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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We’re past Battleground and officially heading towards Summerslam. The show is in less than four weeks and the main event, while pretty obvious, has the potential to be awesome. Tonight we’re likely finding out what HHH’s Plan C is and who will be challenging Cena at Summerslam. Other than that Flo Rida is performing tonight for reasons that aren’t exactly clear. Let’s get to it.

Here’s HHH to open things up. He talks about how no one wants to look him in the eye because they think he’ll blow a gasket over the Authority losing last night. HHH goes off, saying he hasn’t been this mad in a long time but he has options. He says he’s going to Tweet about how upset he is. He’s so mad he might even send an Instagram or a VINE. If he doesn’t get what he wants, hes’ going to riot. And if THAT doesn’t work, he and his friend Mark are going to stop watching. Or another option is to fire everyone backstage.

HHH calms down and says he could lay back because he has options. He even guarantees that Cena won’t leave Summerslam as WWE Champion. The only question is who gets to take it from him. This brings out Randy Orton who wants a one on one match with Cena. HHH says Orton is the frontrunner, but the entire roster is going to get a chance to impress him. Randy blames Kane and here’s the monster himself. Kane says he can beat Cena if he doesn’t have to babysit Randy Orton.

Cue Roman Reigns who says no one wants to see Cena vs. Kane, and for sure no one wants to see Cena vs. Orton AGAIN. It sounds to him like everyone wants to see Roman Reigns vs. John Cena. Reigns gets in and lays out Kane with a Superman Punch but Orton bails to the floor. HHH makes Kane/Orton vs. Roman Reigns right now.

Roman Reigns vs. Randy Orton/Kane

Randy starts for his team and gets popped in the jaw with a right hand. Kane comes in and walks into a Samoan drop so it’s back to Randy. Reigns finally gets slowed down with a knee to the ribs and the heels start making fast tags. Roman quickly fights out of a nerve hold and raises a boot to stop a charging Kane. The monster gets sent to the floor and we take a break.

Back with Reigns fighting out of a chinlock but getting stomped down to the mat. Kane comes in again with an elbow to the jaw for two and it’s back to Orton for another chinlock. Reigns fights up again with another Samoan drop before knocking Kane into the ropes for the running boot. Kane clotheslines Reigns down but Orton won’t tag in. Orton gets grabbed by the throat but Reigns uses the distraction to hit the Superman Punch and the spear for the pin on Kane at 12:18.

Rating: C-. This wasn’t the worst match in the world but a handicap match where the ending is pretty obvious doesn’t help much. Reigns getting the win is a good thing for his career, though I’m thinking he needs to swap his finishers or just use the Superman Punch. The spear is good for a middle of the match move but it doesn’t work as well as a finisher.

Orton teases getting in the ring but backs down from Reigns.

Stephanie gives Alicia Fox/Eva Marie/Cameron/Rosa Mendes a pep talk before their four on one handicap match against Nikki Bella.

Alicia Fox/Cameron/Rosa Mendes/Eva Marie vs. Nikki Bella

Brie is in the front row so here’s Stephanie to say everything that is happening to Nikki because Brie is a quitter. Brie calls Stephanie a very mean name and holds up her ticket. They yell at each other some more and Stephanie slaps Brie again before Brie gets dragged out. The bell rings and Nikki is of course destroyed. Alicia calls off the dogs before pinning Nikki in 32 seconds.

Stephanie says Nikki is going to quit soon.

Damien Sandow vs. Bo Dallas

This week Sandow is in a Miami Heat jersey with the word Miami crossed off and Cleveland written below it. Damien starts fast but Bo fights back wit a backdrop and clothesline to send Sandow outside. Back in and Bo hammers away with right hands. Bo is wrestling more like a face this week. Sandow knees him in the ribs and nails a suplex before putting on a chinlock. The Wind-Up Elbow misses and a Bodog keeps Bo undefeated at 2:30.

Back from a break with the Highlight Reel but Bray and the Family have laid out Jericho in the locker room. Bray shows us a clip of the attack and him telling Jericho that sooner or later, they all fall down. In the arena, Bray says Jericho isn’t here but Bray Wyatt is. The fans may think that Chris Jericho is a better man than he is, but a loss in a battle means nothing to him.

The war is all that counts and he was the man that created war. It hasn’t been long since the Wyatts brought heroes to their knees. You cannot measure him like a normal man because society does not make him and he lives a hundred years a day. Abigail told him to never chase vengeance or he would have to dig two graves: one for his enemy and one for himself.

Jericho is in the back and bleeding from the ear.

The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler

Non-title. Miz runs to the floor to start and Ziggler finally chases after him, only to fail at sending Miz into the steps. Back in and Miz stomps away but Ziggler takes him down and drops nine straight elbows. Miz trips Dolph up and puts on a chinlock before Miz catapults him over the top. Ziggler skins the cat and pulls Miz to the apron with him, only to be sent into the post as we take a break.

Back with Ziggler grabbing his arms but still not being able to nail a right hand to the face. Miz stomps on him even more and we hit the chinlock. Ziggler fights up and sends him into the buckle, followed by clotheslines and a neckbreaker. The Fameasser is countered into a rollup for two and a Side Effect gets the same for Miz.

Ziggler kicks him in the jaw and grabs a running DDT for two more. Miz’s short DDT gets two and it’s time to go after the leg. The Figure Four goes on but Ziggler finally dives for the ropes. Back up and a Fameasser gets another near fall on Miz but Ziggler can’t hit the Fameasser. Miz loads up the Skull Crushing Finale, only to get rolled through into the Zig Zag for the pin at 13:35.

Rating: C+. Now didn’t we all see this coming? I mean, I know the joke is that the Intercontinental Title is a death sentence, and now it’s looking more and more truthful every time the champion fights. Ziggler will lose the title match and then people will see Miz about the same as they do now. In other words, everyone loses.

HHH is telling Seth Rollins that there’s no reason for him to face John Cena at Summerslam because he’s got a title shot whenever he wants it. Rollins says there’s no way this can happen because Dean Ambrose keeps interfering. Cesaro comes in and says he’s no longer a Heyman Guy. Instead he’d rather be HHH’s guy. Rollins says HHH already has a guy, but Cesaro says he’d be a great choice to face Cena at Summerslam. HHH says it would be very impressive if Cesaro could beat Dean Ambrose tonight.

Emma/Natalya vs. AJ Lee/Paige

Emma trips AJ down to start and they trade rollups for two each. Paige comes in and walks into the Emma Lock before it’s off to Natalya for two off a rollup. Natalya puts on the Sharpshooter but Paige crawls over for the tag to AJ. A Shining Wizard and the Black Widow make Natalya tap at 2:25.

Post match Paige turns full heel and destroys AJ, including throwing her over the announcers’ table. Paige skips away.

Fandango vs. Zack Ryder

Ryder comes out with Summer Rae and Layla this time. Ryder hammers away to start but Fandango nails him with a dropkick. Fandango takes him down but gets caught in a faceplant. Ryder’s middle rope dropkick misses but Fandango doesn’t follow up. Ryder comes back with a Rough Ryder for the pin at 1:47. Layla shoved Fandango’s foot off the rope to give Ryder the win.

We recap Brie and Stephanie from earlier.

Flo Rida thinks he might get the title shot against John Cena. Heath Slater comes up and wants revenge from Flo Rida attacking him at Wrestlemania XXVIII. Slater shoves him and is shoved down to the ground.

Flo Rida performs. Stephanie was in the ring to introduce him and is arrested after the performance for attacking Brie earlier. Brie pops up and yells at her before being dragged off again. Stephanie is taken to the back and HHH tries to calm her down as Stephanie is put in the police car. HHH: “Is this a hybrid?” He promises to have her out of jail in five minutes.

Back from a break and HHH is about to leave but a guy (maybe Joey Mercury) says HHH has to decide on Cena’s opponent. HHH says family is more important but realizes that it’s going to take awhile to process Stephanie. He keeps the car on standby.

Ryback/Curtis Axel vs. Kofi Kingston/Big E.

Ryback and Big E. get things going with Ryback hammering away against the ropes. Big E. runs him over but walks into a spinebuster and gets double teamed in the corner. A side slam gets two for Ryback and he throws Big E. down with a belly to belly. The Meat Hook is countered by a clothesline from Big E. and he makes the hot tag to Kofi. Kingston speeds things up and gets two off the SOS as everything breaks down. Ryback rolls through a high cross body and pins Kofi at 3:25.

