SummerSlam (2016) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event produced by WWE. It took place on August 21, 2016 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. It was the twenty-ninth event under the SummerSlam chronology, the second consecutive SummerSlam at this particular venue, and the first event under the reintroduction of the WWE brand extension.

Twelve matches were contested at the event, including three matches contested on the pre-show. In the main event, Brock Lesnar defeated Randy Orton by technical knockout while in other marquee matches, Finn Bálor defeated Seth Rollins to become the inaugural WWE Universal Champion, Dean Ambrose defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the WWE World Championship, and AJ Styles defeated John Cena.

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. WWE 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. The last Raw before SummerSlam saw Lesnar and Heyman cutting another promo on Orton until Heath Slater interrupted, aiming to earn a WWE contract (as he was undrafted in the WWE draft) by defeating Lesnar. Lesnar brushed Slater off with an F-5 to send a message to Orton. Slater faced Orton the next night on SmackDown to earn a contract. Orton intentionally got himself disqualified, mocking Lesnar before dispatching Slater with an RKO.

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