WWE RAW Coverage: No Post-Mania Letdown Here

After a great Wrestlemania, this week’s Monday Night RAW was just as special even if the finish was a bit vanilla.

After Brock Lesnar destroyed the set and went berserk, the return of Sheamus, debuts of Kalisto, Adrian Neville and pair of title matches made RAW unpredictable and for the first time in a while, fun.

Away from the monotone announce work of Byron Saxton, this week’s RAW was a blast.

Matches:

Intercontinental Champion Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler: A surprisingly strike-heavy match that saw everything from Headbutts to Mexican Surfboards. After the two traded more offense, Bryan hit a perfect Belly-to-Back Suplex from the top rope but couldn’t put Ziggler away. After a series of near-falls and more Headbutts, Bryan got the win with the Running Knee. After the match, Wade Barrett beat on Bryan. Sheamus then made the save, but took out both Bryan with the Brogue Kick and Ziggler with The White Noise and Brogue Kick.

The Lucha Dragons Sin Cara and Kalisto and Big E. Langston and Kofi Kingston w/Xavier Woods vs. WWE Tag Team Champions Antonio Cesaro and Tyson Kidd w/Natalya and The Ascension Viktor and Konnor: Kalisto’s RAW debut was amazing. While the match was solid, Kalisto hit all of his moves crisply and the crowd totally bought in. Cesar and Kidd got their groove on though, hitting the Swing/Dropkick combo while The Ascension kept the pressure on. Although Kingston pushed the momentum back in his team’s favor, Kidd and Cesaro hit the elevated European Uppercut, but Viktor tagged himself in. After that, a slew of offense overtook the match before Kalisto got the win with the Ultimo Dragon Reverse DDT.

WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins w/Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury vs. Brock Lesnar w/Paul Heyman: After Rollins refused to fight Lesnar and ran off, Lesnar flipped over the announce table and hit Michael Cole with an F5. Before he could hit the cameraman with the F5, Stephanie McMahon tried to calm him down, but he hit the move anyway. As a result, McMahon suspended Lesnar indefinitely and ordered him out of the building. But before he left, Lesnar hit the cameraman again with the F5.

Damien Sandow vs. Stardust: Sandow got the win with the Skull-Crushing Finale, but The Miz hit the ring after the pinfall and hit the move on his former assistant.

Adrian Neville vs. Curtis Axel: Much like Kalisto, Neville made a wonderful debut, hitting the Red Arrow for the quick win.

United States Champion John Cena vs. Dean Ambrose: This was an entertaining back and forth match with a nice amount of suspense and near-falls. Ambrose even kicked out the Attitude Adjustment. After Ambrose hit the top rope Powerbomb, Cena snaked into the STF, but he couldn’t put Ambrose away. After Ambrose locked in the STF and nearly won with the Dirty Deeds, Cena fought back with another Attitude Adjustment for the win.

Divas Champion Nikki Bella, Brie Bella and Natalya Neidhart vs. Paige, AJ Lee and Naomi: A buzzkill of a match that just dragged like crazy. The finish was alright though as Nikki took out Brie by accident with the Elbow, allowing Naomi to hit the Rear View for the win on Nikki.

Goldust vs. Rusev: Goldie got in some offense, but Rusev got the win with The Accolade.

Randy Orton, Ryback and Roman Reigns vs. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins, Kane and The Big Show w/Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury: A lukewarm main event that saw Orton get his hands on Orton and Reigns and Ryback to get a few licks in too. From the Wave to the “CM Punk” chants, the crowd had fun during this one. After a slew of finishers from everyone in the ring, Reigns finished off Kane with the Spear after an Orton RKO.