Things are changing in WWE as we’ve come off the spring series of rapid fire pay per views and it’s now time to get going towards Summerslam. Lesnar is back and hunting for Rollins and the title, despite the fact that Rollins is now all alone. Let me emphasize that line, because the logic is about to go flying out the window. Let’s get to it.

The show opened with Lesnar and Heyman coming out for the big face turn interview, even though he’s been a face since the night after Wrestlemania. There wasn’t anything special here, but Brock is going to suplex Rollins a lot because Rollins is the chosen one and Brock is the Beast. He also apologized to Cole and JBL to wipe those things off the books. Yeah it’s stupid, but I’ll take that over just throwing something up on WWE.com.

Rollins’ distraction let Kane pin Dean Ambrose. Somehow their solution to Ambrose getting white hot again is to have him lose to Kane, even if there was some interference. This felt like some reason to keep Rollins vs. Ambrose going or maybe move up to the idea that Ambrose had no one helping him, but the main story is what I’ll get to at the end of this.

The Prime Time Players beat the Ascension. That’s all there really is to say here.

Sheamus beat Roman Reigns via DQ when Bray Wyatt distracted him with the idea of having a tea party with Reigns’ daughter. This was a nice power brawl but the big story here was that they kept Sheamus looking strong after his Money in the Bank win. That’s not something you often see, especially with them adding in the build to Reigns vs. Wyatt. Speaking of which, how nice is it that Wyatt has a point to all of his talking? Now if Reigns’ daughter doesn’t actually appear then it’s a big waste of time, but that could be said about so many of Wyatts’ stories.

Neville beat Kofi Kingston in another pretty nothing match. I’ve already written a column on the whole idea of having stars beat jobbers to the stars, and in short, I really hope it continues as it’s an idea that works very well.

King Barrett beat Zack Ryder in the same match that Prime Time Players and Ascension had. That’s kind of the theme tonight: short matches that really don’t change a lot.

Cena did his usual promo, but threw in some French and whatever Chinese dialect he spoke to talk about Owens being a foreign heel. Of course there’s going to be a title match at Battleground, but these two are really starting to run out of things to say to each other. Maybe, just maybe, they should have waited a little while between their matches, but that would go against the only logic and storytelling style WWE knows how to do these days.

We’re going to skip the Authority promos for now.

The Bellas beat Tamina and Naomi in a lame tag match. This felt like making the Bellas faces again, and if that’s the case, I give up on the Bellas. There’s a chance they could be interesting characters, but these constant heel/face turns are driving me insane. That being said, this might just have been a heel vs. heel match and that would make things acceptable. Not interesting mind you but acceptable.

Ryback beat Mark Henry in another theme match of the night. There’s not much to talk about here but Ryback beat up Big Show in the back post match. The key thing here though was they talks about Ryback’s parents speaking for the first time in fifteen years because he won the Intercontinental Title. Again, see the column for more details, but this was a great thing.

Dolph Ziggler beat Adam Rose and Lana is still nothing after being insanely over for a few weeks. She did however take her hair down (into a ponytail) and Summer Rae consoled Rusev because this story is still going for reasons I can’t fathom. I’m less angry about it now, but that’s because I’m resigned to how much of a waste the Rusev vs. Cena feud really was.

Now let’s get this over with. You might know that I don’t really care for the Authority because I find them to be horrible heels most of the time because it turns into a vanity project for them and Stephanie is untouchable and we must hear her take on everything from her charity of the week to the Ultimate Warrior to how John Cena is disrespecting Andre the Giant by wanting to be in his namesake battle royal because Andre the Giant was HER friend (and no, I still have no idea what the point of that was).

However, this story got on my nerves because the story makes no sense. So the Authority wanted to teach Rollins a lesson by taking away his help and making him fight on his own. They brought in Brock Lesnar and smirked at him, then suggested that he go and get the Authority back together……and then they let the team reform to fight off Lesnar, MAKING THIS ENTIRE STORY A WASTE OF TIME.

Their solution to Rollins being cocky is to take away his help. Their solution to him not having help is to give the help back. Someone explain how this makes sense to me. This whole thing continues the lack of logic behind the Authority story and serves no real reason other than to let HHH and Stephanie be the King and Queen that everyone must bow down to and ask for sage advice because how can anyone do anything on their own without those two helping? I don’t even want them gone (thought it would be nice) but at least let them be well written.

This show was fine outside of the main event stuff, which is just a badly written story with less of a plot hole and more of a few walls holding up the plot ceiling missing. The way they moved the midcard stories forward while not wasting a big match was a nice touch and overshadowed the Authority stuff, but I really need an explanation for why Kane and Mercury are helping Rollins again after the Authority made it clear that they weren’t going to be helping him.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete Monday Nitro Reviews Volume III at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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After all the pay per views in the span of a few weeks, this show marks the beginning of a recently unthinkable FIVE WEEK build to Battleground. The big stories are Sheamus now holding the Money in the Bank briefcase and fellow heel Seth Rollins retaining the World Title last night in a long ladder match against Dean Ambrose. This means that Rollins won a major match on his own. I wonder if we’ll hear about that tonight. Let’s get to it.

Before we get started, there was one last tribute to Dusty Rhodes. Yeah it’s the same one, but Dusty deserves as many as WWE wants to give him.

The main story throughout the night was the Authority picking the next challenger to Seth’s title. This means that people were trying to impress them all night, because the Authority are the king and queen of WWE and the wrestlers are all just their playthings, sent out there to dance and perform at the Authority’s will. Throughout the night there were people having regular matches which for some reason meant more, even though it’s almost never someone you see earlier in the night because WWE has gotten very, very stale in its format. We’ll get to the next challenger at the end.

Rollins came out for his big victory speech and bragged about being that much better than Ambrose. They’re doing a great job of keeping Ambrose from beating Rollins and when he finally does, which he will one day, it’s going to be a big moment. As Rollins took all the credit (literally thanking himself over and over in a great heel touch), Ambrose came out and cleaned house, saying he wasn’t leaving the ring until he got another fight against Rollins. This went on for awhile until Sheamus came out for a fight, eventually losing to a rollup. Why would you ever want to win something in WWE? It almost guarantees a losing streak.

Case in point: R-Truth beat King Barrett for the second time in two days, this time in about twenty seconds. Barrett beat him down post match and talked about how serious this was to him. I’m picturing Barrett running around talking about how TOTALLY IMPORTANT it is that he’s a king while everyone else laughs at him, because that’s how interesting wrestlers are treated around here.

