With just six days to go until the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view, the Monday Night Raw go-home show was filled with explosive action and storyline development. From a possible major face turn to a huge stipulation in one of Sunday’s co-main events, there was plenty to get the WWE Universe excited for Sunday. Let’s take a look at what went down last night.
The Orton-Cena Rivalry Gets a Shot of Excitement
We start things off with the Authority making their way out to the ring. Triple H puts over Randy Orton and Seth Rollins and talks about how they will put an end to their feuds inside of the Cell this Sunday. This leads to our first smug Rollins line of the night as Mr. Money in the Bank declares himself the undisputed future of the WWE. He begins to rant about Dean Ambrose having no shot this Sunday before Orton cuts the loud-mouth off.
Orton declares that he’s in the actual main event (knew WWE wouldn’t close with Ambrose-Rollins, sigh) and that he’s been doing that a lot longer than Rollins has been around. Some bickering ensues between the two before Triple H cuts them off and declares that they are both in the co-main event (although again, Cena-Orton will close out ANOTHER pay-per-view because who needs something new right?), and then Triple H drops a bombshell. Orton-Cena (part 376) will now determine who gets the next shot at WWE World Heavyweight Champion BAAAAA-ROCK LES-NAAAAR.
Now that’s how you make their bout almost as interesting as the Rollins-Ambrose Hell in a Cell match. Almost.
Backstage, we see Orton confront Rollins and Randy says he knows Seth got the title shot added to his match with Cena, and the Viper wants to know why.
Rollins says that he’s a team player and if by some miracle Orton beats Lesnar he would be champ. From there it’s really simple and Rollins raises his brief case to imply that a cash-in would be quick and easy. Orton just shakes his head and goes back out to the ring as the tension between the two continues to build to a breaking point.
Orton grabs a mic and dives into the fact that him and Cena are going at it for the thousandth time, saying it feels like just yesterday that the two were debuting and putting over the fact that Orton-Cena is this generation’s Austin-Rock (oh my God he’s actually right.) but Cena can take his hustle, loyalty and respect and put it where the sun don’t shine.
You know what’s next.. cue that John Cena music. Cena makes his way out and tells Orton to shut up because he just proves to be a dumbass every time he opens his mouth (NSFW Cena in the house!) and Cena puts over Rollins costing him a title and how he’ll stop at nothing to get his title shot back on Sunday.
And out comes Paul Heyman! The Master of the Mic says this is all nice and dandy, but the class of 2002 didn’t just feature Cena and Orton, it also happened to include his client BAAAA… well you know. Heyman says that Lesnar has no equal, so the winner of this match is actually a loser. Heyman specifically tells Orton that he wants no part of Lesnar (spoiler alert: Orton’s getting that title shot), and he tells Cena to stay put after John tries to exit the ring.
Heyman tells Cena that he wants Lesnar and the title, and in the unlikely event that he gets past Orton, he’s just going to get fed to the Beast. This angers Cena who picks Heyman up for an Attitude Adjustment before changing his mind. At this point, Orton is as sick of Cena as we all are and drops him with an RKO. Heyman laughs and mocks Cena, but Orton drops him with an RKO too for good measure.
WWE seems to be building towards an eventual Orton face turn and Viper-Beast feud for the title. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m excited about a potential feud between Lesnar and the good guy who doesn’t give a damn in Orton. Seriously, heel Orton is great, but no rules, no morals, good-guy Orton can be just as entertaining.
Ambrose Gets Some Legendary Support
Dean Ambrose is shown backstage watching a movie as John Cena walks in and surprises him in another one of those hilarious little things that Ambrose pulls of so ridiculously well.
Ambrose says he’s doing research by watching See No Evil 2 starring Kane (product placement people) and no-nonsense Cena is not happy that Ambrose isn’t taking their main event handicap match seriously. Ambrose tells him not to worry, because they’re like a superhero movie, Cena is Superman and Ambrose is Batman (so Cena is bland and Ambrose is awesome? I agree), but Cena says Ambrose is more like the Joker (nailed it) and leaves as Ambrose gets back to his movie.
Ambrose makes his way out to the ring with a big duffel bag and says that he’s been having visions of what he’s going to do once he gets his hands on Seth Rollins inside the Cell. He then pulls out a dummy that looks like Rollins because he’s Dean Ambrose and he can make this work. Ambrose rips the dolls arms off and then stabs it in the eye with a screwdriver. Ambrose then says he had a dream he cut Rollins testicles off (edgy this week aren’t we WWE?) but then he remembered that Rollins has no balls because he sold them to the Authority, so he piledrives the mannequin instead.
Seriously offended by the doll-beating, Seth Rollins makes his way out and says the Lunatic has no chance of winning this Sunday. Rollins says the best thing on Raw every week, and it doesn’t matter that he sold out because it was the Shield and Ambrose that he sold out. As Rollins continues to cement himself as the number two (and number one most annoying) heel in the company, the man who made Hell in a Cell famous cuts the two off.
Mick Foley – most famous for being thrown off of the Hell in a Cell – makes his way out and says he wants to come visit his old friend the Cell. Foley says he dreamt of the day the Shield would clash with each other and Foley says he almost always saw Rollins coming out on top in the feud. Rollins gets smarmy and excited but Foley cuts him off and says that he said almost always for a reason.
