Kevin’s Random Reviews: WWE Bragging Rights 2010

WWE Bragging Rights
October 24th, 2010 | Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota | Attendance: 7,702

Ah, Bragging Rights. The special Pay-Per-View that pitted Raw Superstars against Smackdown Superstars during the era of the brand split. They’d compete in undercard matches, as well as a big multi-man tag for, well, bragging rights. This year, there was an added factor after the arrival of the Nexus. Even the logo for the show featured the Nexus symbol. This was the second and final Bragging Rights event, though the concept was later used for Survivor Series when the brand split was brought back.

Commentary ran down some of the card before the action, which was a very WCW thing to do. Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and Matt Striker handled commentary duties.

WWE United States Champion Daniel Bryan vs. WWE Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler w/ Vickie Guerrero
Neither title is on the line. Bryan was fresh off his first title win. Dolph tried taking things to the mat but got schooled. He hid behind Vickie outside, so Bryan just jumped over her to take him out with a knee. The hits kept coming, with Bryan hitting a stiff corner dropkick. Dolph took control, while Lawler made jokes at Vickie’s expense. Striker got in some jokes too, even though I recall him loving Vickie. Dolph kept the pressure on Bryan and grounded him. Bryan had an opening, but missed a dropkick and was back in trouble. He made a real comeback with kicks and knee strikes. His springboard single leg dropkick looked great. Both guys were bumping like crazy for one another. They went up for a super back suplex, but Dolph shifted and landed on Bryan. They both picked up near falls from it in a great sequence. Bryan escaped the sleeper and they collided on sick looking cross body attempts. After exchanging flash pins, Dolph hit the Fameasser, only for Bryan to get his foot on the bottom rope. Bryan escaped another sleeper, angering Dolph. He slapped Bryan around and talked smack, leading to him getting pulled into the LeBelle Lock for the finish in 16:14. Excellent opener and my personal favorite match of 2010. They came out wanting to steal the show and bumped like hell for one another. They put together a quality match with stiff shots, a hot crowd and great near falls. Awesome.[****¼]

Backstage, Miz bragged to Alex Riley and took credit for Bryan’s success. Sheamus and CM Punk arrived to argue about being Raw team captain. Santino showed up for some comic relief in the midst of all this.

The completely forgotten Tag Team Champions, the Dashing Ones (Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre), came out to complain about a lack of competition. The tag division was in the toilet in 2010. The anonymous Raw GM heard enough and booked them in a match.

WWE Tag Team Championships: The Dashing Ones [c] vs. David Otunga and John Cena
With John Cena being in the Nexus against his will, Wade Barrett forced him to team with Otunga. The least they could’ve done was pair Cena with Justin Gabriel. Otunga insisted on starting and it didn’t go well. Cena fared much better, so Otunga wanted back in. That allowed Cody to hit Cena from behind and set up a short heat segment. Cena taking the beating in a team with Otunga is a wild thought. Cena made the comeback and did the “you can’t see me” to his partner. Cody blind tagged in, which was a mistake as Cena made him tap to the STF in 6:26. This told the story it had to of Otunga and Cena’s issues, but it didn’t make for an interesting match. [*]

David Otunga celebrated with both titles, before giving one to his partner. Cena planted him with the AA for good measure.

A commercial ran for Knucklehead, the Big Show movie about him being…big.

Goldust w/ Aksana vs. Ted Dibiase w/ Maryse
Aksana and Goldust! NXT SEASON 3! Dibiase got interviewed before the match and called out Goldust for being weird. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen an on-screen couple that had less chemistry than Ted and Maryse. Dibiase held serve in the early stages, getting me to pop when he adopted his dad’s fist drop combo. That was about the only interesting part of his offense. Goldust rallied, only to miss a cross body and take a hard spill outside. Goldust avoided Dream Street, before they colliding and both were down. Maryse took time to attack Aksana, who was more interested in making sure her dress stayed down than defending herself. It all looked bad. Goldust was distracted when he got up, so Ted won with a DDT in 7:37. Nothing match. Goldust tried and made sure to take a few good bumps, but Dibiase was miscast in this role and worked dull offense. [*¾]

Aksana tackled Maryse, kept her dress down and stole the Million Dollar Title. She fake seduced Ted, allowing Goldust to hit the Final Cut.

WWE Divas Championship: Layla [c] w/ Michelle McCool vs. Natalya
LayCool cut a promo heading to the ring about Minnesota men liking big boned women, so Natalya will fit right in. Their jokes weren’t always good, but they had great delivery. They also claimed Brett Favre was sending them texts. Yikes. Natalya busted out an impressive stalling suplex with squats. If she insists on doing Hart Foundation offense, I appreciate when she throws her own twist on it, like there. McCool’s attempted interference backfired as she was sent into the guardrail. Natalya’s power was too much for Layla at each turn. She went for the Sharpshooter, but McCool pulled Layla away. LayCool went to leave, so Nattie brought Layla back. She wasted time yelling at McCool, who responded with a cheap big boot. Layla covered to retain in 4:51. This wasn’t bad, though it didn’t have much behind it to be any good. Layla was outmatched, but had the numbers game. Basic stuff. [*¼]