Kevin Owens bragged, Dolph Ziggler challenged him to a non-title match, Owens beat Ziggler in the same match Ziggler has had for the last year. In case you can’t tell, I really, really do not care about Dolph Ziggler. Word on the street is that he was about to leave the company and I can’t say I’m complaining.

Paige tried to get the Divas to help her fight the Bellas but this somehow tied into the Authority and the rest of the division not wanting to get on their bad side. This is pretty clearly setting up some NXT callups and I’m terrified of what might happen to them. The Bellas beat Paige in a handicap match later in the show.

Sheamus helped Kane beat Orton in a nothing match. This was supposed to make me think Kane is a viable contender to Rollins. That’s hilarious, if not a bit stupid.

With an unintentional assist from Ryback, Miz beat Big Show via countout. This was fine as a quick help to the three way feud.

Roman Reigns wanted to fight Bray Wyatt, but Bray did his usual freaky promo before holding up a picture of Reigns playing with his daughter. See, that’s at least that’s a specific thing for Wyatt, who usually only speaks in riddles. It’s a baby step, but at least a step.

Machine Gun Kelly, a rapper I’ve only heard of through WWE, rapped for the better part of eternity and was then beaten up by Kevin Owens. That alone made the way too long performance worth it as Owens is one of the coolest heels in a very, very long time.

Neville/Prime Time Players beat the New Day in a fun six man. It’s good to see Neville added into a feud so he has something to do instead of just floating from match to match.

The big reveal was, of course, Brock Lesnar, which opens up a ton of storyline plotholes but his Suplex City/Exit F5 shirt more than made up for it. A few of these plot holes:

1. Cole’s lawsuit, which isn’t so much a plot hole as they addressed it on WWE.com, but they really need to mention it on Raw. It just needs to be a quick line of “we settled it out of court” but it needs to be said on TV.

2. After Stephanie freaked out of Lesnar and sent him away because she hadn’t captured a good set of balls in a long time, they’re just bringing him back to beat up their guy? Is this supposed to be a test? Or are they dumping Rollins to go with Lesnar, who was all insane and violent and nowhere near as controllable as Rollins?

3. What if Rollins wins? Is he supposed to just say “yeah it’s cool Authority. I don’t mind you throwing the biggest, baddest monster ever. What are we doing for dinner tonight?”

Overall this show was about setting up Battleground, which again has the potential to be one of the more entertaining shows in a long time. Granted a lot of that is due to Brock, but that’s why you bring him in. I wasn’t wild on the story of wondering who the opponent was going to be because Lesnar really wasn’t all that shocking. Still though, good enough show which wasn’t the same old repetitive stuff we’ve seen time after time. There are some plot holes that have to be addressed however, but you can do that in just a few quick promos.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete Monday Nitro Reviews Volume III at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Money in the Bank was always going to be a different kind of show as they had to fly through the build do to the lack of time. However, it was also helpful as we didn’t have to sit through a month of people just fighting each other for no reason other than they would be in a contest determined by completely different means of winning. Let’s get to it.

We’ll get the biggest deal out of the way first: this show took place just a few days after the passing of the American Dream Dusty Rhodes. The show opened with a touching tribute as the roster came on stage to have the bell rung ten times, followed by Dusty’s famous theme music being played one last time. This is one of the few wrestling deaths that actually got to me, which is surprising as I never cared much for Rhodes over the years. However, it’s always good to see WWE give their heroes the kind of treatment they deserve.

However, there’s also some really stupid stuff to get through, starting with the pre-show match. R-Truth beat King Barrett because that’s what almost everyone does to Barrett. In theory this leads to Truth as the self professed King and Barrett running around saying “NO! I’M THE REAL KING!”, because he hasn’t been embarrassed enough yet. I’m not sure when we reach that point, but I’m scared to think of how bad it could get for him.

They started the regular matches off fast with the Money in the Bank ladder match, consisting of Sheamus, Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler, Kofi Kingston, Roman Reigns, Neville and Kane. Sheamus won in what was actually a pretty big surprise, meaning it was time for people to criticize it. However, let’s take a quick look at why Sheamus was at worst the second best option to win.

Neville – Not ready

Kane – Will you be serious?

Kofi Kingston – The longest of long shots but never a real contender

Dolph Ziggler – Dead in the water for months if not years now and potentially leaving in the near future. This would have been the weakest choice imaginable as Ziggler isn’t a main event guy anymore.

That leaves us with three options.

Randy Orton is always a possibility, but we’ve seen Orton vs. Rollins how many times now? He would have been a good fall back option, but it feels like something we’ve seen so many times now that there’s nothing to rehash.

Roman Reigns was definitely the heavy favorite but let’s imagine the reaction if he wins. “Man, WWE never mixes things up anymore.” “Reigns wins, just like everyone knew he would.” “Can we get a surprise for once?” Well that’s what we got, as Bray Wyatt remembered he had a reason to be mad at Reigns and interfered to cost him the match.

That leaves Sheamus, nearly through process of elimination. He may not be the most exciting option, but at least he’s a former World Champion and has been doing well enough in the new heel role. If this leads to him taking over the Authority enforcer role from Big Show/Kane, it’s certainly a plus. If Sheamus wins he’ll be little more than a transitional champion, but he gets a recharge out of it. I see little problem here, but I’m sure I’ll be told why he’s so boring and all that, meaning I’ll point out why doing the obvious Reigns win wouldn’t have been much more interesting.

The match itself was the expected good Money in the Bank match, but as usual there were too many people in there. It lead to a bunch of sitting around for people, with Ziggler especially taking long rests outside on the floor instead of going for the briefcase. I could go for taking this down to five people or so and letting there be some drama instead of just piling the same spots we see every time. It’s still entertaining though.

Nikki Bella beat Paige to retain the title with that big forearm after the referee caught the Bellas cheating because that’s how the match was scheduled to end instead of having the ending that actually follows the rules of wrestling. The match was actually good stuff as they had the longest title match since 2006 and the match worked accordingly. That’s a telling sign going forward, but that being said, how many Divas would be able to survive a five minute match, let alone over eleven? Nikki is getting better but this Bellas storyline is long past its expiration date.

