Date: 07/11	7:00 PM
Views: 655

On tonight's Raw, The New Day visit the Wyatt Family compound! Given the extremely low bar set by the Final Deletion, it's tough to imagine it will fall short of outdoor wrestling segment standards. Also, Vince McMahon is booked for Raw with huge brand extension implications. And Rusev defends against Zack Ryder!

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Raw begins with basically the entire midcard in the ring for a Battle Royale. As Apollo Crews enters, Miz grabs a mic, clad in a suit atop the announce table.

"Welcome to the 98th day of the most must-see Miz Intercontinental Title Extravaganza! It has been, and continues to be, entertaining, dominating, and most importantly, must-see. You are about to witness a massive battle royale, that will determine my opponent for the Intercontinental Championship at Battleground. I'd like to wish you all the best of luck, but I will beat you at Battleground. Because I'm The Miz, and I'm awesome!"

Match One: IC Title #1 Contender's Battle Royale: Participants: The Dudleyz, The Vaudevillains, Golden Truth, The Social Outcasts, Jack Swagger, Alberto Del Rio, Apollo Crews, The Usos, The Ascension, Baron Corbin, Dolph Ziggler and Darren Young

Everyone starts brawling, not much happens until Goldust presses Aiden English to the floor, D-Von is working on Dolp, Truth Eliminates Konnor, Bob Backlund is at ringside, as is the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royale, Bubba and Axel work on Gotch on the apron, it doesn't work, they turn on each other, Axel whips Bubba, he reverses to the apron, D-Von knocks Axel off the apron, Truth is punching away on Corbin, charges, Corbin ducks, R-Truth Eliminated, Viktor goes up top, Corbin punches him to the floor, Viktor Eliminated, Jey Uso tries to eliminate Jimmy, Jimmy blocks, laughs about it, they toss D-Von to the apron, stereo superkick, D-Von Eliminated, commercial.

Back on air, the somewhat smaller field are still brawling, it doesn't look like anyone was eliminated, but I stand corrected, as apparently during the commercial Dolph eliminated Gotch, and Bubba eliminated Jey Uso, Del Rio is punching Goldust, Goldust responds in kind, Del Rio presses him to the apron, Goldust tosses Del Rio into the turnbuckle, Del Rio responds with an enziguri, Goldust Eliminated, Apollo Crews Atomic Drops Bo Dallas to the floor, Darren Young tosses Dolph Ziggler to the apron, Corbin eliminates Jimmy Uso, then eliminates Jack Swagger, Del Rio levels Crews with a DDT, Crews rolls to the apron, Bubba has Darren Young up top and is punching away at him, Crews hits Del Rio with a top rope crossbody, Bubba whips Young, reversed, Corbin boots Bubba, Darren elminates Bubba, Corbin with a Deep Six to Young, Del Rio hits an enziguri to Corbin, misses one to Dolph, Dolph hits him with a Fameasser, tosses him to the apron, he slowly climbs back in the ring, Del Rio with an arm breaker, tilt-a-whirl gut breaker, charges, Dolph ducks, Del Rio slides through the middle rope, Ziggler hits him with a superkick, Del Rio falls to the floor but is not eliminated, Fameasser to Corbin blocked, Corbin tosses him into the corner, Ziggler spills out to the apron, they brawl, Del Rio and Crews are going at each other, Corbin punches Del Rio, whip, Crews presses Del Rio to the floor, it is down to Crews, Ziggler, Young, and Corbin, Ziggler with a superkick to Corbin, Cactus Clothesline sending them both to the apron, Ziggler rolls back into the ring, punches away at Corbin, charges, Corbin grabs him, tosses Ziggler out of the ring to the floor, Crews tries to toss Corbin out, they tussle to the apron, Crews with a Cactus Crossbody, Crews eliminates Corbin, but also himself. And Darren Young wins!

Winner: Darren Young

Young stares down Miz and celebrates. Hey, he survived the match, that's a win.

