Sunday’s Hell in a Cell show was an up and down affair to say the least. Couple that with the departures of John Cena, Brock Lesnar and the Undertaker, and WWE had an up-hill battle to climb on Raw last night. So what did WWE do? Put on one of the best Raw episodes in years of course. Let’s take a look at what went down.
Roman Reigns Earns His Title Shot
After Seth Rollins beat Kane at Hell in a Cell, the question became who would be the next man to challenge for Rollins title at Survivor Series? To answer that, the Authority kicked off Raw for the first time in a while. Stephanie and Triple H talk about Hell in a Cell and put over Alberto Del Rio’s return before bringing out Rollins.
Steph puts over how long Rollins has been Champ, Trips puts over how Rollins has rolled through every opponent in his way, it’s just a real Rollins Lovefest right now. Rollins hugs the Authority and then talks about how he got rid of Kane but says he’s no in an awkward position. He’s beaten everyone and has no challengers.
Triple H announces that to solve that problem there will be a tournament to become #1 Contender. Everyone who won at Night of Champions (Kofi, Big E, Neville, Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler, Roman Reigns, Alberto Del Rio, Kevin Owens) will have a match tonight, and the winners of those four matches will compete in a Fatal 4-Way with the winner of that getting a title shot. Confused yet?
This brings out Roman Reigns (they call that foreshadowing kids) and he vows to become #1 contender.
Our first match of the tournament is between Reigns and Kofi Kingston, and my goodness did these guys deliver. While everyone watching knew that Reigns was going over, the match itself was still an awesome back and forth contest with some high spots and of course comedy because New Day.
Our finish saw Kofi go for a Trouble in Paradise, only for Reigns to dodge and hit a massive spear for the 1-2-3.
Reigns advances to the Fatal 4-Way.
Next up we get a mini-continuation of the awesome Kevin Owens and Cesaro feud from a few months back. Not surprisingly, these two put on an awesome match that was crazy over with the crowd.
Cesaro even got the Cesaro Section involved, holding a sign to his chest and running around the apron before delivering yet another massive uppercut to Owens on the outside.
The match was so physical that the ref had to keep separating the two, and Owens took full advantage of this to hit a massive superkick to a distracted Cesaro.
One Pop-Up Power Bomb later, Kevin Owens was in the Fatal 4-Way.
Next up we have Neville taking on Alberto Del Rio in another fun back and forth match. Del Rio was his usual stiff self, Neville was his usual high-flying self, and this match served its purpose on the card.
Del Rio eventually picked up the win with his new finisher, the Cena Killer Kick, and ADR is in the Fatal 4-Way.
Our last singles match of the tournament is between Big E and Dolph Ziggler. The Prince of Pretty himself, Tyler Breeze, is ringside with Summer Rae and he has his own VIP section.
Seriously, Tyler Breeze is everything Fandango was supposed to be.
The match itself was pretty entertaining, with Big E controlling a lot of it and reminding us all that he is really, really ridiculously strong.
Unfortunately for all of us, Xavier Woods again was missing from ringside, but the Unicorn Brothers still paid tribute to their fallen comrade.
Big E eventually goes for a spear but misses and hits the ring post, and Ziggler takes advantage to hit a Zig Zag and pick up the win.
Our Fatal 4-Way is officially Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler.
All I can say about this match is if you didn’t get to see it live I feel sorry for you. This was EXACTLY what a Fatal 4-Way is supposed to be with every man getting in some great offense.
Reigns and Ziggler specifically had a pretty awesome minute or two in the ring fighting each other with Del Rio and Owens incapacitated.
The best sequence of the match saw Ziggler go for a superplex on Del Rio only to be pulled off by Owens. Owens tried to set Ziggler up to take a DoomsDay Device but Reigns hit Del Rio with a massive Superman Punch. Not to be outdone, Ziggler hit Reigns with a superkick before Owens hit Ziggler with a suplex. This thing had a lot going on.
Owens followed it up by hitting a running canonball in the corner to Ziggler. Then KO delivered another to Del Rio, who was simultaneously hit in the head by a flying Roman Reigns kick. Seriously, SO MUCH GOING ON.
Things come down to Reigns and Owens one on one and the crowd is eating it up. Owens hits Reigns with a superkick and goes for the Pop-Up Power Bomb but Reigns counters it with a Superman Punch OUT OF NOWHERE!
Reigns follows with a massive spear on Owens for the 1-2-3! You’re winner and NEW #1 CONTENDER FOR THE WWE TITLE, ROMAN REIGNS.
Rollins and Reigns stare each other down ringside after the match.
Kudos to WWE. They gave us two-three months of horrible Seth Rollins feuds all so that we would love it when he began feuding with Reigns. Pure genius.
Seriously though, watch that match. It was awesome.
Other Results –
The New Face of Fear Has Arrived – Bray Wyatt comes out to address his actions at the end of Hell in a Cell. He says that the Undertaker has spent 25 years in WWE and has never had an equal. But last night, the apocalypse showed up and carried Takers soul out of the arena.
Wyatt promises that him and Reigns will fight again, but he says he needs to be revitalized before that can happen. The Undertaker’s demise is the resurrection of Bray Wyatt. Wyatt says he will not stop until Taker is completely gone and then tells the crowd to bow their head in a moment of silence.
BOOM!
Out comes Kane who is over Seth Rollins and wants to defend the honor of his fallen brother. Unfortunately for Kane, the rest of the Wyatt Family appears and surrounds the ring. Kane fights them off momentarily but the numbers game catches up to him. Eventually the Wyatts carry him out like they did Taker, and backstage we see this creepiness.
Euro Domination – Apparently this Rusev, King Barrett, Sheamus team is a thing that will last a little longer. The trio took on trio of Ryback and the Dudley Boyz (?) in a match that was whatever. The highlight was when Ryback and the Dudleyz all called for and connected on a Meat Hook clothesline.
Our finish sees Barrett still the win with a roll-up and then celebrate like he just became WWE Champ.
Heel Paige Is Here – Our Divas match of the night featured a reunited Team PCB taking on Team Bella. Is anyone else enjoying this new, angry Nikki Bella?
This match was pretty much the same as every other six Diva tag match, with the Bellas picking up the win thats to Nikki hitting Becky Lynch with a Rack Attack. After the match, Paige turned on Lynch and Charlotte and eventually locked the Divas Champ into the Scorpion Crosslock to send a message.
Heel page is great.