Background in
Los Angeles, California.
SummerSlam is an annual
pay-per-view (PPV) produced every August by
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) since 1988. Dubbed "The Biggest Party of the Summer", it is one of the promotion's original four pay-per-views, along with
WrestleMania,
SummerSlam, and
Survivor Series, referred to as the "Big Four". It has since become considered WWE's second biggest event of the year behind WrestleMania. The 2010 event was the 23rd SummerSlam and was scheduled to be held on August 15, 2010, at
Staples Center in
Los Angeles,
California for the second consecutive year. It featured wrestlers from the
Raw and
SmackDown brands. Much like the
previous year's SummerSlam, WWE promoted the event with its
SummerSlam Axxess fan convention. The convention was held at the Nokia Plaza in
L.A. Live from August 14 to 15.
THQ revealed further details of the latest installment of their
WWE SmackDown series,
WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011.
Storylines The
professional wrestling matches at SummerSlam featured professional wrestlers performing as characters in
scripted events pre-determined by the hosting
promotion, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Storylines between the characters were produced on WWE's weekly television shows
Raw and
SmackDown with the Raw and SmackDown brands—storyline divisions in which WWE assigned its employees to different programs. The main
rivalry heading into SummerSlam from the
Raw brand was between the champion
Sheamus and
Randy Orton over the
WWE Championship. On the July 19 episode of
Raw, Orton defeated
Edge and
Chris Jericho in a
triple threat match to become the number one contender for Sheamus' WWE Championship at SummerSlam. On the August 9 episode of
Raw, the
anonymous Raw general manager added two stipulations to the match, stating that anyone who interfered in this match would be
suspended indefinitely and if Orton lost,
he would not receive another match for the championship while Sheamus is champion. The main rivalry heading into SummerSlam from the
SmackDown brand was between the champion
Kane and
Rey Mysterio over the
World Heavyweight Championship. On the May 28 episode of
SmackDown Kane's storyline brother,
The Undertaker defeated Mysterio to qualify for the fatal four-way match for the World Heavyweight Championship at the
Fatal 4-Way pay-per view in June. During the match however, The Undertaker suffered a
legitimate injury, forcing him to be
written out of the match by having him found in a "vegetative state" by Kane over
Memorial Day weekend. As a result, Kane accused several wrestlers of incapacitating his brother and attacked them. Mysterio won a
battle royal to replace The Undertaker by last eliminating Kane, and went on to defeat the defending champion
Jack Swagger,
Big Show and CM Punk at Fatal 4-Way to win his second World Heavyweight Championship. At
Money in the Bank, Kane won a
Money in the Bank ladder match and cashed in his championship opportunity on Mysterio later that night, after Mysterio had defeated Swagger to retain. Kane defeated Mysterio to win his first World Heavyweight Championship. On the July 23 episode of
SmackDown, Mysterio defeated Swagger in a
two-out-of-three falls match to earn a rematch against Kane for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam. On the July 30 episode of
SmackDown, Kane revealed that The Undertaker had disclosed that his attacker was Mysterio, and vowed to get revenge. Another main rivalry from Raw featured
The Nexus, a
stable consisting of former
NXT 'rookies' led by the season's winner
Wade Barrett, against 'Team WWE', led by
John Cena. The Nexus made their debut as a collective unit on the June 7 episode of
Raw, attacking Cena,
CM Punk, and members of the ringside crew, on the pretext of demanding guaranteed WWE contracts for all of them. The following week on
Raw, the then-
General Manager Bret Hart refused and as a result, The Nexus attacked and incapacitated him, forcing WWE Chairman
Vince McMahon to appoint a new,
anonymous General Manager, who ultimately signed all members of The Nexus to the show. The Nexus continued to frequently attack various
WWE wrestlers, crew, and
legends to display their dominance, although they focused mainly on Cena, costing him the WWE Championship twice at Fatal 4-Way and Money in the Bank. On the July 19 episode of
Raw, Cena confronted The Nexus, who offered him a place in their stable, which he refused and instead revealed that he had assembled a team, christened 'Team WWE' (consisting of Cena himself,
Edge,
Chris Jericho,
John Morrison,
R-Truth,
The Great Khali, and Bret Hart), to face The Nexus in a
seven-on-seven tag team match at SummerSlam. On the July 26 episode of
Raw, the anonymous general manager changed the match to an
elimination format. Following dissension on Cena's team in the next few weeks, Edge and Jericho left the SummerSlam match on the August 2 episode of
Raw. They rejoined the following week, however, when The Nexus tried to attack the members of Team WWE and Edge and Jericho. On the same episode, Khali was attacked by The Nexus, removing him from the match at SummerSlam.
The Miz offered his services to the team as Khali's substitute, ultimately saying that he would reveal his final decision at SummerSlam itself. Another rivalry from the SmackDown brand pitted
Big Show against
The Straight Edge Society, a stable preaching the
hardlined straight edge lifestyle, led by CM Punk and consisting of
Luke Gallows,
Joey Mercury and
Serena. In May, at the
Over the Limit pay-per-view, Punk lost a match to Rey Mysterio, forcing Punk to have his head shaved bald as a result of the stipulation. In order to conceal his baldness, Punk started wearing a
mask until Big Show forcibly removed it on the July 16 episode of
SmackDown. In attempt to avenge Punk's humiliation, the Straight Edge Society's masked "mystery man" faced Big Show in a match, but had his own mask removed during the match, revealing him to be Joey Mercury. On the July 30 episode of
SmackDown, the Straight Edge Society attacked Big Show and repeatedly stomped his right hand into the steel ring steps. The following week, it was announced that the Straight Edge Society would be facing Big Show in a
three-on-one handicap match at SummerSlam. Another rivalry from the Raw brand was between the champion
Alicia Fox and
Melina over the
WWE Divas Championship. In December 2009, Melina tore her
ACL at a
live event, which caused her to
vacate the Divas Championship. At Fatal 4-Way in June, Fox won the title in a fatal four-way match against
Maryse,
Gail Kim and defending champion
Eve, and retained the championship against Eve at Money in the Bank. On the August 2 episode of
Raw, Melina made her return and attacked Fox. The following week on
Raw, Melina defeated Fox in a non-title match and was rewarded with a title opportunity at the Divas Championship at SummerSlam. ==Event==