Heyman and Lesnar opened things up and talked about how Brock conquered the Streak and will conquer John Cena at Summerslam. People said he couldn’t beat the Undertaker and now they’re saying the same about Cena. Heyman acknowledged the loss at Extreme Rules 2012 and blamed it on Brock’s illness. That’s not the worst excuse but I don’t think it needed to be brought up. It’s not a bad thing but it didn’t need to happen either. The best part about this though was Heyman’s rhyming, which print doesn’t do justice. Find it on Youtube as it’s worth watching for how serious he plays it. Solid opening promo here but did you expect anything else?

Corporate Kane gave Roman Reigns a handicap match against Ryback/Axel with Reigns winning via DQ. I get the idea of it being a hit from the Authority, but since Reigns fought them off and laid both guys out after the match, what was the point of the DQ?

Orton taunted Kane, and apparently grew about four inches in the process. Seriously he was at Kane’s forehead.

Seth Rollins beat RVD in a nice match that you expect from Van Dam anymore. Post match Ambrose popped out of one of Hogan’s presents and chased off Rollins in a cool moment.

Now we get to the stupid part of the show: rehashing the Clair Lynch story from TNA. Short version: Bryan is sleeping with his physical therapist and Stephanie taunted Brie about it. Brie slapped the therapist and beat up Stephanie, earning her an arrest later in the show. Here’s the thing: Bryan isn’t advertised for Summerslam, despite this being the way to bring him into the story.

There’s a very simple way to get Bryan involved in this and it’s called have him stand in the corner and clap. Let me repeat that in case it went over people’s heads. Daniel Bryan can best be utilized in this story by having him stand in Brie Bella’s corner and clap. For the life of me I do not understand why this REALLY basic match and angle have been turned into some huge story involving infidelity and Brie trying to do something historic (still waiting to find out what that is). Have Bryan stand in the corner while Stephanie beats up Brie until Bella puts her in the YES Lock and makes her tap out. It should take twelve minutes counting entrances and celebration. Oh and it should NEVER CLOSE RAW OR BRING UP CLAIR LYNCH EVER!

Jack Swagger beat Cesaro in a good match. How in the world did Jack Swagger wind up being the Shawn Michaels of the team? The Russians came out and did nothing.

Wyatt and Jericho had a sitdown meeting where they said about what you would expect them to say. I’m not sure why this was recorded in a room and not done in the ring.

Paige cost AJ a match against Eva Marie and read a bad poem about beating AJ after the match. What I don’t understand was why Eva was fine to roll AJ up but then was down like she had gotten beaten up. I know she sucks in the ring, but DEAR GOODNESS does she look good in those outfits.

Cena gave a long response to Lesnar with a focus on Lesnar not deserving the title because Brock is in this just for the money and thinks he deserves to be champion because he’s Brock Lesnar. As usual, Cena nails the hard sell like few others can. Fortunately for us, Heyman is one of the few that can hang with and even best Cena at this stuff. The match is going to be amazing too.

Miz got Dolph Ziggler counted out against Heath Slater. In other words, Paige got AJ pinned by Eva Marie. Same story twice in an hour.

Orton beat Sheamus in a good match. There weren’t any big storyline developments here. Just two high level guys having a thirteen minute match and making it entertaining. You can’t ask for much more than that.

Hogan’s birthday celebration was the big ending with a bunch of legends coming out. Lesnar came back but Cena saved the legends and posed with Hogan to end the show. This was fine, though I wouldn’t have minded it going longer.

Overall Raw was the usual good go home show for a big pay per view and I want to see the show more than I did before. Hogan’s stuff was exactly what it should have been and likely would have been bigger had it not been the Monday before Summerslam. It was a good night though and the best Raw in a few weeks. That’s good going into Summerslam, which has potential to be a very awesome event.

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This is a very dull time for WWE as so much of the Summerslam build is already done and there are still four weeks to go before the show. They’re already running out of things to put on the shows so you can expect a lot of filler instead of interesting ideas. Also you can see the Network plugs coming from here. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Orton attacking Reigns last week.

Here’s the Authority in full force to open things up. HHH talks about how we can watch Summerslam in two weeks on the WWE Network for just $9.99. He lists off a few more matches and mentions the Network price three or four more times. As for tonight, there’s going to be a Beat the Clock Challenge between Rollins (vs. Van Dam) and Ambrose (vs. Del Rio) with the winner picking the stipulation for the match at Summerslam (“Available on the WWE Network for just $9.99!”).

Stephanie talks about signing the contract with Brie tonight and how that’s going to be on the Network for….well you know the idea by now. So does the crowd as they’re finishing HHH’s lines for him. Lawler is cracking jokes about it as well, even though HHH is clearly hammering it home to play up the heel heat.

Orton says that what he did last week was nothing compared to what he’s going to do to him at Summerslam. This brings out Reigns who says that he wants to fight tonight, but HHH has another idea. They’ll fight at Summerslam (“On the WWE Network for just $9.99!”) but tonight, it’s Reigns vs. Kane in a last man standing match.

Kane vs. Roman Reigns

Last man standing. Reigns hammers away to start as the announcers talk about the Network even more. They head outside with Reigns being hammered up against the barricade and then sent into the steps for a five count. Reigns is sent into the post a few more times as the announcers continue to hammer the $9.99 joke into the ground to the point where I’m laughing at it.

We take an early break and come back with Reigns reversing Kane into a chair wedged into the corner. Some charges into the corner have Kane in even more trouble and Roman hammers away with right hands. There’s the apron boot but Kane blocks a spear. A table is brought in and Kane counters a Superman Punch into a quick chokeslam to put Reigns through the wood for nine.

Kane is frustrated and sets up a chair in the middle of the ring. The tombstone is countered and Reigns hits a DDT onto the chair. Reigns hits the Superman Punch but charges into another chokeslam. Reigns slips out again and nails a bad spear to keep Kane down for the ten count at 15:16.

Rating: C-. Well that happened. I have no idea why but it happened. This idea of throwing gimmick matches onto the card is a really bad idea. It wasn’t a very good last man standing match either as there was no way Kane was going to win. Reigns beating Kane is a good thing, but not in an unnecessary gimmick match.

We get a LONG (as in about five minutes) video on Brock vs. Cena, with sitdown promos from both guys, talking about how awesome they are and saying this is going to be the fight of their lives, even though Brock knows he’s going to win. This is a really solid video with clips of the Extreme Rules match and the Streak being broken. We even get stills from some UFC fights. Brock says if he had stayed in the WWE, Cena would be sitting at home eating Fruity Pebbles instead of getting paid to eat them on TV. Lesnar promises to leave Cena in a pool of his own blood.

Network plug.

Here’s Damien Sandow as an Oklahoma Sooner football player. He rips on the Texas Longhorns before his opponent is announced as a former Longhorn.

Mark Henry vs. Damien Sandow

World’s Strongest Slam, Henry walks around, pin in 40 seconds. Not quite the battle to save Christmas.

Adam Rose is in the back and looks at the Oculus Mirror. He says it shows your nightmare, so we see him in a suit as a businessman. Rose and the Rosebuds leave after this STUPID segment.

Beat the Clock: Dean Ambrose vs. Alberto Del Rio

Jerry: “I hope this match goes 10:39.” Cole: “Why?” Jerry: “Then it would be 9.99!” Del Rio takes over with some kicks including a dropkick to the back of the head for two. Some choking in the corner has Dean in trouble but he comes back with some right hands of his own. They head outside with Del Rio sending Ambrose hard into the barricade. Back in and Del Rio hammers away on the bad arm and sends it into the post.

An armbar goes nowhere and Del Rio jumps into a boot. Dean makes his comeback but gets caught by the low superkick for two. Alberto sends him out to the floor and we take a break. Back with Deal fighting out of another armbar but getting taken right back down. Del Rio accidentally kicks the post instead of Dean’s shoulder and gets caught in a DDT.

Del Rio counters the Dirty Deeds and hits a VERY low reverse superplex for two. The Rebound Clothesline gets two on Alberto but he counters Dirty Deeds into a Codebreaker on the arm. The armbreaker over the ropes has the arm in even more trouble but Dean nails Dirty Deeds for the pin at 15:42.

Rating: D+. WAY too long here as they could have done this in about half the time. The arm stuff is fine but it gets annoying to see it week after week after week. Del Rio being down in the midcard is a good thing for him as he just does not fit in the main event. Ambrose vs. Rollins should rock, as long as they keep the energy up.

Long recap of Stephanie and Brie last week.

Rusev vs. Sin Cara

This match took place during the break on the WWE App with Rusev winning a squash in about 45 seconds via the Accolade. Uh….sweet?

Post match we get pictures of Obama holding a dog and Putin holding what looks like a cheetah. Lana sings Happy Birthday to Obama in Russian until Colter and Swagger interrupt. Colter goes on a rant about how everyone is sick of Lana’s Russian ramblings and shows some photos of American men and women Swagger is fighting for. He cranks it up by showing stills of American soldiers and the USA chant begins. Rusev and Lana pretend to back off but Rusev nails Swagger with the Russian flag. Colter is left alone but Lana calls Rusev off.

The big Network announcement: it’s going international on August 12 and to England on October 1.

