For the first time in a long while, a babyface champ - a genuine underdog with organic and consistent fan support - graced Monday Night RAW. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dean Ambrose (that sounds really good to say) was greeted with "You deserve it" chants before addressing the WWE Universe. He talked about hard work pays off. Ambrose wondered aloud that if Seth Rollins is "The Man," Roman Reigns is "The Guy," does that make him "The Dude?" The crowd agreed and Dean liked it and said call me whatever you like but call me "Champion." Reigns comes out amidst boos to congratulate Ambrose and reminded him of his rematch clause. Then Rollins comes out amidst cheers screaming that he beat Reigns so he gets a rematch clause. Interrupting Shane O Mac sets up Reigns and Rollins as the main event, where the winner will face Ambrose at Battleground next month. The results can be found here.
This was an enjoyable Monday Night RAW, although more time was spent on promos again and there was less time for the wrestling matches. They also addressed the upcoming Raw/Smack Down Draft, which will take place when Smack Down goes live on 7/19. To further emphasized how important this draft was, the first match of the night with Zayn and Owens showcased why these bitter rivals needed to be separated. Zayn got a win but Owens continued to beat him down after the match ended and even when they came back from commercial break. There was also the addition of the RAW and Smack Down podiums on top of the ramp, meaning WWE will be welcoming back a number of former general managers vying for the position for each brand. Hell, even John "People Power" Laurinitis returned before Shane told him that he would be running Smack Down.
The one segment I was not happy with was the women's division, where for some reason, Charlotte is defending the title against Paige. It wasn't a 3-minute squash match but it felt poorly paced and was full of botches, notably from Dana Brooke. Paige loses to Charlotte and all of a sudden Sasha Banks shows up, coming to her aid to chase off Charlotte and Dana. Look, I like Sasha but I hate that they kept her away from TV for a long time and now she's gunning for the title again. Meanwhile, poor Becky Lynch is getting beaten up by newly turned heel Natalya.
Speaking of returns, Bray Wyatt returned with Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman. Luke Harper is still out with a serious injury. Wyatt was interrupted by The New Day, which prompted him to come up with a chant on his own: New Day... Falls. This is a very weird yet interesting match-up so if they really are going ahead with this feud, they need to find the right balance for both teams to make this convincing.
Reigns and Rollins' main event match had Ambrose sitting on commentary and man, he was on fire. He put his former brothers over and showed how fiercely protective he is of his title. "Karma's a bitch and I'm WWE World Heavyweight Champion." As for the match, it was actually better than their match from MITB, save for a failed spot where the table didn't break when Reigns tackled Rollins. The two were unable to get back into the ring before the 10-count, resulting in a draw. The crowd wasn't happy with that so Shane came out and said we still need a contender. Ambrose gets into the ring and tells Shane he'll take them both on right now. Shane admires Dean as a fighting champion and decides to set up all former Shield members in a Triple Threat as the main event at Battleground. Ambrose happily accepts and goes up to both of his exhausted brothers and starts trash-talking them. Reigns gets up and tries to talk to Ambrose, who quickly turns around hits him with Dirty Deeds, which actually scares Rollins. Rollins tries to Pedigree a weakened Reigns after Ambrose left the ring, only to be hit from behind as Ambrose hits him with Dirty Deeds too.
So on top of them finally building excitement for the draft, the big takeaway is that the "WrestleMania-worthy" Shield Triple Threat is actually happening. There's a lot of complaints that the event is being wasted on what's considered a B-PPV event. However, the brand extension is heavily hinting that Reigns, Ambrose, and Rollins might get separated, so Battleground might very well be their last time to be on the same roster together. This is going to be an interesting month for Ambrose, who's now going to shoulder the pressure and responsibilities as a WWE Champ and as the face of the company. He is going to get even more attention now. On top of that, his wonderful cheerleader of a girlfriend Renee is comfortably and proudly posting more pics of Ambrose. I'm not too worried about Ambrose if he ends up dropping the title at Battleground, I just want to see him have a good run as an official champ.
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HEY, SO BREAKING NEWS.
HE'LL STILL BE AT BATTLEGROUND.
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