Backstage, Shane and Steph are speculating why their father will be there. Shane says it's probably got something to do with Smackdown Live. He says maybe he's here to fire someone, Stephanie says maybe it's to promote someone. Seth Rollins says maybe it's to talk to him, then proposes that they make him the #1 draft pick. He then says he has exclusive footage pertaining to the Roman Reigns situation, which Shane says would be perfect for the Ambrose Asylum. Stephanie says that's a terrible idea, but Rollins points out his history with Jon Stewart, and proposes the first edition of the Rollins Report. They agree.

They show footage of Brock Lesnar beating Mark Hunt at UFC 200. I know the footage is selectively edited to make Brock look good, but it's honestly about right. It was an absolute shit-kicking. They show footage of Lesnar's post-fight press conference, then announce Randy Orton returning at Battleground to participate in the Highlight Reel.

Backstage, Zack Ryder confronts Rusev to accept his challenge. Sheamus clubs Ryder from behind and says he'll be Ryder's opponent tonight. He says it's already scheduled, which is weird, because I thought Ryder vs. Rusev was.

Match Two: Sheamus vs. Zack Ryder

Ryder double-legs Sheamus, mounted punches, Cactus Clothesline, punches on the floor, Sheamus tosses Ryder into the barricade, rolls him into the ring, Ryder with a baseball slide, dropkick from the apron, tosses Sheamus back into the ring, Sheamus begs off, Ryder with a running boot, forearms in the corner, Broski Boot interrupted with a boot, Sheamus charges, misses, Ryder with a Broski Boot for two, goes up top, Sheamus trips him, Brogue Kick for three.

Winner: Sheamus

Rusev comes out and grabs Ryder, who responds with forearms, Rusev hits a belly to belly, spin kick, locks in the Accolade and yells that he accepts Ryder's challenge.

Match Three: Breezango vs. The Lucha Dragons

Apparently earlier, Sin Cara threw a drink at Tyler Breeze or something.

Fandango and Sin Cara start. Lockup, Fandango with a side headlock, Sin Cara whips out, Fandango with a shoulder tackle, snapmare, chinlock, Sin Cara whips his way out, shoulder tackle, Fandango floats over, Sin Cara with a hurricanrana, Fandango with a boot, Breeze in, Sin Cara with a 360 arm drag, chop, Breeze presses him to the apron, Sin Cara with a swing kick, dropkick in the corner, Fandango in, big boot for two, punch, toss to the corner, stomp, Breeze in, stomps, Fandango in, snapmare, chinlock, Sin Cara punches his way out, elbows his way out of the corner, springboard moonsault, double tag, Kalisto goes for a springboard, falls, Breeze grabs him, he flips up, hits the move successfully, spin kick, tosses Fandango to the floor, Salida Del Sol blocked, kick to Fandango, Sin Cara with a crossbody to Fandango, Breeze with a rollup for two, Kalisto misses a monkey flip, Breeze kicks him in the corner, rollup for three.

Winners: Breezango

Seth Rollins comes out for the Rollins Report. In the graphic, he was wearing a suit, but there's no suit. I am disappoint.

"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, I hope you guys are ready, because tonight is the night, do I have the scoop for you? Take a hike Anderson Cooper, take a nap Bill O'Reilly, and Jon Stewart, stay retired, because there's a new #1 reporter in town, and his name is Seth Rollins. I have obtained a one-on-one sitdown interview with Roman Reigns himself. Now I need to know, Detroit, are you ready for this? Because this will blow your minds. Here it is, the very first edition of the Rollins Report!"

In this video package, he's wearing a suit and tie and they're clearly in front of different coloured curtains. Also Roman has the title. He uses footage of Roman's post-title win interview to make it look like he's bragging about using steroids, say that he doesn't deserve to be in the triple threat, and will continue to be a terrible role model.

