Event: WWE Monday Night RAW
Airdate: Monday, August 18th, 2014 (USA Network)
Location: The Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, NV
Results by Matt Boone
“Yes, sir, we promised you a great main event…”
Stephanie McMahon & The Bella Twins Open RAW
The post SummerSlam edition of WWE RAW opens up with highlights of last night’s pay-per-view, covering every match on the show and all of the finishes. From there, we shoot live inside the arena in Las Vegas and immediately we hear Daniel Bryan’s theme song.
Instead of Bryan coming out, however, Stephanie McMahon comes out with a “Steph! Steph! Steph!” t-shirt in the same design as Bryan’s “Yes! Yes! Yes!” shirt. She skips down to the ring doing the “Yes!” chant. Once she enters the ring, her normal theme hits and we shoot to the announce table who run down what happened with Nikki Bella in the Steph-Brie Bella match last night at SummerSlam.
Stephanie talks about how successful SummerSlam was last night, noting that it was more critically acclaimed on social media than WrestleMania was. She says they will be awarding the new WWE World Heavyweight Championship belt to Brock Lesnar. She then talks about Lesnar’s brutal, one-sided beat down of John Cena.
She goes on to discuss how Chris Jericho learned a lesson in humility in a losing effort against Bray Wyatt. She talks about Dean Ambrose losing to “Mr. Money In The Bank himself.” She says by far the biggest loser of the night was her opponent, Brie Bella. She says she learned first-hand that you do not mess with The Authority. She says The Authority never loses and we can re-watch what happened last night on the WWE Network “for only $9.99.”
Steph goes on to thank her husband Triple H for “being her rock” and for always standing by her side, unlike Daniel Bryan, who cheated on Brie Bella because he realized who she finally is. She says here’s the person who knows Brie the best. With that said, she brings out Nikki Bella.
Nikki Bella comes out in a hot dress and walks to the ring with a sour-puss look on her face. When she gets in the ring, the chants break out in Las Vegas, with everyone chanting “you sold out.” Stephanie asks for Nikki’s point of view on what she did last night. At first, Nikki’s microphone doesn’t work but she doesn’t seem to realize it. Eventually, they get the mic working.
Nikki says originally it was supposed to be The Bella Twins against the world. The fans are hitting Nikki with the “what?” chants after every thing she says. Nikki says Brie didn’t turn out to be the person she had hoped she would. She says ever since they were kids everything was always about Brie. She brings up the Total Divas storyline by saying Brie always tells her she’ll never get married.
Stephanie chimes in and asks if Brie tried to beat Nikki to the alter to rub it in her face. Nikki says yes and then insults Daniel Bryan’s physical appearance and talks about how he cheated on her. Stephanie brags some more about beating Brie and then does another “$9.99” plug. Nikki pretends to get emotional and says she’s stressed out over this situation. She says she could say she lost a sister, but she never really had one. She says now that she doesn’t have the burden of Brie around her neck she is free.
As Steph and Nikki continue to talk, out walks Brie Bella in her “Brie Mode” shirt. The fans chant “Yes! Yes! Yes!” as she makes her way to the ring. She tells Nikki she loves her and that they’re sisters. She says Nikki has ruined the family. She says she can forgive her. Nikki says “you can forgive me?!” and then bitch-slaps her down to the ground. She says “I will never forgive you.” Brie gets emotional and leaves the ring crying and holding her face where Nikki just slapped her. The segment ends with dead silence. Pretty moving stuff.
Big Show & Mark Henry vs. Luke Harper & Erick Rowan
As we head to our first commercial break of the evening, we are informed by the announcers that up next will be a tag-team match. It will be the new duo of Mark Henry and Big Show taking on Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. We head to break.
When we return from commercial, after a quick replay of what just went down between The Bella Twins in the opener, the music of Luke Harper and Erick Rowan plays and out come The Wyatt Family members to the ring. After that, Big Show’s music hits and out he comes with Mark Henry. The two walk to the ring together for this tag-team bout.