Rating: C-. This was mostly Big E. vs. Ryback foa few minutes before the ending came out of nowhere. Big E.’s collapse continues and it’s really kind of sad to see. Kingston only got to jump a few times and it wasn’t much to see. At least they’re building up another team to fight the Usos.

Big E. and Kofi are upset post match but Xavier Woods, now in glasses and a white suit, comes in and says they’re not getting anywhere by shaking hands and kissing babies. Instead of asking, now they’re going to be taking. Kofi and Big E. seem to agree. That was a very heelish promo from Woods.

We look back at the Wyatts attacking Jericho earlier.

Rusev vs. Great Khali

Rusev is still selling the ankle lock from last night. The big chop stuns Rusev and a big boot stops his charge. More chops in the corner have Rusev breathing deep but he nails Khali in the throat. The big chop puts Rusev down but he pops up and kicks Khali in the shoulder. A running superkick to the face sets up the Accolade for the submission at 2:27.

Clip of Sheamus on Royal Pains this week.

Stardust and Goldust talk about the Cosmic Key some more. It’s calling them.

We recap Brie and Stephanie again. Renee Young reports that Stephanie is going to be arraigned tonight and may be charged with resisting arrest.

Dean Ambrose vs. Cesaro

Ambrose hammers away to start and takes Cesaro to the floor to keep up the beating. Back in and Cesaro kicks him in the face before sending Ambrose shoulder first into the post. HHH is on the phone in the back while Orton and Rollins watch on. Cesaro cranks on the arm and the match slows down a lot. Back up and Cesaro nails him with a right hand, only to be sent to the floor. Ambrose tries a dive but lands on an uppercut as we take a break.

Back with Cesaro still on the arm before getting two off a German suplex. Cesaro’s superplex is countered and Ambrose nails a missile dropkick followed by a cross body. Ambrose suplex is countered but he sends Cesaro into the corner to escape a cross face chicken wing.

Cesaro heads outside but gets wiped out with a suicide dive. Back in and the rebound clothesline gets two on Cesaro but he comes back with a clothesline of his own. Dean gets a boot up in the corner but goes up and gets crotched into the Tree of Woe. Cesaro charges into the post twice in a row and Ambrose throws him in a third time. With the insanity setting in, Dean grabs a chair and blasts Cesaro in the arm for the DQ at 12:32.

Rating: C. The match was fun and the ending was the right call. Cesaro seems ready for a push and the split from Heyman is the right way to go about it, but a loss would hurt him right out of the gate. Ambrose going crazy and wanting to hurt Cesaro rather than pin him fits the character well. Everyone comes out in a good place here.

Renee asks HHH if he should be with his wife right now and gets glared at.

HHH is in the ring and brings out Orton as the challenger, but Reigns intercepts Orton on the way to the ring and brawls with him into the crowd. This brings out Paul Heyman who says HHH needs to consider Plan C. Cue Lesnar and HHH isn’t sure what to do. Brock stares him down and HHH shakes his hand. The boss leaves and Heyman gets to do his greasy promo about how Lesnar conquered the Streak. Now it’s time for Lesnar to conquer John Cena and take the WWE Championship at Summerslam.

Heyman says it doesn’t matter if you chant LET’S GO CENA or CENA SUCKS because Brock Lesnar is going to destroy Cena one way or another. We get a clip from Wrestlemania where the Streak was conquered and Paul talks about how that same beating is awaiting John Cena. Lesnar is going to punch, hurt, injure and F5 John Cena before taking the WWE Championship from him. He pledges loyalty to Brock Lesnar and promises Brock will take the title from Cena at Summerslam.

Overall Rating: C. This show tried to start up some new stuff, but at the same time it had a lot of moments that felt really slow. It’s the first stop on the road to Summerslam so there’s a lot to go in the coming weeks, but this was only a decent start. To be fair though, the ending was as obvious as it could possibly have been so it’s hard to complain much about it not being awesome.

Results
Roman Reigns b. Kane/Randy Orton – Spear to Reigns
Alicia Fox/Cameron/Rosa Mendes/Eva Marie b. Nikki Bella – Fox pinned Nikki after all four attacked her
Bo Dallas b. Damien Sandow – Bodog
Dolph Ziggler b. The Miz – Zig Zag
AJ Lee/Paige b. Natalya/Emma – Black Widow to Natalya
Zack Ryder b. Fandango – Rough Ryder
Curtis Axel/Ryback b. Big E./Kofi Kingston – Ryback rolled through a high cross body
Rusev b. Great Khali – Accolade
Cesaro b. Dean Ambrose via DQ when Ambrose used a chair

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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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It’s the final show before Battleground and we’re coming off a pretty decent Raw. The main stories tonight will be about the build towards Sunday and will likely focus on Ambrose vs. Rollins which was added with about twenty minutes to go before the end of Monday’s show. Granted the match is pretty much already set up. Let’s get to it.

Opening video.

Here’s Dean Ambrose to get things going. For the last two years, he’s heard about how smart Seth Rollins is. On Monday, Rollins knew he couldn’t beat Ambrose by himself so he had his buddies do his work for him. That attack on Monday isn’t going to keep him away, so is that all Rollins and the Authority have?

Ambrose wants Rollins right now but he only gets Seth on screen. Rollins talks about how insane Ambrose must be for wanting another beating. He’d love to come out there and curb stomp Ambrose again, but his knee isn’t medically cleared. Ambrose says the daddy line again but Rollins has already talked to HHH. The boss has made Ambrose vs. Kane for later tonight.

Fandango/The Miz vs. Sheamus/Dolph Ziggler

This is fallout from Miz and Sheamus trading wins on Raw and Main Event and Fandango’s women leaving him for Fandango. We start with the Battle of Cleveland and Dolph runs Miz over with a shoulder. Miz counters a dropkick and tries the Figure Four but Ziggler kicks him away. The threat of a right hand to the face sends Miz over to Fandango for a tag and it’s off to Sheamus as well. Sheamus pounds away before cranking on an armbar. Fandango gets sent to the floor and Miz follows him rather than getting punched or superkicked.

We take a break and come back with Fandango snapping Sheamus’ neck over the top rope but stopping to dance on the apron. Miz breaks up the forearms to the chest before coming in and stomping away in the corner. A boot to Sheamus’ face gets two and we hit the chinlock. Miz’s short DDT gets two and a dropkick from Fandango gets the same.

Fandango stops to dance though and gets caught with White Noise. The hot tag brings in Ziggler who cleans house and gets two on Miz with what looked like a Rough Ryder. Dolph gets the same off a running DDT and there’s a Brogue Kick to Fandango. The Zig Zag gets the pin on Miz at 10:34.

Rating: C. This was fine. A little by the numbers and not straying from the tag team formula whatsoever but still fine. I love that they’re actually building up to the battle royal on Sunday and forming some side feuds as a result. It’s almost like they’re paying attention to the midcard or something. That can’t be right though, can it?

Network plug.

Alicia Fox vs. Eva Marie

Nikki Bella is referee. After about a minute of Nikki breaking up everything the girls do, Eva gets in an argument with her, only to have both girls beat Nikki up for the no contest at about 1:30. Eva and Alicia pat each other on the back. I guess Fox isn’t crazy anymore.

Stardust talks about living in a parallel universe but needing a key to the cosmic door. Goldust says knock knock and says he’s right here. They’re heading into a dimension of sound, sight and bizarre (takeoff of the intro to Twilight Zone). Stardust blows dust at him and Goldust yells STOP IT.

Chris Jericho vs. Luke Harper

Before the match, Bray talks about Jericho lying about saving us all. Jericho should worry about saving himself from what’s coming on Sunday. Cole calls this a riddle because Cole doesn’t understand basic English. Harper shoves Jericho into the ropes to start but gets nailed by a running elbow. Luke comes back with pure power and knocks Jericho down in the corner. Jericho pops back up and knocks Harper off the apron as we take a break.

