5 Things You Probably Don't Remember About WWE SummerSlam 2010

It's hard not to look back at the 2010 SummerSlam and not see a giant wasted opportunity. Ten years later, it still stings the hide of many fans that The Nexus, in a plum moment to pick up a major victory, fell short to the infallible John Cena, defying the odds (as he's wont to do) in the clutch. The Nexus never really recovered from that ending, even if Wade Barrett did score a "make-up" win over Cena that autumn.

With 10 years of hindsight, the 2010 SummerSlam feels really strange. You've got an opening match between two men who'd battle for the WWE title nine years later, a setup for The Undertaker to feud with Kane almost 13 years after their rivalry began, and 53-year-old Bret Hart as an "active" participant in the main event. Much like present day WWE, reminders of the past and glimmers of a shiny future are plentiful, but in the end, you're left with a feeling of unevenness.

And so, a decade on, we look back at some lesser-known tidbits from the event in question.

It's hard not to look back at the 2010 SummerSlam and not see a giant wasted opportunity. Ten years later, it still stings the hide of many fans that The Nexus, in a plum moment to pick up a major victory, fell short to the infallible John Cena, defying the odds (as he's wont to do) in the clutch. The Nexus never really recovered from that ending, even if Wade Barrett did score a "make-up" win over Cena that autumn.

With 10 years of hindsight, the 2010 SummerSlam feels really strange. You've got an opening match between two men who'd battle for the WWE title nine years later, a setup for The Undertaker to feud with Kane almost 13 years after their rivalry began, and 53-year-old Bret Hart as an "active" participant in the main event. Much like present day WWE, reminders of the past and glimmers of a shiny future are plentiful, but in the end, you're left with a feeling of unevenness.

And so, a decade on, we look back at some lesser-known tidbits from the event in question.

5. A Tag Team Match Was Scrapped

Six matches seems rather paltry for a SummerSlam, and in fact, there were supposed to be seven. Original plans for the show included a women's tag team match pitting Kelly Kelly and former ECW GM Tiffany against Michelle McCool and Layla.

The match was dropped within the week prior, due to Tiffany and then-husband Drew McIntyre having some sort of altercation at a Los Angeles hotel, in which the police got involved. Tiffany was suspended for her role, the match was scrapped, and she was let go in November.

4. One Match Was Pared Down

In 2019, a Kofi Kingston-Dolph Ziggler match felt like an absolute rehash. That's because the two were going at it for singles gold on pay-per-view almost a decade earlier, as Ziggler defended the IC title against Kofi, in a match ultimately marred by a Nexus gate-crashing.

Original plans for the match were to include four other wrestlers for a six-pack challenge: the aforementioned McIntyre, along with Cody Rhodes, Matt Hardy, and Christian, before WWE opted for a singles bout. Amazing how many of them are in prime spots 10 years later.

3. Joey Mercury Was Injured

The sentence, "CM Punk, Luke Gallows, and Joey Mercury lost to The Big Show in a three-on-one handicap match at SummerSlam," feels about as random today as a Tim and Eric sketch. This was about the time where the wheels came off of the Straight Edge Society stable.

Emblematic of the group's forthcoming fragmentation was the fact that Mercury suffered a torn pectoral during the bout, according to Gallows years later. Shortly after, Gallows and Serena were both let go from WWE, and Punk eventually brought his aggressive leadership to The Nexus.

2. Daniel Bryan's Return Was Spoiled

The most newsworthy story coming out of the 2010 SummerSlam (aside from the main event ending, and 'Taker Feuds With Kane Part 73) was the return of Daniel Bryan, two months after he was fired for "going too far" during the initial Nexus assault on WWE.

Bryan returned as part of Team WWE, in what was meant to be a surprise. WWE went to great lengths to prevent Bryan's return leaking - almost. Some company social media staffers wound up revealing the surprise 30 minutes early on Twitter and WWE.com. Whoops.

1. Who Decided On The Ending?

Ten years later, it's still hard to justify the ending, in which The Nexus (the freshest and most interesting heel faction in a looooong time) succumbed to the powers of Super Cena. Big Match John staved off concrete death to vanquish Justin Gabriel and Wade Barrett to win.

So who made that call? Well, according to Cena's teammate Chris Jericho, it was Vince McMahon who wanted Cena to win over the rising Nexus. Gabriel later claimed that Cena himself had the finish changed, which if true, seems The Nexus was pencilled in as winners at one point.