Show and Henry dominate the action early on, taking turns beating down both of The Wyatt Family members. As Harper and Rowan are knocked out to the outside of the ring on the floor, we head to a mid-match commercial.
We return from the break and not much has changed, as we see Harper rolling out to the floor as Show stands tall in the ring. On that note, however, Harper rolls back in the ring and manages to get in some offense against “The World’s Largest Athlete.” Harper and Rowan double-team Show and knock him out to the floor.
Harper and Rowan are now taking turns beating up Big Show, keeping him isolated in the ring as they utilize quick-tags to keep a fresh guy on the big man. At one point, Rowan actually scoops Big Show up with relative ease and slams him down. The crowd popped for that pretty big. They show some replays of it as well.
Big Show finally catches Rowan with a DDT to slow him down, allowing him to make the tag to Mark Henry. Henry takes the hot tag and is cleaning house of anything in sight. Henry goes for The World’s Strongest Slam, but Harper interfered and helped Rowan avoid it and regain offensive control.
As Harper and Rowan were double-teaming Henry, Big Show re-enters the picture and catches one of them with a knockout punch. Henry follows up with The World’s Strongest Slam on the other for the 1-2-3.
Winners: Big Show & Mark Henry
What’s On Tap For Tonight?
Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz in a SummerSlam rematch for the Intercontinental Championship is announced for later tonight, as well as a big six-man tag-team match with Sheamus, Roman Reigns and Rob Van Dam taking on the trio of Ryback, Curtis Axel and Randy Orton. On that note, we head to another commercial.
Backstage: Ric Flair, Dolph Ziggler & The Miz
We’re back from the commercial break and the first thing we see is a SuimmerSlam trivia fact about how socially active the show was. From there, we see Dolph Ziggler and Ric Flair chatting. In walks The Miz, who tells Ziggler not to get too comfortable with the belt because he’s winning it back tonight. He calls himself an A-list star. Ziggler says he isn’t A-list and he’s A-hole.
Backstage: Seth Rollins Brags, Dean Ambrose Attacks Him
We shoot backstage to the interview spot and Renee Young is with “Mr. Money In The Bank” Seth Rollins. She congratulates him on winning the lumberjack match against Dean Ambrose last night. Rollins says he did exactly what he said he was going to do. He says he didn’t run or hide, which he obviously did, but he claims he’s not only the future WWE World Heavyweight Champion, but he’s the future of the entire WWE.
As he continues to talk, someone dumps a giant bucket of ice water on him. Rollins turns around and sees Ambrose standing there. Ambrose says, “what? it’s for charity” and then whacks him in the head with the bucket and attacks him until several officials come in and break them up. That was cool.
Backstage: Triple H, Kane & Seth Rollins
When we return from the break, we see Triple H and Kane talking backstage when a pissed off Seth Rollins enters the room. He says we need to take out Dean Ambrose for good. HHH tells him he can have a rematch with Ambrose tonight. Rollins says, “okay, good. another lumberjack match?” HHH says no, he’s going to let the WWE Universe decide what kind of match it will be so when Ambrose gets taken out, his blood will be on their hands. He doesn’t, however, name what the options are for the fans to vote for.
Natalya vs. Paige
From there, we shoot to the ring where we see Natalya looking delicious. Out comes Paige, skipping her way to the ring. Before the match, Paige talks about how she still loves AJ Lee and dedicates this match to her.
On that note, the bell rings and this one gets underway. Natalya takes an early offensive lead, but it isn’t long before Paige takes control of the match. As she is having her way with Natalya, AJ Lee’s theme hits and distracts her.
AJ skips down to the ring and then around the ring as Paige looks on. Natalya rolls Paige up and pins her thanks to a distraction from AJ. My good lord AJ Lee looks good these days, by the way.
