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 Smackdown (4/30/15)

Welcome to another edition of Smackdown. On the last Raw, it was revealed that Seth Rollins would be defending the WWE Championship against both Roman Reigns and Randy Orton in a triple threat match. Also, the King of The Ring Finals was on Tuesday night and Wade "Bad News" Barrett was victorious. Adam Rose is now with Rosa Mendes after Fandango kicked her to the curb and now Bray Wyatt wants a piece of Ryback. The New Day are the new top heel tag team and are causing chaos to the former champs Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. Naomi took out Brie Bella to show she still is number 1 contender to Nikki Bella....at least until Paige comes back. Sheamus cost Dolph Ziggler his shot at the KoTR so you know Dolph is going to be gunning for Sheamus. Rusev gets one last crack at John Cena at Payback and interrupted John Cena's open challenge on Monday, will he do it again tonight? What's the status of Big Show? Now we have to go search for clues. Let's start the show.

IWireless Center

Moline, Illinois

April 30, 2015

Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton & Jerry Lawler

Ring Announcer: JoJo Offerman

We start the show with an In Memoriam graphic of the legendary Verne Gagne who passed away days earlier. One of the best promoters and wrestlers to ever live, he will be missed. Seth Rollins and J & J Security walk into the back and Seth sees someone off-screen and says they have the nerve to show up after the stunt they pulled on Monday. The camera shows its Kane and Rollins says its Kane's fault that its a triple threat match and for beating him up on Monday. Rollins says Kane is his problem, not the others. Kane says what's best for business is to give the audience what they want and Rollins says the truth is Kane is jealous of him because he never was as big as he was. Kane says he'll make a man out of Rollins if its the last thing he'll ever do. Kane says Rollins will face Dean Ambrose tonight like he was supposed to last week and that's best for business. Seth says he misses Kane from 20 years ago, not this current incarnation. Rollins dares him to do something in that match tonight and we get our opening graphic.

Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton and Jerry "The King" Lawler welcome us to ringside. Roman Reigns hits the ring for a chat. We're shown highlights of the tag match on Raw where Reigns and Randy Orton beat Rollins and Kane. Reigns gives a shoutout to Dean Ambrose in his match with "their little brother" Seth Rollins. Roman says Rollins destroyed The Shield and cost him the WWE title at Wrestlemania 31. Reigns says he's going to bring the fight to Orton and Rollins when all of a sudden Kane hits ringside who starts shedding his shirt and tie. Kane brings referee Charles Robinson to the ring with him and puts his elbow pads on. Guess Rollins got to Kane because we got an impromptu match.

Match 1

Kane vs Roman Reigns

Kane doesn't even give a reason or cut a promo on what he's doing, he just has Charles Robinson ring the bell. They slug it out to start with Roman sent into the corner. They continue to slug it out but Kane just throws Reigns to the ground. Kane sends Reigns into the corner to work the back then delivers a back suplex. Phillips says Kane is sick of being called irrelevant but Roman ducks a charge, sending Kane flying over the top rope. Kane gets sent to the ringpost and Reigns dropkicks him but continues tos ell the back. Kane sidewalk slams Reigns on top of the announce table but it doesn't break. We go to commercial and when we come back, Kane has a bearhug on Reigns in the ring. Kane rams Reigns into the corner and clotheslines him in the other corner. Kane covers for a deuce then stomps away on Reigns. Roman fights back with right hands and they trade strikes in the middle of the ring. Roman rallies with strikes and a snap suplex before clotheslining Kane down. Kane charges to the corner and eats boot before Roman hits a second rope clothesline. Roman clubs away at Kane in the corner and delivers a samoan drop. Roman charges up for the Superman punch but runs into a chokeslam. Kane covers for 1....2....NOOOOO. Kane gives the sign for the tombstone but Roman counters it with a DDT. Roman hits the Superman punch and calls for the spear. Roman dives and misses as Kane rolls out of the ring. Kane leaves and Charles Robinson counts to ten to end the match. A quick camera view of the back shows Rollins and J & J are totally confused. Roman wins by count out as announcers speculate why Kane bailed like that. Roman in the ring says "I came to fight and he ran. He picks a fight then he leaves?" Kane has some explaining to do for this one to The Authority. Kane and Reigns worked together so many times that this was standard for Roman to be the underdog against the monster.

Time of match: 6:28

Winner: Reigns by count-out

Renee Young asks Seth Rollins what's going on and Rollins answers that Kane was in over his head. He says Kane carries a senior citizens card (he just turned 48 on Sunday) and he carries the WWE Championship. Rollins says he never runs away from a fight and finds a way to win the fight. He says he doesn't need anyone's help of anyone including J & J Security (and they visibly did NOT like that). Rollins is definitely breaking out as a character and its going to lead to a hell of a blowup with The Authority when the time comes. A graphic shows later tonight The New Day defending the tag straps against the former champs Tyson Kidd and Cesaro.

Back from commercial we're shown Damien Sandow making fun of Curtis Axel like a 12 year old from Raw and apparently they're up next. Yippie.....

Match 2

Damien Sandow vs Curtis Axel

Sandow joins JoJo Offerman in announcing himself and Axel before the match starts. He calls Axel a pigeon-toed disappointment. Axel sticks a finger in Sandow's face and calls him a joke. Curtis tears his t-shirt off and throws it at Sandow and Damien goes to do the same when Curtis attacks. Damien gets him in a headlock and shoulderblocks Curtis down. Sandow tears his shirt off and throws Axel over the top rope to the floor. Sandow then sits next to Curtis and elbows him down. Axel retreats into the ring and puts the boots to Sandow on the way back in. Axel splashes Sandow in the corner and chokes him with his boot. Curtis screams "AXELLLMANIAAAAAA" and Sandow nips up. Sandow does the YOUUUU taunt before Hulkapunching Axel into the ropes. Sandow hits the big boot and then the Skull Crushing Finale. Sandow covers for 1...2.....3 to end the match. Sandow wins and Phillips calls him the NEW Damien Sandow. Losing to The Miz and doing comedy pretty much just made him a joke. Vince's reliance on comedy acts like Fandango and Sandow really makes you appreciate modern day guys that don't have silly gimmicks.

Time of match: 2:29

Winner: Sandow by pinfall

Renee Young is with Ryback and she asks why Bray would target him. Ryback says the Eater of Worlds has bitten off more than he can chew. Ryback says he's going to devour Luke Harper as a message to Wyatt later. Ryback says Feed Me More and leaves. Just like with Bray Wyatt attacking Dean Ambrose the year earlier, Wyatt attacking Ryback is just weird. But, at least they got something to do now.

Match 3

Ryback vs Luke Harper

Ryback wants to take out Harper to send a message to Luke's former partner Wyatt. The commentators say Harper's had a bad week as Ryback locks in a headlock before dropping Harper with a shoulderblock. Harper bullrushes Ryback int he corner and punches him around before locking in his own headlock. Ryback powers out of it and turns it into a wristlock. Harper punches out of it and uppercuts Ryback. Ryback rallies with right hands and hits a Thesz press. Ryback shoulderblocks Harper in the corner but Harper rallies with right hands and a suplex. Harper flexes his own muscles and goes for a suplex but Ryback hits his own delayed suplex. Ryback punches Harper in the corner and Luke counters with a sit down powerbomb for 1...2....nope. We got to commercial and when we come back, Harper clotheslines Ryback down. Harper covers for a deuce and Harper gator rolls Ryback. Ryback counters with an overhead suplex. Ryback elbows Harper and gets sent into the corner. Ryback kicks him away and hits a scoop slam. Ryback hits a big splash and covers for 1.....2....nope. Harper flips over for a two count but Ryback counters with a spinebuster. Ryback calls for the Meat Hook clothesline but Harper kicks Ryback in the head and covers for 1...2...nope. Harper calls for the lariat but Ryback counters with the Meat Hook. Ryback hits Shell Shock and covers for 1..2...3 to win the match. Ryback said he was going to beat up Harper to make an example out of him and he does. After the match, Wyatt attacks and beats down Ryback. Wyatt looks menacing as the message is sent, Ryback has no idea when Wyatt is going to strike.

