Last night’s Monday Night Raw was the go-home show before this weekend’s Battleground pay-per-view, and it was filled with action and drama. From an unlikely losing streak to a main event featuring a possible major injury, Raw left us all looking forward to this Sunday. Let’s get right to it.
An Uneasy Alliance
We kick things off with WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena coming down to address the crowd (yawn). Cena comes out to his usual mixture of boos and cheers and does a solid for the company, telling fans to purchase the WWE Network ahead of this weekend’s Battleground PPV. Fortunately for all of us, he was quickly interrupted by the next “Next Big Thing” Roman Reigns, who made his way through the crowd and into the ring. (Side note: I love that they let Reigns keep his crowd entrance, it’s still awesome and gets the crowd going crazy.)
Cena tries to build a bit of a friendship by talking about how the Authority has screwed over Reigns repeatedly in the past couple of months, but the big man isn’t having any of it. Reigns cuts Cena off and let’s him know he wants to get to chase. In the night’s main event, the two and Dean Ambrose will face off against the Authority’s henchmen, Kane, Randy Orton and Seth Rollins. Cena and Reigns quickly agree that they will take out the Authority and then handle their one-on-one issues before Dean Ambrose is shown on the jumbotron letting both men know they better get their issues together before the end of the night.
!!! DEAN AMBROSE CRAZY EYES ALERT !!!
As Ambrose talks, Kane appears next to him, we pan out to see Rollins behind him and the ambush is on. Kane, Rollins and Orton beat the absolute heck out of Ambrose in the back while Cena and Reigns presumably watch from the ring. After taking the beating, Ambrose defiantly yells “Is that all you got?!” at his attackers before eating a vicious Curb Stomp (seriously, there is something wrong with the name of this finisher) from Rollins. Ambrose is taken to the hospital for treatment, and our six-man main event is suddenly a handicap match.
Cold War Debate
An interesting storyline that has played out in the past couple of weeks is the rivalry between the monster Rusev and recently turned Jack Swagger. After challenging Rusev to a match at Battleground, both sides engaged in a debate of sorts in the center of the ring.
This segment was really just to illustrate how good Lana is at what she does. Rusev’s mouthpiece laid into Zeb Colter and the “OO ESS AYYY” as she calls it, delivering a promo that would make most heels jealous and continually calling everything American stupid. Lana did a great job showing emotion and really throwing a tantrum in the ring before slapping Colter and causing all hell to break loose. Rusev gained the upper hand on Swagger before the All-American American turned his kick attempt into a great ankle lock. Rusev escaped and limped away as Lana continued to yell. This is a great rivalry.
Chris Jericho Meets Sister Abigal (Again)
One feud currently taking place in the WWE that has loads of potential is the battle of words between Bray Wyatt and the returning Chris Jericho. While Jericho’s promos have been lacking of late, he delivered a good one on Monday night letting Wyatt know that he is ready to “get crazy” at Battleground this Sunday. Y2J doesn’t understand why Wyatt has targeted him however, and this brought us a promo from the Eater of Worlds.
According to Wyatt, he remembers when Jericho promised to save them all. But Bray says that people with small minds get beat and transform as a result. Another one of the quirky promos that only Wyatt can deliver during this segment. Wyatt asks Jericho if he is afraid of the dark before the lights go out and Harper and Rowan are surrounding the Ayatollah of Rock N’ Rolla in the ring. Jericho thinks about fighting but decides to instead retreat up the ramp before being ambushed by Wyatt near the stage. Again, Jericho is delivered to Sister Abigail as Wyatt sits over him and smiles in the creepy way that only he can. Their one on one match at Battleground should be very interesting.
Another Week, Another Surprising Cesar Loss
After losing to Kofi Kingston (and proceeding to beat Kingston down following the match) in consecutive weeks, Cesaro took on Kofi’s buddy Big E in a singles match. After attempting to bring multiple chairs into the match, Cesaro eventually ate a Big Ending for the 1-2-3 and yet another loss on Raw.
This is a surprising losing streak for the King of Swing. I’m not quite sure where this is going, but I’m intrigued nonetheless. WWE generally has their Money in the Bank winner lose over and over again before eventually cashing in, and there could be something similar in play here for Cesaro. With this weekend’s Intercontinental Title Battle Royal coming up, Cesaro could surprise a few people by picking up the win.
A Former WCW Star Finally Makes His Way to WWE
After months (and months and months) of speculation, the Icon Sting finally made his way onto WWE television, albeit not in the way most had hoped he would debut. Speculation was running rampant on a Sting return after he tweeted the following last week.
07.14.14
— Sting (@Sting) July 8, 2014
As it turns out, the big reveal is that Sting will be the pre-order bonus character for the upcoming WWE 2k15 release. While fans were likely hoping the Icon would make his way into a WWE ring, the awesome promo for him in the game is sure to keep them happy until he finally does show up on WWE programming.
Your Weekly Reminder to Always Bo-lieve!
Another week, another Bo Dallas win as the Leader of the Bo-lievers defeated the Great Khali via countout to run his record to 15 and Bo. Keep Bo-lieving folks!
There’s Always a Plan B (and Plan C?)
