An NXT superstar made his debut and a big match was set up, yet the major moment on RAW still fell flat to some fans.
John Cena once again came out for his open challenge, and once again the wrestler to come out sent the internet into a frenzy. Kevin Owens, NXT champion, came out. He took the mic and ran down Cena, even pointing out that he's been wrestling longer than Cena, and ran down the fans.
He then said he wouldn't wrestle Cena, because the NXT title was better than the U.S. title. He said when he wrestled Cena -- and that he would -- it would be a time of his choosing. He then popped Cena up into a powerbomb and posed while stepping on the U.S. title.
The internet immediately started buzzing about what they saw. Owens made a huge impact in his RAW debut. When would he face Cena? Would they rush it, or would they wait months...or even a year for the encounter? The answer was given quickly. A couple of segments later, Owens was shown in the back talking to Triple H, and he announced that he would face Cena at Elimination Chamber in 13 days.
While I'm of course excited about a Cena/Owens match, I can't help be horribly disappointed that it feels like they're just throwing this away. In my eyes, the Cena/Owens feud was quite possibly the best feud that's never been done amongst the wrestlers in WWE right now. It's a simple story.
Owens, quite frankly, is the anti-Cena. Cena is the golden boy, the guy who consistently panders to the crowd, even as a heel, and represents everything the WWE wants. Owens on the other hand is the opposite. Many thought he'd never make it to the WWE because of his physique, his wrestling style, and his strong will.
Owens was the guy who, even as a face, wouldn't overly care about how the crowd reacted, and would call out the crowd if he deemed it necessary. They are diametric opposites in every way. While the match was exciting, I thought the feud could be something that, if done correctly, could go down as an all-time great feud, and build. So to throw away the match in two weeks in what seems to be a desperate ploy for subscribers is horrendously disappointing.
To me, this is like having Andre and Hulk wrestle a week after Andre ripped Hulk's chain, or having Sting come down from the rafters to face Hogan after a month. This was a money build that was taken away from us.
Could this end up being a good feud? Of course. For all we know this feud will rage throughout the summer, redefining what a personal feud could be in wrestling. However, what would make the feud more special is if it carried throughout the summer, but didn't get their hands on each other until Summerslam.
It's a different world now, though. Maybe in this world Andre/Hogan does only get three weeks, and Sting/Hogan a little longer than that. It's a change that I have a hard time getting thrilled about, though.
The rest of RAW:
-Besides Kevin Owens, the biggest star of the show might have been Lana. Rusev came out early in the show, and once again cut an outstanding heel promo about how she quit for him, and that it shouldn't have counted. She came out to try to explain her actions, and how she cared about him, but Rusev wasn't having any of it and sent her to the back. Rusev later was named as one of the wrestlers in the Intercontinental title Elimination Chamber
Later in the night, Dolph Ziggler (another person in the chamber) defeated Stardust. When that match ended, Lana came out, staring at Ziggler the whole time. In a weird way, it reminded me of when the Diamond Doll used to come out to try to get the Booty Man (One of Ed Leslie's ill-fated gimmicks) back in WCW. She kissed Ziggler twice, which brought out Rusev to chase Ziggler off. Lana then slapped Rusev and walked away. We'll have to see if this is the official turn for Lana, or if this is going to be a fake-turn, as she distracts Ziggler, and her official turn comes later.
- It looks like, just like last summer, this summer's big feud may end up being Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. Ambrose once again harassed Rollins and his followers, finally breaking up what was a Seth Rollins Appreciation Night. This followed a match earlier in the night where J&J security cost Ambrose a match against Bray Wyatt. Eventually, everyone attacked Ambrose, yet he was able to fight them off initially. He dragged Rollins over to a pile of cinderblocks that he had set up, a throwback to last summer's attack. Stephanie said she'd give Ambrose a title shot if he didn't hit Rollins, and while he thought about it, J&J attacked. Eventually he succumbed to the numbers and Rollins stood tall at the end. Thie feud really could carry the WWE through the summer if they wanted it to.
-King Barrett beat Neville in another nice match between the two. Before the match, Neville was cutting a promo when Bo Dallas came out. Both wrestlers alluded to the feud and the matches they had in NXT before being called up (Neville ended the title reign of Bo Dallas). After the match, Bo attacked Neville. Interestingly, while Barrett was named to the chamber, neither Neville or Bo Dallas are in it, so apparently they will be facing each other in a singles match.
-Sheamus and Ryback had a nice opening match, which Sheamus won after some shenanigans and a Brogue kick. It was as hard-hitting as you'd expect a confrontation between these two. Both of these guys will be in the IC title Elimination chamber, which makes sense.
-Nikki Bella beat Naomi by DQ after Tamina attacked Nikki when it looked like she was about to win. After the match, a 2-on-1 beatdown commenced, and Paige came to break it up. The heels cleared out, and Paige helped Nikki up, only to hit her with the RamPaige, and held up the title. With the Bellas supposedly faces, this made for a slightly confused audience. The other interesting thing about this is that it seems like we're going to continue with Stephanie toying with the face Bellas, as she forced Brie to stay back during the match to have a counseling session, as according to Stephanie, Brie must be too emotional after Daniel Bryan had to go home.
-The six teams in the Tag Team elimination chamber were set, after The New Day were DQ'd against Kidd and Cesaro. The other four teams are the Lucha Dragons, Los Matadores, The Ascension and the Prime Time Players.
-Erick Rowan and Luke Harper looked dominant against the team of Adam Rose and Zack Ryder.
Thoughts? Questions? Leave them in the comment section, email me or find me on Twitter: @TheAOster. You can also hear me on my podcast, Jobbing Out.