Roman Reigns (C) vs Rusev (for the WWE United States Championship)
Raw kicked off with a rematch between Roman Reigns and Rusev. Rusev lost the United States title to Roman Reigns at Clash of Champions and immediately called for his rematch.
The match started off even with both the champion and challenger going back and forth. There were quite a few submission holds early on in the match with both men trying to wear out their opponent. Rusev made up his mind to target Roman Reigns’ back from early on and he relentlessly worked on it early on in the match.
Roman hit back with his trademark corner clotheslines and went for his patented one-arm powerbomb but his back couldn’t hold up after Rusev’s early attack and didn’t hold up. Rusev took advantage and laid Roman out.
Finding himself back in the driver’s seat, Rusev continued working on Roman’s back with submission holds but Roman eventually powered out with his bare hands, only to be hit by a nasty dropkick and a Gut-wrench Bomb from the challenger. Rusev continued to hit Reigns with measured right hands in a bid to soften him up and win back his precious United States Championship.
Just when we thought Roman may have been down and out, Reigns exploded out of the ropes with clotheslines and a big boot. Reigns then went for his patented Superman Punch Rusev caught him in mid-air and both men toppled over the top rope and fell outside with Roman landing on Rusev’s head.
We came back from the commercial break to see Rusev back on top. The ‘Guy’ hit back with a few targeted blows to try and get himself back into the match but Rusev is as tough as they come. Reigns hit a beautiful Samoan Drop on an inbound Rusev for the nearfall before Rusev took back the advantage once more in this back and forth encounter. Rusev hit Roman with two jumping headbutts before heading to the top rope. Roman caught him with a forearm and sent him crashing down to the outside where Roman met him and dragged him back into the ring.
Rusev hit Roman with a deadly kick to the head for another nearfall. Even though Rusev had been one step ahead of Reigns for most of the match, he just wasn’t able to put Roman away who finally hit back with a late flurry that began with a desperate Superman Punch. Lana tried to distract Reigns again but he didn’t take the bait as he took the fight to Rusev outside the ring.
The fight predictably went into the crowd as the referee reached the 8 count with it being clear that the match would end in a countout.
Match ended as a draw by countout
Roman and Rusev continued to go at it outside the ring after the bell. They smashed each other into the barricades till Rusev brought a steel chair into the equation and smash Reigns in the back with it. However, as Rusev went for the final blow, Roman hit him with a spear and sent him reeling.
The countout was a terrible ending to an overly long match.
