"SEA! HAWKS!": Monday Night RAW (8/11/15)

It's 2 weeks til the Summerslam and a bunch of matches were added to the card, now justifying WWE extending the PPV to 4 hours. Last night's RAW was thoroughly enjoyable, and it also marked the return of Daniel Bryan in his home state of Washington.

Seth Rollins opened up RAW with a really silly segment where he was talking to a picture of John Cena with his broken nose via titantron with Rollins' mouth and terrible accent. Cena has still not officially accepted Rollins' challenge. Cesaro (who was so happy to see more Cesaro Section signs), Kevin Owens (who called out "the idiot on the internet" for printing said signs for the sheeps), and Randy Orton (who sheeply asked if Owens gained weight) came out, much to Rollins' dismay as he confirmed that he was not going to do the weekly open challenge. HHH came out and created a triple threat match amongst the 3 challengers and the winner will fight Rollins for the title as tonight's main event.

Team Bella defeated Team B.A.D. while Submission Sorority PCB was on commentary. While all 3 Diva groups went into the ring and started wailing on each other, this moment stood out at the end; look at the stare down between the 2 former champs! Sadly, the Divas Revolution will remain on its holding pattern for another month. They were added to Summerslam as a Three Team Elimination match.

The New Day fought (and defeated) Los Matadores. These guys have been on FIRE these last few weeks. Their matches have been so entertaining to watch, and regardless of whether they win or lose, they still win the crowd over every single time. They were added to Summerslam as a Fatal 4-Way Match against Los Matadores (ugh), Lucha Dragons (yay), and Tag Team Champions Prime Time Players. When The New Day first won, it was a complete surprise. Now I want them to be the 2-Time Tag Team Champions.

The Triple Threat match with Orton, Owens, and Cesaro was incredible. It's so damn impressive to see Owens keep up with Cesaro and Owens. Orton and Cesaro teamed up to do a double suplex on Owens off the turnbuckle. And Orton did a double rope DDT on Owens and Cesaro. I was not happy to see Cesaro getting the pin from Orton, which meant it was another match for the 13-time former champ against Rollins again. Come on, Cesaro or Owens would've been great.

There was a Miz TV segment with Daniel Bryan, who was there to plug his book. Miz once again complained that he should be the IC champ and Big Show came out. And then... The Ryback came out! He looks well! He didn't do his signature Shell Shock but he did a good spear on Miz and on Big Show. Bryan has been really supportive of The Ryback, so it was nice to see his continued endorsement.

Next up was Ambrose vs Harper with Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt, respectively on their side outside the ring. Harper and Ambrose put on a decent match (though Vince pointed out that they were on auto-pilot) but in the end, Ambrose lost (UGH AS USUAL) to Harper. This whole "Family vs Family" feud, especially for Ambreigns, is once again bringing up rumors that one of them will turn heel, or worse, join the Wyatt Family. Their bromance over the last few months has been consistently endearing, and it's going to suck when it happens. Wonder how that will affect Ambrose's merchandise on the WWEShop.

There was a match with Rusev defeated Mark Henry while Lana was on commentary. The match was a no decision when Lana intervened. Something remarkable happened here; Rusev ordered Summer to "CRUSH" Lana and she performed Rusev's Accolade on her! And then the Bulgarian flag came down with Rusev's face on it and it was fucking glorious. I actually liking this love triangle better without Ziggler's involvement.

Neville defeated King Barrett but was jumped but was jumped by Stardust in the ring. Stardust notices "Arrow" actor Stephen Amell in the front row and smacks him before getting back in the ring. Amell jumps over the barricade and SPEARS Stardust in the middle of the ring! The crowd pop here was great! Backstage, he demanded HHH to put him and Neville in a match against Stardust and King Barrett for Summerslam. This is the match I'm looking forward to the most. It was an unusual concept to begin with but I'm glad WWE allowed this story line to develop. I read that Stardust is doing this match in tribute to his father, Dusty Rhodes, so that he can finish what he started.

The main event match with Rollins and Orton was also decent but it was looking like it was falling apart towards the end. To be honest, I wasn't really watching the match because it would seem obvious that Rollins would retain. Sheamus interfered and tried to cash in his MITB briefcase after throwing Orton over the barricade. And then this happened:

Sheamus and John Cone (Office Rep! Dammit, I miss the JBL & Renee show) were clearly stalling for a few seconds before Orton came back into the ring and RKO'd Sheamus. This was predictably disappointing. Majot title changes only seem to happen in PPV events. I get that they want to make the title prestigious and the title change significant but a little unpredictability goes a long way. This is clearly hinting that Sheamus is going to cash in again at Summerslam but for which title? The World Heavyweight Championship or the US Championship?

Next week is the Go Home show with Lesnar and Undertaker returning to Raw for one last time before Summerslam.