The Phenomenal One?
The only thing phenomenal about AJ's night was how his head bounced off that table...
24 hours after retaining his title against AJ Styles at Payback, Roman Reigns sent a message to the number one contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship the only way a wrestler can. By putting him through a Spanish Announce Table.
The Big Dog was teaming with his cousins Jimmy and Jey Uso in a tag match against AJ Styles and his Bullet Club buddies, Gallow and Anderson. Styles picked up the win for his team after hitting an Uso brother with The Phenomenal Forearm, but that’s when it all went Pete Tong.
Anderson and Gallows had previously hit Reigns with a Boot of Doom on the outside, sending Reigns over the barricade, and after the bell they dragged the champ back into the ring. Holding Reigns up, Anderson and Gallows handed Styles a steel chair and encouraged him to give Reigns a whack and lay down a marker. Being an all-round nice guy however Styles declined, but that led to him getting a smack with it himself courtesy of the Usos. Being a nice guy in the WWE doesn’t always pay.
AJ responded by clearing house with the chair, which quite frankly enraged Reigns. Nothing quite pisses off The Big Dog like watching his cousins getting smacked with a chair. He dished out a Superman Punch to AJ and then made sure the challenger got the message with a Powerbomb through the announcers table. God knows how much gets put through expenses on those announce tables – Vince seems to destroy one every week…
Elsewhere Kevin Owens and Cesaro faced off in a match for a shot at The Miz’s Intercontinental Title. The Miz was at ringside to watch the bout which included many delightful uppercuts from the Swiss Superman. On the outside KO grabbed the title belt and tried to use it on Cesaro, only to get stopped by The Miz. Cesaro gave them both uppercuts for their troubles and dragged Owens into the ring only for The Miz to get involved and cause the disqualification.
Miz and Owens formed a temporary alliance to beat on Cesaro, but Sami Zayn and his wonderful ginger beard ran down to make the save. The Miz and KO were swiftly dispatched as Sami Zayn was left holding the Intercontinental strap, much to the crowd’s delight.
This is all angling towards what could be a cracking fatal four-way match at Extreme Rules in a few weeks’ time.
Elsewhere there was a Battle Royal to determine the number one contender for Kalisto’s US Championship. Kalisto was sat on commentary alongside JBL who tried his hardest not to be overly racist, whilst Rusev ended up winning the match.
The final three came down to Rusev, Alberto Del Rio and Zack Ryder. Ryder got rid of Del Rio with a dropkick, but Rusev shocked Mr Woo Woo Woo to be crowned the main challenger for the US Title. Lana came down to join the celebrations and the Bulgarian Brute roared at the masked Mexican. Donald Trump will be disgusted that this bout is for the US Title.
Big Cass was also in action, after his partner Enzo Amore suffered a very serious concussion at Payback. Cass teamed up with the Tag Team Champs The New Day against The Dudley Boyz and The Vaudevillians.
The Vaudevillians will have a tag team title shot at Payback, but it was the champs and Big Cass who picked up the win on Monday Night Raw, as the huge seven-footer planted D-Von with an East River Crossing. Unfortunately Cass didn’t wear a unicorn horn, nor did he twerk with Big E, but we’ll let it slide for now.
In the night’s other contests, Tyler Breeze defeated Goldust in less than two minutes in a match that I’m fairly certain less than 10 people cared about. Becky Lynch suffered a defeat to Emma courtesy of an eye-poke and the Michinoku Driver, while Chris Jericho interrupted the Ambrose Asylum and threw a potted plant at Dean Ambrose.
Nothing sparks up a rivalry like hitting someone with a plant.