Back with Harper holding a chinlock but Jericho quickly escapes and hammers away in the corner. Harper’s shirt has been ripped open as he goes after Jericho’s arm to take over again. A small package gets two for the Canadian but Harper lays him out with a right hand for two of his own. They head outside and Bray is seen whispering something to Rowan. Back in and we get the Gator Roll before Harper puts on a chinlock. Jericho quickly fights back and runs to the top for an ax handle.

The Walls are countered but an enziguri drops Luke for two. Back up and a Michinoku Driver gets Luke another two. Jericho runs back to the top for a high cross body, only to get caught in an awesome sitout powerbomb for two. Harper misses a charge in the corner and the Lionsault gets two. The Walls go on and Jericho knocks Rowan to the floor, setting up a rollup for the pin on Harper at 9:43 shown of 12:13.

Rating: B-. This was better than I was expecting, even though Harper matches are becoming a treat. The idea of him being really athletic but needing Bray to focus him works very well and he was shining in there with a talented guy like Jericho. This again shows the benefits of lackeys: Jericho gets a win and Bray gets frustrated but Bray doesn’t take a loss.

Rowan attacks post match but the Usos run in for the save.

Here’s are Swagger and Colter with something to say. Swagger has a new shirt which is shows a hand going over the chest. Colter talks about how tired they are of hearing about how amazing Mother Russia is. While he’s a big critic of the US government, he’s an American with the right to free speech. He leads WE THE PEOPLE but gets interrupted by Rusev and a certain leggy blonde. Rusev starts a Russia chant and it turns into a battle of waving flags.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston

We get inset interviews from both guys where they talk about wanting the Intercontinental Title. They’re nothing special but I like those things as they can help us connect to the wrestlers a little bit. Del Rio hits a quick enziguri to knock Kofi to the floor before putting on a chinlock. Some forearms to the head put Kofi down but he quickly sends Del Rio to the floor for a suicide dive.

Back in and Kofi speeds things up with dropkicks and a clothesline. A quick chase on the floor allows Del Rio to kick him in the face but the armbreaker is countered into the SOS for two. Del Rio knocks Kofi off the top rope, tying Kofi’s legs in the rope as a result. A top double stomp to the chest is enough for the pin at 4:45.

Rating: C. This was the typically decent match between these two even though it was pretty short. Kofi will get to do his fun spot on Sunday and then get eliminated after giving some fans false hope of a win. They’re doing a good job of making the title look important with Sunday’s match. I don’t expect it to last but the match should be fun. Del Rio has no chance to win of course.

Fandango offers to take both Layla and Summer once he wins the title on Sunday. Summer shows why she scripted promos are bad as she says “little did we know you were two timing both of us.” I’ve heard her on some of the documentaries and she sounds like far more intelligent than that line gives her credit for. They call him a flamenco dancer and flip their hair at him as they leave. Bo Dallas comes up for a pep talk and praises Fandango’s pants.

AJ Lee/Paige vs. Summer Rae/Layla

Summer dances at AJ to start but stops to do the splits, allowing AJ to kick her in the back of the head. It’s off to the two British girls with Layla kicking Paige in the face for two. A choke on the ropes from Layla sets up a running flip splash from Summer for two. Paige kicks both girls down but AJ tags herself in and the Black Widow makes Summer tap at 2:20.

AJ and Paige hug it out post match.

We recap the Usos saving Jerico before going to the Usos drinking frozen drinks from Sonic. Hornswoggle comes in and drinks both of them at once, getting a brain freeze. Another commercial.

Video on the fourway on Sunday.

Rollins is in the back when Kane comes in. Seth tries to get the monster and Orton on the same page after the RKO to Kane on Monday, but tonight is about getting rid of Dean Ambrose. Kane hopes Orton is watching tonight because Ambrose is going to be a preview of what Kane does to Orton. The monster also warns Rollins not to try cashing in on Sunday.

Dean Ambrose vs. Kane

Dean jumps Kane as the fire comes from the post and we get the opening bell. Kane shoves him away and knocks Dean out of the air with an uppercut. A much louder uppercut has Ambrose in trouble and Kane goes after the bad shoulder. Off to a kind of short arm scissors but Dean punches him in the head to escape.

Kane runs into two boots to the jaw and a tornado DDT from Dean puts both guys down. A pair of dropkicks drop Kane again and Ambrose sends him to the floor for a suicide dive. Ambrose’s injured shoulder flares up again though and Kane sends him into the steps to make it even worse. Kane can’t hit the tombstone on the floor but Rollins comes out for the DQ at 5:15.

Rating: C-. This was angle advancement disguised as a match. Rollins’ knee appears to be fine which is good news coming out of Monday. Watching Dean go nuts on Sunday is going to be very fun and I’m sure they’re going to get another match out of it. Kane is there to give Cena someone to pin on Sunday and that’s just fine.

Kane chokeslams Dean and throws in the steps. Rollins hits a curb stomp to send Dean head first into the steps to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This was one of the better Smackdowns in a few weeks as everything that got some time was either decent or good and the short matches weren’t long enough to be that bad. We got a nice refresher on Ambrose vs. Rollins and Battleground is looking better. Tonight focused on the stuff besides the main event and that’s what we were needing. Good show this week.

Results
Sheamus/Dolph Ziggler b. The Miz/Fandango – Zig Zag to Miz
Alicia Fox vs. Eva Marie went to a no contest when both girls attacked Nikki Bella
Chris Jericho b. Luke Harper – Rollup
Alberto Del Rio b. Kofi Kingston – Top rope double stomp
AJ Lee/Paige b. Summer Rae/Layla – Black Widow to Summer Rae
Dean Ambrose b. Kane via DQ when Seth Rollins interfered

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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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We’re at the go home show for Battleground, and things are getting interesting around here. The big story continues to be the rise of Roman Reigns, even though it seems highly unlikely that he gets the belt on Sunday. Other than that the Authority is back tonight and likely not happy as is their custom. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Cena to get things going. The Champ is here and if you haven’t done so yet, go sign up for the WWE Network because the preview ends tonight at midnight. You should order now because next week, the Champ may not be here. Cena talks about the fatal fourway on Sunday and says he doesn’t have to get pinned to lose the title. This brings out Reigns to a very solid reception.

Cena thanks Reigns for what happened last week and thinks that they should join forces to take out the Authority tonight and then find out who the best man is on Sunday. Ambrose pops up on screen and says they need to be on the same page. Dean has a plan tonight and it’s called Operation Screw The Authority. Kane, Rollins and Orton beat him down but Dean of course keeps fighting. They destroy Dean but he asks if that’s all they’ve got. This only earns him a worse beating and we got to a break.

Sheamus vs. The Miz

Non-title. Sheamus says he won’t hit Miz in the face, but he’ll kick it off his shoulders. Before the match, Miz talks about winning the Intercontinental Title on Sunday and gives us a present: his face on the screen throughout the match. Sheamus runs him over to start before dropping Miz with an elbow to the jaw. They head outside with Miz whipping Sheamus into the barricade before a top rope ax handle gets two back inside. Sheamus nails the rolling fireman’s carry and we take a break.

Back with Miz putting Miz in a chinlock as we cut away to a graphic showing twenty two participants in the battle royal on Sunday. Sheamus fights up and hits his running ax handles but misses the knee lift. Instead he hits fifteen forearms to the chest followed by a powerslam for two. Sheamus goes up top but gets taken down by the leg, allowing Miz to hit a short DDT for two. The Skull Crushing Finale is countered but Miz avoids the Brogue Kick, allowing him to grab a rollup for the completely clean pin in a shocking upset at 10:50.

Rating: C-. Well the ending surprised me and I still maintain that Miz isn’t as bad as people think he is. I would prefer the champions to not get beaten clean in the middle of the ringA but at least it’s to another former World Champion and not to some no name. Sheamus losing isn’t going to kill him though.

Orton and Kane bicker about who wins the title on Sunday but HHH comes in and tells them to drop it because they’re partners tonight. They leave and Stephanie comes in and seems turned on by HHH’s authority.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Fandango

Ziggler leapfrogs Fandango to start as Cole recaps the love triangle between Layla, Summer Rae and Fandango. The dancer whips Ziggler into the corner and takes over with an early chinlock. Back up and Ziggler hammers away but misses an elbow drop to put both guys down. It’s Fandango up first but here are the girls on the table for a distraction. Fandango of course can’t focus on a match while someone is twenty feet from him, allowing Dolph to dropkick him down. A Fameasser gets Dolph the pin at 2:58.

