ARN - Battleground 2015 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Battleground 2015

Battleground 2015 took place on July 19, 2015 at the Scottrade Center, in St. Louis, Missouri. It got 76,000 buys (excluding WWE Network), which was down from the previous year's 99,000 buys & it drew 11,000 fans

We're coming off of Money in the Bank, where Seth Rollins beat Dean Ambrose in a ladder match to retain the WWE Title, as well as Sheamus winning the Smackdown Money in the Bank ladder match to earn a World Title match anytime in the next year that he wanted it

At Battleground, Seth Rollins would move on from Dean Ambrose to defend the WWE Title against former champion, Brock Lesnar. Lesnar was the champion at WrestleMania, defending against Roman Reigns when then Money in the Bank contract carrier, Seth Rollins ran to the ring and cashed in his contract, turning it into a triple threat match. Rollins later pinned Reigns to win the title and then-champion Lesnar lost the title, without even being pinned or made to submit. Which set up an angle between Lesnar and Rollins for the title

Let's get to some company news heading into Battleground

During this time, Tough Enough was brought back to the USA Network and they pulled out the big guns to make it successful, having Steve Austin host the show. Also, Hulk Hogan, Daniel Bryan and Paige, were the judges, all have the right to save one person during the season. 

Meltzer wrote - The first episode of Tough Enough on 6/23 did 1.21 million viewers on USA. The network's prime time average for the prior week was 1.50 million viewers, which put USA in fifth place for the week.

For a wrestling show to be a success, particularly on USA, is has to beat the station's prime time average. For a comparison, the first week of the 2011 Steve Austin season of Tough Enough did 3.33 million viewers, but that was misleading because it was at 8 p.m. on the day after WrestleMania. But the second week's show did 2.79 million viewers. And that show wasn't renewed. Four years later, because the USA Network numbers have dropped to well below what Tough Enough had been doing, they came back for this current season.

Obviously the first week numbers were a huge disappointment, because the day after they came out, USA and WWE agreed to air a two-hour edited version of Raw from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday at least for this week with the hopes a Raw rebroadcast would give the second week a strong lead-in. This was a one-time deal, and ended up screwing up people with DirecTV because if you had a season pass to DVR the show, for whatever reason, you would get the edited Tuesday show and not the live Monday show.

What was your thoughts on Tough Enough? Even though the business had been thoroughly exposed by this time, did you still have a problem with a show like that?

Did you think Steve was a good choice to be the host?

Meltzer reported - Judge Janice Stewart of U.S. District Court in Portland, OR, granted the WWE's motion to move the William Abner Haynes III (Billy Jack Haynes) lawsuit against the company to U.S. District Court in Connecticut. The WWE, through attorney Jerry McDevitt, requested the Oregon court dismiss the case, and if not, move the case to Connecticut, where they are based. Stewart wouldn't rule on the dismissal of the case, saying that the case should be tried in Connecticut and that it should be up to a Connecticut court to rule on whether the case should be dismissed. 

With that successful motion, WWE has followed up with a similar filing attempting to move the Cassandra Frazier lawsuit (the widow of Nelson "Big Daddy V/Viscera/Mabel) against WWE from Nashville to Connecticut. 

The Frazier lawsuit alleged somehow that repeated concussions by Frazier caused him to pass away from a heart attack while he had drugs in his system, which makes little sense that you can tie concussions to a fatal heart attack. Two federal judges were critical of Konstantine Kyros, the main attorney representing most (but not all) of those who have failed these suits, was criticized for shopping for clients in this case. We do know that Blackjack Mulligan and Superstar Billy Graham were contacted about joining the suit. Graham turned it down. Mulligan hasn't filed. He is close with Haynes, but he also has two grandchildren and a son-in-law that work for WWE, and he's not in good health.

The family of Matt Osborne was the latest to file a similar suit. Osborne, best known as Maniac Matt Borne and Doink the Clown, died on June 28, 2013, due to an overdose of pain killers at the age of 57. He was sued by Michelle James, who is the mother of his two children, Matthew Osborne Jr., and Teagan Osborne. The claim is that brain injuries suffered as a wrestler led to depression and drug abuse, which resulted in his death. The suit was filed in Federal Court in Dallas, using Dallas area attorney Shezad Malik as the point man, but Kyros is also listed as one of the attorneys in the suit. 

The problem with the Osborne suit, as you can imagine, is that he started wrestling in 1978 in Oregon, and was still doing indies on occasion up until his death, 35 years later. Of those 35 years, he worked as Matt Borne in WWF from March 1985 through April 1986, and then again under a mask as the original Doink the Clown from September 1992 through December 1993, and after that, did a nostalgia Battle Royal at WrestleMania 17 and one nostalgia appearance in 2007 on an episode of Raw.

