On the first day of the WWE Network, nothing seemed to work right. The sign up process was a mess and most of the classic pay-per-views and shows wouldn’t work and just buffered. However, the live stream of their regular feed shows worked great. That meant that the WWE Monday Night Raw preview show ran seamlessly.
Ric Flair, Booker T, Josh Matthews and Alex Riley did the pre-show and talked about the Elimination Chamber and tonight’s WWE Monday Night Raw episode. They also showed part of one of the Superstars matches that tapes before Raw. Kofi Kingston beat Damien Sandow in that match and then did an interview with Jerry Lawler after the match. There was also a backstage segment with Christian and Sheamus getting into it so Brad Maddox booked them to fight tonight.
Real American opened the show and HULK HOGAN made his return to the WWE. Hogan said he was officially home and this was the turning point in his career. He talked about being there for the first Wrestlemania, was there for the start of the WWE Universe and is there for the launch of the WWE Network. He also announced that he would be the host of Wrestlemania 30. “What you gonna do when Hulk Hogan, the WWE Network and Wrestlemania 30 runs wild on you.”
I really thought someone would come out and interrupt him, but they let him just talk and re-introduce himself back to the WWE Universe.
The announcers pimp the WWE Network. Daniel Bryan will face Kane tonight and Brock Lesnar is also showing up. Batista will also fight tonight against Alberto Del Rio to open the show.
Alberto Del Rio came out first and then Batista and the fans are continuing to boo Batista. It is pretty crappy since it is nothing that Batista did to earn these boos, but more of what the WWE bookers did. The fans are taking it out on Batista, though, which is their hateful right. The match was long and pretty good but the fans refused to give it any respect. The end came when Randy Orton’s music started and Batista was distracted, so Alberto Del Rio picked up the quick win.
After the match, Randy Orton said it was funny that Alberto Del Rio beat him. Then Orton made fun of how the fans are booing Batista. That caused the fans to start a loud “CM PUNK” chant. Batista then said if the fans cheer him that he will cheer them back. If they boo him, he will boo them back. He said it is honesty and that is one of the things he loves about the business. He then said that Orton is a sniveling baby and he will happily beat him at Wrestlemania 30.
Big E and Cesaro wrestle next. Since both men came up through NXT, this gave the announcers a chance to talk about NXT: Arrival, which will be live on Thursday on the WWE Network. It was funny how the crowd started chanting “We the People.” As strong as Cesaro is, it was amazing to see Big E throwing Cesaro all over the ring. Wow. There was an amazing move where Cesaro slipped out of the Big Ending and then hit the big forearm. Cesaro hit Big E with the Big Swing for a 10 count but then Jack Swagger ran in and attacked Big E to cost Cesaro the match.
Big E attacked Jack Swagger after the match but Cesaro saved him and hit the Neutralizer on Big E, leaving him lying. Cesaro was very annoyed at Swagger as they left.
John Cena came out next and said the future of the WWE has to go through him and then turned his attention to Bray Wyatt. He then called out Bray Wyatt, who came to the ring. Bray cut a brilliantly great promo about how John Cena claims he can save people, but that is a lie. Cena challenges them to come in the ring so they do and beat him down some. As Cena hobbles on an injured leg, they back off. Then they attack him again and once again back off as Cena is still hurting. The come in one last time and beat him down again before posing and leaving. It was a methodical beat down and was very different and it worked.
It looks like Cena’s knee was legitimately injured and he was stretchered out.
Christian vs. Sheamus is next. The match was a great, long match and both guys looked strong. The end came when Christian ducked the Brogue Kick and then went up top. When he flew off at Sheamus, he ran straight into a Brogue Kick and Sheamus picked up the win.
Triple H and Stephanie showed up in the back and Daniel Bryan ran up and started yelling, asking what they have against him. He challenged Triple H to a match at Wrestlemania 30 but Triple H pulled out the A+ players not facing B players at big events line.
The next man that the WWE honored for Black History Month was Rocky Johnson and Mr. USA Tony Atlas.
Backstage, The Shield are fighting amongst themselves because of how Dean Ambrose disappeared in their match last night after he fought with Bray Wyatt into the audience. He said that he explained himself but if they didn’t believe him that he would just leave. Seth said he didn’t know if he believed Rollins but they were interrupted by The Wyatt Family. Roman Reigns challenged Bray Wyatt to a match tonight and they leave their teammates in the back and Bray Wyatt accepted the challenge.
