3. Bragging Rights 2010 - 137k worldwide, 71k domestic
Top Matches: Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett; Team Raw vs. Team Smackdown; Kane vs. The Undertaker (buried)Great Match: Dolph Ziggler vs. Daniel Bryan
Good Matches: RAW vs. Smackdown, Ted Dibiase vs. Goldust , Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett
Lame Matches: Cody Rhodes/Drew McIntyre vs. Nexus, Layla vs. Natalya, The Undertaker vs. Kane WWE Bragging Rights ended up finishing fourth in the Wrestling Observer Award for "Worst Major Wrestling Show". The Minneapolis PPV suffered from less-than-auspicious timing as it came one day after a UFC PPV. And it wasn't just
any UFC event. Nope, it was UFC 116 Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin which racked up well over 1.1 million North American buys. That's more US & Canadian PPV buys than
any WWE PPV has
ever received (closest would probably be Austin/Rock at Wrestlemania X-7 around 970k). So, three weeks after Hell in a Cell 2010 (109k domestic buys, 210k worldwide buys), and one day after a huge UFC event, while the Minnesota Vikings played heated rivals Green Bay Packers (with legendary ex-Packers QB Brett Favre playing for the Vikings!), WWE held the Bragging Rights PPV. (This wasn't the only example of a UFC PPV clobbering a WWE event. UFC held a huge GSP PPV the day before Wrestlemania XXVI. As a result that year's WM seriously underperformed at less than 500k domestic buys and only 885k worldwide buys despite being a marque event event with both HBK's retirement and Vince McMahon vs Bret Hart.) The Undertaker fought his "brother" Kane (the World Heavyweight Champion) in a Buried Alive match which actually marked the last non-WM PPV appearance by the Undertaker. 'Taker was suffering from serious shoulder problems and so he was written out off Television in essentially his last run before he became a "special attraction" player. (There's also plenty of foolishness involving Paul Bearer, of course.) John Cena, the newly inducted Nexus member (as a result of HIAC 2010), was the the referee " of the Orton/Barrett match and assorted goofiness resulted in Barrett winning the match via DQ.
Bragging Rights 2010 FINAL VERDICT: Skip this show unless you're a big fan of the Nexus storyline.