"There you have it, straight from the horse's mouth, he doesn't think he deserves it! So Roman Reigns deserves to be taken out of the triple threat at Battleground, I should get my one-on-one--"

Dean Ambrose hits the ring. "That was good! I'm glad you finally decided to pull the giant stick out of your butt and have some fun for once in your life."

"Haha That's funny, this is all a joke to you. You know what's funny? Your WWE Championship reign. You didn't win that title, you stole it from me. You snuck up from behind and you stole it from me. Because you can't beat me one on one. When I was champion last year, you tried the whole year, and you tried and you tried and you tried and you couldn't beat me. No one could. And you're afraid. And so you want to keep this triple threat scenario where you can gang up on me and when you're done, you can sneak up on Roman and steal it again. But it doesn't matter, because when it's the three of us, it's going to be the same as it's always been between the three of us. Who's the best? Who's the best former member of The Shield? And that's okay, because it's always been me. I was better than you before the Shield, I was better than you during The Shield, and I'm better than you after The Shield. So tell your jokes, because at Money in the Bank, I'm going to stomp you, I'm going to beat you, and I'm going to take back what's mine, the title that you stole from me!"

"Do I like to have fun? Do I like to come out here and have a good time? Yeah. Because I'm the WWE Champion. I proved I'm not just a joke, not just a utility player, because while everyone else washed out, got suspended, went to play a fantasy in some other sport, I stayed here, and I stayed on top. So I like to joke because it's fun! You know more than anyone else the number of buckets of blood I've lost, the number of body parts I've lost, the mud I've stomped through to get here. So if I did all that to get here, what do you think I'll do to keep it? You know that you, Roman Reigns, Vince McMahon and God himself will have to pry this from my cold, dead hands, and you think a one on one match would make that any different? You and me, any time!"

"A one on one match between us for the WWE Championship? Detroit is as good a place as any! But nah, we do this on my time. See you next week."

After a commercial, Sami Zayn comes out for commentary. Backstage, Kevin Owens tells a team of referees that he won't come out until he's gone. Stephanie walks in and tells them to remove Sami. He insists that he has clearance from Shane McMahon, but when the refs come out, he leaves. As Owens comes out, they brawl for a few seconds before they're pulled apart again.

Then they show Vince McMahon getting out of a limo, so I guess no match? Renee Young asks if Vince wants to answer why he's here. He says it's to announce the COO, no, the Commissioner of Smackdown Live. He says that no one is aware of his decision, not even him, he might change his mind.

Match Four: Kevin Owens vs. Cesaro

So I guess, yes, match.

Cesaro steps forward, Owens backs off to the ropes, locks in a side headlock, Cesaro with a gutwrench suplex for two, side headlock, Owens punches his way out, locks in his own side headlock, Cesaro tries to whip his way out, fails, tries again and succeeds, Owens rewards him with a shoulder tackle, Cesaro responds with a hurricanrana, goes to swing Owens, Owens rolls out of the ring, Cesaro hits a cannonball from the apron instead, charges, Owens tosses him into the barricade and follows up with a superkick, breaks the count, rolls back out after Cesaro, rolls him into the ring, running senton for two, stomps, Pop-Up Powerbomb blocked, Cesaro with punches, Owens with a punch, suplex, blocked, reversed, Cesaro goes on to the Uppercut Train, blocked at three, Owens goes for a superkick, blocked, tosses Cesaro to the apron, shoulder tackle, commercial.

Back on air, Owens has Cesaro in a chinlock, Cesaro elbows his way out, Owens with a neckbreaker for two, clothesline in the corner, misses a cannonball, Cesaro with European uppercuts, then in the corner, hits a final one in the middle of the ring for two, punches in the ropes, Owens with a thumb to the eye, Pop-Up blocked, Cesaro with a springboard spinning European uppercut for two, rolls out to the floor, grabs JBL's hat, puts it on, hits a running European uppercut across the barricade, crossbody for two as the hat goes flying off of his head, Cesaro Swing blocked, Owens goes for a Tornado DDT, Cesaro catches him, puts him back up top, goes for a superplex, Owens crotches him, hits an inverted TKO for three.

