WWE Raw (5/11/15)

 

We're six days away from Payback and the only matches set in stone are the Fatal Four Way with Seth Rollins defending the WWE Championship against Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Randy Orton along with the I Quit Match featuring John Cena defending the WWE United States Championship against Vladimir Rusev. Bray Wyatt vs Ryback, Naomi vs Nikki Bella and New Day vs Kidd & Cesaro are on the table but not official. This week should make some more official matches. Erik Rowan returned to turn heel last week as well as the main roster debut of Sami Zayn....only for him to get hurt. What will happen this week? Let's find out.

WWE Raw

US Bank Arena

Cincinnati, Ohio

May 11, 2015

Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T and JBL

Ring Announcer: Eden Stiles

We begin the show with a limousine pulling up to the arena and out comes Triple H. Michael Cole says the atmosphere is about to change. Hunter comes to the ring alone for a powwow as Cole says Daniel Bryan is here to address his health and Intercontinental Championship status. Hunter grabs a mic and says "Daddy's home" to a shocking babyface pop. He says that's what he says to his kids when he gets home and they instantly behave better (which is absolute BULLSHIT if you actually have kids). Hunter says he needs to say that to Kane and Seth Rollins because they aren't doing what he tells them to do. Hunter says they're going to end this tonight and calls Seth and Kane to come on down.

Rollins comes out with Jamie Noble & Joey Mercury in tow. Rollins says welcome back and tries to suck up to him by saying he agrees with him. The crowd cuts him off with a "We want Ambrose" chant and Rollins says nevermind that. Rollins calls Kane a 7 foot cancer trying to poison it from the inside. Crowd chants "You sold out" and Rollins yells at them. Seth claims Kane is trying to sabotage him being champion and the crowd is unrelentless with the "We want Ambrose" chant until Seth acknowledges Dean. Rollins continues to whine about Kane with the crowd chanting "Ambrose" next. Rollins says Kane shouldn't be Director of Operations anymore, he's broken and can't be fixed. 

Rollins says Hunter should take the old dog out back and put him out of his misery and right on cue, here comes Kane in full coat & tie. Kane says with age comes wisdom and its telling him "to grab you by your turkey neck AND CHOKESLAM YOU STRAIGHT TO HELL!" This gets a big pop and Hunter holds Kane back. Rollins and Kane yell at each other until Hunter says "Enough!" Hunter tells Kane he respects him but he needs to get on the same page & check his ego. Hunter says Rollins does make you want to punch him in the face but you don't, he's what's best for business. Hunter says if Rollins isn't the champion after Payback, Kane's services will no longer be needed. Kane says he respects Hunter but it might be worth it just to eviscerate Rollins. Rollins calls him insubordinate and Hunter tells him to shut up. Hunter asks Kane if they should part ways and Kane doesn't say anything. Hunter says he'll take that as a no and he's going to make all four main eventers wrestle tonight. Hunter says Kane goes one on one with Roman Reigns. Seth Rollins will be facing Randy Orton tonight. Jamie Noble out of nowhere and runs down HHH while saying Seth is the man around here. Hunter sarcasically asks that J & J Security are still here? Hunter gets down to Noble's level and says the little fellas will be wrestling right now...against Dean Ambrose. The crowd explodes as Noble and Mercury are upset. Kane, Rollins and Rollins walk up the ramp but here comes Ambrose, not wasting any time.

Match 1

Dean Ambrose vs Jamie Noble & Joey Mercury in a Handicap Match

Back from commercial break, the match has started with Mercury in with Ambrose. Ambrose slides out of the ring and drops Noble face first on the apron before sliding in. Ambrose goes to town on Mercury in the corner. Ambrose punches away on Mercury and hits a scoop slam. Mercury throws jabs nowhere close and Ambrose clotheslines him over the top to the floor. Noble gets in and begs off and Dean extends a hand. Dean kicks him in the stomach and goes for Dirty Deeds, Noble sliding out of the ring. Jamie runs for it but Dean chases him only to be headbutted in the stomach by Mercury lying in wait. Mercury rams Dean face first into the announce table. Dean double clotheslines them ass over tea kettle into the announce desk. Ambrose laughs as Booker T laughs with him. Ambrose goes up to the top but Mercury drags him down by the arm, hitting a big lariat. Mercury covers for a deuce and then the double team begins. Noble drops Ambrose with a clothesline as JBL says both of them are former good wrestlers. Cole says that was years ago. Noble applies a body scissors which allow Mercury to stomp him. Mercury hits a dropkick and covers for a 1. Mercury locks in a chinlock before Dean powers out of it. They butt heads and Noble reaches for the tag. Noble tags in but Ambrose pops up like popeye and rallies with right hands. Dean avalanches Noble in the corner and hits Flying Psycho through the ropes to the floor onto both men. Dean rolls Noble in as JBL asks can you see Ambrose as champion. Ambrose hits a second rope elbow on Mercury and covers...but Noble breaks it up. Ambrose hits a double clothesline and throws Noble into Mercury. Noble turns around into Dirty Deeds. Ambrose covers for 1..2....3 to win the match. Reminds me of the old jobber squash matches with the idea of making Dean look good in his hometown.

Time of match: 5:17

Winner: Ambrose by pinfall

We go to the replay of Ambrose winning with Cole saying Ambrose doesn't have to pin Rollins to be the champion, he can beat anyone. We get a graphic of Daniel Bryan addressing the fans tonight, this can't be good. Back from break we finally get a new match announced, Dolph Ziggler vs Sheamus again, no "kiss me arse" this time. On to the next match.

Match 2

Dolph Ziggler vs King Barrett

Sheamus sits in on commentary for this one. Dolph Ziggler looks like one of the McQuaid Brothers from 21 Jump Street and JBL says all hail King Barrett. Barrett grabs a mic before the match and says Adrian Neville is a peasant and he'll "Neville" defy gravity again after he hits him with one final bullhammer this Sunday. It hasn't been announced yet but I guess we're getting Neville/Barrett one more time. Barrett says he's going to take a page from Sheamus and make Ziggler his "royal arse kissah! Now ring the bloody bell referee" Bell's gone and immediately Ziggler nails Barrett with a superkick before Barrett even takes his robe off. Ziggler covers for 1...2....nooooo, that was close. Sheamus calls Ziggler a dirtbag and Dolph clubs away at the King. Even Barrett butt kisser JBL says Barrett did say to ring the bell. Ziggler drops an elbow and covers for a deuce then dropkicks the King to the floor. We got to commercial and when we get back, Barrett is in control with a chinlock. Sheamus says Michael Cole is welcome for no reason and says he owes Ziggler one. Ziggler hits the fameasser and covers for 1...2....no. Cole says Ziggler beat Sheamus at Extreme Rules as Ziggler wiggles out of Wasteland into a superkick. Barrett loads up the bullhammer but Dolph counters with a dropkick and rollup for 1..2...no. Ziggler takes a swipe at Sheamus who had hopped up on the ring apron, but turns around into THE BULLHAMMERRRRRR. Barrett covers for 1..2....3 to win the match. Ziggler had him on the run but Sheamus distracted Dolph long enough for Barrett to win it. 

Time of match: 5:52

Winner: Barrett by pinfall

Barrett takes off and Sheamus gets in for some heel heat. Sheamus kicks away at him and taunts the irate crowd. Sheamus slaps at him in the corner but Ziggler Thez presses him only for Sheamus to roll away and hit the Brogue Kick. Sheamus poses over Ziggler before he leaves. Barrett gets a much needed win and Sheamus gets some heat going into Sunday. We get graphics for Kane vs Roman Reigns and Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins in a non-title match later. Back from break we get a Tough Enough graphic nobody cares about. On to the next match.

Match 3

Erick Rowan (with Luke Harper) vs Fandango

This stems from Smackdown where Rowan come out after Harper had beaten Fandango and put the boots to Fandango, reuniting with Harper. Made sense to put these two back together since Rowan was utterly useless as a babyface and there were too many mid-card heels for Harper to shine. The tag team ranks were suffering with The Ascension being regulated to jobber status and nobody gave a rats ass about Los Matadores. Fandango comes out as JBL asks how long this goes, he thinks 90 seconds. Booker says 92 seconds. Fandango bum rushes Rowan at the bell as Cole says 2 minutes. Fandango hits a second rope forearm to the back and covers for 1..2...no. Rowan hits the spin kick and the full nelson slam just like that. He covers for 1..2...3 and its over after 36 seconds. The fact the announcers turned this into a game basically showed that Fandango was a jobber at this point. Shame, Johnny Curtis was far too talented but the stupid gimmick ruined him.

Time of match: 36 seconds

Winner: Rowan by pinfall

After the match Harper gets in for the two on one beat down. They even get a decent pop as Cole says this is dangerous for the WWE lockerroom. Good, the tag team division was New Day and not much else, they had to do something. We get a graphic for John Cena's Open Challenge coming up next. Last week it was Sami Zayn to have one of the best matches of the year. Who could it be this time? Back from commercial we get a highlight of last week's match before John Cena make his entrance. We get a graphic for this Sunday for the I Quit match between Cena and Vladimir Rusev for the US title. Cena gets a good babyface pop and acknowledges the cheers and boo's. Cena says whether you like him or not everyone can appreciate the US title. The crowd starts a USA chant right out of the 80's and Cena says he originally won the belt because he didn't like who was champion but now he's invigorated to represent what it really means. Cena says there will be guys that never come close to being World Champion but not the US title, the symbol of excellence. Gotta give credit to Cena for trying to make the secondary title look important. Cena says anyone and everyone has a right to come for the title, except for Rusev because he's going to beat him in an I Quit match. Cena says he never gives up and says Rusev is coming for him, he's been told to not do the Open Challenge. Cena says to hell with Rusev and bring out his challenger. Cena waits.....and out comes Adrian Neville.