Cesaro vs. Dolph Ziggler

Miz is on commentary drinking tea because he has a hoarse voice. Cesaro throws Ziggler around with ease but has a suplex reversed into the Zig Zag for the pin at 2:58. Nothing match but Cesaro gets to job AGAIN.

Post match Miz gets in the ring but runs from a superkick.

After a clip of Paige knocking AJ off the stage last week, Paige says she admires AJ and that she can’t wait for their match at Summerslam.

Stardust/Goldust vs. Ryback/Curtis Axel

Goldust hammers on Ryback to start but gets taken into the wrong corner for some quick double teaming. A suplex gets two on Goldust and it’s off to Axel, who quickly allows Goldust to roll over for the tag to Stardust. Everything breaks down and Dark Matter (Downward Spiral) to Axel gets the pin at 2:50.

Kane comes in to see the Authority and takes off his mask, hands it to Stephanie, and leaves.

Chris Jericho vs. Luke Harper

If Jericho wins, Harper is barred from ringside at Summerslam. Jericho gets taken down into the corner but comes back with chops, only to get run over with a forearm. Off to the Gator Roll but Jericho fights up again with chops. An enziguri gets two on Luke but he comes back with a Michinoku Driver for the same.

There’s a big sitout powerbomb for the same and Harper calmly smiles. Back up and Jericho grabs the Walls but Bray comes out for a distraction. Harper is down so Jericho has to hit the Codebreaker on Harper. The distraction….doesn’t work as a Codebreaker puts Harper on the floor, only to have Bray come in for the DQ at 5:20.

Rating: C. This was fine and sets up Jericho vs. Bray one on one at Summerslam, but I really would have liked to see Harper vs. Jericho get about fifteen minutes instead of five. The ending was kind of surprising, but at least Bray’s distraction wasn’t the cause of a pin. It seems like they’re almost mocking that now, so maybe its time is almost over.

Sister Abigail lays out Jericho post match.

AJ Lee returns tomorrow night on Main Event. In other words, she missed Raw and has been gone for three days?

Diego vs. Fandango

Because THIS needed a trilogy. This time, Fandango has Hornswoggle as his new dance partner. Diego easily takes Fandango down but gets distracted by Hornswoggle. It backfires on the dancer though and another Backstabber gets the pin on Fandango at 48 seconds.

Hornswoggle joins Diego, Torito, and the girls but Fandango gets annoyed. That goes nowhere and Fandango is dispatched again, because this story needed to be done three times.

Orton looks at a video of his attack on Reigns last week and says that he’s going to do even worse at Summerslam.

Bo Dallas vs. R-Truth

Now how did I know it would be R-Truth again? Truth shoves him around to start but misses the ax kick. Dallas rolls him up with a handful of tights for the pin at 1:05.

JBL now has a $9.99 sign.

Bray comes up on screen and asks why the man does what he does. Why does the man say what he says and why don’t the sheep run from the hungry wolf? At Summerslam, he enters battle without his brothers. He won’t be alone though because her hand guides him and the world leaves him behind. How can Jericho save what is already dead? What is Bray? He’s the nightmare at the end of Jericho’s dreams and he stands beyond time. Time to sing.

The announcers plug Brock vs. Cena from Extreme Rules airing immediately after Raw on the Network.

More from the Lesnar and Cena interviews in another solid video. This is a nice way to cover Brock and Cena not being there tonight. This time Brock says he’s back to be WWE Champion and is coming off the biggest win of his career. Why shouldn’t he have been able to beat Undertaker? The Undertaker wasn’t a god and Brock Lesnar is a beast. Now why can’t he beat Cena? John talks about how he knows what kind of a beating he’s in for but he knows what it takes to beat Brock. If Lesnar wants some, come get some. We get some of the same clips from the first video as well.

Beat The Clock Challenge: Rob Van Dam vs. Seth Rollins

I forgot this was happening. Seth has to beat 15:42. JBL actually picks Van Dam to win here because Seth is going to be thinking about the clock. Actually scratch this as the Authority has a replacement for Van Dam.

Beat The Clock Challenge: Heath Slater vs. Seth Rollins

Rollins allows Slater to leave but Heath fires off some right hands. Ambrose comes out for a distraction, allowing Slater to get a VERY close two off a running neckbreaker. Now Dean takes the briefcase and starts looking through it, even ripping up Seth’s contract. This distraction lets Slater hit a side kick for an even closer two. Dean starts drinking a fan’s soda and pours it into the briefcase. He follows it up with popcorn and JBL’s hat as Rollins keeps shouting at him. Dean gets up on the table, and you know that’s enough for Slater to get a rollup pin at 4:56.

Rating: D+. I’m skeptical to rate this as a wrestling match but it was really solid as an angle. Dean playing the mind games before the showdown is nothing but gold and the showdown is going to be awesome. The stipulations could make or break the match though as they need to have an all out brawl.

One more Network ad, this time for the Cena vs. Lesnar match from 2012 airing after the show.

Time for the main event segment: Brie and Stephanie’s contract signing. HHH comes out to back up his wife and Brie of course has Nikki. HHH says that he’s the COO and would usually be in charge of this, but since he has a conflict of interest, it’s Michael Cole in charge. The bosses kiss a bit so Brie says let’s get to it. Stephanie finally brings up Daniel Bryan, who is still recovering.

Brie shows us Stephanie being arrested two weeks ago to drag this out even more. She makes some bizarre references to Stephanie being with some woman during her time in jail before saying she’ll humiliate Stephanie in front of the universe at Summerslam. This is going to be for Daniel Bryan, Vickie Guerrero, the Rhodes Family, and every other person on the roster that Stephanie has tortured. A quick Punk chant starts up as Brie talks about karma coming around onto Stephanie.

Now it’s Stephanie’s turn as she calls Brie a wannabe reality star who stole the spotlight from her sister and abandoned her husband. Stephanie is already embarrassed to be in the same ring as Brie and isn’t going to let her make history at Summerslam. She slaps Nikki and shoves the table into Brie’s stomach, sending her into the corner. A Pedigree from Stephanie lays out Nikki but Brie slaps HHH. Stephanie nails Brie and lays her out with a Pedigree as well. The Authority kisses some more to end the show.

Time for the main event segment: Brie and Stephanie’s contract signing. HHH comes out to back up his wife and Brie of course has Nikki. HHH says that he’s the COO and would usually be in charge of this, but since he has a conflict of interest, it’s Michael Cole in charge. The bosses kiss a bit so Brie says let’s get to it. Stephanie finally brings up Daniel Bryan, who is still recovering.

Brie shows us Stephanie being arrested two weeks ago to drag this out even more. She makes some bizarre references to Stephanie being with some woman during her time in jail before saying she’ll humiliate Stephanie in front of the universe at Summerslam. This is going to be for Daniel Bryan, Vickie Guerrero, the Rhodes Family, and every other person on the roster that Stephanie has tortured. A quick Punk chant starts up as Brie talks about karma coming around onto Stephanie.

Now it’s Stephanie’s turn as she calls Brie a wannabe reality star who stole the spotlight from her sister and abandoned her husband. Stephanie is already embarrassed to be in the same ring as Brie and isn’t going to let her make history at Summerslam. She slaps Nikki and shoves the table into Brie’s stomach, sending her into the corner. A Pedigree from Stephanie lays out Nikki but Brie slaps HHH. Stephanie nails Brie and lays her out with a Pedigree as well. The Authority kisses some more to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. This show felt REALLY long and had far too much stuff that ate up a lot of time. When you have your third meetings between Fandango and Diego and then Bo Dallas and R-Truth, you can tell they’re just filling in time. It’s also proof that Cena really picks up a show as there was almost no energy to so much of this stuff. Is Kane unmasking for like the third time supposed to get my attention? That’s the best they’ve got?

Of course I have to mention all the $9.99 stuff. I get what they were going for with the evil boss plugging stuff like a businessman would, but later on when the announcers were doing it seemingly of their own free will, it takes away the evil and comes off like a lame commercial. This is WWE in a nutshell though: if something doesn’t work, keep doing it until someone buys it out of pity.

Results
Roman Reigns b. Kane – Kane couldn’t answer the ten count
Mark Henry b. Damien Sandow – World’s Strongest Slam
Dean Ambrose b. Alberto Del Rio – Dirty Deeds
Rusev b. Sin Cara – Accolade
Dolph Ziggler b. Cesaro – Zig Zag
Goldust/Stardust b. Curtis Axel/Ryback – Dark Matter to Axel
Diego b. Fernando – Backstabber
Bo Dallas b. R-Truth – Rollup with a handful of tights
Heath Slater b. Seth Rollins – Rollup

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We’re a week closer to Summerslam and the major match is already set. The interesting thing coming out of last week is Stephanie being arrested for her battery against Brie Bella last week. Other than that the stage is being set for Summerslam, including Reigns vs. Orton which should be announced soon.  Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Brie and Stephanie’s issues from last week. I have a feeling they’re going to make this a far bigger deal than it should be. We also see Reigns attacking Orton and Brock being announced as the #1 contender. The latter two things are almost tacked on.

Here’s an upset Cena to get things going. He talks about how he’s usually excited to be here in Houston but he’s very worried about what’s coming. The Authority has marked him, and now he has to face the ultimate beast Brock Lesnar. Cena hoped it would never come to this, but now his nightmare has come to life. Brock Lesnar’s destruction is precise and he destroys what he wants, when he wants. Forty men have been WWE Champion but one man has defeated the Streak.