Winner: Kevin Owens

Owens gets on commentary and says he's not trying to be the best in the world, but he is. Zayn attacks him, tosses him into the announce table, rolls him into the ring, the ref pulls them back, Zayn warns Owens that a Cesaro Swing is in his future, Cesaro obliges.

Backstage, Renee Young asks The Club about their upcoming match against Enzo and Cass. AJ says Cena doesn't care about anyone else, as evidenced by the fact that he's not here tonight. AJ suggests they should finish their match, fly out to LA, and beat up John Cena.

Match Five: Heath Slater vs. Titus O'Neil

During a picture-in-picture, Heath says that Titus let his kids down.

Slater opens with a slap, Titus tosses him to the corner, chop, another chop in the ropes, tosses him across the ring, Slater with an elbow, Titus charges, Slater with a double boot, stomps, stomps in the corner, breaks when the ref tells him to, Axel with a punch, Slater with an elbow to the back of the head, Bo leads them all in a victory lap, Heath goes for a kick, blocked, hits a DDT instead for two, drags Titus to the ideal top rope maneuver position, Titus tosses him across the ring, then back across the ring, pair of shoulder tackles, whip to the corner, Heath with a boot goes off the top, Titus catches him, hits a trio of side breakers, tosses him, avalanche, Clash of the Titus for three.

Winner: Titus O'Neil

Renee Young asks Sasha Banks if she's ready for Dana Brooke tonight. She says it's all she's been thinking about the whole weekend.

They show the footage of the New Day at the Wyatt Family compound. First a little girl in a sheep mask welcomes them, then an army of cars light up, one of them tries to run them down, The Wyatts get out of it, they brawl, Bray Wyatt goes after Xavier Woods with a pickaxe, they brawl near a lake making me think this might somehow actually be the Hardys' North Carolina ranch. Bray drops Woods' limp body as The New Day try to reground and fail, falling victim to an all-out beatdown. Woods tries to rescue Big E with a trash can lid, actually succeeds in beating down Rowan and Strowman before Bray tosses him in the car, starts throwing shit at the car, Woods comes out from the back of the car and attacks him. The New Day regroup and stare down Bray before sirens sound and Rowan and Strowman return, then reveal an army of Wyatt Family members behind them. The New Day retreat as Bray laughs. That was... pretty much the same as the Final Deletion. But at least it wasn't presented as a match, let alone a main event one.

Match Six: Gallows and Anderson vs. Enzo and Cass

Enzo: "My name is Enzo Amore, and I am a certified G and a bona fide stud, and you can't teach that. And this right here? This is Big Cass, and he's seven foot tall, and you can't teach that. Bada boom, realest guys in the room, how you doin'?"

Cass: "Everybody on this roster is gunning for John Cena's spot. I want his spot. Enzo wants his spot. And you want his spot. But the difference is, if we're gonna take his spot, if we're gonna knock him off that mountain he's been on top of for a decade, we're going to earn it. As for you three, you come out here week after week and beat up John Cena. Use the numbers game three on one to take him out."

"You know what it sounds like to me, Cass?"

"What?"

"No backbone!"

"Boneless!"

"Chicken tenders!"

"And after you're done with John Cena, how long is it before it's our turn? You wanna take food off our plates? We're stepping up to take the fight to you."

AJ: "Real cute story. But John Cena isn't here tonight. You know why? Because he don't care about you! So this is my final warning: turn away because my boys? They're going to drop you where you stand."

Enzo: "Walk away? The only place that we are walking is into that ring, right now."

Cass: "And we will prove once again that there's only one word to describe you! And I'm gonna spell it out for you: S-A-W-F-T, SAWFT!"

