This was an unusual Raw, mostly because the phrase "First time ever!" was blatantly overused throughout the show. It certainly was the theme of the night.
The "first-ever" matches were:
- Dean Ambrose vs Big Show
- Sasha Banks vs Paige
- Nikki Bella and Alicia Fox vs Charlotte and Becky Lynch
- Randy Orton vs Kevin Owens
- Seth Rollins vs John Cena (look at that; Champion vs Champion)
FIRST TIME EVER: SHIRTLESS AMBROSE ON RAW!
Ambrose vs Big Show was the first match of the night, which I was initially not happy about (UNTIL THAT HAPPENED). They fought on last week's Smackdown as Ambrose and Reigns vs Big Show and Sheamus, where they both took each other out after Ambrose turned Big Show's chokeslam into "the world's biggest DDT." Technically, it was their first time together in a singles match. The match turned out to be entertaining. Big Show, who usually just pulls off slow moving power moves and chokeslams, actually came off looking powerful and Ambrose came off as ridiculously persistent and did a great job selling. Big Show won via countout but Dean stood tall at the end when he narrowly avoided Big Show attempting to spear him into the barricade. His bro, Roman Reigns, is absent again so let's hope we get back to the whole 2/3 Shield vs 2/3 Wyatt Family either on Smackdown! or next week's Raw.
Sasha Banks vs Paige was the first Divas match and it was so good. It was well paced and technical and Banks even mocked Paige's "THIS IS MY HOUSE!" and her signature scream outside the ropes. The second Divas match was with Charlotte and Becky Lynch vs Nikki Bella and Alicia Fox and we got another quality match from them. Usually on Raw, Vince and I can tell when there's a commercial break coming up (it's usually a suicide dive out of the ropes on hard camera left) and it is annoying. Seeing a commercial break for the Divas match was not!
There was a squash match with Fandango vs Neville, which Neville won in 3 moves. Stardust via titantron congratulated Neville and gave a wonderful promo about heroes and villains. He's been noticeably working in quotes from his father's "Hard Times" promo and heavily hinting about a certain green-hooded vigilante. Admittedly, this is one of the most unusual story lines that has been developing for the last couple of months but if it's leading up to a comic book themed match (possibly at Summerslam?) with Stardust, Neville, and actor Stephen Amell, I'm all for it.
There was also a great segment with Rusev and Hot Summer Rae, where Rusev is slowly learning to be a good boyfriend to her. He got her a puppy and named him "Dog Ziggler." And he also gave her a box with a headless fish in it and called it - of course - Lana. She came out, got into a catty fight with Hot Summer by shoving her face into said fish, and angrily slapped Rusev in the face. This is still a shitty storyline for breaking up Rusev and Lana, but in a weird way, we're seeing their characters develop. Rusev is still the scary Bulgarian Brute, which makes it hilarious that he's learning to be affectionate towards another woman. And Lana looks WAY better without Ziggler around to make her look weak. We're really hoping this would become this generation's Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth story.
Randy Orton vs Kevin Owens was also a good match, although Orton won via DQ thanks to Sheamus interfering. Cesaro also ran in and jumped on Owens, establishing that they still have a grudge against each other. We're still upset that Owens is just another guy who was beaten by Cena but he's far from being "buried." He has a feud with Cesaro, another great wrestler who is getting into the main event, so this is great for both of them. It's Kevin Steen vs Claudio Castagnoli!
The main event of the third hour was Rollins vs Cena. We were not happy with this match because Cena has basically made himself #1 contender for Rollins' Heavyweight Champion. There WAS another #1 contender before Cena and that was Dean Fucking Ambrose! And of course, Cena is making it look like his US Title is way more prestigious than the World Heavyweight title.
Their match was good and pretty much what you would expect from Cena and Rollins until Rollins brutally broke Cena's nose. This was incredibly shocking to watch as Cena struggled to stay up as blood gushed from his nose and unto the mat. Rollins even pulled off an impressive 2-move finisher (a superplex from the turnbuckle into a sit down powerbomb) on Cena, who had to stop at least twice for a few minutes to have the ringside physician wipe off the blood from his nose. Rollins eventually tapped and Cena retained his title. Rollins tapped to Cena but I came away impressed that Cena didn't let a broken nose affect their performances for the main event. Cena kept going and Rollins didn't go easy on him either. Let's see how Cena holds up in the next few weeks leading up to a 4-HOUR Summerslam.
Also, fuck it, I just want to show shirtless Ambrose again.
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