A little over a week has passed since an epic SummerSlam, and the WWE is rolling straight towards Night of Champions. John Cena debuted a new, edgier side in his return to television after being beaten by Brock Lesnar. A few WWE Legends returned to the company, and Roman Reigns finally looked to get some revenge on his former Shield-mate Seth Rollins. Let’s get right to it.
Nobody Believes in Cena
Raw kicked things off with three former Legends returning to the company. Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and the Heartbreak Kid Shawn Michaels all hit the ring for a Legend’s Roundtable to discuss John Cena of course.
It was an interesting segment, with Flair and Michaels putting over just how dangerous Lesnar is. Michaels said that Cena basically had no chance of beating the Champ at Night of Champions, even going as far as to say John Cena is at a crossroads and may need to call it a career. A bit dramatic, but HBK knows full well what Lesnar is capable of. HBK says that while we all like Cena, it doesn’t change the fact that he has no shot against Brock Lesnar.
Flair echoed Michaels sentiments, sort of. While he thinks Cena is the franchise, he just doesn’t believe that Mr. Hustle, Loyalty & Respect can beat the Beast Incarnate at Night of Champions.
Not all the Legends were against Cena however, as Hulk Hogan (of course) said that not only does he believe in Cena, he thinks the 15-time Champ will get it done against Lesnar and tie Flair’s record for title reigns. Hogan says he’s picking Cena because John truly lives Hustle, Loyalty & Respect. Yawn.
This of course brings out a focused and intense Cena, who says that while he respects all three Legends, he is going to bring the fight to Lesnar. Not only is Cena going to beat Lesnar, he is going to beat Lesnar’s ass. Which, ha okay. The segment was really more about building Cena as an underdog who has to overcome colossal odds to regain his title at the next pay-per-view, which means it might actually happen. Yay!
Brock Promises to End Cena
While Brock Lesnar wasn’t in the building for Raw, he still delivered some pretty pointed words at Cena via a taped promo. Lesnar says that beating Cena was his greatest accomplishment, because he set out to be the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, and now he is. The Beast says he gave Cena a chance to stay down after the first F5, but his “Hustle, Loyalty & Respect bull****” caused him to keep getting up and take the beating that Lesnar ultimately delivered.
Paul Heyman then blesses us all by chiming in on the situation. Heyman says that Lesnar is a beast, and the only reason Cena survived SummerSlam is because Brock took pity on him and ended the match. Paul says that his client is humiliated Cena would have the nerve to invoke his rematch, and calls the decision a bad mistake for Cena.
Lesnar finishes things off by guaranteeing that Night of Champions is going to be the last time we see Cena and that it is game over for John. Which apparently almost brings a tear to Lesnar’s eye or something.
Rollins Day of Reckoning is Coming
After Curb Stomping Dean Ambrose through cinderblocks last week, Seth Rollins and Kane came out to offer a eulogy for the AWOL Superstar. Corporate Kane says that while they are out there to honor the loss of the Fringe Lunatic, they are mostly there to look towards the future. And the future, of course, is Seth Rollins.
Rollins fakes being sad before reminding everyone that he was the leader of the most dominant group in the history of the WWE, the Shield. Rollins says he hand-picked Ambrose because pain and fear were never an issue for him, Dean was in fact a courageous fighter. But last week, Rollins had to prove that the Authority always wins.
After a video package of what transpired last week, we come back to Rollins doing a terrible fake laugh. Rollins says it was no accident the cinderblocks were ringside, and it’s also no accident that Ambrose will have a headache for the rest of his life. As far as Seth Rollins is concerned, we will never see Dean Ambrose again. Or you know, we won’t see him until he’s done filming his movie.
This FINALLY leads to Roman Reigns coming out and confronting the man who tore the Shield apart. As Reigns makes it to the ring, Kane tries to attack before being thrown aside by Reigns, who rushes the ring to get at Rollins. Rollins tries to fight, but the next Next Big Thing just throws him around the ring and destroys the eulogy set. Reigns then picks up the podium and nails Rollins with it.
Reigns gets ready for Spear before Kane pulls Rollins out of the ring and the two head to the back. Later on, we see the two backstage and Kane announces that Reigns will face Rollins and Kane at Raw, and they will take care of Roman the same way they took care of Ambrose.
THIS RIVALRY MIGHT FINALLY HAPPEN!