The girls dance with Ziggler post match.

Sonic seems to be a sponsor and we have a waitress delivering food in the back. Damien Sandow comes up in a Sonic uniform on skates (as is the case for Sonic employees). He’s about to have something to eat when Adam Rose and the Rosebuds come up and get in an argument over a hot dog. Sandow of course rolls off and crashes into something. Rose eats the foot and one of the Rosebuds steals something. Harmless commercial.

The Usos come out for a match but the Wyatts jump them from behind and leave the champions laying.

It’s time for a detente between Zeb Colter and Lana. Cole is hosting and talks about how this is designed to ease some of the tension. Lana tries to talk but gets cut off by a USA chant. She finally gets something out but it’s all in Russian. Lana compares Colter to the USA, saying they both see violence as the answer. America wants to save the world but they can’t even save themselves.

The crowd hating her gets on Lana’s nerves and she tells everyone to shut up. We get a history lesson about how the Americans won freedom and then fought each other like savages. Russia however, has always loved peace. Colter talks about being in a jungle in Vietnam and vowing to defend this country against all enemies, foreign and domestic. He calls Rusev Bullwinkle and talks about how arrogant Lana is being.

Lana praises Putin but Colter calls him ugly. We get a shot of Obama with Colter talking about how he’s elected every four to eight years, drawing a rather solid reaction for the President. Colter wants to talk to Rusev instead of Lana, asking Rusev if the challenge has been accepted for Battleground. Rusev says it’s war.

The Russians leave and Colter does a WE THE PEOPLE, making Lana very angry. She slaps Zeb but the guys go at it instead. Swagger easily takes Rusev down but Lana pulls him off. Rusev sends him into a podium and nails a corner splash but the jumping superkick is countered into the Patriot Lock. Rusev finally gets to the floor and the fans are WAY into this. Swagger hasn’t looked this good in years.

We look at Ambrose getting beaten down. Dean has been taken to a hospital and his return is unlikely.

Reigns is getting ready when Cena comes in. Cena tells him to get up, so Reigns says they take out all three of their opponents (Kane, Orton and Rollins) tonight.

Flo Rida performs next week.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Rob Van Dam

Del Rio starts fast by sending RVD to the floor and tying him up in the ring skirt. Back in and Del Rio goes after the spine before putting on a chinlock with his knee planted between Rob’s shoulders. Van Dam fights up and hits some clotheslines followed by a quick hurricanrana. A superkick drops Del Rio and Rolling Thunder gets two. Del Rio gets kicked down but gets his knees up to block the Five Star. The armbreaker goes on and Rob immediately taps at 4:33.

Rating: C-. Not bad here and I can’t begin to tell you how glad I am that Del Rio is in the midcard. The guy is talented in the ring but he needs a lot more than what he has to be in the World Title hunt. The match didn’t have time to do much, but Van Dam needs to win something, even a small match, to keep up his credibility.

Ad for the CM Punk documentary airing tomorrow night on the Network.

Nikki Bella comes out for her match but Stephanie interrupts her. She talks about Brie not being here for the tag match so Nikki has to go it alone again. Stephanie says Nikki should blame Brie for being selfish.

Cameron/Alicia Fox vs. Nikki Bella

Alicia gets things going for her team but is quickly rolled up for two. Cameron gets the tag and is a little more serious tonight. She slams Nikki down and Cameron vs. Naomi is announced for the pre-show on Sunday. Nikki knocks Alicia off the apron and hits an Alabama SLam on Cameron with Fox making the save. Alicia hammers on Nikki but gets elbowed in the jaw. Cameron offers a distraction and Nikki gets slammed off the middle rope. Fox hits something like a Fameasser for the pin at 3:34.

Rating: D+. We get the idea and now it’s just waiting until Brie returns for the showdown that almost no one is going to care about. However, I have a bad feeling we might have to see the Bellas fight at some point. Or even worse, talk to each other. Thank goodness the Funkadactyls are going to fight on the pre-show instead of the full version.

Cole tells us about a special character in WWE 2K15. 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.

HHH tells Randy Orton to calm down.

Goldust and Stardust talk about the Yellow Brick Road and going to the place where all that glitters isn’t gold.

Cesaro vs. Big E.

Kofi is with Big E. but there’s no Heyman with Cesaro here and the announcers say he’s been fired. Big E. runs him over to start and they head outside, only to have Big E. get sent into the barricade. Back in and Cesaro escapes a gorilla press and nails a hard clothesline for two. A butterfly suplex drops Big E. but he fights out of a chinlock and hits some belly to belly suplexes of his own. The Warrior Splash connects and he takes down the straps but Cesaro goes outside. He throws a chair at Kofi and brings another into the ring, only to have Kofi take it away. The Big Ending gets the pin at 4:23.

Rating: D+. This felt more like an angle than a match with Cesaro being lost without Heyman there to show him what to do. These guys are all in the battle royal again, as that match continues to be the focus of the show. It’s not likely to last but it’s a nice change of pace for once.

We look back at the Wyatts beating up Jericho two weeks ago.

Here’s Jericho to talk about having been in the WWE for a long time. He lists off a lot of people and things he’s seen with a long series of comedy and serious characters. He’s done a lot of things including getting in a fight with Bob Barker (“I’ll still fight you anytime, anywhere”) and beating Austin and Rock in the same night. Yeah he’s seen it all, but then there’s Bray Wyatt.

Bray is unlike anything he’s ever seen before because Bray is crazy. Jericho can get crazy too though, and if that’s what Bray wants to do, he can do it at Battleground. The fans want to get crazy but here’s Bray on screen to respond. Bray talks about frail little minds getting struck by the hands of life and making them different. He wants to know where Chris was when we needed him. Chris was going to save us but we remember it all. Bray has done a lot of bad things and gone to war with powerful men but on his journies he’s noticed a constant: no matter how tough they are or what they’ve been through: they all scream.

We go back to the arena but Bray is still on the screen laughing. He blows out the lantersn and the lights in the arena go out. Something happens and the Family is in the ring around Jericho. Chris is cornered but goes after Harper, only to get double teamed. He ducks under a big boot and wisely runs to fight another day. Bray pops up behind him and lays Jericho out with Sister Abigail on the ramp.

We look at the opening segment again.

AJ Lee vs. Eva Marie

Paige is on commentary and this is non-title. AJ nails a spinwheel kick as Paige declares them frenemies. They head outside with Eva kicking her into the apron to take over. Back in and Eva cranks on the arms. That goes nowhere as AJ comes back with the Black Widow for the win at 2:28.

Post match AJ sits on the announcers’ desk in front of Paige and they compliment hair. And that’s that.

Kane comes in to yell at the Authority about not liking Randy Orton. HHH says it doesn’t matter who gets the title as long as it’s part of the Authority.

Bo Dallas is in the ring and talks about beating El Torito, the biggest little man in the WWE. He may be small, but he has a huge heart. Bo hopes his opponent tonight has as big a heart.

Great Khali vs. Bo Dallas

JBL: “Bo’s streak is like Lou Gehrig’s or Cal Ripken Jr.’s!” Cole: “But all of those ended.” JBL: “…..ok.” Khali chops away in the corner but no sells all of Dallas’. Bo gets sent out to the floor but actually hits a Bodog off the apron for the countout win at 1:48.

Post match Bo gives Khali a pep talk and gets chopped down with ease. Bo: “OW!”

Preview for the Best of Nitro, airing after Raw goes off the air.

The Authority tells Rollins they have a Plan B. Seth leaves and Heyman comes in, saying he’s been picking his spots and making his moves. He hopes their Plan B works, but if they need a can’t miss plan, he’s the man to talk to. The Authority isn’t sure what to think of what he says.

Here’s Ric Flair for a big guest spot. His suit looks great if nothing else. Flair immediately hits on Renee who looks to be having a great time and says Virginia is for lovers (state motto). After he getting done wooing, Renee asks him for his pick in the fourway at Battleground. Flair says there’s only one man that can strike like a viper and one man that can walk through hellfire and brimstone, but John Cena is walking out with the title. This brings out Reigns to shake Ric’s hand. Flair leaves and that’s it for him.

