The Independence Day episode was as expected, quite sedate, with more pageantry than wrestling value. The show kicked off with a food fight before Lilian Garcia solemnized the evening with an impressive rendition of the Star Spangled Banner.
The WWE showed their faith in Rusev’s heel skill by letting him retain the US Championship over an Apollo Creed-looking Titus O’Neil. Enzo and Cass quickened the pace as they always do before what was probably the most meaningful segment of the evening played out with Sasha Banks laying her claim to the WWE Women’s Championship.
The rest of the evening was pretty pedestrian sprinkled with a few matches that led nowhere. The only things that caught the eye were the New Day – Wyatts segment and Enzo and Cass rescuing John Cena.
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The segment actually spawned two things – a match at Battleground(!!!) and the evening’s dark match. John Cena and Enzo and Cass teamed up against the Club. Karl Anderson did Randy Orton’s pre-RKO coil before trying to hit the move on Cena. The 15-time WWE Champion reversed it into the AA and got the win for his team.
John Cena did what he does best after the match, bringing a young cancer survivor named Isaac into the ring and naming him an honorary WWE Superstar for the evening. Cena got the crowd to cheer for the child before holding up a sign he had brought. Here’s the video: