“Angles” – Summer of Nexus

For the return of Angles, I thought I’d take a look back at some of the moments of the summer in the WWE and my take on it.

Most people mark the official start of Summer as Memorial Day.  Using that as a starting point is actually very good when looking back at the WWE.  Before Monday Night Raw gets on the air, Edge comes out to address the fans.  Evan Bourne then comes out and challenges Edge for his spot at the forthcoming Fatal Four Way PPV.  We join in the midst of their confrontation.  They both get some licks in, but ultimately Edge spears the hell out of Bourne and goes on to talk about Fatal Four Way.  Eventually, Randy Orton would come out and make an impact without saying a word.  Edge & Orton already had heat and a history with each other, but this added fuel to the fire as their worked towards the bit WWE Title match at the next PPV.  For me, this open really grabbed me.  I remember sitting down to watch and review Raw that Monday, preparing the Word document while the credits for NCIS rolled and thinking “Holy shit, they’re off an running!”  Needless to say, the summer, for the WWE, started with a bang.  Watching the beginning of the Memorial Day episode of Monday Night Raw gave me hope that this could potentially be a great summer.  One week later would solidify that thought, at least on paper.

Fast forward to Friday Night Smackdown.  While Raw started off hot and potentially gains many people’s interests going into the summer, Smackdown started off with one of the lamest storylines I’ve seen in a while.  One week prior, Rey Mysterio and Taker squared off.  Rey and Taker collided in the ring, which resulted in a concussion and a broken orbital bone for the Phenom.  To write Taker off the show while he recovered, the WWE decided that someone was able to take the man they constantly build up as someone who cannot die; the man who has mystical powers and instills fear in just about every other being that crosses his path; someone was able to catch this man off guard and leave him in a vegetative state.  By now, we all know who that truly was, but I’ll get to that later.  In the mean time, with his “brother” out, Kane took it upon himself to find out just who could do this to the Undertaker.  I’m a fan of the Undertaker.  I’ve always felt that he’s had great skill and the theatrics that has surrounded him throughout his career has complimented those skills nicely.  So, knowing how he’s always been billed and built up, it seemed incredibly lame that someone could “leave him in a vegetative state.”

At this point, Smackdown was starting to bug me for other reasons.  Jack Swagger held the World Heavyweight Championship, yet while the WWE had faith enough to put the title around Swaggers waist, they didn’t have the faith to push him in the actual main event.  This goes a long way in saying something about how they truly felt about Swagger.  To me, it seemed like he wasn’t good enough to hold the main event match.  Which begged the question:  “If he’s not good enough for the main event, how is he even remotely good enough to hold the title?”  Answer, he wasn’t.  Swagger was basically a transitional champion; however, he held the belt through several PPV title defenses, including Randy Orton, Edge, Chris Jericho, and The Big Show before losing the belt to Rey Mysterio at Fatal Four Way.  During the time with the title, Swagger’s mic skills evolved, and I really latched on to him as a champion.  Yet, World Wrestling Entertainment continued with the mixed signals.  He could defeat four of the best wrestlers in the business, but he’s not good enough to headline the show he represents?

Smackdown really went downhill for the summer, and it started with the push, or lack of one, for their World Heavyweight Champion.  Then it evolved into Kane’s endless pursuit of tracking down Undertaker’s assailant, even though it was actually him.  The WWE had a great build around Rey Mysterio and CM Punk that could have, no, should have carried them to SummerSlam, but they squandered that away after Punk lost his hair.  They even put a mask on the Straight-Edge Savior that would have added even more heat between the two of them.  Mask vs. Mask, Mask vs. World Heavyweight Championship, these are the matches that would have been perfect.  But that’s not the way they wanted to go, instead, they wanted to have Kane track down his brother’s assailant, and push him into the World Heavyweight Championship so he can face off against Taker one last time upon the Dead Man’s return.  I’m not as upset with this as it may seem.  Again, I’ll revisit this later.

We move through the weekend following the announcement that Taker was left into a vegetative state and onto the best Raw moment in probably 6-10 years.  June 7^th, 2010 marked what looked like a rebirth of the Attitude Era.  Ultimately, it would prove to be tame, the story would have ups and downs, some memorable moments, but really, what looked like the start of the best storyline in years fizzled out.  June 7^th, Wade Barrett, first ever winner of NXT, marched the other 7 NXT rookies down to the ring.  They took out members of the Straight Edge Society, John Cena, Jerry Lawler, Justin Roberts, and others.  Michael Cole escaped the fray.  They decimated Cena in an 8-on-1 assault.  They took apart the ring.  It was the best ending to Raw in years.

Several things would happen over the next few weeks.  The most shocking to all us internet geeks was the firing of Bryan Danielson (aka Daniel Bryan).  This came just days after the NXT assault on Raw.  Word on the street was that Bryan had violated an unwritten policy that has been around since the tragic circumstances surrounding Chris Benoit’s death.  On the air, Daniel Bryan had attacked and eventually choked Justin Roberts with his own tie.  The image of Roberts choking goes against this unwritten policy, yet its ok for wrestlers to choke one another in the ring ropes and things of that nature?

The internet would buzz wildly with outrage over American Dragon’s firing as well as speculation for the true reason for the firing.  One rumor said that the call came from Linda McMahon’s political camp, saying that this would put her in a bad light.  Linda has distanced herself from her husband’s company, however, so this was not the case.  The other rumor was that Mattel executives saw the attack and made the call.  I tend to believe this one more.  However, Bryan would return at SummerSlam, only about 3 months after his firing, leaving everyone to speculate whether this was all just an overly elaborate ruse.  If it was, it’s the best one the WWE has pulled on us, probably ever.  If it was not, then they listened to the fans and brought AmDrag back into the company to appease us internet Smart Marks.

