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Dean Ambrose Declares his Loyalty to the Shield & Faces Braun Strowman
So, what’s the deal with Dean Ambrose and The Shield? After much speculation about whether The Lunatic Fringe would turn on The Hounds of Justice last week, the former WWE Champion opened Raw with an interview with Charly Caruso meant to address the lingering questions of The Lunatic’s loyalty. However, the former WWE Champion refused to allow himself to be pinned down: Even though he acknowledged the “truth” of what Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre said about him and cryptically (and maybe sarcastically) hinted that if he was going to turn on Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, he’d probably wait until everybody least expected it, Ambrose ultimately declared he’d rather be judged by his actions rather than the speculation of the WWE Universe.

He closed the interview by confirming The Shield would be a united front heading into WWE Super Show-Down on Saturday, but at least one Superstar wasn’t buying it. Acting General Manager Baron Corbin, still smarting from his loss last week, gave Ambrose a chance to show where he really stood by choosing one of three options for his match on Raw: A Universal Championship Match against Reigns, an Intercontinental Championship Match with Rollins, or a one-on-one match with Strowman. When Ambrose tried to turn it around and finagle a match with Corbin, The Lone Wolf made the decision for The Lunatic Fringe, placing him in an immediate match with Strowman instead.

Could Dean Ambrose beat Braun Strowman? He certainly came close when he planted The Monster Among Men with a surprise Dirty Deeds after a long, grueling bout that was going Strowman’s way until The Lunatic Fringe up and dropped his foe with the double-arm DDT that once won Ambrose the WWE Championship. But it wasn’t enough: Strowman kicked out of the pinfall, rolled out of the ring and (despite a frantic follow-up from Ambrose) quickly turned the proceedings from a match into a statement beating — one so severe Roman Reigns appeared to run interference, clocking Stroman with a Superman Punch that led to a disqualification win for The Monster Among Men. It also set up the evening’s next match: After Seth Rollins joined the fight and Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre arrived to even the odds, Baron Corbin re-emerged to restore order by immediately sanctioning Reigns vs. Ziggler, as well as Rollins vs. McIntyre for later in the evening.

As for Ambrose, he wasn’t crazy about the whole thing. In fact, when Rollins went to check on his brother in the trainer’s room, The Lunatic Fringe pointedly reminded The Kingslayer that he could have left Raw as Intercontinental Champion if he made a different choice.

Drew McIntyre def. Seth Rollins
Braun Strowman made it clear before Drew McIntyre battled Seth Rollins that he would not accept a weak link in his squad as WWE Super Show-Down approaches. His pointed stare at Dolph Ziggler did not go unnoticed, nor did McIntyre’s failure to defend his fellow Raw Tag Team Champion — which is probably why The Showoff made his presence known in the waning moments of McIntyre vs. Rollins, dashing into the ring to administer a pre-Stomp distraction that freed up McIntyre to blast Seth with the Claymore for the win.

All hell broke loose quickly after the match, however, as Roman Reigns, Strowman and finally Dean Ambrose — axe handle in hand — threw hands in a chaotic six-way brawl. Ziggler was a key figure in the fray as well, administering the Zig Zag to Reigns and assisting with the Claymore-Zig Zag combo on Ambrose. Strowman got the last word with a Running Powerslam to Reigns, and the “pack” ended their evening with a Shield-style fist bump of their own. If there is a weak link to be found, it’s hard to see.

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Seth Rollins def. Dolph Ziggler (IC Title Re-Match)
What, you thought a little 15-foot trip off the side of Hell in a Cell and through a table would be enough to take the Intercontinental Title off of Seth Rollins? Despite an overt attempt by Dolph Ziggler and Acting General Manager Baron Corbin to swindle the championship off The Kingslayer’s waist — Corbin thought Rollins was too banged-up to compete and offered to hand Ziggler the title via forfeit if he invoked his rematch clause — the champion showed up and fought through the pain, denying The Showoff’s bid for his seventh Intercontinental Championship.

Neither was at 100 percent. Rollins was clutching his back at every turn, and the typically spry Showoff was a step slower than usual, turning the bout into a war of attrition. Rollins was too worn down to complete the superplex-Falcon Arrow twofer, giving The Showoff a crack at a tights-assisted rollup. But Rollins had enough left to hit the Stomp seconds later, and even though it took him longer than usual to crawl over for the cover, two nights’ worth of damage was enough to keep Ziggler down for three. Give Dolph credit for a well-fought battle, but if anybody wants to end Seth Rollins’ Intercontinental Title reign, they’ll clearly need to throw him off a bigger cage.

Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose stop an assault on Roman Reigns
Braun Strowman showed up to attack Reigns after the restart, instigating a brawl that ended up roping in Dolph Ziggler, Drew McIntyre and the rest of The Shield. But even with all conceivable odds stacked in his favor, Corbin fell to a quick-strike Spear when he attempted to make his move. Strowman, Ziggler & McIntyre opted not to make a move on The Shield, seemingly preferring to save their energy for WWE Super Show-Down. So while it’ll take more than shenanigans to topple Roman Reigns as champion, that doesn’t mean a big fight isn’t on the way all the same.

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Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler def. Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins (Tag Team Title Match)
It’s not every day that The Shield walk into a fight and don’t come out the winner, so it says a lot about Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre that they held off two of The Hounds of Justice — Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins — to retain the Raw Tag Team Championship … even if they resorted to some rule-breaking when things truly got dire.

Ambrose & Rollins came into the match looking to prove themselves as workhorses, and while they certainly worked hard, the champions worked smart, staying juuust on the right side of the rulebook while employing a timely array of distractions and interference to stop the challengers from reaching full steam. When Ambrose chopped McIntyre down to his knees, Ziggler jumped the ropes to start a commotion that helped the Scotsman escape. When Rollins had Ziggler lined up for a suicide dive, McIntyre tripped him up in the ropes, and The Showoff pounced with a DDT.

As the match began to go long, strategy seemed to go out the window, with Ambrose throwing hands at anything that moved (he had eyes for McIntyre in particular) and Rollins answering Ziggler’s counters with counters of his own in an athletic showcase. Eventually, the champions managed to work their way back to their initial game plan, though they were far less subtle this time around as McIntyre blatantly rushed the ring and struck in the middle of a Rollins sequence, obliterating The Kingslayer with the Claymore while he was hoisting Ziggler up for the Falcon Arrow. The Showoff fell on top of the KO’d Rollins to earn the three-count, ending a bout that may well have remade the Tag Team division as Corey Graves said — yes, it was that good. But even if the game has changed, the titles stay where they are.

Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose Attack Drew & Dolph during the World Title Match
According to Braun Strowman, all Mick Foley had to do as the Special Guest Referee was count the pinfall on Universal Champion Roman Reigns. As it turned out, the conclusion to the main event of WWE Hell in a Cell wasn’t so simple, as the arrival of several Superstars, including Brock Lesnar, brought the bout to an unprecedented ending: A no contest.

Even for the notoriously anything-goes Cell, which just that night had played host to borderline torture from Randy Orton, the Reigns-Strowman bout was shaping up to be particularly lawless. Strowman was so sure he’d win the bout — which doubled as his Money in the Bank cash-in — that he snatched the Universal Title out of Reigns’ hands just before the bell. The Monster Among Men certainly backed up his bravado, though, beating The Big Dog about the crimson structure with gleeful abandon and kicking out of every Spear and Superman Punch thrown his way — and there were a few. As he said to Reigns himself, “your boys can’t help you.”

Except, maybe they could. When Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre — Strowman’s “Dogs of War” — attempted to force their way into the Cell, Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins ran interference and initiated a mad scramble around and atop the Hell in a Cell. All four Superstars threw fists and swung kendo sticks with reckless abandon atop the harrowing structure, and the brawl ended with McIntyre and Ambrose laid out atop the cage, while Rollins and Ziggler tumbled off the side through the commentary table. Then, Brock Lesnar’s music hit, and what had been a figurative hell turned literal very fast.

The Beast Incarnate, who lost the Universal Title to Reigns at SummerSlam (and had been denied the rematch he wanted at WWE Hell in a Cell), kicked open the door and attacked both champion and challenger, reducing a chunk of a table to splinters across their backs before laying both out with F-5s — Reigns landing on top of Strowman. Paul Heyman, meanwhile, incapacitated Foley with what looked like pepper spray to the face, leaving the replacement ref no choice but to call off the match. So Strowman’s cash-in fails. Reigns’ big defense ends in ruins. And Brock Lesnar is ready and willing to unleash hell on anyone who’s anywhere near the Universal Championship.

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The Shield Attack the Heel Locker-Room
Last week, Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre got themselves a bunch of new friends last week when half the Raw Superstars helped them lay out The Shield. That said, it doesn’t seem from Raw’s opening moments like that alliance was anything more than a partnership of convenience.

