The expectations were mixed for the 23rd annual WWE Summerslam pay per view. On the one hand, the brilliantly devised story of the Nexus invasion was reaching its peak (or at least the peak of its initial chapter), on the other hand, what is supposed to be the company’s second biggest show of the year, looked to come up short from the under-card standpoint, offering a mere 6 matches on the show and leaving some great stars off the show all together. Riding the hype of the big 7 man tag team elimination main event, the WWE entered its biggest show of the summer.
Matches:
Kofi Kingston v. Dolph Ziggler (Intercontinental title match)
Dolph found himself dominating the majority of the match, until Kofi was able to turn the tables. After this point the match became a high paced, high energy, back and forth affair. Kofi attempted to blindside Dolph with the Trouble in Paradise, but missed causing Dolph to lock on the sleeper hold. This didn’t last long however, as the Nexus made their first appearance of the night, attacking both wrestlers. Dolph was quickly disposed of by being kicked out of the ring, but Kofi would be surrounded by the Nexus. When he came to grips with who was around him, Kofi launched a short lived attack by nailing David Otunga. The Nexus quickly descended on Kofi with a trademark group beatdown, followed by a shoulder slam from Wade Barrett. The Nexus surrounded Kofi, as Barrett explained to the crowd that this a little taste of what was to come later. He claimed that the still undetermined 7th member would not make a difference because the WWE roster was too divided to be able to get together to sign a birthday card, not to mention act like a cohesive unit. The Nexus then stormed out leaving Kofi laid out in the ring.
Melina v. Alicia Fox
Melina made a triumphant return from injury with her first pay per view appearance in this match for the Diva’s championship. In a back and forth contest, Melina managed to win the championship with a face plant on Fox. The emotional Melina was interviewed by Josh Matthews after the match, only to be interrupted by Layla and Michelle, Laycool, who were sporting two halves of the woman’s championship. They wanted to take pose with Melina for pictures for Twitter, only to be assaulted by Melina for their attempts. Laycool quickly reversed Melina’s attack and were joined by Alicia Fox, who they then also attacked and quickly disposed of. Melina was thrown to the outside where Michelle nailed with her with a kick into the announcer’s table.
Big Show v. CM Punk, Joseph Mercury and Luke Gallows
The Big Show had his soft cast cut off of his hand upon his entrance and Punk’s group quickly attacked. Big Show fought back beating on Mercury and Gallows, while CM Punk cowered in the corner. Finally faced with the necessity of stepping into the match, CM Punk reluctantly entered only to be dominated by Show. The turning point came when the two wrestlers were on the outside and after tripping Punk on the steel steps, Show attempted to nail him with a loud slap. Punk moved causing the giant to nail the steel steps with the injured hand. Punk’s group then took over and proceeded to triple team Show. After several minutes Show fought back causing CM Punk to abandon his straight edge followers and leave ringside. Show choke-slammed Mercury to get the pin.
The Miz:
The Miz made his way out and ranted about whether he is going to join team WWE to replace the injured Great Khali. He claimed that earlier in the day he was asked by every member of the team in their own way because they really wanted him to be part of the team.
Randy Orton vs. Sheamus (WWE Championship)
In a very physical matched that spanned the better part of 25 minutes, Randy Orton and WWE champion, Sheamus, battled in an evenly matched contest. However Sheamus, frustrated by his inability to pin Orton, headed to ringside and brought in a steel chair. The official attempted to take the Chair away from Sheaums and was thrown to the outside. The ref called for the bell disqualifying the champion. Sheamus wound up the chair waiting on Orton to get to his feet, but Orton was able to duck the shot and nail Sheamus with a low blow. Orton then armed himself with the chair, but decided against it, pulling Sheamus to the ouside instead and rolling him onto the announcer’s table. Orton mounted the table too, and waited on Sheamus to get to his feet, only to proceed to nail him with an RKO on the table. An intense Orton exited the arena. Officials attempted to help Sheamus, but he fought off the help and headed to the back himself.
