Byron Saxton welcomes us to Monday Night Raw alongside John Layfield and Booker T. Big Show is ringside with the Andre the Giant memorial trophy, and they pan over to The Authority standing in the ring.
Seth Rollins tries to talk but is drowned out by boos. He announces that Triple H and Stephanie are not here tonight because they're on vacation. He runs down all their accomplishments at WrestleMania, but can't think of anything Kane did at the show. Big Show calls himself the greatest giant in wrestling history now that he's finally out of the shadow of Andre (he says, next to a trophy of Andre). Again they can't think of anything to say about Kane. Finally they give Kane the mic, and he's cut off by Randy Orton.
Orton talks about beating Rollins at WrestleMania and says he deserves the chance to do it again, but this time for the world title. He trashes the Authority but Kane cuts him off and announces a triple threat match for tonight's main event between Orton, Roman Reigns and Ryback, with the winner getting the Extreme Rules title opportunity. Plus all three guys will be in singles action tonight.
RANDY ORTON vs. KANE
We come back to commercial with Orton throwing right hands, but Kane hits him with the big boot for two. He squashes him in the corner and delivers a sidewalk slam then set in with Orton-like stomps all around the ring. Randy fires back with a snap sideslam and hits the Hangman's DDT from the second rope. He lines up for the RKO but Kane bails from the ring and hits him with a chair for the DQ.
Winner: Randy Orton
Kane looks to chokeslam him into the chair, Orton counters and looks for the RKO into the chair, but Kane escapes the ring and they have a staredown. Big Show vs. Roman Reigns plus Ryback vs. Luke Harper are the other matches announced for tonight.
Byron announces the retirement of AJ Lee. They call her one of the greatest Divas Champions of all time.
Kane is backstage with Brad Maddox for some reason, who is sweet talking him for “showing leadership” tonight. Seth Rollins shows up and starts screaming about Kane being out of line for booking him in title matches. Kane says it's his job as Director of Operations to make quality matches, no matter how scared the champion is of Randy Orton. Rollins says maybe it's about time for somebody to step down… He walks off but then comes back and gets in his face, so Kane books a match for the champion up next.
Seth Rollins is in the ring with J&J Security talking about how he should never be put in this position as the champion. He calls out his opponent, and NEVILLE answers the call! Rollins makes fun of him for being a rookie and gets kicked in the face for his trouble.
SETH ROLLINS vs. NEVILLE
Neville in control right away with kicks. Rollins attacks him from behind and fires away with right hands in the corner, but Neville does a double backflip and takes him to the floor with a tilt-the-whirl headscissors. He flies over the top rope to take down the champion and slides back into the ring before J&J can get their hands on him.
Rollins is back in control after commercials. Normal heel stuff during the break. He puts on a rest hold, Neville fights back, Rollins beats him down and goes back to the rest hold. Repeat. Rollins feints on an Irish whip and throws a knee to the gut instead. He does the spot a second time, but on the third Neville rolls him up for two. They do a counter exchange and the champ turns him inside-out with a lariat. Neville counters a turnbuckle powerbomb and tries for the Red Arrow, but J&J cause a distraction. Rollins catches him out of the air and hits the buckle-bomb followed by a Curb Stomp for the 1-2-3.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Rollins hits the Curb Stomp a second time after the bell and beats down Neville while J&J block the referee from getting involved.
The announce team praises Furious 7 with The Rock for its crazy successful opening weekend.
John Cena comes out to the usual mixed reaction. He talks about the “John Cena U.S. Open” and how he's proud to defend the title each and every week and to represent America. He tells the guys in the locker room to step up or get stepped on if they want a title shot.
United States Championship Match
JOHN CENA vs. STARDUST
Crowd sets in with dueling Cena chants right away. The champ controls the pace of the match from the start. Stardust tries to skin the cat over the top rope but Cena catches him and slams him. He hits a few shoulder blocks and a big stalling vertical suplex before going into the rest hold. Stardust fights back and escapes from the ring as they cut to commercial.
Cena is back in a rest hold after the break. So weird — that's always a heel spot. Cena has worked the entire match in the traditional heel role, building spots for a Stardust comeback. Stardust with the Alabama Slam out of nowhere for two. Cena runs into a kick and a snap DDT for a nearfall. Stardust off the top rope with a standing moonsault for another two. The champ tries for the STF but Dust breaks out and hits the Cross Rhodes for yet another nearfall. Cena hits a springboard stunner from the second rope out of nowhere and connects with the AA to retain.