Time of match: 6:03

Winner: Ryback by pinfall

Later tonight Dean Ambrose takes on Seth Rollins but the tag team title rematch is next. New Day takes on Kidd and Cesaro.

Match 4

Tyson Kidd and Cesaro (with Natalya) vs The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Big E Langston) with Xavier Woods for the WWE Tag Team Championships

This is a rematch from Extreme Rules and New Day tries to start a New Day Rocks chant and naturally the crowd chants New Day Sucks. Lawler on commentary says he didn't think Kidd & Cesaro could be beaten but they were. As Big E holds up the belts, Woods says "New Dayyyy" and Cesaro says "Sucks". Woods "Hey!" Crowd chants New Day Sucks and Woods says "No we don't!" Kidd starts with Kofi at the bell and Kidd rolls into a roll up for a two count. Kofi does a go-behind and locks in an arm-bar. Kidd reverses it and crucifixes for a two count. Kofi throws Kidd over the top but he skins the cat over the back of Cesaro back in. He makes the tag to Cesaro and Kidd flips Kofi right into the uppercut. Cesaro covers for 1...2...nope. Cesaro picks Kofi up like a feather and hits a gut wrench suplex. He covers for a deuce and does a backslide for another near fall. Cesaro locks in an armbar. Kofi goes for a small package and Cesaro just simply picks him up and hits the Janetty Plex with Kidd. Kidd locks in a half nelson and Cesaro tags in to hit a full nelson suplex. Kofi nails to the outside and Woods distracted Cesaro long enough for Big E to make the tag. Cesaro still german suplexes Big E and stomps away at him in rhythm to "New...Day sucks". Kidd tags in and boots Big E before dropping Kofi with an elbow. He kicks at Woods but Big E drops Kidd off the apron. Woods laughs in Kidd's face before Big E sends Kidd spine first into the barricade. Big E throws Kidd inside and Kofi tags in to put the boots to him. Kofi dropkicks Kidd in the corner and covers for 1..2...nope. Kofi goes for an arm-bar but Kidd powers out of it. Kofi trips Kidd and heads to the second rope but Tyson dropkicks him in mid-air. Big E tags in and he knocks Cesaro off the apron before hitting an overhead belly to belly suplex. Kidd rolls to the floor and we cut to commercial. Back inside Big E does a regular belly to belly suplex and covers for 1...2...nope. Woods yells at the announce team as Kofi tags in and hits the Boom Drop before knocking Cesaro off the apron. Kofi misses Trouble In Paradise and Cesaro gets the hot tag. Cesaro cleans out Kofi and Big E and uppercuts Kofi in the corner. He covers for a deuce and cradles Kofi for another two count. Cesaro overhead press slams Kofi but Big E breaks up the pinfall attempt. Cesaro throws Big E over the top rope and Kofi rolls up Cesaro for a two count. Big E tags in and freight trains Cesaro but Kidd breaks up the count. Kidd somersault planchas over the top to take Kofi out on the floor leaving Big E with Cesaro. A charge eats knee and Cesaro uppercuts from the second rope. Cesaro hits a spinebuster and tags in Kidd as he giant swings Big E. Kidd dropkicks Big E in mid-air and covers but Kofi and Xavier break up the count to earn a DQ. New Day brawls with Kidd & Cesaro and the numbers game adds up as the three mauls the two. New Day walks off with the belts as Kidd & Cesaro are named the winners. Clearly this rivalry isn't over yet, another ppv match may be in order. Damn good match for what it was. Woods and Kofi struggle to hold Big E up on their shoulders as we cut.

Time of match: 13:35

Winners: Kidd & Cesaro by Disqualification

Backstage we go to Cameron and Summer Rae. They gossip and make fun of Brie and Daniel Bryan. Cameron claims she taught Naomi everything she knows when Nikki Bella walks up, chasing Summer away. Nikki tells her to shut up and Cameron says "Girl bye" as Nikki ignores her and says they have beef now. Nikki wants Cameron one on one for her sister's honor later tonight. Again, great idea but the problem is the Bellas did absolutely nothing to turn face. Literally they were feuding with AJ and Paige, AJ retires out of nowhere and Naomi took out Paige. The Bellas were switched just for the lack of babyface numbers and now we're all expected to go with it. Oh well, point is we got Nikki vs Cameron later. Just like Ryback making an example out of Harper, Nikki is going to make and example out of Cameron to send a message to Naomi. At least THAT makes sense. Nikki says Cameron isn't even remotely as good as Naomi and to stop comparing herself. Cameron counters with "Girl bye" We get a graphic for Ambrose/Rollins before we cut to commercial. Back from commercial we get a graphic for John Cena vs Rusev in an I Quit Match for Payback. Then we go to more god awful Tough Enough videos although they did have legitimate athletes featured. Onto the next match.

Match 5

Cameron vs Nikki Bella 

Apparently this is a non-title match and Brie Bella isn't even there. In a pre-recorded video, Naomi says she's going to take the title from Nikki and life isn't a fairy tale. Bell's gone and Nikki arm drags Cameron before doing jumping jacks. Nikki flips Cameron over again but Cameron takes over with an eye rake, sending Nikki to the corner. Cameron twerks facing the camera for absolutely no reason then charges, ducking under a Nikki dropkick. Cameron covers for 1..2...nope. Cameron pounds away on Nikki and kicks her out of the ring. Cam taunts Nikki and sends her into the barricade before saying she's going to make a statement. Phillips on commentary says Cameron is tired of playing second fiddle to Naomi which now makes it even worse because Naomi was a better babyface and now a better heel. Cameron goes for a split and lands then covers for 1..2....no. Cameron shouts at the ref as the crowd doesn't care. Cameron does her best to shout at them for heat and takes Nikki down by the hair. Cameron kicks Nikki in the back then locks in a chinlock. Nikki stands up with Cameron on her back and rams her into the corner. Nikki ducks a charge and drops Cameron with a series of clotheslines. A dropkick by Nikki gets a pop but misses the corner clothesline. A charge eats elbow and Nikki hits the second rope clothesline before covering for a deuce. Cameron hits a cradle for a two count but Nikki clotheslines her down. Nikki hits Rack Attack and covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Bless Cameron, she tried....but the crowd was not feeling it. Again, the horrible booking of the divas the previous year pretty much led to this. The Bellas did nothing to signify a face turn and the crowd doesn't give a rats ass about "Girl Bye." That's not Cameron's fault either, the whole "Mean Girls" style of booking had been going on for 10 years now and people were sick of it. The women from NXT were going to usher in a new generation pretty soon. As for now, Nikki gets the duke to send a message to Naomi.

