This week’s episode of WWE Monday Night Raw opens with Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels coming to the ring to talk about Brock Lesnar and Shawn Michaels. Michaels feels that Cena’s time might be up. Hogan feels that Cena has a lot left to give and can win this rematch. Flair agrees with Shawn Michaels. He feels like Cena has a lot left to give, but he is picking Brock Lesnar to win this match. Hogan said that he is rooting for John Cena. Flair and Michaels explain to Hogan that this isn’t a popularity contest. Hogan tries to talk up Cena and Michaels interrupts him. Hogan reminds them that they have beaten each other and this is the rubber match and Cena can win. Flair and Michaels said they don’t believe that.
John Cena comes out. He said that he respects everyone at the table. Cena answers how a beating can change a man but Cena said that, after that match, he wants to fight Brock Lesnar again. Cena said that kind of beating won’t happen again at Night of Champions. He said that it is the biggest rematch of his life but he is not going to beat Brock Lesnar, he is going to beat Brock Lesnar’s ass and then he walked out.
Jack Swagger and Rusev have their rematch next. Last time they fought, at SummerSlam, Swagger passed out in the Accolade. He has been struggling since then and is without Zeb Colter and Rusev kicked him in the head. This is actually a better match than I thought it would be, and the fans are behind Swagger, but not as much as before. In a great move, Swagger went for the Swagger Bomb, Rusev raised his knees, but Swagger landed on his feet and locked in the Patriot Lock. Rusev made the ropes. After that Rusev dominated and the referee stopped the match when Swagger couldn’t continue. In the back, Bo Dallas told Swagger to just Bolieve.
A Number One Contender’s Match
The next WWE Monday Night Raw match was for the number one contender to Sheamus’ U.S. title for Night of Champions. Rob Van Dam took on Cesaro. For a change, Cesaro was actually entertaining in the ring (he is always a great wrestler, but he was taunting Sheamus, who was at ringside doing commentary). He actually smirked at Sheamus as he hit the Neutralizer onto RVD to pick up the win. After the match, Cesaro slid out and grabbed the U.S. title. When Sheamus tried to get it back, Cesaro tossed it in his face and fled to the back.
Natalya gets a rematch with Divas champion Paige in a non-title match next. Paige taunted Natalya most of the match and skipped round like AJ Lee. Paige even went for the Sharpshooter onto Natalya. That was reversed but Paige won with the Paige Turner in a pretty easy win. When Paige was leaving, AJ Lee came out so Paige went back to the ring where Natalya hit a spinning clothesline. AJ Lee helped up Paige and then said that she believes Paige when she says she loves her and she hugged Paige and then kissed her hand before skipping off. The mind games continue.
Remembering Dean Ambrose
Kane is out next for the eulogy for Dean Ambrose. Kane said they aren’t there to remember Dean Ambrose but are there to celebrate Seth Rollins – the future of the WWE. Seth Rollins said he destroyed The Shield and now destroyed Dean Ambrose too. That brought out Roman Reigns. Kane attacked but Reigns took out Kane and went after Rollins. Seth Rollins fought back but Reigns tossed him around and smashed him with the podium. Just when he was ready to hit the spear, Kane pulled Rollins out and saved him.
The Usos are out next to defend their tag team titles against Goldust and Stardust. The match was decent but – for the second week in a row – the good guy champion was counted out and kept their titles. Goldust got the mic and said this was their only chance for the tag team titles and accused The Usos of getting counted out on purpose. The Usos denied it (one of them had a hurt leg), so Goldust said he wanted a rematch right now. When The Usos said no, Goldust and Stardust attacked them and beat them down. It looks like the Goldust and Stardust team has turned heel.
Backstage, Seth Rollins says something needs to be done about Roman Reigns. This causes Kane to book a handicap match with Roman Reigns taking on Seth Rollins and Kane. After that is a promo package where Brock Lesnar talks about why he is so much better than John Cena.
Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler is out next to fight The Miz on WWE Monday Night Raw. When he came out, The Miz said that he is a movie star so he gets perks like instant access to Disney Land as well as the use of stunt doubles. He said that playing the role of The Miz tonight in this match will be Damien Miz-dow. Sandow wrestled like The Miz and Ziggler won the match with the Zig Zag.
The Bella Twins Reconcile?
Jerry Lawler is in the ring and is welcoming Brie Bella and Nikki Bella to the ring for a reconciliation. When both got into the ring, Nikki Bella made a comment about Brie using her music and Brie said that she can have it. Brie said that she is sorry if she did anything wrong, but Nikki said Brie was full of crap. She said the fans may be stupid enough to believe her but she knows it was always about Brie Bella. She said she is over the fat and lazy guys in the audience with their twin fantasies. She then said she is over Brie’s troll faced husband. Brie is crying again. Nikki called Brie a pathetic hot mess. Jerry Lawler tried to stop it and Nikki called him an old man and told him to stay out of it. She then said that she wished Brie Bella had died in the womb and then started beating her up. The referees pulled her off while Nikki yelled “you’re dead to me.” On a side note, Brie Bella is a horrible crier.
The handicap match is next. Roman Reigns is the first one down and then Kane and Seth Rollins head out and the match starts. The match was pretty decent with Reigns selling great for Rollins. The end came after Reigns hit Kane with the spear and then Rollins ran in with the briefcase shot for the auto DQ. Rollins beat down Reigns and then told Kane they needed to finish it. The cement blocks were at ringside again. Kane set Reigns up on the blocks for the Curb Stomp but Reigns fought back. He took down Kane and then picked up a cinder block and stalked Rollins. He threw the cinder blocks at Rollins, but he ducked it and it smashed into the steel ring post. Rollins ran and Reigns finished off with the Superman Punch to Kane.
Bray Wyatt is backstage with the Wyatt Family. He says that John Cena was always just a shell of a man and after Lesnar, the shell is cracked. Wyatt said he can’t let Cena spread his disease.
Up next, Slater Gator (Titus O’Neill and Heath Slater) take on Los Matadores. Slater and O’Neill dominated the entire match but Slater ended up getting pinned after a roll up. Looks like Slater’s little push just ended.
Kofi Kingston is up next against Bo Dallas. Dallas didn’t look as dominant as usual in this match. He won with the Bo-Dog, although he slipped on the buckle, caught himself and pushed off the middle ring rope to hit it. After the match, Bo Dallas said that Kingston is not like Jack Swagger because Kofi only let himself down, whereas Swagger let down the entire United States. Both men need to Bolieve. Swagger ran in and hit Dallas with the Bookend before leaving to his own music.
John Cena Channels Brock Lesnar
Its WWE Monday Night Raw main event time with John Cena taking on Bray Wyatt. Cena is out first. Instead of making his normal entrance, the lights went out and Wyatt was in the ring when they came back on. Wow, Cena was very aggressive and took down Wyatt. Cena then mimicked what Brock Lesnar did to him and just kept throwing Wyatt with suplexes. This is bad. Cena can afford to let Lesnar squash him. Wyatt can’t afford this, it could kill his momentum completely. Wyatt finally started fighting back and the Wyatt Family charged in. Big Show and Mark Henry ran in for the save.
That made this a six man tag team match. This helped alleviate the complaint from earlier because Wyatt was able to get his heat back by just cutting loose on Mark Henry. Cena won anyway, making Luke Harper tap out to the STF and then he hit the Attitude Adjustment to Erick Rowan. Mark Henry and Big Show threw Bray Wyatt back in the ring and Cena hit another AA onto Wyatt. Luke Harper made his way back to his feet and ate the third AA.