RAW kicks off with John Cena being booed mercilessly. Thankfully, Bad News Barrett, our hometown hero as RAW is from the UK heads to the ring to answer Cena’s open challenge. So, the United States Championship is the new Television Title. In a great match, Barrett, while on the losing end, looked solid against Cena, even blasting him with the Bull Hammer. Crowd was hot.
A real shame to have Barrett lose here. I remember back in the 90’s, they would let the international hometown hero win some sort of mid-tier title, and then the next week drop it back to the original titleholder once back in the U.S. Shame WWE is so bent on sticking with scripted storylines they can’t for once let something completely unpredictable happen.
Post match, Lana distracts Cena, allowing Rusev to strike from behind with a chain wrapped around his fist, stating the rematch at Extreme Rules will be a Russian Chain Match. Huh.
The Battle Royal for the #1 Contendership for the Diva’s title in next, with Paige getting a massive pop, and winning the match, so at least here the hometown favorite is victorious. However, in a surprise, Naomi loses her marbles and attacks Paige. So this means all the Divas are heels except for Paige. Wonderful.
Bray Wyatt with another creepy promo putting himself over as the New Face of Fear, and per the gimmick with WrestleMania, we were left in the dark as to who he is speaking to. Last time it was obvious to be the Undertaker, but this time we are unsure.
Lucha Dragons make short work of The Ascension. My kids could have done that.
Roman Reigns in the ring talking about something no one is paying attention to, until Big Show taunts him from the titantron. Reigns heads backstage to confront him, but is ambushed and assaulted by the Giant. Meh.
Randy Orton defeats The Brass Ring Club. Originally began as a one-on-one with Cesaro, ended in DQ, however Kane opts to make it a handicap no-DQ match, which Orton still overcomes. Decent match.
Backstage: A weird segment with Seth Rollins saying he needs to show off his political power, and says he will face Jamie Noble tonight, and Noble will just lie down for him. Noble then passes the buck to Kane, and Rollins agrees. Kane is extremely angry about that.
Stardust defeats Fandango in about a minute, but post match, Fandango dumps Rosa Mendes and cue his old music, suddenly sparking another bout of “Fandangoing.” Cute.
Backstage: Daniel Bryan attempts to sway Kane back to the side of angels, wondering where his pride and dignity went off to? Kane gets mad.
Dean Ambrose defeats Adam Rose. Crazy Ambrose be Crazy.
Kane winds up Chokeslamming Rollins, but in the end allows himself to be pinned. So… that went nowhere.
In a fantastic match, only for the antics of Damien Mizdow and his rollup of The Miz for the pinfall victory. He is so over right now. I love it.
An AWESOME promo by the Prime Time Players, wearing some retro-style T-shirts throwing back to the Prime Time Wrestling television show. They make fun of the current tag teams, but then target Los Matadores, with Titus O’Neal wondering if anyone has ever heard of a Puerto Rican Matador, and why two talented guys allowed themselves to embrace a corny and lame gimmick. They introduce their own mascot, a multi-colored stuffed bear, to which Darren Young comments, “hey, rainbow is my favorite color!”
This my friends was a promo worth “millions of dollars, millions of dollars…”
Ryback defeats Luke Harper by DQ, with the former Wyatt member getting ambushed by Ambrose. This one could turn ECW style at Extreme Rules.
Backstage: Naomi believes she should be #1 contender regardless, then slings some mud towards AJ Lee. Not nice.
Dolph Ziggler issues an open challenge as Rollins was scheduled to be his opponent. We get Adrian Neville. This was our main event folks. Great showing from Neville against Ziggler, hitting a running 360 off the crowd barrier. Unfortunately, he does not connect with Red Arrow, and falls victim to the Zig Zag. Post match, Sheamus takes them both out.
Final segment sees Randy Orton and Seth Rollins offering their stipulations for Extreme Rules. For starters Rollins bans the RKO, and then Orton says their title bout will take place in a Steel Cage. Brawl ensues, J&J eat the freshly-banned RKO, and Rollins escapes. Meh finish.
Overall a good solid show, but the ending was pretty lackluster.