Time of match: 3:50

Winner: Nikki Bella by pinfall

Backstage to the Prime Time Players Darren Young and Titus O'Neil who make fun of New Day. Once again, WWE was way too comedic for too long. They get a New Day Sucks chant with a "be-gone box" and a "Prime...Time Players" chant. Are they ever going to wrestle? Back from commercial break Rollins and his stooges visit Dean Ambrose in the back. Rollins wants Ambrose to back out of the match and Ambrose ask why. Seth says he's got a title match at Payback and Kane made the match tonight out of spite and to humiliate him, and HHH isn't going to be happy when he gets back. Ambrose says "Sounds good" and Rollins thinks the match is off but Ambrose clarifies that he meant the idea of Rollins being humiliated sounds good, he'll see him out there. Rollins says Ambrose is making a huge mistake and Ambrose says he's made a lot of mistakes but at least he'll bust Rollins' face instead. Back at ringside the announcers finally bring up the King of The Ring Finals which was won by Wade "Bad News" Barrett. We're shown highlights of Sheamus losing to Adrian Neville, Barrett beating R-Truth and Barrett beating Neville in the finals. Barrett cuts a promo saying he'll be ruling his kingdom with an iron fist and a Bullhammer. Let's get to our final match.

Match 6

Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins (with J & J Security)

Looks like this is a non-title match but that's okay. This was the first feud out of the gate last year when Rollins turned on the Shield so this might be Ambrose pseudo putting himself in the title picture once Randy Orton's push fades. Bell's gone and Ambrose gets in an arm-bar. Ambrose wrenches the other arm and Rollins bails to the outside to regroup with his stooges. Back inside Rollins buries shoulders into the stomach in the corner before locking in an arm-bar of his own. Ambrose trips up Rollins with a drop-toe hold and locks in an STF holding Seth's nose. Rollins gets the upperhand and chokes Dean on the middle rope but Dean gets a crossbody and punches in. Dean clotheslines Seth over the top rope to the floor and Noble & Mercury lead Rollins away. Dean gets distracted by the stooges and Rollins hits a baseball slide on Ambrose. Seth distracts the ref and the stooges put the boots to Ambrose. All of a sudden Kane walks down to ringside as we go to commercial. Back from break Kane stands next to Noble & Mercury as Rollins stomps away at Ambrose. Seth fist bumps both Noble & Mercury and tells Kane to buzz off before he drops Ambrose with a clothesline. Ambrose ducks the line and lands one of his own before punching away at Seth. Ambrose rallies with clotheslines before landing a forearm in the corner. Ambrose goes upstairs but jumps into a kick to the stomach. Ambrose blocks a buckle bomb and dropkicks Seth to the outside. Ambrose hits a suicide dive to the outside then heaves Seth inside. Seth kicks Dean in the head, they both miss kicks and Ambrose hits a sit-down facebuster. He covers for 1..2....nope. Rollins blocks a superplex off the top rope and counters with a buckle bomb. Rollins covers for 1...2....nope. Ambrose counters a superkick with a roll up for a deuce. Rollins counters Dirty Deeds (done dirt cheap) with a superkick. Rollins covers for 1...2....nope. Kane hops up on the apron and Ambrose bull rushes Rollins into Kane. Ambrose heaves Rollins over the top rope onto Kane. The stooges and Kane get cleared out by Ambrose with a top rope splash, but Rollins heaves Dean into the barricade. Kane grabs Seth by the throat and yells at him but then catches Ambrose with the other hand. Kane lets them both go and goes to choke the ref but Ambrose throws Kane into the ringpost. Ambrose wipes out both Noble and Mercury with a double clothesline but Rollins sends Ambrose into the steel steps. Dean staggers back inside and Rollins hits a variant of Dirty Deeds only with Ambrose landing face first. Seth covers for 1...2......3? Seth wins it with whatever that move was. The numbers game catches up with Ambrose as it was essentially 4 against 1 despite Dean's best effort.

After the match Kane gets in the ring and puts the boots to Ambrose with Rollins, Noble and Mercury joining in for a 4 on 1 assault. Roman Reigns hits the ring and Superman punches Kane. Roman heaves the stooges to the side and punches Rollins to the outside. Reigns spears Noble and Mercury together but Kane goes to chokeslam Ambrose and Roman. Both punch their way out of it and Reigns hits the spear on Kane. Seth hightails it out of there as Reigns and Ambrose stand tall to end the show.

Time of match: 10:18

Winner: Rollins by pinfall

Not a bad show even if it was a victim of bad booking from the past. They're trying to build tension between Rollins and Kane but the problem is Kane is not turning on him and everyone knows it. He already helped him win the cage match and it looks like he's going to cause shenanigans in the triple threat match at Payback. New Day continue to roll as the top heel tag team and with the Usos on the shelf (Jey anyway), it comes at a good time. Nikki Bella's inexplicable face turn is going over like a fart in church especially since she was the one who less than a year earlier wished Brie died in the womb on national television. Damien Sandow repeating what Curtis Axel and low level heels like Adam Rose say is going to get old real quick. The only feud that's actually interesting is Wyatt vs Ryback. Pretty much both guys need a victory or else they'll fade down the card. Ryback already failed to win the WWE title and losing to Wyatt kills any and all momentum with Roman Reigns still locked in to the top face spot. Wyatt lost to The Undertaker despite acting like he won, a loss to Ryback makes him look even worse. Not a bad show with good wrestling even if some of the story arcs are completely pointless. We'll see what happens moving forward. Raw comes at you from the Bell Center in Montreal this Monday night. I'll see you there.

WWE Extreme Rules 2015 (4/26/15)

We've made it to Extreme Rules and what a month its been. After Seth Rollins pulled off "the heist of the century" at Wrestlemania 31, he created a lot of enemies. Brock Lesnar went insane on Raw the night after Wrestlemania and got suspended leaving Seth without a number 1 contender. Director of Operations Kane fixed that by having a triple threat match between Randy Orton, Ryback and Roman Reigns to see who faces Rollins first. Big Show interfered in the match to take out Reigns leaving Orton victorious over Ryback. Big Show then chokeslammed Reigns on top of a car in London and challenged him to a Last Man Standing match tonight. What about Orton and Rollins? Orton and Rollins got to chose stips for their title match and Rollins took out Orton's best weapon by barring the RKO. Orton then figured to keep The Authority out by making it a steel cage match. Triple H then stacked the deck against Orton by having Kane the guardian of the door.....until Rollins started running his mouth about Kane for weeks leading to Kane wanting to strangle him. So now can Orton beat Rollins without the rKo or will Kane turn face and cost Rollins the title? In other matches, Rusev wants revenge on John Cena for beating him for the US title and challenged Cena to a Russian Chain match, which Cena accepted. Sheamus returned after Wrestlemania and inexplicably turned heel saying WWE is full of small dudes and he's a "real man". Basically if wrestling Twitter at the time was a real person. Naturally Dolph Ziggler took offense to this but Vince McMahon Jr decided to turn back the clock ten years and make it a "Kiss Me Arse" match where if Ziggler loses, he'd have to kiss Sheamus' arse but Ziggler said he'd make Sheamus kiss his own arse if he won. Speaking of little dudes, Adrian Neville finally made his main roster debut as a high flying cruiserweight and naturally Sheamus took exception to him. Sheamus made a call to Wade "Bad News" Barrett and Barrett will face Neville. Where's Daniel Bryan? More on that later. In Divas action, Naomi turned heel on Paige after she won a Divas battle royal to determine the number 1 contender so it'll be Naomi vs Nikki Bella for the Divas title. Ironically Paige is the only babyface diva on the roster but that's for another time. After being powerbombed through a ladder at Wrestlemania by Luke Harper, Dean Ambrose will slug it out with the demented Harper in a Chicago Street Fight. Finally, the New Day had turned heel and cheated to beat Los Lotharios to earn a title shot at the champs Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. Ironically it was announced on TV that New Day would face Kidd & Cesaro on the pre-show but they switched it last second to have the match on PPV and Neville/Barrett would be on the pre-show. Let's get Extreme!

