Roman Reigns kicks the show off. He's on my good side after that amazing match last week where he became the #1 Contender. Speaking of that, the champion himself, Seth Rollins came out to see his challenger here. They had a war of words that leads to Rollins teasing a run to the ring before The Authority comes out. A 5 on 5 Survivor Series-esque elimination match is announced for tonight with Reigns captaining one team and Rollins captaining the other.
1) Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler
Big Kev goes right after the injured leg of Ziggler as a result of attacks from Tyler Breeze and speak of the devil, he shows up a few minutes into this contest. It interrupts an attempted comeback from Ziggler off of an awesome DDT that sent Owens to the floor. This allows the IC Champion to regain the advantage. He wears down Ziggler with head locks and stuff. Ziggler starts mounting a comeback only for Breeze taking a selfie to distract him. Dolph runs right into a pop up powerbomb from Owens. That's a three count.
Match rating - **1/2
Post match, Tyler Breeze is sneaking a photo with Ziggler when he awakens and punches him in the face. The retaliation is short lived as Breeze hits him with the snapshot kick out of nowhere to put him right on his back again.
Backstage, Seth Rollins walks up to Kevin Owens and proposes a champ vs champ match at Mania next year. This leads to Rollins asking KO to join his team tonight. Owens accepts and says Rollins owes him one.
Renee Young interviews Becky Lynch and it's meh. Brie Bella comes up and says a few words. This was all to hype the four way match tonight. Becky/Sasha/Paige/Brie - winner faces Charlotte at Survivor Series.
2) Cesaro vs. The Miz
This was a random ass match. Stardust & The Ascension were in the crowd watching Cesaro yet again. Cesaro flurried early, Miz posted him on the outside to gain the advantage, and it looked like he might be about to win. Cesaro counters the Skull Crushing Finale in fantastic fashion with a firemans carry. He swings Miz and sets the crowd on fire before locking him in the sharp shooter for a submission victory.
Match rating - **1/4
The Wyatt Family is out to speak about Taker & Kane. Bray delivers another good promo. He says he isn't afraid to summon demons and he know leads our world. Fire & pyro stuff pops up at his command. A vignette highlighting Taker & Kane's careers is shown as Wyatt poses in the ring with Harper, Rowan, & Strowman. I say this was decent, but many have bashed it. That's probably because they paid more attention than I did, I was working on this review with the segment in the background which also probably says something about where Wyatt is at nowadays.
3) Lucha Dragons (Kalisto & Sin Cara) vs. Sheamus & Wade Barrett
This got a lot of time and while I like when WWE gives certain matches more time than normal, it really wasn't needed here. The Euros dominated after an early flurry from the Dragons. About mid-way through, Sin Cara got the hot tag and cleaned house. I thought they were about to go into a high impact finishing run, instead, things settle back down with Barrett & Sheamus regaining the advantage. This builds to another hot tag, this time for Kalisto. He runs through his stuff and the final minute or two is great. If they were gonna have this go this long, they should've went more all out in the closing sequence, in my opinion. It makes Barrett & Sheamus look flimsy because it only took a few moments worth of offense to be put away by two vastly smaller men that they worked over for basically the entire match yet couldn't pin. This still wasn't bad, though.
Match rating - **1/2
Jack Swagger approaches Zeb Colter backstage. SWAG MAN! He questions the MexAmerica stuff just as Del Rio approaches. This is actually interesting. Swagger has had several misfires in his career, but it looks like WWE is taking another opportunity to try and revive him. It'll likely for a few weeks then he will go back into oblivion, unfortunately.
4) Alberto Del Rio vs. R-Truth
Pro longed squash in a rematch from Smackdown. Del Rio wins.
Match rating - *
5) Paige vs. Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch vs. Brie Bella - #1 Contender's Match for the Divas Title
I love the idea of these four way contender's matches. Last week's main event was one of the best Raw matches this year and now the women get their turn to show off. I had mixed feelings on the idea of this, only because of the lack of experience for the women in this department then I remembered the Sasha & Becky history in four way's and eh-- bump all that. The match got started and it was great. The Divas show determination and improvement every week, this was another prime example. The tower of doom spot in the corner got the crowd going. Brie even got a pop for doing DB's YES kicks. Sasha was over as usual. Becky got a nice showcase for the second week in a row. This was just all around solid work and just about all you can ask from a four way like this at this point in time. Paige pins Becky to win.
Match rating - ***1/4
6) Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose, The Usos, & Ryback vs. Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, & New Day
THE USOS ARE BACK! BAH GAWD MAGGLE! I was looking forward to this, but when they appeared at the top of the ramp, it truly turned to excitement. The crowd is livid and I'm ready! Usos are in first with Xavier Woods who also returned tonight after a week or two away. Not as long of a break as Jey Uso, but a break none the less. Woods charges and SUPERKICK! Jey climbs up top for the frog splash and 1..2..3.. WOODS IS GONE! Kofi gets in and The Usos make quick work of him as well. I was bummed to see two thirds of New Day out so quickly however it was the perfect return scenario for The Usos. It makes them look as strong as ever by eliminating the tag champs. Big E still remains however and ends up pinning Jey Uso with the big ending. Jimmy gets eliminated soon after and we're down to three on three. There's a crazy, action packed sequence that leads us to commercial. We return to the six man elimination form of this match. Owens mocked Ambrose on the apron at some part here and it was beautiful. Big Kev & Rollins are really perfect together. If they keep teaming, their heat segments may trump New Day's. Owens held Ambrose as Rollins hit the side swiping leg off the top rope. Owens keeps antagnozing Ambrose and the crowd while he beats on him. Owens holds Ambrose for Rollins again while he talks trash. Ambrose SLAPS ROLLINS! That was fantastic stuff. Ryback gets the hot tag and starts laying people out. It really breaks down around here as you'd expect. The match is building quite well and has been great so far. It comes down to Ambrose & Reigns against Rollins AAAAAND we get a DQ finish. AGH! I was hoping for anything but that.
Match rating - ***1/2
Rollins beats Ambrose & Reigns with a chair after the bell sounds and they are announced as the winners. Reigns fights back and nails him with a superman punch. Rollins retreats. Show over.
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