SummerSlam (2010)

SummerSlam (2010)
Promotional poster featuring various WWE wrestlers
Theme song(s)	"Rip It Up" by Jet[1]
Information
Promotion	World Wrestling Entertainment
Brand(s)	Raw SmackDown
Sponsor(s)	7-Eleven Slim Jim
Date	August 15, 2010
Attendance	17,463[2]
Venue	Staples Center
City	Los Angeles, California
Pay-per-view chronology
Money in the Bank (2010) SummerSlam (2010) Night of Champions (2010)
SummerSlam chronology
SummerSlam (2009) SummerSlam (2010) SummerSlam (2011)

SummerSlam (2010) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and presented by 7-Eleven and Slim Jim, that took place on August 15, 2010, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California for the second consecutive year.^[3][4] It was the twenty-third annual SummerSlam event and six matches took place.^[5]

SummerSlam received 350,000 pay-per-view buys, a decrease on the 369,000 buys garnered by SummerSlam (2009).

Background

The professional wrestling matches at SummerSlam featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in scripted events pre-determined by the hosting promotion, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).^[6][7] Storylines between the characters were produced on WWE's weekly television shows Raw and SmackDown with the Raw and SmackDown brands—storyline divisions in which WWE assigned its employees to different programs.^[8]

The main rivalry heading into SummerSlam from the Raw brand was between the champion Sheamus and Randy Orton over the WWE Championship. On the July 19 episode of Raw, Orton defeated Edge and Chris Jericho in a Triple Threat match to earn the right to face Sheamus for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. On the August 9 episode of Raw, the Raw General Manager added two stipulations to the match, stating that anyone who interfered in this match would be suspended indefinitely and if Orton lost, he would not receive another match for the championship while Sheamus is champion.

The main rivalry heading into SummerSlam from the SmackDown brand was between the champion Kane and Rey Mysterio over the World Heavyweight Championship. On the May 28 episode of SmackDown Kane's storyline brother, The Undertaker defeated Mysterio to qualify for the fatal four-way match for the World Heavyweight Championship at the Fatal 4-Way pay-per-view in June. During the match however, The Undertaker suffered a legitimate injury, forcing him to be written out of the match by having him found in a "vegetative state" by Kane over the Memorial Day weekend. As a result, Kane accused several wrestlers of incapacitating his brother, and attacked them. Mysterio won a Battle Royal to replace The Undertaker, and went on to defeat the defending champion Jack Swagger, Big Show and CM Punk at Fatal 4-Way to win the World Heavyweight Championship. At the Money in the Bank pay-per-view, Kane won a Money in the Bank ladder match and cashed in his championship opportunity on Mysterio, after Mysterio had defeated Swagger to retain. Kane defeated Mysterio to win the World Heavyweight Championship. On the July 23 episode of SmackDown, Mysterio defeated Swagger in a two out of three falls match to earn the right to face Kane for the World Championship at SummerSlam. On the July 30 episode of SmackDown, Kane revealed that The Undertaker had disclosed that his attacker was Rey Mysterio, and vowed to get revenge.^[9]

Another main rivalry from Raw featured The Nexus, a stable consisting of former NXT 'rookies' led by the season's winner Wade Barrett, against 'Team WWE', led by John Cena. The Nexus made their debut as a collective unit on the June 7 episode of Raw, attacking Cena, CM Punk, and members of the ringside crew, on the pretext of demanding guaranteed WWE contracts for all of them. The following week on Raw, the then-General Manager Bret Hart refused and as a result, The Nexus attacked him, incapacitating him, and forcing WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to appoint a new, anonymous General Manager, who ultimately signed all members of The Nexus to the show. The Nexus continued to frequently attack various WWE wrestlers, crew, and legends to display their dominance, although they focused mainly on Cena, costing him the WWE Championship twice. On the July 19 episode of Raw, Cena confronted The Nexus, who offered him a place in their stable, which he refused and instead revealed that he had assembled a team, christened 'Team WWE' (consisting of Cena himself, Edge, Chris Jericho, John Morrison, R-Truth, The Great Khali, and Bret Hart), to face The Nexus in a seven-on-seven tag team match at SummerSlam. On the July 26 episode of Raw, the anonymous general manager changed the match to an elimination format. Following dissension on Cena's team in the next few weeks, Edge and Jericho left the SummerSlam match on the August 2 episode of Raw. They rejoined the following week, however, when The Nexus tried to attack the members of Team WWE and Edge and Jericho. On the same episode of Raw, Khali was attacked by The Nexus, removing him from the match at SummerSlam. The Miz offered his services to the team as Khali's substitute, ultimately saying he would reveal his final decision at SummerSlam itself.

Another rivalry from the SmackDown brand pitted Big Show against the Straight Edge Society, a stable preaching the hardlined straight edge lifestyle, led by CM Punk and consisting of Luke Gallows, Joey Mercury and Serena. In May, at the Over the Limit pay-per-view, Punk lost a match to Rey Mysterio, forcing Punk to have his head shaved bald as a result of the stipulation. In order to conceal his baldness, Punk started wearing a mask until Big Show forcibly removed it on the July 16 episode of SmackDown. In attempt to avenge Punk's humiliation, the Straight Edge Society's masked "mystery man" faced The Big Show in a match, but had his own mask removed during the match, revealing him to be Joey Mercury. On the July 30 episode of SmackDown, the Straight Edge Society attacked Big Show and repeatedly stomped on his right hand into the steel ring steps. The following week, it was announced that the Straight Edge Society would be facing Big Show in a three-on-one handicap match at SummerSlam.