April 26, 2015

ALLSTATE ARENA

ROSEMONT, ILLINOIS

Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry "The King" Lawler and JBL

Ring Announcer: Eden Stiles

Match 1

Adrian Neville vs Wade "Bad News" Barrett

So here's the problem. It was originally advertised as Barrett vs Daniel Bryan for the Intercontinental title but then after Daniel Bryan and John Cena defeated Sheamus and Barrett, Bryan simply disappeared. He wasn't mentioned on TV, he just disappeared. In his place, Adrian Neville started teaming with Dolph Ziggler against Sheamus and Barrett so we have this match instead. Poor Barrett, goes from a PPV match with Bryan to the pre-show with Neville. Sadly, the reason Bryan was removed was he suffered a bad concussion and would be out of action for a long time. Barrett grabs the mic on the way to ring and says he was going to Bullhammer Daniel Bryan but he's got some bad news, Bryan isn't medically cleared. Barrett says Bryan isn't man enough to face him but may have half a brain for not going out here. Barrett says he's the Michael Jordan of England without the gambling addictions so he'll face Neville instead. Cole says Neville is a former NXT champion as they lock up to start. Barrett takes the head then drops Neville with a shoulderblock. The crowd chants for Neville as Barrett takes the head again only this time Neville drops down and goes for the hiptoss. Barrett blocks it but Neville counters into a roll up for a deuce. Neville takes the head but Barrett backs him into the corner before punching him. Barrett stomps Neville then whips him into the corner. Neville backflips into the other corner and catches Barrett with a crossbody for a deuce. Neville ducks the line and head scissors Barrett down. Barrett goes to the apron and Neville dropkicks him off. Neville goes for the plancha but Bad News catches the feet and slams Neville on the apron. Wade sends Neville into the barricade and taunts the crowd. We cut to commercial (yes, even on the DVD there's a tape cut) and back inside Barrett catches Neville in mid-air and hits Wasteland. He covers for 1.....2....nope. JBL says Barrett brought a bag of Bullhammers and right on cue Barrett loads his armband up. Neville ducks under it and hits a standing enziguiri. Neville drags Barrett to the corner and goes for Red Arrow but Barrett crotches him. Barrett swings the Bullhammer but Neville dodges it, jumps over Wade into the ring and kicks Bad News in the head. Neville once again goes upstairs and this time hits Red Arrow. He covers for 1....2....3 to win the match. Cole says that may be the biggest win of Neville's career to knock off the former IC champ. Good match and it definitely showcased the size difference, yet Neville held his own. Barrett continues to fail to pick up meaningful wins so the writing is on the wall for him to be Sheamus' lackey moving forward, especially with Bryan gone.

Time of match: Officially 10:36 (3:48 on the DVD)

Winner: Neville by pinfall

Now let's get to the main show. The opening montage says they're going "extreme" with various clips of tonight's feuds. On to match 1....

Match 2

Luke Harper vs Dean Amrbose in a Chicago Street Fight

The Shield vs The Wyatt Family....sort of. During the Wrestlemania 31 ladder match, Luke Harper powerbombed Ambrose through a ladder. Then the two kept attacking each other on the weekly shows leading to this being a Chicago Street Fight. Cole before the match says both of these guys belong in straight jackets. Ambrose doesn't wait around, he attacks Harper outside before the bell even rings. Ambrose gets in a right hand and sends Harper in the ring. They run the ropes and referee Charles Robinson calls for the bell. Ambrose drops Harper with a jumping clothesline and Luke bails immediately. Ambrose catches Harper with a suicide dive then sends Harper into the ring steps. Ambrose pulls chairs out from under the apron then tosses them in the ring. He stalks Harper with a singapore cane as Harper reaches for a chair. Dean steps on the chair and waffles Harper with the cane. Ambrose goes to town on Harper with the cane then picks up a chair. He sets the chair down and sits in it to taunt Harper. Ambrose goes to suplex Harper on the chair but Luke reverses it and suplexes Ambrose on the chair. Harper covers for 1...2...no. Harper sheds his ring jacket and its his turn to fire away with the cane on Ambrose. JBL talks about the Chicago Cubs curse (which would be gone in just over a year) as Harper sets a chair up in the corner. Harper blocks a tornado ddt then launches dean head into the chair. Harper covers for a deuce and continues to hit Ambrose with the cane. Ambrose rallies and scoop slams Harper on a chair. Ambrose sends Harper outside who gets back in and runs into a boot from Ambrose. Dean finally hits a tornado ddt as the crowd chants for tables. Ambrose hits a jumping elbow drop and covers for a deuce but Harper counters Dirty Deeds (done dirt cheap) with a right hand and a big boot. Ambrose counters a powerbomb by lowbridging Harper outside. Harper blocks a suicide dive but Ambrose does a 360 on the apron and drops Harper with a clothesline. Ambrose grabs the cane and chases Harper to the back....they brawl into Gorilla Position and they fight in the backstage area. I don't remember this being falls count anywhere. Lawler says this may spill out into the actual street. Ambrose hits Harper with one of the lightposts. Harper climbs into an SUV and goes to drive off when Ambrose dives in. Harper speeds off with Charles Robinson running after them.....guess this will be continued. For continuity purposes, I'll post the conclusion in this portion here when it comes up. Until then....we're moving on.

If you're following along with the show, we return here after the New Day backstage promo. New Day picks up Harper and Ambrose dives off the top of the car....onto New Day as Harper gets out of the way. Ambrose and Harper brawl their way back to the ring. JBL makes a funny line that Harper was the one driving out of the arena and Ambrose was the one driving back. Hahahahaha I guess when they went to go get dinner or something they forgot who was supposed to be driving. Ambrose and Harper brawl back into the arena and back to the ring. Harper gets back in the ring and catches Ambrose with a superkick. Ambrose barely sells it and drops Harper with a clothesline as Charles Robinson runs into the ring. Imagine if he had to run after them outside? Harper goes under the ring and grabs a chair as Ambrose pulls his own out. They throw a bunch of chairs in the ring together before getting inside. The crowd starts a small ECW chant as Ambrose throws a chair at Harper then punches away at him. Harper powerbombs Ambrose on a chair and covers for 1...2...nooooo. Harper can't believe it and shakes his head no. The crowd chants "we want tables" as Harper stacks chairs on top of Ambrose. Harper goes upstairs but Ambrose gets out of the pile and slams Harper off the top onto the chairs. Harper staggers right into Dirty Deeds. He covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Somebody actually made a staggering discovery that this was Dean's first ever solo ppv victory. He jobbed to Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt before losing the ladder match at Wrestlemania after The Shield broke up. Harper lost a ton of heat by losing this match but it definitely launched Dean.

Now if you're following the show, jump ahead to the segment after New Day's interview.