Winner: John Cena
That turned into a good match, but I couldn't get over how strange it was to watch Cena in the heel role for no obvious reason. They kept building for Stardust comebacks (which is a babyface spot). Really strange.
PAIGE & NAOMI vs. THE BELLA TWINS
The twins work over Paige for several minutes, building towards a Naomi hot tag. She eventually throws Nikki into the bottom turnbuckle and makes the tag. Naomi hits a headscissors takedown on the Divas champ and knocks Brie from the apron. She ends up tripping coming off the top rope, but recovers with the Rear View. Brie breaks it up but moves out of the way and lets her sister eat a superkick. Naomi hits a headscissors DDT for the 1-2-3 on the champ.
Winners: Paige & Naomi
The Prime Time Players cut a backstage promo. They make fun of the New Day using a bunch of (what I'm a**uming are) backstage ribs. They leave the scene and come back with football pads with traffic cones tapped to them, and make fun of “The Detention”, a play on the Ascension. Titus says everyone knows they can't read, and throws the pads off and says the Ascension absolutely s**s. They do the “millions of dollars” spot.
RYBACK vs. LUKE HARPER
Their air footage of Harper putting Ambrose through the announce table on Smackdown, which I'm sure will come into play at some point here. Ryback comes out strong but tries for the Meathook Clothesline and runs into a superkick. From there it's 100% Harper in control. Ryback comes back briefly after several rest holds but runs into the Black Hole Slam. He ends up fighting back yet again and connecting with Shellshock for the abrupt win.
Winner: Ryback
THE NEW DAY vs. THE LUCHA DRAGONS
Cesaro and Tyson Kidd are watching backstage (at an angle, of course). It's Xavier Woods and Big E in the ring tonight. New Day plays the heels here, working over Sin Cara for several minutes. Kalisto makes the hot tag and knocks everyone off the apron, then hits Woods with a crazy headscissors takedown. Kofi Kingston takes a cheap shot from the outside, so Kalisto did a springboard to the outside to take them out. Sin Cara with the swanton bomb for the win.
Winners: The Lucha Dragons
We're going from one match right to the next.
ROMAN REIGNS vs. BIG SHOW
It's an all-out brawl to kick things off, with Big Show manhandling Reigns, and Reigns coming back asking for more. It's a Big Show beatdown for several minutes, with all his usual giant spots. Reigns comes back briefly with right hands but gets thrown to the floor. They brawl around ringside crashing into barricades; both men down as they cut to commercial.
Big Show is on the second rope as we come back, and he actually hits the Swagger Bomb. He continues control for several more minutes until Reigns gets in the ropes and hits his running dropkick spot. He charges up for the Superman Punch, connects with it, then spears Show for the 1-2-3. That finish was more Cena-tastic than Cena's match.
Winner: Roman Reigns
Kane is backstage on the phone, trying to tell Triple H and Stephanie McMahon how he's got everything under control. Natalya, Summer Rae, Cameron and Alicia Fox show up and flirt with Kane. They ask for him to “give Divas a chance” and book a battle royal to crown a new #1 contender, and he obliges and books the match for next week.
Sheamus comes out and talks about what he's done since returning just last week. He says there aren't many people “his own size” to pick on, and out comes Mark Henry.
SHEAMUS vs. MARK HENRY
This is basically a shortened version of the Reigns/Big Show match. Henry dominates early and bullies Sheamus around the ring. He hits most of his usual spots. Sheamus escapes then comes back, hits the Brogue Kick and wins.
Winner: Sheamus
Bray Wyatt does one of his usual creepy promos. He calls somebody out, saying their life “revolved around dedication” but that they cannot compete with fear.
Ryback cut a promo about Texas. Feed me more.
Randy Orton def. Ryback and Roman Reigns to become the #1 contender to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. The Authority came out and got involved in the match. Good action later into the match with everyone pulling out their signatures. Reigns hits the spear on Ryback. The Authority comes down and Reigns leaps over the ropes to take them out. Big Show hits him with the KO Punch. Ryback goes after them and Orton drops him with the RKO to take advantage for the 1-2-3.
The Authority goes on the attack immediately. Rollins drops him with the Curb Stomp to end the show.