Another rivalry from the Raw brand was between the champion Alicia Fox and Melina over the WWE Divas Championship. In December 2009, Melina tore her ACL at a live event, which caused her to vacate the Divas Championship. At Fatal 4-Way in June, Fox won the title in a Fatal Four-Way match, also featuring the then-champion Eve, Maryse and Gail Kim, and retained the championship against Eve at Money in the Bank. On the August 2 episode of Raw, Melina made her return and attacked Fox. The following week on Raw, Melina defeated Fox in a non-title match and was rewarded with a title opportunity at the Divas Championship at SummerSlam.

Production

Much like the previous year's SummerSlam, WWE promoted the event with its SummerSlam Axxess fan convention. The convention was held at the Nokia Plaza in L.A. Live from August 14 to 15.^[10] THQ revealed further details of the latest installment of their WWE SmackDown series, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011.^[11]

Event

Preliminary matches

The event opened with Dolph Ziggler defending the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Kofi Kingston. The match ended in a no-contest after The Nexus attacked both competitors.

Next, Alicia Fox defended the Divas Championship againstMelina. Melina executed a Snapmare Driver on Fox to win the title. Post match, Co- Women's Champion LayCool (Layla & Michelle McCool) attacked Melina.

After that, The Straight Edge Society (CM Punk, Joey Mercury and Luke Gallows) faced Big Show in a Handicap match. In the end, Big Show delivered a KO Punch to Gallows and delivered a Chokeslam to Mercury onto Gallows, pinning Mercury to win the match.

Main event matches

In the fourth match, Sheamus defended the WWE Championship against Randy Orton in a Last Chance match. In the climax, Sheamus executed a Brogue Kick on Orton for a near-fall. Sheamus retrieved a chair and fought with the referee over the chair, resulting in Orton winning by disqualification. After the match, Orton hit a Low Blow on Sheamus and delivered an RKO on top of the broadcast table to Sheamus.

In the fifth match, Kane defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Rey Mysterio. The match ended when Kane executed a Chokeslam on Mysterio to retain the title. After the match, Kane attempted to put Mysterio in a casket but The Undertaker was revealed to be inside the casket. Kane delivered a Tombstone Piledriver to Undertaker.

The Nexus at SummerSlam.

In the main event, The Nexus (Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater, David Otunga, Skip Sheffield, Michael Tarver and Darren Young) faced Team WWE (John Cena, Edge, Chris Jericho, Bret Hart, R-Truth, John Morrison and Daniel Bryan) in a 7-on-7 Elimination tag team match. Young was eliminated by Bryan after submitting to the Yes! Lock. Tarver was eliminated by Morrison after Starship Pain. Morrison was eliminated by Sheffield after a Lariat. R-Truth was eliminated by Sheffield after a Lariat. Hart was eliminated after being disqualified for hitting Sheffield with a chair. Sheffield was eliminated by Edge after a Codebreaker by Jericho and a Spear. Otunga was eliminated by Jericho after submitting to the Walls of Jericho. Jericho was eliminated by Slater after Sweetness. Edge was eliminated by Slater with a Schoolboy. Slater was eliminated by Bryan after submitting to the Yes! Lock. Bryan was eliminated by Barrett after The Miz hit Bryan with the Money in the Bank Briefcase. In the climax, Barrett delivered a DDT onto the floor to Cena but failed to score the victory. Gabriel was eliminated by Cena after missing a 450 Splash. Barrett was eliminated by Cena after submitting to the STF, giving the win to Team WWE.

Aftermath

The following night on Raw, the anonymous general manager of Raw announced that members of The Nexus would face off against members of Team WWE in a series of matches throughout the evening. In order to find the "weak links" of the group, The Nexus' leader, Wade Barrett, declared that anyone in The Nexus who lost their match would be exiled from the group. Ultimately, each Nexus member won their match except for Darren Young, who lost to John Cena via submission. After the match, the remaining six members brutally attacked Young, symbolizing his banishment from The Nexus. According to Jericho and Edge, the original plan was to put Barrett over. At the end, Jericho and Edge would lose against Nexus. However, Cena asked for a change and he defeated Barrett and Gabriel. Jericho said that it was a bad idea, because Barrett wasn't pushed.^[12]

Reception

The Sun's Rob McNichol said the event "failed to deliver in the ring, leaving us feeling lukewarm at best." He also stated that Daniel Bryan's return and the high-quality main event saved the PPV because of the first 2 hours. Summing up, he gave the event a 5.5 out of 10, which was lower than the 8 out of 10 the previous year's event had received^[13]

Results

7 on 7 Elimination Tag Eliminations

References

External links

• Official SummerSlam website
• Official SummerSlam minisite