What seemed like an obvious transition in the main event picture from Night of Champions to Hell in a Cell has been thrown into disarray over the past two weeks.
On Monday night, Dean Ambrose once again was the feature attraction as he tormented Seth Rollins throughout the night. He had stolen the Money in the Bank briefcase on Smackdown, and continued to walk around with it. Later in the night, he turned the briefcase over to Rollins (accompanied by Jamie Noble, Joey Mercury and other "security") only to have green slime shoot out of it as if Rollins was on "You Can't Do That On Television."
Later, Triple H and Stephanie made a tag match with Ambrose and John Cena (who had come out to attack Rollins earlier in the show) against Randy Orton and Kane. After a match that had Cena play the face-in-peril, Ambrose received the hot tag, and was about to pin Orton when Rollins came in.
Instead of a straight beatdown, it seemed like Cena and Ambrose would get the better of the three, until they started bickering over who would get to attack Rollins. Cena would attack, then Ambrose would pull him away, and try to attack Ambrose himself. This repeated several times until Kane and Orton got involved again.
Both Cena and Ambrose received an RKO, choke slam, and then Curb Stomp onto the briefcase before the show ended with Rollins, Orton and Kane standing tall.
So the question is simple: Where are they going with all this?
After Night of Champions, it seemed clear that they were going toward Cena vs. Brock Lesnar and Ambrose vs. Rollins at Hell in a Cell. Both feuds had enough built-in animosity (and screwy finishes) that a Cell made perfect sense.
But now, Cena has become intertwined with Rollins and Ambrose, and Lesnar is nowhere to be found. If this becomes some sort of triple-threat (or even Fatal Fourway if you include Orton) in the main event at Hell in a Cell, it completely neuters the emotions that Ambrose and Rollins had built up for this match.
That match seemed destined for a Hell in a Cell, themed pay per view or no, and to add more people to it would take away from it. It also raises a question as to why Cena/Lesnar ended in a DQ finish at Night of Champions. If this is simply because of Lesnar's contract situation, then he should've beaten Cena so it would make sense for Cena not to get a rematch.
With three RAWs left before Hell in a Cell, it's not too late to make the card a little cleaner. However, the wrestlers will need to start separating from each other soon if the Hell in a Cell card is going to look better.
The Rest of RAW:
- I didn't really talk much about the opening segment, which featured The Authority and Seth Rollins. In the midst of it, Paul Heyman came out to confront Rollins about him getting involved in the Cena/Lesnar match. He teased some potential tension between The Authority and Lesnar if they get involved with his match again. Rollins apologized for getting involved, and said it won't happen again. It was nice to see Lesnar at least mentioned on RAW after having no mention last week, but the question still remains why there hasn't been any push toward a match with him.
- The triple threat match for the Intercontinental title between Dolph Ziggler, The Miz and Cesaro was fantastic. While most triple threat matches end up just having the wrestlers take turns on the outside, this had all three engaging with each other for most of the match. It's something that's incredibly hard to do, but these three made it work, and led to some very nice spots during the match. Dolph ended up retaining, but it's likely not the last we've seen of these three, though it looks like Miz may be moving on to the US title, as we'll see next.
- Sheamus beat "Damien Mizdow" with Miz on commentary. The mach was made because Miz and Sandow complained to Stephanie and Triple H that they missed out on Miz's IC title match. Hard to say if this is truly Miz moving on, or if he's just going to bounce between title pictures until he wins one.
- A video ran that had Bray Wyatt building up Luke Harper. It looks like they're going to push Harper as a singles wrestler. This isn't a terrible decision, as it allows Wyatt to sit back and reset as a manager-role until they have a true feud for him. Plus, Harper may be the best in-ring competitor of the Family, so seeing him in singles matches is never a bad thing.
- Alicia Fox, who was introduced by Paige as her new best friend, beat AJ in a non-title match. I doubt this will lead to anything for Fox, but instead will just further the AJ/Paige feud.
-Bo Dallas beat Mark Henry, after telling Mark Henry that he should join the "Hall of Bolievers." After the match, Henry caught up with Bo backstage, and viciously attacked him. Between Monday night and last week's Main Event, it looks like they're turning Mark Henry heel again.
-Rusev, who was knocked out by Big Show on Smackdown, came out with Lana to air their grievances against Big Show. Show came out and did a fairly standard patriotic/anti-Rusev speech. Rusev actually took the mic and threatened Show. Despite not really having any mic time before, other than occasionally talking in Russian, he actually delivered his lines pretty well, as ridiculous as they were ("I'm going to rip your guts out"). They'll have a match next week on RAW.
- Brie Bella beat Cameron and Eva Marie in a handicap match that was set up by Nikki.
- They announced that Roman Reigns would have an interview segment next week on RAW. Despite them constantly saying he'll be out for "several months", I'd be surprised if he wasn't back by Survivor Series.
- Hulk Hogan came out to advertise WWE's partnership with Susan G. Komen
- Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil beat Los Matadores. The Bunny attacked Heath Slater after the match.
- Layla beat Rosa Mendes in the weekly "Total Divas" match.
Questions? Thoughts? Leave them in the comment section, or find me on Twitter: @TheAOster