For once Heyman is telling the truth: at Summerslam, Cena will receive the beating of a lifetime. He’s going to get hurt but he’s going to fight. Cena beat Brock in 2012 and he can do it again here. No one can control Brock Lesnar. Not the people, not the Authority, and not Paul Heyman.

This brings out Heyman, with the fans saying the catchphrases along with him. Paul very slowly says that Brock will win the title at Summerslam, but he commends Cena for understanding that a beating is coming his way. However, the words about fighting are mighty strong from someone about to become a victim. Cena may have come back from beatings before but they’ve never been like this.

The Undertaker knows what it’s like to be a victim, but no one can ask him because no one has seen or heard from him since Wrestlemania. Cena is looking to survive, but Brock is looking to conquer. Brock doesn’t just want to F5 and pin John Cena. He wants to victimize him ruthlessly and mercilessly. Lesnar can’t wait for Cena to no longer be WWE Champion and be nothing more than beaten, victimized and conquered.

Cena wants to have a real talk for just a few seconds. Paul said the word passion and that’s a word that even he can understand. Every once in awhile, you can hear something start and then hear it grow louder and louder. It’s the fans chanting ECW and it brings a smile to Heyman’s face. Cena and Heyman share a passion about this business because it’s Cena’s life. Good, bad or indifferent, he shows up and fights because he loves it. Brock can beat him but he’s going to have to beat every breath out of his body because Cena is walking in champion and walking out.

This brings out Cesaro who says he may no longer be a Paul Heyman Guy, he won’t allow Cena to insult Paul like this. Cena isn’t a wrestler. He’s a muscled up walking billboard. Cena gets on the floor and Cesaro insults his shoes. Not only can Cena not wrestle in sneakers, but he can’t wrestle period. We get a challenge for a match and Cena is ready. The promos here were really good as you would expect from two masters like these guys.

Cesaro vs. John Cena

Non-title of course and joined in progress after a break. They fight over a test of strength to start until Cena takes him down into a headlock. Cesaro reverses into one of his own before catching Cena in a gutwrench suplex. Cena gets stomped down in the corner but comes back with a hurricanrana for two. His comeback is short lived though as he charges into an elbow, allowing Cesaro to hammer away. Some forearms put Cena on the floor but he comes back in and starts a brawl, only to have his bulldog shoved off.

Back from a break with Cena fighting out of a chinlock and hitting the shoulder blocks. Cesaro counters what looked like a backdrop into a DDT for two and Cena is down again. We get some very loud spot calling before the Swing is countered into a sunset flip for two. A powerbomb gets the same on Cesaro but he’s able to hit the apron suplex for two of his own. Cena tries a tornado DDT but gets countered into the Swing (so much for the reports of him being asked to stop).

Something resembling an ankle lock but with Cena’s legs intertwined has John in trouble but he rolls out and hits the Shuffle. The AA is countered and Cesaro goes up, only to have Cena roll through a cross body into the AA. Cesaro lands on his feet and kicks Cena in the face, setting up Swiss Death for two. Now the Neutralizer is countered but they trade big boots to send Cesaro to the apron. He takes too long going up though and a top rope AA is good for the pin at 14:00.

Rating: B. If you give Cesaro a big stage to have this match on and a better chance of winning, this is a near masterpiece. They have great chemistry together and Cesaro is one of the few guys that can show some freakish streak when he’s given the chance. I’d like to see him actually win a big match now and then though.

Stephanie is in the back freaking out about having to apologize to Brie tonight. She can’t bear the look in their daughters’ eyes again when they look at her. HHH says it’s going to be fine but Orton comes in to interrupt. Randy says the original plan was supposed to be Cena vs. Orton at Summerslam but Reigns broke it up. He wants HHH to break up the main event but HHH says no. If Orton wants another shot, take out Roman Reigns. Tonight, Reigns is facing Kane, so now Orton has a problem with Kane. He says he has a problem with HHH too.

Here’s the skipping Paige with something to say. She says her emotions get the better of her sometimes but she still thinks of AJ as her best friend. However, AJ took her title and crossed a line. Paige will never act that way again. Cue AJ who says she doesn’t like people who lie to her.

If Paige wants to be like her, then do it and stop making this stuff up. Paige cuts her off and talks about AJ being crazy, and that’s not ok with the champ. She tells Paige to say that again but Paige says this kind of stuff happens to everyone, even people off their rockers. AJ smacks Paige and the brawl is on with Paige running off and screaming that AJ needs to calm down.

Here are HHH and Stephanie to apologize about what happened last week. We see the full incident with Brie Bella and Stephanie says she’s truly sorry. All the charges have been dropped and they’re going to move on from this unfortunate incident. Stephanie would like Brie to come down here and clear the air. Instead here’s Jericho, who sings the COPS theme song (which might be a reference to the joke about COPS reruns replacing Impact).

HHH growls at him but Jericho cuts him off and brings up HHH not coming to Stephanie’s aide until Raw had been over for fifteen minutes. Jericho says it’s because HHH is finally realizing that Stephanie is a filthy, dirty, bottom feeding trashbag ho. HHH yells but Jericho asks for Bray Wyatt tonight. That match is being saved until Summerslam, but as for tonight…..and HHH is cut off by Seth Rollins nailing Jericho in the head with the MITB briefcase. I still think they missed a HUGE story by never having Stephanie and Jericho fall for each other.

We recap the Heyman/Cena/Cesaro stuff.

Ad for Summerslam 1998 airing this Sunday night on the WWE Network. I don’t know why they’re doing this when you can watch it right this second on demand on the Network.

Usos/Dolph Ziggler vs. Miz/Ryback/Curtis Axel

Miz is in his sunglasses. Woods, Kofi and Big E. are all watching in the back. Dolph gets knocked down by Ryback for two early on. Everything breaks down for a bit and the Usos chase all three guys to the floor as we take a break. Back with Miz coming in to kick Jimmy in the ribs as Woods and company have come to ringside. Axel gets two off a running knee to the head and it’s back to Miz to work on the ribs.

The Reality Check is countered into a suplex but Jimmy still can’t make the tag. He finally kicks Miz away and the tag brings in Ziggler to dropkick Ryback. The Fameasser gets two and Miz makes a very last second save. Everything breaks down and Jey dives onto Axel. Jimmy charges into a neck snap across the top rope to take him to the floor. Miz distracts Ziggler but Dolph counters a Ryback powerbomb into the Zig Zag for the pin at 10:12.

Rating: C. Just an easy way to combine a few matches here and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m glad Miz didn’t get pinned again, but I’m not sure why the new Nation is at ringside. Miz continues to play his role well and I’m digging the new character. Then again I’ve always been a Miz fan.

R-Truth vs. Bo Dallas

Bo says that Truth has lost a lot but will win again if he Bolieves. Dallas does his usual stuff and hits a clothesline before running a victory lap. Back in and Truth rolls him up for the pin at 32 seconds for Bo’s first loss.

Post match Bo says he can’t Bolieve that and nails Truth. The beating stays on

Here are Lana and Rusev to do their thing, this time with a focus on the American flag. Lana is about to insult George W. Bush (from Texas) but here’s Colter to interrupt. He talks about the American flag meaning something everywhere in the world. Colter brings up the Stars and Stripes and the symbolism behind them before Rusev and Swagger have their usual fight with Rusev being run off. The fans give a LOUD USA chant.

Damien Sandow vs. Adam Rose

Sandow is an astronaut this week. He gets cut off by Rose and pinned in 36 seconds with the Party Foul. Nothing to see here.

Kane vs. Roman Reigns

Reigns is on the way to the ring but Orton jumps him in the crowd. Reigns takes over and heads into the ring for a Superman Punch to Orton, but walks into a chokeslam. Kane leaves and Orton hammers away with free shots on Reigns. He nails an Elevated DDT on the floor and rams Reigns’ head into the steps over and over. An RKO onto the announcers’ table (didn’t break) has Reigns down and a second RKO through the table knocks him senseless. The bell never rang so no match.

Back from a break and Reigns is still trying to get up.

Fandango vs. Diego

Diego has Layla and Summer as sexy bullfighters this week. Fandango hammers away and goes up for the legdrop but Torito gets up on the apron for a distraction. The dancer goes after him but the bull dives onto the girls’ shoulders. Diego hits a springboard spinning sunset flip for the pin at 1:30.

Stephanie tries to find Brie in the Divas locker room but gets Nikki instead. Brie is going to be here later and Stephanie hopes things will be reasonable. Nikki laughs at the idea.

The Dusts are at a chalkboard and trying to figure out what the Cosmic Key is. Goldust says calm down and points Stardust off into the distance. He writes THEY HAVE “IT” in for the answer to the question. No idea what that means.

Alicia Fox/Cameron vs. Natalya/Naomi

Natalya and Fox get things going with the blonde nailing a seated dropkick for an early two. Naomi dives at Cameron for a brawl but Fox nails an ax kick for two. Fox hammers on her for a bit before it’s back to Cameron, who is caught in a freaky looking body scissors for the submission at 2:33. This was nothing.

