WWE Bragging Rights 2010

Event Date: Sunday, 10/24/2010
Blu-ray Release Date: Tuesday, 11/23/2010

Michael Cole, Hall of Famer Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Matt Striker are on commentary.

~ Match Results and Star Ratings~

1. United States Champion Daniel Bryan defeats Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler (w/ Vickie Guerrero) in a non-title match 16:14. ***¾
2. John Cena & David Otunga defeat WWE Tag Team Champions Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre at 6:26 to retain the titles. The Dashing Ones had been the Champions since 9.19.10, and this was their third defense. *¼
3. Ted DiBiase (w/ Maryse) defeats Goldust (w/ Aksana) at 7:37. *¾
4. Unified WWE Divas Champion Layla (w/ Michelle McCool) defeats Natalya to retain the title at 4:51. LayCool have been the Champion since 9.19.10, and this is their third defense. *½
5. World Heavyweight Champion Kane (w/ Paul Bearer) defeats The Undertaker at 16:48 in a Buried Alive Match to retain the title. Kane has been the Champion since 7.18.10 and this was his fourth defense. ½*
6. Team SmackDown (Rey Mysterio, Big Show, Kofi Kingston, Edge, Jack Swagger, Alberto Del Rio & Tyler Reks) (w/ Hornswoggle) defeat Team RAW (The Miz, Sheamus, CM Punk, John Morrison, R-Truth, Santino Marella & Ezekiel Jackson) (w/ Alex Riley) in a 14-man tag team elimination match at 27:54. ***¼
7. Wade Barrett (w/ John Cena) defeats WWE Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton at 14:32 via disqualification. Orton has been the Champion since 9.19.10, and this was his second defense. *

~JZ Says~

If you need a pay-per-view opened in 2010, Dolph Ziggler is your man. This Daniel Bryan fella is no slouch himself, and the Minneapolis crowd are behind him from the start. Ziggler has a background in amateur wrestling and working with a talented mat wrestler like Bryan is a good way for Ziggler to show that skill off a bit. The match was fast-paced and well-worked, with Ziggler controlling a lot of the match and Bryan made well-timed comebacks. Ziggler got a little overconfident, and Bryan made him pay by grabbing him in the LeBell Lock to force the tap-out. Watching Bryan tear it up on WWE pay-per-view was still a novelty in 2010, and it’s fun to remember that time.

Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre tried to make an open challenge for their WWE Tag Team Titles, since nobody bothered to find anything for the Tag Team Champions to do or anyone to feud with. The anonymous RAW General Manager told them they’d face The Nexus, which ended up being David Otunga & John Cena. This was a total RAW match, and Cena got the win in short order by reversing the Cross-Rhodes into the STF. Two straight matches ending with a tap-out, that’s interesting. Or is it?

The other Rhodes brother, Goldust, took on Ted DiBiase in an absurd match for a pay-per-view. I guess this is what happens when you cram 14 guys into one match later on. They had a pedestrian match that DiBiase won with a DDT.

Layla and Michelle McCool were each given a Divas Championship belt, but only Layla was defending in the match against Natalya. The women were a total afterthought at this time, and the match was very short. Layla tried to bail, but Natalya went out and retrieved her. As Natalya tried to get Layla off the apron, McCool kicked Natalya in the head (behind the referee’s back). Layla got the pin to retain. Nothing much to see here.

Who remembers the last good Buried Alive match? It certainly wasn’t Undertaker v Kane from this show. This match sucked out loud, with Undertaker and Kane slowly brawling around the ring and throughout the arena. When they fought up by the open grave, The Nexus came out and attacked, and since it was about eight on one, Undertaker figured he could sell a little for them. Kane hit Undertaker with the urn and dropped a bunch of dirt on him to get the win and retain his title. It’s legitimately hard to believe that in 2010 the Undertaker had the WrestleMania match with Shawn Michaels as well as this trilogy of stank-ass matches with Kane.

The battle for brand supremacy! Even in 2010 this was a lame concept and they’re still pushing it every year at Survivor Series. Reks scores the first elimination with a torture rack slam on Marella at 2:36. Sheamus evens the score at 6:50 after hitting the High Cross. Next to go is Swagger, after Morrison hits him with Starship Pain at 13:06. A Brogue Kick from Sheamus ends Reks’ night at 14:29. Sheamus goes after Hornswoggle out on the floor, and Show comes to his friend’s defense, and ends up getting counted out at 15:59, along with the Celtic Warrior. That put Edge and Del Rio at a disadvantage, which Edge starts working on right away, hitting Ruth with a Spear and eliminating him at 16:28. A Spear for Morrison at 16:48 helps too. Punk avoided Del Rio’s armbar and countered with a backslide for the pin at 18:19. Rey Mysterio, who left the match with an apparent injury earlier, came back to join Edge, making it 3-2 in favor of RAW. He Drops the Dime on Punk to eliminate him at 24:07. Mysterio also Drops the Dime on Jackson to eliminate hi at 26:14. Miz does his best, but Edge puts him away with Spear to give Team SmackDown the win, with Edge and Mysterio as the surviving team members in a nice callback to their short but memorable tag team run in late 2002. The match was never boring, but it wasn’t memorable either.