Daniel Bryan came out to the ring and his match with Kane is next. Kane’s ring gear is a wife beater t-shirt and slacks. The two fought a fantastic match and things really picked up when Bryan kicked out of the choke slam. After Kane fought out of two different attempts at the Yes Lock, Bryan hit the running knee for a clear three count and a win. After the match, Daniel Bryan took the mic and called Triple H a coward. He said he challenged Triple H and he hid behind his wife’s skirt. He then said he wants Triple H vs. Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania 30, so this is one way to get the fans to stop focusing so much on Bryan not being in the title match.
Emma made her WWE in-ring debut of Emma, who gets giant bubbles as she walks to the ring. She was accompanied by Santino to battle Summer Rae, who had Fandango at her side. The match was decent but not great. Emma ended up winning with an impressive submission hold called the Emma Lock.
The next match was The New Age Outlaws against The Usos. The bell rang but Road Dogg complained that they never got to do their entrance. The Usos left the ring as the fans chanted along with the New Age Outlaws. However, as Road Dogg was finishing, he got super kicked in the face. Billy Gunn was thrown out of the ring and The Usos hit a big top rope splash for the win. The fans booed, probably because the Usos interrupted the fan sing-a-long.
Roman Reigns came out alone for the next match and Bray Wyatt followed suit. I have a huge problem here. The fans started random chants during the match. When this normally happens, it is in matches fans don’t care about. If fans do it here, it sends a message to the WWE that they don’t want Reigns and Wyatt pushed. The match was great and the end came when the lights went out and when they came back on Luke Harper and Erick Rowan were at ringside. However, Seth Rollins came from out of nowhere, ran through the ring, and flew onto them.
Harper and Rowan started getting the advantage on Rollins and Dean Ambrose returned for the save. Harper tried to climb in the ring and Roman Reigns knocked him off but then Ambrose ran in and attacked Bray Wyatt, causing Roman Reigns to lose by disqualification. The Shield cleared the ring and stood tall at the end.
Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman are out next. Heyman said that Randy Orton and Batista should get their match out of the way and let Brock Lesnar fight in the title match at Wrestlemania 30. Well, Triple H said no but said that Brock Lesnar could fight anyone he wants to instead, which Heyman calls a consolation prize. He said in the WWE, you get everything you want except what you really want. Heyman said that Brock Lesnar wants to make history so he said Brock Lesnar won’t wrestle at Wrestlemania 30.
As they started to leave, Undertaker’s bell started gonging. Undertaker came into the ring and just stared down Brock Lesnar. Finally, Undertaker looked at the Wrestlemania 30 sign and Brock Lesnar said yes. Brock signed the contract and then Paul Heyman told Undertaker to sign it as well. Brock patted the contract and then Undertaker jammed the pen through Lesnar’s hand and signed it in Lesnar’s own blood. Then he choke slammed Lesnar through the table as the fans chanted “this is awesome.”
The Backstage Pass started immediately on the WWE Network and saw Undertaker leaving the ring as Paul Heyman knelt over Lesnar. Ric Flair, Booker T, Josh Matthews and Alex Riley were back to talk about what happened on WWE Monday Night Raw. While they talked, the camera went back to the ring to see medical personnel helping Lesnar, who still had the ring jammed through his hand.
Backstage, Byron Saxton talked to Dolph Ziggler who was wearing a Hulkamania shirt. Xavier Woods was also there and talked about how crazy the Undertaker incident was. Camera back to the ring and Brock Lesnar walked off on his own.
Footage of the John Cena injury was shown. It looks like Cena legitimately hurt his knee as there was footage of Cena saying he heard his knee pop. A WWE doctor was interviewed and he said that Cena felt his knee gave out and he is in the hospital for investigation, but he said Cena refused an MRI right now.
Up next is a backstage interview with Hulk Hogan. He once again said he is happy to be back home. He then said that he slammed giants and sold out arenas but feels hosting Wrestlemania 30 is one of the biggest moments of his career and pulled out the same “Runs Wild” slogan before leaving. There was nothing new in the interview at all.
Someone tried to interview Kane backstage about losing to Daniel Bryan, and he said he has no response. The, Rene tried to interview Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar but they just walked off. And that was it for The Backstage Pass.
