By Tony Donofrio, PWTorch specialist

-- 8/15 WWE Summerslam PPV Hits & Misses

WWE PPV HITS

Dolph Ziggler vs. Kofi Kingston (Intercontinental Title): This was a good match to start the show. Any time you start with a couple of guys that can go high energy to kick off a PPV, it more often than not results in good things. It could be argued that the Nexus run-in ruined the match. Maybe, but more good than bad was done with this. It helped establish Nexus more, and, also as important, this was Nexus's first interaction with Smackdown wrestlers. I hope this means they will also start to invade Friday nights since this "war" is supposedly with all of WWE, not just Raw. As for the "ruined match," I wouldn't worry. This was another way to help extend the feud. These two could have a potential show-stealing match next month at Night of Champions, if WWE chooses to give them time to do so.

Big Show vs. Straight Edge Society: While the finish to this match could be disputed (I guess that was a theme of this year's Summerslam), I didn't mind it so much. For a 3-on-1 match, it was what it was. The basic format for a handicap match was followed here and that's probably as good as it can get when you consider the odds that were against Big Show. I liked how C.M. Punk left his "brothers" hung out to dry. This seems to be leading to SES breaking up and a singles match between Show and Punk. I'm actually looking forward to both somewhat and hopefully the return of a strong singles push for Punk.

The Miz's promo: This was an instant classic as far as Summerslam promos go. The overall delivery was great and I liked how Miz channeled The Rock at the end by not letting the fans play "sing along." It perfectly set up the moments leading to the main event. Lengthy in-ring promos should usually be reserved for TV, but this one fit really well since it was incorporated into the set-up for the main event. I'm also officially casting my vote for this promo being in the running for "Promo of the Year."

Sheamus vs. Randy Orton (WWE Title): Another questionable finish, but, again, I'm buying it. The match itself was pretty good and kudos to the Staples Center crowd for being very into this match (and most of the matches all night). As for the DQ finish, I can live with it because it keeps the feud going. I really thought we were going to get another Miz cash-in tease after the big attack on Sheamus, but that wasn't the case. However, on the grand scale of things, I can see why the audience wasn't over-saturated with Miz appearances. Now, I expect a big stipulation added to next month's expected re-match for the WWE Title at Night of Champions.

Kane vs. Rey Mysterio (World Heavyweight Title) w/ Undertakers return: This match was actually pretty good and I think this is about as good of a match that you're going to get out of Kane and Mysterio. The action was basic back-and-forth, with a basic finish really. However, the post-match was better than I expected. Sadly, it could be the highlight of the feud that is about to start - for the hundredth time - between Kane and The Undertaker. I liked the added touch that Undertaker looked feeble the whole time after climbing out of the casket. This was different than any Undertaker return we'd seen before and I liked the swerve. However, I know this won't last, and I'm not looking forward to yet another Kane-Taker feud.

Shocking return of Daniel Bryan: As the ROH Hits and Misses specialist, I was thrilled at this shocking return. It was exciting to see Danielson in the ring during the last hour of a major PPV event. I hope this is a permanent return and not a one-night thing. More on this later.

Nexus vs. Team WWE: This was definitely one of the most entertaining main events that I've witnessed in quite some time. The addition of Bryan Danielson had me excited from the start and I was thrilled to see him eliminate the first member of Nexus. I liked that the match went nearly 45 minutes I thought the action was very good from the start until...about 60 seconds before the finish. The decision to have Nexus lose was a questionable booking decision. While the match still receives a "hit," the finish was a big let down. I really believe Nexus needed the first big-match win in the feud. WWE could still win out in this feud, but a big win here would have helped propel this angle further. I'm not saying it's dead in the water, but this could set it back some. As for the rest of the match, it was a lot of fun seeing Chris Jericho work most of the match as a face until his elimination. At that point, it was great to see Jericho and Edge almost instantaneously turn heel again. Other than the loss, Nexus was made to look really strong overall. Having Daniel Bryan attacked by Miz will hopefully lead to a great feud between the two that will eventually lead to Bryan winning his first WWE championship, the U.S. Title.

