Brock Lesnar, the WWE World Heavyweight Champion, appeared for the first time in three months on Raw. By the end of the night, however, more questions were created than answered.
Lesnar hadn't been seen since Night of Champions, back in September. He first returned to protect Paul Heyman from Chris Jericho. Jericho (who was the guest GM), under the pretense that Heyman had owed him money from back in the ECW days, had made a match between the two. After Heyman tried to beg off Jericho, Lesnar came out and destroyed Jericho. Nothing too fancy, just reminding us what kind of beast he could be.
But it was later that he did something truly interesting.
John Cena and Seth Rollins faced off in a rematch from TLC. However, this time the match was in a cage. At the end of a pretty decent match, Cena hit Rollins with an AA from the top turnbuckle. Both laid there, dazed, when Lesnar's music hit for the second time in the night. Lesnar came down, hit Cena with three German suplexes, and then an F5. He then turned towards Rollins, who was standing, shocked, in the corner. Heyman walked over, and then extended his hand, which Rollins shook. Heyman and Lesnar then left, allowing Rollins to hit a curb stomp and then escape the cage for the win.
So the question is, what does that handshake mean?
Heyman had gone out of his way to be complimentary towards Rollins previously. So is Rollins yet another one of the "Heyman Guys," as Cole hypothesized on commentary?
That would be intriguing for a lot of reasons, particularly if Heyman stays in WWE after Lesnar's contract runs out (which supposedly will happen after WrestleMania).
However, this could lead to a different storyline. Rollins, obviously, still holds the Money in the Bank briefcase. I think the story that will play out will involve Heyman using Rollins, trying to get him not to use the briefcase. There will probably be backstage segments that will hammer home this point, until finally Rollins does end up cashing in. Though, the question would be, would that make Rollins a face, and when he would cash in?
As I said, a lot of questions were created with a simple handshake. Hopefully the WWE creates a coherent storyline with it, and doesn't turn it into a random occurrence that isn't brought up again.
The rest of RAW:
** Big Show and Luke Harper beat Erick Rowan and Dolph Ziggler in a tag match when, once again, Big Show pinned Erick Rowan. I just don't get what they're doing with Rowan anymore. He seemed to be getting over, but this is just going to stop him in his tracks. And to have Dolph Ziggler lose the night after winning the title is just ridiculous. At the end of the year, I'm going to go back and see what the Intercontinental title holder's record is in non-title matches this year, because it has to be pathetically bad. I will never understand why the WWE builds their champion this way.
** Besides getting destroyed by Lesnar, Jericho also hosted a segment of The Highlight Reel. He invited Rusev out, and then insulted him and Lana. As the two tried to get a word in edgewise, he brought out a man who wanted to face Rusev, which was Ryback. I had stated last week that they needed to move Ryback on to one of the bigger faces on the show, and Ryback was one that I listed. I'm not sure how good the matches will be, but it will certainly be a boost for Rusev (unless they have Ryback be the guy to stop Rusev, which seems unlikely right now). Either way, it's nice to see that they want to progress Rusev.
** Jimmy Uso beat Miz after Jey helped out. I'm not totally sure where they're going with this angle, particularly with Naomi's inclusion. They're having Jimmy act somewhat like a jealous boyfriend, and now having them cheat to win, so could this be a heel turn in progress? We'll have to see. It does seem like either the Usos or Naomi will turn at some point in this feud though.
** The New Day, represented by Xavier Woods and Big E, beat the Dusts. Kofi was on commentary during this match. The crowd already seems to be turning on The New Day. Kofi on commentary was also an oddity. I get that these guys are supposed to be happy and optimistic, but Kofi was completely over-the-top on commentary. It almost feels like they're being over-the-top annoying faces as a prelude to a heel turn. I've seen some compare the state of the gimmick right now as The Rock when he was Rocky Maivia. If that is how they're going, I give WWE credit for some clever booking.
** Natalya and Alicia Fox beat the Bellas in a tag match, when Natalya forced Brie to tap out. At the end of the match, Nikki was knocked off the apron and Tyson Kidd went over to check on her, looking concerned. After winning, Natalya realized that Tyson was over there, and yelled, which quickly brought Tyson back in the ring. So Natalya is clearly the next challenger for Nikki, and we'll see where Tyson falls into things.
** The Ascension had their first promo air on RAW. I had been comparing them to the Road Warriors for months, and their promo certainly reflects that. It seemed like a promo straight from the 80s.
** Kane squashed Adam Rose (and The Bunny, who got involved). He hit both with a chokeslam and then tombstoned The Bunny. Only thing really notable about this was that ROH wrestler Jimmy Jacobs was one of the Rosebuds.
** Finally, for those who are thinking about going to Raw in D.C. in two weeks, a television commercial aired for it, advertising the main event (likely dark main event) as John Cena teaming with Randy Orton against Big Show and Seth Rollins. This seems to indicate Orton will be returning in the next two weeks.
Thoughts? Questions? Leave them in the comment section, email me, or find me on Twitter: @TheAOster