Cesaro vs. Seth Rollins
And Cesaro came out to Sheamus' music too despite the absence of the Celtic Warrior. God bless the Swiss Superman! In case you didn't know, Sheamus is in Ireland for his annual sabbatical.
Rollins and Cesaro locked up as the opening bell rang.Cesaro outpowered the Kingslayer with some epic arm strength. He kicked Rollins in the gut and trash talked the former WWE Champion.
Rollins retaliated with a barrage of strikes, kicks and knife-edged chops. Cesaro hit back by dropping Rollins on the rope as RAW cut to a commercial break.
Cesaro continued to wear Rollins down as we returned from the break. These two showed incredible chemistry and the indy familiarity was all there to be seen. A good spot followed when Cesaro caught Rollins in mid-air and swirled him around into a backbreaker, all in a single motion. He got a very close pinfall for his superhuman efforts.
Rollins played the babyface underdog to perfection as Cesaro dominated for most parts of the match. The former WWE Champion finally created some separation and the pace of the bout picked up again. He delivered a Booker-T-esque Axe Kick to the back of Cesaro's head that was resting on the middle rope.
He followed it up with the Suicide Dive and the fans in attendance loved every bit of it. As Graves mentioned, the finish is around the corner and it showed great promise, however, RAW cut to a break. Sigh!
Rollin was on a roll after the break as he hit the Falcon Arrow for a two-count. Cesaro caught Rollins off guard with a roll-up for a two-count and didn't let go of the pressure as he yanked his leg and began the Swing. Transition into the Sharpshooter and Rollins was now in deep trouble
He wriggled his way to the bottom rope, forcing the referee to break the hold. Cesaro looked to rearrange his face with the Neutralizer but Rollins countered with the superkick. Both men were down at this point, gasping for air, as the end was near.
Cesaro went for the springboard elbow but a groggy Rollins had him scouted and revered it into the Kings' Landing. 1-2-3!
Result: Seth Rollins def. Cesaro
Charlie Caruso asked Rollins about the Shield status after the match, in the wake of Reigns winning the IC title and Dean Ambrose away on his honeymoon. Rollins trashed the rumours of a split and invoked their rematch clause for the tag team titles for next week.
Thankfully, the Hounds of Justice are very much still together and by the looks of it, we have seen nothing yet!