Time of match: Technically 56:10

Winner: Dean Ambrose by pinfall

If you're reading this after I typed "we're moving on", good. The announcers are totally confused as the match is interrupted with the two guys not even in the building. The crowd is mad and start a CM Punk chant. We cut to the back with Triple H pulling Kane aside and telling him to go find Ambrose and Harper. Trips is worried about what they're gonna do in the streets of Chicago. Seth Rollins walks in and Triple H tries to play peacemaker by saying they need to get on the same page. He says to stop being childish and patch things up. Rollins bitches about Kane letting him get speared on Smackdown by Reigns and RKO'd on Raw. Kane calls him an ungrateful little punk and Triple H again has to play peacemaker. Triple H says Rollins has a point that Kane dropped the ball and he doesn't want to regret making Kane the gatekeeper. Kane assures them both that he'll do what's best for business as the crowd chants "boring". Onto the next match.

Match 3

Dolph Ziggler vs Sheamus in a Kiss Me Arse match

Oh boy, where do I begin? Sheamus returned after a five month hiatus only to turn heel and declare war on "underdogs" claiming to be a real big man. As mentioned earlier, imagine if wrestling Twitter was a person. Sheamus attacked Ziggler and Daniel Bryan during his turn and Ziggler didn't take kindly to it. After having back and forth encounters for weeks, Sheamus challenged Ziggler to a Kiss Me Arse match right out of 2002. Sheamus wants Ziggler to kiss his arse while Ziggler claims he's gonna make Sheamus kiss his own. As absurd as the stip is, its still big man vs little man. Bell's gone and Sheamus taunts him in the staredown. Ziggler unloads with rights and lefts in the corner then tries a headbutt which doesn't work. Ziggler kicks Sheamus in the head then hits a dropkick. Sheamus stays on his feet and Ziggler tackles him through the ropes to the outside. Sheamus sends Ziggler into the ringpost then a european uppercut stuns Dolph. Dolph counters with a tornado ddt off the ring steps. Back inside Dolph eats a knee to the side of the head. Sheamus clubs away at Ziggler on the apron then inside locks in a chinlock. Sheamus hits a sitdown powerbomb for 1...2...nope. Sheamus stalls to anger the crowd then floors Dolph with a clothesline. Sheamus hits another clothesline and taunts Ziggler that he doesn't belong in his ring. Sheamus locks in another chinlock before Ziggler powers out of it. Dolph ducks a line and starts unloading with running forearms on Sheamus. Dolph hits two Stinger Splashes in the corner but Sheamus drops him with a double chop to the throat. Sheamus blocks a superkick and locks in a Texas Cloverleaf. Dolph turns it into an inside cradle for a two count then hits the superkick. Dolph covers for 1....2.....noooooooo. Sheamus drops Dolph throat first on the top rope then executes a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. He covers for a deuce then turns a suplex into a slam then calls for the Brogue Kick. Dolph counters it with a roll up for a deuce before Sheamus hits another tilt-a-whirl slam. Ziggler counters a suplex with an inside cradle for 1....2....THREE! He got him! JBL and Sheamus can't believe it as now he has to kiss some arse. Sheamus claims it was only a two count and goes outside to protest. A fan says "YOU LOST, FELLA!" Sheamus goes to leave through the crowd but the referee stops him. Ziggler starts pulling his tights down as the women in the crowd cheer. Sheamus tells Ziggler to get it over with already and freaks out. Ziggler tells Sheamus to do it and he keeps stalling. Sheamus starts begging for forgiveness as the crowd gets into it. Ziggler pulls his tights up and Sheamus drops to his knees. Ziggler said it was his idea anyway and Sheamus low blows Ziggler instead. Sheamus buries Ziggler with the Brogue Kick and laughs as the crowd boos. Sheamus shouts "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINEDDDDDD?" and grabs the mic. Sheamus "Did you really think I was gonna kiss your arse, Ziggler?" Sheamus pulls his own tights up and buries Ziggler's face in it as Lawler is disgusted. Ziggler wins the match and Sheamus keeps his heat, guess that's what's best for business.

Time of match: 9:16

Winner: Zigger by pinfall

After a commercial for WWE Network shows and a plug for a Roman Reigns special we go back to the commentary team to announce that the King of The Ring tournament returns this year. Onto the next match.

Match 4

The New Day (Big E Langston and Kofi Kingston) with Xavier Woods vs Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (with Natalya) for the WWE Tag Team Championship

Oh how the tables have turned. After Kidd and Cesaro successfully defended the tag belts at Wrestlemania, we had a slow double-turn. With The Uso's on the shelf due to Jey's shoulder injury, a team had to step up to face Kidd & Cesaro. For some reason WWE fans turned on the goody two-shoes New Day and started chanting "New...Day sucks! New.....Day sucks!" New Day then began a slow heel turn first by telling the fans to stick it without saying so, then cheated to win a number 1 contenders match with Los Lotharios. With their "new" attitude, Kofi Kingston beat Cesaro in a singles match due to interference from Woods and Langston. Since fans were cheering for Kidd and Cesaro anyway, mostly Cesaro, it looks like the teams are reversing roles for basically no reason. Cesaro does get a huge pop during introductions. Kofi and Langston will start with Woods on the outside, Kofi in the ring with Kidd. They chain wrestle to start with Kofi getting the upper hand with a splash. Lawler calls Woods the cheerleader as Kidd and Kofi exchange go-behinds. Kidd caters to the crowd to put over the fact he's working babyface as Kofi retreats to tag Big E. Surreal seeing Kofi acting heel and Kidd points to Cesaro for a big pop. Cesaro tags in and locks up with Big E. E floors him with a shoulderblock but Cesaro catches Big E mid-air on a leapfrog and effortlessly slams him. Cesaro does a standing coup de gras then tags in Kidd to stomp Big E. The crowd chants "New...Day sucks" and Natalya encourages it. Big E retreats to tag in Kofi as Kidd tags in. Kofi throws Kidd outside and knocks Cesaro off the apron. Kidd comes back to throws both members outside the other ring then somersaults onto Kofi....but walks into a clothesline from Big E. The crowd chants again as Woods shouts "What? What did we do? We're winning!" He's got a point, they did nothing wrong. Big E throws Kidd inside and puts the boots to him before Kofi tags in to continue the onslaught. Big E launches Kofi into a dropkick on Kidd but the cover only gets two. Kofi gets a chinlock on Kidd as Natalya gets a Tyson chant. A dropkick and cover by Kofi gets a deuce before Big E tags in. Big E claps then misses a big splash. Kidd moves out of the way and Big E sends himself through the ropes to the outside. E tags in Kofi but Cesaro gets the hot tag. Cesaro heaves Kofi into the corner then rallies with uppercuts. Cesaro drops Kofi with a big clothesline and covers for a deuce. Cesaro goes for the giant swing but instead slingshots Kofi into the corner...who lands feet first on the buckle. Cesaro catches the crossbody attempt and turns it into a backbreaker. He covers for 1....2...nooooo. A charge by Cesaro eats boot but Cesaro counters with an uppercut. Kidd tags in as Cesaro hits a superplex and Kidd slingshot elbows Kofi for 1...2...NOOOOO. Kidd can't believe it and goes for the sharpshooter but Kofi kicks out of it. Kofi tags in Big E who spears Kidd all the way out of the ring to a big pop. E throws Kidd inside then hits a back body drop on the floor to Cesaro. E tags in Kingston and they hit a double team move only for Cesaro to literally dive in and headbutt Kofi off of Kidd. Cesaro and Langston fall out of the ring together and Kofi starts clapping. Kofi goes for Trouble in Paradise but Kidd catches the foot and locks in the sharpshooter. Kofi crawls but Big E gets in and hits an overhead suplex on Kidd. Kofi runs into the feet of Kidd who tags in Cesaro. Cesaro uppercuts Big E out of the ring and hits the giant swing on Kofi. Woods hops up on the apron and Natalya slaps him off. Big E sends Kidd outside and Cesaro clotheslines E over the top to the floor. Kofi rolls up Cesaro out of the nowhere and hooks the tights for 1....2....3 and we got new champions! New Day wins the tag straps and celebrate together. HHH loves heels with belts so with New Day drawing more heat than Kidd & Cesaro, it made sense to do a double turn and give the straps to New Day. Kofi as a heel just doesn't feel right although Big E was a natural with Woods playing along. Still, New Day are the new champs and congrats to them for getting over as heels without really doing anything wrong.

