The second annual WWE Bragging Rights came to you, live on pay-per-view, from the Target Center in Minneapolis, MN. After SmackDown won the Bragging Rights Trophy last year, RAW would be looking to earn Bragging Rights for Monday Nights as “Mr. Money-in-the-Bank” The Miz would lead Team RAW; R-Truth, “The Guru of Greatness” John Morrison, Santino Marella, “The Celtic Warrior” Sheamus, “The Straightedge Savior” CM Punk, and the final ECW Champion in history, Ezekiel Jackson as Team RAW would face Team SmackDown as “The World’s Largest Athlete” Big Show would lead Team SmackDown, which consists of “The Master of the 619” Rey Mysterio, “The All-American American” Jack Swagger, Alberto Del Rio, the intimidating newcomer Tyler Reks, and former Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston as the two brands would collide in a 7-on-7 Bragging Rights Elimination Tag Match with the surviving brand earning the Bragging Rights Trophy for 2010! For the first time in seven years, a Superstar would be “buried alive” as the thirteen year sibling rivalry between Kane and The Undertaker would result in one brother being buried six feet under as Kane would defend the World Heavyweight Title against his brother, The Undertaker, in the rarely seen Buried Alive Match! Ever since Husky Harris & Michael McGillicutty cost John Cena his match against Wade Barrett at WWE Hell in a Cell, Cena has been given no option but to obey the orders of his new leader, Wade Barrett, as a reluctant member of The Nexus for, if Cena does not obey the orders, he would be fired from the entire WWE and, after being forced to allow Barrett to become the #1 Contender for the WWE Title, John Cena has been ordered to be in the corner of Nexus leader Wade Barrett when Barrett challenges Randy Orton for the WWE Title! On a night where RAW clashes with SmackDown over the Bragging Rights Trophy, an interpromotional battle of champions would take place as RAW’s United States Champion, Daniel Bryan, would go one-on-one with SmackDown’s Intercontinental Champion, Dolph Ziggler, in a Champion Vs. Champion Match! After being cheated out of the Divas Title at WWE Hell in a Cell when Layla threw her shoes at her in the middle of her match against Michelle McCool for the title, one-half of the self-proclaimed “co-Divas Champions” Layla would defend the Divas Title against the Diva she cost the title at WWE Hell in a Cell, Natalya! Also, after having his Million Dollar Title taken from him, “The Fortunate Son” Ted DiBiase, with Maryse in his corner, would go one-on-one with the Superstar who stole the Million Dollar Title, “The Bizarre One” Goldust, with Goldust’s fiancé and NXT Rookie Diva Aksana in his corner!
>>Match Results<<
- RAW Champion Vs. SmackDown Champion: Daniel Bryan def. Dolph Ziggler (with Vickie Guerrero) by submission to the LeBell Lock.
- WWE Tag Team Championship: John Cena & David Otunga def. Drew McIntyre & "Dashing" Cody Rhodes (c) by "Dashing" Cody Rhodes (c) tapping out to John Cena’s STF to win the WWE Tag Team Titles.
- Ted DiBiase (with Maryse) def. Goldust (with Aksana) by pin following a DDT.
- Divas Championship: "Co-Divas Champion" Layla (with Michelle McCool) def. Natalya by pin following a kick to the head by Michelle McCool to retain.
- World Heavyweight Championship: Buried Alive Match: Kane (c) (with Paul Bearer & The Nexus) def. The Undertaker to retain.
- 7-on-7 RAW Vs. SmackDown Bragging Rights Elimination Tag Match: Team SmackDown def. Team RAW with Edge & Rey Mysterio surviving.
- WWE Championship: Wade Barrett (with John Cena) def. Randy Orton (c) by DQ after John Cena interferes; Randy Orton (c) retains.
>>Detailed Results<<
The show kicks off with an interpromotional clash of champions as United States Champion Daniel Bryan from RAW would go one-on-one with Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler from SmackDown, with Dolph’s girlfriend Vickie Guerrero in his corner! At the end of an incredibly hard-fought match, it was Dolph Ziggler’s frustration over not being able to win that would allow Daniel Bryan to take advantage and lock in the LeBell Lock, ultimately forcing the Intercontinental Champion to tap out to pick up the win! Will Team RAW follow the pattern set by Daniel Bryan by defeating SmackDown?