An interesting rumor that has been making the rounds is that of the return of the original Next Big Thing, Brock Lesnar. After a segment showing Seth Rollins letting Triple H and Stephanie McMahon know that Plan B is in effect and he will take care of business, Heyman strolled in with that grin that only his mother could (maybe) love.
Heyman told the Authority that he has been doing some planning himself and they should talk before walking away. Could his client BAAAA-ROOOOCK LESSSSS-NAR be the Authority’s back-up plan in case Cena or Reigns wins this Sunday at Battleground? Only time will tell what the manager has in store.
The Nature Boy is Back, WOOOOO!
After weeks of rumors about his WWE return, the Nature Boy Ric Flair made his triumphant return to WWE on last night’s Raw. While there had been rumblings of Flair returning to manage the Miz (no.) or Dolph Ziggler (#PUSHZIGGLER!), Natch’ was actually there to discuss this weekends Fatal Fourway for the WWE World Heavyweight Title.
Not so surprisingly, Flair hyped up the crowd before letting everyone know that he believes the company’s go-to Golden Boy John Cena will walk out with the gold on Sunday. This lead to another appearance from Roman Reigns, who simply walked out and smiled at Flair before extending his hand for a handshake before Flair leaves and we get ready for our main event.
World Heavyweight Title Retirment?
One interesting note from the Flair segment mentioned above is what happened as Flair was making his way up the ramp. John Cena’s music hit and well first this happened.
We then saw Cena and Flair embrace, with Cena handing the Nature Boy the World Heavyweight title and telling him to keep it. At first, this didn’t seem like much of a big deal at all. But as soon as Raw went off the air, rumors began to circulate that WWE may have used the moment to officially retire the big gold belt.
There are some who believe WWE may have retired the Big Gold Belt during Rawlast night when John Cena passed it off to Ric Flair and told him to “keep it”. This is being supported, apparently, by Cena mentioning defending the “WWE title” this Sunday. Obviously there’s no confirmation of this, which is why it’s a rumor for now.
This would be quite a big deal and something you would think WWE would put more effort into doing so that fans understood the moment, but then again WWE hasn’t exactly been respectful when it comes to WCW memorabilia.
Regardless, this would actually be a move that made sense for WWE. With the titles now unified, there really is no need for the Champ to be carrying around two belts, especially after the company remodeled the WWE title so recently. It will be interesting to see how this plays out, we should get our first real answer this Sunday at Battleground when Cena makes his entrance.
Uneasy Alliances Break Down
Our main event of the night turned into a handicap match after Ambrose took his vicious beating earlier in the night. John Cena and Roman Reigns took on Kane, Orton and Rollins in a match-up featuring all four participants in the Battleground main event as well as Mr. Money in the Bank. As is usually the case in these matches, each star was given an opportunity to showcase himself as the faces and heels took turns delivering their respective move-sets.
After a hot-tag to Reigns, chaos began to quickly unfold. Reigns hit a Superman Punch on the Demon before nailing Orton with a Samoan Drop. This lead to what could be a very big sequence in the future of WWE. As Rollins prepared to launch himself from the top rope, Reigns ducked the attached and Rollins seemed to land awkwardly on his knee. After being clotheslined out of the ring by Reigns, WWE cameras did their best to try and avoid the very obvious scene unfolding ringside. The official threw up the dreaded “X” with his hands (signaling a legitimate injury) and WWE medical personnel attended to Rollins, who would not be seen again as the match finish unfolded. It will be very interesting to see if Rollins indeed suffered a serious injury as a high-flyer like him getting a serious knee injury could be catastrophic.
Back in the ring, Kane stopped a Reigns spear as he and Orton began to beat down the star. With the ref unable to stop them, the bell was rung for a disqualification and the beat-down was on.
Then things got really interesting.
Cena made the save (as he always does) and side-stepped an attacking Kane who hit Orton off of the apron. Cena grabs Kane for his patented Attitude Adjustment as Reigns sets up to spear Orton who had rolled back into the ring. And then, all of our dreams came true.
Orton side-stepped Reigns who accidentally connected on a vicious spear to Cena. WWE fans everywhere smiled at what they hope is a signal of what is to come in the future. After Reigns was distracted by who he hit, Kane delivered a big boot, knocking the Samoan out of the ring.
Interestingly enough, Orton then took out his frustration on the Demon by delivering a thunderous RKO, signaling significant cracks in the Authority’s Plan A. Orton’s music hit and he celebrated as we prepared to go off the air, only…
REIGNS SPEAR ON ORTON!
And for what feels like the 15th consecutive WWE show, we go off the air with Reigns standing tall in the middle of the ring.
Comclusion:
What a way to head into Battleground. WWE did a great job of pushing story-lines and generating buzz ahead of Sunday’s PPV. Who will win the Battle Royal for the IC title? Is Seth Rollins really hurt and how will that affect the Authority and their Plan B?
Most importantly, who will walk out of Battleground the champ? WWE has done a great job building Roman Reigns up as a legit threat to take home the straps, but is it time for Reigns to turn the future into the present? We’ll find out this Sunday at Battleground!
Until next week, remember #PUSHZIGGLER!
