Monday night's episode of Raw emanated from across the pond, so it's no surprise that some of the biggest highlights from the show came from the wrestlers who call England home.
It's always interesting to see a show in England. It's not quite Canada, which is complete bizarro world, but it's certainly a passionate fanbase that's used to chanting throughout soccer (or should I say football?) matches, and brings that passion to wrestling shows.
The WWE knows that, so they have to figure out a way to channel that passion. They decided to do it in a logical way, Monday, by featuring their countrymen.
The show started off with Cena's Open Challenge for the US title. This time it was Bad News Barrett who came out to accept the challenge. He was greeted with a roar from the crowd and many chants, which he played to throughout the match. Once again, the open challenge provided a good match, as Barrett was made to look strong. Even though Cena ended up winning, Barrett looked good, which fired the crowd up.
The next countryman (or should I say countrywoman?) to get the rub from the crowd was Paige. She was the last diva to be announced for the divas battle royal for the right to face Nikki Bella at Extreme Rules, getting the huge pop that was expected.
Then, in what was initially a pretty big surprise, she won the battle royal. She was given a chance to talk about how special this moment was, and she cut what was probably her most passionate promo yet. You could tell how excited she was to wrestle, and win, in London.
While people were surprised that Naomi didn't win, since she had picked up two pins over Nikki, the rationale was revealed quickly, as Naomi attacked Paige in the middle of this promo, beating her, and signaling a heel turn for Naomi.
Finally, the last British wrestler was Neville, who once again stole the show. This is becoming routine from him, as he's quickly becoming arguably the most must-watch wrestler in the company when he's in the ring, and people are quickly picking up on that fact.
This time his crazy move of the night was a 450 splash off the barricade onto the floor. While he certainly didn't need the England rub, letting him do his thing against someone like Dolph Ziggler was a nice treat for the London fans. There will be a question about whether he should have won the match, but it certainly was the match of the night.
Playing to the crowd with local wrestlers is an easy thing to do. However, when done well, in front of a good crowd like they had in London, it adds to the show, and keeps a crowd hot.
The Rest of Raw:
** The biggest story of the night involved Seth Rollins and Randy Orton, and what stipulation their Extreme Rules match would have. While the end result was somewhat interesting -- with the match ending up being a cage match, where Orton could not use the RKO -- it was how they got there that took up the show. Each wrestler had to win a match to earn the right to name a stipulation.
Orton dispatched Tyson Kidd and Cesaro in a handicap match, which was an unfortunate blemish on the way they've built the tag division over the past few weeks. Rollins though, bullied Kane into facing Rollins, and give Rollins the cheap win. Kane, who had been teasing a face turn over the past couple weeks, went back and forth on whether he would lay down for Rollins. He even had Daniel Bryan come up and question what he was doing.
Finally, the match came, and Kane still hadn't decided. It seemed like he'd officially turn face, and he chokeslammed Rollins. However, he came to his senses and pulled Rollins over him for the pin.
** It looks like we'll be getting Roman Reigns against Big Show at Extreme Rules. Roman Reigns and Big Show cut promos on each other (with Big Show appearing on the Titantron). As Reigns went to leave the ring, he was cut off by Big Show, who slammed him around the stage area, including into and an top of a car that was part of the set.
The one really interesting part of this segment was that, in the promo, Reigns said without prompting that he would "retire" Big Show. To have that line legitimately come out of nowhere, as at no point as Big Show's retirement been mentioned, could be meaningful. I don't think Big Show will retire soon, as he's still shown the ability to be a good heel, but if he does, Reigns beating him would be a great rub.
** Dean Ambrose and Luke Harper continued their feud, which seems like it will go through to Extreme Rules. Ambrose beat Adam Rose in a quick match early in the night. Later in the night, Harper lost to Ryback by disqualification, but after he hit Ryback with the top of the announce table, Ambrose came out.
The two brawled for a bit, and when Ambrose went for Dirty Deeds, Harper escaped up the ramp.
This should lead to a good match between the two, however, as many people as noted, one really needs to change his wardrobe, as they dress far too similarly.
** Fandango lost to Stardust in a quick match, but it was what happened after that got people talking. Fandango took the mic and realized that the reason he was losing was because he was with Rosa. He then said he should be dancing with all the people.
His old music hit, and the fans started "Fandangoing" along with him in a great crowd moment. This might have just been a small moment to get the English fans engaged, but it seems like it might be a legitimate face turn for Fandango.
** The Lucha Dragons beat The Ascension. The tag-team division continues to shape up nicely (besides the hiccup with Kidd and Cesaro earlier in the night). The Prime Time Players got another segment where they were able to run down the other teams in the division, focusing on The Ascension and Los Matadores.
Hopefully they build on all this and let the division flourish. It seems like we'll be getting the Lucha Dragons and Kidd and Cesaro at Extreme Rules, but a pre-show match between The Prime Time Players and either The Ascension or Los Matadores would go a long way in establishing the division as more than just two teams, which it's been for so long.
** Damien Mizdow beat The Miz in a match. The feud, which was so hot even a month ago, has fizzled a lot lately, and WWE putting multiple short matches on RAW just shows what they think of it. The only thing that was added was that Summer Rae, Miz's co-star in The Marine 4, joined Damien Mizdow at ringside.
** One final thought, while the partnership with Mortal Kombat is fine, I question the decision to air a "Who's Next" title card for a second after a replay. Considering the connotation of "Who's Next?" in wrestling, doing that during a segment, instead of in a commercial, just gets the viewers excited, and then disappointed.
Thoughts? Questions? Leave them in the comment section, email me, or find me on Twitter: @TheAOster