Raw Result: Seth Rollins’s Statue Celebration Interrupted by Sting
Video: The Authority’s Present for Seth Rollins
Video: Sting Interrupts Seth’s Presentation
Video: Night of Champions Announcement

Seth Rollins Celebrates Making History
Seth Rollins demanded a statue to commemorate his historic title(s) victory over John Cena — an act that would effectively turn him into an icon. He didn’t realize that he’d actually have to deal with The Icon when his moment finally came. Triple H’s grand unveiling of his monument to “The Man” was ruined in epic fashion when the curtain surrounding Rollins’ effigy was revealed to be Sting. The Vigilante expelled the two-time-over champion from the ring and laid hands on the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, apparently staking his claim on the supreme prize.

To everyone’s surprise, he got exactly what he wanted. In an exclusive interview on the award-winning WWE Network after Raw went off the air, WWE COO Triple H sanctioned a bout between The Architect and Sting for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Night of Champions, commanding Rollins to finish what he started at WrestleMania. It’s on.

PPV Result: Seth Rollins def. John Cena to become the first man to hold the U.S. Title & The WWE Title at the same time.
Video: Seth’s Victory Celebration
Video: Pre-Match Promo Video

Seth Rollins vs. John Cena
Thanks to their SummerSlam showdown, there now exists a key difference between John Cena and Seth Rollins. Unlike the Cenation leader, Rollins no longer needs quotation marks to describe himself as the “real Champ.”
One hundred forty-seven days after they won their respective titles at WrestleMania 31, Seth Rollins defeated John Cena at SummerSlam in a Winner Takes All Match, thus securing the former’s WWE World Heavyweight Title reign and ending the latter’s tour as U.S. Champion. Rollins sealed Cena’s fate with a Pedigree on to a steel chair provided by former “Daily Show” host Jon Stewart, who shocked the WWE Universe by coming to the WWE World Heavyweight Champion’s rescue in the closing moments of the match.

The encounter at Barclays Center in Brooklyn almost didn’t happen at all. Four weeks prior to the 2015 edition of SummerSlam, the Cenation leader suffered a broken nose during a successful U.S. Title defense on Raw against Rollins. Cena underwent emergency surgery for the injury, and his SummerSlam status remained in limbo until mere days before WWE’s hottest event of the summer.

For his part, Rollins’ motivation for a rematch with Cena included far more than revenge for their Raw showdown. The Davenport, Iowa, native publicly declared his hope of adding the U.S. Title to his trophy case, but privately has dealt with criticism of his championship pedigree as well as claims of his reign being regularly protected by The Authority.
Cena’s stature and strength set the tone in the bout’s early moments. While the crowd feverishly chanted their thoughts about the U.S. Champion, Cena, who competed without any kind of protective mask to protect his recent nose injury, powered past his opponent with a series of takedowns and shoulder blocks that demonstrated his physical capabilities in the ring.

Momentum stayed behind Cena until Rollins started to show off an arsenal of moves that was as flashy as the all-white outfit he wore to ringside. The maneuvers, from a wicked neckbreaker to to a vicious chest stomp from the top rope to a successful Figure Four Leglock reversal, each appeared as part of the former Shield defector’s overall goal — expose the vulnerability of the 15-time World Champion’s broken nose by hitting him with a Pedigree.

Raw Result: Seth Rollins & John Cena sign their SummerSlam Contract
Video: SummerSlam Promo Video
Video: Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton

Seth’s Address for Cena/Title Challenge
The Champ is … still not here, and Seth Rollins is loving life as a result. But while John Cena wasn’t there to respond to Rollins’ in-absentia jabs (he will be on Tough Enough tomorrow, though), a few other Superstars took advantage of an offhanded mention of The Architect’s previous WWE World Heavyweight Championship Open Challenge to cut the comedy routine short and position themselves as next in line for the title. So, before Rollins could even finish running down Cena, he had Cesaro, Randy Orton and Kevin Owens all wanting a piece of him. One absentminded insult of The Authority later and Rollins found himself on the receiving end of some tough love from Triple H himself: Rollins would be defending his title in Raw’s main event against the winner of a Triple Threat between Orton, Cesaro and Owens.

