While WWE RAW has admittedly has been not so good as of late since the amazing event that was SummerSlam last month, this Monday night is sure to be different, because it is time for the go home show before Night of Champions takes place this Sunday night.
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On Monday, we will see the final face-to-face between John Cena and Brock Lesnar before they go against one another this Sunday night in the long awaited rematch between the two. We have not seen Lesnar live on RAW since the night after SummerSlam when he was presented with the new belt, so this fact alone makes Monday night a must-watch show.
Also, we will see the continuation of the small feud that Randy Orton and Chris Jericho have going on, which also makes the show that much better. Watching these two veterans go at it should be interesting, even if it is only for a short period of time before Jericho takes off once again to go tour with Fozzy.
Then, of course, we have to get another look at the feud between the Bella Twins, no matter who likes it or not. After last week’s Jerry Springer debacle, it can’t get much worse, right?
All of this and more will be taking place, and of course, as always, you can follow along with the action live on Monday night below. Until then, be sure to get the discussion started in the comments below, and join us back here at this link at 8 PM ET.
WWE RAW (Night of Champions go home show):
Paul Heyman opens up tonight’s show with a promo for Night of Champions. He tells fans that his client, Brock Lesnar is going to give John Cena a beating even more vicious than the one he gave him at SummerSlam.
Just two minutes into Heyman’s rant, John Cena’s music hits and he comes down to the ring to add his two cents to the conversation. Cena tells Heyman that it may seem a little cliche, but he can’t see Brock Lesnar anywhere.
Heyman does everything he can to hype the crowd and make everyone believe that Lesnar is about to make his way down to the ring and face off with Cena. Unfortunately, it was all a ruse. While Cena is getting ready to take on the Beast, Heyman starts laughing behind him.
Heyman tells Cena that he thinks that Cena is well aware that Brock Lesnar’s plane has been delayed and that the only reason he is calling him out now is that he knows he isn’t here. As Heyman attempts to make a hasty escape from the ring, Cena stops him in his tracks. Cena tells Heyman that seven days ago he gave him 24 hours to produce Brock Lesnar. If he can’t produce Brock Lesnar, then he is going to kick his butt instead.
Cena gives Heyman until the midway point in the show to produce Lesnar, or he will be the one receiving the beating.
Y2J Chris Jericho takes on Kane
The evening may have started with a war of words between Heyman and Cena, but the real action kicked off when Y2J Chris Jericho went head-to-head with the Big Red Machine Kane.
Jericho was in control for much of the match, but as you can imagine, Kane was pretty quick to retaliate. There was even a point early in the matchup where Jericho had Kane pinned down in the corner of the ring. Unfortunately, none of his blows seemed to have all that much affect on the Big Red Machine.
After quite a bit of back and forth between the two superstars, Kane was able to get the upper hand. As he pulled Jericho out of the corner, Kane dropped him to the mat. On the way down, Jericho went face first into the second turnbuckle.
In an attempt to keep the upper hand, Kane exposed the top turnbuckle. Unfortunately for him, it would come back to bite him in the behind when Jericho was able to send Kane flying into the turnbuckle and get the three count.
Chris Jericho gets the win tonight, and now heads into Night of Champions to face the Viper Randy Orton.
Jack Swagger takes on Bo Dallas
Next up on WWE Monday Night Raw, the Real American Jack Swagger faced off with the “inspirational” Bo Dallas. The match wasn’t quite as long as we hoped it would have been; however, it turned out to still be a fairly decent match.
Bo Dallas got the upper hand very early and managed to maintain that for quite a bit of time; however, when it was time for Swagger to hulk up, it was all but over for the inspirational one.
Ultimately, it would be Jack Swagger who would be able to lock in the Patriot Lock and secure the win.
After the match concluded, he was joined in the middle of the ring by Zeb Coulter as they led the crowd in the usual “We the People” exclamation.
Paige and Nikki Bella take on AJ Lee and Brie Bella
Next up on WWE Monday Night Raw, WWE Divas Champion Paige would team up with Nikki Bella in order to take on AJ Lee and Nikki’s sister Brie Bella.
This was probably one of the shortest matches of the entire evening. In the beginning, it was set to be the Bella Twins facing off in the middle of the ring; however, before Brie could even get going, Nikki ran to her corner and tagged in the WWE Divas Championship Paige.
The entirety of the match would be Paige going up against Brie Bella, and a majority of the time, Paige would have the upper hand. Just as things seemed to be turning around for Brie and she was able to make her way to the corner, her sister Nikki would yank AJ Lee right off the ring and onto the mat.