Match 4

Adrian Neville vs John Cena for the WWE United States Championship

Neville gets absolutely no pop but he's here for Cena. JBL says he's gotta hand it to Cena for defending the strap six days out from the ppv. Bell's gone as Cole says these matches might catch up to him. Cena backs Neville into the corner and lets him go. Cena locks in an armbar as the crowd chants for Cena. Neville hits a northern lights suplex and locks in an arm-ringer but lets Cena go when John makes it to the rope. JBL says it could be Harper, Rowan or anyone that challenges for the title as Cena locks in a headlock. Neville powers out of it and hits a dropkick to send Cena to the floor for a breather. We go to commercial as Cena says "Not bad, kid." Back from commercial Cena hits two shoulderblocks but counters the back suplex with a german suplex of his own for 1...2..no.  Adrian baseball slides John down and hits a springboard corkscrew moonsault much to the crowd's delight. Neville rolls Cena in and covers for 1...2..no. The crowd chants NXT and Cole acknowledges it but Cena hits the back suplex. He calls for the 5 knuckle shuffle and hits it then goes for the FU. Neville wiggles out of it as Cena's charge in the corner eats boot. Neville goes up to the top and hits the 450 splash for 1...2...NOOOOOO. Booker "WOW!" Neville and Cena play "yay/boo" punchathon as JBL says "Big match John". Neville kicks Cena down but runs into a Michinoku Driver (!?). Cena covers for 1...2...no. Cena goes for the FU but Neville turns it into a crucifix for 1....2...nope. Neville leapfrogs into the corner, catches Cena with an elbow and goes for a bodypress. Cena rolls through it and turns it into an FU, but Neville rolls out of it, superkicking Cena in the face. The crowd begins to go nuts as Neville covers for 1...2...no. Adrian drags Cena into the corner but Cena catches him with the STFU. Booker "That was a mistake by Neville, he'll never do that again". Neville doesn't tap and somehow rolls through it, only to get rocked with a clothesline much to JBL's delight. Cole says Cena is frustrated as the crowd chants Let's Go Cena. Cena runs into an enziguiri but hits the FU anyway. He covers for 1...2....NOOOOOOO! Somehow Neville kicks out and the crowd is in a frenzy. Cena and Neville slowly get to their feet. Neville sides to the apron and Cena pulls him to the top rope for the Super FU. Neville wiggles out of it and rolls through for the sit-out powerbomb 1....2....noooooo. Neville rolls Cena over and goes for then Red Arrow. Neville hits it but before he can cover, here comes Rusev to ruin the match. People are PISSED! That was almost as good if not better than last week's match against Sami Zayn. Cena vs NXT every week is really getting good. Neville looked great and didn't lose to keep his momentum going.

Time of match: 14:42

Winner: Neville by DQ (Cena retains)

After the match, Rusev stomps Neville and superkicks him out of the ring. The crowd boos like crazy and Rusev stalks Cena. Rusev then superkicks Cena and locks in The Accolade. Cole says this might be the one move to get Cena to say I Quit. The crowd chants "We want Lana" and Rusev doesn't like that. Rusev grabs the US title belt and holds it up to taunt the irate crowd. Rusev promised he was coming for Cena tonight and he delivered on his promise. Cole botches saying Payback by saying "Paperback" hahaha and JBL makes the save by saying to watch the I Quit Match he had with Cena long ago. We get a graphic for Reigns vs Kane next as we go to break.

Back from commercial Kane comes out first and cuts Reigns off when he comes in through the crowd. Kane pounds away on Roman and sends him into the barrier. Kane continues to pound away then rams Roman back first into the ring post. Kane sends Reigns into the steel steps as Cole explains that Triple H called out Kane earlier and that fired him up. Reigns fights back and rams Kane into the barrier. They slug away at each other until Kane flings Roman back and forth between the barrier and the side of the ring. Kane heaves Reigns over the ring steps and hits a big boot on the floor. Kane tears apart the announce table but Roman stuns Kane with an uppercut. Reigns rams Kane into the side of the ring and whips him toward the steps. Reigns jumps over the steps then goes for the Superman punch only to get caught by Kane. Roman breaks free, hits the Superman punch and spears Kane over the announce table. Roman stands on the announce table and his music hits. Guess we're not getting a match. Point of this was Reigns is ready for Sunday.

We get a graphic of Daniel Bryan coming up later as we go to break. Back from commercial we get a graphic for the returning Tamina Snuka attacking the Bella twins from last week. On to the next match.

Match 5

Brie Bella (with Nikki Bella) vs Tamina Snuka (with Naomi)

The crowd is completely silent as both pairs enter showing how awful this has been booked. The Bellas turned face by proxy but fans aren't buying it and Tamina was never a crowd favorite. We get a PIP of Naomi cutting a promo saying the Bellas got a taste of their own medicine and now she's got "family" to back her up. What? The Snukas aren't related to the Usos. Typical Vince. Bell rings and Tamina backs Brie into the corner only to get pounded on by Bella. Tamina kicks Brie in the stomach but eats an elbow. Tamina does a backbreaker and an axehandle to the back. Tamina sends Brie into the corner back first and locks in a chinlock. Tamina drops some knees to the back then the stomach. She covers for a 1 count and chokes Brie on the second rope in front of Nikki. Brie hits a running roll up for a 1 count then runs into a clothesline. Tamina covers for 1...2..no. Brie rolls through a back suplex and hits first a clothesline, then a dropkick. Tamina barely sells it as Brie goes to the second rope for the missile dropkick. Brie covers for 1...2..no. Brie shouts BRIEEE MODEEE and hits a running knee. She goes for a second one but runs into a superkick. Tamina covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. That was sudden. Naomi jumps up and down in the entrance way as the heels retreat. Kind of a pointless match other than to show that Tamina means business.

Time of match: 3:34

Winner: Tamina by pinfall

We get a graphic for Orton vs Rollins later as Cole speculates this won't take place either after what happened with Kane and Reigns earlier. On to the next match.

Match 6

Curtis Axel vs Damien Sandow

We get a pre-match graphic of Axel and Sandow doing Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage imitations to the delight of no one. Instead of Damien Sandow its "Macho Mandow" and JBL is about to throw up "Somewhere Randy Savage is rolling in his grave, check that, spinning." He was cremated but the sentiment remains. JBL hates everything that's going on as the bell rings. Sandow does the finger point as Axel tears his shirt off. Axel sends Mandow into the ropes but misses the big boot. Sandow drops Axel with clotheslines and a scoop slam. Sandow goes for the top rope elbow but here comes The Ascension for absolutely no reason. JBL "I've never been so happy to see The Ascension." Viktor on a mic says "You think THIS is entertaining? These two delusional idiots are trying to be two old relics from the past to jumpstart their pathetic careers." Konnor "Dressing like a legend is different from being a legend." Konnor says the crowd isn't laughing with them, they're laughing at Sandow and Axel. Viktor says there's a new age in WWE (cue the What chants) and hit the ring. Sandow throws Konnor out of the ring and slams Viktor. He pulls Axel up and tells him to hit the leg drop. Axel drops the big leg and Sandow goes upstairs. Sandow goes for the big elbow but Konnor pulls Viktor out. They retreat as Sandow and Axel taunt them. JBL "I'm speechless. That was....something." Axel and Sandow do the hand shake to form the "Mega Powers" as JBL says god help us. Remember how the tag team division was hot garbage lately with the Ascension & Los Matadores regulated to jobber status and The Uso's out with injury? Harper & Rowan and Axel & Sandow just joined the ranks. Absolutely stupid segment but it does give Axel & Sandow something to do at least. 

Time of match: 2:00

Winner: No one (no contest)

We get a graphic for Daniel Bryan coming up next as we go to break. Back from break we get Tough Enough samples I'm not going to dignify with a response and Cole plugging the website for the sample videos. Oh wait....pretty sure "Hollywood" Mike Verna was the last one shown. HIM I know.

Here comes Daniel Bryan in street clothes and the IC title belt....this can't be good. Bryan hits the ring for a conference. The crowd chants "Daniel Bryan" as he's visibly shaken. He says the last couple of weeks he's been in and out of doctor's appointments and he doesn't do well with down time. He came here for the energy of the crowd and for years the crowd treated him better than anyone in the back. He says almost exactly a year ago Stephanie McMahon stripped him of the WWE Championship and he felt like he let the fans down. Bryan says the fans got him that far which sparks a Yes chant. Bryan has to admit that Stephanie was right to do it because the fans deserve a fighting champion. Bryan says that's why he's here tonight which sparks a "No" chant. The fans know where this is going. Bryan says he had an MRI last week and he says no one knows how long he'll be out. He says he might never wrestle again and knows what needs to be done. Bryan says the fans deserve WWE stars like Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler and Dean Ambrose fighting for it. Had to mention Dean for the hometown crowd. Bryan says the IC belt belongs in the ring, not on a physical therapist's chair. He officially relinquishes the title as the crowd chants "Thank you Daniel". Daniel says they're wrong, he thanks the fans this time. He leaves the belt in the center of the ring as the entire crowd gets on their feet to say goodbye. Bryan fights back tears as someone can be heard in the crowd saying "We love you." Daniel leads one last Yes chant before he leaves. Well this sucks. He basically came back against all odds only to be shut down again, it would be a long time before he would be in the ring again.

