WWE United States Championship
(20-Man Battle Royal)
The post-Extreme Rules edition of WWE RAW kicks off with The Shield’s theme music hitting. All three members of the group come through the crowd to get to the ring, with Dean Ambrose — the man who is defending his WWE U.S. title in a 20-man battle royal — leading the pack. Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns remain on the outside of the ring. Justin Roberts does the introduction and then the RAW theme music hits as his 19 opponents all come to the ring at the same time.
The bell rings and all of the guys immediately start brawling. Zack Ryder is the first to get eliminated. Out next is R-Truth. Big Show eliminates Titus O’Neil. Xavier Woods was eliminated, but the announcers never acknowledged it. Big Show just press-slammed Sin Cara out of the ring, eliminating him. Damien Sandow is eliminated as we head to a mid-match commercial.
When we return from commercial, the action is still in full effect inside the ring. Everyone teams up to try and eliminate Big Show and Mark Henry but the break free and lay everyone out. The two stare each other down and then the two big boys collide. Big Show ends up chokeslamming him. We’re told that Heath Slater was eliminated during the break. Everyone teams up and eliminates Big Show and then Mark Henry.
Kofi Kingston does a cool one-handed handstand on the apron outside the ropes to avoid elimination, but then Ambrose eliminates him anyways. Goldust is knocked off the top rope and out to the floor, so he is eliminated. Cody Rhodes is eliminated seconds later. Santino Marella pulls out the Cobra and nails Dolph Ziggler with it to eliminate him. Ryback and Curtis Axel team up and eliminate Santino. The Albany fans begin loud “Goldberg” chants directed towards Ryback.
The only guys left are Dean Ambrose, Ryback, Curtis Axel, Jack Swagger and Sheamus. Ryback and Axel try and eliminate Ambrose. Some scattered “CM Punk” chants break out. Axel is eliminated. Ambrose eliminates Ryback. We’re down to the final three, which are Ambrose, Sheamus and Swagger. Ambrose eliminates Swagger and then turns around right into a Brogue Kick from Sheamus. Sheamus picks Ambrose up and simply throws him over the top. Sheamus wins.
Winner and NEW WWE United States Champion: Sheamus
Triple H Announces Tonight’s Main Event
After the match, Ambrose is pissed and Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins are standing by him. Triple H’s “King of Kings” music hits and he makes his way out to the top of the stage. He says The Shield and Evolution had a great battle last night. He informs The Shield that they’ll be competing in a six-man tag-team match later tonight against The Wyatt Family and then tells them that they’re luck is about to run out. After this segment, we head to another commercial break.
Renee Young Interviews Sheamus
When we return from commercial, Renee Young is backstage with Sheamus. She asks him how it feels to have just won the U.S. Championship. He talks about how he hasn’t had much luck since returning, but now he’s set to go on a roll. He tells Dean Ambrose, “no hard feelings, fella” and leaves.
Backstage: Daniel Bryan, Brie Bella & Stephanie McMahon
Backstage we see Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella chatting. Stephanie McMahon enters the room. She says all she did was anger Kane last night. She says the only way she can guarantee Bryan’s safety tonight is to stay in his locker room until his match later tonight. She leaves. After she leaves, Brie says, “look.” The camera pans over and we see Kane’s mask hanging on their dressing room door.
Rob Van Dam vs. Cesaro
Back in the arena, Rob Van Dam’s music hits. RVD makes his way to the ring as the announcers inform us he’ll be competing next against “The King of Swing” Cesaro. We head to a commercial break.
When we return from commercial, Paul Heyman comes out to no music. He reminds us that his client Brock Lesnar broke The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at WrestleMania. He then introduces Cesaro. Cesaro and Heyman make their way to the ring.
Van Dam starts things off by taking the offensive lead. He hits all of his typical moves as the crowd gets fired up. The fans chant “Ce-Sar-O” to try and rally behind him. The fans chant “Walrus” at Heyman on the outside. Cesaro starts making a comeback as we head to a mid-match commercial.
When we return from commercial, Cesaro has Van Dam in a headlock as the fans chant “RVD” to try and rally behind Van Dam. RVD gets out and starts fighting back with an assortment of kicks. Cesaro ends up cutting RVD’s comeback short and is back in control of the offense.
Cesaro does his power-up gut-wrench suplex on Van Dam, holds on and rolls through, and then does it two more times. Van Dam ends up getting his leg tied up in the ropes and is now hanging upside down. Cesaro kicks the crap out of Van Dam, then goes outside the ring and punches away at him. He refuses to stop despite demands to do so from the referee, so the ref calls for the bell. Cesaro is disqualified.
Winner via DQ: Rob Van Dam