Kane vs. Rey Mysterio (World Championship)
Kane wheeled a casket to ringside and opened to show Rey where he would end up. Rey attempted to approach the contest with high flying attacks, but Kane was too dominant and reversed these attempts quickly to take dominance of the match. Rey attempted several come backs only to be thwarted by the big red machine again and again. Mysterio was able to sneak in a few counters and pinfalls, but nothing was close enough. Kane opened the casket but unwittingly got nailed with the 619. An angry Kane shoved Mysterio who landed in the opened casket and was quick to scurry out and attempt another 619. Kane countered again and again, finally putting Rey away with a choke-slam. Kane then got on the microphone and claimed that now it was time for Rey to pay. He opened the casket and attempted to drag Rey into it. Rey fought back and after subduing him, Kane closed the casket and beat on Mysterio more, nailing with the tombstone. He dragged Mysterio over to the casket which swung open at the hand of the Undertaker who was finally inside. Undertaker existed and stared down his brother, with Kane pointing to Rey who was down in the corner. A sickly looking, weary, and coughing Undertaker knelt next to Rey and asked him why he did it. Mysterio could only say he was innocent. The Undertaker said he believed him but lifted Rey out of the corner with a choke. Then he signaled for the last ride but whipped around and looked at Kane, grabbing him by the throat. Kane grabbed his brother by the throat too and lifted Taker’s choking hand away from himself. Then nailed lifted the Undertaker up, nailing him with a Tombstone pile driver. A smiling Kane existed with his title as the surprisingly weak Undertaker lay in the center of the ring.
NEXUS v. Team WWE
Nexus made their way out first, then the participants of team WWE came forward starting with Cena, Edge, R-Truth, Chris Jericho, John Morrison, Bret Hart and finally the Miz. However, Cena got on the mic and cut off the Miz before he even made his way down the ramp claiming that they were not going to wait on someone to give them an answer the day of the show, and they all found a replacement who hates the Nexus as much as they do. He then announced that the 7th member of team WWE would be Daniel Brian! Brian, who was “fired” after the initial NEXUS attack several months ago because he choked the ring announcer, intensly made his way down to ringside and team WWE rushed the ring breaking out into a full fledged brawl with the NEXUS. Wade Barrett pulled the Nexus members to the outside to regroup. When the match got on its way, Daniel Brian started for team WWE and quickly disposed of Darren Young. With relatively quick tags, team WWE, minus Edge, Hart and Cena entered the match, and not long after, WWE got a 7 on 5 advantage when John Morrison eliminated Michael Tarver. Wade Barrett ordered Skip Shefield into the ring. He proceeded to dominate Morrison, who attempted to fight back only to be kicked in the head from behind by Justin Gabriel, causing Morrison to be eliminated. R-Truth took over but got nailed with a big clothesline by Shefield and was quickly eliminated too. NEXUS then took turns beating down Chris Jericho, who was finally able to reach his corner and tag in Bret Hart. Bret Hart locked in the sharpshooter on Heath Slater, but when Barrett slid a chair into the ring, Bret picked it up and used it on Skip Shefield, causing him to be disqualified. Edge came in and nailed Skip with the spear, eliminating him bringing the match to 4 on 4. For several minutes there were no eliminations, until Chris Jericho locked the walls of Jericho on David Otunga, giving the WWE a 4 on 3 advantage. Jericho then proceed to assault Heath Slater, but accidentally ran into John Cena, giving Slater the opportunity to roll up Jericho for the pin. Cena, who had yet to enter the match at that point, attempted to do so, but Edge cut him off and an argument ensued. Slater took advantage of that to roll up Jericho. An angry Edge nailed Cena off the ring apron where Edge and Jericho proceeded to assault him. Justin Gabriel tossed Cena into the Ring where NEXUS continued their assault on him. Cena was able to tag in Brian several minutes later who came out like a house of fire, taking it to NEXUS. The crowd stood solidly behind Brian as was rolled up by Heath Slater only to reverse the pin attempt into an arm bar submission, which Slater quickly tapped out too. As Brian was anticipating the next entrance of the NEXUS members, the Miz snuck in and nailed Brian with the money in the bank briefcase, causing Brian to be pinned by Wade Barrett. Barrett attacked Cena and took turns beating on him with Gabriel. Eventually Barrett laid Cena in the corner as Gabriel mounted the top ropes for the 450 splash. As he went for it Cena moved out of the way and quickly pinned the stunned Gabriel. Barrett attempted to quickly attack Cena who tripped the big Barrett, locked him in with the STF. It didn’t take long for Barrett to tap. Cena being the sole winner, allowed team WWE to claim While it was far from their best, WWE did manage to put on a pretty good main event to round out Summerslam.
Overall the show was underwhelming, but the highlight of the night had to be the return of Daniel Brian and his stunning in ring performance for team WWE. It will also be interesting to see where the WWE takes the NEXUS story line from this point forward as we move toward Night of Champions in September.