Paige quickly got back in the match and get the three count.
It wasn’t until after Paige had won the match for them and Brie was lying motionless on the ground that Nikki decided to get in the ring with her sister and make her mark.
Nikki may have won the battle tonight, but she has yet to win the war. This Sunday at Night of Champions, Nikki Bella is set to take on AJ Lee and WWE Divas Champion Paige for the Championship. You can guarantee that Brie will not let Nikki win the Divas Championship if she has anything to say about it.
Big Show takes on Bray Wyatt
Big Show started out the match strong, but it wouldn’t be long before we saw Bray Wyatt take control of the match. After Wyatt was able to counter a huge kick from Big Show, Wyatt was able to attack the leg and get Big Show down to the mat.
Of course, this is the best place to face someone the size of Big Show.
Surprisingly enough, Wyatt was really able to hold his own against the Big Show tonight despite the size difference. Unfortunately for Wyatt, when he decided to take his talents to the ropes, it was all too easy for Big Show to snatch Wyatt out of the air and send him flying into Erick Rowan who tumbled to the mat below.
Just as Big Show was about to get the three count, Luke Harper rushed into the ring and broke it up and ultimately cost Bray Wyatt the match via disqualification.
After the match was over, Harper and Rowan decided to attempt to double team The Big Show, but as you can imagine that didn’t work out all too well for them.
The Usos and Sheamus take on Cesaro and Goldust and Stardust
This match has some pretty serious implications on this Sunday’s Night of Champions pay-per-view. WWE United States Champion Sheamus will defend his title against the King of Swing Cesaro at Night of Champions. At the same time, the Usos will defend their WWE Tag Team Championship Titles against Goldust and Stardust at the big event.
This was ultimately a very good back and forth match, but it would be Goldust who would get the upper hand early in the match.
For a good portion of the match it looked as if Cesaro and Gold and Stardust would come out victorious, but ultimately, it would be Jey Uso who would get the drop on Cesaro and get the three count for the win.
This will certainly give The Usos and Sheamus the advantage going into Night of Champions, but you can’t count Cesaro or Goldust and Stardust out just yet.
Brock Lesnar returns to Monday Night Raw and comes face to face with John Cena
Now, we have made it to the point in the night that we have all been waiting for. Would the Beast appear in enough time to prevent John Cena from beating the snot out of his advocate Paul Heyman?
As it turns out, Lesnar would not show on time. This caused Cena to drag Heyman out to the middle of the ring and make his final threats against Heyman before making good on his promise. When the Beast’s music didn’t hit, Paul Heyman tried to make a hasty exit from the ring. Unfortunately, Cena wasn’t having that.
Heyman took to the mic once more in an attempt to save his own skin, and for a while it worked pretty well. Heyman told Cena that there ws no way he would ever turn his back on the Cenation and that hitting him would make him a bully. Heyman added that Brock Lesnar was a bully and John Cena would never be Brock Lesnar.
He continues to bait Cena into hitting him, and even at one point attempted to get Cena to become the next “Paul Heyman Guy.” As you can imagine, Cena took the high road and walked away. That is…until Heyman said something about Cena’s mother.
Cena turned around and laid Heyman out. Unfortunately, before he could make another move, Lesnar’s music hit and the Beast finally appeared. Lesnar made his way to ringside and helped get Paul Heyman to safety, but he seemingly ducked John Cena. In one of the most surprising moments of the evening, the crowd seemingly turned on Lesnar and began to chant for Cena.
After what seemed like forever, Lesnar finally made his way into the ring and leveled Cena. Unfortunately for Lesnar, it wouldn’t take long for Cena to fight back. The two behemoths would go at each other in one short burst, but before we could get any real action, security rushed the ring and separated the two.
There is no doubt that this is going to be one of the matches to watch at Night of Champions. These two warriors are going to give each other everything they have, and the only real winner here is the WWE Universe.
Naomi defeats Cameron by submission
Next on WWE Monday Night Raw, two former partners and best friends will go one on one in the middle of the squared circle. Naomi and Cameron, formerly the Funkadactyls, have definitely seen their better days.
Last Sunday on Total Divas, we watched as Naomi was informed that she would now be a singles wrestler and that Cameron would serve as her valet. We think it is safe to say that Cameron didn’t react too well to this. After finding out that Cameron asked to be moved to NXT in lieu of serving as Naomi’s valet, Naomi was rather offended.
This brings us to where we are now.
Surprisingly, Cameron had the upper hand for a good portion of the match. In fact, it almost looked as if Naomi had no interest in doing battle with her former friend.