John Cena/Roman Reigns. vs. Randy Orton/Kane/Seth Rollins

Cena hands Flair the World Heavyweight Championship as they meet on the stage. During the entrances, Rollins vs. Ambrose is set for Sunday. Rollins and Cena get things going but it’s quickly off to Orton before much happens. A back elbow puts Randy down and it’s off to Kane. Cena is ready to go but Reigns tags himself in. The monsters go at it with Reigns getting the better of it but he stops to nail Rollins. The Authority takes over and we go to our last break.

Back with Reigns fighting out of a chinlock and nailing a running clothesline. Cena gets the hot tag and cleans house but a Kane distraction lets Rollins get in a shot to take over. Orton comes back in with the backbreaker before it’s back to Kane. Cena’s attempt at an AA literally falls flat with Kane crashing down onto his head. Rollins puts on a sleeper but Cena powers out of it and makes the tag to Roman. Reigns cleans house and sends Rollins to the floor where he comes up clutching his knee. Kane and Orton double team Reigns and it’s a DQ at 14:28.

Rating: C-. Just your basic main event match here but that knee issue with Rollins is a scary scene. Hopefully it’s either a story or he’s not too badly hurt. It would be a huge blow if he was seriously injured. The match was nothing great but it worked well enough to get the job done.

Orton and Kane beat up Cena but Kane accidentally knocks Randy to the floor. Reigns gets back up but spears Cena by mistake. Kane kicks Roman in the face and Randy lays Kane out with an RKO, only to get speared down to end the show. The camera never looked at Rollins after he went down.

Overall Rating: C+. This show had three stories to it. In a distant third was the Jericho vs. Bray match, which should be good as Bray can get a win on pay per view and look much more like a monster. The other major stories were a combination of the fourway/Rollins vs. Ambrose and the Intercontinental Title. The battle royal had four or five matches dedicated to it tonight and was made to look like a really big deal. It was a nice change of pace and I really hope the title gets more attention going forward. Overall I’m more excited for Battleground than I was coming into tonight and that’s a good thing.

Results
The Miz b. Sheamus – Rollup
Dolph Ziggler b. Fandango – Fameasser
Alberto Del Rio b. Rob Van Dam – Cross armbreaker
Big E. b. Cesaro – Big Ending
Paige b. Eva Marie – Black Widow
Bo Dallas b. Great Khali via countout
John Cena/Roman Reigns b. Seth Rollins/Kane/Randy Orton via DQ when Kane and Orton double teamed Cena

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The opening segment saw Roman Reigns coming out to talk about how the Authority isn’t here tonight. This moved into a showdown with Kane, setting up a match for later in the night. Many agents were tossed aside during the melee which is always cool to see. The most interesting part though was Reigns stopping for the CENA SUCKS chant before saying that the chant is absolutely right when he’s in the building. Reigns is fitting into this role perfectly and it’s a good sign.

The Wyatts beat the Usos in another awesome match. There really isn’t much to say about this series other than the 2/3 falls match at Battleground should be just as good.

The announcers spent most of the show hyping up the free preview week of the WWE Network. Yeah I’ve been a subscriber since day one, but I have zero problem with this. The more people buy it, the longer it’s around and that’s a good thing.

Orton, Kane and Rollins all said they hate each other. There’s some very nice characterization going on here as the Authority is gone and their minions are all fighting with each other, but they act all nice when the bosses are around. Nice touch.

Alicia Fox beat up Nikki Bella in a non-match as per the Authority’s rules. Nothing much here, though Nikki’s surgery is probably the best investment she ever made.

Rusev crushed Rob Van Dam for his biggest win yet. I know I like Van Dam jobbing, but he needs a win or two so that beating him still means something.

Ambrose and Orton had a very good match where Orton won clean with the RKO. The more I think about this the less I like it. This is a match that shouldn’t have happened. You can’t job Orton as he goes into a title shot but you shouldn’t job Ambrose as he’s white hot right now. Ambrose looked like he was on equal footing with Randy, but he’s at the point now where he should be beating main eventers, not just hanging with them.

Cena and Reigns had a staredown in the back. You can feel the money when they finally have their match.

Alberto Del Rio beat Dolph Ziggler because Ziggler is a face in the WWE, meaning he can’t handle a man dancing fifteen feet away from him. I’m really sick of that ending.

Stardust and Goldust had another great out there promo with Goldust getting in the awesome line of “Where we’re going, we don’t need Rhodes.”

After a break, Layla hugged Fandango and said she couldn’t handle it if he still had feelings for Summer. He assured her he didn’t but then saw Summer (looking GORGEOUS) who gave him a look that said she knows he wants her. I never thought I’d say this, but being Fandango doesn’t sound half bad.

Jerry Lawler brought out Bret Hart for an appearance in Montreal. Bret seemed happy to be there and even got to punch out Damien Sandow. This was a special for the live fans and there’s nothing wrong with that at all.

Sheamus beat up Sandow in a short match.

Renee Young interviewed Batista, who read a fan letter from Johnny Russo who is worried about what would happen if Batista’s face got hurt. Funny stuff and Batista is feeling the character.

The listings for what’s on the free week of the Network makes me want to go buy it again.

Jericho beat Batista clean with a Codebreaker. Post match Bray Wyatt came out and taunted him, so Jericho told Bray to shut the heck up as is his custom. Jericho went after him but Bray just had the Family appear next to him. I read this somewhere else but Cena has been the only person to figure out how to fight Bray Wyatt: bring back up.

By the way, yes I know Miz allegedly did all those things, but it’s all a big jab at Batista because WWE is really petty and doesn’t get why Batista would leave WWE for three months to promote his major role in one of the biggest movie series of all time. You would think they would market the heck out of that but instead, let’s have Miz be a stand-in for Batista and mock him.

Paige continued her over the top praise of AJ as her slow burn heel turn continues. They beat the Funkadactyls and the losers argued after. I still have no idea why I’m supposed to be interested in Cameron.

Kofi Kingston beat Cesaro again as what should be a Superman push continues to go absolutely nowhere. Cesaro was so ready to turn face the night after Wrestlemania and now he’s jobbing to Kofi before probably winning the Intercontinental Title in a few weeks to put him right back where he was a year or two ago. WWE can be stupid like that. Big E. saved Kingston from a post match attack.

Rollins talked to Cena in a good promo where again, Cena made it seem like Rollins was his equal.

Bo Dallas beat El Torito because he’s awesome. I don’t know where they’re going with Bo but he’s won me over.

Orton and Kane broke up a decent Rollins vs. Cena match, which is what should have happened in Orton vs. Ambrose. Reigns and Ambrose came in for the save and Cena stared Reigns down to end the show.

This show was a good example of what I was hoping this series would be. I really liked the show as I watched it live but it doesn’t hold up all that well when I look over it again. It’s still a solid episode but down more in the B range than the A- I gave it in the first place. Good stuff though and Battleground actually looks awesome instead of being the worst show of the last year.

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With less than two weeks before Battleground, things are actually looking up. The fourway shows some promise and Reigns’ reactions are getting stronger and stronger. He doesn’t have a chance of winning the title but it’s nice to see him getting into these spots and looking like a player rather than a flash in the pain. The main event tonight is Seth Rollins vs. John Cena and Bret Hart is scheduled to make an appearance. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of the Authority vs. Cena and the near cash-in from last week.

Here’s Roman Reigns to open the show as we’re told that the Authority is on vacation. He’s wondering why HHH put him in the fourway. Maybe HHH thinks Reigns can neutralize Cena, because he can. Maybe HHH thinks Kane can neutralize Reigns, even though he can’t. Maybe HHH thinks with all those things going on, Orton will win the title, even though he won’t. The fans chant Cena sucks and Reigns says Cena absolutely does suck when Roman Reigns is in the house.

Reigns says he’s the next WWE Champion but here’s Kane to interrupt. Before Kane can say anything, Reigns calls Kane the authority’s lapdog and the fight is on. Reigns knocks him off the apron and clotheslines Kane into the crowd where the brawl continues. They head over to the tech area before making it back into the ring. Kane gets the better of it for a bit until referees come out. Kane chokeslams a referee and some agents, including Finlay, I.R.S., Dean Malenko and Jamie Noble, come out for the save. Reigns shoves Noble and spears Finlay before nailing the Superman Punch to Kane. JBL thinks this is awesome.

