He did it! He went old-school! Zack Ryder has been promising a return to his rootson “The JBL & Cole Show,” but it was Fandango who got fist-pumped in the face when The Ultimate Broski rode the good vibes of Layla & Summer Rae to knock off the two-faced two-stepper. Initially, the continued dissention of the “Slayers” (their name) spurred Fandango into a strong opening against The Ultimate Broski, though Zack stayed in the game and was quick enough to pounce with the Rough Ryder.
Even though ‘Dango reached the ropes with his foot, Layla secured the win for Long Island Iced-Z by shoving his foot off the cable, enabling the ref to count to three and handing Ryder a big Raw win, plus some serious kisses from Summer & Layla. What can we say? Chicks dig the bro-tee.
Looks like you can take the “fr” out of “frenemies”: Paige is done playing nice with AJ Lee, turning her talons on the Divas Champion moments after their second unlikely victory as a tag team. Their own lingering issues didn’t present a challenge so much as the unity of their opposition: the random but effective combination of Natalya & Emma. Paige took the bulk of the offense from the two submission experts, tagging in AJ only after she’d suffered the Dil-Emma and Sharpshooter in quick measure.
AJ pounced quickly, kneeing Natalya with the Shining Wizardwhile she still had Paige locked up, then following up with the Black Widow to tap The Queen of Harts out. The celebration was short-lived, though: Paige kept up the friendly fa�ade for all of two minutes before she threw AJ to the ground and hauled her over the announce table.
Stealing the show? Check. And Dolph Ziggler stole the new Intercontinental Champion’s thunder to boot as well, knocking off The Miz in some well-deserved retribution after the underhanded Battle Royal elimination of The Showoff that returned the vaunted title to Miz’s clutches. The Awesome One seemed content, at first, to bask in his own glory in the non-title contest, taunting Dolph from afar and scurrying away when The Showoff’s offense veered too closer to the “Moneymaker.”
Watch Dolph and Miz go toe-to-toe
Miz did dive into the deep end eventually and had Dolph on the defensive for much of the match, fish-hooking The Showoff’s own face with his fingers in an ironic bit of mockery. The former World Heavyweight Champion blasted his way into the match through sheer force of will, escaping the Figure-Four Leglock and gambling a frozen-rope superkick on a gimpy leg. Miz dodged the move, but Dolph’s quick-strike follow-up of a Zig Zag proved too much for the champ to bear.
Salvation was nowhere to be foundfor Chris Jericho, who was ambushed by The Wyatt Familyon the WWE App one night after knocking off the Family patriarch, Bray Wyatt, in a one-on-one clash at WWE Battleground. With Y2J disposed of, The Eater of Worlds turned “The Highlight Reel” into his hellish pulpit and preached his own baptism by fire, vowing that his holy war with Jericho has just begun.
The legend grows. Not only did Bo Dallas notch his 16th uninterrupted victory by knocking off Damien Sandow on Raw, but the Miami faithful was likely glad to see it happen after The Enlightened One competed in the guise of recently departed local hero LeBron James. Alas, the only place Sandow took his talents was the middle of the ring, despite a ferocious offense that left his inspirational opponent seeing … well, stars. Like all true winners, though, Bo only needed one moment to seize his opening — in this case, it was when Sandow took too longto drop the Elbow of Disdain. Bo simply evaded the signature strike and pounced with the running Bo-dog to hit 16-Bo.
Having bought a ticket to Raw, Brie Bella was there to support her sister Nikki in person and spirit. But without her twin in the ring beside her, the magic was in short supply for the Fearless Diva when Stephanie McMahon organized a four-on-one gang-upof the former Divas Champion. Brie, however, couldn’t help herself, and jaw-jacked her way into a physical confrontationwith Stephanie that saw her slapped and banned from ringside all before the match even started. Things only went downhill for Nikki when it did start; Stephanie’s fearsome foursome feasted upon the hapless Nikki, with Alicia herself doing the honors by executing a scissor kick to the Bella’s back.
The old saying about houses divided against themselves proved truer than ever on Raw: Not only can they not stand, but they’re likely to blow over with a light gust of wind, to say nothing of a Superman Punch. Roman Reigns, having ran his mouth in Raw’s opening moments, packed the wallop necessary to back it up when he knocked off the fragile alliance of Randy Orton & Kane in Raw’s opening match.
Watch:Authority divides, Reigns conquers|Photos of Raw's wild opening bout
Despite a shaky, albeit steady, united front early in the match, “best for business” proved to be a tenuous glue between The Viper and the former Director of Operations: Further squabbles between the team caused Kane to target Orton when The Viper refused to tag in and Reigns capitalized. The Big Dog blasted the demon with the 1-2 combo of the Superman Punch and Spear for the win, and for all his own talk, Randy Orton wanted no part of the former WWE Tag Team Champion when all was said and done.
MIAMI — What to do when Plan A fails and Plan B has stumbled out of the gate? If you’re Triple H, you take matters into your own hands. The Game, who was left kicking dirt after John Cena retained the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WWE Battleground and Seth Rollins was pummeled into retreat by Dean Ambrose, took it upon himself to take control of the crown jewel’s fate, promising to name Cena’s SummerSlam challenger by night’s end.
His hesitance to name either of his lieutenants — Randy Orton or Kane — as The Champ’s foe led to yet another bout of infighting among the corporate cabal that was soon joined in physical fashion by Roman Reigns. The Game devised a plan: a Handicap Match that would either feed the former Hound to his dogs, or see him rise above them.