That was the biggest happening surrounding the NXT Rookies assault.  The next biggest things are somewhat tied together.  First of all, we found out their name, the Nexus.  Their leader was the first winner of NXT, Wade Barrett.  He had some demands for then Raw General Manager Bret Hart.  The Nexus was against management.  Barrett wanted contracts for him and his 6 followers.  The Hitman would refuse, which got him assaulted and ultimately relieved of his GM duties.  Raw would get a new GM, a computer.  Ok, technically, the GM is not a laptop computer, but someone who wants to remain anonymous.  Instead of being on the show, this anonymous GM sends e-mails which Michael Cole reads to the wrestlers and the fans.  He would give the Nexus members contracts, allowing them to become permanent members of the Raw roster.

Contracts in hand, Nexus & John Cena would be at odds for the next couple months.  Nexus would also attack Edge, Chris Jericho, and several others.  The GM computer would, at one point, ban either Raw members of Nexus members from touching one another because of all the tension.  The Nexus members, specifically, were not allowed to touch Raw Superstars.  However, WWE Legends were fair game.  Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat was the target of their assault that night.  Several other Legends would come to Ricky’s aid, including Arn Anderson & Jerry Lawler, only to be accosted themselves.  Nexus left Steamboat down in the ring.  The Dragon would later be hospitalized with neck and shoulder pain.  Steamboat suffered bleeding in the brain and there was dispute as to whether or not it was an aneurysm.  He would spend a month in the hospital.  Whether this hospitalization was a result of the attack on Nexus is still up in the air, though the WWE says the two are not directly related.

Over on Smackdown, Rey Mysterio wins his 2^nd World Heavyweight Championship at Fatal Four Way.  He successfully defended it against Jack Swagger in their rematch.  This would have been a perfect opportunity to bring CM Punk back into the World Title picture.  However, they had different plans.  Kane had still been trying to track down Undertaker’s assailant.  At Money in the Bank, the Big Red Monster would win the Smackdown briefcase and cash it in later that night on World Heavyweight Champion Rey Mysterio.  He’d do so successfully, too.  With the WHC firmly around Kane’s waist, Smackdown builds towards SummerSlam.  Mysterio looks to get his rematch from Kane, while the Champ accuses Rey of taking out his “brother.”  Things build to a head, and Rey finally points the finger at Kane, the true perpetrator in Undertaker’s vegetative state (of course, we all know that Rey broke Taker’s orbital bone in a match on Smackdown).  Kane successfully defended the WHC and continued to assault the Ultimate Underdog following the match.  He then tried to stuff Rey in a casket, but it turned out the casket was already occupied by the returning Undertaker.  I didn’t personally see the PPV, but I’ve been told that Taker looked bad and out of shape.  He had a good reason to look bad, though, with an injury that didn’t allow him to do much in the way of training.  Kane bested Undertaker when they came to blows, and that’s been the story ever since, Kane now, apparently having Taker’s powers and turning the tables on his “brother.”  I don’t have a real issue with this.  While Kane and Taker have been done several times since Kane’s debut, this is a bit of a twist with Kane now playing the mind games and Taker reeling from them.  But Undertaker’s return to the ring wasn’t the biggest surprise of SummerSlam.

The biggest surprise came on the Raw side of things.  For weeks, there had been the formation and tension between members of “Team Raw.”  John Cena, losing the title to Sheamus thanks to the Nexus, had put together a team to take on the Nexus in a 7-on-7 elimination match.  The team initially consisted of John Cena, Edge, Chris Jericho, The Great Khali, R-Truth, John Morrison, & Bret Hart.  Edge & Chris Jericho would leave Team WWE one week, but come back the next.  Khali would get attacked by the Nexus, effectively removing him from Team Raw.  Miz offered his services, but ultimately, the 7^th man was revealed to be Daniel Bryan making his return to the WWE at SummerSlam.  Bryan’s return would be most helpful, as he eliminated both Darrin Young and Heath Slater with his LeBell Lock before being eliminated by Wade Barrett, assisted by The Miz and his Money in the Bank Briefcase.

The Miz and Daniel Bryan are now renewing the tension between them from NXT Season 1.  They are building towards a probable match for the United States Championship at Night of Champions on September 19^th.  That will be a fantastic match, in my opinion.  I’m looking forward to seeing them collide and may have to order the PPV.

That is basically my look back at what I’m calling the “Summer of Nexus.”  I hit the things that stood out in my mind as memorable, and really it doesn’t seem like all that much.  Semi-WWE related, I got to meet Jerry “The King” Lawler at the local ballpark this past July.  That was a cool experience.  Coming up next week will be the return of “Wrestling Through the Ages” a review of material on WWE’s Classics On Demand service.  The plan at the moment for the next Angles column is to relate my first experience as a commentator for an independent wrestling company, Pro Wrestling Next.  If you’re in the Quad City Area, come on down to the BierStube in Moline, IL for what looks to be a good show this Friday, Sept. 10^th.  Bell time is 8pm!  Until next week, thanks for reading.

I live in the Midwest, a hotbed for Independent Wrestling. I have worked in Television for the last 13+ years. I have been a fan of wrestling my whole life, growing up with names like Hulk Hogan, Shawn Michaels, and Randy Savage. I was a big Hulkamaniac early on, but now I'm not sure why. During the last several years, I have become a bigger and biger fan of independent wrestling, watching Ring of Honor and slowly immersing myself in other Indy companies. During much of 2009, I had the opportunity to work with a small company based in the city I live in, Pro Wrestling Next, where I ran camera at ringside, writing columns for their message boards, as well as helping promote the shows. When PWN closed, I took a month or two away from working with wresting, only to come back and focus on my writing.

Christopher Zack

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