Back from commercial the announcers are just as depressed as the crowd. Booker and JBL talk about how you never know when your time is up.....and here comes The New Day. Xavier Woods comes out and says Daniel Bryan is gone so its time for a New Day. Woods tries a "New...Day Rocks" chant but the crowd says "New...Day Sucks". Kofi Kingston says one of these days they'll get the chant right. Kofi says the New Day is all about second chances and giving them to people. Big E Langston says "except Pete Rose." Low hanging fruit but okay. Kofi gets to the point and says this Sunday it'll be a 2 out of 3 falls match for the tag team titles between them and Tyson Kidd & Cesaro. They try a New Day Rocks chant and here comes Kidd, Cesaro and Natalya.

Match 7

Cesaro (with Tyson Kidd & Natalya) vs Big E Langston (with Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods)

Singles action with the two hosses of the group. Bell's gone as the announcers speculate who the 2 out of 3 falls stip gives the advantage to. Langston gets in a headlock as JBL says Jack Tunney wouldn't put up with what Roger Goodel does in the NFL (ha!). Langston jumps into a scoop slam by Cesaro as JBL says the New England Patriots should be stripped of their Superbowl win. God Brady won in the end. Cesaro hits a top rope crossbody for 1..2...no. Cesaro stomps away at Big E as the crowd chants New Day sucks. Cesaro clotheslines Langston over the top to the floor as we go to commercial. Back from break Cesaro slugs away at Big E in the middle of the ring. Langston locks in an abdominal stretch until Cesaro fights out of it with a gut-wrench suplex. Cesaro walks into a belly to belly suplex but Big E misses the big splash. Cesaro runs into a rock bottom and E covers for 1...2...no. Big E drops Cesaro with a clothesline and covers for 1...2...no. Woods "HES ON FIREEEEEE" as the crowd claps for Cesaro. Cesaro ducks the line and hits a springboard uppercut much to Cole's delight. Cesario hits an overhead suplex and hits an uppercut in the corner. Cesaro nails a series of uppercuts and calls for the giant swing. Woods hops up on the apron for the distraction but Kidd takes him out. Kofi drops Kidd and Cesaro turns around in time to see Big E coming. Cesaro does a European roll up (!!??) for 1...2....3 to win the match. Haven't seen THAT in a while! Decent hoss fight with Cesaro stealing the show with his freak strength.

Time of match: 8:54

Winner: Cesaro by pinfall

After the match we get the pre-show match for this Sunday......Curtis Axel & Damien Sandow vs The Ascension. Good grief. On top of that, the month of May is free for WWE Network. A second ppv has been added for two weeks from Sunday....ELIMINATION CHAMBER. Ah lovely, we get 3 ppvs in the span of a month. Money In The Bank is scheduled for June 14th in Columbus, Ohio, EC on May 31st in Corpus Christi, Texas and Payback this Sunday. 

Back from break we get the Prime Time Players Titus O'Neill and Darren Young doing a New Age Outlaws impression. This was a sad sign of the times where WWE guys had to imitate old WWE guys because they couldn't get over on their own. O'Neill says you better beat somebody and Darren in a blonde wig says if you're not down with that, he's got 3 words for ya. Millions of dollars. Wonderful....next.

Here comes Bray Wyatt for a philosophical discussion. He gets in the ring and says he wishes he could reach out and fix everything. Bray says fear is all around us and engulfed the world like a wildfire. He says open a newspaper and turn on the TV to see fear being sold of a crumbling economy that will never stop. Bray says people aren't waking up yet and Ryback is an inspiration to them. The crowd barely chants "Feed me more" as Bray brings up Ryback's ankle injury and how he was told to retire. Bray says Ryback fought through the injury to rise again and Bray says "My hero." Bray says along the came the spider as Ryback has never seen anything like him before. Bray says Ryback must be asking why him (and so is everyone else) and Bray says Ryback's in his way. Bray says "Sometimes the bad guy just wins." Bray poses in the ring but here comes Ryback. Cole "and sometimes the good guy does." JBL "That we dont know yet." Ryback and Wyatt scrap with Ryback hitting the spinebuster. Ryback clotheslines Bray who heads for the hills. The crowd finally chants "feed me more" a little bit louder as Bray smiles in the entrance. Well now we got the answer, "fuck you that's why". Still, the match should be interesting as Ryback stands tall before the break.

Back from commercial its time for the main event.

Match 8

Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins (with Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury)

Non-title match so Rollins has nothing to lose here. Seth and Orton exchange holds with Orton getting the early headlock. The announcers bicker with each other as Rollins drops Orton with a shoulderblock. Orton responds with a back elbow smash and they slug it out in the ring. Orton throws Rollins head first into the ground and into the corner. Orton drops Rollins with a European uppercut and stomps away at him. Cole says Orton has the advantage in the match as a 12 time world champion. Orton misses the knee drop but hits the backbreaker. Cole brings up Rollin's dastardly deeds the past year as Orton is sent to the outside as we go to break. Back from commercial Rollins has the chinlock applied. JBL once again is terrified of Ambrose winning the title. Rollins sends Orton into the corner but is backdropped to the apron. Seth goes upstairs but Orton crotches him on the top rope. Orton laughs at Rollins and hits the superplex. Orton and Rollins play yay/boo punchathon until Rollins gets the final kick to the stomach. Orton floors Rollins with a clothesline and goes for the powerslam but Rollins catches himself on the rope. A charge in the corner by Orton eats boot but Rollins comes off the second rope into a powerslam. Orton hooks the leg for 1...2...no. Rollins snaps Orton off the top rope and hits an enziguiri on the apron. Rollins hits the springboard knee drop and covers for 1...2..no. Rollins rolls out of the backbreaker but walks into a t-bone Taz plex (!!??) by Orton. Rollins dumps him to the apron and dropkicks him onto the floor. Rollins hits the suicide dive outside and both guys slide back in. Rollins misses the stinger splash and Orton rolls him for 1..2...no. Rollins kicks Orton in the head and covers for another deuce. Rollins gets to his feet first and mocks Randy by imitating is viper curl. Orton goes to backdrop Rollins but Seth rolls out of it. Rollins runs but Orton catches him with the second rope DDT. Orton curls up and calls for the RKO. Randy goes for it but here comes Joey Mercury for the DQ. Who booked this show, Vince Russo? Good match but another ending ruined by DQ. 

Time of match: 15:19

Winner: Orton by DQ

After the match J & J Security put the loafers to Orton. They lift him up but he fights out of it. He throws Noble into the post and drops Mercury, but turns around into a Rollins clothesline. Rollins picks Mercury and Noble up and Kane makes his appearance. Kane grabs a chair and just looks at J & J Security. Mercury, Noble and Rollins put the boots to Orton but here comes Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns to even the odds. They clean house of Mercury and Noble as Orton gets to his feet. The 3 faces surround Rollins and he calls out to Kane. Again Kane doesn't move as Ambrose hits Dirty Deeds on Rollins. Kane still doesn't do anything as the crowd chants for an RKO. Ambrose picks up Rollins and Reigns hits a spear on Seth. Ambrose and Reigns ask what's up with Kane as Orton just looks at Rollins. The duo pick up Rollins and Orton hits the RKO. Randy turns around into a Roman Reigns spear and he celebrates. Reigns turns around into Dirty Deeds from Ambrose. Dean stands tall to end the show with Kane still doing nothing. Cole hypes up NXT and an encore showing of Sami Zayn vs NXT star Kevin Owens as we sign up.

Apart from the Cena/Neville match, this was a bad show. Too many DQ finishes and somewhat pointless matches. Still, we're 6 days out from the pay-per-view, makes no sense to blow your load now. Daniel Bryan retiring sucks but that means we'll be getting a new IC champion soon. Problem is they played hot potato with the belt before Bryan got it, hopefully we don't see that again. As for the US title match, there's not a chance in hell Rusev wins it but dammit they're going to try to make it look like he can. The tag team division has been absolute garbage since Wrestlemania so at least they're trying to fix it with putting Harper & Rowan back together and Axel & Sandow. The Divas situation is an absolute mess with the Bellas working face by proxy and the fans just aren't interested. Bringing back a hoss like Tamina makes Naomi look better but unfortunately there's no other competition....yet. Ryback and Wyatt would be a good hoss fight and both desperately need a big win. The whole Ziggler/Neville against Barrett/Sheamus thing has been going on since Wrestlemania so its time to end those. Finally, once again they're trying to make it look like Kane is turning face by saying he's fired if Rollins loses so you know Seth isn't going to. They're having Dean Ambrose stand tall lately so they're trying to make it look like he's got the best chance to walk out of there the winner. The next show after this is Wednesday's NXT, I'll see you there.

