Raw opened up with a match between Team USA and the Rhodes Scholars. Commissioner Real Deal came out before the match and told Smackdown’s GM Roose to watch this match to see what the future holds for his boys at Payback.
The Scholars tried their hardest but Angle and Henry ran over them in impressive fashion. Henry hit the World’s Strongest Slam on Rhodes twice, once to end the match and once again after the bell. Angle disposed of Sandow with an Olympic Slam. Real Deal told Roose that he couldn’t wait to see USA dismantle his weak team.
Next was a match between Jack Swagger and R-Truth. Truth had been on a bit of a losing streak and hoped to turn things around against Swagger. Truth had control of the match, but a failed top rope leg drop turned the match into Swagger’s favor. After a gut wrench powerbomb, it looked like Swagger would be victorious. Truth was able to get his foot on the rope during the pin attempt; however, the referee missed it and counted the three. Truth argued with the referee but the man in stripes stuck with his decision.
The Shield came to the ring. Dean Ambrose reiterated that they were unstoppable as a unit and would continue to hold the Tag Team titles. Seth Rollins stated that he and Ambrose had matches tonight and would prove that they were stars in the WWE. Roman Reigns took the mic, adding that they were relegated to singles matches because nobody has the guts to challenge them as a team.
With that, they were interrupted by the APA, who said “we accept” and walked away. The Shield looked at each other and stormed up the ramp after the APA.
Backstage, the Big Show was with Swagger, celebrating Swagger’s victory. Big Show said he was proud of Swagger, overcoming last week’s loss to pick up a victory tonight. Show added that he’s been impressed with Swagger’s growth as a wrestler since he’s been helping out. Swagger reminded Show that he has a match tonight with Ryback. Show said he’s been looking forward to it and hopes to bring Swagger a bit of revenge.
The Big Show then headed to the ring to take on Ryback. Ryback was unable to use his strength initially against the 440 pound Big Show. The match was even until the end when Ryback gained an advantage. He hit the Big Show with the Meathook Clothesline and then signalled for Shellshocked.
Ryback, however, was unable to lift the Big Show onto his shoulders and became frustrated. This gave Big Show enough time to recover and hit a surprise KO punch. Ryback fell out of the ring and was eventually counted out as he couldn’t recover from the punch.
Ziggler aired a grievance on Raw.
Dolph Ziggler was interviewed backstage. He angrily said that he technically never lost the Intercontinental Title, so it should still be in his hands. Ziggler said the Intercontinental tournament was an awful idea, while issuing a challenge to the current champion Chris Jericho, since Jericho never beat him for the title. Ziggler said he won’t take no for an answer.
Edge faced off against Seth Rollins. Rollins came to the ring by himself, without the other members of the Shield. Rollins was impressive in the early going, but seemed to wear down late. Edge was able to take advantage, wearing down Rollins and eventually won the match following a spear.
In Diva’s action, Trish Stratus took on Beth Phoenix. In a non-title match, Beth tried to earn herself a a future title shot and she gave Trish her “A” game. Unfortunately for her, AJ got involved once again and helped Trish take the victory. AJ then entered the ring to celebrate with Trish, who reluctantly embraced her helper.
The main event for the night was the young Dean Ambrose against the experienced Chris Jericho. Like Rollins, Ambrose came to the ring solo. It was a back and forth match with the two trading blows. The two competitors traded pin attempts with neither getting past a two count.
Jericho eventually hit the Lionsault, and looked to win the match but Ambrose kicked out once more. Ambrose battled to his feet and was able to floor Jericho with a clothesline. As Ambrose stalked Jericho to put him away, Y2J pulled out a surprise Codebreaker to win the match.
Kane came to the ring to discuss last week’s events. He called Lesnar and Punk cowards for beating up his buddy Daniel Bryan. The Big Red Machine called the duo a menace to the WWE and said that they need to be stopped.
This brought out CM Punk, who disagreed. He said that he’s already beaten top challengers such as Steve Austin and Daniel Bryan. Punk joked that he guesses Kane wants a shot because his buddy Bryan couldn’t finish the job. Kane responded that he wants the match because Punk and Lesnar are a disgrace to the WWE and their beatdown of Bryan was unwarranted.
Punk acted like he thought the whole thing was a joke and told Kane that it didn’t matter who was the challenger, whether it be Bryan or Steve Austin or even Kane himself. Kane replied by telling Punk that he should put the title on the line at Payback. Punk said that he’d think about it, but had one last present for Kane before he left.
Then, Brock Lesnar appeared out of the crowd and slid into the ring. As Kane turned around, Lesnar lifted the confused Kane and hit him with an F-5. Punk smiled and gave Lesnar thumbs up as Raw ended.
Real Deal vs Roose: Road to Wrestlemania 