On June 5, WWE granted Brock Lesnar "a one-off opportunity" to return to mixed martial arts competition at UFC 200 on July 9, while also confirming that Lesnar would compete at SummerSlam. On the July 7 episode of SmackDown, Lesnar's SummerSlam opponent was announced as Randy Orton, who was returning from injury. SummerSlam 2016 live stream is billing the match as "15 years in the making". On July 15, WWE confirmed that the match would still be taking place, despite a USADA notification in regards to Lesnar's UFC fight, stemming from an out-of-competition sample collected on June 28, which tested positive for a banned substance. A second sample taken in-competition on July 9 was also tested positive for the same banned substance, believed to be hydroxy-clomifene, discovered in the previous sample.
On July 26, WWE confirmed that Lesnar would not be facing any disciplinary action from the WWE as he is exempt from the WWE Wellness Policy due to his status as a part-time performer. Orton returned at Battleground as the guest on Chris Jericho's "Highlight Reel". Orton said that he only needed one RKO to take down Lesnar and also took a shot at Lesnar's failed drug tests. He also said he wanted to face Lesnar to prove that he belongs at the top, before delivering an RKO to Jericho. On the August 1 episode of Raw, Lesnar's manager Paul Heyman proclaimed that Orton would never be able to execute his finisher on Lesnar when Orton suddenly appeared and surprised Lesnar with an RKO. Lesnar subsequently attacked Orton with an F-5 during his match against Fandango on SmackDown the next night.
After SmackDown draftee Dean Ambrose retained the WWE SummerSlam 2016 live stream World Championship at Battleground against Raw draftees Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in a Triple threat match, Raw was left without a world title. Subsequently, Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley created a new championship, the WWE Universal Championship, the following night on Raw to serve as the brand's top championship. The inaugural champion will be crowned at SummerSlam in a singles match; Rollins, as Raw's #1 draft pick, was automatically set for that match, while his opponent was determined by two Fatal 4-Way matches that night, with the winners wrestling each other in a singles match. Finn Bálor won the first Fatal 4-Way by defeating Cesaro, Kevin Owens, and Rusev, while Reigns won the second by defeating Chris Jericho, Sami Zayn, and Sheamus. Bálor then defeated Reigns and was added to the title match at SummerSlam. Bálor and Rollins confronted each other the following week, both promising to win at SummerSlam. Rollins then attempted to attack Bálor, but Bálor countered, forcing Rollins to retreat.
On the July 26 episode of SmackDown, a Six-Pack Challenge involving John Cena, Bray Wyatt, AJ Styles, Dolph Ziggler, Baron Corbin, and Apollo Crews was held to determine the #1 contender for the WWE World Championship at SummerSlam. Crews had won a battle royal that night to earn the sixth spot. Ziggler won the Six-Pack Challenge by pinning Styles, earning a title match against Dean Ambrose at SummerSlam. The next week, after Ambrose doubted Ziggler's ability, Wyatt attacked Ziggler and challenged him for his title shot. Ziggler accepted his challenge and defeated Bray Wyatt.
At Battleground, Sasha Banks recruited Bayley from NXT as a mystery partner and the two defeated SummerSlam 2016 Champion Charlotte and Dana Brooke in a Tag team match when Sasha made Charlotte submit. This earned Sasha a title match against Charlotte the following night on Raw, in which she again made Charlotte submit to win the title. Charlotte invoked her rematch clause five days later to face Banks for the title at SummerSlam. The following week, a confrontation between the two was interrupted by Chris Jericho and Enzo Amore, resulting in a mixed tag team match, which Charlotte and Jericho won. On the August 8 edition of Raw, Sasha Banks defeated Dana Brooke, resulting in Dana being banned from ringside at SummerSlam.
After the aforementioned mixed tag team match, Chris Jericho attacked Enzo Amore until Big Cass came out to help his partner. Later in the event, Owens told Jericho that he had his back during a backstage interview with Tom Phillips. The following week, Jericho defeated Amore by disqualification when Cass interfered. After the match, Cass challenged Owens and Jericho to a tag team match at SummerSlam, which Owens and Jericho accepted.
After AJ Styles's victory over John Cena at Money in the Bank, The Club (Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows) began attacking Cena until Enzo Amore and Big Cass came to Cena's aide, setting up a six-man tag team match for Battleground. At the event, Cena, Enzo, and Cass defeated The Club. As a result of the draft, Enzo, Cass, Anderson, and Gallows were drafted to Raw, while Cena and Styles were drafted to SmackDown, splitting up the two teams. On the August 2 episode of SmackDown, Styles challenged Cena to another match at SummerSlam, which Cena accepted.
On the August 2 episode of SmackDown, Apollo Crews defeated Baron Corbin and Kalisto in a triple threat match to earn an Intercontinental Championship match against The Miz at SummerSlam.
On the August 1 episode of Raw, after United States Champion Rusev defeated Mark Henry to retain the title, Roman Reigns came out to confront Rusev. The following week, Reigns interrupted Rusev and Lana's wedding celebration and issued a challenge to Rusev for the title. Rusev declined, and the two brawled, causing Lana to fall into a wedding cake. Backstage, Mick Foley told an angered Lana and Rusev that Rusev would be defending his U.S. title against Reigns at SummerSlam. Later that night, Rusev successfully defended his title in an impromptu match against Cesaro, who felt that he should also have a shot at the title. On the August 15 episode of Raw, Rusev would get revenge on Roman Reigns by attacking Reigns backstage. This would result in a non-title match being made for later in the night which ended with Reigns scoring a pinfall victory.
On the July 25 episode of Raw, The New Day were celebrating in the ring on becoming the longest reigning WWE Tag Team Champions. Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods then asked the fans in Pittsburgh for someone to join them and celebrate. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson then attacked all three members of New Day while the fan escaped. The following week on Raw, Big E and Kingston were in a tag team match against Gallows and Anderson, where Big E rolled up Gallows for the pinfall victory. Gallows and Anderson then attacked all three members of New Day, finishing with Gallows and Anderson sending Big E groin-first into the steel ring post, causing a contusion in Big E's groin. On August 8, Woods and Kingston were scheduled to defend the WWE Tag Team Championship against Gallows and Anderson at SummerSlam.