Ryback and Big Show did an average power match until Miz ran in to make it a three way feud, which is clearly what they’ve wanted to do the entire time. Why they didn’t just MAKE IT THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE is anyone’s guess, but I’d assume it has something to do with wanting to stretch feuds out for the sake of stretching them out because they think just waiting means building a story.

Cena vs. Owens II was outstanding, just as you would expect it to be. I liked it better than the first match but I won’t put up much of an argument if you liked the first one better. The key here though was Owens’ post match attack on Cena, as he continues to be the best heel in the company by just being a jerk that thinks he’s better than everyone else. Yeah he’ll run when it’s not his time, but when the bell rings, he’ll go toe to toe with anyone.

That’s what makes all the chicken heels annoying: it’s clear WWE knows how to book another style but they just don’t. Owens could be in the title picture tomorrow if they wanted him to be, but I’m sure it’s time for a gimmick match with Cena because that’s what they do.

The Prime Time Players took the Tag Team Titles from the New Day in a surprising upset. However, the more you think about it, the more you think about it, the more it makes sense. This was the first time New Day was in a standard tag match (due to Kofi’s injuries in the ladder match) and they lost the belts. It makes sense, which is why it’s so surprising that WWE actually went with it.

The main event saw WWE World Champion Seth Rollins beat Dean Ambrose in a very, very long ladder match. This was a very solid option for a main event, but I’m hoping they take a break from Ambrose vs. Rollins for a while. It was a long, brutal match but the comebacks got a bit too much to handle near the end. They could have cut five minutes out of the match to make it a bit better, though it was still an excellent match with some great drama. When you can make me believe that something I know won’t happen might happen, you’re having a good match.

Overall, Money in the Bank was exactly what I was expecting it to be, which made for an entertaining show. The ladder matches were always going to be fun, meaning they were more than carrying the show. That leaves you with anything else as a bonus, which consisted of a fun Divas match and an outstanding rematch between Owens and Cena. For a show thrown together in two weeks and the third in seven or so weeks, that’s quite impressive.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete Monday Nitro Reviews Volume III at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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It’s the final show before Money in the Bank and the big story is WWE HIT HALF A BILLION SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWERS!!! Ignore the fact that a lot of them are probably the same people on a bunch of different platforms but WE CAN TOTALLY PUT THIS ON PRESS RELEASES AND BRAG ABOUT HOW AWESOME WE ARE BECAUSE PEOPLE TALK ABOUT US ONLINE EVEN THOUGH THEY DON’T WATCH THE TV SHOWS!!! Yeah let’s get to it.

The opening segment this week was Cena coming out and issuing another open challenge, which was answered by Kevin Owens. However, instead of challenging for the title, Owens thought someone might want to challenge for a REAL championship, such as his NXT Title. That’s such a great heel move and makes Owens come off as the most stuck on himself wrestler in the world, but that’s exactly the point because he already beat Cena.

Anyway, Cena tried to accept the challenge but Owens said Cena couldn’t accept because. Just because. The solution was to have someone come out and challenge for either title. This brought out Neville, who would love to challenge for the US Title at some point, but he knew what it felt like to hold Owens’ prize.

As you would expect, Neville vs. Owens was a great fourteen minute match with both guys hitting all their big stuff and throwing in some drama despite the ending being pretty obvious. That’s a sign of a good match and it worked really well here. This was another example of the NXT guys being allowed to be NXT guys instead of just any other guys and that’s the best thing that could happen to them in their early appearances on Raw.

After this, it was time to start bragging about the social media milestone, which would of course happen ALL NIGHT LONG. We’ll come back to this later, but we’ll start off by saying Michael Cole would later say “we’d like to congratulate WWE on this accomplishment”. Meaning WWE is congratulating itself. It’s nice to see them just admitting that’s what they’re doing.

Nikki Bella suggests that Paige has created her own problems and is all serious because she’s a totally serious character and not goofy whatsoever. Nikki then beat Summer Rae in a quick match.

In your standard hype segment, Kane tried to talk about Money in the Bank but everyone came out to interrupt him. This included R-Truth, who talked about being in the match, was told that he wasn’t, and left. That’s one of the funniest things I’ve seen in WWE in a long time, because again, they’re using people who are actually funny instead of just having people do things that are considered funny.

Sheamus beat Orton via DQ in a repeat of their match last week. I have no desire to see these two fight ever again, which is why I’d assume we see them at Battleground.

Rollins ran his mouth to the Stooges and is going to fight them later tonight as a result. This goes along with Rollins’ lines about how he doesn’t need anyone.

Kane beat Dolph Ziggler thanks to Rusev scaring Lana (with the shiniest legs I’ve seen this side of Stacy Keibler). I’m so over this Rusev is broken story and wish they would just let him go off and heal instead of having him look like a sad puppy because Lana has left him. On another note, is Lana doing anything for Ziggler or vice versa?

Both of them are in a story but nothing is happening in it other than Rusev. You could have Lana just walking around and do the exact same thing, which shows how worthless this pairing has been. It should be charging Ziggler up a bit but instead we’re in the same place but with a hot Russian blonde around him. The match was as dull as you would expect Kane vs. Ziggler to be, mainly because Dolph is the exact same character he’s been for years now.

MizTV set up Big Show vs. Miz vs. Ryback in a three way feud, which is going to kick off after Sunday’s pay per view. I see no reason to not just start it now and have the triple threat on Sunday, but this is the kind of feud that needs time to breath I guess. Both guys treating Miz like a joke of an afterthought was funny stuff. Big Show took Shell Shock, because why wait for Sunday to do that when you could get another 384 social media followers by doing it on Raw?

The Wyatts squashed Los Matadores with a 3D. Apparently the Dudleys were annoyed because no one is ever allowed to use a move before. And yes, they used the Doomsday Device back in 2000/2001. Harper said the judgment was coming.

Now we get to the big story of the night: INSTAGRAM! Yeah since tonight was a big deal because of social media (and you know Stephanie was right there cheering it on with her business savvy and pumping everyone full of talks about branding and how important it is to get the proper names out there because that’s what wrestling has become.

Anyway, the idea was that Dean Ambrose was making his way through New Orleans towards the arena, and he sent in a bunch of Instagram photos to prove it. Remember the days when you might get a promo from Ambrose about these things so he could hype up the match? Well forget that, because it’s all about using the stories to get more social media followers. Another reason I detest most usage of social media these days.

Big E. beat Titus O’Neal in a quick match to set up the Tag Team Title match on Sunday.