Meltzer reported the next week - WWE took an interesting legal tactic this past week by filing a lawsuit against two members of its Hall of Fame, and two other legendary performers.

The company sued Robert Windham (Blackjack Mulligan), Thomas Billington (The Dynamite Kid), James W. Ware (Koko B. Ware) and Oreal Perras (Ivan Koloff).

The lawsuit, which will also include filing suit against anyone else that makes a claim against the company, is really a tactic to block Konstantine Kyros from continuing to line up wrestlers to sue the company. Kyros has been the point man for lawsuits by wrestlers Evan Singleton, Vito LoGrasso (Big Vito), William Haynes III (Billy Jack Haynes), Russ McCullough, Ryan Sakoda (Keiji Sakoda), Matthew Wiese (Luther Reigns) and the estates of Nelson Frazier (Viscera/Mabel) and Matt Osborne (Doink the Clown I/Matt Borne).

Kyros had sent letters to WWE General Counsel and Secretary Laura Brevetti on 6/2, notifying the company that his law firm was representing the four wrestlers who had been allegedly injured as a result of WWE's negligent and fraudulent conduct. The letter warned of potential legal action by all four and warned WWE to preserve all relevant data due to reasonable anticipation of litigation.

On July 4th, the WWE held a special in Tokyo, Japan at the Sumo Hall called The Beast in the East

The show was promoted on Raw and Smackdown around the return of Brock Lesnar and a Finn Balor vs. Kevin Owens NXT title match, which had been promoted heavily on the NXT show. The live network special aired at 5:30 a.m. Eastern time and 2:30 a.m. Pacific time 

The show was announced as drawing 8,646 fans, although the arena was actually only set up for 6,550 fans and was close to full.

Cesaro pinned Diego in 8:13 with a giant swing and sharpshooter.

The Lucha Dragons beat Big E & Xavier Woods in 6:31. Both of these matches took place on the Japanese broadcast but not the American, which started 30 minutes into the live show.

Chris Jericho pinned Neville in 16:20. Cole noted that Jericho had experience working in Japan, noting him working in FMW as Lion Heart. He did, but was a lot better known for his later work in WAR, although really is more of a star in Japan as a guy who started in Japan and made it big in WWE. 

These two had a great match. Cole was using the term the Altitude era for Neville, which is clever. Jericho did a Silver King dropkick early. Neville missed a red arrow, and then tried a huracanrana, but Jericho blocked it and put on the Walls Of Jericho. Neville did a great job of selling and getting to the ropes. Jericho missed a tackle and went to the floor, and Neville used a Fosbury Flop dive. That drew one of the two "This is awesome" chants. Neville did a springboard dropkick and standing shooting star press. 

Jericho used the Lionsault for a near fall. Neville came off the top roep into a Jericho codebreaker, but Jericho was selling and went for the pin slowly and Neville kicked out. There were dueling chants here. Neville hit two superkicks, went for the red arrow, but Jericho got his knees up, then put Neville in the Walls of Jericho for the submission. You could argue both ways on the result. Jericho isn't a full-timer and Neville is, but they are protecting Jericho more as a legend now than they have in the past and Neville isn't a main eventer, so it's not like he needs the win right now because he's headed for a big program. 

For Japan, that's the way they would book it. Either way, it's the kind of match where both guys came across strong and it's really impressive with Jericho being 44 and not working full-time that he comes to Japan and works with the best young talent in Balor and Neville and not just has great matches with them, but has great matches with them at their style and they don't have to slow down and work a different style. ****

Nikki Bella retained the Divas title in a three-way over Paige and Tamina Snuka in 7:03. Snuka replaced Naomi. No reason was given, but it was a corporate decision as Naomi worked Smackdown and this crew flew out of the U.S. after Raw in Washington, DC. Michael Cole, when talking about how only two WWE titles had ever changed hands in Japan, mentioned Bull Nakano (he mispronounced her name but he did correct himself later) winning the women's title (that was at the 1994 All Japan women's show at the Tokyo Dome). 

The crowd enjoyed the match but it wasn't smooth at all. The big spot was Snuka power bombing Nikki off the ropes as Nikki was superplexing Paige. Paige got Nikki in the PTO, but Snuka superkicked her. Snuka missed her splash off the top rope and Nikki hit the forearm to the face and got the pin. 

Cole was pushing Nikki was one of the all-time great Divas champions. He pushed that her goal is to be champion for a record 300 straight days, which would be September and to break A.J. Lee's record. The way he pushed it made you think they were going to get her either close to 300, or top it. It is not a lock she will get there but that division booking is changing weekly so literally nobody really know for sure unless you can predict Vince McMahon's future whims.