Winner: Natalya
After The Match
After the match, AJ gets on the mic. Some “CM Punk” chants break out immediately. AJ tells Paige that despite everything, she still loves and respects her. She says she dedicates her entire life to her. She says she needs to get in the ring and shake her hand. Paige, not trusting AJ, exits the ring and backs up the ramp. AJ looks on at Paige as the announcers put over the fact that both girls are crazy. Meanwhile, the fans are just having a good ole’ time chanting “CM Punk” and ignoring everything going on between these two.
Stipulation Options For Tonight’s Rollins-Ambrose Rematch
Before we head to another break, we are told the options for stipulations for the Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose match. Those are: No Holds Barred, Falls Count Anywhere and No Disqualification. What is the difference, by the way, between No Holds Barred and No Disqualification? Anyways! We are also told that up next after the break is Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman.
Brock Lesnar & Paul Heyman’s New Title Ceremony
We return from the break and it’s time for the new title presentation. Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are in the ring. They introduce the new belt. It’s basically the same belt with a new logo, along with a few tiny other modifications. They introduce the new champion.
Out walks Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman. HHH and Steph present him with the new belt and have a “photo-op” with them. They leave.
Heyman jumps on the mic as the fans chant “Lesnar, Lesnar” and then “thank you, Lesnar,” likely for “getting rid” of Cena.
He says he’s going to reveal a secret that even The Authority probably doesn’t want to be let out. He says John Cena is not here tonight. Everyone cheers — and loudly, by the way. He says he’d like to be here but he can’t be here because he can’t physically appear, and that is all thanks to his client — Brock Lesnar. Lesnar says he loves how Paul says that and asks him to say it again. Heyman obliges.
Heyman goes on and on about how tough John Cena is. He says Cena took a beating last night, but kept coming back for more. He says John Cena earned his respect last night to the point that if he had time on his hands, he’d love to make John Cena a “Paul Heyman Guy.” After putting over Cena for a while, he says “unfortunately, Brock Lesnar does not share these opinions.” He says in Lesnar’s world, Cena is nobody.
Heyman goes on to talk about all of the things that have died at the hands of Brock Lesnar. Heyman, folks, is doing it again. This is another classic promo, much like his post-WrestleMania XXX promo, where he makes a huge thing seem even more important with his words. Heyman really is amazing guys. Truly amazing.
He says this is what you call “basic Brock-a-nomics.” Eat, sleep, suplex, repeat. He then says “suplex, repeat” literally 15 or 20 times. And he’s finally done. That was another epic Paul Heyman promo, ladies and gentlemen!
WWE Intercontinental Championship
– Dolph Ziggler (c) vs. The Miz
After some replays of the opening segment between The Bella Twins earlier tonight, Dolph Ziggler makes his way to the ring. His rematch against The Miz for his newly won WWE Intercontinental Championship is up next. We head to commercial.
When we return from commercial, we see Ziggler in the ring looking at his I-C title. From there, The Miz’s theme hits and out he comes for his SummerSlam rematch against Dolph Ziggler. Miz is in a goofy-ass looking outfit, by the way. I’m not even sure how to describe it, but the announcers are making fun of it as I type these words.
The bell rings and Justin Roberts does his formal introductions because this is a title match. The fans are obviously behind Ziggler, cheering for him and boo’ing when Miz is introduced. The bell rings again and here we go.
Ziggler is off to a good start but when he leaps over Miz coming off the ropes, he lands awkwardly on his knee and now he’s selling the knee, likely setting it up for Miz’s figure-four leg lock later in the match. Miz immediately goes to work on Ziggler’s knee and is in firm control of the offense of the match as we head to a mid-match commercial.
We return from the break to see Miz still in control of the match. Ziggler tires to make a comeback, but Miz quickly shuts that down. Miz is going back to work on the injured knee of Ziggler again as the fans try and chant and rally behind the I-C champ.
Out of nowhere, Miz scoops Ziggler’s legs out from under him and slaps on the figure-four leg lock. Ziggler struggles for a while but eventually finally makes it to the ropes to break the hold. In the end, Ziggler ends up on the floor selling his leg and the referee counts him out. Miz wins but Ziggler retains.
