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Monday Night Raw from Cleveland, Ohio, saw the return of The Beast Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman as The Authority have selected the former WWE World Heavyweight champion as Seth Rollins’ opponent for Battleground. Dean Ambrose battled Money In The Bank briefcase winner Sheamus while with Cena being absent from the show, Kevin Owens issued an open challenge.
Here are some of the highlights from the show:
Dean Ambrose vs Sheamus – Rollins retreats from a brawl against the Lunatic Fringe who in turn faces The Celtic Warrior
It all started with Rollins coming out to open the show and bragging about his win, thanking and praising himself for putting on the greatest Ladder match of all time and how Dean Ambrose came up short even after bringing on his A game. Ambrose came out to a good pop and straight away attacked Rollins on the ramp as the two engaged in a physical fight. The ended up on the announce table but Rollins retreated with the title as fans booed him.
Backstage, Rollins meets Triple H and Stephanie and ask them to take care of Ambrose which is why Sheamus is sent out to face Ambrose. Triple also reveals that he has been thinking about who Rollins’ next opponent should be.
Back in the ring, Ambrose defeated Sheamus who tried to retreat from the fight with his briefcase but was distracted by Randy Orton and was rolled up by the Lunatic Fringe for the win.
Kevin Owens issues an open challenge – Ziggler answers
NXT champion Kevin Owens made his way into the ring and he addressed the crowd in Cleveland, letting them know that John Cena is not in the house and Cena is to blame for that. Owens said he did play a part in what happened to Cena but Cena forced him to do that.
With no US title open challenge, Owens issued an NXT title open challenge instead which was answered by Dolph Ziggler (with Lana). The match had a lot of back and forth action and Ziggler managed to hit the zig zag, but it was for a 2 count. Owens delivered a Superkick and caught him with the pop-up powerbomb to score a victory over the Showoff.
Kane defeats Randy Orton
The Viper squared off against Kane as the Corporate sellout dominated him in the early stages of the match. But Orton came back with a powerslam. Just as he was about to hit the draping DDT, Sheamus’ music hit as he came out to return the favour to Orton.
Kane takes the mic and announces that the rest of this match will be No Holds Barred. Sheamus hits the ring and brawls with Orton. Sheamus nails a Brogue Kick, allowing Kane to cover for the win.
A Handicap Divas match followed where Paige was defeated by the Bella Twins and then rapper Machine Gun Kelly performed for the audience but was powerbombed off the stage by an unhappy Kevin Owens.
“The Beast” Brock Lesnar returns
Triple H and Stephanie came out to the ring to discuss Rollins’ opponent for the Battleground PPV. Rollins came out next and told them that there is no one capable enough in the roster to take away the title from him. Triple H utters the word “ The pressure is on...” and out comes Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman to a huge pop.
Lesnar and Heyman entered the ring as Heyman shook hands with Triple H and Stephanie. Lesnar stared at Rollins who was afraid to make eye contact with The Beast. The WWE World Heavyweight champion backed off and retreated. Lesnar and Heyman looked on as RAW ended.