Reigns Nearly Gets the Ultimate Revenge
We hit the ring for our handicap match, and Reigns starts things off with Kane. (Side note: Rollins music is horrendous, they need to fix that ASAP) Reigns tosses Kane out of the ring quickly and pulls Rollins in to deliver a beat down to his former brother.
Kane makes the save and starts to wear down Reigns. Rollins then tags in and picks up where Kane left off before quickly tagging the Demon back in. Reigns makes his comeback and sets Kane up for a running double-kick from outside of the ring before Rollins tries to bail Kane out. No dice as Reigns destroys Rollins then nails Kane with the kick.
Back in the ring, Reigns goes for the Superman punch, but Kane counters into an attempted chokeslam. Reigns of course counters into a Spear for the 1…2… Rollins breaks it up with the Money in the Bank suitcase for the disqualification. Rollins hits Reigns a few more times with the brief case and the beat-down is on.
Kane and Rollins toss Reigns outside before Kane unveils a new set of cinderblocks exactly where Ambrose met his fate last week. Kane attempts to hold Reigns down for a Curb Stomp, but the big man makes his comeback, disposing of Kane and hitting Rollins with a huge Superman punch (which Rollins sells like a champ).
That wasn’t the end for Rollins. Reigns notices the cinderblocks as Mr. Money in the Bank tries to crawl away, and grabs one before cutting Rollins off. Unfortunately for Seth, he notices and gets backed into a corner against the ringpost. At this point, Reigns basically decides to try and kill Rollins.
I mean, sure I guess. A cinderblock exploding ringside is probably not the safest thing (some reported pieces hitting the announce team and landing in the crowd), but it gives Reigns a mean-streak, which he desperately needs. I mean the lone wolf who destroys everyone is a nice role to build up, but fans will begin to resent Reigns if he doesn’t show any growth.
If we’re lucky, this is just the start of a great rivalry.
The Bellas Explode
I guess WWE is hell-bent on continuing this Bellas rivalry in primetime. The twins were supposed to have a family reconciliation, but they quickly argue over entrance music and things devolve from there. Brie tries to plead and apologize, but Nikki calls that a load of crap.
After calling Brie selfish and someone who always held her back, Nikki starts rambling about how she’s done with everyone. She’s done with Brie and her save-the-world crap, she’s done with her troll-faced husband, she’s done playing second-fiddle to Brie, and she’s also done with guys who have fantasies about twins or something like that.
This is seriously so hard to watch. Brie seems to be getting worse by the week, and while Nikki is better, that’s more a default thing because her sister is just so terrible.
Brie begins to fake cry and apologize at the same time and somehow that turns into a squinting goat face that I want to wash out of my memory immediate. Nikki tells Brie she has no sister and she wishes that her twin had died in the womb. Yeah, they just went there. This is getting awkward.
This is followed up by Nikki going crazy and beating down her sister with her fists, her kicks and eventually her heels.
It ends with Nikki screaming that she has no sister and Brie is dead to her as Brie “cries” in the ring. So yeah, this is going to be going on for a while. I hate everything.
Cena Shows His Mean Streak
In the (original) main event of the night, John Cena took on Bray Wyatt in his quest to show that he has learned from the beating he suffered at the hands of Brock Lesnar. Earlier in the night, Wyatt cut a chilling promo calling Cena a wounded animal in the woods, and being the man of mercy that he is, Bray was going to put Cena down. Wyatt ends things by telling Cena to run.
We fget out to the ring, and wouldn’t you know it Cena is all business. Now it’s time for the awesome Wyatt entrance. Hey what the hell? They cut Wyatt’s intro short! This can’t be a good sign.
The bell rings and Cena is out like a rocket. After a few back and forth moves, Cena absolutely blasts Wyatt with a vicious clothesline before staring down the entire world it seems.
From there, Cena absolutely dominates Wyatt. Cena screams at Wyatt to stay down before hitting him with a massive German Suplex. Wyatt looks extremely shaken up early on as Cena picks him up and hits another German Suplex, never allowing Wyatt to even catch his breath. I’m all for this edgy Cena who just tries to kick ass.
On the flip side, I’m not a big fan of Wyatt being made to look weak. This guy is the next monster heel in the company, maybe have him last five minutes before we give Cena the squash match? WWE was clearly trying to build Cena up at Wyatt’s expense as a way to thank him for taking that Lesnar beating. This is interesting to watch.
