With less than two weeks to go until Hell In A Cell, WWE re-shuffled the deck yet again last Monday night and changed the top matches for the upcoming pay-per-view. After announcing the previous week on Raw that John Cena would battle Dean Ambrose at HIAC for the chance to take on Seth Rollins in the giant cage at the ppv, WWE decided to give away that first encounter on free television this past Monday. That was after forcing Cena and Ambrose to team up in a three-way tag match - which also included the Usos and Dusty's boys - that appeared to be booked for the sole purpose of demonstrating that Ambrose and Cena couldn't possibly get along and would therefore need to wrestle each other later that night on Raw in a no disqualification contract on the pole match to determine who gets Rollins at Hell In A Cell.
Convoluted logic at its finest. And, if that wasn't enough, the loser of the contract on the pole match would have to wrestle Randy Orton in the cage at HIAC. Clearly, most fans wanted to see Ambrose battle Rollins, but that would have required Ambrose defeating the face of the company, Cena, who has already suffered his share of losses at major ppv events in recent months. So, instead, with Kane and Rollins interfering freely in the no DQ bout and keeping Cena occupied, Ambrose was able to easily climb the pole in the far corner and grab the contract opportunity to square off with MITB holder Rollins next Sunday.
The outside interference allowed Cena to save his company face last Monday on Raw and prevented him from having to lose again on a major ppv in order for them to give fans the HIAC brawl they wanted between Ambrose and Rollins. Now, Cena could potentially regain some of his luster with a win at the ppv over Orton, even though it is a match fans have seen a thousand times before, and some folks are even speculating that the Cena-Orton match may go on last as the actual main event of the show.
Overall, Raw was a strong show last Monday with some very good matches on it that were given enough time to tell a story. It was, however, not a good night for some of the champions, who lost in various non-title bouts. Cena and Ambrose, thrown together despite their major differences, emerged victorious over the former champion Usos and the current champions Stardust and Goldust, with Cena pinning Stardust.
Intercontinental champ Dolph Ziggler succumbed to an RKO in a non-title loss to Randy Orton. The match was probably one of the best television bouts of the year and went almost 20 minutes in length. Cesaro was along for the ride on commentary and added to the in-ring masterpiece with his insights and wit. Miz defeated U.S. champ Sheamus via disqualification and Rollins took the measure of Jack Swagger in another lengthy match, notable for a post-match Orton RKO on Swagger that hinted at a little competition between Authority favorites Rollins and Orton.
Big Show and Rusev produced another solid bout that ended in another disqualification when Mark Henry sauntered in to interfere. Although there were a couple of DQs, the amount of actual wrestling instead of the usual dumb skits or long-winded promos was a refreshing change. Monday night's Raw will be in Kansas City and feature a Handicap Street Fight with Cena and Ambrose facing Rollins, Orton and Kane. Hulk Hogan is also scheduled to make an appearance for the final Raw before next Sunday's Hell In A Cell.
TNA remains in limbo with no new television deal announced thus far, but there seems to be some optimism about one possibly getting done in the near future. The real question is whether or not the deal will allow the company to be competitive when it comes to signing or re-signing top talent.