Summerslam

Overview
Summerslam is the third biggest Pay Per View of the year (behind the biggest Pay Per View of the year, WrestleMania, and the second biggest Pay Per View of the year that begins the Road to WrestleMania, Royal Rumble), and is also the biggest Pay Per View of the summer. Summerslam is coined as "the biggest party of the summer" indicating it as a BBQ/picnic to celebrate the end of the summer with one last summertime bash. Summerslam is one of the "Big 4" Pay Per Views, along with WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, and Survivor Series. In 1988, Summerslam was introduced and the "Big 4" would be WrestleMania in March (or April), Royal Rumble in January, Survivor Series in November, and Summerslam in August. Later in 1993, King of the Ring would be introduced in June and would be part of the five biggest Pay Per Views of the year known as the "Classic 5". Summerslam in the year 2002 featured the return of Shawn Michaels in his first ever match against Triple H since he was forced to retire from professional wrestling in 1998 due to a broken back. Summerslam also featured a number of firsts, such as hosting the Elimination Chamber Match for the first time at the event (the second in history) in 2003, Brock Lesnar becoming the youngest WWE Champion in history in 2002 when he defeated The Rock, and also Diva's Dodgeball in 2004 between the WWE Divas and the WWE Diva Hopefuls that were involved in the 2004 Diva Search.

Brand Extension
The WWE, for the first time since the debut of Summerslam in 1988, would have a brand extension in 2002. The matches and superstars would be selected based on the two brands that featured different superstars from Monday Night Raw and Smackdown. In 2002, all the Pay Per Views would be brand-specific only, with the exception of WrestleMania, Royal Rumble, Summerslam, and Survivor Series, which would feature both brands and their superstars and divas, but the matches would be brand specific. In 2006, WWE had a third brand called ECW and that brand was featured on Summerslam that year for the first time. In 2007, however, all three brands would be appearing on all Pay Per Views and there were no brand-specific Pay Per Views until ECW dissolved in 2010, which after that then featured only the top brands, Monday Night Raw and Smackdown.