Date: 06/27	8:00 PM
Views: 673

Ian Clark is taking a much deserved night off so I'm filling in! What's the low down on The Shield's three way at Battleground? Will they even acknowledge that Roman Reigns was suspended last Tuesday? Tune in to find out! You can hit F5 or refresh while the title reads IN PROGRESS for the latest updates.

My DVR cut off the first two minutes, so the first thing I see is Seth Rollins staring off to the right with an annoyed look on his face. "You know what? To hell with it - let's talk about Roman Reigns." He admits he's not supposed to but he's got a live mic and nobody can stop him. He claims that "the Roman Reigns scandal" is soiling HIS good name because he's the one who brought Reigns into The Shield. He then pulls up Reigns' statement on the Titantron. "I apologize to my family, friends and fans for my mistake in violating WWE's wellness policy. No excuses, I own it." Rollins spends the next few minutes running down the apology, claiming it's hypocritical, saying Reigns doesn't deserve a second chance or to even be in the triple threat at Battleground. The fans cheer for that especially when he says he deserves to have a one-on-one match with Dean Ambrose.

This of course brings out our WWE champion with the belt on his shoulder. Ambrose makes fun of Rollins' skinny jeans and says that as far as he's concerned the triple threat is still on.

I'm not sure why but this brings out AJ Styles. He wants to take Roman's place I guess. Ambrose says he doesn't make those kind of decisions. Styles says fine, make it a Fatal 4-Way. Rollins objects and says it's got to be one-on-one, not three, not four.

And THIS brings out John Cena. Cena brings up the fact it's his "WWE birthday" since he debuted 14 years ago in a match with Kurt Angle. He also brings up the fact he lives in Tampa now, although they sure weren't treating him like it when he came out. Now Cena wants it to be a FATAL FIVE-WAY. This is getting ridiculous. Who else wants a piece?

I have rarely if ever said this but STEPHANIE'S MUSIC INTERRUPTS AND I AM GLAD. She has "a solution." Tonight Rollins will go one-on-one with Cena, and Styles will go one-on-one with Ambrose. "John if you and AJ are able to win your respective matches then you will be added to the WWE Championship match at Battleground. Good luck gentlemen - well except you Dean."

* Paige & Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte & Dana Brooke

Hmm. This one goes through a commercial break so I'm just going to fast forward through the opening segment and get to the meat of the match. And just as I say that the match ends a minute later as Banks taps out Brooke to the Banks Statement after Paige took out Charlotte on the outside with a kick to the face. PAIGE AND SASHA WIN. Banks makes the symbol for a belt around her waist and does a sarcastic golf clap as the heels work their way backward up the entrance ramp.

After the commercial break Lana comes out to introduce Rusev, who stomps his way down to the ring wearing the U.S. Title around his waist. We get a replay of Rusev mocking Titus O'Neil's children at ringside at Money in the Bank. This brings out Titus for a match - which Lilian Garcia doesn't announce as a title match - so clearly it's not.

* Non-Title Match: Rusev {C} vs. Titus O'Neil

O'Neil attacks Rusev before the bell can even ring. Rusev gets back in control with a meathook clothesline and then lays in the ground and pound as the referee feebly tries to make him stop. He stands up scowling and the crowd gives an obligatory boo. O'Neil crawls for the ropes and Rusev cuts him off with a knee to the body and lays in some kicks. He applies a chinlock when O'Neil stands up, making him fall to one knee. The crowd chants LET'S GO TITUS. Rusev gives him a dropkick when he breaks free and tries to hit the ropes for some momentum. Rusev kicks him right in the gut as he tries to recover on the ropes. Irish whip to the opposite side, but O'Neil throws up the elbow when Rusev charges in to follow up. Now O'Neil knocks him down with a shoulder tackle and a clothesline, and Rusev goes outside for a breather. He goes over to pick up his title off the timekeeper's table and O'Neil gets out of the ring to charge him down before he can use it, resulting in a double clothesline spot. They get up at 7 but O'Neil throws Rusev over the barricade to where the timekeeper had his title, and O'Neil gets back in the ring. O'Neil WINS BY COUNTOUT.

Kane tries to get Stepanie's attention backstage but she's on the phone. He finally convinces her to give him a minute. Kane campaigns to be the man to run SmackDown live. She tells him that nobody will run that show except her. The Miz walks up behind them with Maryse and interrupts. She starts bitching about the lack of red carpet and he starts bitching about the limo. I don't care - this is what they make fast forward buttons for.

