Vince & Stephanie McMahon, Roman Reigns Kick Off RAW
[Q1] A video recapped the Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus main event from last week that had Vince McMahon as special referee. It included Vince’s announcement that Roman Reigns would have to defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against 29 men in the Royal Rumble match… Michael Cole, JBL, and Byron Saxton were on commentary and noted that Raw debuted 23 years ago with Undertaker in the main event…
A large number of wrestlers stood on the stage. Vince McMahon and Stephanie McMahon made their entrances and headed to the ring. Vince told viewers to take a look at the next WWE World Heavyweight Champion. He explained that one of the men on the stage will make history. Stephanie said it all starts with throwing Roman Reigns over the top rope.
Vince and Stephanie teased that the winner could be Dolph Ziggler or Kevin Owens or New Day. They played around with New Day and said “that ain’t booty.” The Wyatt Family video flashed and when the lights came on, they were standing at ringside. Bray Wyatt stood on the broadcast table and recalled saying anyone but Roman Reigns. Vince agreed and said it could be anyone, including Brock Lesnar.
Roman Reigns’ music played and he made his entrance through the crowd and joined Vince and Stephanie in the ring. Vince acted intimidated by the thought of Reigns attacking him again. Reigns said he wasn’t going to attack him. However, he had a question. “What if I win?” Stephanie laughed, and JBL cracked on commentary at one point that Reigns’ odds were worse than the Powerball.
Stephanie said Reigns could even have to face Dean Ambrose. Vince booked Ambrose in the first match. Sheamus took a shot to the back of Ambrose’s head and knocked him down. Sheamus stepped over Ambrose and headed to the ring, then Vince announced that it would be Sheamus vs. Ambrose after the break… [C]
[Q2] [C] 1. Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Sheamus in a non-title match. The match was joined in progress. Ambrose sold early and then recovered enough to perform a suicide dive heading into the break. [C]
[Q3] Ambrose went for another suicide dive, but Sheamus caught him with a bunch through the ropes and then threw him into the barricade and ring steps. Sheamus picked up Ambrose to run him into the post, but Ambrose slipped off and shoved Sheamus’s head into the post. The referee counted them out.
Dean Ambrose fought Sheamus to a double count-out in 14:00 of television time.
After The Match:
After the match, Ambrose was roughing up Sheamus when Kevin Owens attacked him from behind. Owens threw punches at Ambrose and was setting him up for a powerbomb on the table, but the several referees intervened. Owens released Ambrose, but then ran back and kicked him while he was down…
The announcers stood at ringside and hyped the Royal Rumble and WWE Network. They also hyped The Highlight Reel with Chris Jericho interviewing New Day. They also hyped Roman Reigns in a One vs. All match that the McMahon Family set up earlier…
Backstage: Dean Ambrose, Vince & Stephanie Talk To Paul Heyman
Backstage, Dean Ambrose told Renee Young that he was still breathing and that’s bad news for Kevin Owens…
Vince McMahon and Stephanie McMahon spoke with Paul Heyman spoke backstage. Stephanie assumed Brock would want to be in the Royal Rumble because the title will be at stake. Heyman said his client is a prize fighter who wants to fight for the biggest prize of them all on the biggest stage of them all.
“Don’t be trying to change my plans again,” Vince said. Funny. Heyman told Vince that he’s trying to give him what he wants and sang the praises of the WWE Champion defending the title against Lesnar at WrestleMania. “I don’t like it,” Vince said. Heyman was surprised. Stephanie interjected and said they should take the conversation behind closed doors because “there are all kinds of people in this hallway. They all entered the McMahon office together…
[Q4] 2. Stardust vs. Titus O’Neil. Stardust made his entrance for a match… [C] New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees was shown standing in the crowd at ringside…
Cole got excited when Titus smiled to the crowd and told viewers that Titus “loves to have fun!” JBL and Saxton humored themselves by dropping references to the late David Bowie. Titus won clean with his finisher. However, Stardust attacked him from behind and ran him into the barricade several times…
Titus O’Neil beat Stardust in 3:25.