Winner via Count Out: The Miz
After The Match
After the match, Miz goes out and attacks Ziggler. Miz is pissed that he won but didn’t win back his Intercontinental Championship. Back in the ring, out of nowhere, Ziggler nails Miz with a Zig-Zag. His music plays, he’s handed his I-C title and the fans cheer him on as he celebrates, still selling his leg in the process.
Backstage: Renee Young With Jack Swagger
Backstage, Renee Young is with Jack Swagger. She introduces highlights of his Flag Match at SummerSlam last night with Rusev. After the clips, she asks Swagger how he feels tonight. Swagger says last night was his opportunity to defend the country he loves. He says what makes America great is that when times are tough, people unite and become stronger. He says “that’s ‘we the people’.” He says he’s going to dust himself off and come back stronger because “that’s ‘we the people’.”
Jack Swagger vs. Cesaro
Back in the arena, “The Real Americans” theme song plays and out walks Jack Swagger without Zeb Colter. As he heads down to the ring, we are told that he’ll be in action next. Right before we head to commercial, JBL finally acknowledges the obvious saying, “Where’s Zeb?” On that note, we head to a break.
When we return from commercial, Cesaro is standing in the ring and the bell sounds to make this one official. Swagger is selling his ribs right off the bat as the announcers put over how much of a beating he took at the hands of Rusev last night.
Cesaro is having his way with his former “Real American” partner, focusing his attack on the injured ribs of Swagger, which are taped up, by the way.
The fans start chanting “we the people” as Swagger finally starts getting in some offense in this one. Swagger hits a Swagger Bomb on Cesaro for a near fall. The announcers are arguing as the action in the ring continues, with JBL playing the heel and dogging Swagger for not coming through for our country last night.
As the announcers bicker and complain a bit more, Cesaro starts taking control of the offense once again. Out of the blue, however, Swagger locks Cesaro in the Patriot Lock. He’s got the hold, however, locked in as he’s standing on the outside of the ropes on the apron, while Cesaro is in the ring. He finally breaks the hold and re-enters the ring.
He’s back in the ring and Cesaro starts taking control of the offense again. Within seconds, Cesaro catches Swagger in The Neutralizer. He covers him and pins him for the 1-2-3 and the victory.
Winner: Cesaro
After The Match: Bo Dallas
As Cesaro defeats Swagger and his music plays, it is interupted by Bo Dallas’ music. Dallas talks about how many Americans were let down by Swagger last night. He says Swagger lost his manager. He’s lost all self-respect and dignity. He says he can get it all back, however, as long as he “Bo-Lieves.” He smiles and gives him the thumbs up signal as his music plays again.
Backstage: Renee Young With Chris Jericho
Backstage, Renee Young is with Chris Jericho. Young asks him how he’s feeling after his loss to Bray Wyatt at SummerSlam. Jericho says he realized last night that he’s never faced anyone like Bray Wyatt. Jericho talks about how he’s got the best fans in WWE history and that they’ve got his back no matter what he does. He says that’s something Bray Wyatt will never — ever take away from him. He walks off and we head to commercial.
Roman Reigns, Sheamus & Rob Van Dam vs. Randy Orton, Ryback & Curtis Axel
We’re back from the break and it’s time for six-man tag-team action. The teams are Roman Reigns, Sheamus and Rob Van Dam and Randy Orton, Ryback and Curtis Axel. All six guys have made their way to the ring, the bell sounds and off we go.
Early on, the babyfaces are in control of the match. Before you know it, the heels are in control and taking turns tagging in and out to keep fresh guys on the beaten down babyfaces. On that note, we head to a mid-match commercial.
When we return from the break, Ryback is being led by a “feed me more” chant and is in firm control of the offense in this match. Finally, Roman Reigns gets the hot tag. The crowd pops huge for him and he comes in and cleans house of everyone in sight. He even heads out to the floor to take out anyone he can find out there as well.
