With just six days until Extreme Rules, there were still plenty of questions regarding this Sunday’s pay-per-view card. WWE looked to answer those questions and add intrigue to it’s first post-Wrestlemania PPV on last night’s go-home episode of Monday Night Raw. Let’s take a look at what went down.
You Get an RKO! And You Get an RKO! Everyone Gets an RKO!
The final Monday Night Raw before Extreme Rules pay-per-view focused plenty on the WWE World Heavyweight title match between Seth Rollins and Randy Orton. The Viper was looking to send a message to the Champ before their clash inside a steel cage this Sunday, and boy did he ever do that.
We kick things off with Orton in the ring surrounded by the steel cage. The Viper calls Rollins names for banning the RKO because that isn’t his biggest weapon, his ability to inflict serious damage on his opponents is. And he plans to inflict a ton of damage on Rollins this Sunday. Orton says he’s going to break Rollins jaw and ribs and end his title reign.
Out comes Rollins who says Orton has anger issues (O RLY?!), but Orton says he actually has a Seth Rollins problem. Rollins says he’s better than Orton and he doesn’t care what threats the Viper makes. Rollins says that Orton is a sure-fire Hall of Famer, but he’s all of that and then some. He promises that Orton won’t walk out of the cage at Extreme Rules and says that Orton should get everything out of his system. Orton agrees, and says he’s going to RKO every single person in the locker room and finish with Rollins before the night is over.
Later,e we see Rollins walking around scared of eating an RKO when suddenly…
Millions of Dollars! Millions of Dollars! Seriously, the Primetime Players are pretty damn funny.
Rollins flips and starts yelling at people and nearly yells at Triple H but he tells the COO he’ll handle Orton. Instead, the Champ wants to know about what is going on with Kane, so Trips tells him to cool off and the Kane issue will be handled shortly. Rollins then asks for more security but Triple H tells him Orton is just one guy.
As the night continued, Orton would send his message to Rollins over and over again. First it was a surprise appearance after the New Day beat the Lucha Dragons.
Orton RKO’s Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston before challenging Big E to get in the ring too. E thinks better of the situation and bails out.
Triple H makes his way out to the ring and puts over Tough Enough, saying the Authority is looking for the next Seth Rollins. Kane makes his way out and Triple H jokes he’s a little too experienced for Tough Enough. Kane says he’s tired of dealing with Rollins because he isn’t worth the Authority’s investment so Kane is giving his two week notice to the Authority.
Out comes an angry Rollins who gets in Kane’s face as Trips tries to calm everyone down. He eventually has to scream at both of them before anyone shuts up and the COO says Kane is the most loyal person in the Authority. Trips says that at Extreme Rules, Kane will be the ‘Guardian of the Gate’ making sure nobody can interfere in the match. Rollins isn’t happy but Hunter doesn’t care and he makes the two shake hands before the Champs storms off in a hissy-fit.
Of course, Kane and Rollins argue some more backstage and Trips tells Kane he’s corporate now and his days of hellfire and brimstone are gone. Kane says he will prove that’s not true as Triple H zeroes in on Rollins and tells him that you become the man by facing everyone who wants to take your title, so Rollins is going to take on Ziggle rand prove to the world that he is in fact, the man. Rollins says he’ll destroy Ziggler.
Backstage we see Heath Slater bothering Erick Rowan in catering, so Big Red walks away and BAM RKO NUMBER THREE. Sorry Slater.
Later, Miz is out celebrating his win over Mizdow with his new buddy Summer Rae and RKO NUMBER FOUR SUCKA! The best part of this of course being that Orton hits it while Miz is on the mic trying to tell us how awesome he is. I’m loving this Viper strikes everyone thing going on tonight.
Renee Young interviews Kane and asks him about a ton of stuff that Rollins and J&J Security were heard saying about him, so the Demon storms into Trips office and starts yelling at Rollins. The Champ apologizes and they kiss and make up as Rollins says he’s dedicating his match with Ziggler to Kane. They leave and we see Orton walk in smirking as Rollins walks away. I wonder what’s coming next.
The main event was another amazing match between Ziggler and Rollins. Seriously, if these two just fought every Monday Night for like 30 minutes, ratings would be through the roof. The finish comes when Sheamus distracts Ziggler and Rollins hits his Buckle Bomb and then some weird DDT that looks like a rip-off of Dean Ambrose’s Dirty Deeds for the 1-2-3. I guess they really are banning the Curb Stomp. What a shame.