Match begins during a commercial, back on air, Enzo has Karl in a side headlock, they jockey for position, Karl with a snapmare, hammerlock, twists the arm, Enzo gets to the ropes, backflips his way out, reverses pressure, Karl tosses him to the corner, punches, whip, Enzo rolls through, rollup for two, backslide for two, Dudley Dog snapmare, side headlock, Karl presses him to the corner, Luke in, tosses Enzo around the ring, punches, Karl in, snapmare, side headlock, Cass in, body slam, body slams Enzo on top of Karl, chop in the corner, punch, Enzo in, Cass whips him into Karl, Enzo to the apron, shoulder tackle, float over, rollup, Luke in during the rollup, kick, tosses Enzo into the ring post, commercial.

Back on air, Karl has Enzo in a chinlock, Enzo breaks with a cutter, Karl with a clothesline for two, dropkick, Luke in, avalanche for two, body slam, a second body slam blocked, Enzo with a clothesline to Karl, tag blocked, Luke presses him to the corner, punch, Enzo with a boot, punch to Karl, DDT to Luke, double tag, Cass with a shoulder tackle, avalanche to Luke, shoulder tackle to Karl, body slam, Empire Elbow, fallaway slam, avalanche, big boot, Enzo in, Bada Boom Shacka Lacka, AJ pulls Cass out of the ring, Enzo covers, Luke breaks the count, AJ tosses Cass across the barricade for the DQ.

Winners by DQ: Enzo and Cass

As The Club circle Enzo, John Cena reveals that he actually is here, and the reunited team clear the ring.

Match Seven: Dana Brooke vs. Sasha Banks

Sasha opens with a forearm across the face, rolls Dana to the floor, Dana consults with Charlotte, climbs back up on the apron, Sasha swarms with open-palm strikes, tosses Dana into the corner, snapmare, slap, Dana to the floor, climbs back in, Sasha with a rollup for two, Dana with a knee, twists the arm, Sasha with a chop, springboard arm drag, Dana presses her to the apron, Sasha responds with shoulder tackles, Dana dodges one, grabs her, wrenches her head for a while, kicks her to the floor, commercial.

Back on air, Dana has Sasha in a chinlock, Sasha breaks with a cutter, whip, blocked, Sasha with an elbow, Dana with a side slam for two, toss to the corner, shoulder tackles, forearm, handstand foot choke, Sasha with an elbow, Dana with shoulder tackles, snapmare, standing moonsault for two, chinlock, Sasha escapes with a snapmare, Dana with a poot, Sasha with a boot, another, clothesline, another, dropkick, catches a boot, responds with a shove to the corner, forearm, sets Dana up sideways and hits a double foot stomp for two, whip, reversed, tries to float over, Dana hits her with a kick to the chest, toss to the corner, reversed, Sasha goes up top, Dana with a forearm, superplex, blocked, Sasha shoves Dana to the mat, crossbody for two, Banks Statement blocked, Dana with a clothesline, stands on Sasha for a one-count, TKO blocked, Sasha hits the back stabber, locks in the Banks Statement, drags Dana to the middle of the ring, Dana taps.

Winner: Sasha Banks

Charlotte grabs a mic. "Oh, congratulations, Sasha. I guess because you won one match with that pink-purple hair of yours, you deserve a shot at my Women's Championship. Anyone can get lucky once. This loser, or this loser, or this loser in the corner can buy a lotto ticket for Powerball and strike it rich once. How about you face Dana again on Smackdown, and if you win, then maybe, maybe we can talk about a title match. Are you a worthy challenger, or just someone who got lucky once? Oh, I'm all talk? No thanks, I'm the champ."

Dean Ambrose vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE Championship is official for next week's Raw, the final under the unified roster.

Shane McMahon comes out, followed by Stephanie. They look almost like banter is imminent, then Vince hits the ring.