Back in the ring, Axel turns around right into a Superman punch from Reigns. As does Ryback. As Reigns waits for Axel to get up to spear him, Orton attacks him from behind. Van Dam tags in and goes to work on Axel.
All six guys end up in the ring. We’ve got Brogue Kicks, RKOs and Spears. Everyone is hitting their finishers. When the smoke clears, it’s back to RVD and Axel. RVD drops Axel with a kick and then hits him with the Five Star Frogsplash for the 1-2-3. After the match, we head to a commercial break.
Winners: Roman Reigns, Sheamus & Rob Van Dam
Backstage: Randy Orton & Ric Flair
We return from the break and we see Randy Orton looking upset walking backstage. Ric Flair approaches him and before he can say much of anything, Orton tells him he doesn’t need his advice. He tells him to stay out of his way unless he wants to find out why they used to call him “The Legend Killer.” He walks on as Flair looks pissed.
Backstage: Bray Wyatt
From there, we shoot to another scene backstage with Bray Wyatt by himself. He talks about his victory over Chris Jericho at SummerSlam last night. He says he doubts he’ll ever be able to comprehend who and what he really is. He says “behold, the new face of salvation” before closing with his usual “follow the buzzards” line.
The Usos vs. Goldust & Stardust
The WWE Tag-Team Champions The Usos make their way to the ring. The announcers, including JBL, put over The Usos as fighting champions. Lawler and Cole were surprised that JBL gave them their props. The Usos will be in action next, as we head to another commercial.
When we return from commercial, after another highlight of Nikki slapping Brie in the RAW opener, out comes the Dust Brothers. Goldust and Stardust enter the ring, the bell sounds and here we go with tag-team action.
Goldust starts things off for his team, while Jey Uso starts it off for his team. Jey is having his way with Goldust thus far. He focuses on the arm of Goldust and then tags Jimmy in. Jimmy picks up where Jey left off, taking it to one-half of the most bizarre tag-team in WWE.
Goldust makes the tag to Stardust, but it isn’t long before Stardust is on the receiving end of a beat down from the WWE Tag-Team champs. In the end, however the bizarre duo of Goldust and Stardust manage to score the 1-2-3 for the victory. After the match, we head to another break.
Winners: Goldust & Stardust
Rusev, Lana & Their New U.S. Opposition — Mark Henry
Back from commercial, Rusev’s theme hits and out he walks, waiving the Russian flag, alongside his valet, Lana. They make their way to the ring and Lana gets on the mic. As she brags about their victory in the Flag Match last night at SummerSlam, she is cut off by Mark Henry’s theme song.
“The World’s Strongest Man” makes his way to the ring. He stands in front of Rusev and Lana holding a mic as the fans chant “U.S.A.” loudly. Henry says he’s had the honor of representing this country twice in the Olympic games. He said he’s never had a problem with anyone being proud of their country and their flags, “except for the way you two jackasses do it.”
Henry goes on to mention that he watched the Flag Match last night and it made him sick to see “that flag” being waived in “his country.” Lana starts babbling off-mic and Henry shouts, “I’m not talking to you!” The fans break out in another “U.S.A.” chant. Henry gets in Rusev’s face and says, “listen up, boy.” The crowd gasps. He says he’s going to give Rusev a personal invite into the “Hall of Pain.” The fans chant “U.S.A.” again.
Henry drops his mic. Rusev sucker-punches Henry. Henry tries punching back but Rusev is getting the better of him. Out of nowhere, Henry scoops Rusev up and flattens him dead with “The World’s Strongest Slam.” The fans again chant “U.S.A.” as Henry hits the ropes and nails Rusev with a big splash for good measure. We head to another break.
Falls Count Anywhere
– Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose
When we return from commercial, Jerry Lawler reveals the results of the WWE Universe poll on the stipulations for tonight’s main event, a SummerSlam rematch between Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. With over 40-percent of the votes, Falls Count Anywhere beat out a No Holds Barred and No Disqualification stipulation as the one that will be used in tonight’s RAW main event.
