As usual with episodes of Raw, we open with the Authority coming out to cut a promo. They whole group comes out and demand that Dean Ambose show up and return the WWE World Heavyweight Title. Instead they get Roman Reigns, who says Dean isn't here but Seth can have the title back if he faces Dean in a Ladder Match at Money in the Bank. Seth accepts after Reigns calls him the "worst WWE Champion" ever. In a cool moment, Seth lost his cool and said he didn't need anyone in the Authority, which was fantastic. That's the Seth Rollins I want. He stormed off and a pissed off Triple H put Reigns into a match with his MITB spot on the line. His opponent was King Barrett. I wouldn't really call that a challenge considering Barrett looks up at the lights so often. Reigns performed pretty well again but there was no drama here because we all knew the outcome. After the match, Reigns was informed that he'd have another match with his shot on the line against Mark Henry later.
Next, Ryback cut a short promo about winning the Intercontinental Championship and was scheduled to defend it against the Miz. If this was the case, why wasn't Miz just put in the Elimination Chamber last night? Anyway, the match never happened as Big Show returned and knocked out Miz before issuing a challenge to Ryback. The idea of Ryback/Show doesn't really interest me, but they did have a good match when I went to NXT in Columbus. I'm just not excited for it. Kevin Owens came out to cut a promo as commentary put over his win. Owens' promo was the best thing about the entire show. His ability to be a killer heel, while also coming off as a guy doing it for the right reasons is masterful. Those are the best kinds of villains. He talked about how he never got to be "Super Cena" for kids because he was out traveling the world to make a living and provide for his kid. John Cena interrupted and put over Owens' win but then went out and questioned his manhood. He also pointed out a kid with cancer in the crowd. I wasn't a fan of that. I know it was a special moment for that child but it came off odd to me. Regardless, this was the best thing about this whole episode. Kevin Owens feels real to me. His promos don't seem like he's an actor just reading a script. It feels like it's coming from the heart and that makes it a million times better.
In a preview of the upcoming Money in the Bank match, Dolph Ziggler faced Kofi Kingston. What is this, 2010? New Day also ran down San Antonio and how they brought a title here, not the Spurs. Ziggler won with a rollup so New Day attacked. The Prime Time Players show up and we get the Teddy Long special. A tag team match playa. The six man tag is fine but the star of it was Titus O'Neil, who looked like a complete beast. They won and I guess are next in line for a title shot. Side note, Lana was also atop the ramp watching. I don't know why she didn't just come to ringside.
I believe the last time we saw Mark Henry, he was a heel. He played a face in the Chamber though. He came out here to face Roman Reigns and guess what? He's a heel again. The match with Reigns wasn't very good but they protected Henry with a countout loss. Remember that. Reigns is then told he'll face Bray Wyatt later with his spot on the line again. Next, Nikki Bella accepted Paige's challenge for the Divas Title. They worked a pretty solid match, as these two have a chemistry that Paige never had with AJ Lee. Paige nearly won until Brie came out from under the ring dressed as Nikki and they pulled twin magic to retain. How fucking stupid was this? Aren't they faces? Or are they heels again? I thought we were past this when both girls got their own characters. And the referee saw that Brie didn't accompany Nikki to the ring, but magically appears dressed EXACTLY like Nikki at the end. And he doesn't question it. Absolutely stupid and atrocious booking. This was another shining example that creative gives zero fucks about the main roster Divas division. In another Money in the Bank preview, Randy Orton faced Sheamus. For the most part, their matches have never really clicked for me. They aren't bad, but not very good either and that was the case here. It ended via disqualification and Sheamus beat the shit out of Orton to stand tall. That worked fine as build, but could have been better.
Rusev was interviewed backstage and seemed sad but he then got angry and serious. We get told that Kevin Owens will host an NXT Title Open Challenge on Smackdown this week. For the first time in a while, I'm excited to watch Smackdown. Bo Dallas came out and said he wants to hurt Neville. Neville came out and beat him again. This was complete filler, but was the right move as it got a MITB guy an actual win while not hurting another MITB guy. In our main event, Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt worked a solid match with the Authority around. If the Authority wants Reigns out, why not hit Wyatt and get Reigns DQed? Instead, a guy that has worked two matches already beat Bray Wyatt. Why not have Reigns beat Henry clean and have Bray lose via countout or something? There were so many different and better routes they could have gone here, but instead they went with the absolute worst one. After the match, the Authority surrounds the ring and Dean Ambrose's music hit to a THUNDEROUS ovation. He and Reigns fight off the Authority and that was a fine ending, but the Wyatt booking absolutely sucked hard. It was Divas division bad. As a whole, I was not a fan of this episode of Raw. The Ambrose stuff was fine and the Owens/Cena stuff was great. Everything else was either decent at best or awful like the Divas and Wyatt booking. After some good episodes, we're back to stuff that doesn't deliver. 4/10.
