Here are the 3 matches set up so far.
CM Punk v. Wade Barrett
CM Punk v. Alex Riley
No DQ: Bryan Danielson v. John Cena
In part 2, we get the 3 title matches:
WWF Title: Nick Nemeth v. Rey Mysterio
IC: Sheamus v.
Christian
Tags: Empire (Barrett/Riley) v. Clique (Nitro/Miz)
So, of course Nemeth’s wrestling Mysterio – Rey is this
world’s HBK, he’s got enough credibility in the bank to get guys over as he’s
beating them. Mysterio was Nemeth’s
transition feud last year; Rey beat him in consecutive PPVs, Nemeth growing
more frustrated, more heelish, but at the same time more certain of his own
abilities as a singles wrestler in constantly losing to Mysterio (Low Ki also
lost to Mysterio, Danielson also lost to Mysterio). Rey’s deification reached its height going
into Mania, where he was unbeaten in his career, the only man ever with at
least 5 Mania decisions never to lose.
But he lost to Danielson, and that serves as part of the
fuel for the summer, as long as Danielson’s out there saying he’s the best
wrestler in the world, Mysterio is clearly who Nemeth needs to beat to
establish himself as a legitimate champion.
To add to the flavor of this match – Bret names the number
one contender, the man who will wrestle the winner for the title in the main
event of Survivor Series in MSG.
Mistico.
Mistico doesn’t appear at all in a WWF ring in the summer –
we get taped pieces from Mexico and that’s it.
The emphasis is that Mistico is the heir to Mysterio in lucha libre, his
idol is Rey, he’s Mexico’s biggest star in a decade, and to see Mistico v. Rey
for the WWF title is an all time dream for millions – parenthetically its
always added that Mistico would also love to wrestle Nemeth, he thinks of
Nemeth as where he was a couple of years ago, and has been impressed by him –
but he can’t help but cheer for Rey.
Obviously, this gives Nemeth the ability to bristle – people
say he didn’t really beat Punk at full strength, Danielson’s poking at him from
afar all summer, he hasn’t beaten
Mysterio – Nemeth’s got a giant, giant chip on his shoulder coming into Summer
Slam. Late in the summer we find out
that Mistico and his crew will be sitting in a box watching the big event.
The other guy, of course, missing in the equation is
Swagger. Every significant graduate from
developmental is part of the Underground stable – but Nemeth’s tag partner,
best friend, his girlfriend’s brother, and the unquestioned star of
developmental – Jack Swagger, is nowhere to be found.
About a month, maybe 6 weeks after Mania he shows up. It’s billed for maybe 3 weeks, Jack Swagger’s
return, with Nemeth saying his tag partner will join the group and put on one
of the t-shirts and stand behind him to support his championship era.
We do 3 weeks of that type of build.
Swagger, who had really lost most of the year with a knee
injury, returns on RAW, beating someone not affiliated with any group (probably
PAUL or Kane, given they took out his knee).
And then Underground hits the ring.
It’s the “take the t-shirt, join the NWO” spot, Nemeth and
Swagger were once pretty similar in demeanor, much m ore amateur wrestler than
professional – Swagger’s still that guy, he’s solid, firm, not a lot of color,
he’s all substance, no ga-ga. He’s the
opposite of his name. And Nemeth now is
full on Ziggler. Seeing them together shows how far Nemeth’s come.
Nemeth puts Swagger over while also telling him what his
spot is now – says Swagger was the greatest product of the Underground, his
poster still hangs at WWFU, every single man in this ring (and it’s a bunch of
them, like 18, this is a big group) knows by heart the words, “everybody watch
Jack to see how to do the damn drill.”
And now here we are, and Nemeth wants Swagger with the guys watching his
back, cheering him on, wearing the Underground colors.
Swagger pauses – quietly says, Nick, you’re the champ, you
earned it, but this whole gang thing, that’s just not really for me.
He hands back the shirt and turns to walk away – Nemeth
grabs his arm. Nemeth says maybe he’s
not being clear – this is a war, it’s us against them and us is winning – you
need to understand that you have to pick a side.
Swagger tells him to let go of his arm.
Now Nemeth’s hot, says look – these guys all hate you,
everyone’s always hated you but me, I stood in your shadow when everyone else
wanted to hit you with a pillowcase full of soap – and now it’s time you stood
in mine.
Swagger and Nemeth go toe to toe – Swagger again refuses,
tells Nemeth he’s changed.
