"WHAT IS HAPPENING?!": Monday Night RAW (2/22/16)

Just hours before RAW, footage of Brock Lesnar attacking Dean Ambrose outside the arena surfaced, causing a HUGE buzz in the social media of the WWE Universe. Ambrose was then stretchered out of the arena in an ambulance, meaning he'll be missing tonight's show due to the devastating injuries he received after being slammed by Lesnar unto a limo. YEAH FUCKING RIGHT.

Unpredictability seemed to be the theme for tonight's RAW, as the hour kicked off with showing footage of Lesnar beating up Ambrose (again), followed by Vince McMahon introducing the newly created Vincent J McMahon Legacy of Excellence Award. The award went to Stephanie, of course, who was gracious to accept the award (amidst the reign of boos from the audience). Just as she was getting ready to give her acceptance speech, she was interrupted... by none other than Shane McMahon. The reason for Shane's return was that he wanted to take control of Monday Night RAW, after being disgusted with how the ratings, the stock, and roster injuries have been under Stephanie's reign. Vince said he'll do it if Shane fights and win in one match of Vince's choosing, which Shane hastily accepts. The match will take place at Wrestlemania. His opponent is Undertaker. And it will be a Hell In A Cell match.

The rest of RAW was entertaining for the most part. The results can be found here.

The second hour saw Paul Heyman and Lesnar returning, with Heyman cutting a furiously amazing promo on how Brock Lesnar is "THE MAIN EVENT," regardless of him not facing against HHH for the title. Thanks to Ambrose screwing over Lesnar and himself out of the Triple Threat, he needs another Wrestlemania opponent. Ambrose shows up in the same ambulance he was taken out of and crawls towards Lesnar, who literally steps on Ambrose's head as he makes his exit. Ambrose calls out for Lesnar and demands a No Holds Barred Street Fight at Wrestlemania. Lesnar does an F5 on Ambrose and Heyman tells him that his client accepts. Initially, I was worried that Ambrose's momentum has been killed off after losing in Fastlane. Not only did this continue the storyline of "Indestructible" Ambrose, this also marks his first ever one-on-one Wrestlemania match! And thanks to Heyman's emphasis on Lesnar being "THE MAIN EVENT", it's shaping up to actually outshine the main event match with HHH vs Reigns.

The end of the third hour saw a lackluster match between Reigns and Sheamus, which ended in a no contest as HHH appeared and proceeded to take out Reigns. The beatdown got incredibly violent as HHH repeatedly smacked Reigns' head on the announcer's table, leaving his face a bright bloody mess. HHH even did the pedigree on Reigns on the steel steps. This is the heel giving a brutal beatdown to a babyface and yet, the whole crowd was behind the heel the whole time, cheering "YES!" for every smack and yelling "ONE MORE TIME!" for another pedigree. There's 6 more weeks left til Wrestlemania and I can't imagine how Reigns is going to handle this (some asshole fan even threw beer at him during his entrance). He really has to turn heel, otherwise he's going to get booed out of the building in Wrestlemania again.

WWE.com reported that Reigns had to undergo surgery following HHH's attack, which seems to alude to that rumor that Reigns might get written off TV to avoid the boos he'll be getting when RAW comes to Chicago, Philiadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Brooklyn next month. If WWE had to resort to this, this is probably the best choice. It helps to take off all the heat Reigns gets. I'm actually starting to feel a bit sorry for him.

WWE Fastlane 2016

So... Fastlane ended up staying the course with its main (and increasingly exhausting) storyline of Reigns vs The Authority. The main event ended predictably with Reigns pinning Ambrose to be the #1 contender for the WWE WHC. The is also the 2nd Fastlane in a row that Reigns has won to be in the main event for Wrestlemania.

The only good matches were the damn pre-show with Kalisto defeating Del Rio, where Kalisto retained, Kevin Owens defeated Dolph Ziggler, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch defeating Naomi and Tamina, and AJ Styles defeating Jericho. The third hour was like something out of a Monday Night RAW episode where it had an Edge and Christian segment AND an unannounced Curtis Axel vs R-Truth match, which Axel won! The results can be found here.

All the talk, all the hype, all the excitement that was driven by Ambrose's inclusion - including taking the IC belt off him - felt like a wasted effort. The only interesting thing that came out of the main event really was Ambrose working together with Reigns to work 2 powerbomb table spots on Lesnar and Ambrose using a chair to take out Lesnar AND Reigns. When Reigns won, HHH appeared and stood face-to-face in the ring with him. It was noted that the boos from the crowd were drowned out by blasting HHH's music and muting the crowd mic while the crowd was shown to be indifferent or visibly booing with their thumbs down.