Time of match: 9:47

Winners: New Day by pinfall (New Tag Team Champions)

We cut to the Extreme Rules kickoff panel which included Byron Saxton, Booker T and Corey Graves. Saxton asks Corey what he thinks and he calls Ambrose & Harper two maniacs. We got new tag team champs and Booker is happy for them. Love the unopened bottles of Mountain Dew in front of them. Saxton does reveal that doctors wouldn't let Daniel Bryan compete but Bad News Barrett would face Adrian Neville instead. We go to highlights of Neville winning before cutting to Renee Paquette backstage with New Day. Renee asks if their positivity got them to this point and Woods says today is the dawn of their new day. Big E shouts they're tag team champions and Kofi starts a chant. All of a sudden the SUV from earlier pulls up and Luke Harper is thrown out of it. If you're reading this, go back to the Ambrose/Harper match from earlier to continue.

If you're reading this while following the PPV, we return here after the conclusion of Ambrose vs Harper to a commercial for WWE Payback coming up on Sunday May 17th. That's just three weeks from this date, that's 3 Raws and 3 Smackdowns away. We then get a promo package for our next match, Rusev vs John Cena in a Russian Chain Match. Let's get to it.

Match 5

Rusev (with Lana) vs John Cena for the WWE United States Championship in a Russian Chain Match

This feud has been going on for months now but this should be the conclusion. Rusev hadn't been pinned since making his main roster debut the year earlier and was the unbeatable US champion going into Fastlane. Rusev beat Cena and refused a rematch until Cena brutally attacked Rusev, prompting Lana to give him a rematch at Wrestlemania. Cena won the title at Wrestlemania and started doing "open challenges" to random guys to show he was a fighting champion. During that span, Rusev appeared and laid out Cena with a chain, challenging him to a rubber match at Extreme Rules in a Russian Chain match. The rules are both men are tied together to the chain and whoever touches all four corners first wins the match. It sounds like a silly concept but that's wrestling. Ironically there's less "John Cena sucks" chants coming from the crowd, guess Chicago has no interest in cheering for Rusev. Cena and Rusev are strapped together and they start with a tug of war. Rusev gets the upperhand with an avalanche in the corner and he touches two corners but Cena rallies with a scoop slam. Just to show the fans what's going on, they have two sets of lights in every corner, the green is for Cena and the red is for Rusev. That's convenient. Cena touches three corners but Rusev kicks him in the ribs to reset the lights. Rusev tags two corners but Cena stops him, only to be thrown over the top rope. Rusev uses the chain as a pulley system and picks up Cena for a kick to the ribs. Rusev continues with kicks to the kidneys as the "Let's go Cena/Cena sucks" chants start. Rusev suplexes Cena back in the ring and touches two corners, but John whacks him with the chain. Rusev blocks an FU attempt and clobbers Cena with the chain. Cena pulls the chain outside and sends Rusev into the ring post. Cena does it again and goes to tag the corners. He gets two but Rusev blocks him from getting to corner three. Cena runs into a spinning heel kick and Rusev nails Cena in the ribs with the chain. Rusev whips Cena with the chain. Rusev tags three corners and goes for the fourth but Cena stops him. Rusev kicks Cena in the ribs but the lights reset, here we go again. Rusev punches Cena in the face with the chain and goes upstairs. Cena pulls Rusev off who lands on the chain. Cena clotheslines Rusev and tags two corners and drops Rusev with a shouldertackle. Cena gets caught and overhead press slammed by Rusev who then savate kicks Cena in the face. The crowd chants "We want Lana" and she waives to the crowd. Rusev gets jealous and kicks Lana out of ringside, sending her to the back. JBL says this isn't a Moscow beauty pageant. Cena takes advantage with a back suplex and the five knuckle shuffle. Cenna goes for the FU but Rusev blocks it and hits the Alabama Slam. Rusev then stomps on the back of Cenna then goes for the Accolade. Cena blocks it and locks in the STFU with the chain for help. After Rusev fades, Cena goes and touches three corners but Rusev rolls out of the ring to stop him. Back inside Rusev blocks another FU and drops Cena with a kick. Rusev locks in the Accolade but Cena stands up with Rusev on his back. Cena rams Rusev into two different corners but they count. Rusev quickly touches the third corner but Cena spins Rusev around with the chain and hits the FU. Both men are down but get up and touch a corner. They each get three corners and have another tug of war in the center of the ring. Rusev goes for the final corner but again Cena spins him around into an FU. Cena touches the fourth corner to win the match. Cena wins and retains the title, so much for Rusev's push. JBL "big match John has done it again" as Lawler laments losing Lana. The firework goes off and the US flag falls from the rafters and even the heel JBL says that's a good sight. Kind of a bad match since strap/chain matches with four corners are usually cucka but it served its purpose. This wouldn't end the feud officially but the writing was on the wall.

Time of match: 13:35

Winner: Cena (still US Champion)

After a Mountain Dew commercial and a Talk Is Jericho plug, we cut to Renee with Roman Reigns. Reigns says he can get knocked down but he won't stay down. Reigns says Big Show put him through hell and Reigns kept getting up, he'll be the last man standing. Onto the next match.