WWE Smackdown (5/7/15)

WWE Smackdown

Canadian Tire Centre

Ottawa, CA

May 7, 2015

Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton & Jerry "The King" Lawler

Ring Announcer: JoJo Offerman

We're just 10 days away from Payback and Monday's Raw gave us Dean Ambrose in the main event to set up a Fatal-Four-Way for the main event. Rusev vs John Cena "I Quit" is also featured in ten days but let's see if we get any more matches for the show. New Day vs Tyson Kidd & Cesaro could be on the table and Ryback vs Bray Wyatt as well, but nothing's concrete. Let's get started...with a dark match.

Dark Match

Charlotte Flair vs Natalya

Yes, the NXT Women's Champion Charlotte Flair was getting a trial run before making her way to the main roster. She faced Natalya in this special dark match. Natalya got the duke, but Flair was definitely on her way.

Winner: Natalya

We begin with a recap vignette of Dean Ambrose being added to the main event. Then we see Roman Reigns vs Randy Orton end with an Authority beat down until Dean Ambrose to make the save...only for Randy Orton to rKo Reigns. Ambrose hit Randy Orton with Dirty Deeds to leave him standing tall to end it. Tom and Byron welcome us to the show and hypes up the contract signing tonight between the four participants in the main event. Then we're sent to Jerry "The King" Lawler in the ring who recaps the King of The Ring last week and brings out King Barrett to address his subjects. Barrett comes out wearing the crown, holding the scepter and has the cape draped over one arm. Lawler says "From one king to another..." and Barrett cuts him off. Barrett says there's only one king in WWE and its not Lawler. Wade says Jerry just calls himself the King, Barrett earned it by beating three guys in 24 hours. Barrett refuses to be treated as an equal and demands Jerry say "All hail King Barrett". Lawler can't even get a response in before Barrett says there's no castles in the Memphis trailer parks or the phony king Elvis Pressley. Barrett says the only throne Lawler should be on is the toilet and demands him to say All Hail King Barrett. Lawler refuses and Barrett gets in his face to say "Bloody do it." Lawler says "no" and Barrett says the interview is over. Barrett goes to load up a bull hammer but Dolph Ziggler walks out. Dolph gets in the ring and says Barrett is acting like a Renaissance Fair reject. Referee Mike Chioda gets in the ring and Dolph says its a good thing Mike is here because he's going to drop Barrett. Guess we got an impromptu match.

Match 1

Dolph Ziggler vs King Barrett

Bell rings and they circle to start. Lawler says Barrett's only been king for a week as Wade drops Ziggler with a shoulderblock. Barrett "All hail the king" as he kicks away at Dolph in the corner. Barrett hits a floatover suplex for 1...2..no. Barrett drops a knee and covers for another deuce but gets dropkicked by Ziggler. Barrett bails to the outside as Ziggler shouts to get back in as we go to break. Back from commercial Ziggler punches away at Barrett but misses the splash in the corner. Barrett covers for two as Lawler asks if Saxton will grovel at Wade's feet. Byron says no as we go to Barrett hitting the big boot to Ziggler during commercial. Barrett's chinlock is fought out of it by Ziggler and he knees Ziggler in the head anyway. He covers for two as Lawler says 20 years ago he called the fans peons and told them to kiss his royal feet and it didn't work out, he ended up having to kiss his own foot. Ha! At least we finally get a reason why he just stopped being a heel by 1999. Barrett drops a knee to the back and locks in a surfboard. Lawler says he's going rub the locker-room the wrong way as Ziggler runs into Winds of Change. He covers for 1...2...no. Lawler says Barrett can go bowling with his boogers as Ziggler hits a fameasser out of nowhere. Ziggler covers but here's Sheamus out of nowhere to wreck everything. Lawler "Are you kidding me?" That was going well until the run in.

Time of match: 6:48

Winner: Ziggler by DQ

Post-match Sheamus and Barrett double team Ziggler. They tie Dolph in the ropes but here's Adrian Neville for the save. Neville dropkicks Sheamus, ducks the line and dropkicks Barrett to the outside. The faces stand tall in the ring as we go to break. Back from break.....we got another match!

Match 2

Dolph Ziggler & Adrian Neville vs King Barrett and Sheamus

During commercial, apparently we got an impromptu tag match. Barrett has Neville down and immediately makes the tag to Sheamus. Sheamus taunts Neville and kick him in the chest. Lawler says he's co-existed peacefully with all the previous kings of the ring except Bret Hart. Ha, Lawler is on fire tonight with logic. He did support Owen Hart, Mabel and HHH for sure. Neville kicks Sheamus in the ribs but can't make the tag. Sheamus knocks Dolph off the apron and hits the Irish Curse, covering for 1...2...no. Sheamus has a healing black eye because Dolph kicked him in the face in the KoTR match for real by accident the week before. Barrett tags in and hits a backbreaker of his own before covering 1...2...no. Neville kicks Barrett in the head but Wade hits a big boot. Sheamus tags in and locks in a chinlock before Neville crawls toward Ziggler. Neville walks into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and shouts "Are you not entertained??" Neville crawls to the apron and Sheamus goes for 10 beats of the Bodhran. Sheamus clubs him three times but Neville snaps him off the top rope. Back inside Sheamus misses a charge in the corner and Ziggler gets the hot tag. Barrett tags in too to get rocked by Ziggler. Ziggler hits the Stinger Splash in the corner and a dropkick. Dolph hits a DDT and covers for 1...2..no. Ziggler hits the superkick and covers for 1..2...no. Ziggler clotheslines Sheamus over the top and out and Neville hits a suicide dive on Sheamus but Barrett rolls up Ziggler with his feet on the ropes 1...2....no, Neville throws the feet off at the last second. Ziggler hits Zig Zag and covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. Lawler whoops it up as King Barrett begins his reign with two losses in one night. Barrett always took losses when he shouldn't.

Time of match: 6:02

Winners: Dolph and Neville by pinfall

We're getting a Six-Man-Tag later with the New Day facing Tyson Kidd, Cesaro and a mystery partner. Who could it be? Find out later. We cut to Renee Young with Dean Ambrose and asks about his chances. Ambrose says he's not a math guy or an Authority guy. He says he's the chaos theory of the Authority as he's the last guy they expected to be in, and he's walking out the last man standing. Ambrose has a feeling that nobody will be happy to see him. We go to commercial and back from break, we get a blurb that WWE is the Number 1 sports channel on Youtube. Poor UrinatingTree....on to the next match.

Match 3

Luke Harper vs Fandango

Harper hasn't done a damn thing since losing to Ambrose at Extreme Rules and he gets the glorified jobber Fandango here. Bell rings and Harper does his own parody of the Fandango dance before booting him in the head. Hahahaha! Harper chokes Fandango in the corner as Phillips said he once belonged to the Wyatt Family. Harper gets chopped in the chest and dropkicked by Fandango. Fandango hits a heel kick and hits a tornado DDT from the second rope. Fandango goes upstairs but Harper throws him off before hitting a superkick. Harper hits the big lariat and covers for 1..2...3 to win the match. If you want to re-establish Harper as something, that helps. Short and sweet squash.

Time of match: 2:08

Winner: Harper by pinfall

All of a sudden Erick Rowan's music hits. He hasn't been since since Wrestlemania really but he heads to the ring. Rowan and Harper fighting again? NO! Rowan puts the boots to Fandango and drops a knee. Rowan hits the pump handle slam and just leaves. What, he just hates Fandango? Even Harper looks confused inside the ring. That was stupid, should have just had them shake hands or leave together. 

We get a graphic for our ppv main event before we go to break. Back from break, Lana is in the ring who gets a babyface pop. Lana says not to cheer for her because it angers Rusev causing a chorus of boos. Speaking of which, here he comes to the ring. Rusev yells at Lana for no reason and tells her to leave. They're really hammering the Marc Mero/Sable storyline here. Lawler "She's the only thing to ever make Rusev bearable to watch." That one hits home big time....too close. Rusev cuts the same promo as always, promising to break John Cena and his victories are a fluke. Rusev says Cena showed mercy to Sami Zayn and mercy is a sign of weakness. Rusev will make Cena say I Quit....yeah yeah. Does anyone in the world think Rusev has half a chance to win that match?

The announcers at ringside plug the WWE Network shows before sending us back to Renee with Roman Reigns. Reigns has no emotions since he's been rivals with Randy Orton since day one. He hates everything about Seth Rollins but Dean Ambrose is like a brother to him. He trusts Dean (that's a mistake) and he's bringing the fight at Payback. The quicker he signs the contract, the quicker he gets to punch someone in the mouth for championship gold. Up next is our six man tag match as we go to break. On to the next match back from break and New Day comes out first. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro along with Natalya come out next. The mystery partner is....Ryback. Someone who can counter Big E for sure.

