SummerSlam (2010)

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). 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.

On the July 19 episode of Raw, Randy Orton defeated Edge and Chris Jericho in a Triple Threat match to face Sheamus for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. On the August 9 episode of Raw, Raw General Manager added two stipulations to the match, stating that anyone who interfered would be suspended indefinitely and if Orton lost, he wouldn't receive another title match while Sheamus is champion.

On the May 28 episode of SmackDown, Kane's brother, The Undertaker defeated Rey Mysterio to qualify for the World Heavyweight Championship Fatal 4-Way match at Fatal 4-Way in June. But during the match, The Undertaker suffered a legit injury, forcing him to be written out of the match, being found in a "vegetative state" by Kane over Memorial Day weekend. In result, Kane accused and attacked many wrestlers of incapacitating his brother. Mysterio won a Battle Royal to replace The Undertaker, and went on to defeat former champion Jack Swagger, Big Show and CM Punk at Fatal 4-Way to win the title. At the Money in the Bank, Kane won a Money in the Bank ladder match and cashed in his contract on Mysterio, after Mysterio had defeated Swagger to retain, and defeated Mysterio for the title. On the July 23 episode of SmackDown, Mysterio defeated Swagger in a 2 out-of-3 falls match to face Kane for the title 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.

On the June 7 episode of Raw, The Nexus debuted as a collective unit, attacking Cena, CM Punk, and members of ringside, on the pretext of demanding guaranteed WWE contracts for all of them. The next week on Raw, former General Manager Bret Hart refused and in result, was attacked and incapacitated by Nexus, forcing WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to appoint a new General Manager, who ultimately signed all Nexus members to the show. The Nexus continued to frequently attack many wrestlers, crew, and legends to show their dominance, although they focused mainly on John Cena, costing him the WWE Championship twice. On the July 19 episode of Raw, Cena confronted Nexus, who offered him a place in their stable, which he refused and instead revealed that he had assembled a team, christened Team WWE, including Edge, Chris Jericho, John Morrison, R-Truth, The Great Khali, and Bret Hart, to face The Nexus in a 7-man tag team match at SummerSlam. On the July 26 episode of Raw, the anonymous general manager made the match an elimination format. After 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 next week, however, when The Nexus tried to attack Team WWE and Edge and Jericho, and The Great Khali, 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 SmackDown pitted Big Show and 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 Over the Limit, Punk lost a match to Rey Mysterio, forcing Punk to go bald in result of the stipulation. In order to conceal his baldness, Punk began 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, 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 next 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. THQ revealed further details of the latest installment of their WWE SmackDown series, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011.

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 faced Randy Orton for the WWE Championship in a Last Chance match. In the climax, Sheamus Brogue Kicked 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 Blew Sheamus Low and delivered an RKO on top of the broadcast table to Sheamus.

In the fifth match, Kane faced Rey Mysterio for the World Heavyweight Championship. The match ended when Kane Chokeslammed 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.

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. Bryan eliminated Young with the LeBell Lock. Morrison eliminated Tarver after Starship Pain. Sheffield eliminated Morrison after a Lariat. Sheffield eliminated R-Truth after a Lariat. Hart was disqualified for hitting Sheffield with a chair. Edge eliminated Sheffield after a Codebreaker by Jericho and a Spear. Jericho eliminated Otunga the Walls of Jericho submission. Slater eliminated Jericho after Sweetness. Slater eliminated Edge with a Schoolboy. Bryan eliminated Slater with the LeBell Lock. Barrett eliminated Bryan 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 didn't score the win. Cena eliminated Gabriel after Gabriel missed a 450 splash. Cena eliminated Barrett after the STF submission, giving his team the win.

Aftermath

The next 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 by 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.

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