This brings a telling scenario, where Wyatt finally tries to make a push and the crowd eats it up. Even the edgier Cena can’t get cheers so far as the guy who is supposed to be the heel gets a crowd reaction when he fights back. Cena cuts the comeback short and begins to pummel Wyatt down. Seriously, 90% of what Cena was doing in this match was mimicking Lesnar’s move-set which is, cool I guess.
Harper and Rowan get involved and cause the DQ as the take it to Cena. This brings out Big Show and Mark Henry who, after the slowest run down a ramp ever, make the save as we head to commercial.
We come back and Cole tells us this has been made into a six-man match by the Authority during the break. The match was pretty impressive with the big men really showcasing their skills. Wyatt’s aggressive side came out on a few occasions, beating on Show and Henry at different times.
Cena hasn’t been tagged in throughout the match, and unbelievably, the crowd gets restless. What is that? THE CROWD IS DOING A CENA CHANT THAT DOESN’T INVOLVE CENA SUCKS?! Maybe this aggressive Cena could win the fans over after all.
Cena finally gets the hot tag and absolutely clears house. He locks Harper in the STF, forcing the big man to tap. That’s when Cena really gets going. Attitude Adjustment on Rowan. Attitude Adjustment on Harper.
Wyatt tried to escape, but Show and Henry throw him into the ring for Cena to finish. With the big men yelling “BE THE MAN!” to Cena, John picks up Wyatt and hits an Attitude Adjustment on him too. The ending was pure comedy, Show and Henry sounded just like the spotters at the gym yelling “LIGHT WEIGHT!” while Cena did the heavy lifting. We go off the air with Cena celebrating and his young fans loudly approving.
Fear not, Cenation. Mr. Hustle, Loyalty & Respect is back and more aggressive than ever.
Other Results:
Gold & Stardust def. the Usos via Count-out
This was one of the more interesting developments in the night. The Rhodes brothers got a title shot, and picked up the win after Jey Uso hurt his knee landing outside of the ring and was unable to make the 10-count. This just infuriated Goldust who said that he did it on purpose and demands a rematch immediately. The Rhodes brother then begin to beat down the Usos, focusing on Jey’s knee. Wait a second, a Stardust/Goldust heel turn?! This might just work after all.
(Side note: Was anyone else shocked to find out the Usos are currently on the 5th longest Tag Title run ever? But why?)
Rusve def. Jack Swagger via Ref’s Decision
So I guess this was the closer to the Rusev/Swagger rivalry. Rusev pounded Swagger’s injured ribs until the ref had to call the match. Backstage we see Bo Dallas letting Jack Swagger know all he has to do is Bo-lieve! for the third show in a row. (More on this later)
Cesaro def. Rob Van Dam to Become the No. 1 Contender for the U.S. Title
Sheamus was ringside for this one. RVD controlled the majority of the match, but a quick Cesaro counter turned into an Equalizer for the 1-2-3. Cesaro then stares down Sheamus post-match and grabs his title before tossing it into the Champs face. This should be a physical rivalry, hopefully it gets both men more relevance again.
Paige def. Natalya via pinfall
After losing two straight matches to Natalya, Page finally got the win because AJ didn’t come out to distract her this time or something. Following the win, AJ comes out and gives Paige a nice, long, awkward hug. So yeah this storyline is getting weirder by the week.
Dolph Ziggler def. Damien Mizdow via pinfall
Apparently, being an A-lister means you can hire a stunt double. Rather than face Ziggler himself, Miz had Sandow dress like him and take the loss via Zig Zag. Sandow is so much better than this. #PUSHSANDOW!
Los Matadores def. Slater Gator via pinfall
Filler match here that saw Heath Slater get rolled up by one of the Matadores twins. Poor Titus O’Neill, stuck in this crappy program instead of being made into the monster heel he was born to be.
Bo Dallas def. Kofi Kingston via pinfall
So apparently WWE decided to drop the Kofi/Big E/Xavier Woods faction before it got going. Too bad. Bo gets another win, this timing hitting an almost-botched Bo-dog on Kingston for the 1-2-3.
After the match, Bo cuts a promo on Swagger and Kofi before the Real American came out and suplexed the leader of the Bo-lievers despite his injured ribs. I guess the feud they’ve been teasing for a few weeks is actually going to happen then.