I thought it would be dumb of WWE to not give Ambrose a homestate win and sure enough, that's exactly what happened. Same goes to Ziggler too, and it was his home town! Anways, I'm just immensely disappointed with the outcome because my favorite didn't win but I am morbidly curious to see how Reigns (who is now kayfabe stronger than Lesnar after last night) will fare when RAW comes to the 4 smarkiest cities before Wrestlemania. Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Brooklyn, have at him.

What I expect from WWE Fastlane

It seems too damn coincidental to suddenly throw then IC Champ Dean Ambrose into the main event for Fastlane alongside with Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. As far as I know, this will be Ambrose's 2nd time to main event a PPV in his homestate of Ohio. He was previously in the main event against Seth Rollins for Money in The Bank 2015 in Columbus, Ohio. That match had a somewhat controversial ending, where Ambrose and Rollins were both holding unto the WHC belt as it suddenly unhooked. As they fell and crashed to the mat, Rollins rolled away with the title firmly in his hands and retained, leaving Ambrose looking literally defeated.

WWE seems to be taking a very huge gamble with suddenly taking the IC belt off from Ambrose a week before their PPV. The focus has shifted from Reigns, being unusually apathetic about losing his title to The Authority again, to Ambrose opening up RAW, foolishly going after Lesnar, and even trying to pull a Dirty Deeds on an unsuspecting Reigns. The last few weeks of RAW have been pretty exciting since Ambrose's inclusion. Will WWE cave in and actually let him win this Sunday? Sadly, I would have to go with a defeated, "No."

This uncertainty and false hope might just be a way to cover up the fact that they're still steadfast with Reigns reclaiming his title and getting his Wrestlemania moment. Which is all fine and dandy, except his character has done nothing redeemable since walking out in the middle of his own title defense match last month. How can anyone root for that?

The tremendous pop Ambrose has been consistently getting since being the last man standing against HHH in the Royal Rumble, along with the dozens of exciting speculations and fantasy bookings about Ambrose winning and headlining Wrestlemania, is not going to force WWE to change the story and overall poor booking of Reigns. I'm sure the Triple Threat match will be exciting, and I'm sure Ambrose will probably find some consolation in fighting against Lesnar or going after Owens to take back his IC title. Either way, I'm going to be super salty after Fastlane and I'll probably swear off WWE for several hours before tuning in again on Monday.

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Probably getting my (false) hopes up more but WWEShop.com just released a new shirt for Ambrose:

Excluding the horrible back design, the DA logo looks gritty and hardcore with the barbed wire. Is this hinting something? Ambrose actually had a few new shirt designs quietly released over last few weeks. It's just odd that this one is on their front page banner.

"Nobody can do what I do"

4 months ago, Ambrose was noticeably put on the backburner and kept away from the World Heavyweight Title picture. I was worried about how he seems to have straggled behind as WWE continued to push Roman "Captain Recap Tater Tots SON" Reigns. Ambrose, however, didn't seem worried himself and was simply content with just wrestling and putting on a great show for fans every single night. Since then, a number of things have happened that have opened a new door for him:

• Seth Rollins got injured and was forced to vacate the title
• Said title was put in a tournament at Survivor Series to determine the new WWE Champion
• Reigns defeated Ambrose to become the new WWE Champion, only to lose it to Sheamus
• Ambrose became a #1 contender for Owens' IC title
• Ambrose defeated Owens to become the new IC Champion
• Ambrose retained against Owens in a Last Man Standing Match at the Royal Rumble
• Ambrose was in the final 2 and was eliminated by HHH in the Royal Rumble
• Ambrose, Reigns, and Lesnar are the main event for Fastlane, where the winner will be #1contender to face off against HHH at Wrestlemania Star
  

Looking back, it's great to see that his patience and reliability has greatly paid off and it certainly elevated his status as WWE's utility player. And now it looks like Ambrose is being put to the test again as it was announced that he, Reigns, and Lesnar are the main event for Fastlane. Putting creative and booking decisions aside, the fact that they're throwing him, the current IC champ, into the World Heavyweight Title is huge. Still, no one was convinced on the possibility that Ambrose could go against HHH, let alone headline Wrestlemania, and that he's simply there to take the pin from Reigns. His recent sit-down interview with Cole pretty much erased all doubts. 

This is not the content Ambrose from 4 months ago. Hell, this is not even the same Ambrose from last month, where he was a chill IC champ beaming with pride. This is Ambrose in PPV mode, where he's all fired up, fearless, and loud. He's not the least bit scared about Brock Lesnar and he certainly isn't worried about his friendship with Reigns affecting his goal; which is to prove to everyone that he's one of the best in this game. That promo sold me. If WWE is going to pull the trigger on Ambrose, it needs to happen at his home town.