Brock Lesnar pinned Kofi Kingston in 2:41. This was a super squash match. It's too bad you can't transport time. The Lesnar in this match with his performance, if he was around in the 70s against Bruno Sammartino, particularly if he had Paul Heyman with him, would have been Sammartino's biggest drawing challenger ever. This was a far better version of the usual monster squash matches that were part of getting people over in another era. Paul Heyman didn't go on the trip. Kingston did a great job of selling as well as just role playing here. 

Lesnar was just throwing him around. He did a German suplex and Kingston landed on his feet and hit a missile dropkick. Lesnar did three German suplexes while fans chanted "Suplex city," and hit the F-5 for the win. After the match, Lesnar gave him another German suplex. Fans were chanting "One more time." Lesnar gave Kingston a second F-5. Xavier Woods and Big E came out. Lesnar clotheslined both of them out of their boots, and gave both men F-5s, leaving all three members of New Day in the rubble when it was over. 

This was exactly what it should have been given what the fans in Japan wanted to see, and given Lesnar's role in WWE as he heads for a title match.

Kind of a glimpse into the future when Brock would pin Kofi in about 8 or 9 seconds to win the WWE title. So, in 2 matches against each other, Brock won them both in about 2 mins and 50 seconds combined.

Finn Balor pinned Kevin Owens in 19:25 to win the NXT title. They did the streamer stuff and flowers presentation. I liked it because it gave it a different feel, a more big-time feel, and a Japanese feel. I think it's good when you go to a different culture, for the show to feel like it's from the culture rather than just be the same generic show you always do. 

Hideo Itami was shown at ringside and it was noted he wanted to challenge the winner. Balor did a plancha right away. Fans were chanting "Let's Go Balor," the way they used to chant "Let's Go Devitt," in New Japan. The only negative was Owens selling a mostly missed dropkick. Balor did a running dropkick with Owens in a chair on the floor, knocking Owens over the barricade. Balor did a Pele kick and a running flip dive, as well as a double foot stomp to the back. 

But he missed the coup de grace and Owens used a German suplex and a cannonball, as well as a package side slam (because he's not allowed to do the package piledriver). Balor used a sling blade, which at first I was surprised that he used here. He then hit the coup de grace but Owens kicked out. Owens did a forward senton off the middle rope for a near fall. He went for a senton, but Balor got his knees up. 

Balor came back with a Bloody Sunday DDT. They went back-and-forth and Owens took a spin bump off a clothesline. Balor followed with a running Suwa dropkick, a running dropkick into the corner and another double foot stomp for the pin. They again showed Itami watching to set up Itami vs. Balor when Itami is healthy. Fujinami came out to congratulate Balor. I was actually expecting Owens to attack and lay out Fujinami with a power bomb. If this was the U.S. it's almost a lock they'd have done it. Instead, it ended with Balor wanting to shake hands, and Owens walking out without doing so. ****1/4

John Cena & Dolph Ziggler beat Kane & King Barrett in 23:50. This wasn't bad, but was anti-climactic. Cena tried an Attitude Adjustment on Kane but collapsed under his weight. They got heat on Cena, and then Ziggler. Ziggler came off the top into a choke slam attempt by Kane, that Ziggler reversed into a DDT. Barrett and Cena tagged in for the finish. Ziggler superkicked Kane and Cena gave him the Attitude Adjustment, but he wasn't the legal man. Ziggler superkicked Barrett and Cena gave him the Attitude Adjustment for the pin. **1/4

Did you go on this trip? Any memories of it?

Meltzer wrote - Show did a podcast with Jericho, which we noted in last week's issue, where he made comments about Jim Ross, just saying the guy in talent relations kept him down when he had influence and saying he was never one of Ross' guys. Ross denied that, claiming it was he and Gerald Brisco who made contact with Wight and recruited him (while he was still under contract to WCW, which was clearly tampering, and Jericho in his book joked about how when he was in WCW and recruited how it was blatant tampering). 

The heat may have stemmed from the decision to send Wight to OVW because they felt his weight had gotten out of control and he needed to be a fundamentally better wrestler. Here's the funny thing about that. Wight was earning $1 million per year on his contract which was top money, and still today is top money. The idea that they would send a guy making that much money to OVW (they also sent Henry there) would have never happened unless Vince McMahon wanted it to happen. 

Ross doesn't deny he was part of the decision making, so it can't be said Vince made the call and Ross was just the bad guy delivering the news. But Ross was also the guy delivering the news. As I recall, he was told to get to a certain weight, which I think was just under 400 pounds, or he wouldn't be brought back. But after spending a lot of time in OVW, where he was making the company no money, and he had lost weight but was not nearly 400, they brought him back. 

