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Complete ‘WWE SummerSlam 2016’ Results — John Cena Loses To Styles, Nikki Bella Returns For Eva Marie

By Dustin Murrell
Published on: 07:38 PST, Aug 21, 2016

Ever since Roman Reigns returned from his 30-day suspension for violating the WWE’s Wellness Policy — a trend recently followed by Paige, Alberto Del Rio, and Eva Marie — the trajectory of his career has changed course dramatically. At Battleground last month, Reigns was competing against Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. After taking the clean pinfall in that match, and then again against Finn Balor the next night on Monday Night Raw, Roman was completely out of the world title scene. Now, after ruining the wedding celebration of Rusev and Lana on Raw, he has been granted a shot at the WWE United States Championship at WWE SummerSlam 2016. Unfortunately, the match never took place.

However, the mainstream media was much more interested in Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton, the finale for SummerSlam 2016. As if the USADA controversy surrounding his recent victory over Mark Hunt at UFC 200 didn’t put Lesnar on the media’s radar already, he recently had some very choice words for UFC’s most popular competitor, Conor McGregor. When McGregor called Lesnar and all of the WWE Superstars a bunch of “p**sies,” Lesnar’s profanity-laden response (see video below) set the internet on fire. The conclusion to his match against Randy Orton at SummerSlam will be just another blip on the radar.

As he prepares to take on a more part-time schedule like Lesnar in the very near future, John Cena met AJ Styles at SummerSlam. Styles got a major singles victory over Cena at WWE Money in the Bank, albeit with an assist from fellow members of The Club, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson. A month later, Cena pinned Styles at Battleground as part of a six-man tag team match that involved the rest of The Club, Enzo Amore, and Colin Cassady. At SummerSlam, John Cena faced AJ Styles one-on-one but came up short against The Phenomenal One.

WWE SummerSlam 2016 Results

The following includes the results of all the matches and segments from WWE SummerSlam 2016 on August 21. SummerSlam once again aired live from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. After the recent WWE Draft, both the Monday Night Raw brand and the SmackDown Live brand tried to out-perform each other as the “friendly rivalry” between the McMahons and their general managers continues to heat up.

Jon Stewart was a part of WWE SummerSlam 2016, assisting The New Day [Image via WWE]

SummerSlam 2016 Kick-Off On The WWE Network

The special two-hour pre-show, hosted by Renee Young, Booker T, Lita, and Jerry “The King” Lawler, had a special start time of 5/4c. Aside from the hosts chatting with each other and reviewing video packages for the matches at SummerSlam, the first bit of original content came twenty minutes into the show when Tom Phillips interviewed Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens. The Canadian duo continue to claim that they are the closest tag team in WWE history. Their alleged cohesiveness would prove to be true during their match against Enzo and Big Cass in the SummerSlam opener.

Later in the pre-show, Baron Corbin made a surprise stop by the panel’s desk. He had a message for Kalisto, saying that they were supposed to have a match at SummerSlam. According to Corbin, the luchador was not medically cleared to compete this weekend. The Lone Wolf says that he’ll injure Kalisto permanently when he returns to SmackDown Live. Sasha Banks was also the guest of Tom Phillips in the Social Media Lounge, where The Boss answered questions that the WWE Universe had submitted via Twitter about her upcoming match with Charlotte for the WWE Women’s Championship.

Three matches aired on the SummerSlam Kick-Off, beginning with the 12-man tag team match featuring Breezango, The Ascension and The Vaudevillains against American Alpha, The Hype Bros, and The Usos. Later in the Kick-Off, Cesaro faced Sheamus, while The Dudley Boyz faced Sami Zayn and Neville in tag team action.

Sami Zayn and Neville represented the WWE’s New Era at ‘SummerSlam’ [Image via WWE]

The Usos, American Alpha, And The Hype Bros Won

This was a rematch from the most recent episode of WWE SmackDown Live, where all of the teams on the SmackDown roster tried to prove their superiority. In that match, American Alpha stood out when they earned the pinfall for their team. The live audience in Brooklyn was clearly behind Jason Jordan and Chad Gable in this one, going so far as to boo one of the Usos when he was tagged in for Gable.

In the end, when Simon Gotch fell victim to American Alpha’s Grand Amplitude, Jey Uso tagged himself in, hit a top-rope splash, and scored the pinfall victory for his team. Afterwards, it was clear that American Alpha weren’t happy about Uso stealing the pin after they hit their finisher.

Sami Zayn And Neville Defeated The Dudley Boyz

The New Era was represented well from Monday Night Raw as Zayn and Neville defeated the most decorated tag team in WWE history. Shortly after Neville escaped the 3-D, he hit Bubba Ray Dudley with the Red Arrow to earn his team the win.

Sheamus Defeated Cesaro

On last week’s Monday Night Raw, Mick Foley announced that Cesaro and Sheamus would compete in a best-of-seven series, as they both try to prove their worth and dominance on Raw. Despite Cesaro pulling off some incredible new offensive moves, Sheamus got the win after he connected with a Brogue Kick to finish the final match on the SummerSlam Kick-Off pre-show.

Enzo And Big Cass Defeated Kevin Owens And Chris Jericho

Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady were tasked with getting their hometown audience electrified to kick off SummerSlam, and they delivered by quoting Notorious B.I.G. and Jay-Z before giving the WWE Universe a quick spelling lesson. As the match was nearing its conclusion, Owens saved Jericho from receiving the Bada Boom Shakalaka and broke up a pin after Amore hit Y2J with the DDG. JeriKO hit a Pop-Up Codebreaker of sorts to pick up the win.

