Following an uneven showing at Night of Champions, WWE presented Monday Night Raw with all of the fall-out from the pay-per-view’s events. Let’s take a look at what went down last night on Raw.
Cena and Ambrose Both Want Their Shot at Mr. Money in the Bank
We kick things off on Raw with Dean Ambrose in the ring saying he appreciates the Authority’s creativity in ganging up on him at Night of Champions. Somehow, Ambrose is actually flattered by having his head Curb Stomped through cinder blocks by Seth Rollins. Ambrose then promises not to leave the ring until he gets his hands on Seth Rollins.
This of course brings out John Cena, who has his own bone to pick with Rollins after Night of Champions. Despite Ambrose warning Cena not to give him a reason to dislike him, John says that Rollins screwed him over too and that he wants to take Mr. Money in the Bank out himself. Ambrose warns Cena to stay out of his way, but Cena smacks the mic out of his hand and calls for a fight.
This brings out the Authority as Triple H tells both Cena and Ambrose to relax since neither of them is going to get to fight Rollins tonight. Cena and Ambrose cut him off by charging up the ramp and a brawl breaks out between the Authority and their two enemies. Rollins is chased through the crowd and as we cut to backstage we see Ambrose and Cena taking turns beating on him.
Rollins books it to the garage and steals a car (there are no laws in the WWE Universe) and speeds off as Ambrose tries to jump into the trunk of a moving vehicle.
Kane and Orton complain to Triple H that they are tired of cleaning up Rollins messes as the COO announces Orton-Cena and Kane-Ambrose for later in the evening.
Rollins Turns the Tables on Ambrose
Out come Ambrose and Kane and the fight is on. Ambrose is a ball of fire as he hits Kane with a flying elbow for the near-fall before avoiding a clothesline and sending Kane tumbling out of the ring. This of course sets up Ambrose’s patented suicide dive and then…
!!! DEAN AMBROSE CRAZY EYES ALERT !!!
In no mood for fun, Ambrose grabs a couple of chairs before Kane stops him with a big clothesline.
Ambrose makes his comeback and hits Kane with a big drop-kick off of the top rope before hitting Dirty Deeds and going for the win. Rollins hits the ring and breaks up the pin by attacking Ambrose and causing a disqualification. The Lunatic tries to fight off the attack but is hit with a massive chokeslam by Kane to put a quick end to his rally.
After the match, we see Rollins and Triple H backstage as the COO tells Mr. Money in the Bank to stop attacking people because they are getting sick of it. While Rollins is trying to figure out when he’s ever done such a thing, Ambrose attacks yet again and causes an all-out brawl. Security rushes in to separate the two, and as Trips tells them to throw him out of the building Stephanie says to lock him in a room instead. Security protects the door with Ambrose locked inside as Steph tells Triple H that they’ve never thrown someone out who hasn’t come back, so this is a better way to make sure Dean doesn’t cause anymore issues.
The #PUSHZIGGLER Movement is Back… For Now
Just one night after Dolph Ziggler’s Intercontinental Title reign came to an unceremonious end at the hands of the Miz, the Show-Off got his rematch for the strap. Miz makes his way out with his stunt-double Damien Sandow, and well they really have this thing down pat. Seriously just look at this picture, Sandow is awesome.
Seriously, a mini-IC title. Anyways, the match kicks off and again the Miz and Ziggler are putting on a great show. The two have developed an awesome chemistry in the ring over the last two months and it shows every time they get in the ring together. Great back and forth between the two as we head to commercial break and come back to find Ziggler hit a beautiful dropkick as Miz comes flying off of the top rope.
Ziggler heads up top but is stopped by Miz and gets locked into a Figure Four (special shout out to Natch!) before Dolph breaks the hold and rolls himself out of the ring. Back in the ring, Miz hits a Skull Crushing Finale out of nowhere but only gets a two count as Ziggler somehow kicks out. The A-Lister is in complete shock that his finisher didn’t work and as he goes back to stomp on Ziggler gets hit with a big DDT. Dolph goes for the Zig Zag but misses and after a Sandow distraction reverses a roll-up by Miz for the 1-2-3 by holding Miz’s tights this time around.