Chris Jericho vs. Seth Rollins

They quickly fight to the floor with Jericho getting in trouble, only to block a suicide dive with a right hand. Back in and a suplex gets two on Seth but he stomps on Chris in the corner. Jericho jumps over him and nails an enziguri for two on Rollins, only to have Seth dropkick him down. Jericho snaps his neck over the ropes and we take a break.

Back with Jericho fighting out of a chinlock but being sent shoulder first into the post. Seth talks trash about him but Chris fights back and nails a top rope ax handle for two. A Slingblade gets two on Jericho and Rollins goes up, only to have to block some superplex attempts.

Rollins tries a powerbomb but gets countered into a top rope backdrop followed by a high cross body for two. Rollins gets elbowed in the face but avoids the Lionsault and nails a buckle bomb. The Curb Stomp misses but Rollins gets to the ropes to escape the Walls. Rollins goes up but gets caught in a Codebreaker….and we’ve got Wyatts for the DQ at 13:20.

Rating: C+. Another good match from these two but the ending was somewhat obvious. They need to make the Wyatts look tough again though and beating up Jericho is a good way to start. However, without a huge win at Summerslam it doesn’t really matter. Bray can still be saved though.

Here’s Stephanie for the big showdown with Brie to end the show. She looks at the clip from last week and apologizes to Brie again. Brie comes from the crowd to the ring and says she wants some revenge. Stephanie offers to give Nikki a raise but Brie wants her job back. The boss isn’t sure but Brie offers to drop all of the charges. Stephanie agrees but Brie wants something else: a match at Summerslam.

That’s fine with Stephanie who offers her a Divas Title shot or a Total Divas Spectacular. Brie says the obvious: she wants a match with Stephanie. The boss freaks out and says she isn’t a wrestler anymore (too easy) before finally saying she won’t lower herself to do this. Brie says she’ll see Stephanie in court. Stephanie finally breaks down and agrees before slapping Brie off the apron. The brawl is on but HHH and agents break it up. Fans: “THIS IS AWFUL!” I’m fine with the match taking place, but there is NO reason this should have closed the show.

Overall Rating: D. Other than the two long matches, this felt like a long series of short vignettes with very little going on. I don’t get the idea of Dallas losing in a meaningless match but it might be better to get it out of the way rather than letting him get crushed later on. The rest of the show felt pretty worthless, with one thing really glaring.

This show opened with a pretty awesome promo from Cena and a good match, but ended with a segment involving Brie Bella and Stephanie McMahon. I’m fine with Stephanie and Brie having a match at Summerslam, but it REALLY shouldn’t be a feature. Unless Bryan is in Brie’s corner, this really does feel like the most useless match I’ve seen built up in a very long time.

Results
John Cena b. Cesaro – Top rope Attitude Adjustment
Dolph Ziggler/Usos b. Ryback/Curtis Axel/The Miz – Zig Zag to Ryback
R-Truth b. Bo Dallas – Rollup
Adam Rose b. Damien Sandow – Party Foul
Diego b. Fandango – Spinning sunset flip
Natalya/Naomi b. Alicia Fox/Cameron – Leg scissors to Cameron
Chris Jericho b. Seth Rollins via DQ when the Wyatt Family interfered

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We’re done with Battleground and heading towards Summerslam with the announced main event of Brock Lesnar challenging John Cena for the WWE Title. Other than that the big story seems to be Reigns vs. Orton which would be Reigns’ first big solo match on the grand stage. A win over a former World Champion at Summerslam will be nothing but good for him. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Lesnar being announced as the #1 contender.

Opening sequence.

Ryback/Curtis Axel vs. Usos

Non-title. Jey and Ryback get things going with the big guy nailing a quick hiptoss but missing a Warrior Splash. Off to Jimmy for some chops but Ryback shoves him out of the corner. Axel comes in and hammers away before not ducking enough on a leapfrog from Jimmy. Curtis throws Jimmy to the floor and Ryback nails him with a running clothesline as we take a break.

Back with Ryback firing off chops to Jimmy in the corner before driving him over to the other corner for a beating from Axel. Curtis hits a running knee to the head for two and now Ryback’s Warrior Splash connects. We hit a chinlock for a bit before Jimmy fights up and nails an enziguri. The hot tag brings in Jey and things speed up. There’s the running Umaga attack to Axel and a Samoan drop gets two. Ryback gets low bridged to the floor and there’s the Flying Uso to take him down. Axel dropkicks Jey off the apron but some Twin Magic allows Jimmy to roll Curtis up for the pin at 6:50 shown of 9:50.

Rating: C. Not a bad tag match here with the Usos working well together as always. I wouldn’t mind seeing Ryback and Axel built up as potential challengers, at least as a filler until there’s another team to challenge the twins. I’m sure the Ascension will be brought up for a big showdown one day.

One other note: at the tapings, Ryback walked out on Axel after the match. That isn’t mentioned or shown here so I’m guessing WWE changed its mind.

Time for MizTV. Miz brags about winning the Intercontinental Title on Sunday and asks for quiet on the set so he can give his acceptance speech. He thanks his team and introduces his parents in the front row. Miz’s mom’s arms are more defined than her son’s. Mom says it’s awesome to have the Intercontinental Champion for a son. Miz asks who is her favorite WWE superstar and is surprised when she says Roman Reigns. “He’s hot!” The responses sounded intentionally scripted until the end.

Back in the ring and Miz keeps thanking people until Bo Dallas interrupts. JBL loves the idea of Dallas taking victory lap before he gets a victory. Bo says it’s ok that he wasn’t thanked by name because it’s clear that Miz Bolieves. Miz says he’s a huge fan and they should do lunch sometime.

This brings out Dolph Ziggler for another interruption. He says Miz’s speech was great but don’t pretend that was some big moment. The only award Miz should win is for hiding on the floor while Dolph did all the work. Both Miz and Dallas have million dollar smiles and they’re both full of it. Dallas says Ziggler can be like them if he Bolieves before nailing Dolph with the microphone. After a break we’ve got a match.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Bo Dallas

Miz is on commentary. One thing I really like here: Cole says this was made by the Authority during the break. But how will people know how the match was made without a GM to walk them through it? Dallas hammers away to start as Cole brings up how scripted Miz’s mom sounded. Bo stomps on Dolph but charges into a boot, setting up the running DDT for two. Ziggler throws him to the floor and teases a superkick at Miz before going back inside for two off a Fameasser. Miz gets on the apron for a distraction, allowing Dallas to grab a rollup and trunks to make him 17-0 at 3:30.

Rating: D+. This was angle advancement and for once a triple threat title match doesn’t sound too bad. I’m hoping Dallas winds up with the title at some point as he’s won me over with the over the top promos. There’s an actual story here and I’m curious to see which option they go with.

Post match Ziggler superkicks Bo but gets posted by the champion.

Roman Reigns says HHH has a Plan A and a Plan B, but no plan matters when you get hit with the Superman Punch. Tonight he’s facing Alberto Del Rio, and Alberto better have a plan because Reigns has the punch. He’s getting there with the talking.

Cesaro vs. Dean Ambrose

No DQ after Ambrose got DQ’ed on Monday. Ambrose stomps him down in the corner and wants to know who sent Cesaro out here. He pulls out some Singapore canes and chairs but Cesaro kicks him off the apron. Cesaro gets a cane of his own but only hits the post, allowing Ambrose to take him over the barricade and into the timekeeper’s area. A box of something goes onto Cesaro’s head but he comes back with a cane shot to the chest as Ambrose dives off the announcers’ table.

We take a break and come back with Cesaro holding a cane over Dean’s face. He sets up two chairs and slams Dean onto the chairs, which don’t move. Back to the cane over the face before Cesaro nails him in the bad shoulder a few times. Dean says bring it and catches the next swing before hitting the rebound clothesline. Now it’s Ambrose’s turn to hammer away with the cane.

That’s not enough for Dean though as he sets up two chairs back to back but neither guy can nail a suplex. Instead Dean picks one up and suplexes Cesaro through the other chair for two. A middle rope chair shot to Cesaro’s arm has him in trouble but he slams Dean onto a chair for a near fall of his own. They head outside and Dean nails a suicide dive before throwing about ten chairs into the ring.

Ambrose throws Cesaro back in but here’s Rollins to jump Dean. It doesn’t seem to matter as Dean clotheslines him into the crowd but gets crotched on the top rope by Cesaro. A BIG superplex puts both guys down onto the pile of chairs for two and Cesaro is shocked. He’s so shocked that Ambrose grabs a small package out of nowhere for the pin at 11:39 shown of 14:39.

Rating: B-. Take two guys and let them beat each other up for about fifteen minutes. Where could that go wrong? Ambrose is such an offbeat character and he’s perfect for a match like this. Cesaro can wrestle any style and fits in perfectly in a brawl. That superplex looked awesome too.

Post match Rollins comes in and helps Cesaro lay out Dean to a huge YOU SOLD OUT chant. Dean is helped out by medics.

We recap Paige vs. AJ from Paige’s debut up to her heel turn on Monday. They made this feel like a pretty huge feud.

Paige vs. Naomi

Paige skips to the ring ala AJ and actually pulls it off really well. She insists that she and AJ are still friends. Cameron comes out right after the bell and Paige gets in a cheap shot. The Rampaige (fisherman’s DDT) sets up the PTO for the win at 33 seconds.

Cameron beats up Naomi post match and says she’s here to make a statement. Naomi nails her in the face but gets knocked off the apron.