Meltzer reported - Brian Gewirtz, who had been with the company for about 15 years, gave notice a few weeks back and said his goodbyes at the 6/29 Raw show in Washington, DC. Gewirtz was a writer for the show, and for years was the head writer on Raw. He had remained with the creative team until October 2012, when Eric Pankowski, who was the head of creative at the time, sent him home. He had remained under contract as a consultant, working from home, sometimes being sent scripts and was also a consultant to the network. 

He came to the office about once every other week. Much of the current crew barely knew him as for the past few years the only time he was around was on weeks Dwayne Johnson was on television. He was used in creative when Johnson would be around since Johnson specifically requested him to be his writer. 

He had been Johnson's main writer during the last few years of his full-time career. He left WWE for an executive role in Seven Bucks Entertainment, which is Johnson and ex-wife Dany Garcia's production company. 

On the July 13th Raw, we saw a move that would change the landscape of women's wrestling to this day and you could say it changed WWE in a lot of ways too, when Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks were called up to the main roster, and Bayley would come in not long after.

What's your memories of that and do you know if Vince was serious about really making the woman a focal point of the company when this move to call them up was made? 

He's tried a few times over the years, first with Wendi Richter, then with Alundra Blayze. Neither one really worked, although Wendi was extremely popular in 1985, but did seeing the success of Ronda Rousey in the UFC make Vince think he could make it work this time?

Meltzer reported - John de Mol Jr., 60, a media tycoon who is one of the richest men in Holland, has purchased 1,994,426 shares of WWE stock, or 2.7% of the company, through his company, Talpa Media Holding. De Mol Jr. is also one of the main shareholders in Endomol. The purchase led to the stock rising to $16.85 per share at press time, giving the company a $1.27 billion market value. 

That takes us to Battleground

King Barrett pinned R-Truth in 9:14. This was billed as the winner gets the right to be called The King. R-Truth opened with a dropkick and plancha. They went to near falls at the end. The finish saw R-Truth duck a bull hammer and used a schoolboy for a near fall. R-Truth went for his lie detector finish, but Barrett held onto the ropes and R-Truth took the bump himself. Barrett then used the bull hammer for the pin. **

The next match was Randy Orton vs Sheamus

At Money in the Bank, Sheamus won the ladder match for a World Heavyweight title match contract. On the June 15th Raw, Randy Orton, who also participated in the match, attacked Sheamus after his match against Dean Ambrose. Sheamus later attacked Orton during his match against Kane. On the July 6th Raw, Orton returned and attacked Sheamus, after his match against Roman Reigns, which led to this match

Randy Orton pinned Sheamus in 16:52. Started slow but turned into a very good match. Fans were chanting "RKO" at the same cadence as "New Day sucks." Orton was more popular than usual given they were in St. Louis. Sheamus used a kneedrop off the middle rope and followed that up with a chinlock. That felt weird. Orton gave Sheamus a back suplex on the announcers table. Sheamus went for a Brogue kick but Orton powerslammed him off the ropes. Sheamus missed another Brogue kick and Orton tried an RKO that Sheamus got out of. 

After a superplex spot off the top by Orton, JBL noted that Scott Irwin invented the move. Irwin, as The Super Destroyer, was the first guy I ever saw do a superplex off the middle rope. The first guy I saw do it off the top rope was Dynamite Kid. I'm not sure if it was Irwin or Frank Dusek who was actually the guy who invented it, but those two and Bob Orton Jr. were the original guys who used the move. Sheamus finally hit the Brogue kick, but couldn't follow up and Orton rolled out of the ring. He went for the cloverleaf but Orton got to the ropes and hit an RKO out of nowhere for the pin. ***½

Titus O'Neil & Darren Young retained the tag titles beating Kofi Kingston & Big E in 8:48. Big E threw Young into the corner and he took a Harley Race bump over the top. They worked on Young until O'Neil made the hot tag and cleaned house. Xavier Woods interfered by kicking O'Neil. It looked bad because O'Neil wasn't thrown in the direction of Woods, so he had to awkwardly change direction of a whip so he could be in a position for Woods to kick him. Young came back with a belly-to-belly on Kingston and gave Woods a back suplex on the apron. Young escaped for a Big ending and ducked a Trouble in Paradise kick, and then used a gut buster on Kingston. Kingston rolled out of the ring. O'Neil tagged in and pinned E with Clash of the Titus. **½

Next match was Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt

On the May 21st Smackdown, Bray Wyatt was defeated by Dean Ambrose, after Roman Reigns interfered & hit Wyatt with a Superman punch. On the June 1st Raw, Reigns defeated Wyatt to retain his spot in the Money in the Bank ladder match. At Money in the Bank, Wyatt knocked Reigns off the ladder right before Reigns could grab the Money in the Bank briefcase. 

