A new era was ushered in on Monday Night RAW after a seismic shifting Payback Pay-Per-View when we saw a Screwjob, an Injury and so much more. Let’s take a look at some of the fallout as we had a huge 6-man tag match, a fired up partner and the cancelation of a talk show all on the post-Payback RAW.
New Era, New RAW
A new era was ushered in as Shane & Stephanie McMahon took charge of RAW together for the first time since their father’s huge announcement at Payback. They had to negotiate a minefield over the shared ownership of WWE’s flagship show. For what it’s worth Stephanie extended the olive branch to her brother when she returned the photo that Vince McMahon had smashed on the road to WrestleMania.
Then as Shane O'Mac was about to put his plan in action he was interrupted by Kevin Owens. It was a case of déjà vu as The Prizefighter demanded a rematch for the Intercontinental Title. Then came Cesaro who claimed that he should be the champion as he had Miz tapping out only for the interference from Kevin Owens. Shane then set-up a match for the #1 Contendership pitting Cesaro against Kevin Owens.
Intercontinental Title Picture in Disarray
The match that Shane McMahon set-up kicked off the action on Monday Night RAW. Cesaro & Kevin Owens went at in this match all in the hope of gaining a championship match against The Miz who was a guest on commentary. Kevin Owens should be thankful that this match ended in a disqualification.
The match ended when The Miz attempted to put Owens & Cesaro on notice only to be met at the pass by Cesaro who then proceeded to attack Miz and Owens. Miz & Owens then teamed up on Cesaro who looked as though all hope was lost only for The Underdog from The Underground Sami Zayn made his way to the ring to save Cesaro when he hit the Helluva Kick on Kevin Owens.
Sami Zayn then held the Intercontinental Title aloft and the WWE Universe got behind The Underdog from The Underground who sent a clear message to Miz, Owens & Cesaro. He wants to be the WWE Intercontinental Champion.
Potential Partners Collide
It looks as though that the Gorgeous Truth may be about to kick off as R-Truth’s selfie buddy Tyler Breeze took on the man that wants to be R-Truth’s partner Goldust. This was an odd match from the get-go.
It took interference from Truth and Fandango to allow The Sultan of Selfies Tyler Breeze to roll up Goldust for the victory.
What’s up with the Tag Team Division?
The WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day made their way out to the ring to address what happened in the final of the WWE Tag Tournament sponsored by Booty-O’s (They make sure you ain’t booty). They talked about what happened to Enzo Amore and what is next for The New Day. This brought out The Vaudevillians who claimed that deserve the title shot due to the outcome of their match with Enzo & Cass.
This Brought out The Dudley Boys who demanded that the whole tournament be restarted but this led to a mad Big Cass coming out in a foul mood and looking for Vengeance for the events of the night before.
The Dudleys & Vaudevillians are S-A-W-F-T
This led to a huge match between The New Day and Big Cass against The Vaudevillians and The Dudley Boys. The match was unique as The Dudley Boys acted as mentors to The Vaudevillians and they dominated Kofi Kingston throughout the match.
Kofi then found an opening to tag in Big Cass who went on the warpath clearing the ring of everyone before hitting the East River Crossing on D-von to get the win for his team. The Vaudevillians live to fight another day
A familiar face to challenge for the US Championship
A huge 20-Man battle royal was announced to determine a new #1 contender for the United States Championship. The Battle Royal was a hodgepodge of WWE talent. The final four of the match would be Sheamus, Rusev and Alberto Del Rio & Zack Ryder. While some huge names were knocked out the likes of Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler and more were eliminated fairly quickly.
Lighting almost struck twice for Zack Ryder, however this time he was beaten by the Bulgarian Brute who now will face Kalisto at a later date.
Why did History repeat itself?
At WWE Payback, Charlotte retained her WWE Women’s Championship in controversial fashion when Charles Robinson re-created the Montreal Screwjob when Charlotte locked Natalya in the Sharpshooter Robinson called for the bell but Natalya never tapped.
Natalya arrived on the scene as Charlotte was explaining what had happened and Natalya left with both Ric’s Rolex watch and Hall of Fame and it looks like Natalya is on her way to another title match WOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Roman Reigns shows his Extreme side
As the WWE World Heavyweight Champion teamed with his cousins The Usos, Roman Reigns has his upcoming extreme rules match with AJ Styles on his mind. Styles would team with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. The match itself did not last too long and was over in the blink of an eye when AJ Styles hit the Phenomenal Forearm on Jimmy Uso to gain the pinfall for his team.
However this broke down rapidly when Anderson & Gallows brought a beaten down Reigns into the ring and they tried to get AJ to hit him with a chair however The Phenomenal One declined, but The Usos had no such scruples and attacked with steel of their own. Styles disposed of the twins with the first chair.
This brought Roman Reigns into the ring again and the red mist descended on the champion who destroyed AJ Styles and ended the show by power bombing his challenger through the announce table.