Rollins vs. Orton (For the WWE Title)
They say St. Patrick chased the snakes out of Ireland, and so too did Sheamus chase The Viper, Randy Orton, out of his WWE World Heavyweight Title Match against Seth Rollins by making a well-scouted if ultimately ill-fated attempt to cash in his Money in the Bank contract. Orton earned his dance with The Architect by knocking off Cesaro and Kevin Owens earlier in the night, but he seemed fresh as a daisy going toe-to-toe with the champion in Raw’s final moments.
If Rollins had any steam to put him ahead of Orton, it was slight; The Apex Predator had answers for everything he did until Rollins turned his foe’s “vintage” hanging DDT against him. Even then, The Viper rallied to catch a springboarding Rollins with an RKO, but that’s when Sheamus made his move, dispatching The Viper, Brogue Kicking Rollins and signaling for his cash-in … until Orton returned with a final RKO to The Celtic Warrior.

Raw Result: Randy Orton def. Seth Rollins by DQ (Due to interruption from Sheamus, Seth Retains the WWE Championship)
Video: Seth Rollins Has Words for Cena
Video: Seth Rollins vs. Randy Orton

Seth’s Address for Cena/Title Challenge
The Champ is … still not here, and Seth Rollins is loving life as a result. But while John Cena wasn’t there to respond to Rollins’ in-absentia jabs (he will be on Tough Enough tomorrow, though), a few other Superstars took advantage of an offhanded mention of The Architect’s previous WWE World Heavyweight Championship Open Challenge to cut the comedy routine short and position themselves as next in line for the title. So, before Rollins could even finish running down Cena, he had Cesaro, Randy Orton and Kevin Owens all wanting a piece of him. One absentminded insult of The Authority later and Rollins found himself on the receiving end of some tough love from Triple H himself: Rollins would be defending his title in Raw’s main event against the winner of a Triple Threat between Orton, Cesaro and Owens.

Rollins vs. Orton (For the WWE Title)
They say St. Patrick chased the snakes out of Ireland, and so too did Sheamus chase The Viper, Randy Orton, out of his WWE World Heavyweight Title Match against Seth Rollins by making a well-scouted if ultimately ill-fated attempt to cash in his Money in the Bank contract. Orton earned his dance with The Architect by knocking off Cesaro and Kevin Owens earlier in the night, but he seemed fresh as a daisy going toe-to-toe with the champion in Raw’s final moments.
If Rollins had any steam to put him ahead of Orton, it was slight; The Apex Predator had answers for everything he did until Rollins turned his foe’s “vintage” hanging DDT against him. Even then, The Viper rallied to catch a springboarding Rollins with an RKO, but that’s when Sheamus made his move, dispatching The Viper, Brogue Kicking Rollins and signaling for his cash-in … until Orton returned with a final RKO to The Celtic Warrior.

Raw Result: Seth Rollins def. Neville in an Open Challenge (To Retain the WWE Championship), Challenges John Cena to a title for title match at SummerSlam.
Video: The Roster Honours Roddy Piper with a Ten Bell Salute
Video: Seth Rollins vs. Adrian Neville

Seth’s Opening Address
The Champ is … not here, thanks to a knee to “The Face That Runs the Place” from Seth Rollins that turned John Cena’s nose into mush and condemned him to a rare stint on the injured list. But while The Champ mulls Rollins’ winner take all, title-for-title challenge for SummerSlam, the dueling factors of nostalgia and hubris (San Jose is where Rollins won the WWE World Heavyweight Title and Cena started his own U.S. Open Challenge) moved The Architect to institute his own open title defense in Raw’s opening moments.

Rollins vs. Neville
Thanks to a few Authority-imposed stipulations — the challenger must be shorter than 6-feet and less than 200 hundred pounds — Rollins thought he was getting El Torito. Instead, he got Neville. And he almost lost, too, if not for a fateful foot on the ropes that saved Rollins from a three-count after the Red Arrow. The Architect managed to evade the second attempt and win with the Pedigree, but boy, was that close.