Courtesy of WWE.com
By Jeff Hamlin, Wrestlingobserver.com
The Big Takeaway:
Brock Lesnar destroyed Kane’s leg to conclude a contract signing angle, leaving Seth Rollins seemingly all alone to face Lesnar at Battleground on Sunday. Afterwards, a desperate Rollins severed ties with Kane by stomping on Kane’s injured leg and calling him a piece of crap. It was the best Raw show since the Money in the Bank go-home show with a fantastic debut for Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks in an angle with the Bella Twins, and yet another fantastic match with Cesaro.
Show Recap:
Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman came out while the $55,000 Cadillac that Lesnar destroyed last week was stationed in a wrecked heap beside the ramp. Heyman brought up the times Lesnar walked into various matches throughout his career as a challenger, facing the Rock, Randy Courture and John Cena, and walked out a champion each time. Heyman said he will enter the ring the challenger on Sunday, but he won’t leave that way.
Seth Rollins and Kane came out. Rollins was mad at Lesnar for destroying the car and called him a thug and a vandal. Rollins vowed to burn Suplex City to the ground.
Lesnar responded “I could take you to Suplex City tonight, bitch.” Kane stepped in and announced a contract signing between the two men. Kane started to tell Heyman not to let Lesnar start a fight during the contract signing, but Heyman chimed in that Kane was the Undertaker’s baby brother. Fans started chanting “baby brother.” Heyman warned Rollins not to violate the 11th Commandment “Thou Shall Not Intentionally Provoke Brock Lesnar” or else Suplex City would come to Atlanta.
Ryback and Randy Orton defeated Sheamus and the Big Show (15:11)
Ryback pinned Sheamus after a splash off the top rope. The Big Show delivered a knockout punch on Ryback, but got distracted by the Miz, who was on commentary. Show chased Miz to the back, which led to a unintentionally funny moment where Miz tripped over his robe on the way to the back. Show had to slow up not to catch him. As Ryback was down, Orton hit the RKO on Sheamus which led to the finish. Pretty good match as Orton was particularly over.
Rollins wondered why Kane was arrange a contract signing with Lesnar later tonight. Kane told him not to worry because he had a plan. Rollins said he was worried and he didn’t want to provoke Lesnar.
A match between Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose never got going as Roman Reigns jumped Wyatt after his ring entrance.
It was No Selling Mania here. Reigns hit Wyatt with a Superman punch. Wyatt withered for a moment, then hit Reigns with his lantern. Reigns barely sold that and the segment awkwardly ended.
NXT Divas get a chance
Nikki Bella did a in-ring promo bragging about holding the Divas title for 232 consecutive days despite facing every Diva on the roster. Nikki took a page from years and years of watching Impact saying she had all the power in the Divas division since she holds the belt.
Stephanie McMahon came out while Alicia Fox and Brie Bella looked worried. Of course, Stephanie was wearing the highest heels possible to tower over everyone. I guess she was a face here because she said she owns the WWE. She said there hasn’t been the level of competition in the Divas division that everyone is looking for. That’s a great way to bury your own talent. She put over the U.S. Women’s Soccer team and the UFC as industries where women have thrived.
Stephanie introduced Paige, then said Paige couldn’t do things by herself so she brought out Becky Lynch, who got a pretty good reaction. Then Stephanie brought out a woman “who was bred for this business.” Crowd anticipated who it was, and Charlotte came out. Michael Cole mentioned Charlotte being Ric Flair’s daughter.
After all that, Naomi and Tamina came out. Naomi wanted to know when they would get their chance at the Bellas. Stephanie brought out Sasha Banks. Everyone surrounded Team Bella and it led to a full sale brawl. Charlotte got a chance to throw a few chops on the Bellas and a drop kick to Fox. Paige got the PTO on Naomi. Banks threw several double knee strikes on Lynch.
Charlotte put the Figure Eight on Fox while Lynch used a Fujiwara Armbar on Brie and Banks clamped on the Bank Statement on Nikki. Crowd was going nuts for all of this. Heels limped away as Naomi and Tamina jawed with the NXT stars. Usually, this type of booking fails because it’s too many new faces at once. But the fans were into this, particularly Charlotte. However, I could have sworn Nikki and Brie boasted about having Stephanie on their side a month ago.
The New Day came out. Big E. laughed over Atlanta shutting down last winter over an inch of snow. Xavier Woods reminded the fans about the Atlanta Hawks losing to Cleveland in the NBA playoffs despite being a number 1 seed. Despite this, fans are starting to treat New Day as faces.
WWE Tag Team Champions The Prime Time Players and Mark Henry defeated The New Day (7:56)
Mark Henry pinned Woods after the World’s Strongest Slam. JBL compared New Day to the Freebirds, calling them the “Glee Birds.” After jobbing non-stop for a month after they got over, I would hope New Day will be getting the tag belts back on Sunday.
R-Truth defeated King Barrett (3:11)
R-Truth won with the Lie Detector. Afterwards, R-Truth pulled out his plunger and proclaimed himself “King What’s Up” again. This is the Gilligan’s Island of pro wrestling at this point. I feel like I can’t escape this program.
