As a service to fans who have a general interest in WWE but might not have watched a match in months, we're happy to provide this FAQ as a guide to SummerSlam at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday, July 30. (8 p.m., Peacock)
What's happening with WWE these days?
It's impossible to talk about SummerSlam without acknowledging that this is the first WWE Premium Live Event (formerly known as pay-per-views) of the post-Vince McMahon era. The 76-year-old chairman and CEO announced his retirement on July 22. His daughter Stephanie is the new chairwoman and co-CEO with Nick Khan, who was serving as WWE president.
The announcement came after Vince McMahon had already stepped away from his roles with the company following a Wall Street Journal report that the WWE board was investigating a secret $3 million settlement given by McMahon to a former WWE paralegal.
To say everything about WWE changes without Vince McMahon in the big chair would be underselling on an Ultimate Warrior match level.
So… now what? How does it impact SummerSlam?
Stephanie McMahon addresses her father Vince McMahon's WWE retirement during the opening of SmackDown.
McMahon has been the WWE since the 1980s. Everything you see, hear, smell and touch had his sign-off. Now, that's done. The process for creating weekly television and premium events will change now that Paul «Triple H» Levesque is overseeing the WWE's creative direction. The kinds of wrestlers who get promoted and pushed will change.
Much of this is long-term change. As for SummerSlam, given the timing of this development, there wouldn't seem to be a lot of deviation from the previously established plans. But it was curious to see a highly anticipated SummerSlam match between Seth
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