Match 4

The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods and Big E Langston) vs Tyson Kidd, Cesaro and Ryback (with Natalya)

Now THAT'S a mystery partner and New Day isn't happy about it. Woods says "he can't take E" as the crowd chants feed me more. Ryback starts with Kofi as the crowd chants New...Day sucks. Kofi kicks Ryback in the side of the leg then in the ribs. Kofi locks in a hammerlock but Ryback reverses it. Ryback shoulderblocks Kofi down and catches Kingston in mid air. He tags in Kidd who hits a dropkick. He covers for 1 but Kofi gets a knee to the ribs. Woods tags in but runs into a drop-toe-hold. Woods doesn't see the bling tag to Cesaro and runs right into a clothesline. Cesaro gets Ryback's attention and executes a delayed suplex. Ryback then picks up Big E and Kidd gets Woods for a triple delayed suplex. The crowd loved that one. Cesaro throws Woods in his corner then tags in Tyson. They double stomp Woods in the corner to the rhythm of "New...day sucks" and Ryback does it as well. Woods sunset flips Kidd, but Tyson counters with a sharpshooter attempt. Woods bails to the outside and Kidd somersault planchas Xavier on the floor. Cesaro takes out Kofi and Ryback bowls over Big E as well. Kidd throws Woods back in the ring but Woods dropkicks him off the apron. Big E gets the tag and he rams Tyson into both the barricade, then the side of the ring, back to the barricade, back to the side of the ring. We cut to commercial and back from break, New Day has Tyson isolated in the corner. Woods hits a tornado DDT and covers for 1..2....no. Kidd is rammed into the corner and Langston tags in. Big E hits an overhead belly to belly suplex and claps at Kidd. E hits a second one and covers for 1..2....no. Xavier tags in and kicks Tyson in the ribs but misses a charge in the corner. Kofi knocks Cesaro off the apron but forgets about Ryback who gets the hot tag. Ryback cleans house and hits a spinebuster on Kofi. Ryback calls for the meat hook but Kofi distracts him. Ryback hits an overhead suplex on Kofi and tags in Cesaro. Cesario does the running uppercuts in the corner and a spinebuster. Cesarp throws Big E outside and Kidd takes Woods out with a kick. Cesaro tags Kidd who does the old Tower of Doom on Kofi. Kidd covers for 1..2....nooooo. Ryback drops Woods an clotheslines E over the top rope. Ryback tosses Woods over the top to the floor but the lights go out...uh oh. The lights go on as Ryback is clotheslined down on outside. Kofi rolls up Kidd inside for 1..2....3 to win the match. The Bray Wyatt distraction worked long enough for New Day to steal one. That was a great match, too bad the crappy ending ruined it.

Time of match: 12:11

Winners: New Day by pinfall

Renee Young is in Randy Orton and says Orton couldn't win at Extreme Rules and asks what his new strategy is. Orton says he's going to hit whoever closest to him is and will do anything to win. He's facing the entire Shield but he says that one of them ain't gonna make it to Payback. Who could he be referring to? Back from break, its on to our next match.

Match 5

Emma vs Naomi (with Tamina Snuka)

Naomi has a PiP interview with Naomi and everybody's "gonna know" about them. I see....Bell's gone and Naomi immediately attacks. She kicks away at Emma in the corner but Emma reverses it and throws Naomi into the center of the ring. Emma hits a dropkick and covers for 1..2...no. Emma gets kicked in the head and taken down by the hair by Naomi. Naomi hits a rude awakening and nips up before taunting the irate crowd. Naomi kicks Emma in the ribs and chokes her on the first rope. Naomi then chokes her on the top rope and throws her down. Naomi hits a dropkick and covers for 1...2...nope. Naomi throws Emma in the corner but misses a charge. Emma tries a sunset flip for 1...2...no. A schoolgirl gets 1...2..no. Another pinfall gets two but Naomi reverses it into a backslide for a deuce. Emma runs right into the Rear View and Naomi covers for 1..2....3 to win the match. Total squash by Naomi to establish her as top heel with Tamina by her side.

Time of match: 3:11

Winner: Naomi by pinfall

Post-match Naomi and Tamina beat down Emma and Tamina lays her out with a superkick. Emma is completely lost on the main roster without Santino Marella but fear not, help is on the way in NXT. If she can't do it, others can. We go to the announcers who hype up the upcoming season of Tough Enough....oh god, no. Next! Back from commercial Renee Young is with Seth Rollins with J & J Security in tow. Rollins says its HIS championship on the line and he makes the impossible, possible. He shocked the world at Wrestlemania but Renee counters that Kane takes credit for helping him win. Rollins says that sounds desperate and he's jealous of him. Rollins says Kane is trying to keep his job and jealous of him. Rollins has something Kane will never have, brains. He always has a plan for Payback and tonight. Seth says the future is now. On to the next match.

Match 6

Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando) with El Torrito vs The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara)

Kind of a pointless match near the end of the show but at least we get to see Lucha Libre....yay? Kalisto and Fernando start and shake hands to begin. They chain wrestle to start then go to the chinlock 10 seconds into it. Kalisto hits a head scissors and a headlock takeover as Phillips says the Dragons were NXT tag champs. Sin Cara tags in with a hilo and a head scissors of his own. Sin Cara gets a headlock takeover as Lawler asks how New Day would handle these teams. Diego tags in and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker before covering for a deuce. Fernando tags in and they catch Cara mid air, but Diego is armdragged out of the ring. Cara does a headstand on the top turnbuckle but Fernando kicks him out of the ring. Torrito does a bronco buster outside as we go to break. Back from commercial the Matadores hit a double suplex on Cara. Fernando covers for 1...2..no. Cara hits a modified Angle Slam and Kalisto gets the hot tag. Kalisto hits a springboard sky twister press and hits the Listo Kick. He hits a head scissors for 1..2...no, Diego breaks it up. Kalisto hits a springboard Pele kick on Fernando but Sin Cara botches a suicide dive, hitting face first on the ground in front of Fernando outside. He caught his foot on the ropes that Kalisto was standing on. Diego sunset flips Kalisto for 1...2...no. Sin Cara gets a blind tag but misses the swanton bomb. He still hits a cradle for 1...2...3 to win the match. Kalisto moves like a young Rey Mysterio and is similar size as well. Good lucha libre match even if Cara botched that one spot.

Time of match: 9:13

Winners: Lucha Dragons by pinfall

Post-match the Dragons celebrate but Diego shoves down Torito. Oh no! Fernando calms him down though. We get one last graphic for the final segment before we go to commercial. Back from break, Kane is in the ring for the contract signing. He brings out Randy Orton first, then Roman Reigns, then Dean Ambrose who gets a bigger pop then both Orton & Reigns. Finally Rollins comes out last with J & J security holding his own mic. Rollins doesn't get in the ring, he just stands on the stage. Kane goes to emcee then Ambrose calls Rollins "Justin Bieber" and tells him to bring "Frodo" and "Bilbo" to come down there. Rollins says Ambrose humor was just as bad as Roman trying to form sentences. Rollins says he'll stay up there and let the other 3 sort their business out. Roman has a sentence, he's going to sign the contract and kick hiss ass. Roman signs as Orton says they all want that world championship around Seth's waist. Randy signs it and Dean says he's gonna drag Rollins down there himself. Rollins says Kane will sign for him and Kane says he COULD do that in theory but Kane remembers Seth calling him obsolete and irrelevant. Kane says he could sign as a proxy if he was injured but Kane insists to come sign himself since he's healthy. Seth says fine and heads to the ring steps as the crowd chants "Justin Bieber". Seth sends Joey Mercury in to get the contract so Seth can review it. Instead he calls Ambrose "low rent Roddy Piper" which apparently is what Roman called him. Seth says Roman signs autographs better than he wrestles which is what Ambrose used to say about him. Seth says its no secret Dean and Roman called him spoiled, entitled and never worked a day. Rollins "What's wrong with a little honesty." Seth gets in the ring with J & J as the crowd chants rKo. Seth signs it and hands it to "Mr. Obsolete" and Kane says he's the only reason Seth is champion. Dean rearranges the chairs and sets up the table in the corner. Dean says we all know this was how it was going to end anyway so he's got dibs on the table. He throws Mercury up the table since its a real one and not the easily breakable ones. A brawl envelops with J & J and Ambrose outside with Roman slugging it out with Kane. Randy kicks away at Rollins until clotheslining him over the top rope. Ambrose heaves chairs onto Jamie Noble and suicide dives Kane into the announce table. Roman superman punches Kane and Ambrose catches Rollins inside the ring. Rollins dropkicks Reigns into Ambrose and avoids the rKo. Ambrose and Reigns shove each other and Orton rKo's Ambrose. Reigns hits the Superman punch to Orton and Rollins comes off the top with a dropkick to Reigns. Rollins superkicks Reigns, grabs the belt and poses with it as we sign off.

Rollins standing tall in the end had to be done because he was getting beat up every show at this point by the other three. By dividing and conquering, his game plan is real clear. The rest of the show was a big bag of meh although the lucha match was good. Erik Rowan returned to turn heel but not join Luke Harper was bizarre although they may elaborate on that one. New Day being as obnoxious as they can be is working perfectly. We still got two big shows left before Payback so the card will be set for sure. The next show after this is the upcoming Raw. I'll see you there.

