SummerSlam (2013) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE that took place on August 18, 2013 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. It was the twenty-sixth annual SummerSlam, and the fifth consecutive one held at the Staples Center. The event received 296,909 buys, down from last year's event of 358,000.

The professional wrestling matches at SummerSlam featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, WWE. Storylines between the characters played out on WWE's primary television programs, Raw and SmackDown.

On the July 15 episode of Raw, new Raw General Manager Brad Maddox announced that WWE Champion John Cena could choose his own Summerslam opponent. Later that night, after taking an informal poll of the live audience, he chose Daniel Bryan. In the weeks before SummerSlam, Vince McMahon would berate Daniel Bryan by trying to make him shave his beard, putting him into a gauntlet match against his former friend Kane. On the August 12 episode of Raw, Maddox served as special guest referee in a match with Bryan facing Wade Barrett. After making a quick count to let Barrett win the match, Maddox offered his services as the guest referee for the Cena vs. Bryan match at the PPV when Triple H interceded, and announced he'd serve as referee instead (punctuated by a Pedigree to Maddox).

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