WWE PPV MISSES

Alicia Fox vs. Melina (WWE Divas Title): This match had potential, but it fell apart fast. At first glance, I though Melina had been replaced with Big Bird. Sadly, Big Bird might have worked a better match. The match on last Monday's Raw was definitely the better of the two. It's nice to see Melina make a strong comeback thus far, but this still didn't cut it for me. Also, I think we have finally found someone that is more emotional than Ric Flair. Every time Melina is on TV, she looks like she is going to cry. I'm not hating, just saying.

Lay-Cool ruins Melina's moment: After the Divas Title match, the post-match interruption was just a dreadful segment that no one seemed to care about. I believe the Lay-Cool bit has more than run its course at this point. I'm hoping to see them feud over the Women's Title at some point before Beth Phoenix returns to the division.

Sheamus & Kane backstage interaction: This gets a minor "miss" because the interaction itself was solid. However, this was the second inter-promotional interaction we saw on this show. I know that next month is the Night of Champions PPV, so unless we see some unification and/or inter-promotional matches, I'm not sure why either one of the past two interactions took place.

ANALYSIS/OVERALL GRADE

When I first finished watching this show, I initially rated Summerslam as a "thumbs in the middle" type show. However, the more I reviewed it match by match, I concluded it was a pretty good PPV. The fact that there were some questionable finishes gave me that first impression of being right in the middle. But, the right decisions were made with the possible glaring exception of the main event. Other than that, most of the in-ring action was solid, with another glaring exception being the Divas Title match. The final grade for SummerSlam 2010 rounds out at an "A-minus."

Moving ahead, there are some exciting and not-so-exciting things to look forward to. First of all, the Nexus angle is still hot despite the small misstep. Secondly, Daniel Bryan is back and hopefully for good. If this was a worked shoot from the start, it was very well done. If it wasn't, then it was great decision by WWE to bring him back and all but admit their mistake in letting him go. The potential U.S. Title feud between Miz and Bryan can take the emphasis off Miz's briefcase for a while and allow WWE to string out him cashing it in. On the other hand, there's the looming Taker-Kane feud. I have received e-mails over the past month asking why I was so sure that this feud would come about. I hate to say I told you so, but booking 101 states that this would happen. I hoped this would not involve the World Heavyweight Title, but that doesn't appear to the be the case. Let's hope the program exceeds some low expectations.

As for the WWE Title, another match between Orton and Sheamus should be good if they build on what was started the past few weeks and on their match at Summerslam. I think, ultimately, Orton will walk away with the title and start his big face run as champ. Over on Smackdown, hopefully Punk will move back into singles action and shred the SES. Don't get me wrong, it's been great TV, but I feel it's held Punk back at times. A blow-off to the feud with Big Show should be coming soon, but probably not at Night of Champions if the concept of the PPV is all-championship matches. We also should see a strong IC Title re-match between Ziggler and Kingston before Kingston hopefully moves on to bigger and better things.

The tag titles have once again become forgotten and I hope WWE will start to focus on them again soon. I'm assuming Nexus may start to focus on titles now that their feud with Cena has lost a little steam. That could be the next feud for the Hart Dynasty at this point. As for the two women's divisions, all bets are off at this point. Lay-Cool should be feud over the Women's Title, but no real tension has been teased, only some silly tension that was blown off. The Divas Title is back at square one now that Alicia Fox has been buried in one week's time. Here's hoping Gail Kim will be turned heel soon and be allowed to have a nice series of matches with Melina.

It should be an interesting few weeks leading up to Night of Champions. There are some hot angles to potentially look forward to. Let's just hope WWE doesn't screw up the end game on some of them. Also of note is ROH's Internet PPV on September 11. I plan to cover that PPV and if you want some really good, hard-hitting action, I suggest you give it a look. The PPVs are online through gofightlive.tv and only cost $15. Between WWE and ROH lately, there have been some pretty good matches and angles lately.

Tony Donofrio is a Specialist for the Torch covering WWE PPVs monthly, the weekly ROH TV on HDNet, and contributes to the Torch Roundtable Reviews on a weekly basis. You can contact Tony at PWTorchTD@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/TonyDonofrio..

[Torch art credit Grant Gould (c) PWTorch.com]

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