WWE Raw (5/4/15)

We're just under two weeks away from WWE Payback and most of the card is set even if its not official. What IS official is John Cena vs Rusev in an I Quit Match and Seth Rollins defends the WWE Championship against Roman Reigns and Randy Orton in a triple threat match. What's not official but most likely is Ryback vs Bray Wyatt, Nikki Bella vs Naomi and New Day against Tyson Kidd & Cesaro. The status of Daniel Bryan is still up in the air so we'll have to see how that turns out. Definitely this week is important to add some last minute stips to the established matches and cement the others I mentioned. Let's get to this week's show.

WWE Raw

Bell Centre

Montreal, Quebec

May 4. 2015

Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T and JBL

Ring Announcer: Eden Stiles

We begin the show with Randy Orton coming out for a conference. Randy says Payback is fitting for a ppv because he's looking for Payback on Seth Rollins. He says Roman Reigns is also in the match but he's going to be disappointed because Randy is walking out of Payback the champion. Orton says there's not a damn thing Rollins or Reigns can do about it and right on cue, Reigns walks out to join him. Reigns says its not going down like that, if anyone's going to get payback, its him. The crowd chants RKO and Roman says the fans don't fight for him. Randy says "You want payback at Payback and on Rollins but what do you think I'm gonna do, just let you march down to the ring, beat the hell out of Rollins and just stand in a corner?" Reigns "I don't care what you do, but if you come near me you won't be standing." Orton says he's a 12 time champion, been in 12 consecutive Wrestlemanias and says Roman's only been in 3 Wrestlemania's and has 0 heavyweight titles. Roman says he beat Orton at Summerslam and doesn't mind breaking Randy in half. They go nose to nose when....The New Day shows up. What? Xavier Woods says this negativity has to stop. Xavier says they're the only champions out there and they're there to spread positivity. Xavier says nobody cares about their Montreal Boo-hoo job......what? Kofi says both of them squandered their opportunities away as the crowd chants "New...Day sucks". Kofi says what's in the past is in the past and today is a new day. Kofi says "New Day rocks" and Big E says Roman can't win the big one and Rollins not only has Orton's number, he's got it on speed dial. Big E then gets to the point and says they got a handicap match courtesy of Kane, all three of them against Roman and Randy. Let's get to it after commercial.

Match 1

The New Day (Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston and Big E Langston) vs Randy Orton and Roman Reigns in a handicap match

Least we're getting some wrestling in the first 10 minutes of the show, even if this was a main event caliber match shown right away. Kofi starts with Orton and kicks away at him in the corner. Orton comes out of the corner with a clothesline and suplexes Kofi on the top rope. Roman tags in and suplexes Kofi back in the ring. Roman stares down Big E and locks in an arm-ringer. Kofi punches out of it and Woods tags in. Woods gets a headlock in and shouts "I'm gonna beat Roman Reigns." Booker "I don't think this is gonna work out good for Woods." Roman drops Xavier with a shoulderblock and a samoan drop before Orton tags in. Orton suplexes Xavier and covers for a deuce before he stomps on the back of Woods. Orton drops a knee and covers for another two count. Roman tags in and kicks Woods in the ribs. Roman kicks Woods in the head then stomps the mid-section. Orton tags in and stomps Woods as Booker says both Randy and Roman were born into the business. Orton stomps Woods enough to make Ronnie Garvin proud but Kofi distracts Randy long enough for Woods to tag in Big E. E hits a belly to belly suplex on Orton as Cole says that's the numbers game. New Day isolates Randy in the corner with all three members getting shots in on Randy. Woods hits a dropkick on Randy and covers for a deuce before we go to break. Back from break Kofi has Roman Reigns in a nerve hold. During the break Reigns got a hot tag and cleaned house only to be knocked into the barricade. Back to live action Big E hits an overhead belly to belly suplex on Reigns and claps to rile up the crowd. Big E does it again and covers for 1....2....nope. Woods tags in with a slingshot elbow drop and covers for 1...2...nope. Roman punches away at Woods but Xavier counters with a swinging neckbreaker. Woods covers for a deuce and Kofi tags in with a big fist off the second rope. Kofi locks in a front headlock as JBL makes fun of Kofi's pigtails. Woods tags in and applies a chinlock but Roman fights out of it and gets the hot tag to Orton. Orton catches Kofi mid-air and powerslams him but Big E breaks up the count. Roman hits the Superman punch on Big E but Woods dropkicks Roman. Randy heaves Woods out of the ring and does the second rope DDT to Woods. Orton coils and looks for the rKo, hitting Woods with it. Roman then goes to spear Kofi but Kingston moves and Roman spears Orton by accident. Kofi covers Orton for 1...2....3 to win the match. Uh oh.....Randy's not gonna like that. New Day hightails it out of there laughing as Roman is distraught. Good tag match for what it was and its obvious the New Day can draw heat.

Time of match: 13:13

Winners: New Day by pinfall

After the match Kane comes out with a microphone and says there's no shame in losing to the tag team champions. Kane says their evening isn't over yet and he can tell they're developing a dislike for each other. He wants to exploit that so he orders Reigns vs Orton in the main event of the show later. Kane says that's best for business. Guess Roman and Orton are pulling double duty tonight and Cole at ringside says this will benefit Rollins.

Backstage Kane walks by the celebratory New Day and rolls his eyes before Seth himself walks up with J and J Security. Rollins says what Kane just did is similar to a kid who's been bad all year trying to suck up to Santa the night before Christmas. Kane counters by saying he would wait in the chimney with a blowtorch to fry Santa's chestnuts (hahahahaha!). Kane says he made the matches because that's what is best for business. Kane says Rollins isn't getting off easy tonight and Rollins is going to face Dean Ambrose and J & J are banned from ringside. Rollins says Kane was the outside interference and Ambrose is going to hurt him before Payback. Kane says he could simply tie him to the ringpost and Rollins storms off unhappy. Again. this would be cool if Kane was actually turning face, but he's not.

Back to Renee Young in the ring to bring out Ryback for a chat. Highlights of Bray Wyatt attacking Ryback are shown and Ryback says "MONTREAL, YOU SOUND HUNGRY!" for almost no pop at all. Renee asks why Wyatt has been targeting Ryback and Ryback has no idea but it was a stupid decision. The crowd chants Goldberg as Ryback says he's been facing fear is whole life then stops to acknowledge the crowd. That causes them to chant "Feed Me More" (hahahaha). Ryback brings up his real life injuries including his horrible ankle break (that took him out of the Nexus in 2010) and he's grateful that he could come back and continue doing what he loved. Ryback gets another chant going and says Bray wanted his attention, and he's got it. Ryback says Bray can't scare him and he woke him up, now he's starving. Cue Bray Wyatt on the titantron to say human minds create human monsters. Wyatt says deep down inside Ryback is a scared little boy and fear molds them all. Bray "Everything you love, everything you're afraid to lose is all going to fade away, and in time...so will you. Run!" Still no explanation of why Bray wants Ryback but that's been his character for a year now, he attacked Dean Ambrose for no reason and now its Ryback. Onto the next match.

Match 2

The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor) vs Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (with Natalya)

Kidd and Cesaro are reeling after losing the belts to the New Day and they get the Ascension to feast on here. Pre-recorded comments have Konnor and Viktor saying Kidd is a fake Hart and they're going to rip out their hearts. They claim they're the tag team of the future and JBL on commentary asks when does the future start. They bum rush Kidd and Cesaro at the bell with Viktor starting with Tyson. Viktor sends Kidd into a Konnor clothesline and Viktor covers for 1...2...no. JBL says Stu Hart would have turned 100 years old yesterday as Konnor tags in to stomp away on Tyson in the corner. Konnor covers for 1..2..no. Konnor chokes Kidd in the corner and tags in Viktor. Viktor applies a chinlock then tags in Konnor for a snap suplex. Konnor tags in Viktor who comes off the top with a dropkick then covers for a deuce when Cesaro breaks up the count. Konnor tags in who slams Kidd, but misses the elbow drop. Viktor tags in to prevent the tag but Kidd gets the tag to Cesaro. Cesaro cleans house of both guys before hitting a serries of 10 running uppercuts to Viktor in the corner. Viktor is out of gas as Cesaro hits a clothesline and covers for two. Cesaro gutwrenches Viktor from the mat as the crowd pops. Konnor is clotheslined out of the ring but Viktor drops Cesaro. Kidd suicide dives onto Konnor on the floor as Cesaro hits a spinebuster on Viktor. Cesaro does a giant swing as Kidd tags in to drop a leg on Viktor. Kidd covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Cesaro got the crowd excited as the burial of Ascension continues. Kidd, Cesaro and Natalya pose for the crowd as we cut to the back.

Time of match: 4:07

Winners: Kidd & Cesaro by pinfall

Seth Rollins walks in the back but is intercepted by Renee Young. She asks what he thinks about tonight's match with Dean Ambrose. He says this match shouldn't be happening and Kane is a moron. Back from commercial we get a highlight from Smackdown where Ambrose faced Rollins and Kane interfered to help Rollins win. Dean Ambrose makes his way to the ring for the match followed by Seth Rollins. All of a sudden Kane's music hits and he walks out. Kane says he's taken Seth's words to heart about there being no point to the match. Kane says if Dean wins this one then the match at Payback will be a Fatal Four Way with Ambrose added to it. Seth grabs a mic and goes nuclear and says 78% says for triple threat and keep it that way. Dean grabs the mic and says its a great idea and asks the crowd what they think. Naturally they cheer as Rollins says Kane or Ambrose don't matter, he's the WWE champion. Kane says he's overruling him and to ring the bell.