Bray Wyatt pinned Roman Reigns in 22:06. The crowd was mixed here, but Reigns got light boos and not a lot of cheers, except pops for signature spots. There was a "Let's Go Wyatt" chant early. Reigns went for a spear on the floor, and Wyatt moved and Reigns speared the ring steps. When Wyatt played to the crowd, he got a mixed reaction. Wyatt did some weak punches in the corner, a DDT on the apron, and a suplex and senton. Reigns made a comeback, still to a mixed reaction. 

A cool spot was Reigns going for his dropkick on the floor, but Wyatt clotheslined the hell out of him. Reigns used a power bomb out of the corner for a near fall. He went for the Superman punch, but Wyatt blocked it and Wyatt went for a uranage, but Reigns got out it. Finally Reigns hit the dropkick on the floor. Reigns escaped from Sister Abigail and hit the Superman punch, but Wyatt kicked out. 

Wyatt actually started taking the bump before the punch landed, which looked awkward. Reigns went for a spear, but got clotheslined for a near fall. Reigns blocked a Sister Abigail attempt with head-butts. He went for a Samoan drop but collapsed. They ended up outside the ring. Wyatt went for a chair shot but Reigns blocked it and started throwing chairs in the ring for some reason. At this point a guy in a hooded outfit threw Reigns into the post. Wyatt used a uranage on the ring apron and then his Sister Abigail in the ring for the pin. The guy in the hoodie revealed himself to be Luke Harper. ***3/4

Charlotte won a three-way over Brie Bella and Sasha Banks in 11:28. Better than the normal woman's bout on a WWE show, but so far below the NXT women's matches. Most of the crowd treated it just like any other woman's match on PPV as filler, but there were the whatever percent that chanted things like "NXT" and "We Want Becky." Brie did a double bulldog with both of them. Charlotte speared Brie when Banks moved. Brie hit a missile dropkick on both. The big mistake was working the match as "business as usual" as opposed to it being different or trying to make the statement that the interviews told us they'd make. 

Crowd wasn't much into it so Paige and Lynch started pounding the mat to get them going. Banks used a tope and Charlotte used a plancha. Banks used the backstabber and bank statement on Charlotte, but Brie saved and threw Banks into the post. Charlotte blocked the X factor and used the figure eight for the submission. **3/4

The next match was John Cena vs Kevin Owens for the US title

At Elimination Chamber, NXT Champion Kevin Owens defeated US Champion John Cena. At Money in the Bank, Cena defeated Owens in a rematch. On the June 15th Raw, Owens challenged Cena to a match at Battleground for the US title, which Cena accepted a week later 

John Cena beat Kevin Owens in 22:12 to retain the U.S. title. Fans booed Cena a lot and the crowd was almost completely pro-Owens from start-to-finish. Owens got out of the first attempt at the Attitude Adjustment and DDT'd Cena right on his head which looked bad. Owens came off the top with a senton but Cena got his knees up.

Owens did Cena's trademark comeback with the shoulderblocks, back suplex and five knuckle shuffle. Cena went for the springboard stunner and Owens caught him, gave him a German suplex and followed with a cannonball. Cena used the infrared for a near fall. Cena came off the top for a missile dropkick but Owens stepped back and power bombed him. 

Owens kicked out of the Attitude Adjustment for the first time. Owens used a fisherman buster off the top rope for a near fall. Owens tried the pop up power bomb but Cena turned it into a sloppy huracanrana for a near fall. Owens used a superkick and Attitude Adjustment for a near fall, and then Owens used the STF, but Cena made the ropes. The crowd booed heavily when Cena made the ropes. Cena used a DDT out of the corner for a near fall and followed with the springboard stunner. Cena used the Attitude Adjustment a second time, but Owens again kicked out. Owens used a pop up power bomb but Cena kicked out. 

Cena did an Attitude Adjustment off the middle rope and Owens kicked out. The crowd popped the biggest for that one. Cena gave the "shocked" look and the announcers said they hadn't seen that look since The Rock against Cena, even though Cena has given that look in several matches the past few months. Cena then used the STF, and when nobody was expecting it, Owens tapped out. Not as good as their first two matches, but still an excellent match. ****1/4

The Miz came out and talked about how the three-way match wasn't happening. He talked about how his branding team had already been making plans for him when he would have won the IC title here. He said he'd already booked talk show appearances as new champion (a spoof on WWE booking talk show appearances for Roman Reigns as champion for after WrestleMania) but Ryback got hurt so the match was postponed. 

He said he's known Ryback since Tough Enough and that the big guy is really a big pansy. Miz said that Ryback knows that The Miz is the toughest guy in the WWE. He then said Big Show has been missing since the Attitude era and should retire. He said they should have just declared him champion tonight, and then said St. Louis wasn't a real city like Los Angeles, and how the Rams are moving back. Show came out. Miz did a 180, saying he wanted Show to be his tag team partner again. Show just knocked him out and walked off.