Jon Stewart At SummerSlam

The former host of The Daily Show made his first appearance at this year’s SummerSlam when he ran into Shane McMahon, Daniel Bryan, and Mick Foley backstage. Stewart, who had his son with him, was soon joined by Stephanie McMahon and The New Day.

Charlotte Defeated Sasha Banks

After Sasha had arguably the best match of the weekend last year against Bayley at the first NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, there was a lot of pressure on Sasha and Charlotte to deliver a five-star match at SummerSlam this year. In one spectacular spot, Charlotte had Sasha set up for what looked like a Razor’s Edge from the second rope with Banks on the top rope. Sasha reversed the move into a hurricanrana. Moments later, she hit her patented second-rope double-stomp to Charlotte while she was face down, potentially bending Charlotte’s spine backwards as the move was executed. In the end, almost out of nowhere, Charlotte reversed the Bank Statement submission hold into a pin to regain the WWE Women’s Championship.

The Miz Defeated Apollo Crews

During the SummerSlam Kick-Off show, Booker T discussed the need for Apollo Crews to get a big win tonight to force people to remember his name and stop confusing him with Apollo Creed. Many of SummerSlam’s greatest matches have been for the Intercontinental Championship. This year’s IC title match won’t do much to help people remember Apollo Crews and certainly won’t be remembered as one of the all-time greatest matches. With only a little assistance from Maryse, The Miz retained after connecting with the Skull-Crushing Finale.

AJ Styles Defeated John Cena

Without any titles on the line, Cena and Styles had to build this match around nothing more than their bitter rivalry. After splitting wins at Money in the Bank and Battleground, this would serve as the rubber match to their feud. John Cena is always saying that the future of WWE has to come through him, and AJ Styles did that on this night. Without a questionable finish or any outside interference, both men hit their finishers twice before The Phenomenal One got arguably the biggest win of his career as he defeated John Cena at SummerSlam.

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Jon Stewart Saved The (New) Day

Even though he was clearly aligned with Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston in lieu of Big E, the fans at the Barclays Center were not receptive to Jon Stewart. However, he may have saved their title reign, as he hopped in the ring just as Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows were about to deliver the Magic Killer. He provided a second distraction before The Club started getting physical with the comedian from New Jersey. As they were set to injure Stewart in the same way they injured Big E, The New Day’s music hit and the third member made his way to the ring to save Stewart. As Big E clobbered both Gallows and Anderson, The New Day were disqualified but retained their WWE Tag Team Championship.

Dean Ambrose Defeated Dolph Ziggler

In a match that may have ironically proved why Dolph Ziggler isn’t often trusted with the main event, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dean Ambrose successfully defended his title against The Showoff. On a night when everyone is trying to put on the match of the show, this will probably go down as the most forgettable of the “main event” matches. SmackDown Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan came out before the match to address the WWE Universe.

Nikki Bella Returns And Gets The Win

After Becky Lynch, Carmella, Naomi, Natalya, and Alexa Bliss made their way to the ring, Eva Marie’s entrance began playing. However, her special announcer told the WWE Universe that Eva Marie was on vacation after suffering stress related to the “hostile WWE fans.” That will obviously be the way WWE spins Eva Marie’s recent suspension after violating the WWE Wellness Policy. In her stead, Nikki Bella made her triumphant return. With so many other females trying to make a name for themselves on the SmackDown Live brand, it was Nikki Bella who ended up getting the win for her team.

Finn Balor Defeated Seth Rollins To Win The WWE Universal Championship

In another title match that didn’t quite live up to the extreme hype that it received, Finn Balor became the first-ever WWE Universal Champion when he defeated Seth Rollins in another match that ended without controversy and without any interference from outside parties. While it was definitely a solid match, it didn’t necessarily steal the show. Both men have seen some much better matches, but there’s no reason to think Rollins and Balor won’t have several more matches over the new WWE Universal Championship on the red brand.

Roman Reigns Vs. Rusev Never Happened

Before the WWE United States Championship Match between Roman Reigns and Rusev could get under way, the two men brawled at ringside so fiercely that the Bulgarian Brute was deemed unable to compete. It was a very anti-climatic ending to the build-up that only had a few weeks to gain anyone’s interest.

Brock Lesnar Defeated Randy Orton

After two rather lackluster world titles matches and the non-existence of the U.S. title match, WWE had the chance to send everyone home happy with a great match between Lesnar and Orton in the SummerSlam finale. While the match lasted long enough for Orton to hit his RKO and Lesnar to hit the F-5, it was awarded to Lesnar by TKO after The Viper was bleeding profusely. Undoubtedly, the internet will be full of speculation regarding whether Orton was “blading” (the practice of using a razor blade to cut yourself) or they found another way to get the blood flowing. Either way, the fans at the Barclays Center were clearly expecting Bill Goldberg to come out. Instead, they got Shane McMahon, who also fell victim to Lesnar’s F-5 before Lesnar walked away.

Throughout the show, they promoted the debut of Holy Foley, the new reality series about Mick Foley’s family, airing exclusively on the WWE Network. As the reviews come in over the next few days, it will be interesting how well the show was received — both SummerSlam and Holy Foley.

These WWE SummerSlam 2016 results will be corroborated by WWE’s official SummerSlam page.

Where To Watch WWE SummerSlam 2016

WWE SummerSlam 2016 aired live, exclusively on the WWE Network beginning at 7/6c. The WWE SummerSlam 2016 Kick-Off began at 5/4c. Both programs are available to stream on-demand via the WWE Network.

[Image via WWE]

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