Match 3

Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins

If Dean wins, he's added to the main event of Payback. No J & J Security means Rollins is by himself as well. Ambrose rolls him up as soon as the bell rings for 1...2....no. Dean punches away at Rollins and chops away. Ambrose misses a big punch as Rollins bails to the outside. Dean chases him and drops Seth with a forearm. Rollins kicks him in the stomach and punches away before throws Ambrose in the ring. Dean immediately slides back out and hits a clothesline. Dean grabs Seth by the nose and kicks him in the neck. Booker T and JBL bicker about Kane's decision as Ambrose gets in a leglock. Ambrose hits a snap suplex and covers for a one count before Rollins kicks Ambrose in the ribs. Seth throws Dean in the corner and fires away then does a snap mare. Rollins kicks Dean in the back as the crowd chants for Ambrose. Seth punches away at Dean in the corner but Dean reverses it with punches in the corner. Rollins walks right into a big chop and Dean covers for a deuce. Rollins hits a running knee to the ribs, a scoop slam and a running knee drop. He covers for two and locks in a chinlock. The crowd chants Rollins sold out as Ambrose fights back with a kick to the head. Dean backdrops Rollins to the floor as we go to commercial. Back from break, Rollins gets in a nerve hold but Dean powers out of it. Dean is sent head first into the second turnbuckle as Rollins misses a slingshot clothesline. Ambrose hits a tornado DDT and lays on the mat for a few seconds. Ambrose punches away at Rollins followed by a slap and a forearm smash. Ambrose goes to the top rope but misses a clothesline. Rollins bails to the outside but Ambrose hits a suicide dive onto Seth to spark a "Holy shit" chant. Ambrose turns a back suplex into a front slam and covers for 1...2....no. Ambrose counters the buckle bomb with a backdrop as Rollins misses the stinger splash. Ambrose goes up top and hits an elbow drop before covering for 1...2...no. Rollins snaps Ambrose off the top rope and hits the slingshot dropkick. Seth covers for 1.....2.....noooooo. Seth taunts Ambrose who slaps him in the face. Rollins hits a superkick and covers for 1...2....no. Rollins goes for the buckle bomb but Dean rolls out of it, punching Seth in the face. Ambrose clotheslines Seth over the top to the floor, spilling outside with him. Rollins outside hits a powerbomb against the barricade and rolls inside. The ref counts to nine but Ambrose barely beats the count. Seth stomps away at Dean in the corner and hits a running forearm. Dean answers with one of his own but Rollins kicks Ambrose in the head. Dean hits the rebound clothesline as Seth does a 360. Dean covers for 1...2....no. Here comes J & J Security who were supposedly banned from ringside. Jamie Noble distracts the ref while Joey Mercury is immediately thrown over the top rope to the floor by Dean. Rollins goes for the roll up but Dean counters it and rolls through for his own 1......2.....3 to win the match. The crowd explodes as Dean is now in the main event of Payback. Ambrose beats a hasty retreat as J & J go nuts inside the ring. Damn good match between the ex-Shield members. JBL bitches about it but the decision is final.

Time of match: 16:31

Winner: Ambrose by pinfall

Cole explains the Fatal Four Way rules before we get a highlight of the New Day beating Roman Reigns and Randy Orton from earlier. We get a graphic for Reigns vs Orton later tonight and back from break, we get the highlight of Ambrose defeating Rollins from a few minutes ago. Back in Kane's office, Rollins comes in completely irate. Rollins wants to fight Kane and bitches that its a Fatal Four Way. "What are you trying to do, kill me?" Kane says the WWE Universe picked the triple threat and Rollins caused it to be a Fatal Four Way by losing to Ambrose. Kane says keep it up and he'll keep adding people. Kane then says this is all to make Rollins better and a great champion. Kane says he's got a plan and walks off. We cut to Byron Saxton with Lana who gets a babyface pop for absolutely no reason. Saxton actually asks her what she thinks of the cheers and she has no idea what he's talking about. Fandango shows up and tells her to "feel it" and flow into the ecstasy of the WWE Universe. Here comes Vladimir Rusev to yell in Bulgarian and tell her to move it. Apparently its Rusev vs Fandango next.

Match 4

Fandango vs Vladimir Rusev (with Lana)

They're rehashing the old Marc Mero/Sable thing with Lana waiving to the crowd and Rusev mistreating her. Bell's gone and Rusev gets on him right away with punches & kicks. The crowd loudly chants for Kana and Rusev kicks Fandango in the head. Rusev charges in the corner and misses, Fandango rallying with right hands. Rusev gets a knee to the ribs and sends him over the top rope. Fandango goes over to Lana and starts dancing then she gets into it to a loud pop. Rusev clubs Fandango from behind and throws Lana out of the arena. Dude, she just distracted your opponent, the hell are you mad at? Fandango attacks from behind and sends Rusev into the ringpost twice. Back inside Fandango ducks the line and hits a series of dropkicks. Fandango eats a superkick and Rusev stomps on his back. Rusev locks in the Accolade and this one's over. Again, they're doing the Marc Mero/Sable, Mike Knox/Kelly Kelly angle so you know a Lana turn is coming. Total squash but it establishes Lana having some humanity and Rusev going insane because he suddenly can't beat John Cena.

Time of match: 2:12

Winner: Rusev by submission

Cole shows us Tough Enough videos as we go to break. Back from commercial we get a vignette for the upcoming ESPN special about the Performance Center and NXT. Cole shills the return of the god awful Tough Enough of June 23rd. I'm not even going to dignify it with a response. Anyway, here's R-Truth in the ring. On to our next match.

Match 5

R-Truth vs Stardust

Stardust cuts an insane promo before the match blaming R-Truth for costing him the King of The Ring. Michael Cole keeps calling him Cody and JBL keeps correcting him. Truth rolls up Stardust to start for a two count but Rhodes fights back. Truth drops him with a shoulderblock but Stardust hits a front suplex. Cody has a black back of something, unfortunately it doesn't look like a snake. Stardust hits a Russian leg sweep and does a cartwheel. Cody stomps on Truth and punches away at him before Truth starts to rally back. The crowd does NOT give a damn about this match as they collide in the center of the ring. Cody crawls to the bag as JBL says Dusty Rhodes is in the bag. Truth hits a Falcon Arrow and covers for 1...2....no. Truth goes for the bag and finds a bunch of fake spiders in it. What? Cody rolls him up for 1...2...3 to win the match. JBL thinks they're real and tells everyone to run. Truth runs away as Cole scoffs saying they're plastic. JBL "You don't know that, they could be rubber!" Waste of time really.

Time of match: 2:55

Winner: Stardust by pinfall

This Thursday on Smackdown will be the contract signing between Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. Ironically THIS is how they should have broken up the Shield a year ago. Here comes John Cena for his open challenge. The Montreal crowd loves to hate him and boos as he holds up the US title belt. Cena lets the "John Cena sucksssss" chant go on for a bit before he says "I quit". He says those words have meaning now as the crowd starts an "Ole" chant. He should have worn a Tampa Bay Lightning shirt but oh well. Cena says he's been fighting adversity for years and no matter the hostility he will never give up.  If he says he quits, he doesn't deserve to win and tells the crowd just like telling them to stop singing, it'll never happen. Cena says he loves how the rowdy crowd is passionate love him or hate him because Rusev doesn't care about the fans. Cena asks the crowd will they quit and they all scream "no". He starts calling out ppl in the crowd including a guy in a Quebec Nordiques jersey. He says they left town in 1996 but the guy still wears it because he won't quit and just like the Habs, the crowd won't give up either. Hahahaha, say what you will, Cena knows how to spin a crowd better than anyone. Cena says in two weeks he'll be saying "The champ is here" and he's here right now. After one more cheap pop he says he's the man to beat so bring on the challenger. After a few tense moments.....Bret Hart's music hits. WHAT?? Sure enough, the legendary Hitman walks out to a loud part. Bret grabs a mic and says he's here for one reason, to introduce a great wrestler. Before he can finish, Heath Slater walks out to interrupt Bret. Heath says this is his moment and it won't be taken away in Montreal. He says he's been RKO'd out of nowhere and then Rusev attacked him from behind out of nowhere. He's sick and tired of getting attacked out of nowhere but before he can say anything, Bret just pops him in the mouth. Heath drops like a dead deer and Bret goes on to introduce Cena's real opponent.....SAMI ZAYN!