World Heavyweight Championship Buried Alive Match: Kane [c] w/ Paul Bearer vs. The Undertaker
Josh Matthews wasted time explaining the rules before this got started. Considering the stipulation, participants and Paul Bearer, I’m not sure if this is 2010 or 1999. Taker jumped Kane during his entrance, leading to a brawl around the arena. From ringside to the audience, Taker wailed on him. They brought some chairs into play, as Kane turned the tide a bit. After what felt like an eternity, they fought their way to the gravesite. If it seems like I didn’t write a lot so far, that’s because not a lot happened, but it’s been quite a while. As Taker got in trouble by the grave, he pulled Kane into the Hell’s Gate submission. Kane tapped out, but it means nothing in this kind of match. Taker rolled Kane into the grave, but went after Bearer instead of trying to win. Out came the Nexus, for reasons nobody knew. Taker handled them with ease until going for a Chokeslam on Barrett. The rest of Nexus jumped him, while Bearer helped Kane out of the grave. Kane struck Taker with the urn, knocking him into the grave. Nexus, Kane and a bulldozer all buried Taker (with the urn, even though that’s where his powers come from) to end this at 16:48. A shit show. It was just Kane and Taker throwing lots of punches and kicks for far too long. Taker was pretty banged up, so he gets some leeway. After an awesome start, this show has gone down the tubes. [¼*]

Randy Orton was interviewed about John Cena possibly getting involved in his match later. He threatened Cena with an RKO if he did.

Bragging Rights Match: Team Raw (CM Punk, Ezekiel Jackson, John Morrison, The Miz, R-Truth, Santino Marella and Sheamus) w/ Alex Riley vs. Team Smackdown (Alberto Del Rio, Big Show, Edge, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio and Tyler Reks) w/ Hornswoggle
Tyler Reks was such a random addition to this match. He got the start and had some even exchanges with Morrison. Santino got the tag and was less impressive. His Cobra attempt was turned into a Burning Hammer that sent him packing at 2:38. Jackson and Show had the beefy battle Vince probably loved. Following that, Kofi got beat up for a while, with Sheamus doing most of the damage. Kofi came back with the Boom Drop and nearly eliminated Sheamus with SOS, but he had his foot on the rope. Sheamus hit the High Cross to even the score at 6:51. Rey and Punk renewed their rivalry from earlier in the year, which the crowd enjoyed. It didn’t last long, as other guys like Del Rio and Swagger got time to shine. Morrison sent former World Champion Swagger packing with Starship Pain in 13:07. Reks went after Morrison, but once Sheamus got tagged, fell to a Brogue Kick at 14:27. Captain Show didn’t like that, so he went after Sheamus. Sheamus knocked over Hornswoggle, so Show chased him in the aisle. They both got counted out at 15:25. It was down to Edge and Del Rio against Truth, Morrison, Punk, Jackson and Miz. Edge found a way to get rid of Truth with a Spear in 16:40. Morrison missed Starship Pain and Edge also took him out with a Spear at 17:07. THE COMEBACK WAS ON! Punk went for the GTS, but Edge got free. This time, his Spear missed. Del Rio tagged himself in, only to fall to a backslide at 18:03. Punk owns ADR, a year before beating him at Survivor Series. Del Rio didn’t care about losing. WAIT! REY MYSTERIO WAS STILL ALIVE! Edge & Rey against Punk, Zeke and Miz. Edge played face in peril, while the three Raw heels worked him over. However, Punk was getting very positive chants. Rey finally got the hot tag and went at it with Punk. Following a series of rollups, Rey hit the 619 and slingshot splash to eliminate Punk at 24:06. TWO ON TWO! Zeke came in to run through Rey. LUCHA UNDERGROUND! Rey survived and hit the 619. He slipped on the splash, yet still scored the pin in 26:23. Miz attacked quickly, but got in trouble quickly. Riley jumped in front of the 619 to sacrifice himself. Miz got two after getting his knees up on Rey’s splash and called for the Skull Crushing Finale. Rey rolled free and tagged Edge, who won via Spear in 27:54. That was fun. It’s hard to have a bad multi-man tag like this. A few of the eliminations felt meaningless and rapid fire, but overall, it was enjoyable. Plus, I got a kick out of former Tag Champs Edge and Rey reuniting to win it. [***½]

WWE Championship: Randy Orton [c] vs. Wade Barrett w/ John Cena
Wade threatened to fire Cena if he didn’t win tonight. No pressure, John. This was the biggest test for Wade so far, as he’s in a singles PPV main event about three months after debuting on the main roster. Cena was the focal point early, with Orton glaring at him and Barrett scolding him for not helping. Barrett took control to work a lifeless heat segment. That’s a problem, but it’s heightened by Orton being rather bad at the sympathetic babyface part. After a ref bump during an Orton rally, Cena hopped on the apron. Orton sent Wade into him, which triggered a Nexus run in. They all beat on Orton as the crowd chanted for Cena. He attacked the Nexus members and Orton planted Slater with the RKO. Cena explained that he did it because he didn’t want Wade to lose via DQ. Orton got the babyface fire going, which he’s better at. As Orton went for the RKO, Cena hopped in and planted Barrett with the AA for the DQ in 14:32. Lame match, lame finish. Why not just let Nexus get called for the DQ? At least that way, Wade can’t blame you. The match was boring as hell until the run-ins. [*½]

Post-match, Orton dropped Cena with the RKO. He gave Barrett one for good measure.

4.0

The final score: review Poor

The 411

Talk about a two match show. Bryan/Ziggler was one of the best matches of 2010, while the Raw vs. Smackdown tag was quality fun. Everything else on this show is quite dire. The main event was boring, the Divas Title match was just there and Goldust/Dibiase did nothing for me. Throw in a shit Tag Title match and a drag of a Kane/Undertaker battle and you’ve got a lot of stuff that can be skipped. Just watch Bryan/Ziggler and the big tag.