's a backstage thing with he and Defiance where Priest believes he has retired Orton) and also the appearance of the 45th President of the United States, Linda McMahon.
Linda's got some business to tend to:
1. This is a year unlike any other, WM 40 is this year - and the wrestling year will extend 3 extra months, to Summer Slam 2024, which is the 150th WWF PPV.
2. Because of that - every PPV will be special this year - and that will start with this coming Summer Slam which will feature the first ever Womens Main Event - later tonight, Ronda Rousey will name her challenger.
3. And it's also an important year because this is the McMahons final year in professional wrestling - WWF has merged with UFC, and the McMahons are retiring (perhaps to a country without an extradition treaty). Linda waves goodbye, and other than HHH, creative has nothing for the family going forward.
WWF Womens Title: -The full Dangerous Alliance comes out for the main event segment on the RAW after Mania, Rousey announces her retirement from combat sports will come following Summer Slam, she will retain the belt and then hand it over the following night. She reminds that she's suffered two singles losses in WWF and has avenged one, taking Belair's title the night before - and there's only one left.
She calls out Asuka, who lost to Sky the night before - Rousey says she doesn't care about that - she wants that undefeated Asuka, that unstoppable machine who beat her in the biggest womens match in WWF history.
They both leave for the balance of the build for a docuseries "The Last Days of Ronda Rousey", Rousey has a lot of non wrestling commitments that demonstrate her celebrity - Asuka goes back to Japan to work with Kairi Sane, Sane makes it clear that she is not getting involved with her issues with Sky, but if she's going to get Asuka ready for Rousey, Asuka has to promise this will be about competition and not about whatever she's been doing the last year.
They do a bunch of segments over the summer - eventually there's an old school boxing style weigh in away from the ring that results in a pull apart.
WWF Title:
-The first half of the summer this program also includes Roman and McIntyre, it serves to set up the break up of the Holy Roman Empire (which will be discussed in part two of the build) and hard launch current IRL McIntyre's heel persona, which is pretty easily the best thing he's done in his career. Eventually, it becomes the all babyface match (Devitt's a tweener, but he's tweened baby for awhile); Devitt's got some professional jealousy that becomes evident - he started the Bullet Club, he brought it to WWF - but its Cody who has control of its name, winning a match Devitt wasn't even in - Devitt's been breaking his body for years in WWF, including a fractured skull - and Cody walks right in and wins the Triple Crown. Devitt says he's been the better of the two of them his whole career and now he proves it at Summer Slam.
IC Title: Paul won an unprecedented 3 matches at WM and comes away cashing in the briefcase and winning the IC Title - he takes it on the road, doing a bunch of social media nonsense, allowing idiots to do idiotic things with the belt - it's insulting. McAfee turned heel at Mania to join Paul, and he appears a couple of times on WWF TV to cut promos on his behalf. Eventually, Paul comes in, wins an easy match - and is confronted by Black - Black, understandably, is aggrieved at the treatment of the IC Title, given that this is the belt he has been chasing for years as he needs it for the Triple Crown, that's the edge he brings to the program whereas Paul clowns the whole thing - says the title Black's worked for his whole life Paul won as part of his side hustle, Paul's job is becoming a billionaire - he even offers just to hand Black the belt, that's how little it means to him. Black of course only grows angrier here and the announcers discuss the head games
Tag Titles: The superteam of Walter/Lesnar only appears a couple of times, squashing opponents. Who appears every week is the new team of Styles and Nakamura, virtually every week they work TV, having the best matches they can have - their goal is really impressive workrate, it begins to draw the interest of Heyman, we see him watching their matches in the back - Styles/Nakamura never speak - until we get to a month out, when AJ says he's sick of hearing that Walter/Lesnar are a superteam - the real superteam is right here, IWGP Champs, WWF Champs - Triple Crown winners.
When reminded that Nakamura has never won the tag belts - Styles says that changes at Summer Slam and he's so certain it changes that they are revealing the name of the team is Triple Crown - Styles hits one of Heymans catchphrases, saying its not a prediction, it's a spoiler. They can get a brawl among the 4 guys in the go home.
There is no womens tag match - Lynch/Flair are also a superteam, they've blown through the division and essentially announce there's no one left. They're confronted by Belair who says she'll fight either of them at Summer Slam and if she wins, she'll find a partner and at Survivor Series in Chicago, she and the partner will take their titles.
5 matches down, 7 left, back in a month