Next match was Seth Rollins defending the WWE Title against Brock Lesnar

At Money in the Bank, Seth Rollins defeated Dean Ambrose in a ladder match to retain the WWE title. On the June 15th Raw, The Authority reinstated Brock Lesnar, who then invoked his rematch clause to face Rollins at Battleground for the championship. On the July 6th Raw, Lesnar attacked Rollins' bodyguards J&J Security (Jamie Noble & Joey Mercury), breaking Noble's arm with a Kimura lock and executing a belly-to-belly suplex on Mercury onto a car's windshield.

During the contract signing on the July 13th Raw,, Lesnar beat up Rollins and Kane ending with Lesnar breaking Kane's ankle with the steel steps. After Lesnar had left, Rollins proceeded to stomp on Kane's injured ankle 

Brock Lesnar beat Seth Rollins via DQ in 9:00 so Rollins retained the WWE title. Lesnar looked gigantic. Rollins came off the ropes and Lesnar gave him a German suplex. After the fifth German suplex, Rollins left the ring and grabbed his belt like he was leaving. Lesnar ran and hurdled the barricade and threw Rollins back over. Lesnar hit another German suplex. He tried another, but Rollins landed on his feet and superkicked Lesnar. He did some more superkicks, and then did two topes. 

After that, Lesnar jumped in the ring like nothing and gave Rollins an overhead belly-to-belly. This sequence made no sense as why do two topes if neither of them had even a split second effect. It wasn't event the dramatic version of a no-sell, which is fine for Lesnar, but it was just a no-sell completely with no meaning. Lesnar did a bunch more German suplexes, and after the 13th suplex, hit the F-5. Then Undertaker's music hit. The lights went out. Both Rollins and the referee magically disappeared and it was Lesnar and Undertaker in the ring. The place went nuts. 

Undertaker went for a choke slam, but Lesnar got out. Lesnar went for an F-5, but Undertaker got out. Undertaker kicked Lesnar hard low, and then choke slammed him and hit two tombstone piledrivers. Fans were chanting "One more time" at this point. The performances of Lesnar and Rollins were both very good, but the whole idea of a 9:00 main event with no finish, and the show ending so early was weird. The bell never rang to end the match and they went off the air like it was a no contest, until it was announced Lesnar won via DQ on Raw the next night. **

Lesnar ended Undertaker's WrestleMania win streak at WrestleMania 30, and Undertaker's return here would set up a rematch between them at SummerSlam

Meltzer's Raw write up for the next night -

Raw opened with Undertaker out. Cole and JBL had a conversation where Cole asked him about facing Undertaker, noting that JBL had faced Undertaker more times than any wrestler in history. Pretty sure Kane faced Undertaker more than anyone in history, along with Yokozuna, Foley, Austin and Show. According to one data base, JBL was 17th as far as most matches with Undertaker, just behind MVP and Davey Boy Smith. Undertaker said he was a relentless, remorseless, cold-blooded vengeful grim reaper. He said that streaks are made to be broken, and that's the painful truth. 

However, he was mad that Lesnar, continuously, every week, month-after-month, kept reminding everyone of his greatest accomplishment. Actually he rarely talks about smashing Frank Mir and drawing 1.6 million PPV buys in the process. Undertaker said that he's taken what was once smoldering ashes and turned it into a raging inferno and said that last night was his true resurrection, and that Lesnar can't kill what won't die. 

Undertaker said he will conquer what has yet to be conquered, and in the end, Lesnar, like all living things, man or beast, will rest in peace. As Undertaker interviews go, this was one of his best. Usually he's not very good past a few cliched remarks, but he came off like a larger than life mega star here.

HHH was backstage and thrilled, saying that the SummerSlam main event fell right into their lap and they didn't even have to set it up. He said this will be bigger than their first match. Stephanie said they need to call marketing. HHH said that he needed to call Heyman and Lesnar and tell them that with Undertaker there, for them not to show up. He said he didn't want this great main event risked.

Next they plugged the Charlotte vs. Brie Bella match coming up with the music from "Total Divas." It's not like this is a make or break on the deal, but it does feel like a complete lack of understanding of making this change. Staying the same with new people isn't change.

Charlotte pinned Brie Bella in 8:59. There was a spot where Charlotte missed a plancha by about a mile. Team Bad, which is Naomi & Banks & Snuka, were on the mic. Nikki & Fox and Paige & Lynch were also at ringside. The crowd reacted pretty good to Charlotte winning with a spear and the figure eight. Still, it came across far more like a so-so women's match than something new and different, because they weren't going to be able to get new, different and better unless they matched the right people up with each other. The entire premise of fitting them in with the old style women messes up the chances of that happening.