After thanking the Superstars who had made what Ziggler called the “hard choice” of standing up to The Shield, Strowman & Co. found their backup all but evaporated after The Hounds of Justice came down through the audience, axe handles in tow, and tried to fight their way to Braun and his “dogs of war.” Rather than throw down on even footing, however, Strowman, Ziggler & McIntyre opted to head for higher ground.

Once again, however, The Shield found themselves in a standoff with the law, as local police officers cornered The Hounds of Justice backstage. Rather than have them hauled off to prison a second time, however, Acting General Manager Baron Corbin offered them an ultimatum: The Shield must vacate the premises, or Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins would forfeit the Universal and Intercontinental Championships and all three would go to jail for a “long, long time.” The Shield can call this skirmish a victory, but clearly, the bigger battle isn’t quite being dictated on their terms just yet.

Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose Attack Drew & Dolph after their Match
With their win over The B-Team, Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre cleared the decks of competition and cemented themselves as the kings of Raw’s Tag Team division, but they might find that it’s harder to hold the throne down than it was to take it.

Even though the champs held off an effort by The B-Team that was so gritty and inspired that they had to resort to chicanery — McIntyre dispatched Curtis Axel with a Glasgow Kiss, and Ziggler raked Bo Dallas’ eyes — to set up the Claymore-Zig Zag combo, they didn’t get to enjoy the fruits of their labor: Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins jumped the titleholders from behind immediately after the match and sent them scurrying.

Acting General Manager Baron Corbin was furious that his edict had been defied and The Shield had returned, but Rollins & Ambrose pointed out that they were acting on their own, and The Shield had technically kept to their word and stayed away. They also seemed to get Corbin to kind of-sort of admit he had them arrested last week, bringing out a Deputy Sheriff (“G. Ambrose,” according to his uniform) to take The Lone Wolf into custody. However, after a quick sidebar, Rollins & Ambrose opted not to press charges and Corbin later ruled that Ziggler & McIntyre would defend their titles against Ambrose & Rollins at the WWE Hell in a Cell pay-per-view. His reason? That Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon wanted Sunday’s event to have as many big matches as possible.

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Seth Rollins def. Kevin Owens (Open Challenge for the IC Title)
It’s been a terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad summer for Kevin Owens, but it appears the former Universal Champion’s woes may be over. Not because he made good on his promise to leave Toronto with a title, mind you, but because KO’s fiercely contested bid for the Intercontinental Championship ended in a loss that left him so demoralized he up and quit on the spot.

The match came about in the first place because Seth Rollins had reinstituted his Intercontinental Title Open Challenge policy when it became clear former champion Dolph Ziggler was otherwise occupied. That brought out Owens, who was hungry for redemption after a Raw return that has not gone quite as he’d hoped. He gave a great fight, too, brutalizing The Architect’s arm and forcing him to fly on a clipped wing. When an agonizing submission and surprise Stunner failed to get the job done, however, KO got desperate with a last-ditch moonsault. Rollins dodged, hit the Stomp, and that was that.

Rather than accept his outstanding performance as a moral victory — to say nothing of Rollins’ post-match nod of respect and a “Kevin Owens” chant from the audience — Owens opted for a knee-jerk reaction of the highest order: After stewing in the ring for the entire commercial break, KO grabbed hold of a microphone and declared, “I quit.”

Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose Main Event Run-In
Last week, Braun Strowman felt the wrath of The Shield. This week, he got even. During a main event that saw The Monster Among Men team with Universal Champion Roman Reigns against Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre, Strowman accepted a crucial tag from a battered Reigns but refused to enter the ring. Instead, The Gift of Destruction gave The Showoff and The Scottish Psychopath free reign to decimate The Big Dog, ending the bout in a disqualification and opening the door for Strowman to exact his payback.

The extended three-on-one beatdown of Reigns first brought out Dean Ambrose and eventually the one-armed Seth Rollins, but the two other Hounds of Justice were no match for the makeshift trio. The Lunatic Fringe suffered the Claymore-Zig Zag combo, Rollins caught a Zig Zag of his own, and all three were subjected to Running Powerslams from The Monster Among Men. Ziggler & McIntyre couldn’t have been more right when they opined that Strowman and Reigns couldn’t get along as partners and that they were teaming only as a matter of pride. What they didn’t realize was how far that pride would motivate Braun Strowman to go.

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