Monday Night RAW – 8/16/10

Now that Team WWE has proven that they are greater than The Nexus, what is the next move for the group?  Will they just walk away or will they fight back harder than ever to avenge their SummerSlam loss?  Find out all the details right here:

The Nexus to the ring.  Wade Barrett takes the mic and says “That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger… We didn’t win at SummerSlam, but we defeated six of the best men that RAW had to offer… We are still ready to dominate the WWE… There will be more pain and misery for anyone that gets in our way…”

• Interrupted by John Cena who comes out to the stage.  Cena makes a joke at their expense and reiterates to the crowd that Barrett tapped out to the STF to lose the match for Nexus.  He also brings up the fact that Daniel Bryan returned and eliminated nearly half of the Nexus team by himself.  Cena says that he knows that they can function well as a group, but would love to see how they do as individuals… He then disses every one of them individually… “Your group is human and SummerSlam will be remembered as the day Nexus became history!”

• The Nexus looks a little shaken by Cena’s comments, as we get an email from the anonymous General Manager read by Michael Cole.  The GM wants to have all members of Nexus take on all members of Team WWE tonight in individual matches.
• Wade Barrett believes that this is a blessing because not only will they take out members of Team WWE, but be able to weed out the weak links in Nexus.
• David Otunga chimes in that the same rule goes for Barrett too because someone would gladly take his place as leader.
• Another email comes through.  The GM says that all Nexus members can choose who they want to face, except Barrett.  He’ll be wrestling next against his former mentor, Chris Jericho.

Chris Jericho vs. Wade Barrett
WINNER: Barrett via pin fall after countering a Code Breaker and hitting his Fireman’s Slam

Justin Roberts introduces tonight’s guest hosts, actors from the movie, Going The Distance, Justin Long, Jason Sudekis & Charlie Day).  They play to the crowd for a few moments and introduce The Hart Dynasty.

• Harts come out to the ring and instantly we have another email from the GM.  It reads that the Unified Tag Team Titles will now be known as the Tag Team Championships, and that they’re going to be presented the new titles by Bret Hart.
• Bret comes out with two new titles, bronze/gold looking with spartan helmets on them.
• Nexus appears on the TitanTron.  They inform Bret that since he was on Team WWE, his opponent tonight will be Justin Gabriel.

Michael Tarver vs. Daniel Bryan
WINNER: Tarver via pin fall roll up off a distraction

• Mid match, The Miz & Alex Riley (Miz’s season 2 NXT rookie) come out to the ring and Bryan looks at them and gets caught.
• Post match, a three on one beat down occurs, capped off by a Skull Crushing Finale from the Miz on Bryan.

Backstage: Josh Matthews catches up with Miz and Riley after the assault.  Miz explains his actions saying that on season 1 of NXT, the WWE Universe heckled him believing that Daniel Bryan (10 year indy veteran) should’ve been The Miz’s pro, and that Team WWE at SummerSlam disrespected him by putting Bryan in his place… Miz is pissed.

• Alex Riley puts in his two cents saying that he’s going to win NXT and it’s all because of the Miz.

Backstage: Nexus is chatting in the locker room.  Darren Young makes an announcement saying that he’s going to challenge John Cena, and that he wants payback for the brutal attack he suffered at Cena’s hands a month ago.

• Otunga gives him credit for stepping up and knowing what the consequences could be.

Justin Gabriel vs. Bret Hart is supposed to happen.  Gabriel to the ring, but another email from the GM comes in.  The GM says that Bret Hart will NOT be competing tonight, but he’s named a suitable replacement…

Justin Gabriel vs. Randy Orton
WINNER: Gabriel via count out

• Mid match, Orton was waiting to hit an RKO, but Sheamus runs to ringside.  Orton sees him, and pounces to the attack.  They fight through the crowd, and the referee keeps counting because Sheamus technically didn’t hit Orton as of yet (I guess).  Leads to a count out.
• Post match, Orton back to the ring and hits Gabriel with an RKO.  Then Orton turns his focus back to Sheamus and waffles him with six chair shots to the back.  After the referees get him away, Orton runs back to hit Sheamus with an RKO.

Skip Sheffield & David Otunga vs. John Morrison & R-Truth
WINNERS: Sheffield/Otunga via pin fall after Sheffield hit JoMo with a Lariat

Melina, Gail Kim & Eve Torres vs. Alicia Fox, Maryse & Jillian
WINNERS: Alicia/Maryse/Jillian via pin fall after Jillian slammed Eve off top turnbuckle while she was going for a moonsault

Backstage: Josh Matthews is with Edge and asks about being part of Team WWE at SummerSlam.  Edge says it wasn’t surprising that they won…

• Interrupted by Heath Slater.  Slater says that they’re squaring off later, and how about they make some sort of deal since he’s looked up to and modeled himself after Edge.
• Edge doesn’t want the record books to show that he lost to a weak, ginger, Edge wannabe, and starts to walk away.
• Slater clubs him with a forearm from behind.

Heath Slater vs. Edge
WINNER: Slater via count out

• Mid match, Edge had bout well in hand.  On outside, Edge waited too long for Slater to get up for a Spear.  Slater avoided it by getting back in ring and beating the 10-count.
• Post match, Edge hit him with a Spear anyways.

Backstage: Guest host, Justin Long, is talking to The Great Khali & Ranjin Singh.  Khali asks him for some long distance dating advice, and shows him a picture of his girlfriend back in India (not shown to camera).  Long tries to hold in his disgust at the photo.  His co-guest hosts walk in and see the picture.  They don’t realize that it’s Khali’s girlfriend and make comments about her ugly looks.  Khali gets sort of pissed and they leave.

• Justin Long says that Khali sees the true beauty in this woman… Khali then says, “nah, she’s butt ugly!”  Then he leaves with The Bella Twins.

Video Package: SummerSlam Recall – 2010 SummerSlam week leading up to the PPV.

Darren Young vs. John Cena
WINNER: Cena via submission after locking on the STF

• Before match, The Nexus to the stage for a better look at the match.
• Post match, The Nexus to ring side.  They allow Cena to leave, but then pounce on Darren Young and just destroy him.

QUICK THOUGHTS:

When I first heard that Nexus was going to be in action against Team WWE I thought to myself that this could play out a few ways:

1. Barrett would be the only one to lose.
2. Barrett would be the only one to win.
3. The weakest person would be the only one to lose.

Sure enough it was only the weakest person to get the boot, and that just happened to be Darren Young.  The practically did the only things they could to make most of the Nexus’ victories believable, outside interference and count outs.

I did like the way that the Nexus just essentially killed off Darren Young like a pack of hyenas putting an injured member out of his misery.  That was fitting.