Goldust and Stardust look at an electrified crystal ball with Goldust saying he can see the golden stars. The Cosmic Key is discussed some more and Goldust pulls his head back. When he looks back, Stardust’s head has replaced the ball. Goldust is in a magician’s hat.

R-Truth vs. Bray Wyatt

Before the match we see Bray attacking Jericho backstage on Raw. Bray hammers away to start but walks into a running forearm. Truth dances a bit but turns around to see the Spider Walk. The running cross body to the ribs drops Truth sets up Sister Abigail for the pin at 2:04. Squash.

Post match Bray says Truth was there when Jericho needed him, but now Jericho isn’t here for Truth. Jericho may not be a savior, but Bray is.

Video on Stephanie being arrested. She’ll return on Raw. Again I ask: is it really a return when you were on the previous show?

We see Brock returning and Heyman’s promo.

Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio

Reigns hammers away in the corner but Del Rio goes after the arm very quickly. He tries the armbreaker about a minute into the match but is quickly sent to the floor as we take an early break. Back with Reigns getting kicked in the face but coming back with a Samoan drop and a clothesline to send Del Rio outside. Reigns misses a charge and hits the post, allowing Del Rio to wrap the arm around the steel. A superkick drives the arm into the post again and it’s back inside for two.

Reigns breaks out of an armbar in a few seconds but Del Rio sends him into the buckle. The middle rope double stomp drives Reigns’ head into the mat. The bad arm is rammed into the steps a few times for two and the corner enziguri gets the same. Reigns tries to fight back but gets caught in the armbreaker over the ropes. That’s fine with Roman as he pulls Alberto up and nails an uppercut to knock Del Rio out to the floor.

Back in and Reigns hits a running clothesline but charges into a boot in the corner. A clothesline puts Del Rio down but he avoids the apron kick. I believe that’s the first time anyone has ever done that. Del Rio nails a baseball slide for two and puts Roman in the Tree of Woe for some kicks to the ribs. Reigns avoids a charge and sends Del Rio’s shoulder into the post. Now the apron kick connects, followed by the Superman Punch and a spear for the pin at 9:32 shown of 12:32.

Rating: B. I liked this one way more than I was expecting. This is the kind of win that Reigns needs: hard fought, clean wins over big names. Del Rio may not be the best in the world, but he is a former multi-time World Champion and a guy with a solid resume. The more guys on his level that Reigns beats, the stronger he’s going to look.

Overall Rating: C+. This is the kind of Smackdown I can work with: focusing on the midcard and giving some big names time that they don’t get on Raw. This show doesn’t have all the promos and segments going on to clog everything up and it can be entertaining when they let the guys have some time to wrestle. We had two good matches tonight and some storybuilding stuff to fill in the gaps. That’s a good use of two hours on Friday night.

Results
Usos b. Ryback/Curtis Axel – Small package to Axel
Bo Dallas b. Dolph Ziggler – Rollup with a handful of trunks
Dean Ambrose b. Cesaro – Small package
Paige b. Naomi – PTO
Bray Wyatt b. R-Truth – Sister Abigail
Roman Reigns b. Alberto Del Rio – Spear

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HHH opened the show and talked about the Authority not getting the title back last night. He then went on a hilarious rant against internet fans, saying he was so mad that he might have to Tweet until his fingers bled or, Heaven help him, SEND OUT AN INSTAGRAM! I cracked up at that line because of the voice and the way he delivered it.

Anyway the point of this was that HHH isn’t sure who is going to face Cena at Summerslam but everyone in the back is going to have the chance to prove their worth to him. This brings out Orton, who HHH says is the frontrunner for a title shot. Kane comes out and says he’s the best option. Roman Reigns appears and says no one wants to see Kane vs. Cena and NO ONE wants to see Cena vs. Orton again. Kane gets laid out with a Superman Punch and HHH makes Reigns vs. Kane/Orton right now.

The handicap match was fine with Reigns pinning Kane after a spear. It’s a bit of a stretch but the team got in an argument at the end and Reigns capitalized. They kept it moving as well so it never got beyond the suspension of disbelief. Reigns pinning a former World Champion is a good thing for him.

Now we get to the other big story of the night. Stephanie McMahon gave Nikki Bella a four on one handicap match but noticed Brie Bella in the front row. She wanted Brie ejected but Brie had a ticket. They yelled at each other a lot and Stephanie slapped her, which somehow got Brie dragged off. Nikki was of course destroyed in the four on one handicap. Stephanie said that Nikki was going to quit soon, which seems to be her big plan.

Later in the night, Stephanie was arrested for battery and taken away in handcuffs. HHH promised he would get Stephanie out of jail in five minutes (and for some reason asked the cops if they were driving a hybrid), but instead stayed at the arena to make his announcement on the main event. We haven’t yet heard any backlash against HHH for not being there for his wife but you can imagine the sort of thing you’re going to hear.

The Bella vs. Stephanie segments were entertaining for the most part as Brie is actually a decent actress. Stephanie is perfect in her role and the story is acceptable enough. The problem is without Bryan, a lot of the interest goes down. I’d assume he’d be in Brie’s corner when we get the match at Summerslam though. One last note: I’m not sure if it’s the hair color or the more natural look, but Brie comes off as much more beautiful than Nikki. She did on Total Divas and she did again on Raw.

Bo Dallas beat Damien Sandow. It seemed like Bo had turned face here but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Jericho was going to do the Highlight Reel but the Wyatts laid him out in the back. Apparently this was filmed at Battleground because Jericho wasn’t at the arena. That’s a basic idea and a trick that worked fine. Bray did his usual schtick about war and Abigail. He really needs to be a monster again.

Dolph beat The Miz because Miz is the Intercontinental Champion and therefore he must be defeated any time he wrestles. It’s life in the WWE.

Seth Rollins was told he shouldn’t face Cena at Summerslam. Cesaro came in and confirmed that he was no longer a Payl Heyman guy and asked to be put in the title match. HHH said Cesaro can get in if he beats Dean Ambrose tonight. Cesaro as a mercenary is an interesting idea.

AJ Lee and Paige beat Emma and Natalya. Post match Paige turned heel and beat up AJ before skipping away. Paige with a big smile and skipping away is rather appealing to look atl.

Zack Ryder beat Fandango with help from the girls. Let this one sink in for a bit. I’m not sure what the endgame is here but Layla and Summer dancing is never a bad thing.

Flo Rida knocked Heath Slater down, just like he did at Wrestlemania a few years back. He then performed a medley of songs and no one cared. I have no idea why WWE thinks this is a good use of TV time.

Kofi Kingston/Big E. lost to Ryback/Curtis Axel in a nothing match. The interesting thing here though was Xavier Woods coming out and saying that these two deserve better. It sounded a lot like the start of a new Nation type stable, but heel turns were only implied. Granted something like this almost naturally turns you heel as face stables rarely last long term. Kofi and Big E. getting something to do is a good thing though and Woods has the credentials to pull off the intellectual leader.

Rusev beat Great Khali in a better match than you would have expected. Same stuff here though.

The Dusts, Cosmic Key.

Cesaro and Ambrose had a nice brawl that ended with Ambrose hitting Cesaro with a chair. Dean caring more about violence and hurting Cesaro fits him fine as all that matters is Rollins right now.

The big ending to the show was of course HHH coming out to reveal the opponent and Reigns taking out Orton. HHH was left alone until Paul Heyman came out with Lesnar. HHH agreed that Lesnar gets the shot and Heyman talked for a good while about how awesome Brock was and how he’ll conquer John Cena at Summerslam. Good promo, even though we knew he was coming about a month ago.

Raw was good for the most part but again could have used an hour being cut out. Lesnar being spoiled hurt it a bit as the Orton and Kane stuff was just a big waste of time. To be fair though, WWE had put out a lot of stuff from Heyman so they acknowledged the spoilers and took away some of the shock intentionally.

You can see the top of Summerslam’s card already and a lot of it looks solid enough. We’ll have Brock destroying Cena, Reigns vs. Orton, Rollins vs. Ambrose and probably Brie vs. Stephanie. That’s not a bad card for a huge show and things should be entertaining enough. Raw was good enough this week but it was little more than setting the stage for the upcoming shows.

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The pre-show matches saw Adam Rose, with Layla and Summer, beating Fandango and Cameron beating Naomi. There’s nothing to say about either of these except that Cameron was horrible in the ring. I mean like REALLY horrible.

The pay per view opened with an awesome Tag Team Title 2/3 falls match with the Usos defending against the Wyatt Family. The first two falls were there so the match could be 2/3 falls. They weren’t bad but they could have been on any given Raw or Smackdown. The story of the match was that the Usos were barely bale to hang in there against the monsters and could only beat them with a quick rollup.

Then the third fall happened and everything went nuts with some INSANE near falls. Stuff like this is what makes tag team wrestling so fun as the drama is incredible and leaves you wondering when it’s going to end. The double splash from the Usos was a great big finisher and there was no way Harper was kicking out after it. The feud needs to be over now as they’re probably not going to be able to top this, but who do the Usos fight now? Ryback/Axel? I’d love to see them against the Ascension but WWE doesn’t seem to want to call them up.

