SummerSlam 2010: Death Of Nexus

WWE’s big four pay-per-views events are the shows that if you don’t pay too much attention the rest of the year, you check back in with these shows to catch up on everything. At a time when the company was in a rebuilding phase with younger talent, SummerSlam 2010 was the perfect platform for that young talent to show off. From the opener to the main event, this was a showcase of what was to come in WWE.

Of course, by the end of the night, WWE got in its own way (again) and shot itself in the foot, killing its hottest angle of the year in just one match. While SummerSlam 2010 was still on the “thumbs up” side for me, it gets hurt severely by bad finishes and bad booking. The actual wrestling is still very good, though.

INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP: DOLPH ZIGGLER (C) W/ VICKI GUERRERO VS KOFI KINGSTON ENDED IN A NO CONTEST

This was a decent opener that started to pick up some steam until Nexus interfered and ended the match. It was a good way to carry the storyline into the main event, but maybe this should have happened during a throwaway match, not an Intercontinental Title match, especially with two guys who could tear the house down.

There is a backstage segment where Edge and Chris Jericho both are trying to convince The Miz to come on board to Team WWE as the seventh man in the main event. I get where they were going with it, but at this point Miz wasn’t over enough to make the audience believe that he was the make-or-break person for that match. Management clearly thought otherwise considering that only three months later he would cash in Money in the Bank and win the WWE Title.

DIVAS CHAMPIONSHIP: MELINA WINS THE TITLE OVER ALICIA FOX

This match was confusing. Melina re-injured her leg after just returning, but Alicia targeted her arm and shoulder. The announcers even wondered why Alicia wasn’t going after the injury. Out of nowhere, Melina hit a surprise face buster to win the title. The celebration would be interrupted by LayCool, who were doing the “co-champion” thing with the Women’s Title torn in half. This was only done to embarrass Melina in her hometown. As usual in WWE, one step forward and then three steps back.

BIG SHOW DEF. THE STRAIGHT EDGE SOCIETY (JOEY MERCURY, LUKE GALLOWS & CM PUNK)

I laughed out loud at Punk wearing a “I broke Big Show’s arm” shirt considering I learned about the origins of that kind of shirt through all of Conrad Thompson’s podcasts. Only guys like Punk and Chris Jericho could do this and get away with it. This was a typical Big Show handicap match where there is a lot of heat on the big man for several minutes until he fights back and wins. Show pinned both Gallows and Mercury while Punk ran off. This was still good and all parties did their part. This match was proof that the Straight Edge Society was severely underutilized and disbanded too soon.

A Miz promo segment took place next. Between the Jericho and Edge segment, the Nexus run-in and now this, it felt like an expensive episode of Raw rather than the biggest show of the summer. Too much noise and not enough wrestling. SummerSlam 2010 shouldn’t need any more build – that’s what weeks of TV are for! Regardless, Miz announced that he would be the seventh member of Team Cena and this was a good promo, just a little too long.

WWE CHAMPIONSHIP: RANDY ORTON DEFEATS SHEAMUS BY DQ BUT SHEAMUS RETAINS THE TITLE

This match was good, but another bad finish. Orton had to win the match or he wouldn’t be able to challenge Sheamus ever again. WWE found a workaround by having the Celtic Warrior get into a tug-o-war with the referee, shoving him down and getting DQ’ed. Not the finish anyone deserved, but the post-match beat down into a RKO onto the announce table was great. Orton would win the title the following month in a 6-pack challenge with Barrett, Cena, Jericho, Edge and Sheamus. Maybe WWE just wanted to get to this match, but it could have gone in a different direction to get to that destination.

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP: KANE RETAINS OVER REY MYSTERIO

Does anyone remember the storyline where Undertaker was attacked Memorial Day Weekend, was left in a “vegetative state” while Kane went around accusing and attacking every member of the WWE roster until it was discovered that he did it himself? Remember when Paul Bearer returned to help Undertaker take down his brother, only to swerve him inside Hell in a Cell? Remember when Kane buried Undertaker alive thanks to help from Nexus? Well, Pepperidge Farm remembers, but I don’t want to.

The match with Mysterio was good for the usual “big man vs. little man” template. Luckily, Kane can work, sell and improve on any match that he is in. It’s usually the “big man vs. big man” template when we get the bad Kane matches. At SummerSlam 2010, Kane won after a chokeslam and tombstone, but when he went to put Mysterio in the casket, Undertaker emerged. The post-match brawl and revelation of Kane attacking Taker was great, maybe a little too hokey for my liking only because why would Taker try to fight so much if he was still so weak? I might be overthinking it. I get it why it all happened but with this being the 109th time that Taker and Kane have turned on each other, it’s just so repetitive.

ELIMINATION TAG TEAM MATCH: TEAM NEXUS (WADE BARRETT, DARREN YOUNG, DAVID OTUNGA, SKIP SHEFFIELD, JUSTIN GABRIEL, HEATH SLATER, & MICHAEL TARVER) VS TEAM WWE (JOHN CENA, BRET HART, CHRIS JERICHO, EDGE, R-TRUTH, JOHN MORRISON & DANIEL BRYAN)

I love this match. The drama, great action and a good way to get some younger talent out there in the spotlight…but the WRONG TEAM WON. I’m all for letting the fans go home happy, but Nexus needed this win. They didn’t need a clean sweep, but they needed to be seen as a threat. When WCW brought in Hall and Nash and put together the NWO, they won their first battle (and every one after that) against WCW because they were a threat to the company. Everyone would lose down the line, but WCW spent months and months showing them as better than their enemies to establish their credibility.

Wade Barrett, since he was the leader and winner of that joke of a season of NXT, should had been one of the survivors and then go from there. The match comes down to Cena vs. Gabriel and Barrett and just when it seems like Cena is done for, he eliminated them both in a 30-second span. In reality, if you believe shoot interviews Barrett has done in recent years, Nexus was scheduled to win until Cena changed the finish the day of the show. When Barrett went to Vince about it, he was told “we need to send the fans home happy.” What a crock of shit. They haven’t done that in years! If you have a hot storyline, I don’t care who wins in most cases, just that the match is excellent and the storyline makes sense going forward. Nexus lost all of its momentum in that 30-seconds of Super Cena at SummerSlam 2010.