Brock Lesnar closing SummerSlam Night 1 was WWE’s call, not his.
PWInsider has updated its reporting on how the Hell in a Cell match ended up in the final slot. WWE sources told the outlet the match with Oba Femi was originally scheduled to open the show. The decision to move it to the end was made over the course of SummerSlam week, on the basis that it was a Cell match and that Lesnar was in Minneapolis. To the best of those sources’ knowledge, Lesnar had no involvement in any changes to the show’s format or match order.
That revises what the outlet reported earlier. Mike Johnson had been asked in a Q&A why Lesnar closed when he has long preferred earlier slots so he can leave the building quickly. Johnson noted the short trip home in Minneapolis, then said the belief among those he had spoken to was that Lesnar pushed for the spot.
The switch itself was late and real. Johnson reported the change on Saturday afternoon, hours before the show, with False Finish corroborating. CM Punk’s title defense against Cody Rhodes had been treated as the top match all week.
Punk addressed the running order at the post-show press conference without complaint.
Of course I had feelings about that, but I’m not one of these guys that has it in their contract that I have to end the show. Listen, ladies and gentlemen, there is main event, and there’s the match that goes last. It ain’t for me to decide. I’m too old for that.
Whether I’m first, whether I am before intermission, whether I am the popcorn match, CM Punk is always the main event.
Lesnar lost the trilogy decider to Femi, then stayed in the ring to call him the future of WWE.