I’ll cover all of the Rollins and Ambrose segments at once. Rollins was in the back when Ambrose attacked him. HHH ejected Ambrose from the building and said the match wasn’t happening. Later, Rollins came out and had himself declared the winner by forefit, but Ambrose attacked Seth again because wrestling security sucks. HHH came out again and had Ambrose handcuffed, allowing Rollins to jump him again. Finally, Rollins was trying to leave but Ambrose popped out of the trunk of his car and attacked Rollins one more time but Seth got away in said car.

Obviously there was no match and the more I think about it the less I like it. It felt like a cheap way to get people to watch the show and probably pop some Network buys. That’s a common wrestling practice but it doesn’t mean it’s something that I want to see happen all the time. The match will be fine when it happens, but you could have easily done a quick double DQ or countout and still had the match without a conclusive ending. This felt like a cop out and that’s not a good thing.

AJ Lee retained the Divas Title against Paige with a Shining Wizard. This was an odd match as they were trying to do something special but it came off sloppy. I can understand this not working better than I can most other matches as the girls don’t have anyone at this level to practice on. Paige has spent weeks fighting Paige and Cameron so doing anything complicated is out the window. Here she tried to do something a few steps higher and clearly needed more practice. AJ was far from perfect though.

Orton talked to Kane and tried to form an alliance but got nowhere.

Rusev and Swagger had a watchable match that ended in a Rusev countout win. The story of course was Lana’s promo before the match, saying you can’t blame Vladimir Putin for “current world events”, referencing the Malaysian plane crash. This caused a bunch of bad mainstream publicity for WWE, whose response was “we’ve been doing this story for weeks.” That really doesn’t make it any better, but it puts WWE in a strange place.

Rusev and Lana are going to get real heat because Putin is a real life crazy and possibly evil man who may be responsible or at least linked to the death of nearly three hundred innocent people. Whether the characters are directly referencing it or not, people in the media are going to complain. Why? Because media has a tendency to run off at the mouth and not understand the vast majority of what they’re talking about and complain before they know what’s going on. WWE had to know this was coming and really has no right to complain about the negative attention. Yeah a lot of the complaints are stupid, but they were coming no matter what Lana said.

Goldust and Stardust continue to talk about the Cosmic Key. This is starting to intrigue me.

Chris Jericho beat Bray Wyatt in a disjointed match. The chemistry really didn’t work and neither guy seemed to be on the same page. I still haven’t heard a logical reason for Jericho to win. The next night on Raw would see Jericho laid out by Bray, but Wyatt already lost a clean match. Yeah I’m sure Bray will win the blowoff match, but why didn’t he win both matches? I see absolutely no reason for Jericho to win at all. He has nothing to lose and there’s no need for Bray to lose to a guy in his third or so match back. The Summerslam win will help, but it’s taking a few weeks to get there.

Miz won the Intercontinental Title in a battle royal. The match was nothing special, much like most battle royals. I was hoping for Bo Dallas, but Miz’s Hollywood character is growing on me. The biggest surprise here was Slater dumping Cesaro which seems to have gone nowhere. It seems like Miz vs. Sheamus to unify the titles might be coming, even though that would be the stupidest thing they could do. One interesting note here: Del Rio went under the ropes before being knocked to the floor.

The main event was exactly what you would expect as the match started slow, got hot at the end saw Cena pin Kane to retain the title. Reigns looked like he was destroying everyone, though he’s not ready to be the top guy. That’s where WWE is in a good place, as they can build him up for several months. In theory he gets the title at Wrestlemania, but at least he’s got eight months to get there.

Overall the show was a disappointment as the buildup was far better than I was expecting but the execution really failed. Only the opening and closing matches were any good with the rest of the show being worthless. This is a show that could have been eliminated and used on a longer build to Summerslam, much like Fully Loaded 1998. It wasn’t the worst show ever, but it was pretty easily the worst show of the year. That’s saying a lot given that this really wasn’t horrible.

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This show isn’t much more than a bridge to Summerslam but it’s a very nicely decorated bridge. The main event is Cena defending his title against Roman Reigns, Randy Orton and Kane in a fourway. Other than we’re getting the first showdown between Ambrose and Reigns, Bray Wyatt vs. Chris Jericho and an Intercontinental Title battle royal. Let’s get to it.

Pre-Show: Fandango vs. Adam Rose

I would have bet on this being instead of Fandango. The match is sponsored by Mountain Dew Kickstarter. Layla and Summer are with Adam Rose, who is celebrating his birthday tonight. Fandango jumps him to start and grabs a quick belly to back suplex for two. The party dances around the ring but Fandango stops to yell at them, only to get slapped by Summer and Layla. Adam brings him back inside for a spinebuster and the Party Foul for the pin at 1:25.

Pre-Show: Cameron vs. Naomi

Naomi tries to fight at the bell but Cameron hides in the corner. A kick sends Naomi to the floor and Cameron drives her back first into the barricade. Back in and Cameron puts Naomi in a bow and arrow hold with her feet in Naomi’s back. Naomi gets out but misses a dropkick. Cameron doesn’t follow up and gets hammered with right hands. She tries to leave but Naomi rams her into the barricade before ripping at Cameron’s hair. Cameron elbows her in the face and grabs a rollup with a handful of trunks for the pin at 3:13.

Rating: D-. This was awful. Do you know why it was awful? Because Cameron has no business being in a wrestling ring. Naomi is talented but isn’t a miracle worker and couldn’t do anything with Cameron here. I don’t know what WWE was expecting from this match but it couldn’t have been much higher than this.

The opening video talks about war and focuses on the fourway and Rollins vs. Ambrose. Nothing special.

Tag Team Titles: Usos vs. Wyatt Family

Usos are defending and this is 2/3 falls. Jey pops Rowan in the jaw to start but Erick just looks annoyed. Off to Harper who chokes Jey on the ropes but gets dropkicked out to the floor. Rowan gets knocked off as well and the challengers have to regroup. Back in and Luke sends Jey throat first into the bottom rope. Rowan cranks on Jey’s neck before it’s back to Luke for a chinlock. Jey finally rolls free and tags in Jimmy who gets kicked in the face for the first fall at 4:47.

Rowan puts Jimmy in the double fist vice as Jey is finally back up on the apron. Jimmy fights up but fails at a slam attempt to keep the challengers in control. Back to Harper who rubs his forearms over Jimmy’s face but Jimmy backflips out of a belly to back suplex. Jey comes in off the hot tag and rolls Harper up for the pin at 8:07 title.

Erick throws Jey with a fall away slam for two and Luke catapults him into the ropes. Jey dives over a charging Rowan to send him into the post, setting up a hot tag to Jimmy. Both Wyatts get taken down by big dives to the floor before Jimmy walks the barricade to take Luke down again. Back inside and a high cross body gets two on Harper. The running Umaga attack in the corner gets two and Jimmy is getting frustrated.

A superkick is blocked and Harper hits a running big boot. Jimmy is sent outside for a suicide dive from Harper. Jey sends Rowan into the barricade and Erick is grabbing at his arm. Harper’s suicide dive is blocked by a superkick and Jey grabs a rollup for two. Back up and Harper plants Jey with a sitout powerbomb for a VERY close two and the fans are into it. Rowan goes up top but misses a splash. Harper goes up but gets crotched, allowing Jimmy to get the tag and hit the Superfly Splash for two on Rowan.

The Usos get crotched on the top and Rowan is up top to superplex both of them down for two on Jimmy. Everything breaks down again and Luke nails Jimmy with a superkick. Jimmy hits one of his own but Harper nails the discus lariat, only to have Jey break up the pin. Double superkicks drop both Wyatts and a double Superfly Splash pins Luke at 18:50.

Rating: A. Well that was worth the $10. This has to set up the Ascension coming up to challenge the Usos because there’s no one left for them to beat. The first fall could be reason to give them another match but it seems a bit too long at this point. I’m surprised by the ending but it was an excellent match with those near falls getting better and better every time.

We recap Ambrose vs. Rollins. Seth claimed that he founded the Shield and broke up the team by turning on Ambrose and Reigns while joining forces with the Authority. Rollins then won Money in the Bank but Ambrose has promised to never let Seth cash in the briefcase. The Authority has helped Rollins beat Ambrose down multiple times now and this is the first chance for a one on one match.

Rollins talks about how he’s not worried about this match and is ready to show Ambrose that he’s the best. Then, with Ambrose out of the picture, Rollins is going to be watching the fourway. Ambrose jumps Rollins and lays him out so HHH throws Ambrose out of the building. Apparently the match isn’t happening tonight, or at least not right now.

Divas Title: Paige vs. AJ Lee

Paige debuted the night after Wrestlemania and took the title from AJ in a huge upset. A few months later, AJ returned and took the title from Paige in an impromptu title defense. Paige has since been saying she and AJ are now frenemies. A loud CM Punk chant starts up and so do the Network plugs. Paige gets two off an early rollup and drives some knees into AJ’s chest for two.

We hit the chinlock on the champion as the fans aren’t sure who they like more. Back up and Paige tries to spear AJ to the floor but they stop at the ropes and it goes into very slow motion. They head back inside for a not great looking sunset bomb for two from Paige. For some reason Paige looks like she’s about to cry and shouts COME ON AJ. Back up and AJ stops a charge in the corner but gets caught in mid air. Paige tries to spin her around but gets caught in the Black Widow. She powers out again though and hits the Paige Turner for two. The PTO is countered into a rollup for two but AJ nails a Shining Wizard for the pin at 7:14.