Roman Reigns beat Kofi Kingston in a better match than you would expect. Ambrose arrived after the match to watch the main event.

The Stooges beat Rollins using some interference from Ambrose, which of course sent people into hysterics, because NO WORLD CHAMPION HAS EVER LOST A MATCH. Not HHH to Jim Ross or John Cena to Kevin Federline. Nope, those never happened and Rollins is officially the lamest champion ever because of one loss that no one is going to care about a week later because that’s how wrestling works.

Overall this show did a decent enough job to build towards Sunday, but it does nothing to hide the fact that they care far more about social media and getting in a press release than being a major wrestling promotion. Those days are long gone and it’s very sad to see, but such is life when you have someone who thinks social media is the be all and end all of wrestling, right down to not letting heels be mean to fans because those fans might talk about it on said social media. You know, like they’re supposed to so people want to see the heels get beaten up. Like in wrestling.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete Monday Nitro Reviews Volume III at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

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We’re past Elimination Chamber (I won’t be doing a Reviewing the Review for that as I pretty much said everything I was going to say on the last podcast) and less than two weeks away from Money in the Bank, which means we already know most of the people in the ladder match because we have to get there as soon as possible. Tonight is the first part of the rushed build to the show so let’s get to it.

We open with the Authority (YAY!) to complain about Ambrose stealing the title last night but get Roman Reigns instead. A ladder match is set up for Money in the Bank with Rollins defending against Ambrose and Seth saying he doesn’t need the Authority. This would be the teenage rebellion years against Mommy and Daddy Helmsley. Stephanie went into full on evil Stephanie mode against Reigns but HHH called her off and said Reigns had to defend his Money in the Bank spot right now.

This wasn’t the worst opening segment as thankfully they kept it to the point and didn’t let Stephanie take Roman apart for a change. Ambrose vs. Rollins was set up in a hurry but you have to do that on the two week build. It’s not a bad way of getting things done but, as usual, Stephanie added nothing here.

Reigns successfully defended his spot against King Barrett because Barrett can take yet another loss right? Then he successfully defended it against Mark Henry because who cares about Henry? Then he successfully defended it against Bray Wyatt because his push is as up and down as Barrett’s. This was the old Chris Jericho Intercontinental Title marathon idea (also involving Stephanie actually) and it worked well enough. If they build up Reigns as someone who has to keep overcoming the odds, they might get people to care about him for a change.

Ryback didn’t have a match against Miz because Big Show returned and set up a title program. I can live with Big Show in this role FAR easier than in the main event, though I’m still not thrilled with seeing him. If he’s just there to put Ryback over though, everything should be fine for the most part. If Ryback can Shell Shock him, the place will come unglued. Well probably mostly glued together but there will be cracks.

Now we get the really good moment of the night as Kevin Owens came out and delivered an amazing victory speech about how he proved himself to be the better man last night as he pinned John Cena in the middle of the ring. Owens talked about his son being a John Cena fan and how last night, he defeated Super Cena in the middle of the ring because he’s a real man and role model who does everything he promises to do.

Cena came out and gave his Serious Cena speech about how Owens isn’t a real man because he got so obsessed with being a role model that he stopped acting like a man is supposed to. Cena talked about how he does things for kids, including one in the crowd wearing Cena gear and holding a sign saying “I’m beating cancer.” I’ve heard people saying this was faked or staged and it just makes me shake my head. Not everything is some concocted work people. Stop looking for things that aren’t there and enjoy a cool moment. Anyway John says he won’t give up and is ready for Money in the Bank. Outstanding.

New Day came out to talk about having Kofi winning Money in the Bank and retaining their Tag Team Titles, complete with sound effects. This led to Kofi losing to Dolph Ziggler and New Day losing a six man tag to Ziggler and the Prime Time Players, who would go on to become #1 contenders (in case that wasn’t COMPLETELY OBVIOUS ALREADY) a few days later on Smackdown.

Now we get to the stupid part of the show, as Nikki Bella successfully defended her Divas Title against Paige by seemingly turning heel yet again (assuming you considered her a full on face) by having her sister do Twin Magic with her. Yes, Brie Bella, who is mostly pale by comparison and lacking various surgical augmentations and with different color hair, is apparently still close enough to her sister’s looks that the referee couldn’t tell the difference between the two of them. I’ve heard that this was damage control from the whole “all black wrestlers look alike” backlash from Payback and that’s not the most out there theory in the world.

Sheamus beat up Orton with a chair for a DQ in a Money in the Bank preview match. I’m a fan of both guys but these two have some of the most horrible main event level chemistry I’ve seen in a long time. They can have good matches against almost anyone else but they just don’t work against each other.

Rusev said he was a broken man. My heart is the thing that’s breaking.

Neville beat Bo Dallas in a shortened version of their Elimination Chamber match.

Ambrose came out to save Reigns to end the show after the Wyatt match.

Other than Cena and Owens, this show was pretty uneventful. It’s part of the problem of setting up your major matches in the first ten minutes: after that, what else is there to do for the rest of the night? Well other than have non-twins act like twins all over again because referees are that stupid. This show was much more dull than last week, but I’ll take dull over rage inducing any day. I’m looking forward to the night after Money in the Bank so we can FINALLY get to a normal schedule again because this is starting to get old.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete Monday Nitro Reviews Volume III at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XOUNBEA

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

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Oh boy it’s this show. I’ve been putting this off for as long as I can because this show drove me up the walls, down the walls, to the grocery store and then halfway to Oklahoma. It’s very rare to find a show with two different parts that get under my skin this badly but this show managed to pull it off. Let’s get to it.

I’m going to do this one a little bit differently as there are two major pieces I’ll be spending far more of my time on. Therefore, I’ll get those out of the way and then cover the rest of the show. You can probably guess what these two major segments were (hint: I wrote a column about one of them) so we’ll start with the one that went on longer: the Dean Ambrose arrest story.

The basic idea is simple: Ambrose has until the end of the show to sign the contract for the match with Rollins on Sunday (why the Authority didn’t say “you have four seconds to get out here and sign this starting now” isn’t clear) so the Authority ran some trickerations and had Dean arrested for punching an innocent cameraman. Later in the show, it was revealed that Rollins shoved the cameraman into Dean so he wouldn’t make it back to the show in time. Naturally, with the Authority celebrating at the end of the show, Dean came back (in a police van) and signed the contract just as the show ended (complete with overrun of course).