Vince: "Alright, alright, alright. Firstly, I've got to say, you guys have been doing a pretty fair job. Never thought I'd see you two get along, but competition's been pretty good for Raw. But I have to say, I'm pretty disappointed in both of you. It's like both of you never came from my loins. Stephanie, who's this sweet little girl who comes out and gets along with her brother, and she's aggressive but sort of passive-aggressive. Who the hell are you?"

Stephanie: "Who am I? I'm your daughter. Let's ask these people, a I sweet?"

Vince: "And you, Shane, you lost your match at Wrestlemania, you shouldn't even be here. You're only here because of the respect of these people, from the fall off the cell. But where's that ruthless aggression been? I wanted one of you to stab the other in the back, to slit their throat. That's what I wanted. Now one of you needs to convince me."

Stephanie: "I don't need to list my accolades, but you want the gloves to come off? Fine. I watched Shane McMahon's podcast with Mick Foley. He said he left for years because you didn't pat him on the back enough, that he knows more about WWE than you do, and that the old guard has a hard time letting go. And that's just what he said on the podcast. It's nothing compared to what he says behind your back. He is manipulative, conniving, and plotting. The only villain in the ring is him."

Vince: "Now Shane, convince me."

Stephanie: "And the only reason they cheer him and chant 'boring' at me is because he kisses their ass."

Shane: "I've been back for five months. I returned here in this very arena, Detroit Rock City! And I want to thank every one of you. But let's talk about why I should run Smackdown Live. I represent change. And that change is what I bring to Smackdown Live. I would change the way it's shot, the way it looks, the rules you've set up, the glass ceiling you put in place, because it's choking the life out of this business. And because deep down, you know, and you have to respect, that I am the only person in this business who tells you what's on my mind in a very respectful way, but without kissing your ass. So the power's in your hands tonight, you can implement the change that this business needs. So if you still have the grapefruits, be the change you know this business needs. Don't take my word, take ours. If you want the same old thing that's not working, go with Stephanie McMahon. But if you want the change that we've seen and that we need, go with Shane O-Mac."

Stephanie: "Yeah, go Detroit! Look at this manipulation."

Vince: "Look, quite honestly I don't give a damn what these people think. But one of you has to run Smackdown Live. Let me think this through, let's have a drumroll. The new commissioner of Smackdown Live... Shane McMahon!"

Shane: "Thank you! Woo!"

Vince: "Engh, hang on a second, I need to curtail this situation, hang on a second. It is my responsibility to inform you that I am relieving you of your duties on Monday Night Raw. Therefore, the commissioner of the juggernaut of the WWE, Stephanie McMahon!"

Stephanie celebrates.

Vince: "Hold on, I'm not finished. I want the two of you to compete. And I mean for real. I want you to compete in terms of television ratings, I mean social media metrics, live attendance records, merchandise, whatever. Because one of you might just inherit the keys to the kingdom. I want you to compete so hard I don't care if you break the law. As long as you don't get caught. One of you is going to inherit the keys to the kingdom. But both of you need someone to run your day-to-day operations, you need a General Manager, so you will both name one next week on Raw, and if you don't, I will name one for you. I always get what I want, so let the games begin!"

Vince leaves.

Stephanie: "All my life, I've had to work twice as hard for half the recognition. You've made me feel like nothing. I'm going to turn the tables on you when I bury you, I bury Smackdown, and I make you wish you'd never been born a McMahon. In fact, I'm going to make you wish you'd never been born."

Shane: "You said that with a lot of conviction, a lot of venom. And usually when that venom comes out, you're hiding something. You're not angry, you're scared. You've seen this movie. You've lived it your whole life. And you know that, at the end of this, it's you looking up to me. Just like you always have. So game on."

"There's only one game in this business, and I'm married to him."

Stephanie slaps Shane, starts to leave the ring, begs him to hit her back, then leaves, blowing a kiss to the ring with contempt.

Shane: "Once again, thank you all, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you."

Raw goes off the air this way.