Your winner and NEW INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION (again)… DOLPH ZIGGLER! Not sure why the company felt the need to have him drop the strap for 24 hours but whatever, #PUSHZIGGLER!
Ambrose Saves Super Cena to Ruin The Authority’s Plans
Our main event of the night is Cena-Orton, part 1356. Seth Rollins and Kane make their way to ringside (apparently now Kane just comes out to Rollins music) and we see what is clearly a covered stack of cinderblocks next to the announce table. Orton and Cena (in a terrible Keep Calm and Never Give Up shirt) make their way out and we’re underway.
Orton in command early, methodically picking Cena apart and stomping him repeatedly as we head to our final commercial break. We come back to Cena trying to hit Orton with a flying crossbody, only for Orton to duck and Cena to hit the floor pretty hard. Orton now has some bad things in mind as he begins to take the announce table apart.
The Legend Killer picks up Cena and looks for a hanging DDT off the table before Super Cena reverses and backdrops Orton onto the floor. Back in the ring and the two are going back and forth before Orton suplexes Cena for a near-fall and then hits his hanging DDT off of the ropes. Orton again taunts the crowd while calling for an RKO, but a Cena reversal locks the Viper in the STF before Rollins and Kane break up the hold to cause the disqualification.
The Authority is now taking Cena apart inside of the ring before Orton tells Kane and Rollins to take him outside. They set Cena up for a Curb Stomp from Rollins before Kane goes to reveal the cinderblocks. Wait, those aren’t cinderblocks!
Out of nowhere Ambrose comes flying in and flailing wildly at everyone in sight, knocking Kane out of the way before tackling the Authority from the table..
Ambrose finally gets his hands on Rollins and hits a HUGE clothesline, only to have Kane break it up and go for a chokeslam. Now it’s Super Cena’s time to make the save as he grabs Kane and hits him with an Attitude Adjustment in the center of the ring. Ambrose and Cena are ready for me but we see Rollins escaping through the crowd as the show comes to a close. How hot is Ambrose? His music closes out the show, not Cena’s.
Hopefully Cena gets pushed towards another Orton/Kane feud and WWE allows Rollins and Ambrose to flourish in their rivalry.
Other Results:
Sheamus & The Usos defeat Stardust, Goldust & Cesaro via pinfall
Good six man tag match in what has become a weekly theme on Raw. After Goldust got a near-fall, things break down and eventually we get a flying Uso splash on the Odd One for the 1-2-3 and a measure of revenge for the former tag champs.
Rusev defeats Mark Henry via ref decision
In a rematch from Night of Champions, Mark Henry looked to get America’s faith back by taking on Rusev with a badly injured back. Despite admirably keeping pace with the Bulgarian Brute, Henry eventually passed out while locked in the Accolade and the ref had no choice but to stop the match. Score another round for Russia in WWE’s Cold War.
Jack Swagger defeats Bo Dallas via submission
I guess this is going to be a weekly thing on Raw since there’s no room on the pay-per-view cards for the Bo-lievers. Swagger picks up the win via the Patriot Lock and fans everywhere get another un-Bo-lievable loss.
Adam Rose & The Bunny defeat Heath Slater & Titus O’Neil via pinfall
Yeah, you read that correctly. The Bunny made his in-ring debut, hitting some high-flying moves before taking O’Neil out at ringside as Rose got the 1-2-3 and a win over Heath Slater. So expect another month of building up who the Rabbit is before we get Darren Young revealed as the furry mascot.
AJ Lee defeats Nikki Bella via submission
After a terrible promo by Nikki blaming Brie being mean in an interview or something for her loss at Night of Champions, Brie comes out to confront her and gives an even worse promo as they fight over who gets to keep the Bella last name before they brawl for a little bit. Finally, we get a match between her and AJ that ends in Nikki tapping out to the Black Widow.
Really, this is all you needed to see from the segment.
Natalya defeats Summer Rae via submission
Continuation of a Total Divas storyline here on Raw as Natalya gets Summer Rae to tap via the sharpshooter.