Now let’s stop for a minute and think about this. Monday Night Raw is a wrestling show. We have to accept that a lot of really, really questionable things happen, but WWE has built a universe where it’s plausible that these things could happen. In other words, fans are willing to suspend their disbelief to accept that we’re watching crazy people do crazy things because the show has made it possible for that to happen.

Look at it from a comic book perspective. I can believe that Superman can fly because he’s an alien under a yellow sun. Those are the rules that DC comics have established and as long as they play by those rules, I can go along with them. However, if one day Superman can suddenly turn people into chickens and the justification is “well he’s an alien and has powers”, it’s unacceptable because this comes out of left field and doesn’t gel with the story of the character.

This past Monday with Dean just happening to make it out of jail on time and just happening to be there at the very end of the show to sign the contract was WWE suddenly being able to turn people into chickens. There were WAY too many coincidences and perfect timing for me to accept that this was going to be the case. It didn’t help that they were basically saying “yeah you know he’s getting back and signing” and it was just a matter of time before the big evidence showed up to save Dean.

I said this in the review but it felt like the end of any given sitcom episode. Our hero is in big trouble for doing whatever and he can’t prove his innocence, but here’s some deus ex machina to save him and give us all a happy ending while the villains are left kicking and screaming and promising to get Ambrose next time Gadget, NEXT TIME!

The word to sum it up was staged. This felt like it was designed to be completely fake and set up the whole way through instead of trying to be realistic. Look at Lucha Underground for a counter example. They have some completely over the top stories (including a man who was the spirit of a dragon and a monster killing a wrestler) but they play it totally seriously and it never fails to work. This story felt like WWE was winking at the camera the entire time and making it as clear as they could that Ambrose was going to be there at the last second to save the day, making the entire three hour story a big waste of time.

That’s the other big deal for me: what did this whole thing change? Ambrose came into the show with a title shot and left with a title shot. All that happened in between was the Authority looks bad and Rollins doesn’t really do anything else. Instead of a serious promo exchange or making me want to see the match more, the show was a big stand alone story that changed nothing and got on my nerves. It’s bad writing and bad booking and something that really didn’t need to happen.

Now on to the other stupid idea of the night: Rusev turning into a big, emotional goon instead of the brute that he’s been for over a year now. I understand the idea that he would be upset over Lana leaving him for an American, but the reaction was all wrong. Rusev should have been stomping and raving and FIGHTING ZIGGLER but instead he was asking to hold Lana’s hand and talking about all the dreams they had in Bulgaria.

As I ranted about in the column I wrote (which I know you’ve all read of course), this was missing the point of the character. Rusev is a monster and they’re trying to give him emotions. It’s all wrong for him and doesn’t fit anything that they’ve set up over the past year plus for him. It goes back to the Superman example earlier: you can’t just throw in a polar opposite set of characteristics for someone without any sort of foundation for them. Rusev getting all emotional has no background, Lana or no Lana.

Oh and now Rusev is injured and could be out for more than a month, so the last thing people are going to remember from him is the big change scene with the song from the trailer from every bad romantic comedy ever. What a great followup to the four pay per view series with Cena. But hey, at least Rusev is a more three dimensional character, because a guy named the Bulgarian Brute was just dying for a soft side right?

As for the rest of the show, Ambrose pinned Rollins in a tag match, which should have ended the show and been the main focal point of their feud that night. I’ll stop myself there.

Rusev squashed R-Truth in 59 seconds. Again, I’ll stop myself there.

The other major story of the night was a trio of matches between the six participants in the Elimination Chamber match for the Intercontinental Title. In addition to Truth vs. Rusev, we had Ryback beating Barrett (shocking!) and Sheamus Brogue Kicking Ziggler. This is another example of tired booking ideas that need to be replaced. Only Sheamus vs. Ziggler broke four minutes, making these matches, which really change nothing for Sunday’s match, more like a waste of time than anything else. Consolidate these into a long six man instead of three singles or have a tag match or two three ways or ANYTHING but this boring idea.

The cast of Entourage was here to fill in time, including a segment where they mentioned Ronda Rousey in front of Stephanie. That’s something of note was well: notice that a lot of the bad writing and bad structuring take place when Stephanie is back full time. We had a bunch of bad filler segments and more of her talking with proper nouns (you don’t have to say the exact name of the title, wrestlers or pay per view every ten seconds Stephanie. We’re not going to care more or start Tweeting about it because WE’RE ALREADY WATCHING THE SHOW).

Neville beat Stardust (who had a pre match staredown with Stephen Amell of Arrow, allegedly setting up a showdown at Summerslam. Seriously. To his credit though, Amell is in great shape so it could be passable) and was beaten down by Bo Dallas post match. They’re still playing up the knee injury which is fine for a quick story.

Cena’s Open Challenge speech was talking about the fans who boo him and want someone to knock him down for good. Kevin Owens has his chance on Sunday but it’s not going to happen. As usual, this was Cena owning the fans as only he can and chuckling as they think they own him.

Zack Ryder answered the challenge and had a very fun four minute match (complete with Ryder missing a 450 of all things) before Cena pinned him. This was the right call as Ryder is a Long Island guy and this was the last show in Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, which was played up a lot during the match. As usual, this was the best part of the show as Cena continues to be amazing when they just let him go out there and do his thing. Post match Owens, now in more proper gear, laid Cena out again. They better not screw this up on Sunday, but I’m sure they will.

Tamina, the bodyguard for one of the challengers for the Divas Title on Sunday, pinned the other challenger for the Divas Title on Sunday. The stupidity was flowing through this entire show.

To cap it off, let’s throw all psychology out the window and have Kane (for no apparent reason) book New Day in a 3 on 11 handicap match, because the way to get heels booed is to put them against impossible odds. This lasted less than a minute before the big brawl.

Do I need to sum this one up for you?

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We’re done with Payback and therefore it’s time to race towards the Elimination Chamber show because we must get it in before people have to start paying for the Network again. The big story here is Rollins retaining the World Title over his former Shield teammates and Orton in a good four way last night, but now everything is about getting to Elimination Chamber.

The Authority was back, complete with HHH’s slow talking and Stephanie dropping in every proper name that she could in a manner that no one uses in the real world. They don’t have much to say here (thank goodness) other than All Hail Rollins and that he’s getting a tribute later in the night.

This brought them to the Elimination Chamber, which led to interruptions from Ryback and Sheamus. Both of them are announced for the match but of course they’ll be fighting tonight too. The match was nothing out of the ordinary with Sheamus Brogue Kicking a distracted Ryback for the pin. I’m glad it’s only a two week build to the Chamber as you can only have the people in the match do these simple matches for so long before they lose their effectiveness. The match was fine and I like Sheamus winning, but I think Ryback’s push is in major trouble after back to back losses.

Kane was put in charge of the celebration tonight and didn’t seem to mind. Ambrose came in and asked for a title shot but was given a match against Bray Wyatt tonight. This was a great example of people being in the right place at the right time saying the right things to move the show forward, making it feel very unnatural.

Neville was being interviewed when Bo Dallas came out. This seems to be the next feud as Dallas isn’t cool with Neville bringing up their history in NXT. Dallas attacked Neville’s previously injured knee, allowing Barrett to take Neville down pretty easily. This wasn’t much of a match due to the time, but I’m getting worried about Neville doing the same things every time. He’s going to be over due to his high flying abilities for a long time, but some of that heat is going to wear off and he needs to have something to build himself back up. The knee injury and a feud with Dallas are a good start though and there’s no reason to panic.

Rusev yelled at Lana a lot and broke up with her. Later that night, Lana came out and kissed Ziggler. I’m not wild on pairing her with Ziggler, but I’m even less wild about how fast this turn started and wrapped up. One week she was Fandangoing and then she’s being dumped by Rusev? That’s because here in WWE, we have to get the next story set up before the pay per view because Heaven forbid we wait more than a few weeks to set something up.

Bray Wyatt beat Dean Ambrose in a match built around a ton of interference and cheating, which is the only way to have that result. This was the usual good brawl between these guys but did you really expect anything else?

Cesaro and Kidd failed to win the Tag Team Titles again after a no contest with New Day. This didn’t have the time to go anywhere and was really just a way to extend the feud yet another week as we’re getting closer and closer to Elimination Chamber, where this time FOR SURE we’re getting new champions. The feud and matches are still fun, but they’re running out of ways to have New Day survive without getting repetitive.

After the match, Ascension, the Lucha Dragons, Los Matadores and the Prime Time Players came out to confirm that it’s going to be six teams in the Chamber instead of just three. This makes for a very interesting match where it’s possible that several teams could walk out with the titles. Well other than Los Matadores or Prime Time Players of course but the other four all have at least a chance. I’m not sure who wins there and I love that feeling.

Now we get to the money part of the show: the US Open Challenge. This week’s was answered by NXT Champion Kevin Owens, who gave one of the best debut promos that I’ve ever seen, as he talked about the NXT Title being the real prize to fight for and how Cena doesn’t get to give him advice or pick the time where they fight. I’ve spent a lot of time on the podcasts on how much I loved this segment and Owens comes off like one of the best villains in a long time. He can back it up in the ring too and he’ll get to show that at Elimination Chamber. That’s a non-title match too, which a lot of people seem to be overlooking.

Dolph Ziggler beat Stardust in a very short match to set up Lana kissing him. I’m really not wild on that move but it’s what we’re stuck with for the time being, meaning Dolph is right back where he was a few years ago.

The Wyatts crushed Ryder/Fandango in a match designed to say “yo, we’re monsters.”

Nikki beat Naomi via DQ when Tamina interfered. Paige returned for the save and laid out Nikki in what wasn’t a heel turn.

The big ending segment was a long, drawn out exchange with Rollins making Kane praise him before Dean came out and threatened to put him through some cinder blocks until he was given a title shot. A bunch of brawling ensued and Rollins hit a Pedigree to stand tall to end the show.

I tried really hard to get into this one but it didn’t leave much for me to care about. The main event stuff has too many people floating around it right now. You have the Authority bosses, Kane, the Stooges (ok they don’t count as much) and the two guys in the match. They need to just let Ambrose and Rollins carry this instead of just putting everyone they can in there and making it a big mess all over again.

The rest of the show was an improvement over the main event with the Chamber matches both looking good and Owens vs. Cena making me all tingly. If they can keep the HHH/Stephanie involvement to a minimum, we could be looking at a very hot card at Elimination Chamber. Or we could be looking at the same lazy stuff WWE does over and over to waste their potential.

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We continue to marathon these pay per views and the big question here is can Payback continue to be the most unlikely good series in wrestling? The main event is a well enough built up fatal fourway with Rollins defending against Reigns, Ambrose and Orton, basically making it a Shield triple threat with Orton on the side. Let’s get to it.

I’m getting through the pre-show matches as fast as I can so I never have to think about them again. R-Truth beat Stardust in a bonus match with all the charm of a bad infection. These two have fought two or three times now and it’s gotten less and less interesting every single time. Therefore, look for them to fight again in the future.

In the other pre-show match, Ascension beat the Mega (changed from Meta for reasons of good taste) Powers in a short match. I would praise WWE for not going with the comedy act here, but I have some issues giving them credit for upgrading from a horrible move to common sense. Yeah they put Ascension over a newly formed comedy team. Am I supposed to be impressed? Finally, does anyone else feel dirty about calling them the Mega Powers?

The opener was a good back and forth match between Dolph Ziggler in Sheamus to seemingly blow off their feud. The key here was the end of the match where Ziggler headbutted Sheamus and busted himself open hardway, which caused the match to end in a hurry. Now granted they didn’t have to cut off much time as the match ran twelve minutes, but it always makes me curious to know what they were going to do otherwise.

Sheamus getting a nice win is the right idea though as he needs the push more than Ziggler. I’m pretty much over Dolph at the moment as he’s been the same guy for the better part of ever now. Yeah his matches are still good enough, but I haven’t been excited to see a Ziggler match in years now.

For reasons I don’t quite get, Kane and Rollins argued even more. On pay per view. I’m going to be really surprised if they set up a Kane face turn as that would be so far out of the realm of common sense these days for WWE. Rollins is almost going to have to turn face eventually though, as it’s the nature of being a heel in wrestling.

Now it’s time for the match people were drooling over: New Day defending the Tag Team Titles against Cesaro/Tyson Kidd in a 2/3 falls match. This had the potential to be one of the most entertaining matches in a very long time if they set it up right, but unfortunately that’s not exactly the way they went about it. Cesaro/Kidd won the first fall in less than three minutes (off a mostly botched Swing into the dropkick). This never sits well with me as the champions just got pinned in almost no time. Let the thing stretch out a bit or have them win the first fall by cheating so it doesn’t look that easy.

