The event aired via pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming and featured wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions.

The event also saw the returns of Bayley, Dakota Kai (who had been released from her WWE contract in April), Io Shirai, and Edge.

SummerSlam is an annual professional wrestling event that had previously been produced every August by WWE since 1988.

Instead, the 35th SummerSlam was scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 30, 2022, at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee.

It featured wrestlers from the Raw and SmackDown brand divisions, and in addition to airing on traditional pay-per-view, it was available to livestream on Peacock in the United States and the WWE Network in international markets.

[9] Eight days before SummerSlam on July 22, WWE owner Vince McMahon announced his retirement from the company.

[10] However, on January 10, 2023, Stephanie announced her resignation as co-CEO and chairwoman, with Nick Khan being the sole CEO and Vince returning as Executive Chairman.

[15] After Reigns retained the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship on the June 17 episode of SmackDown, he claimed there was no one left to face him.

[19] At Money in the Bank, Bobby Lashley defeated Theory to win the United States Championship.

[20] On the following episode of Raw, Theory announced he was granted a rematch against Lashley for the title at SummerSlam.

[22] On the July 15 episode of SmackDown, after Dawkins defeated Jimmy despite Jimmy's shoulder being off the mat, WWE official Adam Pearce announced that WWE Hall of Famer and Nashville area native Jeff Jarrett would be the special guest referee for the match.

[27] Paul then appeared on the July 18 episode of Raw to confront Miz and challenged him to a match at SummerSlam.

[21] The following week, Bálor and Priest confronted Dominik backstage, suggesting that he join The Judgment Day.

[31] On the July 18 episode, after Judgment Day again suggested Dominik join their group, Priest defeated Rey.

Later that night, a No Disqualification tag team match pitting The Mysterios against Bálor and Priest was made official for SummerSlam.

[33] The pay-per-view opened with Bianca Belair defending the Raw Women's Championship against Becky Lynch.

Lynch pulled Belair, who was atop a turnbuckle, into the ring by the latter's braid and performed a Manhandle Slam for a nearfall.

She was accompanied by a returning Dakota Kai (who had been released from her WWE contract in April) and Io Shirai (who was billed under the new ring name "Iyo Sky", stylized in all caps), both making their main roster debuts.

Bayley, Sky, and Kai then retreated while Lynch and Belair continued to show mutual respect to each other.

In the closing moments, former Judgment Day leader Edge made his return and performed a Spear on Priest and Bàlor.

[1] Following that, Drew McIntyre came out to cut a promo where he spoke about his upcoming Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match at Clash at the Castle.

McIntyre stated that it did not matter who won the main event that night as he would defeat them at Clash at the Castle to become champion.

[34] In the penultimate match, Liv Morgan defended the SmackDown Women's Championship against Ronda Rousey.

[1] In the main event, Roman Reigns (accompanied by Paul Heyman) defended the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship against Brock Lesnar in a Last Man Standing match.

In the closing moments, Reigns attacked Lesnar, this time with the Universal title belt, and proceeded with The Usos to place pieces of the broken announce table, steel chairs and amplifier on a battered Lesnar and stood on the debris for the ten count.

WWE reported on the Raw after SummerSlam that it had surpassed 1.3 billion video views on social media for the event.

[38] After SummerSlam, the trio of Bayley, Dakota Kai, and Iyo Sky would dub themselves as Damage CTRL, and they continued to target Raw Women's Champion Bianca Belair.

[41] On the following Raw, Damage CTRL (Bayley, Dakota Kai, and Iyo Sky) attacked Becky Lynch backstage.

Later that same night, Riddle engaged into another brawl with Seth "Freakin" Rollins before challenging him to a match at Clash at the Castle, which was made official.

[40] After Rousey's suspension was lifted,[54] she won a fatal five-way elimination match on the September 9 episode to earn a rematch against Morgan for the SmackDown Women's Championship at Extreme Rules.