Match 6

Sami Zayn vs John Cena for the WWE United States Championship

The crowd goes insane for the Montreal native and former NXT Champion. Naturally we go to commercial before the match starts and when we come back, we're underway. Zayn hits a dropkick to send Cena through the ropes to the outside. Cena moves and Zayn back flips back in the ring. JBL says Zayn looks good but there's a reason he calls Cena "Big match John". Cena hits a back suplex and covers for a deuce before applying a chinlock. JBL says Zayn was the one who ended Adrian Neville's historic NXT title reign. Zayn is favoring his shoulder which was legitimately injured and the doctors check the shoulder. Zayn says to let him continue and the ref says wrestle on. Cena lets him get ready and Cena unloads with right hands in the corner. Zayn rallies with a clothesline and right hands while favoring his left shoulder. Cena hits a series of shoulderblocks and the back suplex. Cena says you can't see me but Zayn counters with a victory roll for 1...2...no. Cena goes for the FU but Sami blocks it by hitting a top rope crossbody for 1...2...no. Cena bails to the outside and Zayn hits a rolling plancha before rolling John back inside. Cena catches him with the STFU in the center of the ring but Zayn makes it to the rope. The ref asks if Zayn wants to give it up but he catches Cena in the Koji Clutch. Cena rolls through it and goes for the FU. Sami rolls out of it and bridges a german suplex for 1...2...no. We see Rusev and Lana watching the match in the back before cutting back to the ring. Cena catches Zayn with a clothesline and shakes his head at him. Cena goes for the FU but Sami lands on his ass, pops back up, then both men double clothesline each other. Cena bails to the outside and Sami literally dives through the ringpost to hit a tornado DDT....holy schmidt. Zayn rolls Cena back in but Cena catches Zayn with the FU. Cena covers for 1...2.....NOOOOOOOO. The crowd pops as Zayn kicks out at the last second. Cena can't believe it and goes for another one. Sami catches him with the Blue Thunder Bomb for 1...2...nooooooo. The crowd chants "This is awesome" as they trade strikes in the middle of the ring. Cena from out of nowhere hits the springboard stunner (!!) before delivering another FU. Cena covers for 1...2....3.....and that's it. That was AWESOME and really brought out the best of both them. Cena shakes his hand and raises Sami's arm in the middle of the ring to a huge ovation. Cena leaves so Sami can get a standing ovation. Say what you will about Cena, he made Sami look great on his main roster debut. Unfortunately Sami really did hurt his shoulder and would be out a while, delaying his main roster push for a bit. Still, he went out on top.

Time of match: 10:43

Winner: Cena by pinfall

Cole says Sami Zayn will face NXT Champion Kevin Owens in two weeks at NXT Takeover. Cole literally reads off his script to hype up what's coming up on WWE Network including Payback in two weeks. We cut to a highlight of Orton and Reigns losing to New Day earlier before The Bella Twins walking in the back. They walk by New Day excessively celebrating by putting Big E on their shoulders as we go to commercial. Back from break Renee Young is looking for Sami Zayn but here comes New Day instead. Kofi says they are OHHHH SO GLORIOUSSSSSS and Big E says "I SAID VICTORIOUSSSSSS". Xavier Woods says their future bright and his E60 episode is on tomorrow night. They start a "New...Day rocks" chant when the former champions Cesaro, Tyson Kidd and Natalya appear. Cesaro says the crowd is chanting "New....Day sucks" and Natalya says the only reason New Day won earlier was Randy and Roman hate each other. Kidd says everyone on planet earth hates them as Woods calls him a catastrophe of Canada. Big E says their negativity won't deter them. Kidd says that's okay because New...Day sucks. Kind of pointless since New Day beat them and then Randy & Roman earlier but oh well. 

The Bellas make their way to the ring for a non-title match between Nikki and Naomi when all of a sudden Tamina Snuka of all people run out and decks them both. Tamina tore her ACL last June and she's back. Naomi joins the beatdown and Tamina superkicks Nikki down. Tamina pulls Brie to her feet and Naomi slaps her before hitting an enziguiri. Naomi celebrates but the crowd is apathetic rather than angry. WWE really screwed up trying to turn the Bellas face out of nowhere because the crowd isn't buying it. Naomi says the Bellas run of dominance is over and THIS is what family is about. Huh? Naomi and Tamina aren't related. Cole tries to say Naomi is married to Jimmy Uso.....uh, the Samoans and Jimmy Snuka aren't related. We get a highlight of Wade Barrett winning King of The Ring and sure enough, here he comes.

Wade Barrett comes out with a crown that looks like it was bought at a Halloween store and screams "Hear ye!" in a mic. He calls them all filthy commoners and he is now King Barrett. He says he'll rule his kingdom with an iron fist and will bull hammer any insubordinates. He says get used to hearing "All hail King Barrett". We got a tag match coming up next.

Match 7

King Barrett and Sheamus vs Adrian Neville and Dolph Ziggler

Its been Ziggler vs Sheamus for the past month and Neville has been in matches with Barrett, made sense to put them together for this match. Ziggler calls Sheamus a court jester in a pre-recorded interview as Ziggler starts with Barrett. Ziggler swipes at Sheamus but Barrett clobbers Dolph from behind. Barrett pounds on the back of Dolph in the corner and kicks him full force in the ribs. Barrett covers for 1...2...no. Barrett taunts Neville and knees Ziggler in the chest. Dolph counters with a tornado DDT. Ziggler covers for 1..2...no. JBL goes over the Kings of the Ring of years past as we go to break. Back from commercial Sheamus has Ziggler in a chinlock. Ziggler powers out of it but runs right into the Irish Curse. Sheamus "Are you not entertaineddddd". He grabs Ziggler and taunts him, but Dolph counters with a superkick. Ziggler crawls toward Neville as Sheamus tags to Barrett. Neville gets the hot tag and hits a head scissors on Barrett then hits a standing hilo on him on the outside. Neville springboard dropkicks Barrett in the ring. Neville hits a standing moonsault for 1...2...no. Neville gets caught in an up and over and Barrett kicks him full force in the ribs. Barrett calls for the bull hammer but misses it. Adrian hits an enziguri and German Suplex for 1...2...no. Sheamus is tackled out of the ring by Ziggler but Sheamus throws Dolph into the timekeeper's station. Neville goes for another slingshot dropkick but Barrett cracks him with the bull hammer. Barrett covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Barrett holds up his crown and scepter as Sheamus poses in the other corner. Decent match as the heels countered the speed of the faces with pure power.

Time of match: 8:38

Winners: Sheamus and Barrett by pinfall

Cole shills Roman Reigns Never Alone as we go straight to the main event. Roman Reigns and Randy Orton make their entrance as we go to commercial. Back from break, referee Mike Chioda goes to ring the bell when Kane walks out in ring gear (or his Corporate Kane attire anyway) along with Seth Rollins and J & J Security. Jamie Noble grabs the mic while standing on the announce table, he says he's the special guest ring announcer. Joey Mercury is the special guest timekeeper, special "enforcer" is Kane and Seth Rollins is special guest commentator. This was Kane's plan.

Match 8

Randy Orton vs Roman Reigns

Cole calls Noble the mayor of Munchkin City (hahahaha!) as the bell rings. Reigns and Orton jawjack each other with Rollins joining in on commentary. Seth "I trust Kane, he's got a plan." Cole "You TRUST him now?" Orton goes for the rKo early but Roman blocks it. Roman punches away at Orton and they trade blows. Orton drops Roman with a shoulderblock but Reigns sends Orton into the corner. Orton clotheslines Reigns but Roman counters with a samoan drop. JBL kisses Seth's ass as Reigns heaves Orton through the ropes to the outside. Outside, Orton backdrops Reigns on the barricade but Reigns fights back. Reigns drops Jamie Noble as Seth says that was uncalled for. Orton rams Reigns head into the barricade then throws Reigns into the ring. Seth runs down Rollins by saying he backstabbed the Shield and got Orton kicked out of The Authority. Reigns clotheslines Orton inside the ring as Booker asks if Rollins can beat the others by himself. Orton clotheslines Reigns down and goes for the powerslam but Reigns waves his finger saying no. Orton rolls out of a samoan drop and hits a backbreaker as Cole makes fun of Seth for pissing everyone off. Roman hits a running knee on the ring apron and calls for the Superman punch. Reigns misses it and runs right into the powerslam. Orton hits the second rope DDT and calls for the rko. Reigns blocks it and hits the Superman punch. Kane then trips Roman up and hits an uppercut with the referee watching. He calls for the bell but nobody is there to ring it as suddenly Kane, Rollins, Noble and Mercury stomp away at Orton before Reigns jumps over the top rope to take them out. Rollins gets up and sends Reigns into the ring post. The bell still hasn't rung yet so they're letting this go. Orton is rolled into the ring and he tries to fight back, but the numbers game catches up to Randy. Roman gets in but he gets beat down as well. Finally here comes Dean Ambrose to even the odds and they clear out J & J along with Kane. Reigns hits the spear on Rollins to get rid of him but Orton hits the rko on Reigns. Randy turns around into Dirty Deeds and Ambrose stands tall to end the night. Not enough time to tell a match plus the outside shenanigans ruined it.

Time of match: 8:35

Winner: Reigns by DQ

That was one of the better Raws of the year with Cena vs Zayn being the centerpiece. Kidd & Cesaro turning face was pretty much academic with the crowd booing the New Day and cheering Cesaro organically. The Uso's being out also drove the double turn. Ryback vs Wyatt is an important match for both guys because neither one of them seems to win the big one when it matters. Now that the main event of Payback is a Fatal Four Way, Rollins now has to rely on outside help to overcome his ex-stablemates and Orton. Then you have the Zigger/Neville and Barrett/Sheamus thing going on and at least they're trying something new for a change. It'll be interesting to see if they start to push Ambrose as a main eventer moving forward or if this is a one off. The next show after this is Wednesday night's NXT. I'll see you there.