A bad looking Midnight Hour (with Kofi’s arm hitting Kidd’s back instead of being a DDT) tied things up in less than nine minutes total and NOW we could pick things up. This is where they get into the insanity with the hot near falls and all the good stuff…..and it was about five minutes long.

That’s where the match lost me a bit as the majority of the match was done in the first two falls instead of the really hot ending. This needed to be more of a bottom heavy match, setting up the really smart finish of having Woods pretend to be Kofi to steal the final pin. Yeah it’s borderline racist, but it was a really smart and even funny way to keep the belts on New Day. I would have liked more time here though and more offense from the challengers, but entertaining stuff all around.

Bray Wyatt and Ryback had a good power brawl built around the idea that Ryback had busted up ribs due to a backsplash off the apron from Wyatt. Granted it didn’t work as well as when Ryback hit a top rope splash and didn’t sell the ribs all that well. Either way, this was a fun enough match with Ryback going down at the end as he should have. Wyatt needed the win a lot more than Ryback did, but neither guy really needed a major loss at this point. Both guys are in need of a direction though, and that’s way too common a problem at this http://onhealthy.net/product-category/adhd/ level of the card.

Now we had the most entertaining and probably divisive match of the night as John Cena defended the US Title against Rusev in their final battle with an I Quit match. These two beat the living tar out of each other for nearly half an hour with the spots getting bigger and bigger. I had a great time here as they kept building up to the big ending, but the key was I wound up forgetting that it was an I Quit match other than the constant DO YOU QUIT. I know a lot of people have found this annoying, but I really didn’t have a big problem with it. Yeah they said it a lot, but that’s kind of the point of the match no?

This was exactly what this match should have been with both guys beating the living tar out of each other until Lana submitted for Rusev, which is likely going to trigger their split. It’s not the beat match in the world, but it was more than entertaining enough which is the right way to go with something like this. Rusev can get right back on track by beating like, anyone in a big match, so this didn’t hurt him all that bad. At the end of the day, he was destined to lose this feud, though I could have done with cutting the chain match and just going with this as the finale at Extreme Rules.

We’ll follow that up with my favorite part of the night: a quick New Day promo where they drink milk out of champagne glasses, brag about not complaining or swearing…..and of course do a spot take, complain and swear upon hearing that they’ll be defending their titles inside the Elimination Chamber. That’s the perfect moment for these three and I laughed just as much as I expected to. These guys can do no wrong at the moment and they’re a major highlight for me.

Naomi and Tamina beat the Bellas in the worst match of the night, which had some bad looking botches, bad timing and the least time of any match on the main card. This was nothing more than a way to set up Nikki vs. Naomi for the title, which really should have just been here instead of the next night on Raw but WWE doesn’t have the best logic at times anyway.

Neville beat King Barrett via countout in a good but short match. This was designed to introduce Neville’s knee injury, which seems to be his major story going forward. It doesn’t really change much about his offense, but at least they’re giving him some attention instead of just letting him be the same guy week after week until the crowd gets bored with him.

That brings us to the main event which is your standard wild brawl with all four getting in their big stuff with a bunch of near falls to tease a title change that was never coming. The big deal here was a very short Shield reunion, which blew the roof off the place for just a few moments. That’s all the validation they need to pull the trigger on a real reunion for the trio one day, as those three are going to be a force going forward.

The match itself was fun and that’s all it really needed to be. Thankfully Orton ate the pin because he’s a made man who can do whatever he wants and keep popping back up without any real damage being done to him. The ending came when Rollins Pedigreed Orton for the pin, which I’m assuming is to fuel Rollins vs. HHH down the line, but it comes off as more like Rollins screaming for his daddy’s attention. Good match, not my favorite ending though. I didn’t mind all the brawling like some have though. Rollins is a heel who cheated. Why is this some big surprise?

Overall, Payback was another big surprise as they had no reason for this to be much of anything, but it wound up being a more than entertaining show with some really solid matches in there. I don’t know if it’s due to the really low expectations or the really hard work, but for a show with nothing important going on, Payback was really fun and a great surprise.

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It’s the final show before Payback and there have been some notable changes in the last few weeks. To begin with, the show has felt a lot tighter lately as there has been a lot less talking and a lot more fighting, which makes for a better run show. We need to wrap things up before the four way and the fact that we’re in Ambrose’ hometown should help. Let’s get to it.

We open with HHH saying that daddy is home to straighten things out. This has been my biggest issue with Rollins and HHH: why in the world is Rollins acting like he’s HHH’s four year old son and trying to please him all the time? He’s the WWE World Champion and he’s still cowering in fear of HHH. Just let him be a man for once. You can still have him be a heel and everything will be fine, but let him have a backbone around the Authority for a change. You can do that without having him rebel.

Anyway, HHH is here to put an end to Kane vs. Rollins. For some reason, HHH implies that he and Kane have been friends for years and this isn’t the Kane he knew. As I said last week, when were they EVER friends? Just because something happened in the past doesn’t mean they’re friends now. Look back at Wrestlemania XXX where Piper and Hogan were about to fight all over again. The big reveal of this: if Rollins doesn’t keep the title on Sunday, Kane is out of a job. In other words, it’s all about Kane. Again.

Kane put all of the participants in the title match on Sunday in action tonight, starting with Ambrose squashing the Stooges.

Sheamus was on commentary as Barrett beat Ziggler in a short match, followed by a Brogue Kick. I like this loose association between Sheamus and Barrett as they would make a decent on/off tag team.

Erick Rowan squashed Fandango because…..well why do you think he did?

Cena’s speech before the Open Challenge was about how important the US Title is because anyone can have a chance at taking it from him. That’s a great line and very true. The match against Neville was as awesome as you would expect with Neville hitting the Red Arrow until Rusev interfered because that feud MUST continue.

These Open Challenges have been one of the best things to happen to Cena in years. You might have noticed that the fans have been saying LET’S GO CENA more and more recently and there’s a reason for that: he’s been treating us to some great wrestling every single week. At the end of the day, that’s what it boils down to: the fans want to see good wrestling and Cena lets things open up a bit instead of doing the same stuff over and over again. Let Cena, one of the best of all time, wrestle someone new every week and this is what you get.

Rusev knocked Cena out with the Accolade post match to appeal to the false hope demographic.