Rating: C. Not great here but it’s so far and away better than the stuff from Alicia Fox and the Bellas that it’s hard to not be pleased. They’re making Paige look like a flash in the pan at this point but there will be more matches in this feud. It wasn’t bad save for some awkward looking spots and that’s acceptable for girls that don’t get to try this kind of stuff that often.

Summerslam ad.

Randy Orton goes into the depths of the building to make amends with Kane for the RKO on Monday. Kane isn’t pleased but Orton says their enemies are Cena and Reigns. The monster says those two aren’t leaving as champion because the winner is right here.

The panel (Booker T., Christian and Alex Riley) talk about the show so far and pick winners for the World Title match.

We look back at Colter and Lana’s detente from Raw.

Rusev vs. Jack Swagger

Lana does her usual schtick before the match, talking about how American propaganda has led to what happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. Colter comes out to talk as well but gets slapped, triggering a brawl between Rusev and Swagger. The bell rings and Swagger goes for the Patriot Lock but Rusev bails outside. Rusev hammers away but gets knocked back to the floor. Another Patriot Lock doesn’t work and Rusev throws Swagger over in a fall away slam.

Off to a nerve hold for a bit before Rusev fires off kicks to the thighs and chest. Swagger stomps on Rusev’s bare feet and hits a Vader Bomb for two. Swagger is sent to the apron and does a very bad job of sticking his head back in so Rusev can kick him in the chest. The superkick is caught in the Patriot Lock but Rusev finally dives forward to the ropes. They head outside with Swagger chop blocking Rusev and putting the hold on again. Rusev crawls up the steps and rolls Swagger face first into the post before beating the count at 10:00.

Rating: C. This was fine and lets the feud continue when the real life tensions have calmed down a little bit. They did a good job of making Swagger look good and the more wins Rusev gets over big names, the better off he’s going to be. It was nothing great but it extends the feud and that’s all it needed to do.

Rusev puts the unconscious Swagger in the Accolade.

Goldust and Stardust talk about the cosmic key. Stardust thinks they should watch the stars tonight.

Here’s Seth Rollins for his match, even though HHH has officially tweeted that Ambrose will not be in the arena again tonight. He says Dean behaven irresponsibly earlier tonight and insists that he is named the winner by forefit. Rollins goes up the aisle but Ambrose attacks him because wrestling security sucks.

Dean sends him onto the Spanish announce table but security pulls him off. Ambrose breaks through again as Rollins shouts at him. HHH comes out as they’re fighting again and tells security to get Ambrose out of here. Security literally picks Ambrose up to carry him out but Rollins dives on Dean. HHH finally gets Rollins calm and holds up his arm.

We recap Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt. Jericho came back again but got beaten down by the Wyatts. Jericho wisely ran away instead of fighting all three of them but tonight it’s one on one.

Chris Jericho vs. Bray Wyatt

Jericho takes him into the corner to start but gets knocked back by a single right hand. A clothesline puts Jericho down again and a kick to the chest gets one. Jericho fights out of a neck crank and dropkicks Bray to the apron for the springboard dropkick to the floor. The Family helps Bray up so Jericho dives onto all three of them.

The referee ejects the Family and Bray isn’t happy. He lets some of his anger go by knocking Jericho off the apron and onto a cameraman. Back in and Jericho is sent to the ropes but he hangs on and nails a top rope ax handle. Bray pops back up and they botch a belly to back suplex into a gutbuster spot. The second attempt works better and Jericho is in trouble again. Bray’s backsplash hits knees and both guys are down.

Bray puts Jericho on the middle rope and brings him down with a kind of jawbreaker for two. Jericho comes right back with the bulldog but the Lionsault hits knees. Bray spider walks to the corner before slamming Chris down for two. Jericho whips him into the corner and Bray hits his head on the bottom buckle. They head to the apron and Bray tries a DDT but Jericho lands on the middle rope instead of the edge of the ring. The Walls are countered but Jericho hits the Codebreaker for the clean pin at 15:00.

Rating: D+. Ummm…WHAT? Why in the world did this happen? Bray is supposed to be this new young guy and he’s jobbing clean to Chris Jericho? The match was awkward throughout and it felt like they were on different pages. Maybe Jericho isn’t back to his level, but the ending is beyond questionable.

Rollins leaves and says he doesn’t need security. He goes into the parking lot but Ambrose pops out of the trunk of a car and beats Rollins up again. Seth finally gets away in the car.

Intercontinental Title: Battle Royal

Big E., Alberto Del Rio, Cesaro, R-Truth, Ryback, Curtis Axel, Damien Sandow, Titus O’Neal, Heath Slater, Diego, Sin Cara, Xavier Woods, Great Khali, Kofi Kingston, Bo Dallas, Zack Ryder, Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, The Miz

No Rob Van Dam for some reason. Bad News Barrett comes out and says the new champion will be like an old couple retiring here in Florida. Initially it will be great, but it’s delaying the inevitable. Everyone goes after Khali to start but he shoves them off and cleans house before throwing out Woods and Ryder. A Brogue Kick stuns Khali and everyone puts him out. Dallas eliminates Sin Cara and Ryback does the same to Truth.

Axel is tossed as they’re going through this match quickly. Damien Sandow (a beach bum here) gets thrown out by Diego to no reaction but Ryback throws out the Matador a second later. Ryback slams Dallas down and all of a sudden only Ryback and Sheamus are standing. A quick slugout ends with a Brogue Kick for the elimination. Miz can’t throw Sheamus out and gets a Zig Zag for trying. He slides out to the floor under the ropes and everyone goes back to brawling.

Titus throws Sheamus around like he’s nothing but Bo eliminates him for a big celebration. Kofi and Cesaro go at it with Kofi missing Trouble in Paradise and getting backdropped over. He hangs on like he’s trying a sunset bomb but pulls himself back in. Cesaro grabs Kofi’s dreadlocks but gets dropkicked down. Both guys are still in. Del Rio and Ziggler go at it with Alberto putting on the armbreaker over the ropes. Del Rio tries the low superkick on the apron and gets his neck snapped across the top rope for an elimination.

We’re down to Kofi, Dallas, Slater, Cesaro, Big E., Sheamus, Ziggler and Miz. Cesaro suplexes Big E. out and throws Kofi out but Big E. catches him on his shoulders. Cesaro suplexes Kofi off Big E.’s shoulders and back into the ring (why?) before poking him in the eye and suplexing him to the floor. Slater dumps Cesaro in a huge upset but gets thrown to the apron by Sheamus. A Brogue Kick puts him out and a slingshot shoulder knocks Bo silly. The ten forearms to the chest have Dallas in trouble and Ziggler dropkicks him out.

We’re down to Sheamus vs. Ziggler and Miz is somewhere on the floor. They slug it out and no one can hit a big move. Sheamus loads up a powerbomb and they botch a counter with a very awkward landing. Thankfully they seem to be fine and Sheamus catapults Dolph over the top but he hangs on. Dolph pulls Sheamus out but he hangs on as well. Sheamus loads up the slingshot shoulder but gets superkicked out, allowing Miz to come in and throw out Ziggler to win at 14:20.

Rating: D+. Erg. Why go with something interesting when you can go with someone who has held the title multiple times before? I’m glad they didn’t unify the titles but I would have loved to see someone like Dallas get this for the promos alone. At the end of the day though, this is a death knell for Miz’s push, as is the custom in WWE.

We recap the main event. Cena refused to side with the Authority so HHH put him in this match with Orton, Kane and Reigns, who HHH hated a month ago but now is ok with being in a title shot. He explained it in an interview on WWE.com but it still doesn’t hold up.

WWE World Title: John Cena vs. Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns vs. Kane

Cena is defending and has both belts again here. It’s a brawl to start and Orton is in blue instead of black. Randy sends Orton into the steps but Reigns fights off both Authority members. A double suplex drops Reigns and gives Orton two as Kane seems to play defense against Cena. The champion comes back in and Orton takes him down for two more as Kane guards against Reigns.

Kane breaks up an AA attempt on Orton as the early going continues. Reigns and Kane fight on the floor so Cena can start up his finishing sequence on Orton. The AA is blocked so Cena throws Orton to the floor before turning around to see Reigns. Kane and Orton break it up before anything happens and Kane gets two on Reigns to annoy Randy. They start to shove each other and a YES chant starts up.

Orton says it’s supposed to be Kane watching his back but Kane uppercuts him. Kane loads up a superplex but Cena and Reigns come in to make it a Tower of Doom. Now we get Cena vs. Reigns but Kane sits up to stop it again. They stop Kane to the floor but Orton sneaks in with a backbreaker to Roman. A double Elevated DDT puts down both heroes but Kane breaks up a pin.

Cena and Reigns send Kane to the floor before Cena grabs an STF. Reigns adds a half crab at the same time but Kane makes the save. An AA sends Kane back to the floor and Orton is put in the STF again. Reigns pulls Orton to the ropes and throws him over the announce table, FINALLY giving us the showdown. They slug it out and Reigns tries a clothesline but Cena goes the wrong way so it’s kind of an old Vader body attack. The STF is countered and Reigns hits a Samoan drop. The Superman Punch misses and Cena hits the ProtoBomb.

