10 of 10 Credit: WWE.com With questions surrounding Seth Rollins' travel difficulties, Raw general manager Kurt Angle took to the squared circle for the contract signing for Sunday's Intercontinental Championship match between The Architect and champion Dolph Ziggler. Ziggler and McIntyre interrupted the proceedings and launched into a heated promo in which he compared Rollins' current run to his, even saying the fans care now but they won't, as he discovered when they stopped supporting him while he stole the show. Crediting McIntyre with inspiring him as a wrestler, he was prepared to accept the victory over Rollins via forfeit until the No. 1 contender arrived. He said it was not his travel plans that had kept him away but, rather, the man who will be in his corner at SummerSlam. With that, Dean Ambrose made his much-anticipated return, joining Rollins in clearing the ring and standing tall to close out the show. Grade A Analysis As much attention will be given to Ambrose's return, this segment should be remembered for Ziggler's promo. Have we heard promos similar to it from The Showoff before? Sure, but the intensity and conviction with which he spoke elevated this beyond all of them. A great segment of television and a quality promo from one of the hardest working performers in the industry. Which brings us to Ambrose, whose change in appearance may have thrown some fans off. The long hair is gone. He's more jacked than he has ever been before. There was a seriousness and intensity that painted his face. He looked more mature and dangerous than before. All of that adds up to an intriguing element to Sunday's match. A great segment to close the show.<doc-sep>The road to SummerSlam, WWE's second-biggest offering of the year, has officially hit the home stretch. Monday night in Greensboro, North Carolina, marked the final Raw before the company encompasses Brooklyn later this week, and as if SummerSlam looming wasn't enough to create excitement for this week's show, historical significance was added in with Renee Young becoming the first female commentator to provide her voice to the flagship on commentary. It was actually quite fitting that Young was making her Raw commentary debut on this night, seeing as someone she's quite familiar with made his presence felt after a lengthy absence to end final show before SummerSlam. Big fan of WWE? Subscribe to our podcast -- In This Corner with Brian Campbell -- where we go in depth on everything you need to know in WWE each week. Seth Rollins enlists a lunatic for SummerSlam Throughout the night, intercontinental champion Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre were featured in backstage segments with general manager Kurt Angle where they were arrogantly gloating about Seth Rollins being unable to make it to the building due to travel issues. McIntyre pointed out in one segment that if Rollins doesn't grace the arena with his presence to sign the contract for SummerSlam, then there will be no title defense by Ziggler. In another segment, Ziggler, upon reviewing the contract, was a bit perturbed at the fact that Rollins was awarded the opportunity to have someone in his corner at SummerSlam. As the contract signing was set to air, Angle revealed to Corbin that there was still no sign of Rollins. With Angle in the ring, Ziggler and McIntyre headed out to join him. Ziggler wanted to know if his title match was happening or not, and Angle interrupted him to introduce Rollins -- twice -- who didn't appear. McIntyre once again ranted on the superstars in the back not being on their level, which was followed by Ziggler ripping apart the fans, who he said would eventually turn their backs on Rollins like they did to him. The intercontinental champ asked for the contract so that they could officially make this a Seth Rollins forfeit. Right after inking his name on the deal, Rollins' music hit. Rollins admitted that he was dealing with travel issues -- only, they weren't his travel issues. He said that the clause for someone in his corner was put there for a particular reason, and since Ziggler will have the "Scottish psychopath" in his corner at SummerSlam, then he should have a lunatic in his. Yep, Dean Ambrose returned after nine months to a massive pop and a revised look (shorter hair and he's been hitting the gym quite frequently). The two Shield members hit the ring and cleared house, with Ambrose planting McIntyre with Dirty Deeds. Sure, this was a development many could have seen coming after the past few weeks, but it didn't make the moment of seeing Ambrose after nearly a year away any less awesome. Not to mention, the new look suits him