I don't know what happened, but RAW was... good this week. After the product being substandard for the past several weeks, it was about time we had a breath of fresh air from WWE, and with NXT Takeover right round the corner, they knew exactly what to do, but we'll get to that in a bit.
We kicked off tonight with the rubber match between Chris Jericho and Bray Wyatt inside a steel cage. In the grand scheme of things they had to book matches like this to try and regain ratings, but I felt this could easily have been one of the main events at Night of Champions. With absolute ease, this was the best of their three matches and done the job of putting Wyatt over well. Jericho jumped on Wyatt from atop the cage in the middle of the match, tweeking his knee in the process, which would ultimately be his downfall, as he was unable to capitalize and escape the cage, allowing Wyatt to scramble over him, out the door and down to the floor. It wasn't finished there though as Wyatt continued the assault on Jericho's knee, slamming it in the cage door before taking him back in the ring and delivering Sister Abigail, seemingly closing this chapter in Wyatt's story. Hopefully now he moves on to bigger and better things.
Dolph Ziggler came out next to reveal that a few unsavory photos of The Miz had come into his possession. Miz and Damien Sandow came down to put a stop to Ziggler showing the photos, and Sandow felt a Zig-Zag for his troubles. Still holding out for Bad News Barrett to return soon, and together, he and Ziggler can bring a heapload of credibility back to the Intercontinental Championship. Maybe that'll be at Night of Champions...
The next match of the night saw Divas Champion Paige and AJ Lee team up to take on Natalya and Rosa Mendez, a partnership those Total Divas viewers amongst us saw form on Sunday night. Seemingly trying to prove herself, Rosa refused to tag in Nattie when she had the chance, after being dominated by Paige from the get go. AJ grew tired and tagged herself in, immediately locking in the Black Widow and forcing the submission out of Rosa. After the match, AJ and Paige took turns kissing the Divas title. Love seeing these two trying to out-crazy each other, but AJ's ability to play along seems to be wearing thin, and it's likely she's going to snap soon... not that that's a bad thing!
Randy Orton attacked Chris Jericho while he was being treated in the trainer's room, it seems as though this would have been Y2J's last WWE appearance for a while if he's being written off with a knee injury.
Then it was time for Paul Heyman to come out and amaze us with those words of his. He has a message to deliver to John Cena, and he's going to say it as if he's standing right in front of him. Of course, that opened the door for Cena to come out and allow him to deliver said message. Undeterred, Heyman tells Cena that how he can beat Brock Lesnar at Night of Champions... all he has to do is release the anger. All the hatred he has for those in the crowds who shout "Cena sucks", he needs to tell them all how he feels and channel that rage, and only then can he win back the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Cena looks for a split second as though he might, but ultimately, that was never an option, as he flew into an emotionally charged promo about staying true to himself. That doesn't win titles though, Johnboy!
Mr. Money in the Bank Seth Rollins looked to keep his momentum going by taking on the United States Champion, Sheamus. A good, competitive match, which saw Sheamus go close on a couple of occasions, namely after the Irish Curse Backbreaker led to Rollins barely answering the count. Yet again though, it would be a distraction that allowed Rollins to pick up the win, as the number 1 contender to the US Title, Cesaro, took the title and walked around ringside with it. Rollins used this to send Sheamus head first into the ring post, and hitting the Curb Stomp to seal the win. Afterwards, Cesaro hit Sheamus with the Neutralizer, and posed with the title.
Lana sang a horrendous rendition of the American national anthem, then played the Russian anthem while JBL watched on looking raging. Rusev vs Mark Henry at Night of Champions by the way, and they're having an arm wrestling match this Friday on Smackdown... cool.
Then that big breath of fresh air swept through the arena, as the four competitors in the fatal 4-way match for the NXT Championship at Takeover came out for some tag team action. NXT champ Adrian Neville would team up with Sami Zayn to take on Tyler Breeze and Tyson Kidd. Convinced they had this on RAW for two reasons. 1 - the obvious reason, to promote the network and convince folk to buy it to watch Takeover... and 2 - to test Adrian Neville's reactions in front of a RAW audience, because he's dropping the belt and moving on up in the coming weeks. I say that because he was impressive here. It was a Neville showcase as we got all the favorites. Gravity defying handsprings, rapid kicks to the gut, and finally the Red Arrow to pick up the win for him and Zayn. Not that the others didn't give a good account of themselves, but you get the feeling this was to try and get Neville over in front of the larger audiences in preparation for his promotion. Fans seemed into him and Zayn, and that's always a good thing. Zayn and Neville are besties, but Sami makes it clear that he's taking that title on Thursday.
The Jerry Springer segment was up next. Even JBL hated it. You could see it in his face. It of course ended in the Bellas scrapping and Jerry seemingly legit hurt his ankle in the stramash. Moving on!
The bizarre brothers Goldust and Stardust took on Los Matadores next. It didn't last long as Stardust connected with Dark Matter within a couple of minutes to seal the win. As they made their way up the ramp however, The Usos decided it was time for some payback, and jumped the Dusts from behind, crutches and all. Jey Uso, injured and all, looks raring to defend the Tag Team Championships against the "Cosmic Twins" come Night of Champions.
The latest jobbin' duo suffered another embarrassing week as Titus O'Neill fell at the hands of Adam Rose. The match ended when Rose's bunny caused a distraction, leading to Heath Slater attempting to neutralize it. Long story short - Heath got superkicked off a guy in a rabbit costume. Off that distraction, Rose hit the Party Foul to pick up the win, Afterwards, the bunny splashed Titus from the top rope. On to the main event...
This week's show ended in a really decent battle between Roman Reigns and Randy Orton. You get the feeling that Roman is beginning to slowly develop into a proper singles competitor, and this match here was the proof. Good back and forths, and as usual the methodical stuff from Randy. Near the end of the match, it felt as though the win depended on everything for both guys, as Orton was pinning Roman after every move. Randy hit two powerslams from mid-air and the DDT, but couldn't get the job done. Reigns rallied and managed a Superman punch, but then it was time to end it. Orton called for Kane and Rollins, and out the come, accompanied by ring crew, who begin to assemble the steel cage from earlier. Roman holds Kane and Rollins at bay, ultimately leading to it just being him and Orton trapped inside. One Spear later, and it looked as though it was game over for Randy. But off Kane's distarction, Rollins scaled to the top of the cage and dived onto Reigns, making him the second guy to jump almost 25 feet to the ring in one show. Reigns had no chance then, as Kane delivered a chokeslam, and Orton pummeled him with a chair, before Rollins hit the Curb Stomp onto the chair, ending the show.
As I aid, this was the best RAW in a long time, and it kept a really good pace throughout. In hindsight, opening the show with an absolute belter of a cage match was a stroke of genius, as it set the tone for what was a really decent episode. Good to see the NXT lads dip their toes in the big show's water, and a fantastic ending to the night. Hopefully they can keep this up in the coming weeks leading up to Night of Champions!