HHH was on the phone with Heyman telling him not to come here tonight. Of course that means he's coming here. Miz was there complaining about how Show hit him in the face and how important his face is to WWE. 

HHH wasn't paying any attention to him. Miz asked if he heard him and HHH made Miz into the insignificant person he probably is by saying he didn't listen, doesn't care, and that Miz is facing Show later tonight.

Los Matadores beat Prime Time Players in 4:03 when The New Day distracted O'Neil and Diego pinned him after a back stabber. Diego (Eddie Colon) is such a great worker and it's too bad he's in a position where it doesn't matter, but he did get a little bit of a chance to show it here. The New Day then mocked The Prime Time Players by doing their Millions of Dollars dance.

Show pinned Miz in 1:28. Miz ran away, but Show palmed the top of his head and pulled him into the ring. Show pinned Miz after an elbow off the middle rope. At Show's size, doing elbow drops off the middle rope at 43 years of age may not be the best idea. Show was a face in this match, and kept kicking Miz around and taunting him. Then he turned heel, doing an interview challenging Ryback. He said he was going to feed Ryback his fist and take the title. He challenged Ryback to come to Tough Enough and then gave the impression he was going on Tough Enough and was going to punch out all the guys.

Backstage, HHH & Stephanie were with Rob Shamberger, who is an artist who is really talented that is under contract to the promotion. He lives in Kansas City. This segment was to set up them seeing Heyman backstage. HHH wanted to know what he was doing there. Heyman said Lesnar wasn't here, but that Lesnar will accept the rematch with Undertaker and he just wanted to give HHH that message and now he's leaving. Stephanie said that she doesn't trust Heyman any farther than she can throw him, which, she noted, isn't very far.

Stephanie & HHH then gave a speech to the locker room. These are never good. I was afraid that they were going to remove downside guarantees or make everyone wear the same gear. Instead they noted that Undertaker was there and they figured, being the smart people that they are, that Lesnar was on his way. He said that the wrestlers can't let those two destroy each other because SummerSlam depends on it, and their livelihood depends on it. HHH said that they weren't asking them to break Lesnar and Undertaker up and keep them apart, they are telling them.

Heyman came out and asked if last night Rollins outwrestled Lesnar, asked if he outfought Lesnar or did Rollins take a trip to Suplex City. He asked if Rollins was the champion because he beat Lesnar, or because he kicked out of the F-5. He said Rollins is champion for none of those reasons, but that for the first time since April 6, 2014, Lesnar went face to face with Undertaker. He again talked about how Lesnar conquered the streak and that Undertaker waited 469 days to come out. Heyman said that in fact, he does brag about it because it was the greatest accomplishment of Lesnar's career.

He talked about how Michaels, HHH, Flair, Edge, Batista and Orton all tried to conquer the streak and they all failed. He said Lesnar ripped from Undertaker what was his greatest claim to fame, the streak. And now Undertaker got him back, because the thing Lesnar wanted most was the WWE title, and Undertaker cost him it. Undertaker's gong hit and he was in the ring. Heyman was begging off saying he had children and he's just an advocate. Then Lesnar's music played and he ran to the ring. They started a big brawl. Lesnar took him down and they rolled around. 

Security and most of the roster ran in. They had an awesome pull-apart. It was the usual playbook where one and then the other would break free, but it was higher level talent pulling them apart and Lesnar and Undertaker have so much of an aura that they do the same thing as anyone else and it seems ten times as significant. Once, instead of the break away and running across the ring, Lesnar instead darted out and ran around the ring to get to Undertaker. Finally they were able to drag Lesnar out of the ring to the back. Great segment, and there was more to come.

Backstage, the two went at it again with all the wrestlers holding them back. Another key thing was to note who WWE considers the real superstars, who were the guys not used in the pull-apart. I believe the key ones were Cena, Orton, Reigns, Wyatt, Show and Ambrose. There may have been others as well, but Rusev, Cesaro and Owens were all out there as part of the background pull-apart squad, meaning Vince or whoever laid this out didn't feel they were worthy of protection. 

Lesnar at one point yelled at Undertaker, "I'm gonna kill you" and Undertaker yelled back, "You're gonna have to." 

Finally police showed up and Lesnar backed off. He told the police not to touch him. There were a ton of officers there and they put his hands in zip-ties and took him out of the building. HHH later said that they wouldn't press charges against him.

Rollins showed up backstage with HHH and Stephanie. He said that it was too bad that Lesnar and Undertaker weren't there because he had a lot he wanted to say to both of them. He said he was so mad that he may have lost his temper on them. He then asked HHH and Stephanie if he could address the WWE universe, and he was given the okay.

