I can't believe this. We not only got a new Intercontinental Champion with Dean Ambrose from TLC on Sunday, we got a new World Heavyweight Champion with Roman Reigns, all within 24 hours! And the title change happened on Monday Night RAW, which is only the 2nd time it has happened this year. Holy crap!
RAW started off with Stephanie, still reeling from last night's event and calling out Reigns. Reigns came out with a mic (uh oh) and briefly mentioned that it was his daughter's birthday. They had a pretty good back and forth until Stephanie slapped Reigns. Several times. HARD. She said she didn't have the power to fire Roman but she knows someone who can, Vincent Kennedy McMahon, and he was on his way to the ring. You know WWE's getting desperate if they're involving Vince McMahon, who hasn't been on television for a year.
This is day 1 of Ambrose as IC Champ and he was the first match of the night as he went up against Dolph Ziggler. And damn, does Ambrose look good with the belt! Their match had the same tone as their Survivor Series semi-finals match, which was mostly technical. It was getting pretty good until Owens showed up and tossed Ziggler out of the ring, resulting in a no-contest. A pissed off Owens proceeded to Pop Up Powerbomb the HELL out of Ambrose twice. Ziggler got back into the ring to brawl with Owens but was quickly overwhelmed, which led to Owens powerbombing Ziggler unto Ambrose. This was scarily reminiscent of NXT Owens, where he was a merciless killer heel. I am happily anticipating all the mic time and promos that Ambrose and Owens will be cutting.
Vince McMahon arrives (interrupting a match between R-Truth and B- Dallas) and calls out Reigns. He wanted him to apologize for injuring HHH and calling the McMahon's a disgrace, which Reigns refuses. Sheamus comes out and said that he'll beat an apology out of Reigns. He even put his title on the line! Let me repeat that: the champion is issuing the challenger (who lost twice) another rematch. It took Reigns making another stupid balls joke directed at McMahon to make the title match official. And McMahon got the last laugh by kicking Reigns in the balls. Eesh.
The matches that followed were for the most part quite entertaining. The Wyatt Family and Team ECW got a TLC rematch which was more brutal and violent than their tables match, ending with Wyatt Family getting another win. This was a simple reminder on how booking was done right. They brought in veterans to put on a good match and to put over the new talent. This probably marks the end of their feud so it'll be interesting to see who the Wyatt Family will focus on next.
The New Day, in what seemed to be a completely out of character moment, acknowledged The Usos and Lucha Dragons for putting on the best match of the night for the fans from TLC. They extended the olive branch and wanted to call a truce between the two teams, which they obliged. When the New Day went back to being obnoxious about being tag team champs again, The Usos and The Lucha Dragons ganged up and took them out. This was an unusual segment because The New Day never insulted them or attacked them at all; they were being completely respectful. Is this a preview of The New Day becoming faces or The Usos becoming heels?
Fast forward to the main event, which was another slow and brutal match with Sheamus and Reigns. When it seemed like Reigns was going to win, McMahon, who was sitting at ringside, interfered by pulling the ref out before the 3 count. Alberto Del Rio and Rusev came out and Reigns took all of them out with a Superman Punch, including McMahon. Reigns spears and pins Sheamus and wins the match. This same Philadelphia crowd, who booed the hell out of Reigns for winning the Royal Rumble back in January, was now cheering "YOU DESERVE IT!" to him.
I'll be honest, I have very mixed feelings about this payoff. On one hand, Reigns and Ambrose, the current full-time babyfaces of WWE, are ending the year as new champions for the first time in their singles career. And as I noted earlier, they did a title change on a non-PPV event, which is also a big deal. On the other hand, it felt like Sheamus' cash-in to become the WHC and the formation of the League of Nations was just to make them as obstacles for Reigns to overcome. This was a great moment for Reigns but it doesn't excuse the long and rocky build up from Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania to help him get over. Not to mention the mixed up booking in making him an underdog (Bryan), a superman (Cena), a crazy thief (Ambrose), and an authority defying rebel (Austin).
Putting the analytical smarkiness aside, it's hard to not acknowledge how this is a feel good moment for Reigns. This was the plan along for him and while he'll never escape the "tater tot"s and "wrinkly prunes" lines, there's no denying that he's come a long way as the silent enforcer from The Shield. The major positive I see with this is that creative will finally cool down on focusing solely on making Reigns look strong and spend time in building up the roster. The road to sign-pointing Wrestlemania is underway with Royal Rumble on January 24. The PPV is taking place in Florida, so expect to see a lot of NXT appearances.
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