Usos vs. Wyatt Family

Non-title. The Wyatts have new music. Luke hammers away on Jey to start but a superkick puts him on the floor. A double clothesline puts Rowan outside as well but there’s no big dive. Back in and Luke nails Jey with an uppercut to take over again and it’s off to Rowan for a neck crank. Harper comes in again and rips at Jey’s face before getting two off a splash.

We take a break and come back with Rowan getting two off something we didn’t see. It’s off to the double fist head crush for a bit before Rowan misses a splash in the corner. Jey avoids an elbow from Harper and makes the tag to Jimmy so house can be cleaned. Harper misses a clothesline and takes Whisper in the Wind but Rowan makes the save. Jey runs back inside and hits the big dive to take Erick down but Harper nails a superkick to Jimmy for two.

Harper’s dive is stopped by a right hand and Jey superkicks him for an even closer near fall. Jey goes up but gets crotched when Rowan is sent into the post. A sitout powerbomb gets two for Harper but Jimmy makes the save. The double superkick puts Luke on the floor, only to have Rowan break up a double dive. Back inside and Harper nails a discus lariat on Jey for the pin at 11:50.

Rating: B-. Another fast paced and entertaining match from these two which also saves a bit of the Usos’ face in a nice touch. You have to think the Wyatts get the titles at Battleground now and they’re certainly ready for them. With more time, these guys could have an excellent match.

Jimmy pleased his case that he was legal but the referee doesn’t seem to care.

The announcers hype up a free week of the WWE Network, focusing on how positive the reviews have been.

Orton tells Kane that he was about to come out and help but it just wasn’t bad enough yet. Kane implies he’s taking the title at Battleground. Rollins comes in and suggests that he’ll cash in on the winner at Battleground. He leaves and Orton says he’s starting to hate that kid. Kane: “Not as much as I’m starting to hate you.”

Nikki Bella vs. Alicia Fox

Both girls have an arm tied behind their back, as per the Authority’s decision. Nikki gets tied but Alicia can’t decide which arm should be tied. Instead she jumps Nikki as you would expect her to. Nikki is knocked to the floor but is able to get in a few kicks to slow Fox down. Fox goes outside and finds some Red Bulls to pour over Nikki and leaves. The bell never rang so no match. The match was introduced with the stipulation being per the Authority. Cole: “You have to wonder if the Authority is behind this.”

Back from a break with Rusev waiving the flag and Lana telling Canada to follow Putin.

Rusev vs. Rob Van Dam

That’s quite the upgrade in opponent. Rob fires off kicks to start but Rusev says bring it on. A slingshot DDT freaks Lana out but Rusev throws Rob off the top to break up the Five Star. He runs Van Dam over and sends him flying with a fallaway slam. We hit the chinlock as Zeb Colter pops up in an inset interview and officially challenges Rusev for Battleground.

Rusev begs Van Dam to hit him in the ribs before putting on a front facelock. A small package gets two for Rob and he gets a boot up in the corner. Rusev is staggered and there’s a top rope kick to the face. Rolling Thunder has to be aborted and Rusev nails the jumping superkick. The Accolade gets the clean submission at 4:38.

Rating: C-. Not a great match but it’s a very good upgrade for Rusev. It’s more proof that Swagger has no chance at Battleground, but the USA chant and Swagger coming in carrying the American flag will be a great visual. Rusev is getting better and that jumping superkick just looks awesome.

We look at the opening segment.

Dean Ambrose vs. Randy Orton

Ambrose still has a taped up shoulder. The fans are entirely behind Ambrose as he sends Orton to the floor to start. Back in and Ambrose cranks on the arm but Orton comes back and sends him into the buckle. Dean hammers away in the corner and we get an old school eye rake across the ropes. Dean’s running dropkick sets up a cross arm choke with Dean tying Orton’s arms around his own throat. Orton rolls away and pounds on Dean in the corner but Ambrose gets all ticked off. He hammers Orton to the floor and we take a break.

Back with Orton finally working on the bad arm before nailing a dropkick. We hit the armbar again but Dean fights up and nails a DDT to put both guys down. Dean hammers away and grabs a Figure Four (JBL: “Maybe this is out of respect for Bret Hart!”) but Orton makes the ropes. Some bad miscommunication leads to a blown spot as Dean goes up and jumps down but Orton has his back to him so Dean just lands there. In theory Orton was supposed to dropkick him out of the air as he dropkicks him down a second later and poses.

The rebound clothesline looks to set up Dirty Deeds but Orton gets free. They head outside with Orton being sent into the barricade. Dean throws five chairs into the ring but Orton sends him into the post. The Elevated DDT on the floor knocks Ambrose silly and the count begins. Dean dives back in at nine as all the chairs have been cleared out. Another Elevated DDT is countered and Ambrose grabs a rollup for two. The RKO is countered into a backslide for the same and Orton kicks Dean in theface to set up another rebound clothesline but Randy catches him with the RKO for the pin at 17:45.

Rating: B+. This was a really solid TV match and Ambrose looked like an equal out there. That’s been the story since the Shield’s split: they look like they belong in the main event and have given the main event scene such a breath of fresh air. Really good stuff here and I dug the whole thing.

Cena says the 40lb medallion he wears around his neck makes him the biggest target in the WWE. There’s a briefcase hanging over his head and he doesn’t have to lose at Battleground to lose. That’s business though and here’s Reigns for a staredown. Cena says those were strong words out there earlier and Reigns says they’re true.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Dolph Ziggler

These two fight a lot. The winner of this gets a shot at Sheamus for the US Title tomorrow on Main Event. Fandango is on commentary and announces his entry into the Battleground battle royal. Cole asks Fandango which girl he likes better but Fandango says he likes himself best. Ziggler gets a quick neckbreaker and elbow drop before clotheslining Del Rio to the floor. Dolph’s baseball slide misses and he gets caught in the ring skirt for an enziguri. Del Rio comes up holding his wrist but seems to be ok.

Back in and Dolph misses a dropkick but comes back with a cross body and right hands. He goes to the corner and hammers away but gets shoved down onto the buckle. A reverse suplexplex plants Ziggler for two. He avoids the low superkick and hits his running DDT for two of his own.

Dolph spins out of a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and nails a dropkick as Fandango declares himself the Fonz of the WWE. Cole: “Sit on it Fandango.” That line won’t make sense if you’ve never seen Happy Days. Del Rio misses the corner enziguri and gets caught by the Fameasser for two as Fandango gets on the announcers’ table to dance. The distraction allows the low superkick to hit for the pin on Ziggler at 4:40.

Rating: C. These two have fought a lot. Like, a whole lot. The match didn’t have time to go anywhere and was there to further Ziggler vs. Fandango. It’s not really much for Ziggler but a feud is better than random matches. It’s nice to see Del Rio being boring in the midcard instead of the main event anymore.

Fandango dances more post match.

Stardust talks to Goldust’s wig until Goldust comes up and says they need to be bizarre. We get a good line from Goldust: “Where we’re going we don’t need Rhodes.” It’s a more up to date reference than Happy Days at least.

Post break Fandango is in the back when Layla comes up and wants to know why he was out there. Was it because he was jealous of Ziggler kissing Summer last week? Layla doesn’t think she could handle Fandango still having feelings for Summer. Fandango assures her he doesn’t but sees Summer, looking great in a blue dress, staring at them and giving him a come get it look.

Jerry Lawler is in the ring and talks about how lucky he was to have such a great medical staff here in Montreal that saved him about two years ago. He brings out Bret Hart to a very respectful ovation. Bret says merci (French for thank you) and that if he could have one more match, it would be right here in Montreal. He talks about getting goosebumps like he used to get when he was WWE World Champion and when he had dreams…..and here’s Damien Sandow as Bret Hart.

Sandow goes right for the Screwjob references and says his (as Bret) biggest regret is from being a third world country like Canada. His other major regreat is never standing in the same ring as the greatest performer of all time, Damien Sandow. Damien says talking was never Bret’s strong suit andBret finally nails him with a right hand. Bret: “No. Punching was.” Nothing wrong with this.

Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow

Non-title. Sheamus hugs Bret before he leaves. This is joined in progress after a break with Sandow pulling Sheamus out to the floor. A chinlock doesn’t last long for Damien so he buries a knee into Sheamus’ ribs. We get the Five Moves of Doom from Sandow but Sheamus grabs the beard to escape the Sharpshooter. There are the fifteen forearms to the chest and the Brogue Kick gets the pin at 2:35.

Renee Young talks to Miz in the back but he cuts her off to read a fan letter. The letter praises Miz and says how sad the writer was that the rat faced tattooed rock star jumped Miz last week. Imagine what would have happened if something had happened to his face. Little Johnny Russo, the writer of the letter, has nothing to worry about. When it comes to Miz’s fist, Jericho is ready for his closeup.

We see a list of the shows airing on the Network. They’re really busting out the big guns here. Saturday has a Saturday Night’s Main Event marathon and Sunday has Wrestlemania XXX. Bret Hart will be on the Highlight Reel tomorrow night on Main Event, in addition to Sheamus defending the US Title against Del Rio.

Chris Jericho vs. The Miz

Miz stomps away to start but gets chopped, only to run away from a right hand. Jericho clotheslines him to the floor and nails the dropkick, sending Miz back to the floor. Back in and the bulldog looks to set up the Lionsault but Miz sends him outside. We hit the chinlock on Jericho but he fights up with some shoulder blocks and a top rope ax handle.

The Walls are countered and Miz kicks Jericho in the face for two. Miz’s running corner clothesline misses and he freaks out at almost hitting the buckle. An enziguri gets two for Jericho but Miz comes back with the short DDT. Miz puts on a pretty bad figure four but Jericho makes it to the ropes. A right hand to Miz’s face sets up the Walls and Miz taps at 5:55.

Rating: C-. This was fine and the Miz not wanting to get hit in the face was a nice touch. As usual though, Miz’s in ring performance brings down what looks to be a good character. He just isn’t all that great in the ring and never has been. The figure four hurts him and I see no reason why he switched. The Skull Crushing Finale got him to the main event of Wrestlemania so why change?

Post match we’ve got Bray on stage and Jericho surrounded by cell phone lights. Bray is waiting on Jericho to save the world, even though he can’t save himself. Last week Bray proved that actions speak louder than words. Bray will hold Jericho’s words against him and he will never, EVVVVVVVVVVVVVER forget. The people here used to be Jericholics but now they follow a new tune. Jericho asks if Bray would please shut up and says actions do speak louder than words. He comes up the ramp but the lights go out again and the Family is around Bray. Jericho wisely stops in his tracks and we go to a break.

Funkadactyls vs. Paige/AJ Lee

AJ’s music comes on but Paige wants to do her entrance instead of Justin Roberts. Naomi and Paige get things going but Cameron isn’t interested in tagging out. Instead she just stands on the apron looking bored as Paige takes Naomi into the corner and tags in AJ. A headscissors and spinwheel kick get two on Naomi. Paige is a very enthusiastic partner on the apron. Naomi reaches for a tag but Cameron is putting on lip gloss. Paige comes in and a double clothesline puts both girls down. Cameron tags herself in and walks into the Paige Turner for the pin at 2:26.

The Funkadactyls shove each other post match and get in a cat fight with Naomi beating the fire out of Cameron.

Cesaro and Heyman are in the ring and the fans now know Heyman’s lines. Cesaro takes the mic and says you can’t talk to these people in English because they’re French Canadians. They’re strange people because the French can’t stand them and the Canadians can’t either. Cesaro insults them in French but some music cuts him off.

Kofi Kingston vs. Cesaro

Kofi is taped up but looks rather happy despite being beaten up last week. A dropkick sends Cesaro to the floor and Kofi nails a baseball slide. He sends Cesaro into the announcers’ table but his springboard is broken up. They head back to the floor with Cesaro hitting the gutwrench suplex onto the apron. Back in and Kofi’s spinning cross body is caught in mid air but he counters into a sunset flip. Cesaro powers out of that and hits a gorilla press gutbuster for two. Kofi comes back with a rollup out of nowhere for the pin at 1:53.

Cesaro beats up Kofi post match but Big E. makes the save.

Seth Rollins comes in to see Cena for a civilized conversation. Tonight is about proving who is the best. Cena is called the best WWE Champion ever and Rollins says who better to cash in on but the best. John says he knows what the Authority sees in him. All those days Rollins was with the Shield, Rollins was waiting for the chance to change. The briefcase guarantees that change is coming, but the only guarantee Seth has is that he’s facing a champion tonight.

Reigns vs. Rusev on Smackdown.

El Torito vs. Bo Dallas

This is the result of a challege from Torito. Bo is willing to fight from his knees so Torito slaps him in the face with his tail. He rolls to the floor to avoid Bo before slapping him in the face. Bo shoves Fernando into the steps and nails a charging Torito with a forearm. The Bodog (off the middle rope) gets the pin on the bull at 1:29.

Bo runs Torito over during his victory lap.

One last Network plug for the road, including a sneak preview of the Monday Night War special debuting right after Raw.

John Cena vs. Seth Rollins

Non-title. The fans are excited for this one. Seth grabs a headlock to start before kicking him in the ribs and nailing a running swinging neckbreaker for two. We take a break and come back with Cena powering out of an armbar into an electric chair for two. A nice DDT gets two for Rollins but Cena lifts him off the mat into a sitout powerbomb for two.

Cena goes up but enziguried down for two. The shoulder blocks have Rollins in trouble and the ProtoBomb lays him out. The Shuffle sets up the AA, but Rollins flips out. Instead it’s the STF but here’s Kane. The distraction lets Orton sneak in through the crowd for the beatdown. We’ll say it’s a DQ at 10:00.

Rating: C. Fine match but you knew there was going to be a screwy finish. You don’t want to have either guy take a clean loss here and there’s nothing wrong with ending things this way. They’re not going to do anything major before Summerslam so this was fine all things considered. Rollins continues to look good.

Reigns comes in for the save and lays out the villains but Rollins blasts both Reigns and Cena with the briefcase. He tries to cash in but Ambrose comes through the crowd and they fight up the ramp. Orton gets back in as Cena is getting to his feet, only to walk into an AA. Kane loads up a chokeslam but gets speared down by Reigns. The two superheroes stare each other down and raise each others’ hands to end the show.

Overall Rating: A-. This was one of the best Raws in a very long time. The matches were either good or short and the angle advancement worked very well. It was nice to have the Authority gone for a week to let the show run itself and the results were very nice. WWE is clearly trying right now and this show flew by as a result. I had a blast with this episode and the whole thing worked really well.

Results
Wyatt Family b. Usos – Discus lariat to Jey
Rusev b. Rob Van Dam – Accolade
Alberto Del Rio b. Dolph Ziggler – Low superkick
Sheamus b. Damien Sandow – Brogue Kick
Chris Jericho b. The Miz – Walls of Jericho
Paige/AJ Lee b. Funkadactyls – Paige Turner to Cameron
Kofi Kingston b. Cesaro – Rollup
Bo Dallas b. El Torito – Bodog
John Cena b. Seth Rollins via DQ when Kane and Randy Orton interfered

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It’s a holiday show this week which means tonight could be anywhere on a wide scale. We’re coming off Money in the Bank and the main story seems to be Dean Ambrose promising to ruin Seth Rollins trying to cash in his Money in the Bank contract. This sets up an even better story between the two which could go on for months and get better every week. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

We open with a recap of the Authority vs. Cena starting on Raw. Why Cena is shocked at being on the cover of a video game that he must have posed for isn’t made clear. The video also shows the main event and its aftermath with the failed cash-in attempt and Reigns staring HHH down to close the show.

Here’s Rollins to get things going. He talks about Cena getting lucky on Monday, but luck can’t last forever. Eventually everyone’s survival rate drops to zero, so at some point he’s going to be the new WWE Champion. This brings out Ambrose to call Seth delusional. There’s no way he’s getting his hands on those titles because Ambrose is going to be there to stop every plan that Rollins and his sugar daddy cook up.

We look at Ambrose breaking up the cash in on Raw (again) and Ambrose says that the briefcase will be Rollins’ curse for the next year. Rollins knows Ambrose can’t keep it up for a year and he can’t stop Rollins from winning the title. Dean says he’ll start right now and the fight is on but Orton comes in for the save. Reigns runs in to clean house and the heels flee. HHH pops up and makes Ambrose vs. Orton. If Reigns interferes, he’s out of the title match at Battleground.

