Following the Money in the Bank PPV, WWE was in full-on story building mode heading in to the push to BattleGround. The main question of the night was who the new #1 contender for Seth Rollins’ WWE title was, and boy did we ever get an answer. Let’s take a look at what went down.
Guess Who’s Back?
Seth Rollins kicks off Raw by coming out and bragging about his big win at Money in the Bank. Rollins says that Dean Ambrose brought his A-game but it still wasn’t good enough and he did what he said he would and won on his own. He tells the crowd to take a long look at the Champ before Ambrose cuts him off and the two begin to brawl. Rollins eventually makes a run for it and Ambrose gets on the mic to say the Champ can brag all he wants, but he’s not leaving til Rollins gets back in the ring.
Backstage, we see Rollins talking to the Authority and he says his Ambrose feud should be over because he won and it’s his show. Stephanie McMahon says that Rollins made it seem like he didnt’t need the Authority anymore but Rollins says he meant Kane and J&J Security, not Steph and Triple H. Rollins says they should forget Ambrose and think about what’s next, and Trips tells him they are and Rollins should trust that they’ll make a good decision on his next opponent.
Later, we see Rollins mocking J&J Security backstage, but he offers them their jobs back if they can tell him who his opponent is going to be. They say they don’t know and joke that it should be Mercury since he pinned Rollins last week but the Champ just laughs it off. Mercury then says Rollins is afraid of him (come on) and it’s only a matter of time til the Champ loses his title.
Rollins then runs into Kane and they argue back and forth. Rollins says Kane he’s always had help from his brother and father and the Authority and Kane flips and tells him leave his family out of it before threatening to rip Rollins head off.
The Authority comes out and says they have an opponent for Rollins’ and his title, and unfortunately for all of us it’s not Joey Mercury (damn it!). They also say it isn’t Dean Ambrose, so Rollins comes out and says no one can take his title. He promises to embarrass his next opponent and HHH says he’s proven himself but it’s time the Authority looked at their investment.
Trips says that this challenge will have a ton of pressure and Rollins will either crumble or turn into a diamond. So who’s his opponent at Battleground?
BA-RRRROCK LES-NARRRRRRR!
Rollins looks so distraught at this point, looking Trips in the eye like ‘Et tu, Brute?’ as Lesnar’s music hits.
Lesnar makes his way to the ring and gets in Rollins face, and the Champ can’t even make eye contact. Rollins backs out of the ring and Lesnar doesn’t move an inch, staring him down as the show goes off the air.
Rollins. Lesnar. Battleground.
This is going to be a great match, Rollins sells with the best of them, and having him go one-on-0ne with the Beast will make both men look great.
Other Results:
Kevin Owens & The Show-Off Put on a Clinic – Kevin Owens makes his way out and says John Cena isn’t in the building tonight because of injuries, and the crowd can blame Cena for that. Owens says Cena tried to steal the spotlight by raising his hand and he did what he had to do after the match. He calls for a rubber match between the two, this time for the U.S. title. He offers his own Open Challenge since Cena can’t and it’s answered by….
DOLPH ZIGGLER.
An oh my God, this match was everything we could have ever dreamed of. Despite the fact that it wasn’t an NXT title match (Owens told Lillian Garcia h e never agreed to that and to announce it as a normal match), this was just a beauty. The two went back and forth with some awesome offense and man did Ziggler sell the hell out of Owens’ moves.
Just look at this German Suplex.
And then this Owens cannonball.
I mean Ziggler sells each move perfectly. But don’t worry, the Show-Off got some offense of his own in. First, hitting this awesome DDT that sent Owens rolling out of the ring immediately.
The finish of this match was incredible. Dolph avoids another canonball by super-kicking Owens. The NXT Champ then tries a Pop-Up Powerbomb but Ziggler avoids it and hits a Famouser for the near-fall. Owens again tries a powerbomb but Ziggler hops over him and hits a huge Zig Zag!
Somehow, Owens is able to kick out of Ziggler’s finisher at 2! The NXT Champ follows that up by FINALLY connecting with a Pop-Up Powerbomb for the 1-2-3 and the win.
What. A. Match.
These guys seem like they can pull out a classic anytime they feel like it.
Later, Machine Gun Kelly is performing for some reason and he mentions the intro he did for John Cena at Wrestlemania, which brings Owens out. Him and MGK have words and the rapper shoves him, thinking for some reason that that is a good idea and no, it’s never a good idea to anger Kevin Owens.
The NXT champ doesn’t like this at all so he does this.
Powerbomb off the stage, through a table. Rap about that.
Wyatt Explains Himself – Roman Reigns makes his way out and starts talking about how he didn’t sleep because he’s so gosh darn mad that Bray Wyatt cost him the MITB win. Wyatt cuts him off and says Reigns stole Wyatt’s hope by denying him a shot at the MITB match a few weeks ago, and he says it reminds him of another chosen one and how they made the wrong choice (Rollins and the Authority?) but says they shouldn’t fight tonight because it would be a bad example. Wyatt then starts singing to a picture of Reigns and his daughter, which creeps Reigns the hell out (naturally) and then Wyatt says they are just getting started.
Okay I like where this is going. Good work WWE.
Ambrose Beats Mr. Money in the Bank with a Viper’s Assist – Remember above where I mentioned Ambrose saying he wouldn’t leave the ring until Rollins came back? He was actually serious.
Instead of Rollins he got Sheamus, who came out and said he was going to deal with the Authority’s problem and kick Ambrose’s head off. Ambrose picks up the win in a pretty physical match thanks to a distraction from Randy Orton. After, Orton tries to RKO Sheamus but the Celtic Warrior gets away.
Later, Sheamus would get his revenge, coming out during Orton’s match with Kane and hitting the Viper with a Brogue Kick allowing the Demon to make the cover and pick up a win.
Millions of Arrows! – WWE might have accidentally created my favorite three-man tag team since the Shield last night. The NEW Tag-Team Champs, the Prime Time Players, teamed up with Neville for a fun win over the New Day. Seriously, look how great this intro is.
PTP and Neville pick up the win after a sweet Red Arrow from Neville.
Intercontinental Love Triangle – Big Show gets a match with Miz after the latter cost him his IC title shot, and Ryback watches from ringside. Naturally this breaks down into chaos and Miz wins because Big Show got counted out for arguing with Ryback. Okay.
Bad News Buried – Bad News Barrett continues to be buried by creative, this week losing to R-Truth on a rollup. I don’t know what Barrett did, but ever since winning King of the Ring he’s done nothing but job to jobbers.
Paige Rides Solo – Paige tried to get some friends but all the Divas ignored her because the Bellas said to, and then the Bellas beat her in a handicap match. So yeah.