Written By: Alexander Settee
Summerslam 2010, August 15, 2010, Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
Announcers: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, & Matt Striker
Opening Match, Intercontinental Championship: Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero) vs. Kofi Kingston
The Setup: Dolph finally got his hands on the IC Title, beating Kofi two weeks ago on Smackdown with an assist from Vickie Guerrero, so Kofi gets his rematch here tonight.
The Action: Kofi misses a dive pretty much right off the bat and Dolph gets on him with some pretty lackluster offence. The crowd is just dead for this too. Kofi’s comeback gets a bit of a reaction when he does the Boom Drop, but not much. Finally he misses Trouble in Paradise and Dolph hooks the sleeper, but now Nexus runs in and attacks both guys making it a no contest around the 7:00 mark.
The Verdict: They were pretty much sent out there to be sacrificed for the sake of drawing heat for the main event, but what they did prior to that was basically nothing anyways. *
Wade Barrett then cuts a promo in the ring, saying that well Team WWE struggles to find a partner and fights amongst themselves, Nexus is untied and that will be the difference later tonight. Good promo.
Divas Championship Match: Alicia Fox vs. Melina
The Setup: Melina was the champion when an injury put her on the shelf back in January. Having never lost the belt, she gets a shot at winning it back.
The Action: Melina must have lost a bet or something, because she’s wearing this unbelievable outfit that I can’t imagine anyone wearing willingly. The boots look like something out of The Berzerker’s closet dyed yellow. Melina takes it to her to no heat again. She hurts the knee going over Alicia on a charge, so Alicia takes advantage by working the shoulder. Nothing ever came of the knee so if it was legit it wasn’t serious. The match ends up being uglier than Melina’s attire until she finishes Alicia off with a reverse Russian legsweep to get her belt back at 5:22.
The Verdict: Bad match, which at least had a good decisive finish. If you’re gonna push somebody, then you know, push them. That’s a lesson they need to apply further up the card though. DUD
Laycool then comes out and interrupts Melina’s celebration with some horribly lame insults. Melina attacks, but falls victim to the two on one and gets beaten down, capped off with a knee against the announcers table. This could be teasing a champion vs. champion showdown to come, but this didn’t get me excited for it.
Handicap Match: CM Punk, Joseph Mercury, & Luke Gallows (w/Serena) vs. The Big Show
The Setup: Show stole Punk’s mask, revealing his bald head to the world, so the SES retaliated by breaking his hand.
The Action: Show has the bandages on his hand taken off before the match in an attempt at intimidation. Punk sends Gallows and Mercury in, which of course fails as Show tosses them around at will. Eventually Show misses a chop and hits the steps, which allows the three on one odds to finally kick in. Show is never in danger at any point, so when he fights them off again, Punk leaves the other two to fend for themselves which ends with Show chokeslamming Mercury onto Gallows and getting the 3 count at 6:49.
The Verdict: Another lackluster match here has this show digging itself quite the rut. *
Kane is backstage talking to his casket as though Undertaker is there, and promises revenge against Rey Mysterio. Sheamus then comes in and asks if he can borrow it for Randy Orton. This leads to tension between them as they both warn the other to stay out of their business. With both guys being champions, could they be teasing a unification match? Probably not.
Miz then comes out for a promo to announce his decision. After drawing it out, he finally decides that yes, he will be the seventh man on Team WWE because everyone begged him and convinced him that he’s the only one who can do it.
WWE Championship Match: Sheamus vs. Randy Orton
The Setup: Orton won a number one contenders match over Chris Jericho and Edge to get the shot in this match. If Orton loses, he goes to the back of the line as far as future Title shots go.
The Action: Orton beats on him early, including a stint in the crowd. After hitting the Garvin Stomp in the ring, Orton takes it to the floor again where his whip to the steps is reversed and he hits it shoulder first. Now Sheamus takes over, getting a few nearfalls, but nothing spectacular. Sheamus then misses a charge and takes the backbreaker, followed by a powerslam and superplex. He then gets the hanging DDT, but Sheamus throws him off on the RKO. Orton escapes the Irish Curse, but runs into the Brough Kick for 2. This gets Sheamus frustrated, so he grabs a chair. The ref tries to get it away, but gets tossed out for the cheap DQ at 18:57. After the match, Sheamus misses the chairshot anyways and takes an RKO on the announce table.
The Verdict: Finally a good match here, albeit one with a crappy ending. If they don’t want to beat Orton, but also don’t want to put the Title on him, why not just come up with something to keep him out of the Title picture altogether? This did neither guy any favours and the rematch it theoretically sets up at the next show isn’t even happening as they’re doing a six way instead which just makes things worse. ***
World Heavyweight Championship Match: Kane vs. Rey Mysterio
The Setup: Last month at Money in the Bank, Kane won the contract and then cashed in that same night to win the Title from Rey. Kane also supposedly believes that Rey is responsible for putting Undertaker in a vegetative state a few months back, while Rey fired back with accusations that Kane himself was behind it.