Cole and JBL plug Saturday Night’s Main Event coming to the Network.

US Title: Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio

Sheamus is defending. They trade kicks to the ribs to start until Del Rio snapmares Sheamus down and kicks him in the back. Sheamus comes right back with the rolling fireman’s carry and some right hands. The announcers chuckle over Sheamus stealing Del Rio’s car a few years ago. There’s nothing funny about a feud that boring. Del Rio sends him to the floor but gets whipped into the barricade, only to be sent hard into the steps. A Backstabber on the apron puts Sheamus on the floor and sends us to a break.

Back with Sheamus hitting a running cross body to put both guys down on the floor. They get back inside for an Irish Curse as the announcers talk about Howard Finkel being born in this town. Del Rio counters the powerslam into a DDT. He goes up top but Sheamus is up there with him, setting up the ten forearms on the top rope in a nice twist on the move. They don’t have the same impact but Sheamus was probably afraid of falling and breaking his leg.

The Brogue Kick misses and Del Rio hooks the armbreaker but Sheamus is next to the ropes. The Cloverleaf gets the same result and there’s the armbreaker again. Sheamus powers up to his feet and slams Del Rio into the corner. Del Rio’s low superkick gets two but he misses a moonsault, allowing Sheamus to Brogue Kick him for the pin at 8:20 shown of 11:50.

Rating: C. I don’t mind the Brogue Kick nearly as much as a way to end a back and forth match than when Sheamus has been destroyed and the hits it out of nowhere. The match was fine and Sheamus continues to be good for the title. He’s defended it once a month since winning it and that’s a lot better than most recent champions have done.

Stardust talks about children and asks what’s in a name. Goldust comes in and says he doesn’t know but it must be pretty important. Whatever it is, itt’s written in the stars (a million miles away?). Stardust leaves but comes back in to breathe deeply.

Roman Reigns says HHH is protecting his baby boy, but Reigns knows Ambrose doesn’t need his help tonight. He’s winning the title at Battleground.

We see the same video from Raw of the Money in the Bank pre-show with Bryan’s speech and Bo Dallas’ cameo.

Bo Dallas vs. Diego

Before the match, Bo says that we all know Daniel is still a special little fellow. He’s entering the battle royal at Battleground and winning the title for little Daniel. Bo does OLE before the match and gets dropkicked in the face. He stomps Diego down in the corner and drops a knee. The Bodog gets the pin at 1:43.

Post match Bo tells Torito to Bolieve and gets gored. Torito dances at him so Bo slams him.

We look back at Miz and Jericho returning on Raw, including Jericho laying Miz out before getting beaten up by the Wyatts. Miz as the Hollywood star works well enough as a character.

Here’s Jericho with something to say. It’s been a year since he’s been on Smackdown and it’s a great feeling to be back in front of all these Jericholics. Coming back last Monday felt good too, but then along came a spider. A big, dark, venomous spider with his family. The Wyatts are one of the things that have changed since he’s been gone.

He thanks the Wyatts for remind him that the WWE isn’t just all about surprises and music and light up jackets. The WWE is about survival and he can be dangerous just like the Wyatts. He doesn’t look like anyone else, he doesn’t act like anyone else and he doesn’t think like anyone else. The Wyatts can sit in a chair and sing a song but if you want to get crazy, he can go right there with them.

The Wyatts pop up on screen and Bray says the world doesn’t have a voice of its own. It can’t tell you what it wants and needs, but it’s begging for something to point it in the right direction. A savior perhaps. Bray introduces himself to Chris but says he has a thousand faces and a million names. He is the color red in a world of black and white. Save us Chris? Save yourself.

Jericho tells Bray to come out here but gets cut off by a movie trailer. It’s Miz’s new entrance video and only lasts a few seconds before going into his usual entrance. Nice touch. Miz comes out in sunglasses and asks Jericho how it feels to be interrupted. The fans were deprived of something special on Monday when Jericho broke the Golden Rule. He tried to hurt Miz’s face, the moneymaker. If that ever happened it would cost…..something we’ll find out later as Jericho lays him out with another Codebreaker. Jericho puts the sunglasses on because that’s the kind of guy he is.

Big E. vs. Cesaro

Both of these guys are in the battle royal for the Intercontinental Title. Big E., in the preacher voice, says he’s standing up for his friend Kofi Kingston tonight. Before the match we see a clip of Cesaro destroying Kofi on Raw. Cesaro jumps Big E. before the bell and takes him out to the floor for a brawl. Big E. sends him into the barricade but gets nailed with a chair. Cesaro throws him over the announcers’ table but Big E. comes back with a belly to bell. The straps come down but Heyman gets Cesaro out of there. The bell never rang.

Eva Marie vs. AJ Lee

Non-title and Paige is sitting with JBL and Cole but isn’t on commentary. Eva kicks her in the ribs to start and rams AJ into the buckle. AJ counters a side slam into the Black Widow for the submission at 1:20. Eva was basically standing still for most of the match while AJ ran into her.

Paige applauds AJ on her win.

Damien Sandow is Bruce Springsteen this week and the fans are into it. Lana and Rusev cut him off before he can get anywhere or cause a copyright lawsuit. Sandow is quickly dispatched and the fans chant USA. Lana’s response: shut up. Lana goes into a rant about how stupid the Fourth of July is because it’s about stupid songs and making people fatter.

Colter and Rusev cut them off and rips on them for being illegal immigrants. Russians didn’t invent cars or put people on the moon, but they did invent vodka. Lana tells him to shut up. Colter’s response: why don’t YOU shut up? Colter wants the fight right now but stops for WE THE PEOPLE. Rusev backs down and leaves. Swagger is going to get broken in half by the Accolade but it’s a cool ride to get there.

Jericho vs. Miz on Monday.

Randy Orton vs. Dean Ambrose

Rollins is on commentary and Reigns isn’t allowed to be at ringside. Dean, with a heavily bandaged shoulder, hammers away in the corner to start so Orton bails to the floor. Back in and Dean stays on him with headbutts but Orton nails a nice dropkick for two. Ambrose gets sent into the middle buckle and Randy cranks on the bad shoulder. Orton kicks him into the ropes and is the first person smart enough to follow him over when Ambrose starts bouncing off the ropes. Another kick sends Dean outside and we take a break.

Back with Orton sidestepping a missile dropkick for two. He stays on the bad shoulder and sends it into the post. They head outside where the shoulder gets posted again and a belly to back suplex drops Ambrose onto the barricade. Back in and it’s time to crank on the arm even more. Cole brings up the free replays on the Network while asking Rollins if he needs to study Ambrose.

Dean reverses a whip and sends Orton shoulder first into the post. He drives his own shoulder into the mat to try and pop it back into place. Dean hammers away and drops him with a running forearm. A middle rope elbow to the jaw puts Orton down again and a clothesline puts him on the floor.

The suicide dive connects and both guys are down outside. Ambrose throws Randy back inside and of course goes after Rollins. He sends him into the barricade before running in to roll Randy up for two. Dirty Deeds is countered and Orton nails the powerslam but Dean backdrops out of the Elevated DDT. Another suicide dive is countered by a Rollins briefcase shot to the bad shoulder though and that’s a DQ at 9:27 shown of 12:57.

Rating: C+. The match was ok but nothing all that great. They made it pretty clear that Rollins was going to interfere and it makes sense given the story. The shoulder stuff was exactly what should have been done and the match was entertaining enough for the main event of a TV show that no one is going to watch.

Orton lays Ambrose out with an RKO and rips the bandages off the shoulder. Rollins goes up top but Reigns runs down to shove him off and nail Orton with a Superman Punch.

Overall Rating: C. This was a placeholder show with far more talking than wrestling. Like I said though, why would you waste anything important on a show airing on the Fourth of July? What we got wasn’t bad but it’s nothing you need to see. It did however show how many good things are coming for WWE as a lot of these stories sound good in theory. That’s a good sign.

Results
Sheamus b. Alberto Del Rio – Brogue Kick
Bo Dallas b. Diego – Bodog
AJ Lee b. Eva Marie – Black Widow
Dean Ambrose b. Randy Orton via DQ when Seth Rollins interfered

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