Randy Orton and Wade Barrett were the wrestlers fighting for the WWE Title, but the spotlight was squarely on John Cena for the main event. Orton and Barrett proceeded to wrestle like no one was watching, as it was seriously one of the most lethargic main events I’ve ever seen until the inevitable Nexus run-in. The gimmick going into this match was that Cena was forced to be Barrett’s lackey, and Barrett stated that if he lost tonight, he would fire Cena on the spot. When the Nexus did run in, Cena and Orton cleared them out pretty easily. Barrett tried to take advantage on Orton, but Cena decided to hit Barrett with an Attitude Adjustment right in front of the referee for the disqualification. So, Barrett won the match but not the title, but since Barrett didn’t lose, he won’t fire Cena. And they wonder why we don’t take their stipulations seriously.

Terrific opener but it’s a steep downhill from there. Ending shows with a lame DQ is a ballsy move in the pre-Network era. WE PAID MONEY FOR THIS SHOW.

~Blu-ray Exclusive Matches~

All Blu-ray exclusive matches took place on Monday Night RAW, 10/18/2010.

~Match Results and Star Ratings~

1. WWE Tag Team Champions Drew McIntyre & Cody Rhodes defeat The Hart Dynasty (Tyson Kidd & David Hart Smith) (w/ Natalya) at 3:17 in a non-title match. **
2. Goldust (w/ Aksana) defeats Zack Ryder at 0:28. ¼*
3. WWE Champion Randy Orton & John Cena defeat Michael McGillicutty & Husky Harris at 7:52. **¼
4. Natalya defeats Alicia Fox at 1:03. ¾*
5. Big Show and The Miz wrestled to a no-contest at 1:27. ½*
6. Team SmackDown (Big Show, Edge, Alberto Del Rio, Chavo Guerrero, Chris Masters, Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre, Jack Swagger, JTG, Kaval, Kofi Kingston, Luke Gallows, MVP, Rey Mysterio, and Tyler Reks) defeat Team RAW (Alex Riley, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Ezekiel Jackson, Jey Uso, Jimmy Uso, John Morrison, Mark Henry, The Miz, Primo, Santino Marella, Sheamus, Ted DiBiase, Vladimir Kozlov, and William Regal at 8:31 in a 30-man tag team battle royal. *

~JZ Says~

Remember how quick two-hour RAWs used to go by? The matches on this show are all crazy short. Odd couple WWE Tag Team Champions Drew McIntyre & Cody Rhodes faced former Champions the Hart Dynasty in a non-title match. They packed quite a bit into three minutes, but the match mainly existed to show tension between Kidd and Smith rather than do anything meaningful for the Champions. WWE is never interested in pushing teams, only breaking them up.

Goldust and Zack Ryder got less than 30 seconds to have a match, which Goldust won with the Final Cut. Goldust was carrying around the Million Dollar Title at this time. Ted DiBiase, strong frontrunner for world’s most boringest wrestler ever, came out and tried to attack Goldust, but he took the Final Cut as well. Believe it or not, this led to a match on a show WWE was asking people to pay for.

In a curious tag team match, Randy Orton & John Cena joined forces to face Michael McGillicutty & Husky Harris. Remember them trying to get “army tank with a Ferrari engine” over for Husky? Fuck outta’ here with that. This match was attempting to build intrigue for Orton’s WWE Title defense coming up against Wade Barrett, but nobody was going to be interested in that no matter what they tried. Cena took Harris out with the Attitude Adjustment, and then Orton hit McGillicutty with the RKO to get the pin. Standard tag team stuff here.

Natalya somehow defeated the legendary Alicia Fox, only needing about a minute to force a tap out with the Sharpshooter. Divas Champions Michelle McCool and Layla came out afterwards to attack, building toward Layla defending against Natalya on the pay-per-view.

The captains of Team RAW and Team SmackDown, The Miz and Big Show, respectively, were set to meet in singles action. Both men were accompanied by most of their respective rosters, and it took about a minute and a half for a brawl to break out and the match gets thrown out. Teddy Long comes out and makes it into a battle royal (playa).

So, Teddy Long made a battle royal, yada yada yada, Edge and Big Show are the last two men standing and they win the match for Team SmackDown. No stakes of any kind were placed on this match.

Man, WWE was bad in 2010, wasn’t it? I appreciate that as a go-home show they spent time specifically building to all of the PPV matches, but man the stories were lame and the matches were nothing. Bad episode of RAW here.