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Poor Seth Rollins.

Dean Ambrose is quite the thorn in Seth Rollins’ side. They have great chemistry. I wish we’d see more shenanigans between them.

As we proceed, to give you what you need…

Joey Mercury pins Seth Rollins.

I understand the idea here. Dean Ambrose isn’t the rightful title holder, but by stealing the belt and running around all of New Orleans with it, he becomes a big pain in the ass to Rollins. Rollins is frustrated because he’s the champ but Ambrose has his belt.

But there is a problem. While Ambrose is frolicking around New Orleans with the belt, we saw still photos of him hanging out with fans. Why weren’t there any short segments with Ambrose around town? Why didn’t anyone on the Authority try and find him to get the belt back? When the guys don’t even sell it, it makes it seem like the joke is on Ambrose. Well, that is, until they get in the ring together and then it’s golden. I love watching Rollins get his belt back, only to them get it taken back by Ambrose. It’s great cat and mouse work. But they’re rarely together.

I know WWE was promoting their social media numbers all night, but that’s not something any fan needs to care about when watching the TV show that’s supposed to be promotion for their next big show. What’s going to make them more money – pimping their Instagram followers by posting Instagram photos of Ambrose with fans, or making people interested for their Money In The Bank show?

The first segment with Triple H, Stephanie, and Rollins was awkward. Last week, Rollins threw a fit and said he didn’t need the Authority and this week Steph and HHH said they’d observe him this weekend and not interfere. The whole idea of this was ridiculous. I love Rollins’ character except when he’s treated like a petulant child. They also gave him a chance to pick his opponent.

He talked to his security team backstage and J&J tried to tell him that they forgive him for his outburst on them last week. But Rollins, still being a petulant child and not a grown man, told them that he made them and plucked them out of obscurity and decided they were who he would wrestle tonight. Yep, he booked himself in a handicap match. Kane met with Rollins later and said that it didn’t matter if he or Ambrose had the title because he was winning the Money In The Bank and would beat either guy. He also made fun of the world champ.

The match was placed in the main event segment. Ambrose was in the building and sat ringside. He also dropped popcorn on Rollins at one point. Rollins set up Jamie Noble for the pedigree, but Ambrose tossed Rollins the belt. Noble tagged in Joey Mercury and who cradled Rollins for the win. Rollins had the belt, but of course, Ambrose hit him with the Dirty Deeds and took the belt back.

This was entertaining in the same way a comical bad guy gets his comeuppance by slipping on banana peels. But there were tons of better ways to set up the main event for Money In The Bank.

Kevin Owens thinks John Cena is delusional.

Cena opened up the show by coming out to do an interview. He basically said that he was still the baddest dog on the block. His nose also looked like it was run over by a bus.

Owens came out and said people were tired of the same old same old and he wanted to have his own NXT Open Challenge on Raw. Cena immediately accepted, but Owens said that they were already fighting on Sunday. Cena tried to challenge Owens to a US title match, hoping he’d accept. Instead, Owens said the next person who comes down that ramp will get to choose between the two. Neville came down and said that while he’d love to face Cena again, he wanted to challenge Owens and get his NXT belt back.

The match wasn’t an indy spot-fest. It actually started off slow and built to a nice finish with Neville having two shots at the Red Arrow, but he couldn’t hit it. Owens beat him with the Pop-up Powerbomb. Cena was robotically on commentary.

After the match, Owens asked Cena into the ring. Cena ran in ready for a fight. Owens did the “You can’t see me” to Cena and walked out. Just like the last show, this is what most people will consider the main event.

And the rest…

– Nikki Bella beat Summer Rae.

– There was a Money In The Bank segment where all the competitors came out to cut a short promo. Roman Reigns was first and said at one point he hated the idea of the Money In The Bank. Kane came out and said he had to protect the Authority’s best interests and he’s in the match. He said all the guys in the match will have matches. Dolph Ziggler came out and did bad comedy. R-Truth came out and Kane said he wasn’t even in the match. Truth apologized and said it was his fault and went back. New Day came out and Kofi Kingston said he’d win the briefcase for the entire New Day. Sheamus came out and Orton was last. Neville is also in the match, but he didn’t come out for the segment.

– Randy Orton and Sheamus went to a non-finish.

– Kane beat Ziggler who was distracted by Lana and Rusev. Rusev was on crutches and walked up on Lana. She fell and twisted her ankle. Kane then chokeslammed Dolph who was trying to figure out what was going on with Lana.

– Big Show and Ryback were on MizTV. It ended with Ryback impressively shell shocking Show.

– Rowan and Harper quickly beat the Matadors.

– Big E beat Titus O’Neill. They were trying to get over E’s new nickname which sounded like Minister of Mass. But the announcers thought it might’ve been Minister of Mash.

– Reigns beat Kingston, hitting him with a Superman punch as Kingston came off the top rope. It looked sweet.

Final thoughts

As a variety show, which is what Raw seems to be these days, there were entertaining parts of the show. The Cena/Owens stuff was great. Roman Reigns’ character is strong. But not much else really worked when it came to trying to get people excited for Money In The Bank.