By Richard Gardner, Torch specialist

The most disappointing aspect of Summerslam last Sunday wasn't the lackluster undercard or the cheap finish in the Orton-Sheamus WWE Title match. The problem I saw was that WWE killed the Nexus's drawing power.

Examine the crowd reaction for when the Nexus was run off by the WWE crew on the Summerslam lead-in edition of Raw, or when Wade Barrett's stable made their way to the ring on Sunday night. Despite being composed of relatively green wrestlers who had never appeared on a national wrestling show before NXT began, the Nexus was over. Really over, to the extent where they had more heat than any main event heel act in recent memory. Surely, this will translate into an impressive buyrate once the numbers come in.

Yet any attempt to draw the Nexus angle out further will be hampered by the inexplicable finish on Sunday night. It was not so much that John Cena won the match that was the problem, more the manner in which he did.

The elimination match came down to Cena on the WWE side, and Justin Gabriel and Wade Barrett representing the Nexus. Barrett DDT'd Cena on the concrete floor, which apparently isn't worth a disqualification any more, as the move was in full view of the referee. Despite the odds being staked against him, Cena was able to mount a herculean comeback reminiscent of Hulk Hogan at the peak of his powers. As Barrett tapped out to the STF, it was hard to ignore that this was one gigantic missed opportunity.

The WWE-Nexus feud could have been the basis for the WWE's Pay-Per-Views for the rest of 2010, but I believe the Nexus's drawing power died in the ring on Sunday night. Why would anyone pay to see WWE vs. Nexus again when John Cena beat Barrett and Gabriel so convincingly at the end of a 35-minute match?

Instead of building for the next WWE-Nexus match, Raw was built around Nexus eliminating members, culminating with the removal out Darren Young. Also on Monday night, the group claimed a number of unconvincing victories over the WWE team in singles matches, where count-out victories and interference was par for the course. Nexus was booked to look inferior to their WWE counterparts. If WWE management does not take the Nexus seriously, then neither will WWE fans.

WWE management shot itself in the foot with its treatment of the Nexus over the past week. What was a credible main event threat is well on its way to becoming a mid-card joke. The treatment event carried over to the house shows in Hawaii and Japan where they were in mid-card matches and did the chorus line taking bumps for top babyfaces in the main events.

Aside from Barrett, I don't believe anyone in the group has the ability to become a top star in WWE, but the worth of Nexus as a group was always greater than the sum of its individual parts. That the group is already being broken up represents a massive missed opportunity. Wade Barrett's credibility as a singles wrestler has also been undermined by losing to Cena after having a two-on-one advantage.

I believe WWE set in motion the beginning of the end for one of its most over acts for no particular reason on Sunday night. For that reason, Summerslam was more of a disappointment than the star ratings or overall PPV scores suggest.

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