WWE RAW Coverage: The Beginning of the Era of the Beast

The fallout from Summerslam on this week’s Monday Night RAW wasn’t enthralling at all. If anything, it was boring. Away from the newly-designed WWE World Heavyweight Title and Paul Heyman’s promo declaring a new era for the company with Brock Lesnar as champion, there wasn’t anything to get excited about.

Well, that’s not entirely true. The main event of Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins was special and if anything, was a sign of things to come.

More a show that developed the mid-card and youth than set up a new opponent for Brock Lesnar, the shift in attention to the younger faces on RAW appears to be in full-swing. Although appearances from The Big Show and Mark Henry this week anchored the show in its past, if anything they’ll serve as the guys that the Luke Harper’s, Erick Rowan’s and Rusev’s establish themselves against.

It could be fun, but this is just the beginning of it all.

Matches:

The Big Show and Mark Henry vs. Erick Rowan and Luke Harper: Rowan and Harper were out-powered for the first time in their careers and never really stood a chance. After Show nailed Rowan with the Knockout Punch, Henry finished him off with the World’s Strongest Slam for the win.

WWE Divas Champion Paige vs. Nattie Neidhart: Paige was in control until Aj Lee came and skipped around the ring. The distraction led to a Neidhart win via School Boy.

Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz: With an already injured ankle, The Miz was in control throughout and nearly won with the Figure Four. Although he won via count-out, The Miz got the last laugh with a Zig-Zag after the bell.

Jack Swagger w/Zeb Colter vs. Antonio Cesaro: An eye poke and the Neutralizer gave Cesaro the much-needed win.

Randy Orton, Curtis Axel and Ryback vs. United States Champion Sheamus, Roman Reigns and Rob Van Dam: A fast-paced match that saw a bevy of signature moves and finishers. After a wild sequence, RVD got the win with the Five-Star Frog Splash.

WWE Tag Team Champions Jimmy and Jey Uso vs. Goldust and Stardust: An athletic match that saw Stardust get the win with a School Boy. Although that doesn’t sound too sexy, this is the beginning of what can be a really fun in-ring feud.

Falls Count Anywhere: Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins: A worthy RAW main event as both competitors beat the crap out of each other. The double Cross Body Block was a metaphor for the evenly-paced match. Add in kendo sticks, tables and Powerbombs on steel chairs and this was almost a tribute to late ‘90s ECW matches. Ambrose should have gotten the win after a Superplex through a table, but Kane’s interference kept the match going. Although Ambrose fought back and hit the Dirty Deeds on Rollins, Kane interfered again. Ambrose then took out both Kane and Rollins on the outside, but Kane eventually delivered a Chokeslam on the announce table, which was followed by a Curb Stomp by Rollins. Kane then revealed a stack of cement blocks and Rollins quickly delivered his finisher on the already broken Ambrose, who was laid across the bricks stomach-first, for the win.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14230 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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