Nemeth says “and you haven’t” – and then Underground attacks
Swagger.
Everyone but Nemeth – he holds up his arms as if to show
“look, I’m not doing anything” while Underground tears Swagger apart – Kelly
probably doesn’t have the range to pull this off – but she should be torn
between her boyfriend and brother – but she chooses the boyfriend, and they
exit up the aisle as Underground buries Swagger.
The other two title matches are the Clique matches.
Christian returned in the big angle at Mania, trying to aid
his brother who was taken apart by Underground, specifically Sheamus. Edge doesn’t make even a single appearance
after Mania, his career has ended at the hands of the new IC Champ and
Christians here to take his revenge and win the title.
Christian’s never won a singles title in WWF, so that’s part
of the program here; Regal and Christian once feuded during the long Clique v.
Team Angle program, so that’s here – and Christian takes a place he’s never had
before, at the front of the Clique – given that it’s Bret who engineered this
entire thing.
Whose title Sheamus took was Nitro’s – but as opposed to a
rematch Nitro teams with Miz to go after Empire; these two programs can be
mixed over the summer, there are 3 members of Empire and 3 members of the
Clique – McIntyre can serve to feed Christian to get him ready for Sheamus –
the Hart kids are now heels, so their feud with the Clique can be restoked over
the summer – lots of matchups we can hit as we build for Summer Slam.
Two more matches.
Dos Caras, Jr. v. Randy Orton
Ka$h Kingston v. @TruthKills
A fair question to ask would be what is Orton’s summer like?
Orton got swerved by his own partner at Mania, DiBiase left
him laying, joining longtime Orton rivals like Regal and Sheamus with
Underground – and it was a real swerve, with Orton, a career (probably
lifelong) dick, always first to blame everyone else around him, finally giving
credit to DiBiase who lifted him out of his post Sheamus funk and helped Orton
finally regain the tag straps, his stated goal in creating Defiance.
You’d expect a crazy, out of control Orton – but instead his
summer is listless, disengaged, he ignores DiBiase, ignores Underground, its
not even that he’s despondent, it’s like he just is no longer there.
Who that contrasts with is Cody – Cody also got screwed by
the Underground formation at Mania; he looked to be about to win Money at the
Bank (not just from how that match was playing out, but you could construct a
narrative of Cody as babyface young boy who had crawled up the ranks, had won
before at Mania, had put in his time, and if someone is about to ride that
rocketship from way underneath to the top, Cody would have been a good bet) but
he was taken out by Tyson Kidd (allowing Cody to be extra angry at Bret) and
lost the match.
So – while Orton is listless, Cody is angry at
authority. But he’s not in the match –
who is in the match is Dos Caras, coming off his win over the Undertaker in the
Legends Match. Orton, like Caras’s other
opponents, is a legacy – so it gives Caras an easy talking point – and to see
Caras pick on Orton the way he picked on Cody, for example, with Orton really
not fighting back, spotlights where everyone is.
Caras also cuts the occasional promo on the Rock all summer.
Rock, recall, used his first WWF appearance in years, at
Mania, to cut a promo on Caras and rock bottom Ricardo; it was a one off (‘cause
the Rock’s obviously too big a star to come back to WWF) Caras, obviously,
takes exception, and periodically will use promo time to poke at Dwayne. As we get closer to the event (in LA recall)
Caras says he’s coming to Rock’s home and he’s got a surprise for him at Summer
Slam.
Finally – partners explode, Kingston v. Killings; Killings
is the heel, but really he’s a crazy person; he’s Ron Artest, he officially
changes his name (shows us the papers) to @TruthKills, he gets a part time job
at Ikea for the discount, and he starts putting up videos on his own
channel, crazy man videos, sort of like real world Matt Hardy – but eventually
it will be commentary on the news – conspiracy theories – we didn’t walk on the
moon, 9-11 was an inside job, Obama is a scientologist, the Jews are trying to
implant thoughts into his brain.
@TruthKills. I don’t know how
much of that is this summer, this is his new character, so it can be spaced
out.
That’s the show.
WWF Title: Nick Nemeth v. Rey Mysterio
IC Title: Sheamus v. Christian
Tags: Empire v. Clique
No DQ: Bryan Danielson v. John Cena
Dos Caras, Jr. v. Randy Orton
Ka$h Kingston v.
@TruthKills
CM Punk v. Alex Riley
CM Punk v. Wade Barrett
See you again in August for the show.
