Cena & Reigns Argue, Ambrose Gets Beat Down
The WWE Battleground “go-home” edition of RAW opens with a shot inside the arena in Richmond, Virginia. Michael Cole welcomes us to the show and John Cena’s music immediately hits. Justin Roberts introduces the WWE World Heavyweight Champion and Cena makes his way to the ring to a loud reaction.
A six-man tag-team match is announced for tonight’s main event, with Cena, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose taking on the trio of Seth Rollins, Randy Orton and Kane. Cena talks about the free preview of the WWE Network and encourages people to sign up. Cena says in six days at Battleground “the champ may not be here.” He talks about The Authority putting him in a fatal four-way match with Kane, Orton and Reigns.
Before he can continue, Roman Reigns’ theme song plays and he makes his way to the ring through the crowd.
Reigns milks the cheers a bit and then Cena begins by introducing everyone to Roman Reigns. He says Reigns is his partner tonight and his opponent this Sunday. He thanks him for helping him last week on RAW. As Cena keeps talking, Reigns interupts him and tells him to get to the point. Cena says they need to first make it to Battleground and then at the PPV when it’s just he and Reigns, we’ll find out if Reigns is “as good as he thinks he is.” Reigns says pretty much the same back to Cena.
As they both continue to talk, they are interupted by Dean Ambrose on the titan tron. Ambrose talks about tonight’s main event. He says those two need to quit arguing and get ready to kick their opponents asses tonight. Out of nowhere, Kane, Orton and Rollins all attack Ambrose and leave him laying. They smash him into a garage door repeatedly and beat him down some more. Ambrose wimpers out “is that all you’ve guys got?” Rollins then jumps off a box and Curb Stomps him face-first into another box, knocking him out. We head to commercial.
When we return from commercial, we see highlights of the Ambrose beatdown. The announcers inform us that he has been taken to a nearby hospital and may not be in tonight’s main event.
Sheamus vs. The Miz
Sheamus’ theme song hits and the WWE U.S. Champion makes his way to the ring. We see a pre-taped interview with Sheamus talking about his opponent for tonight, The Miz. After that, The Miz comes out with somewhat of a new entrance.
Miz gets on the mic at the top of the stage and talks about being part of this Sunday’s Battleground I-C Title Battle Royal. He promises to become the new Intercontinental Champion and then talks about how he’s a movie star. He calls his face “the money maker” and tells everyone that a picture of his face will be on the titan tron throughout the duration of this match.
Miz enters the ring, the bell suonds and off we go. The announcers talk about how Sheamus is looking to win the I-C title this Sunday and unify it with his U.S. title, noting that only Edge has ever accomplished that before over ten years ago. Meanwhile, Sheamus establishes the early control in the match.
The action spills out to the floor when Miz takes control of the offense. Back in the ring, Sheamus immediately regains control. We head to a mid-match commercial with Sheamus beating down The Miz.
When we return from commercial, Sheamus is beating up The Miz outside of the ring. Miz slams Sheamus’ face into the ring-post and then shoulder-first into it. Back in the ring, Miz continues to deliver punishment to the U.S. champ.
We get a shot of each Superstar in the battle royal this Sunday, completely ignoring the action in the ring for several seconds as each battle royal participant is shown one-by-one in a graphic that covers the entire screen. The announcers continue to ignore the match to hype the battle royal on Sunday, all-the-while Sheamus is making his comeback.
Sheamus drapes Miz across the top-rope backwards and hammers him with 15 straight forearm shots to the chest. Sheamus knocks Miz off the top rope and then hits him with a snap-DDT for a near fall. We see a shot of Miz’s face on the titan tron as he goes for the leg lock on Sheamus. Sheamus avoids it and is starting to take back control of the offense in the match. The finish comes out of the blue as Miz rolls up Sheamus from behind for a shocking 1-2-3.
Winner: The Miz
Backstage: Kane, Orton & Rollins, HHH & Stephanie
Backstage, we see Kane, Randy Orton and Seth Rollins laughing about what they did to Dean Ambrose earlier tonight. Then they all argue about who’s going to win at Battleground this Sunday. Kane and Orton talk about whether or not they can trust each other in the fatal four-way match. Triple H walks in and says what’s important is that the WWE World Heavyweight Championship comes back to The Authority this Sunday. He says in order to do that they need to get past tonight. In walks Stephanie McMahon. Stephanie is turned on by HHH being powerful and they have an intense makeout session.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Fandango
Dolph Ziggler’s theme music hits and he makes his way to the ring. We head to a commercial as Ziggler will be up next in action.
When we return from commercial, Fandango is in the ring dancing. The announcers mention that both Ziggler and Fandango will be in the battle royal this Sunday. The bell rings and here we go.
Fandango takes the early lead in the match, however the crowd is one-hundred percent behind Ziggler. Fandango beats up Ziggler for a minute or so and then out of nowhere, Fandango’s music starts playing again. We see Summer Rae and Layla dancing on the announcers table. This distracts Fandango, allowing Ziggler to hit him with the FameAsser and score the 1-2-3.
Winner: Dolph Ziggler
After The Match: Summer & Layla Dance Up On Ziggler
After the match, Summer and Layla enter the ring and dance up on Ziggler in front of Fandango while Fandango’s music plays. We head to another commercial break.