With that out of the way, both “Mr. Money In The Bank” Seth Rollins, as well as his former Shield partner Dean Ambrose, make their way to the ring for this SummerSlam rematch in a Falls Count Anywhere match. The bell rings and here we go, folks!
Early on, Ambrose is all over Rollins like a bat out of hell. It isn’t long, however, before Rollins is taking it to Ambrose. A lot of the action is outside of the ring and around the arena near the ring so far. Rollins attempts a near fall outside of the ring, since falls are legal there, however Ambrose manages to kick out at two.
Back inside the ring, Ambrose is fighting back against Rollins now, including a cool spot where he bodyslams both a chair and Rollins at the same time, with the chair being behind Rollins, so he gets slammed onto it. On that note, we head to a mid-match commercial.
We’re back from the commercial and we see Rollins choking Ambrose with a kendo stick. He stops choking him with it, but instead starts whacking him across the back with it repeatedly. Ambrose finally blocks one of the shots and starts firing away with punches. Rollins ends up cutting his comeback short with a big dropkick.
Ambrose starts going crazy, like his character emphasizes, as he beats down Rollins and then goes under the ring and literally throws about 8-10 steel chairs inside the ring.
Ambrose and Rollins head up to the top rope. Rollins looks to superplex Ambrose onto the steel chairs, which were put in one giant pile. Ambrose avoids it, however. Back on the mat, Rollins ends up hitting a running power bomb on Ambrose right onto the pile of chairs. That elicits a loud “this is awesome” chant from the Las Vegas crowd.
Rollins goes under the ring, as we see Corporate Kane sitting at ringside several times now, and he grabs a table. The fans pop. Rollins sets the table up inside the ring and picks Ambrose up. He puts Ambrose’s face on the table, likely looking for a Curb Stomp off the top rope through the table. As he reaches the top rope, however, Ambrose stops him.
Ambrose goes up after him and is looking for a superplex through the table. He hits it and both guys are down. The fans are going wild. We see another shot of Corporate Kane at ringside. Ambrose finally gets up, but Kane gets up on the apron at the same time. Ambrose knocks him down, throws Rollins out to the floor as well and then hits a big dive onto both guys on the floor.
Back in the ring, Ambrose knocks the hell out of Rollins with a huge clothesline. He follows that up by hitting Rollins with his Dirty Deeds finisher. Kane breaks up Ambrose’s follow-up pin attempt, however, and now is blatantly getting involved, as he takes his jacket off and goes to work on Ambrose. Ambrose ends up getting the better of him. Ambrose throws Rollins over the barricade. He runs across the announce table and dives onto Rollins over the barricade and into the crowd.
Ambrose and Rollins are back outside of the ring near the announce tables as a very loud “this is awesome” chant spreads throughout the arena. Ambrose clears off one of the announce tables and then puts Rollins on it. Ambrose hops up on the table as well. Ambrose is looking to hit his “Dirty Deeds” finisher on Rollins through the table, but out of nowhere, Kane grabs Ambrose by the throat. Rollins gets out of dodge and Kane chokeslams Ambrose on the table. The table doesn’t break though. Rollins follows up with a Curb Stomp on the table, but that doesn’t break the table either.
Now we see a pile of cinder blocks next to the announce table. Kane puts Ambrose’s face on them and then holds him there. Rollins runs over and Curb Stomps Ambrose on them, crushing several of them with Ambrose’s face. The referees are screaming for help as the fans chant “you sold out.” The bell rings to signify the end of the match. The announcer informs us that the referee has stopped this match and that our winner is Seth Rollins.
Rollins stands on the announce table celebrating as the EMTs and medics arrive onto the scene to stretcher Ambrose out of the building. We see Kane and Rollins celebrating some more as Rollins’ theme music plays.
Winner via Referee Stoppage: Seth Rollins
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