Match 6

Naiomi vs Nikki Bella (with Brie Bella) for the WWE Divas Championship

Here's an interesting dichotomy in WWE lore, there was just one babyface diva at the time. AJ Lee had retired after Wrestlemania and Naomi turned heel on Paige after Paige had won a number 1 contender's battle royal. Naomi took her spot and challenged Nikki for the Divas title. Summer Rae had turned on Damien Sandow on Raw and combined with Nikki, Brie, Cameron, Alicia Fox and Natalya, WWE had no babyface Divas apart from Paige who was out. Go figure. Naomi leapfrogs over the top rope during the entrance as she debuts her new entrance music. They lock up to start and Naomi piefaces her to start. Nikki hits a snap mare before locking in an armringer. Nikki turns it into a Fujiwara arm-bar but Naomi makes it to the ropes. They slug it out on the apron before Noami takes over with aggressive rights and stomps. Naomi hits a nice snap suplex and covers for a 1 count before locking in a chin-lock. Nikki powers out of it but eats a shoulderblock. Naomi covers for a two count before Naomi squeezes the neck with Brie on the outside screaming "LET'S GO NIKKI." Brie gets a clapping chant for Nikki going as Naomi starts dropping elbows. Guess Nikki is the defacto babyface by default for.....no reason I guess. Between the New Day and Kidd/Cesaro double turn and now this, WWE writers didn't know what the hell they were doing and fans had to just go along with it. Nikki rolsl up Naomi for a deuce and bulldogs Nikki into the middle buckle. Naomi covers for a deuce and goes for the Rear View, but misses. Naomi gets thrown into the corner who spingboard drop kicks Nikki down before taunting the crowd. Naomi covers for 1...2..nope. Naomi starts punching away on Nikki before kicking her outside the ring. Brie checks on Nikki and Naomi kicks her down. Naomi rolls Nikki inside and slowly makes her way inside. Nikki kicks Naomi down then clotheslines her. Nikki rallies with dropkicks and gets a babyface pop before hitting the Alabama Slam. She covers for 1......2....noooo. Naomi ducks the line and does the Hurricane elbow drop....haven't seen that in a while. Naomi goes for the split legged moonsault but Nikki moves out of the way. Nikki gets a knee to the face and covers for 1...2...and no. Nikki goes for Rack Attack but Naomi counters with a full nelson slam and roll over for a two count. Nikki gets a springboard dropkick and covers for 1..2...nooo. Nikki grabs the leg but Naomi kicks her off. The ref pulls Nikki away and Brie uses the distraction to kick Naomi in the head. Nikki hits the Rack Attack and covers for 1...2.....3 to win the match. Had to remind the fans the Bellas are still heels despite Naomi being one. Again, the writers have no earthly clue what they're doing right now. Brie and Nikki celebrate as we go to the replay of Brie kicking Naomi in the head. Thankfully NXT was loaded with the next generation so the Divas era was coming to an end, still a good match though.

Time of match: 8:10

Winner: Nikki Bella by pinfall (still Divas champion)

In the back Rusev is screaming at Lana in Bulgarian and tells her to take a walk. She knocks on The Authority's door and walks in....guess this feud has one more match left. Lawler takes a swig of Mountain Dew and clearly doesn't like it as JBL goes to open his bottle as well. Guess they heard me about the unopened bottles earlier. In my less than humble opinion, Mountain Dew tastes like fire hydrant so I don't blame Lawler. We get a promo package for Reigns vs Big Show before we head to our next match.

Match 7

Big Show vs Roman Reigns in a Last Man Standing Match

These two had been at each other's throats since Roman returned from hernia surgery after Survivor Series and this was the culmination. Reigns was famously hoodwinked by Seth Rollins at Wrestlemania 31 and Big Show cost Reigns the number 1 contender's triple threat match on Raw weeks earlier. Big Show then chokeslammed Reigns on top of a car in London and declared he was going to make it his life's mission to keep Reigns from ever reaching his potential. Show challenged Reigns to a Last Man Standing match and Reigns accepted. Vince was rolling with Orton's babyface momentum and had to keep Reigns active until it was his time to rise again. Bell's gone and Big Show bum rushes Reigns in the corner with right hands. Reigns rallies with right hands of his own but Show throws Reigns into the other corner. Both men are swinging right hands before Show dumps Reigns with a shoulderblock. Reigns recovers with right hands but runs into another shoulderblock. Show and Reigns slug it out more until Reigns clotheslines Show over the top rope to the floor. The ref starts the count but Show gets up at a count of five. Reigns pulls out a table but Show kicks Reigns in the ribs. Show puts the table away but Reigns send him into the ring post. Reigns runs over and dropkicks Show, who goes down to one knee. He gets up rather quickly as Reigns sets the table up from earlier. Show heaves Reigns into the barricade and smashes the table with his bare hands. Reigns grabs the singapore cane from Ambrose's match and waffles Show with it. Show gets made and heaves Reigns into the ring post. Reigns is down for a six count but gets up, only to be tossed into the ring. Show grabs the cane and snaps it in half before throwing it at the broken table. He says "I'm a giant!" to show he doesn't need weapons. Reigns rallies with right hands and a series of clotheslines. Reigns jumps off the second rope into a right hand from Big Show. Reigns is down for a six count but rolls outside on his feet. Show pulls Reigns to the apron who snaps him off the top rope. Reigns grabs a steel chair and waffles Show in the back with it. Reigns continues to clobber Show with the chair and then hits a ddt on it. Show is down for a seven count but gets up as Reigns grabs two more tables, putting them both in the ring. Roman runs right into the knockout punch by Big Show. JBL says that's the ballgame as Reigns is down for an eight count but staggers to his feet. Show sets up a table and calls for a chokeslam. Reigns counters with a samoan drop through the table. Both men are down for an eight count but they both get up. Reigns goes for the spear but Show spears him instead. Reigns is down for a seven count but gets up....only to get dropped with a headbutt. Show goes for the Vaderbomb and hits it, keeping Reigns down for nine. Show goes up to the top rope for some ungodly reason and Show crotches himself on the top rope. He screams loudly and Reigns breaks character to laugh at it. Reigns sets up a table outside and goes to superplex Show through it....get real, Reigns. Reigns gets shoved off but he does manage to slam Show off the top rope into the ring. Both men are down for an eight count but Reigns gets up and hits two Superman punches. Show then grabs Reigns and chokeslams him from inside the ring all the way through the two tables on the floor. The crowd pops even though Show is the heel as Cole says that's gotta be it. Reigns somehow gets up at nine and Show can't believe it. Reigns falls down again after beating the count as Show looks for something else to use. Show then grabs the steel steps and sets them up next to the announce table. Show then takes apart the announce table as the announcers clear out. Big Show grabs JBL's notepad and says "Big Show needs to lose weight? Who wrote that you dumbass?" He tosses it to Cole as Cole says its actually JBL's. The crowd chants "JBL" as Show gets back in the ring. He goes to spear Reigns through a table but Reigns moves and Show crashes through it. Both men get up at eight as Reigns finally hits the spear. Show rolls outside to break the count but Reigns runs around the ring and spears Show through the barricade. The ref counts to nine as both men get up. Show goes to chokeslam Reigns through the announce table but Reigns elbows out of it. Reigns runs up the steps and spears Show through the Spanish announce table. Show kind of telegraphed the spot by looking behind him to break the fall but it was still a cool spot. Show gets up at nine but Roman literally picks up the English announce table and throws it on top of Show to bury him. The ref counts all the way to 10 to end the match with Reigns counting along. Cole "Roman Reigns has arrived tonight!" Didn't he set the Royal Rumble eliminations record the year before and win the Rumble this year? What do you mean he arrived? Either way Reigns gets arguably one of his most important singles wins post-Shield breakup by knocking off Big Show. Last Man Standing matches are usually big spotfests but this one was very entertaining. If Reigns has to go through The Authority one by one to get to Seth Rollins, he took a giant step tonight....no pun intended.

Time of match: 19:56

Winner: Roman Reigns

We go to a Marine 4 trailer starring The Miz and Summer Rae before we cut to backstage with Kane walking around. Randy Orton of all people stops him and says they go back a long way. Orton says once the Authority is through with Kane they're going to throw him out like garbage. Orton "I know who you are, Kane, even if you've forgotten." Kane looks confused as we cut back to the mess of the announce table. Cole then plugs Tough Enough on June 23rd. The only noteworthy thing about the promo videos is one of them is a young Maxwell Jacob Friedman of AEW.

Back to ringside Bo Dallas comes out to cut a heel promo just to waste time before the main event. Dallas runs down Chicago and says they're not going to grow as people unless they Bo-lieve! Right on cue Ryback comes out and hits the ring. Dallas cuts him off with right hands and we got an impromptu match apparently. Why couldn't have this been an official match? Anyway, Ryback rallies with a spinebuster and a meat hook clothesline. Ryback hits the shellshock as JBL calls Dallas Tony Robbins. Ryback gets the obligatory pop.

