After a 2 ½ month absence from the company, Brock Lesnar returned on WWE and had his eyes on the same thing he did when he left: beating Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship.
When we last saw Brock Lesnar, he had laid the announcing table, commentators and camera guy to waste on RAW, earning himself an indefinite suspension from The Authority. However, it was the Authority who brought him back.
The show opened with Seth Rollins bragging about his win over Dean Ambrose. Despite the fact that his bragging had cost him his support from within The Authority, he felt the need to boast that winning by himself had proven that he's the greatest. He even took some shots at LeBron James and Johnny Manziel ("Johnny Idiot Face" was the nickname that Rollins lovingly bestowed upon him) to rile up the crowd.
That, of course, didn't go over well with his former compatriots in The Authority. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon decided that they needed to take matters into their own hands, and hand-pick his opponent for Battleground, who they would announce at the end of the show. After they reeled off everyone that he wouldn't face (Dean Ambrose, Kane, Jamie Noble, Joey Mercury), they brought out Lesnar to a huge roar from the crowd.
Rollins' face was a fantastic combination of shock and despair. He didn't run, he didn't visibly freak out, he just looked like a man sentenced to execution. After a brief staredown, he retreated.
It was interesting the way Lesnar was brought back. People assumed that he'd be going after Stephanie after she was the one who suspended him. However, the Authority was the one who decided to bring him back. I liked the internal logic in it. They felt that they had to find out once and for all if Seth Rollins truly was the future of the company, so they had to give him the toughest opponent they could think of so he could prove his worth.
If he lost, then no big deal and they'd find someone else. If he wins, then they know he's the real thing. It's a bit of actual, sensible, logic being applied to the wrestling world, which is something we don't see very much. It also avoids the confusion that would've come from Lesnar showing up and feuding with Stephanie and Triple H, despite them being the ones that would've needed to sign off on ending his suspension.
The only thing that was a little bit surprising about this is that it's coming for Battleground, and not waiting for Summerslam. However, the kickoff to the summer certainly is more exciting with Brock Lensar around.
The Rest of RAW:
-Kevin Owens certainly made his presence felt on RAW again. John Cena was not there, as he was selling his injuries from the powerbomb to the apron he took the night before. So Owens issued an open challenge. After Dolph Ziggler accepted the challenge, Owens made it clear that it was just an open challenge to fight him, not for an NXT title shot. He ended up beating Ziggler anyways, after a very good match. However, that wouldn't be his only appearance on the show.
Machine Gun Kelly was the guest performer for RAW on Monday night. As with most guest performers, the performance was awkward, and pretty much killed the crowd and the flow of the show. Normally I wouldn't even bother mentioning it here.
However, at the end of the show, Owens came out, likely to confront MGK about his association with Cena. After a quick altercation, Owens then grabbed MGK and powerbombed him off the stage. You have to give kudos to him for being willing to take that spot. It will be interesting to see what they do with it. They already "forced" him to apologize on twitter, and Stephanie McMahon made mention of more to come.
-Roman Reigns came out and called out Bray Wyatt for costing him the Money in the Bank ladder match. Wyatt responded on screen, and actually provided a logical reason for his interference. He reminded people that if he had beaten Reigns two weeks ago, he would've been in the ladder match. He actually wanted to briefcase, which is one of the few times he's shown ambition toward titles since coming into the company. He then ended the long promo by showing a picture of Roman and his daughter. We know we're going to get this match at Battleground, as it was announced before Money in the Bank was over. The question is how they'll let the feud evolve in the five weeks they have.
-After these two facing each other twice in a row, it seems like we're getting an actual feud between Randy Orton and Sheamus. Orton cost Sheamus a match against Dolph Ziggler, and then Sheamus returned the favor, as he distracted Orton to allow Kane to win. It's interesting, because we've seen these guys face off a lot, but we really haven't had a long feud between the two. The closest we've come was in early 2010, when Sheamus defended his newly-won title against Orton. But that was a one-shot, and not a true feud.
-It was an odd RAW for Paige. She tried to rally the divas against the Bellas, but was rebuffed by all of them. It actually made her look pretty bad in the process, as everyone gave valid reasons why they shouldn't be with her, ranging from the fact that she's turned on her partners to the fact that it simply feels like jealousy from Paige. She then lost in a 2-on-1 handicap match to both Bellas. Logically, you could say that this is going to turn into Paige bringing up some backup against the Bellas in the form of some debuting NXT girls (maybe Charlotte). However, I wouldn't put it past the WWE for it to just be illogical storytelling.
-WWE did a good job on the tribute during RAW to Dusty, showing the 10-bell salute from the night before, and showing quick packages throughout the night. They also did an excellent job on the tribute show that aired on the Network after RAW.
-Miz continued to insert himself in the feud for the IC title. He faced Big Show while Ryback was on commentary. Ryback, who was surprisingly witty on commentary, eventually entered the fray when Big Show tossed Miz into Ryback. Ryback and Big Show had a staredown, while Miz crawled into the ring for the countout win. This feud continues to revolve around Miz, so it wouldn't shock me if he ended up winning at Battleground or Summerslam.
-R-Truth once again beat King Barrett. Barrett took the mic beforehand, saying that it's not a joke that he won King of the Ring, and he earned it, and Truth can't just call himself one. Truth won with a quick rollup, but felt Barrett's wrath after this match. Not sure exactly what the plan is with Barrett, but I'm all for giving Truth a push if it ends up that way.
-The Prime Time Players and Neville beat The New Day. The New Day continue to tease going full-out aggressive heel, so we'll see when that happens.
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