The WWE Tag Team Champions, Drew McIntyre & “Dashing” Cody Rhodes would then make an appearance on Bragging Rights as “Dashing” Cody Rhodes says that no one has anything to “brag” about more than them since they are the tag champions! Drew McIntyre then states that they have “absolutely dominated” everyone from both RAW and SmackDown before saying that they have a “dilemma” because “nobody” wants to face them because everyone in the back is “scared to death” of them! The WWE Tag Team Champions are then interrupted by the anonymous General Manager of RAW as Michael Cole reads the email that announces that there is a team on RAW who is “worthy” of facing them for the WWE Tag Team Titles! This prompts Nexus leader and #1 Contender for the WWE Title, Wade Barrett, to come out and state that Bragging Rights is going to be the “greatest night” in the history of The Nexus as he will be “crowned” the WWE Champion before Barrett introduces one-half of the “new WWE Tag Team Champions” in Nexus member David Otunga! Barrett then makes the big announcement that Otunga’s partner is a Superstar he has “ordered” not to “fail” in winning the WWE Tag Team Titles as Barrett brings out none other than John Cena!
By order of the anonymous General Manager of RAW, Drew McIntyre & “Dashing” Cody Rhodes would then defend the WWE Tag Team Titles against Nexus members David Otunga and none other than John Cena, who was “ordered” by Wade Barrett to win the WWE Tag Team Titles! In the end, it was a shocking result as John Cena would lock in his STF on “Dashing” Cody Rhodes and would force Rhodes to tap out, meaning that John Cena & David Otunga are the new WWE Tag Team Champions; the first taste of gold that The Nexus has gotten since it’s beginning! After the match, David Otunga would celebrate with both tag title belts before handing one to John Cena and, with his orders to win the WWE Tag Team Titles fulfilled, Cena was free, albeit for a moment, as the new WWE Tag Team Champion would deliver the Attitude Adjustment to David Otunga! John Cena has brought gold into The Nexus, but how long can Cena continue taking orders from Wade Barrett? Will John Cena be directly responsible for Wade Barrett winning the WWE Title from Randy Orton?
Three weeks after having his Million Dollar Title taken away from him, “The Fortunate Son” Ted DiBiase, with Maryse in his corner, would go one-on-one with “The Bizarre One” Goldust, with his fiancé Aksana in his corner! In the end, it was Maryse and Aksana fighting on the outside and Maryse causing a distraction by throwing Aksana into the ring, which would distract Goldust and allow Ted DiBiase to hit a DDT en route to picking up the win! After the match, Maryse would start to bring the Million Dollar Title to Ted DiBiase, but Aksana would tackle Maryse and attack the Diva before grabbing the Million Dollar Title! Aksana would then come face-to-face with Ted DiBiase and would flirt with DiBiase long enough for Goldust to come from behind and lay DiBiase out with the Final Cut before walking off with the Million Dollar Title!
Then it was time for the Divas Title to be defended as the self-proclaimed “co-Divas Champion” Layla, with Michelle McCool in her corner, would defend the Divas Title against Natalya! In the end, it was Michelle McCool delivering a vicious kick to the head of Natalya behind the back of the referee that would allow Layla to pick up the win to retain the Divas Title!
Then it was time for a rare and sinister match for the World Heavyweight Championship as Kane would defend the World Heavyweight Title against his brother, The Undertaker, in the first Buried Alive Match in seven years as Kane or The Undertaker would be looking to bury their brother alive and win the World Heavyweight Title in the process! During the match, The Undertaker was able to lock Hell’s Gate on Kane, leading to Kane being rendered unconscious, allowing The Undertaker to put Kane in the grave, but as The Undertaker looked to put Paul Bearer in the grave as well when The Nexus; Wade Barrett, David Otunga, Heath Slater, & Justin Gabriel would attack The Undertaker while Kane escaped the grave as The Nexus would ultimately put The Undertaker in the grave, leading to Kane dumping dirt on his brother to win the match and bury The Undertaker alive, but, after Kane headed backstage, The Undertaker’s signature symbol would shine on the tombstone placed on the grave site as the lights dimmed and The Undertaker’s ominous music plays! Has The Undertaker really been buried alive or has this symbolized that The Undertaker lives?
