Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer",[3] it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with WrestleMania, SummerSlam, and Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four".

[8][9][10] On the July 26 episode of Raw, Orton won a 20-man battle royal, last eliminating Chris Jericho, to become the number one contender to the title at SummerSlam.

JBL had won the title two months prior at The Great American Bash by defeating then-champion Eddie Guerrero in a Texas Bullrope match.

The feud first started at WrestleMania XX, when Guerrero defeated Angle to successfully retain the WWE Championship.

Guerrero lost the title to John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) at The Great American Bash, when Angle, then-SmackDown!

[17][18][19] On the July 15 episode of SmackDown!, JBL defeated Guerrero in a Steel Cage match to retain the title.

After the match ended, Guerrero attacked El Gran Luchadore and pulled off his mask, revealing him to be Angle.

However, Triple H soon revealed that this was all a calculated ploy and that he planned to utilize Eugene to help him win back the World Heavyweight Championship from Chris Benoit.

[29] On the July 12 episode of Raw, Triple H attacked Eugene in the ring after falsely implying that he had forgiven him for what happened at Vengeance.

On the July 26 episode of Raw, Eugene would return to exact a degree of revenge by costing Triple H his re-match with Benoit.

Before the event went live on pay-per-view, Rob Van Dam defeated René Duprée in a match taped for Sunday Night Heat.

The match concluded when Angle was able to counter a frog splash and forced Guerrero to submit to the Ankle Lock.

In the end, Benoit attempted to apply the Crippler Crossface but Orton countered into an RKO to win the title.

On the August 16 episode of Raw, Randy Orton celebrated his win and was given a standing ovation by the crowd with golden balloons and confetti dropping into the arena.

[32] After the match, Evolution (Batista, Ric Flair, and Triple H), threw Orton a mock celebration, only to reveal that they were not pleased with his new victory.

While Batista had Orton propped on his shoulders, Triple H gave him a pleased thumbs up, but abruptly changed it to a thumbs-down.

[33] Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff then scheduled a match between Orton and Triple H for the title at Unforgiven.

[33] At Unforgiven, Orton lost the title when he was pinned by Triple H.[34] The feud between John "Bradshaw" Layfield (JBL) and The Undertaker continued.

[36][37] The following week on SmackDown!, General Manager Theodore Long scheduled a Last Ride match at No Mercy between JBL and The Undertaker.