Kane and Reigns brawled instead of having a match, setting up a rematch on Friday.

Tamina beat Brie Bella to set up the tag match Sunday. Nikki is so far and away better than Brie in the ring that it’s unreal.

Curtis Axel and Macho Mandow beat up the Ascension instead of having their match. The pain this brings me knows no bounds and I hope the real team breaks them into more pieces than Brutus Beefcake’s face.

Daniel Bryan has to vacate the Intercontinental Title due to his injuries. I know it’s sad but this really shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point. Bryan needs to go away until he’s ready, then find another 15 doctors to say he’s really ready.

Cesaro beat Big E. in a decent power match. Just a setup for Sunday.

Elimination Chamber is coming back two weeks after Payback. That’s four weeks before Monday In The Bank. To translate, here’s how the WWE is thinking these days:

“LET’S GIVE THEM A LOT OF COOL FREE STUFF!!! THEN THEY’LL PAY FOR THE UNCOOL STUFF!”

Also they won’t promote the old wrestling stuff for whatever reason. Instead it’s Jerry Springer’s horrible show, their animated stuff (including that one episode of Hulk Hogan’s Rock and Wrestling they put up) and the podcasts. Mention the old wrestling and it would get pushed too.

Bray Wyatt said what Bray Wyatt says and Ryback leveled him. I still have no idea why they’re fighting but Wyatt needs a point again soon.

Orton and Rollins had the same match they’ve had over and over again until the Stooges came in for the DQ. This was one of those matches where you were just waiting for the DQ and they didn’t hide the fact whatsoever. Everyone came in for the show ending brawl with Ambrose standing tall.

This wasn’t a great stand alone show but it was a really fun go home show. Most of the matches for Sunday got time and the fans were hot all night. Throw in a good Cena open challenge and there’s not much more you could ask for. Fun stuff here and everyone looks good going into Sunday.

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This was kind of a special episode as the King of the Ring was announced and set up in the span of a single day. Apparently the idea was to have it spread into May on the Network where people would have to pay for it, but since May is ANOTHER free month, they’re just turning it into a two night event instead. That makes me so much happier to have paid for the Network since day one. Let’s get to it.

We open with the story that just won’t die as Kane, Rollins and the Stooges are in the ring. Uh let’s see: Rollins brags, Kane blames Rollins for whatever (that’s a good point: why are these two even fighting? I think it’s something to do with Kane thinking Rollins is ungrateful or something, but they keep shouting all the time and it’s really gotten lost in the shuffle), Rollins tells him to shut up, they bicker like two idiots, Orton and Reigns come out and want title shots, Kane says it’s POLL TIME!

Barrett beat Ziggler in a pretty lame tournament match. That’s going to become a recurring theme: tournament matches mostly suck because they need to fly through the first round and there’s not much time to do things like build up a match.

Xavier Woods cheated to help Big E. beat Tyson Kidd. How nice is it to see someone cheating like a good old fashioned villain?

Ryback squashed Bo Dallas and then got beaten up by Bray Wyatt. This was pretty clear after the weights line from Bray last week, but I’m really not sure where this one is going. Ryback vs. Wyatt could be an interesting feud, but it could also be one of those where you watch the match, tilt your head a bit and then say “well that…….sucked? I think?” It’s an odd pairing but I like both guys so it could go somewhere. Oh and one more thing: why are people SO obsessed with seeing Bo Dallas as Bray’s disciple? Yeah they’re brothers. Does that mean they have to be together on screen? I’ve never gotten the mass appeal of the pairing.

There was no open challenge this week as Rusev came out beat up Heath Slater before he could answer and then did the same promo they’ve done about 15 times now. I’m really starting to get worried about Rusev as more than once now I’ve forgotten what he’s been doing since he lost the US Title. One day someone in WWE is going to have to sit down with me and explain the psychology behind taking someone who was really getting over and then having them lose on pay per view three times in a row to the same guy. I’m guessing this leads to Lana’s big face turn, but do we really need to kill Rusev to get there?

Kane and Rollins did their same schtick of threatening to call the Authority because the 7′ monster and the WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION are the little kids to HHH and Stephanie’s mom and dad. This bickering angle is really getting old and again, I have no idea what I’m supposed to find interesting about it.

R-Truth beat Stardust to advance. You think I have anything else to say about this?

Adam Rose beat Fandango. To quote myself from the original review: “This is the latest story that people aren’t going to care about and is going to be a waste of time.”

Brie Bella couldn’t remember what emotion she was supposed to have when talking about her husband’s career possibly being over. Naomi shoved her down to continue trying to make the Bellas into faces because……well someone has to be in this division.

Naomi then beat Brie with one of the worst small packages I’ve ever seen. I’ll give them this though: there was a clear heel and face in the match and I had a reason to care about seeing Brie beat Naomi up. That right there is all the story I need. You have a villain and an opponent (I still can’t bring myself to call her a hero) who can give her what she has coming and maybe the match won’t suck. On a good day. Maybe.

Sheamus beat Dean Ambrose via DQ to advance when Dolph Ziggler interfered. Ambrose looked good out there and it was one of the better matches of the night, so there isn’t much to say here. One good thing though was Dean freaking out that Ziggler interefering was a DQ. His I GET DQ’d FOR THAT was right up there with Hogan thinking that Jimmy Hart wearing a striped jacket and counting the pin at Wrestlemania IX was enough to win the Tag Team Titles.

Damien Sandow’s new gimmick is mimicking people. You know, like four year olds do. I give this a month, max. There was something in there about beating up Curtis Axel too.

Neville beat Luke Harper because Neville is pretty awesome. This was a god way to have a young hero stand up to a monster like Harper and come out looking great. Neville is getting one of the best pushes I’ve seen in a long time and I’m getting more and more into his matches every single time.

The main event was a long Reigns/Orton vs. Rollins/Kane tag with Reigns pinning the champ. This was your standard main event tag match, meaning it was entertaining enough but longer than it needed to be.

The triple threat option won the poll because…..it’s too late in the night for sarcasm. It won because it’s a triple threat and that’s the only thing that was ever going to win.

This show was about setting up Payback and the tournament as fast as they could because somehow, despite OWNING ITS OWN NETWORK, WWE still can’t figure out something as simple as a schedule to let pay per views be properly built. Not a very good show but it did its job well enough. These episodes of building up future shows are never all that great so this was about as good as you can get, especially with the tournament stuff shoehorned in.

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