rather well. So Rollins finally has someone he can trust to help fend off the pest that has been McIntyre, but one has to wonder come Sunday whether Ambrose is truly there to watch Rollins' back. Heel Ambrose may be coming sooner rather than later. Grade: A Roman Reigns gets duped Reigns came out to the middle of the ring to cut one final promo before he takes on Brock Lesnar yet again on Sunday at SummerSlam. The "Big Dog" started off by saying that he's always wanted to leave this place better than he found it, but he can't do that unless he finally dethrones Lesnar. He said he's going to beat Lesnar on Sunday, and when he's done, he's going to send him so far back to the UFC that his head will be up president Dana White's ass. Heyman interrupted Reigns, who invited him into the ring to hear what he had to say after "crying on cue" last week. Heyman told Reigns that he didn't have to wait until Sunday to make history, he could do it right here tonight. Seemingly offering up help, Heyman said that he could divulge the deepest secrets of Lesnar to Reigns if he wanted to become the universal champion at SummerSlam. Reigns declined, reminding Heyman that he's already beaten Lesnar in Saudi Arabia, and it would have happened a lot quicker if it wasn't for his interference. Unrelenting, Heyman gave Reigns a taste of what it would be like to be aligned with him, replacing Lesnar's name in his famous introduction with Reigns' and revealing to him some advice Afa and Sika gave him before handing him an agreement and telling him to give him an answer at SummerSlam. Then, the ruse was revealed. As Reigns was staring at the paper, Heyman blasted him in the face with pepper spray and exited the ring. As Reigns was being attended to, Lesnar's music hit and he headed toward his staggering SummerSlam challenger, handing the title to Heyman along the way. Lesnar began pummeling Reigns before wrapping on a guillotine choke. It looked as if the champ was ready to leave after delivering the punishment, but he turned around to deliver an F-5 to Reigns before the two meet for the third time this year in Brooklyn. While Heyman's promo last week was off the charts, you still were left with the impression that he and Lesnar were just baiting Reigns. That turned out to be exactly the case, only they gave it away sooner than most thought. They could have at least left this week with the cliffhanger heading into Sunday of Reigns entertaining the offer, but instead, they did all they could to present Reigns as the top babyface who needs to overcome all the odds -- again. Hopefully, come SummerSlam, this entire saga comes to a merciful end, even if that doesn't involve some grand development. Grade C- Ronda Rousey ready to tear Alexa Bliss apart<doc-sep>0 of 5 Credit: WWE.com On the final week before SummerSlam, the August 13 edition of Monday Night Raw was a big go-home show with the expectation that Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar would be in the building once more before their huge title matches. However, the biggest news coming out of Raw was left until the last moment as Seth Rollins announced that he had flown in some help in form of his Shield brother Dean Ambrose. The Lunatic Fringe looked as good as he ever has, setting up a potential game changer at SummerSlam. Rousey opened the show to continue building up momentum as an unstoppable threat, making it seem almost impossible that she could lose to Alexa Bliss. Bobby Lashley also continued to prove he needs someone else to speak for him with Paul Heyman certainly possible. Brock Lesnar's Advocate seemed to reveal that he was playing the long game this week by setting up Roman Reigns for a Lesnar assault, but Heyman's actions still leave him with all the power for Sunday. Renee Young filled in for Jonathan Coachman on commentary and pretty clearly outshined him. These final moments defined the Raw go-home show for the second biggest show of the WWE year. These stars especially may be giving strong hints of what to expect at the Biggest Party of the Summer.<doc-sep>Oh Ambrose. It took about 10 seconds to remember how freaking incredible you are. Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre crashed into Kurt Angle’s office early in the show to ask where Seth Rollins was. They were supposed to have a contract signing, you see, and Rollins was late getting back from a public relations tour of Asia. This story was hit on throughout the night. In their second segment, Ziggler revealed a clause in the contract saying that Rollins was allowed a man in his corner for the SummerSlam match. Curious. And a wonderful tease throughout the show for what became the main event. The final segment featured two great promos from McIntyre and Ziggler. McIntyre made it clear that they respected Rollins. Rollins wasn’t complacent, as they’ve claimed the Raw locker room is in the past. He kept coming at them, iron sharpening iron. In the end, though, they were simply better. Ziggler chalked that up to the fans, by the way. He claimed that Rollins was breaking his body for the fans, “Burning it Down” just like Ziggler himself used to “Steal the Show.” And in the end, where did that get him? The bitterness is new. Or rather, it’s never been so palpable from Ziggler. And the dichotomy of McIntyre in wrestling gear and Ziggler dressed in a freaking palm tree button down is a great touch to their story. But of course, that’s not THE story, is it? Rollins’ music hit in the nick of time and he revealed that his absence was all a ruse. He just wanted to wait until Ziggler had signed the contract so he couldn’t back out. Because how do you counter a Psychopath? With a Lunatic. Dean Ambrose is back, y’all. On one hand, I’m surprised they did it on Raw. I figured they’d tease it and make us wait for Sunday. Either way, holy hell does Ambrose look fantastic. He’s had a Ciampa-like growth in muscle mass and his haircut has him looking like the love child of Triple H and Jason Statham. McIntyre can call himself a Psychopath all he likes, but there’s no matching the prowling, plotting Ambrose. Drownding Speaking of Ambrose...that adds a whole lot of intrigue to SummerSlam, does it not? Because it’s just another wild card in this ridiculous Universal Championship scene. I mean “ridiculous” in a good way, by the way. Roman Reigns flubbed a line on this show, but his point was great nonetheless. He admitted that Paul Heyman’s a shark – and a drowning one at that. And a drowning shark is the most dangerous. Reigns trash-talked Lesnar before Heyman appeared and tried to ingratiate himself with Reigns, but none of that is all that interesting besides Greensboro voraciously cheering for the pairing. No...what’s interesting was Heyman’s written proposal. When Heyman made his first offer to Reigns, Reigns rejected him by citing his family and how they taught him to be around the right people. But then Heyman name dropped Reigns’ father and started speaking Samoan. He shouted at him before revealing a written proposal. And Reigns gingerly took it and started reading. He was engrossed – and none of us know what was on those papers. Heyman pepper sprayed him, but all of that could have honestly been a ruse. Who’s to say that Heyman didn’t warn him on that paper? And yeah, my imagination might be running away from me, but didn’t Reigns just say that a drowning shark is the most dangerous? How can Heyman go back to Lesnar after what that man did to him? Heyman’s too good of an actor, man. I could see him working with Lesnar at SummerSlam or betraying him. I could see a cash-in happening. And I could also see Dean Ambrose interfering. I have no idea what’s going to happen. “Why is she dressed like kale?” Ronda Rousey opened the show with a brief promo to announce the passing of Jim Neidhart. She called fathers “pillars of strength” and said that they raise us to be the pillars of strength when they are gone. And if you know anything about Rousey’s childhood and her father, she put herself out there with that promo. I respected how vulnerable she must have felt talking about that. Rousey endorsed Ember Moon and announced her to the ring to start the show. Moon was scheduled to have a match with Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss. Bliss came out and said words, but Alicia Fox’s hat, though. How could anyone listen to Bliss when that hat was on screen? ! The match was fun. Moon was especially impressive – that Gutbuster! - and got the crowd behind her when she rallied. What I found interesting was that she had the victory sealed; it took a DQ from Fox to keep Bliss from suffering a pin fall. I think the main takeaway from all this though is that WWE had to replace both secondary pieces in this feud on short notice and literally nothing changed. The story is still that Bliss is a snivelling little coward and Rousey has to chase her. Luckily, it’ll be fantastic when Rousey finally gets her. Speaking of getting people, Rousey decked Bliss’ security team – did you see that last dude’s expression before he dived out of the ring to preserve his life? ! That’s great pro wrestling. Best of the Rest Corbin def. Tyler Breeze – BREEZUS! I loved how Renee called Breeze an “unsung hero” of WWE. He surely is, man. Got a nice pop too. Of course, Corbin had to go be a jerk and ruin it by winning with a Deep 6. I liked that, actually; we don’t see signature moves win matches nearly enough. Anyway, this was a fun match. I enjoyed it and would looooove to see more Tyler Breeze on my screen. Thanks in advance, WWE! Braun Strowman and Finn Balor def. Jinder Mahal and Kevin Owens – This was actually a clever bit of booking. Balor’s recently called himself “twice as good” recently, so Corbin abused his power to try to make him prove it.<doc-sep>