Then it was to determine bragging rights as “Mr. Money-in-the-Bank” The Miz would lead Team RAW; R-Truth, John Morrison, Santino Marella, Sheamus, CM Punk, & Ezekiel Jackson against “The World’s Largest Athlete” Big Show, who would lead Team SmackDown; Rey Mysterio, Jack Swagger, Alberto Del Rio, Edge, & Kofi Kingston as the two brands would collide in a 7-on-7 Bragging Rights Elimination Tag Match! To little surprise, Team RAW member Santino Marella was the first eliminated as Tyler Reks would hit the Reks Factor en route to eliminating Santino and leaving the odds 7-6 in SmackDown’s favor! The next elimination would even things out for RAW as Sheamus would hit the High Cross on Kofi Kingston en route to eliminating Kofi! During the match, returning personal problems would cost Team SmackDown as a confrontation between Rey Mysterio and Alberto Del Rio would lead to Alberto Del Rio throwing his own teammate, Rey Mysterio, shoulder-first into the barricade, leading to Rey Mysterio being helped to the backstage, taking Rey out of the match! The next elimination would come after John Morrison hits Starship Pain on Jack Swagger to eliminate Swagger! Tyler Reks would be the next to go as Reks would knock John Morrison off of the ring apron, allowing Sheamus to take advantage by hitting the Brogue Kick on Reks en route to eliminating Reks! This would spark a brawl between Big Show and Sheamus that would escalate after Sheamus knocked down the mascot of Team SmackDown, Hornswoggle, on the outside, Big Show and Sheamus would then find themselves both counted out as the referee would reach his ten count mere seconds before Big Show could get out of the ring! With Team RAW up four Superstars to SmackDown’s two, Edge would bring the numbers closer to manageable as Edge would deliver the Spear to R-Truth to eliminate R-Truth and would follow it up with a Spear on John Morrison to eliminate Morrison as well! The next elimination would come from CM Punk as Punk would use a backslide to eliminate Alberto Del Rio! Following Del Rio’s elimination, Rey Mysterio would return and attack Del Rio before taking his spot back on the ring apron as Rey was never officially eliminated! Rey Mysterio would ultimately hit the 619 on CM Punk and follow it up with a splash en route to eliminating CM Punk, leaving the match even with two Superstars for both teams! Rey Mysterio would then follow that up by doing the same to Ezekiel Jackson to eliminate Jackson and leave SmackDown with a two-to-one advantage! With only The Miz left for Team RAW, Rey Mysterio would go for the 619, but The Miz’s “apprentice” Alex Riley would jump in and take the shot for The Miz, but Rey would ultimately tag Edge in and Edge would hit the Spear on The Miz en route to Edge pinning Miz and earning the Bragging Rights trophy for SmackDown for the second year in a row! How will RAW respond to SmackDown winning the Bragging Rights trophy again?
Then it was time for the main event as Randy Orton would defend the WWE Title against Nexus leader Wade Barrett, with The Nexus’ most reluctant member and one-half of the new WWE Tag Team Champions, John Cena, ordered to be in Barrett’s corner, but before the match gets underway, Wade Barrett grabs a microphone and informs John Cena that if Barrett does not win the match then he will fire John Cena that very night! During the match, the referee would get inadvertently get knocked down, which would lead to Wade Barrett ordering John Cena to get on the ring apron, but Randy Orton would shove Barrett into Cena, knocking Cena off of the apron! With the referee down, David Otunga, Heath Slater, & Justin Gabriel would rush out as The Nexus would commence a four-on-one assault on Randy Orton, but John Cena would enter the ring and would rid the ring of Otunga, Slater, & Gabriel to keep the recovering referee from seeing their involvement and costing Wade Barrett the match! In the end, it was Randy Orton setting up for the RKO on Wade Barrett when John Cena would come in and deliver the Attitude Adjustment to Wade Barrett, meaning that Barrett would technically win the match, via disqualification, but Orton would still be WWE Champion; ensuring that Cena kept his job, but also kept Barrett from winning the WWE Title from Orton! After the match, John Cena would grab the WWE Title belt and was set to hand it Randy Orton, but Orton would strike with the RKO, leaving Cena laid out; a fate which would also await Wade Barrett as Orton would lay Barrett out with the RKO! Despite technically following the orders of Wade Barrett, what awaits John Cena for costing Wade Barrett the WWE Title?