Wyatt & Harper were together for a promo. Wyatt said that he was more than a man, he was an enigma.

Reigns beat Harper via DQ in 13:01. Cole pointed out that Reigns had not won a match cleanly since 6/8. Well, aside from him scoring pins in almost every house show match that would be correct. I guess the idea was that having Reigns win didn't get him over, and since he's still the guy they want to carry the company, the new idea is to have him never win. Well, it did work for Daniel Bryan, but for some reason it hasn't worked for everyone else they've tried it with. This was a good match, ending when Wyatt interfered. 

This turned into a four-way brawl with Ambrose helping Reigns. Harper threw Ambrose over the barricade into the timekeepers area. They beat down Reigns and Harper held him in a crossface while Wyatt was kicking him. Ambrose ran back in and cleaned house. But he got beat down and Wyatt set him up for Sister Abigail until Reigns laid Wyatt out with a Superman punch.

Rollins came out and said all of the fans had bought into Heyman's bullcrap propaganda and made fun of people with Suplex City t-shirts. He said Undertaker robbed him, not Lesnar, or the chance to beat Lesnar. He called Lilian Garcia into the ring because there had been no announcement of who won the main event. Garcia got in the ring and said that Lesnar won via DQ for outside interference and that due to the DQ, Rollins was still champion. Cena came out. Rollins mentioned that Cena had beaten Owens and the fans booed. 

Rollins went to leave so Cena could do his U.S. title challenge. Cena said he wasn't here to stop one of Rollins' boring monologues, but said how they both became champion on the same night (WrestleMania). He said the WWE knows with his U.S. belt that they are seeing excellence from both the champion and the challenger. He then called Rollins a weasel faced suck up poor conniving excuse for a champion and that his actions as champion have caused people to lose faith in that title and gain respect for his U.S. Title.

Rollins made fun of Cena saying he does everything he can to make the fans like him but they still hate him. He said Cena could keep his U.S. title and he'd keep the WWE title. Cena said that Rollins is doing what he always does, which is run away from every challenge. Cena said it's not the title that makes the man, but the man that makes the title. This was the exact angle, even with identical verbiage, that ROH used to build up their Jay Briscoe vs. Jay Lethal ROH champion vs. TV champion match for both belts. Cena said that as a man, he thinks Rollins is a joke. The two squared off until Rollins backed off.

Naomi & Banks beat Paige & Lynch in 13:29. The crowd was dead early. The Bellas and Fox were out doing commentary. Paige and Charlotte got the crowd going to cheerleading from ringside. The match itself was better than most women's matches in WWE, but not so good that it felt like they had changed the product. Banks used the backstabber and then the bank statement to make Paige submit.

Backstage, Renee Young was interviewing Lana. She said that Ziggler had no permanent damage to his vocal cords and he's back talking. Summer Rae came out in a black suit and short skirt, dressed like Lana. Rusev showed up and told Summer Rae that she looked beautiful and then kissed her in front of Lana. He then told Lana that she looked tired and maybe she should get some more rest, and laughed at her. Summer Rae then slapped Lana in the face.

Main event was weird, to say the least. Cena & Orton & Cesaro beat Sheamus & Owens & Rusev in 14:51. Owens accidentally knocked Sheamus off the apron. Owens used the codebreaker on Cesaro, which is notable that he used Jericho's finisher. Sheamus and Owens started arguing. Sheamus then left the ring and walked off. Rusev was on the floor with Summer Rae injured. 

So Owens when he tried to tag out, Rusev wasn't there. Finally Rusev got to the corner. Owens slapped Rusev in the chest to tag out. Rusev got in the ring and Owens superkicked him. Owens then walked out leaving Rusev alone against three faces. Orton powerslammed Rusev. Lana then came out. She took off her high heels and threw her shoe at Summer Rae and hit her with a spear. She told Summer Rae never to touch her again. 

The match ended with Cena hitting the Attitude Adjustment on Rusev, followed by Cesaro with the giant swing, and then Cesaro catapulted Rusev into the RKO by Orton and Orton pinned him to take the match.

This Raw did a 2.79 rating and 3.79 million viewers 

• Thumbs up 173 (56.2%)
• Thumbs down 78 (25.3%)
• In the middle 57 (18.5%)

BEST MATCH POLL

John Cena vs. Kevin Owens 237

Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns 19

Randy Orton vs. Sheamus 10

Charlotte vs. Banks vs. Brie Bella 8

WORST MATCH POLL

Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar 100

King Barrett vs. R-Truth 62

O'Neil & Young vs. Big E & Kingston 50

Charlotte vs. Banks vs. Brie Bella 21

Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns 18

Randy Orton vs. Sheamus 13

John Cena vs. Kevin Owens 8