Back from commercial we have this week's rundown with Raw followed by Jerry Springer (yes I'm serious) then Tuesday will be the King of The Ring tournament. Wednesday will be a Mick Foley special and Thursday features Stephanie McMahon on Talk Is Jericho. Friday will be a Floyd Mayweather vs Big Show lookback.....where the hell is Smackdown and NXT? Apparently Mayweather vs Manny Pacquiao was coming up.

Back to Byron Saxton who's with Rusev. Rusev says Cena hasn't beaten him yet and yells at Lana some more. Lana says the final chapter of this feud will be at Payback in an I Quit match. Rusev says America used to be full of fighters and now its full of quitters. Payback will be his payback for the American champion. FINALLY the cage begins to lower and we get our promo package for our main event. This is a long standing feud that goes all the way back to before Survivor Series. When Team Cena was preparing to face Team Authority, Randy Orton couldn't get along with Seth Rollins leading to Rollins curbstomping Orton and putting him out of action. Orton returned at Fastlane then appeared to have rejoined The Authority. Then he famously turned on Rollins and challenged him to a match at Wrestlemania. Orton won the match and Rollins famously cashed in his Money In The Bank later that night to win the WWE Championship. Orton then won a number one contender's triple threat match to set up this match. Both men got to choose a stipulation and Rollins had the RKO banned and Randy countered by making it a steel cage match to theoretically keep The Authority out. Naturally Triple H made Kane guardian of the door. The only flaw with stacking the deck is Rollins was acting like a spoiled brat and incurred the wrath of Kane for weeks. Was Kane going to turn face and help Orton or would he do what's best for business? Let's find out.

Match 8

Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins for the WWE Championship in a Steel Cage Match

Kane walks out in a coat and tie first before the others make their entrance. Lawler asks what Kane is REALLY thinking as Orton comes out next. Rollins comes out without Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble, which is weird but somewhat understandable since they won't be able to do much since its a cage match. Bell rings as JBL brings up Hulk Hogan vs King Kong Bundy as Rollins tries to escape the cage early. Orton stops him but Rollins gets the upperhand by stomping Orton in the counter. Orton counters with a clothesline and throws Seth into the cage. Rollins climbs the cage but Orton throws him down to the mat. Orton european uppercuts Seth then rams him head first into the mat. Rollins Flair flips into the corner then Orton knocks him down. Orton stalks Rollins and slingshots him into the corner. Seth goes to escape the cage again but Orton stops him. JBL says Rollins is made of velcro as Seth counters with a buckle bomb. Rollins covers for a deuce and asks Kane to open the door. Kane does but Orton stops him. Seth rams Orton face first into the cage and covers for a deuce. Rollins stalks Randy and stomps him in the corner. Rollins throws Randy into the cage again and taunts him. Rollins throws Randy into the cage another time then punches him on the ground. Rollins uses a running neckbreaker and covers for 1....2...no. Rollins avalanches Randy in the corner and starts taunting Kane for some stupid reason. Rollins charges Orton and Randy sends him into the cage. Orton looks at Kane then starts trading punches with Seth. They trade strikes before Orton sends Rollins into the cage then drops him with two clotheslines. Rollins goes to escape but Orton stops him and they start battling on the top rope. Orton drops down and Rollins nails him with a jumping kneelift. Rollins covers for 1....2....no. Rollins goes to escape again and gets to the top but Orton catches him. Orton is on top of the cage with him and they trade punches. Randy brings him back to the top rope where Rollins knocks Randy off but jumps into a powerslam. He covers for 1...2....nope. Orton goes for the second rope ddt but Seth rolls through for 1...2...nope. Seth hits a savate kick and covers for 1...2....no. Seth goes to escape again and makes it to the top of the cage. Rollins jumps over the side but Orton catches him. Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble hit the ring to pull Rollins down but Orton brings him back to the top. Orton superplexes Rollins off the top of the cage and covers for 1..2...nope. Mercury and Noble go over to Kane and demand to be let inside and Kane chases them off. Mercury and Noble take their jackets off and try to climb both sides of the cage. Orton knocks them both off by simply launching Rollins into each of them. Orton hits an overhead powerslam and goes for the second rope DDT again, only to be countered by Seth. Seth tries to climb out of the cage again but Orton grabs the foot and crotches Rollins on the top rope. Rollins looks at Kane and decides not to go out the door. Instead Orton hits a top rope DDT and caters to the crowd. Lawler says we're gonna have a new champion and gives the sign for the rko. Instead Orton hits the pedigree and covers for 1...2....nooooo. Cole says that was a direct message to The Authority. The crowd starts a random "YES" chant as Orton looks at Kane. Randy then goes for the punt but Rollins moves out of the way. Rollins dropkicks Randy down and calls for the door. Kane opens it and moves out of the way. Rollins crawls but Orton catches him and delivers a backbreaker. Randy looks at the open door but Kane closes the door on him. Rollins goes to dropkick Orton but Randy moves and Seth ends up kicking Kane off the steps and the door open. Rollins goes for the door but Orton catches him and tries to crawl over him but Kane slams the door on Orton's head. Kane rips his coat and tie off then enters the ring with Mercury and Noble. Noble and Mercury end up getting double chokeslammed. Rollins begs off from Kane and Kane ends up grabbing Orton and chokeslamming him. Seth crawls over to the door but Kane grabs him and chokeslams him too. JBL and Lawler are totally confused as Kane pulls Rollins on top of Orton for 1....2...NOOOOO, Orton kicked out. Logically where the hell is Ryback, John Cena or Dolph Ziggler from Team Cena that's supposed to battle The Authority? Kane goes to tombstone Randy but Orton pushes him off and HITS THE RKO! Technically the RKO is banned on ROLLINS, not on Kane. Rollins then hits an RKO on Orton and crawls out the door to win the match. That was a pitiful blowoff for Orton since he basically had to fight 4 against 1. Lawler says Rollins should have lost because he used the RKO but JBL mentions what I said in that only Orton was banned from using it. Either way The Authority wins against Rollins grabs the belt and celebrates. Cole says the bottom line is Rollins has won and JBL adds that the future is now. In terms of a cage match it was decent but the cage is supposed to keep people out, having 100 people run in defeats the purpose. Then again Kane was the guardian and we all knew he was going to make an impact anyway. Rollins walks out of Chicago still the WWE Champion.

Time of match: 21:02

Winner: Rollins (still WWE Champion)

Well, that ending extended Orton's babyface run for at least another month.. A decisive victory by Rollins would have rendered Orton essentially useless as a babyface since Roman Reigns in the chosen one, and its toon soon to do another Team Cena vs Team Authority storyline. Its going to be interesting moving forward to see how things develop. We got new tag team champions in New Day and Cena is still the US Champion. Cena and Rusev will meet one last time but there's no chance in hell Rusev wins now. Daniel Bryan may relinquish yet another title if his concussion doesn't heal and Nikki Bella is somehow still Divas champion. Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns are finished with Luke Harper and Big Show respectively so it'll be interesting to see if either one of them goes after Rollins. Speaking of Rollins, with Orton essentially screwed by Kane you know there's going to be a rubber match next month at Payback.....or they may just have Orton battle Kane. Monday Night Raw tomorrow night will be in Green Bay so I'll see everyone there. As for the show as a whole, it was pretty good all things considering.