Ambrose now has the Cell, a weapon that inflicts pain and scars that never heal. Ambrose tells Foley that he of all people should understand him, and he says Rollins will be in a hospital bed come next Monday morning. Rollins says that he’ll win Sunday because he’s smarter than both of them, but Foley tells him that being smart doesn’t matter when you get thrown off of the Cell. Mick tells the two they’re going to have the match of a lifetime Sunday, and they can both have a nice day.
Seriously, the anticipation for this match was already at a fever-pitch, but having the King of the Cell come out and put the two over? Just awesome. Foley was right, this is going to be a match people talk about for a long, long time.
Rollins Leaves His Mark
Main event time as the Authority trio takes on Team Batman/Superman in a handicap street fight. As the match begins, the wrestlers immediately all start brawling with each other. As things settle down, the Authority begins to key in on Ambrose. Rollins gets tagged in and he’s feeling himself just a bit.
The Ambrose beating continues until the Lunatic is able to get Cena in with the hot tag. Super Cena time as he hits Rollins with a Five Knuckle Shuffle right away. Kane tries to make a save but Cena thwarts him before setting up a table in the ring and trying to AA Rollins through it. Great counter by Rollins who knocks the table over and then slams Cena’s head into a chair in the corner.
At the same time, Orton throws Ambrose into the steel steps and now the Authority has free reign to key in on Cena. Cena is tossed outside and into the steel steps before being rolled back into the ring as Kane calls for the Cell to drop down over them. Ambrose tries crawling under the Cell before it drops and just makes it in as we now have all five men locked in the demonic structure.
Ambrose immediately makes an impact by splashing all three opponents from the turnbuckle and then tossing Kane and Rollins out of the ring. This is where things really start to get awesome. Orton and Ambrose battle in the ring as Orton whips Ambrose into the ropes and attempting a clothesline, only Ambrose ducks it and…
HOLY CRAP THAT WAS AWESOME! Rollins with the bump of the year, and in that split-second we get a preview of just what kind of insanity and awesomeness is coming when the two clash on Sunday.
Ambrose then gets a hold of a kendo stick and begins to attack Orton with it. Ambrose is a one-man wrecking crew, taking out Orton and Kane with a chair before tossing Orton and Rollins out of the ring. This is followed up by an Ambrose suicide-dive that sees Orton shove Rollins in the way as Seth’s head bangs off the Cell.
Orton takes advantage and throws Ambrose head into the ringpost before rolling him back in the ring and calling for an RKO. And hey Cena is back in the match! Superman goes for an Attitude Adjustment but he is instead hit with a huge chokeslam by Kane, who in turns eats a Dirty Deeds from Ambrose. Orton then hits Ambrose into the ropes, and the Lunatic prepares for his signature bounce off the ropes into a clothesline before…
RKO out of nowhere. 1…2…3 and the Authority wins. Seriously, did you expect this match to end any other way after the week of the #RKOVine?
Orton catches his breath after the pinfall and victory as Rollins makes his way back into the ring, but instead of celebrating Mr. Money in the Bank proves that he’s only out for himself.
Curb Stomp to Orton. Great move by WWE as it leaves so many options on the table for Sunday. With this potential Rollins-Orton feud in play, could Mr. Money in the Bank cost Orton his title shot against Cena on Sunday? This definitely starts the clock on the Orton face turn, which could come as soon as Hell in a Cell (seriously, just beating Cena would be enough to turn Orton face at this point).
We close the show with Rollins standing atop the Cell, as annoying and smug as ever.
Sunday can’t get here soon enough.
Other Results:
Goldust/Stardust & Damien Mizdow defeat Sheamus and the Usos via pinfall – Mizdow ended up in this match after Miz decided he didn’t want to compete, and he steals the win (and the show, again) with a roll-up after Sheamus hits Goldust with a Brogue Kick.
Alicia Fox defeats AJ Lee via pinfall – Alicia Fox picks up the win after a fake fight between her and Paige distracts AJ long enough for Fox to get the roll-up. Score one for Total Divas newest memb… zzzzzzz.
Rusev defeats Big E via submission – Rusev beat Big E with the Accolade in what was basically a squash match. The real drama here came after the match was over. Lana calls for the Russian flag to be dropped but Big Show pops up on the Titantron and points to the ring as an American flag drops. Rusev goes crazy and tries to rip the flag down, which causes a uniformed soldier to rush the ring from the crowd to stop him. As security tries to stop the soldier, Rusev levels him with a monstrous kick. We come back from the break to see a distraught Big Show promise to make Rusev pay for crossing the line. WWE has done a great job building up Rusev and this feud, but man they really hit this one out of the park, getting Rusev a TON of heat.
Brie Bella defeats Summer Rae via pinfall – Brie won, Nikki was mad, they fight Sunday to decide who gets to be whose personal secretary for a month. Let’s move on.
Cesaro defeats Dolph Ziggler via pinfall – Apparently the Intercontinental Champ is now nothing more than a mid-card jobber. Cesaro wins with a vicious uppercut because Ziggler can’t even get beat with a finisher. Sure why not.
Despite the ridiculousness of the finish, Dolph still sells it like a champ. #PUSHZIGGLER!