Reigns pops up and hits the Superman Punch followed by the spear but Kane makes the save (with Cena’s head up and watching Kane come in the entire way). Kane gets hammered down and Reigns hits the jumping kick to all three guys. Orton gets speared through the barricade and the fans think this is awesome. Back in and Reigns spears Kane down but Cena makes the save.

Cena throws Roman to the floor and hits the AA for two as Reigns makes the save. Reigns and Cena slug it out again and an AA gets two with Kane breaking it up. Both heroes get chokeslammed but Reigns kicks out at two. The tombstone is countered and another spear connects until Orton makes the save. The RKO puts Reigns down but Cena comes in with an AA to Orton before pinning Kane to keep the title at 18:15.

Rating: B. Good match but the ending never being in doubt hurt things a bit. Some of the near falls did have me thinking we might get a surprise but at the end of the day this was the best option they had. Cena keeps the title and now we’re heading to his showdown with Lesnar where Brock gets his win back next month.

Overall Rating: C. This was underwhelming due to some of the booking. Miz winning is acceptable but not very exciting. On the other hand, I see absolutely no reason for Bray to lose to Jericho. At this point, Jericho should be there to put people over, not pin guys in featured matches at Wrestlemania three months ago. Other than that there was some good stuff here and it was miles better than last year, but it felt a lot more like a filler show than it should have. Granted it was a filler show so my expectations hit a hard ceiling during the build up. The opener and main event were both good so the show was worth the $10, but the middle pretty much sucked. Summerslam has potential as the big blowoff show though.

Results
Adam Rose b. Fandango – Party Foul
Cameron b. Naomi – Rollup
Usos b. Wyatt Family – Double Superfly Splash to Harper
AJ Lee b. Paige – Shining Wizard
Rusev b. Jack Swagger via countout
Chris Jericho b. Bray Wyatt – Codebreaker
The Miz won a battle royal last eliminating Dolph Ziggler
John Cena b. Roman Reigns, Randy Orton and Kane – Cena pinned Kane after a spear from Reigns

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The pre-show is Cameron vs. Naomi and unfortunately I think Cameron wins because WWE thinks she’s a star because she’s on a reality show they produce. Hopefully Naomi wins because she has some talent.

Cena retains the title in the obvious match of the night. There’s never been anything that makes me think he doesn’t win and there’s nothing wrong with that. This is a token title defense and a way to get us to the big showdown with Lesnar at Summerslam. That brings us to the two major questions about this: does Rollins cash in and does Lesnar appear on Sunday? No.

Time for my pick that makes no sense and it’s likely to happen: Dallas wins the Intercontinental Title. This is more something I want to happen that has any possibility to happen. Battle royals are really hard to predict though so it’s pretty much random guessing. Either Dallas, Cesaro or Diego. You don’t want to sleep on him.

Bray over Jericho. There’s no reason for Jericho to win and I really don’t think there’s a logical argument for it.

The Wyatts take the Tag Team Titles. Again, there’s really no reason for them not to and the Usos have had a nice title reign already.

I’ll take Paige to get the Divas Title back from AJ to complete her heel turn and set up a submission match at Summerslam.

Ambrose vs. Rollins is likely going to a non-finish to set up another match at Summerslam, perhaps for the briefcase. This is going to be the best match of the night and there’s no reason for it not to tear the house down.

That brings us to the match where I have no idea what to expect. I know I’ve said for weeks that Rusev is going to snap Swagger in half and sprinkle over him his Russian pizza, but then real life intervened. In case you haven’t heard, a Malaysian Airlines flight was blown out of the sky, killing nearly 300 people a few days ago. There’s a chance that that the Russian military had something to do with it, and that’s REALLY not something you want to mess with. I can’t imagine Rusev getting pinned or submitting, but maybe losing by countout or DQ. There’s also a chance they have a non-finish to set up a rematch when real life has calmed down.

Overall, Battleground actually looks pretty awesome. The main event should be a fun fifteen minutes and Rollins vs. Ambrose should be a war. The battle royal actually has me intrigued and that’s not something I would have imagined coming in. It’s just a bridge heading up to Summerslam, but it’s a nicely constructed bridge that should be an entertaining show. I know this is short, but most of the matches range from obvious to really obvious. That doesn’t leave me much to talk about.

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Cena opened things up with an in ring commercial for the Network and the pay per view airing on it this Sunday. This is something that has been getting a lot of complaints since Monday, but let’s think about this for a minute. The Network hasn’t shown the best numbers so far and WWE is scrambling to find as many subscribers as it can. Therefore, it’s putting on a very strong effort and trying to make every show as important as it can.

Why is this something to complain about? We’re getting effort put into meaningless shows that make them far more interesting than they would be otherwise. Flash back a year ago to Battleground. Do You remember how worthless it was? It ran away with Worst Show of the Year and that’s what you would rather have than some thirty seconds of advertising for the Network? And what about all the sweet content we’re getting this week? Saturday Night’s Main Event, the Punk documentary and the Best of Nitro? If I have to sit through those things in exchance for some commercials, I think I’ll survive.

Anyway Cena and Reigns had a meeting before their six man tag against the Authority later, but their partner Dean Ambrose got laid out in the back. Rollins gave him a curb stomp onto a wooden pallet in a cool visual.

Miz beat Sheamus in a big upset. This is the kind of thing Sheamus needs to have: losses to big names. Now it means more when he comes back with a Brogue Kick and knocks Miz’s head back to Cleveland.

Let’s stop for a second and look at this match. It was one of FIVE matches between guys in the Intercontinental Title battle royal. For once, the midcard title got a solid build with about half the people in the match getting some focus. It’s so nice for a change and made the match on Sunday feel much more important than it did coming in.

Ziggler beat Fandango and got to dance with Summer and Layla. I have zero issue with good looking women in tight dresses dancing.

Adam Rose and Damien Sandow did a commercial for Sonic. You have to make up that $20 million deficit somehow. Again, if a minute long commercial bothers you that much, you’re beyond my help.

The Usos got jumped by the Wyatt Family. Another basic way to build a match on Sunday.

One of the longest segments of the night was a showdown between Zeb Colter and Lana. This was a lot of the same stuff they’ve been saying, but it was really well done and made me want to see the match. Swagger is going to tap, but the build has been fun. After this, I’m thinking Rusev goes after the US Title. It’s all that makes sense at this point.

Alberto Del Rio beat Rob Van Dam in a short match. Van Dam needs to win a match or two in the near future.

Cameron and Alicia Fox beat Nikki Bella in a match set up by Stephanie McMahon. They’re clearly setting up Brie’s return, but I’m not sure if it’s against Stephanie or Nikki. As long as the Bellas don’t have their SERIOUS talks, I don’t really care.

The big moment of the night was Cole introducing a special character in WWE 2K15. It was Sting, who appeared in a video where they threw it to a video where there was an orchestra playing Sting’s old music (from Starrcade 1997) with their backs to the cameras. They turned around to reveal they were all in Sting masks. Sting showed up and looked at the camera but didn’t say anything. He was NOT in the arena but the place erupted when they saw the masks. It appears that you’ll be getting both Surfer Sting and Crow Sting. Sting likely will debut one day, but it’s bizarre to see his face on Raw.

Cesaro has fired Paul Heyman, and lost to Big E. This is either moving towards Cesaro admitting he needs Heyman, or him winning the battle royal on Sunday to prove he doesn’t need Heyman and likely turning face. Word on the street is that WWE doesn’t want to push Cesaro and Reigns as big faces at the same time. I really hope this isn’t true, because if it is, I’ve lost a lot of faith in basic human intelligence and wrestling in particular.

Jericho and Wyatt had their weekly chat and Bray sent the Family out to attack him. Thankfully Jericho ran away before it got too bad. The interesting thing in this feud is that Bray can win every match and Jericho isn’t going to be diminished all that much. The question is where does Bray go after that.

AJ and Eva Marie had a watchable match where Marie wound up tapping. The girl is just there for how she looks in tight outfits but she’s not the worst in the world. Paige and AJ’s odd friendship continues, at least until Battleground.

Bo Dallas remained undefeated against Great Khali. He’s at the point where he needs to win something important soon, and the battle royal might be that something.

Paul Heyman offered a Plan C to the Authority. If it wasn’t obvious that Lesnar was coming back soon, I don’t think they could make it any more clear. There’s nothing wrong with that either and it’s going to be awesome.

Ric Flair returned and seemed to be at least a little bit buzzed. He hit on Renee Young (at least his vision still works) and picked John Cena for the fourway at Battleground. The interesting part was Cena handing Flair the World Heavyweight Championship on his way to the ring. This seems like it may be the last we see of that belt. It was obvious they were going to the new WWE Championship only at one point and handing it to Ric Flair in Virginia is as easy a way as any to get rid of the thing. I’m sure it’ll appear again someday.

The handicap main event was exactly what you would expect it to be. There really isn’t much to say about these things as they’re almost always the same.

Reigns stood tall to end the show. Seth Rollins seemed to injure his knee at the end of the show but it was fake. I bought it though so he did a good job.

Overall this was a solid go home show as I believe every match on Sunday’s show got some build. That’s exactly what you want out of a show like this and I want to see Battleground now more than I did. Nothing on the show was all that great, but I can accept a show that is mostly good for three hours.

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