* Seth Rollins vs. John Cena - If Cena Wins He's Added to the PPV Title Match

This is the top of the first hour/start of the second hour of Raw. In fact you can hardly miss the timing that Cena doesn't come out until 7:59 CT. They stalled as long as they could. Michael Cole shills #CenavsRollins and the graphics department throws it on the screen to back him up. There are legitimate dueling chants in Tampa and they are so vocal you can't even make out who they are for or against - they're yelling over each other. Rollins slows things down with a headlock but Cena throws him off and hits a shoulder tackle. Rollins gets up feeling it a little on his left wrist, trying to wring it out. He tries to tie up with Cena and a half-hearted "you can't wrestle" breaks out. Rollins with a leapfrog and a shoulder tackle of his own. Now Cena circles him warily - they've levelled the playing field. Both men turn to look at the crowd opposite the hard cam and the dueling chants pick up again.

Now it's time for Rollins to work Cena over. Cena spends the next minute or two taking a beatdown until he makes a mini-comeback with a dropkick and punches to the gut. We get the blocked irish whip elbow spot from earlier and Rollins hits a flying neckbreaker for a near fall. He's got the heet back and he's putting the boots to Cena. I'm going to be surprised if this match doesn't go through a commercial break. Rollins applies the facelock and Cena sells until it's his time to power out of it and break the grip. He tries to turn it around, Rollins hits a boot to the gut, Cena hits a couple of shoulder tackles and slams Rollins down. He signals for You Can't See Me and Rollins kicks him in the face off his back, sending Cena flying out of the ring, and there's the commercial break I expected.

Rollins blocks it a second time, blocks Cena's finish sequence a third time, then kicks him in the face for a near fall. Cena rolls toward the ropes holding his face with his left hand. Rollins points at Cena like he knows it's over but gets cut off by an elbow when he charges, then Cena hits a tornado DDT for a near fall. I forgot to mention it earlier but "Lil' Naitch" is our referee for this match. Anyway enzuigiri by Rollins for a near fall. Falcon Arrow by Rollins for another near fall. Rollins waits as Cena crawls to his feet. Kick to the midsection and Pedigree attempt but Cena counters. He catapults Rollins to the ropes, Rollins lands like a cat, he leaps off the crossbody, Cena rolls through, he tosses Rollins with a AA, but Rollins gets a boot on the ropes before Cena can make the cover.

Cena blocks a Pedigree and goes for the STF. Rollins tries to grab the ropes but Cena pulls him back to the center of the ring. The Club comes out to cause a distraction, interfere, or both. Cena stares them down. AJ hits the apron, Cena takes a swing, Rollins hits the Pedigree and gets the pin. SETH ROLLINS WINS AND CENA DOES +NOT+ GET INTO THE MATCH. Now he's got even more reason to be pissed at Styles but really he should be pissed at himself for falling for such an obvious distraction. Commercial.

HOW YA DOIN'? We get the classic Enzo Amore & Big Cass introduction and the crowd in Tampa sings along with the whole thing - AND YOU CAN'T, TEACH, THAT. Enzo Amore thanks the crowd for their support and promises they are gonna ride that wave of support straight to the top. He's actually begging the crowd to DO THE WAVE during their match.

* Enzo & Big Cass vs. Carlos Cochi & Mitch Waldy

I don't know if that's actually how the latter team is spelled. Their names are never shown on screen and I'm basing that strictly on the way Michael Cole pronounced their names. Either way it's a total squash as Big Cass throws Enzo high through the air onto the man on the ground with the BADA BOOM finish. The replay of the match could be the whole match. Cass spells it out for their opponents afterward but before he can finish the S-A-W-F-T the Social Outcasts (now suspiciously absent Adam Rose) are here proclaiming they are HARD OG's.

Enzo Amore: "Basically what you're telling me you're hard." The Outcasts agree. Cass: "So which one of you is the hardest?" Bo Dallas tells them not to fall for this and says we can get in the ring and show them how HARD they really are. Unfortunately they don't manage to win the numbers game and get shook by Cass so they back up without doing anything, so Cass gets to call THEM S-A-W-F-T instead.

We get another one of those weird Bob Backlund and Darren Young segments where Backlund yells that he's going to MAKE DARREN GREAT AGAIN in an obvious parody of Donald Trump. Next we get more about WWE's partnership with the Special Olympics to take part in Play Unified. It's a feel good piece. The Special Olympic athletes come out on stage with Big Show afterward. Nothing bad to say about this at all. Commercial.

* Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte (Natalya on commentary)

Becky ignores the match entirely and dives out of the ring to go attack Natalya. We have a cat fight at ringside. Natalya tries to take a powder after breaking free but Becky goes after her again. The referee holds her back and Nattie is finally able to make her escape backing up the entrance ramp. The match is obviously thrown out. NO CONTEST OR NEVER EVEN STARTED - TAKE YOUR PICK. The Highlight Reel is next!

* The Highlight Reel

Chris Jericho demands the crowd be quiet, but they really weren't that loud to begin with, though he keeps getting angrier and playing it up like they weren't taking his advice. He begins to cry and moan about the SIXTY-NINE TACKS that went into his body in a PPV match but then switches gears and introduces his first guest Kevin Owens. Predictably his next guest is Sami Zayn. He makes them face off in the ring and then says he had the monkeys in the truck raise his expensive Jeritron out of the way because he knew they would get in a fight. He talks about how they used to be best friends before Owens stabbed Zayn in the back. Zayn says he won't play this game and let Jericho manipulate him. "I came out here for one very specific reason and that's to put an end to this." He notes they have cost each other a lot of matches. "Let's put an end to this once and for all at Battleground. We might get drafted to two different shows but this needs to end." Owens sulks and stays silent as Zayn runs him down and says he was always jealous Zayn got into WWE first.

Owens finally speaks after Zayn tells him to "grow a set" and the crowd chants it to him. Owens: "I have already told you the truth many times. You may not like it but that doesn't make it not true. I did what I did to you because it was the right move for my career. You know who ruined our friendship? It was you. It's your fault. Everything we've done since we met was to get to WWE wasn't it? It was always in the hopes of making it here. When you signed a year and a half before I did was I upset that you made the right move? No." By his twisted logic Sami should have been happy when he attacked Sami to get his WWE break, because a friend would understand and do that for him. Owens goes on to accept the challenge for Battleground. Jericho says Owens is right - he's a terrible friend and a terrible example of what it takes to make it in WWE. He says even though Owens will never be as great as him, but he's at least trying, while Zayn has his own head so far up his behind "you still care what these muttonheads in the crowd think - and the fact you haven't figured that out makes me sick - it makes me want to slap your stupid face right now. But I'm not going to do that. I'm going to let Owens do that to you at Battleground." Jericho says they can both thank him for making this match bigger by announcing it on his show, and then in a page out of Damien Sandow's playbook he says YOU'RE WELCOME. Zayn and Owens stare each other down then they BOTH KICK JERICHO IN THE FACE and leave.

* Intercontinental Title: The Miz {C} vs. Kane

So I'm guessing this got booked because Stephanie got tired of The Miz whining and decided to do Kane a solid since she wasn't going to give him control of SmackDown, killing two birds with one stone. Even though I can't stand her character for one that's a decision that makes sense which I totally agree with. Kane overpowers Miz immediately and lays in a beating. The only way you can imagine Miz retaining here is if he takes a powder for a countout (titles don't change on a DQ) or Maryse offers some kind of distraction a veteran like Kane should never fall for. Kane goes for a chokeslam and Maryse gets on the apron. He tells her to get down and when she does she screams like she broke her ankle. Miz snaps Kane's neck off the ropes and goes to check on Maryse, allowing himself to be counted out while he's checking on her. He picks her up and carries her to the back as Kane sits up in the ring. KANE WINS BY COUNTOUT AND MIZ RETAINS THE TITLE. Saw that coming a mile away.

Afterward Miz offers to keep carrying her for the rest of the night but Maryse admits SHE WAS FAKING IT AND SHE WAS ACTING and Miz declares it an EMMY AWARD WINNING PERFORMANCE. Yuck squared. This is why I usually prefer to NOT recap Raw - I don't have to watch either of them.

Ironically both of the latter team used to be in the League of Nations, and clearly aren't on the same page, but they both have a problem with the "new era" represented by Crews so they're working together for now. Crew stakes over on Del Rio quickly and tags in Cesaro, who shows his agility flipping over the ropes to the apron and then goes flying around the ring hitting Del Rio with uppercuts. Cesaro gets cut off but Sheamus blind tags in to take over. Del Rio is clearly not pleased. Irish Curse for a near fall. Cesaro backflips out of a backbreaker and goes to the ground taking Sheamus down. Both men crawl for the tag but Sheamus gets there first, but not fast enough for him to cut Cesaro off before he can tag Crews in. Crews is launched over the apron and then Del Rio kicks his own partner off the apron! Crews drives the steps into Sheamus as Del Rio walks to the back. Crews picks Sheamus up in the middle of the ring for a sitout powerbomb and pin. WINNERS: CESARO AND APOLLO CREWS. I'd like to tell you the crowd cared but the only thing they popped for was the enzugiri that Del Rio hit his partner with. They chanted SI SI SI for that.