Unfortunately for Cameron, she would let her ego get the best of her and this is when Naomi would spring to life. It took Naomi a minute to get her former partner to the mat, but once she did, it seemed as if the conclusion was set. Just then, Naomi decided to switch it up and instead put Cameron into a submission maneuver to which Cameron quickly tapped.
Naomi may have won the battle tonight, but we can assure you that this war is far from over.
Dolph Ziggler and R-Ziggler defeated The Miz and Damien Mizdow
This whole thing with Dolph Ziggler and the Miz having “stunt doubles” is starting to get a little out of hand; however, at least for the time being it is still mildly entertaining.
The match between the team of Dolph Ziggler and R-Ziggler vs. The Miz and Damien Mizdow is another one of the matches that has implications at Night of Champions. On Sunday, Dolph Ziggler will defend his WWE Intercontinental Championship against The Miz. There is no love lost between these two competitors, so you can bet they are going to give it all they have against each other.
This was a surprisingly short match given Ziggler’s popularity with the fans. You could audibly hear the crowd chanting “We want Ziggler” throughout the match.
Unfortunately, it would be a lack of chemistry between The Miz and his partner would ultimately be their downfall.
This gives Ziggler the advantage heading into Night of Champions. Hopefully, this will carry over into the pay-per-view. While The Miz is a worthy competitor, the WWE putting a title on Dolph Ziggler has been a long time coming, and it may just be too soon to call it a wrap on this.
Roman Reigns defeats Seth Rollins
This was one of the matches we were most looking forward to on tonight’s episode of WWE Monday Night Raw. This match would serve as a preview for the kind of intensity that fans will see when Night of Champions kicks off on Sunday evening.
As you can imagine, there is absolutely no love lost between Reigns and Rollins, and with Dean Ambrose out of the picture for the time being, a lot of the retribution against Rollins has fallen squarely on the shoulders of Roman Reigns.
Rollins came out like a shot and dominated the match early, but it wouldn’t take long at all before Reigns was back in control. At one point, he sent Seth Rollins flying over the announcer’s table and right into the lap of Michael Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and JBL.
There was a ton of back and forth between these two superstars. As the match began to reach its high point, Reigns hit Rollins with a huge superman punch that sent him on a one-way trip to la la land. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough to do Rollins in. Reigns went in for the kill with the spear, but Rollins countered and took Reigns to the mat.
After a little more back and forth between the two, Reigns would maneuver himself in such a way that he would be able to avoid Rollins’ curb stomp, turn the tables around and send Rollins slamming into the mat. Just like that, the match was over and Roman Reigns was victorious.
This will obviously give Reigns a boost heading into Night of Champions; however, given the volatility of their relationship and the Wild Card being Dean Ambrose and his whereabouts, you can’t count Sunday’s match a victory just yet.
Mark Henry rallied the WWE Universe against Rusev and Lana
The responsibility of bringing the show home tonight fell into the hands of the World’s Strongest Man Mark Henry. Henry made his way to the ring with the express intent of rallying the United States against the anti-American onslaught that Rusev and his mouthpiece Lana have been unleashing as of late.
Mark Henry took us on a trip through history to the time when he competed in the Olympic Games, and how being forced to withdraw due to an injury has haunted him to this day. He says that he sees his match against Rusev at Night of Champions as a second chance to make things right.
Just as Henry begins to elaborate on Michael Cole’s question about the difference between America and Russia Rusev’s music hits and he and Lana make their way to the ramp.
As you can imagine, she immediately starts in on Henry and the United States, insulting the fans’ intelligence on multiple levels. As much as you probably want to shove a sock down her throat, you can’t deny that she is doing her job to a tee.
She then proceeded to insult Henry by insinuating that he dropped out of the 1996 Olympic Games because he was embarrassed by his performance in 1992. It made matters worse that Henry said nothing in response to her accusations.
In fact, rather than combat any of her accusations, he decided to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in the middle of the ring. Unfortunately, before he could finish Rusev rushed the ring and attacked Henry.
Lana gives the order, and Rusev locks in his submission move, the Accolade, on Mark Henry. Well…at least he attempts to. Mark Henry was somehow able to power his way back to his feet and use his pure strength the powerbomb Rusev to the mat.
It is refreshing to see someone actually be able to combat against someone who, for the most part, has been booked as indestructible. The question now is, will Mark Henry’s momentum carry over to Night of Champions this Sunday? We guess we’ll have to watch and find out.
What was your favorite moment of the night? Was there a particular Superstar that stood out in your eyes tonight? Let us know what you think in the comments below.