The Action: Kane brings the casket out with him, which is shown to be empty. Rey uses his speed and hit and run tactics early on, but finally ends up getting caught. Kane goes to a bearhug for a bit with Rey then getting out and hitting a few flurries and teasing the 619, but ending up getting taken out again. He gets put in the casket at one point, but fights his way out. Eventually the 619 hits, but Kane blocks the springboard splash and hits a chokeslam for the 3 count to retain at 13:33. After the match, Kane kills him with tow more chokeslams and a tombstone, and then goes to put him in the casket, but now Undertaker pops out. He first threatens Rey and wants to know why, but when Rey denies everything, Taker believes him. Taker turns his attention to Kane, but Kane gets the best of it, powering out of a chokeslam before hitting his own as well as a Tombstone to leave Taker laying.
The Verdict: The match was ok, but certainly nothing special. The post match angle sets up Kane vs. Undertaker again, which I’m not looking forward to. **
Main Event, Elimination Match: The Nexus: Wade Barrett, Skip Sheffield, David Otunga, Michael Tarver, Justin Gabriel, Darren Young, & Heath Slater vs. Team WWE: John Cena, Edge, R-Truth, Chris Jericho, John Morrison, Bret “Hitman” Hart, & Daniel Bryan
The Setup: Nexus has been running wild for several months now, and it finally comes to a head here tonight. The story has been that Nexus is a cohesive unit, working together, and getting their job done, while team WWE has been faced with infighting and the inability to find a replacement for original partner Great Khali. The Miz, who accepted the spot on the team earlier on, makes his way out, but is now told that he waited too long and they’ve already found someone to be their partner. That someone turns out to be the guy who was kicked out of Nexus, Daniel Bryan, which has Michael Cole aghast.
The Action: Bryan makes his mark right away, tapping out Darren Young to a crossface at 0:44. John Morrison then takes out Michael Tarver with Starship Pain at 3:38 to give Team WWE a quick 7 on 5 advantage. Skip Sheffield turns the tide for Nexus as he dominates Morrison. Gabriel kicks Morrison from the apron coming off the ropes and then Sheffield finishes him with a lariat at 7:35. Truth tries with him as well, but also takes the lariat for the pin at 8:01 to even things up. Bret goes with Slater, and gets him in the Sharpshooter, but Sheffield steals the tag. A chair gets tossed in by Nexus, but Bret gets it and uses it first for the DQ at 12:07. I hope that’s it for Bret, but I can also see him not wanting that to be his last match too. Jericho comes in and hits Sheffield with the Codebreaker, then tags Edge who hits the Spear for 3 at 13:16. Jericho then gets Otunga in the Walls for the submission at 19:16. He then accidentally runs into Cena on the apron which opens the door for Slater to pin him at 20:07. Cena and Edge argue over who gets in next. Cena gives in for the sake of team unity, but as he gets out of the ring, Slater runs Edge into him and rolls him up for the pin at 20:40. Edge and Jericho put the boots to Cena on the floor before leaving and then he gets rolled in as the new legal man. So he gets worked over in the Nexus corner for a while, giving Cole the chance to go off on Bryan and the disaster it will be if Cena gets eliminated and he’s left to defend WWE. Cena doesn’t get eliminated though and ends up making the hot tag to Bryan, who runs wild on Slater, culminating in hooking the crossface for the tap out at 29:04. Following that, Miz runs in and clocks Bryan with the briefcase, so that feud is back on. Barrett covers him for 3 at 29:35 leaving Cena 1 on 2. He hits all the signature moves on Gabriel, but Barrett takes the blind tag as he sets up the AA and takes him down. They beat him down with constant double teaming, and at one point even get him with a DDT on the floor after lifting the mats up. Barrett tells Gabriel to go for the 450, but it misses and Cena pins him at 34:54. Cena vs. Barrett doesn’t even really happen as almost immediately Cena gets him in the STF for the submission to end it at 35:21.
The Verdict: I believe the wrong side won here as it’s far too soon for Nexus to be losing decisively. I can only guess they think the angle has run its course because how can there be any interest in future matches involving the group now? The match itself was quite good, easily the best of the night, but I still leave with the taste of ruined potential in my mouth. ***1/2
Overall Thoughts: If this is supposed to be one of the biggest PPV’s of the year, then that’s bad because it did not feel like that at all. The main event was a good match, and I guess that if this is then end of the feud then it would be a fine finish, but it appears to be continuing so in that case it makes no sense. Then we have three other unsatisfying finishes (run in in the IC match, DQ in the WWE Title match, and Show pinning the lackeys while Punk escapes) which is half the matches on the show by the way, and just an awful score for a supposed major PPV. Although I’m not really interested in Taker/Kane, at least it was well built and Kane was established as a monster, so there’s at least one positive here tonight. But still, I didn’t like the show overall, and so it’s Thumbs Down for Summerslam 2010.