It's Monday Night RAW's SummerSlam go-home show and fans of the WWE will be treated to some storyline progression heading into the second biggest event of the year, including a title match. According to WWE.com, the B-Team will defend their RAW Tag Team Championships against The Revival and The Deleter of Worlds. The B-Team had a match against The Revival last week, where they were interrupted by Bray Wyatt and Matt Hardy. It seems the former Tag Champs are looking to regain their titles before SummerSlam. Finn Balor and Constable Baron Corbin will also be in action tonight, but in separate matches. Before their bout at SummerSlam, Balor and Corbin will go one-on-one with different opponents so the two don't hurt each other before then. Fallout from Ronda Rousey's first match on RAW last week will be addressed tonight. We're also hoping for more information about Paul Heyman's mysterious interview with Renee Young. Speaking of Young, she'll be filling in for Jonathan Coachman as guest commentator during tonight's show. Here's all the results and happenings from the Aug. 13 edition of Monday Night RAW. MONDAY NIGHT RAW AUGUST 13 LIVE RESULTS Opening Segment Ronda Rousey comes out to speak on Jim Neidhart's passing on behalf of Natalya. Rousey says that she will defend Natalya because Alexa Bliss continues to cheat against her. Rousey boasts she will become the new RAW Women's Champion at SummerSlam and announces Ember Moon as Bliss' opponent for the night. Bliss comes out with Alicia Fox and says that she spoke with Constable Baron Corbin to give the RAW Women's Champion personal security against Ronda. Ember Moon (with Ronda Rousey) vs Alexa Bliss (with Alicia Fox) Before the match, Alexa hits Ember Moon into Ronda. Rousey runs into the ring but is stopped by the private security team. Rousey takes out the security and Alicia Fox who tries to protect Bliss. Ember Moon wins via DQ after Alica Fox breaks up a pin. Ronda Rousey comes in and delivers three Judo Flips in a row to Fox. Backstage In Kurt Angle's office, Corbin and Angle are arguing over how Baron went over his head to Stephanie McMahon to give Alexa Bliss private security. Corbin says he can't stay there to argue because he has a match and leaves. Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre show up and say that Seth Rollins hasn't show up to the arena yet for his contract signing for the IC match at SummerSlam. Angle says that Rollins will show up and tells Dolph to get ready for the contract signing later in the night. Constable Baron Corbin vs Tyler Breeze Corbin wins via pinfall after a Deep Six. After the match, Corbin says that this match is an example of what he's going to do to Balor at SummerSlam. He then announces Balor's opponent for the night, Jinder Mahal. Corbin says that Balor's match will also be a handicap match and announces that Kevin Owens is his other opponent. Jinder Mahal and Kevin Owens vs Finn Balor and Braun Strowman Before the match, Kurt Angle comes out and explains that he has made the handicap match into a tag team match with Braun Strowman as Balor's teammate. Strowman/Balor wins via pinfall after Braun hit Jinder with a Powerslam. After the match, Strowman runs after Kevon Owens and while Balor's back is turned, Corbin hits him with the End of Days. Backstage Angle is seen trying to reach Seth Rollins on his phone but he doesn't pick up. Ziggler and McIntyre come in and says that if Rollins doesn't show up to sign the contract then the IC match at SummerSlam will be cancelled. Elias Segment A "local musician" named Ricky Roberts comes out to say that his favorite musician is Elias and he hopes to one day meet him. Elias interrupts and says that there's only one Elias and if he wants to impress him, he will beat Bobby Lashley. Elias then puts himself over. Bobby Lashley interrupts Elias and gets into the ring to face Roberts and when he turns his back, Roberts hits Lashley with the guitar but Bobby puts him away with a slam. Backstage Bo Dallas is seen doing math in the locker room and tells Curtis Axel that their odds of winning are lower than before. Axel says that math didn't help them capture the RAW Tag Team Championships, their teamwork did.