Rambling Dean Ambrose interview backstage. He says he doesn't do well with idle time and he's happy to be overbooked, and that he's also happy to face AJ Styles the PHENOMENAL AJ Styles tonight. Stephanie McMahon interrupts the JoJo interview and says she hopes the unshaved unkempt title reign of Ambrose comes to an end sooner and that the Battleground match becoming a four-way would be a nice start. Commercial.

THE NEW DAY HAVE ARRIVED. They're dressed like the Wyatt Family - although the sheep mask has a unicorn horn. Kofi says he can't breathe with it on so he takes it off and throws it to the ground. If you're wondering Big E is the one playing Bray Wyatt. They make jokes about how the Wyatts smell bad, look bad, and so on. Eventually the Wyatts come out to interrupt and mock their power of positivity. Wyatt seems to think Xavier is the weak link though and says that if he's scared he can confide in him. Xavier does look kind of shook. Wyatt: "In this game there are no winners and losers - there is only malice and destruction. Every knee shall bow every tongue shall confess - New, Day, falls." The Club discuss strategy backstage as we go to commercial.

The Wyatt Family will join Jonathan Coachman on SportsCenter tomorrow night. Renee Young interviews The New Day backstage. Xavier Woods still looks concerned even though Kofi and Big E are cracking jokes about mocking the Family being the best decision they made since they decided to go see Finding Dory. Time for our main event!

* Non-Title Match: Dean Ambrose {C} vs. AJ Styles

Rollins is sitting in on commentary for this one. Lil' Naitch is our referee for the main event. Rollins says the taste of the words Dean Ambrose as WWE Champion sound awful coming out of his mouth, and he echoes the party line of Stephanie McMahon that it's embarrassing to WWE as a whole. The camera is spending more time on Rollins than the action in the ring. Neither man gains an advantage before the commercial break anyway so I suppose it doesn't ultimately matter that much.

AJ is in control after we come back. Rollins is referring to Ambrose as a cockroach he can't exteriminate. Ambrose fights back to his feet, catches AJ in mid-air, and drops him across the ropes to leave both men laying on the mat struggling to get up. Naitch gets to 3 before they both stand. Ambrose unloads with chops and hits a few tackles and a clothesline. JBL and Byron argue about whether or not Dean is a good face of the company. Ambrose goes for a backslide pinfall and gets two. Jackknife cover gets two. AJ faceplants Ambrose for 2. AJ goes top rope and Ambrose cuts him off for a superplex. AJ sells his back and that's not hard to believe. AJ cuts him off in a bulldog attempt and throws him down for another near fall.

AJ blocks an attempted Dirty Deeds and injures the left leg of Ambrose ten goes for the calf crusher trying to get him to tap out. Ambrose crawls for the ropes and Rollins says he won't tap out because he's too stupid to. Ambrose gets the rope break. Ambrose floats Styles over the ropes to the floor and then does a suicide dive to wipe him but gets up selling his left knee as he throws AJ back into the ring. Ambrose comes off the ropes and AJ rolls through for a near fall. AJ hits the pele kick but Ambrose hits the rebound jawbreaker lariat. This brings out The Club to interfere and Ambrose is falling for it it. Styles hooks Ambrose for a brainbuster but Ambrose kicks out. Cena runs down to brawl with The Club, this distracts AJ, and now Ambrose takes advantage with Dirty Deeds! AMBROSE WINS AND THE MATCH AT BATTLEGROUND REMAINS A THREE-WAY. Rollins hates to admit it but he's actually happy that Ambrose won and another man didn't get added to their match. He even stands up to applaud and calls it "fan freaking tastic." The Club take it out on Cena afterward. Ambrose is concerned about Cena and Rollins jumps him from behind to hit a Pedigree. Cena takes a 3-on-1 beating from The Club all the way up the ramp. Rollins lays Ambrose out again in the ring to put an exclamation point on the heels standing strong to end Raw.