John Cena came out for this week’s U.S. Championship challenge, which Rusev answered. Before Ruseve could enter the ring, Kevin Owens came out. Owens said he wanted to fight Cena so Owens could win the title tonight, then Cena could get a rematch at Battleground. Rusev badmouthed Owens as a French-American. Owens told Rusev to stick the flag up his Chernobyl. Then Cesaro came out and the challengers all started brawling with each other with Cesaro clearing the ring.
During a commercial, Cole announced that Cesaro, Owens and Rusev would meet in a three-way with the winner facing Cena in the main event. On commentary, Cena poked holes in this booking saying he would be 100% while his challenger would be physically taxed.
Rusev pinned Cesaro in a three-way match involving Kevin Owens to earn a U.S. title shot(24:00)
Rusev pinned Cesaro after a Superkick in the weekly 4-star match where Cesaro does the job. Rusev pulled out a Saito Suplex on Cesaro, which JBL called by name. Tower of Doom spot where Cesaro did a Sunset Power Bomb on Owens, who delivered a Superplex on Rusev. Later, Cesaro German Suplexed Owens and Cesaro, and followed with a corkscrew tope on both men. After 15:00, Owens took a bump to the floor, then walked to the back saying he would see Cena on Sunday. Rusev lifted Cesaro on the apron and both men fell, landing horribly on the floor. That appeard to be a botch as moments later, they did another, safer version of the same spot. Cesaro clamped on the Sharpshooter after a 6-revolution Cesaro Swing, but Rusev crawled out of the ring.
Rusev defeated U.S. Champion John Cena by DQ, so Cena retains the U.S. Title (4:58)
Crowd was quiet because they had just seen one hell of a match. Plus, the psychology was all screwed up. It ended when Rusev had Cena in the Accolade, but Owens ran in and gave Rusev a Pop-Up Power Bomb. Owens screamed at Cena that he would be the one who would take the U.S. Title from him on Sunday.
Rollins approached Kane about the contract signing. Kane said everything was under control. Rollins said it better be, or else it would be on his head.
Lita came out and introduced the 13 cast members for Tough Enough. The crowd seeed to like ZZ the best since he looks like a cross between Meat Loaf and Gangrel.
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Stardust is back doing a promo. If you thought things would change after the death of his father, you’ll be disappointed. He got a word in about how “the view never changes,” then turned his atgtention to Neville.
Stardust defeated Neville (4:06)
Stardust won by reversing a rolling reverse cradle and holding the trunks. Weird segment. Announcers played up how it was an emotional night for Stardust since it was his first match since the death of his father. At various points, Stardust would wonder around aimlessly like he was going to snap out of his gimmick and become Cody Rhodes again. Not sure what the point of this was. Even with a win after his father’s death, Stardust is going nowhere. Why have him beat someone who still has a chance to get over?
Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins contract signing
Rollins and Kane came out for the contract signing. They showed yet another video package, which this showed was filled of in order to fill 3 hours. Heyman told Rollins that he wanted to see someone get their hands on Rollins since he turned his back on the Shield, and so have the fans. Heyman said all the pressure is on Rollins, and every single person paying for Battleground is paying to get his ass kicked. Heyman swore Rollins would get his ass kicked. He said on Sunday, Rollins would be dragged to Suplex City by the Beast.
Rollins signed the contract in frustration. Lesnar signed. Heyman told Rollins to get his hands off the table. Then Lesnar flipped the table over, where he picked up an axe handle. Lesnar laid it out on the table for Rollins to pick it up, which Rollins did as Lesnar watched. Lesnar picked up the table and drove it into Rollins. Kane jumped on Lesnar and Rollins followed, but Lesnar gave Rollins a German Suplex. Lesnar clotheslined Kane over the top. Rollins tried to give Lesnar a Pescado, Lesnar caught him but Kane kicked Lesnar. The heels started beating up Lesnar, including Kane ramming the ring steps into Lesnar’s body.
Rollins tried to give Lesnar a Pedigree on the steps, but Lesnar broke free and threw him into the barricade. Then Lesnar charged at Kane, who tried to give Lesnar a choke slam. Instead, Lesnar escaped and gave Kane an F-5 on the floor. Rollins ran out through the crowd. Kane was left with his foot on the ring steps, and Lesnar drove the ring steps onto Kane’s foot.
So the story is that Lesnar has injured J&J Security and Kane, and now Rollins will have to face Lesnar by himself.
Rollins went back into the ring incensed. He vowed to beat Lesnar and prove he isn’t a machine. Rollins was about to leave, then he saw paramedics attending to Kane. Rollins started to browbeat Kane, saying his plan had landed him on a stretcher. He called Kane a piece of crap, then stomped on Kane’s bad leg.
SUMMARY: A very interesting show. The women’s segment couldn’t have gone much better because the fans reacted strongly to it. Clearly, they were ready for some new faces. I really don’t see how Lesnar leaves without the belt on Sunday. They’ve got a Road Warrior principle with Lesnar now. Everyone flocks to Lesnar because he’s the guy who is ten feet tall and bulletproof. If the company had given Reigns the Money in the Bank briefcase a month ago, I could see how they get out of Lesnar beating Rollins on Sunday. But instead, Sheamus got it, and he isn’t over at a Intercontential title level, much less a top belt level.