Rollins brags that he proved he’s the man and out comes Triple H to introduce Rollins as the man who will beat Randy Orton. Rollins keeps talking trash and says he’s going to win and render Kane obsolete as the Guardian of the Gate, so out comes an angry Big Red Machine. J&J Security and Triple H calm him down as Rollins calls for the cage to be lowered to protect him.
Big mistake.
Rollins turns around to find Randy Orton waiting for him and you could practically see the Ron Burgundy look on his face.
Rollins tries to run because apparently WWE wants their champion to be a coward, but Orton isn’t letting him get off that easily. The Champ tries to climb the ropes to cage, but Orton grabs his leg and hits one final monster RKO on the Rollins.
Now THAT is how you hit a fifth RKO of the night. Awesome sell job by Rollins as usual of course.
Kane looks on with a smile on his face as Orton standing tall over Rollins dead body is the last thing we see heading into Extreme Rules.
Other Results:
Roman Reigns Needs to Bo-Lieve! – Reigns comes out and says he doesn’t want to talk (THANK YOU!), he wants to fight and he calls out Big Show. Instead, he gets Bo Dallas! Dallas quotes Star Wars and tells Reigns he’s a bust, calling him the Tim Tebow of the WWE and I instantly love Bo Dallas. Bo tells Reigns he needs to Bo-lieve and then, yeah you guessed it.
Superman Punch, Spear, Bo-lieve that.
John Cena’s Open Challenge, Pt. 4 – Cena comes out and explains that his Russian Chain Match with Rusev is the same as a strap match, only with chains. Then he issues his open challenge and out comes… Kane of course because we haven’t had enough Authority tonight. The match was okay but not as good as previous Cena Open Challenge bouts, Kane played it pretty pissed off and hit some strong moves on Cena. But of course, the Champ isn’t losing before Sunday so Cena reverses a Tombstone and hits the AA for the 1–2-3.
Later, Cena is getting interviewed backstage and he promises to beat Rusev on Sunday, so of course the Bulgarian Brute attacks him with a chain, and then uses said chain to lock in the Accolade.
Seriously, Rusev is the best.
Dean Ambrose & Luke Harper Really Hate Each Other – So basically, this wasn’t a match at all. They pretty much beat the hell out of each other around the ring and stage until there’s a double count-out and it’s later announced that they’ll face off at Extreme Rules in a Chicago Street Fight, which is probably going to steal the whole damn show.
Sheamus is the Heel We Need – The Celtic Warrior beat the absolute hell out of Zack Ryder, hitting him with a Brogue Kick in about 4.2 seconds. Instead of getting the pin, he says Ryder deserves more than a five-second match, so he beats the crap out of Ryder while on the mic the whole time. Sheamus hits another Brogue Kick, then looks for a third but Dolph Ziggler comes out and Zig Zags him to save his bro-ski from the LI.
Bray Wyatt Uses his Words – For the 8th straight Raw (educated guess), Bray Wyatt did nothing but speak. This time he continued to target a mysterious opponent, saying this person likes to lift weights and that everything he likes will soon end. So maybe not Reigns, but a feud with Ryback then? Who knows.
Mizdow is Betrayed.. Again – The Miz and Mizdow faced off in a match for the rights to the Miz Brand, which apparently is a real-life thing. Typical short match between the two (thanks for ruining the feud WWE) that sees Miz win after Summer Rae turns on Mizdow and helps Miz hit the Skull Crushing finale for the win.
Heel New Day > Face New Day – The New Day was so terrible as a face group that they attracted heat as soon as they showed up. Luckily for everyone, they are embracing their heel side and we saw it with a big win over the Lucha Dragons via count-out after Xavier Woods held Sin Cara’s feet so he’d get counted out.
This is so much better than anything they were doing before. It was a legit surprise New Day beat the Lucha Dragons too.
Someone Save Curtis Axel! – Apparently Axelmania isn’t as over with creative as it is with the audience because Curtis Axel jobbed out to Fandango of all people. Yes, that Fandango. Oh well, at least we got some sweet dance moves from the longest running Royal Rumble participant beforehand.
Ryback Doesn’t Like Roses or Rosebuds – Squash match with Ryback crushing Adam Rose. After the match he decides to Shell Shock two Rosebuds for fun.
Hey More Total Divas! – Heel Naomi beat slowly-turning face Brie Bella in a singles match that sets up a Diva’s title bout between Naomi and Nikki Bella this Sunday.
