Raw: March 2, 2015

Roman Reigns confronted Seth Rollins

The Big Dog aims to silence his former Shield "brother."

NEWARK, N.J. — Seth Rollins opened Raw in a positively Zen mood, having successfully goaded Jon Stewart to trek across the bridge and into Brick City to appear on Raw after their online back-and-forth led to a dustup on “The Daily Show” last week. Of course, Roman Reigns ain’t one to let his enemies relax for long. The No. 1 contender to Brock Lesnar’s WWE World Heavyweight Championship put a swift end to Rollins’ showboating, though. Reigns crashed Mr. Money in the Bank’s opening segment, socking him in the mouth and obliterating J&J Security with a Superman Punch (to Jamie Noble) and a Spear (to Joey Mercury). Let’s just say, if Stewart throws a right hand half as good as Reigns does, Rollins has got himself in deep trouble.

Dean Ambrose def. Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett

The Lunatic Fringe battles the true bearer of the Intercontinental Championship.

Man, Bad News Barrett can’t catch a break, can he? The Englishman (reluctantly, one must assume) tussled with Dean Ambrose to reclaim his pilfered Intercontinental Championship. But right as he was about to avenge his recent misfortunes and get his hardware back in advance of his Ladder Match defense at WrestleMania, Barrett found himself robbed once again by R-Truth from the commentary table.

Photos:  "Team player" goes into business for himself

The impetus for Truth’s second consecutive theft was Barrett shoving the former U.S. Champion at ringside. Luke Harper quickly one-upped Truth, though, materializing at ringside and wordlessly demanding the title from Truth right as Barrett had Ambrose lined up for the Bull Hammer before calmly strolling away with the prize. The latest theft of his title threw Barrett into a frenzy, and Ambrose was right there to pick the bones with Dirty Deeds. And the game of keep away continues.

Bray Wyatt addressed The Undertaker

"The New Face of Fear" sets a casket ablaze in his latest attempt to lure The Phenom from the shadows.

For weeks now, Bray Wyatt has sent dispatches to The Undertaker in an attempt to summon him from the void for a confrontation at WrestleMania. The Eater of Worlds’ latest address to The Deadman not only revealed the fruits of his darkened labor over the last month – a massive, wooden casket – but a grisly demonstration of what awaits The Phenom should he resurface: Following a sermon on the destructive powers of fire, Wyatt doused the box in gasoline and set it ablaze onstage, daring The Undertaker to find him.

The Usos & Naomi def. WWE Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Tyson Kidd & Natalya

Drama unfolds as Jimmy & Jey Uso team with Naomi to take on the WWE Tag Team Champions and the crafty Natalya.

Notch a loss in the books for the tag team division’s noted cat enthusiasts (and reigning champions). Cesaro, Tyson Kidd & Natalya fell short in Mixed Tag Team action against The Usos & Naomi, with whom the trio has been butting heads in some form or another through much of the past month. Everyone got involved in the scuffle, with Natalya subbing in and re-injuring her already tweaked leg, prompting Kidd to spell her moments later. An oncoming double-superkick caused Kidd to flee the ring in terror and tag in a disbelieving Nattie, and Naomi quickly pounced with a rollup moments later.

John Cena def. Curtis Axel

The Cenation leader must prove himself against AxelMania's No. 1 supporter, sending a message to United States Champion Rusev.

Hopefully, you did as Curtis Axel asked and refrained from changing the channel during his match against John Cena. If you did, you might have missed the rather exuberant beating the Cenation leader perpetrated upon The Ax Man. Truth be told, Cena had a reason to administer such a pasting. Moments after Cena declared himself an entrant into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, Stephanie McMahon shot him down. She all but banned him from a spot on the WrestleMania card altogether unless he convinced Rusev to give him the U.S Title rematch he wanted in the first place. She then placed him into the match with Axel to prove her point.

Photos: Stephanie lays down the law |  AxelMania runs wild, brother

Axel’s own bullheaded quest to win the Battle Royal now includes billing himself as the greatest Royal Rumble Match competitor of all time. With a billed Rumble time of 35 days and 23 hours, the former Intercontinental Champion’s got a point. But it took Cena far less time to destroy Axel, submitting him with the STF despite a Hogan-esque display of bravado from The Ax Man. The downside? All that wasn’t enough to convince Rusev and Lana to give Cena another opportunity at the U.S. Title on The Grandest Stage of Them All.

Triple H ‘fired’ Booker T

The Game accuses five-time WCW Champion and WWE Hall of Famer Booker T of being a Sting loyalist.

As Triple H’s historic WrestleMania confrontation with Sting draws closer, it appears The Game won’t tolerate anyone skeptical of his ability to defeat The Vigilante on The Grandest Stage of Them All. First, The King of Kings laid hands on Ric Flair, and the next target of his zero-tolerance policy turned out to be Booker T, whose criticism of the COO and lukewarm assessment of his chances against Sting earned him an on-the-spot firing. Of course, the dismissal turned out to be little more than a farce designed to display Triple H’s power, and Booker was allowed to return to the commentary table in one piece. The message was clear, however: Don’t cross the boss.

Paige def. Divas Champion Nikki Bella via Disqualification

Paige gets some unlikely help to even the odds against The Bella Twins.

The term “Anti-Diva” implies a certain amount of solitude, but give Paige credit: She’s still got some friends, however unlikely, in the Divas division to bail her out of a beatdown when all’s said and done. This came in handy after her Divas Title Match against Nikki Bella, granted as a result of the controversial conclusion to the title bout at WWE Fastlane.

Photos:  AJ returns in Jersey! |  Watch the surprise team-up

Despite Nikki’s unexpected deployment of power maneuvers, Paige rallied to lock in the PTO until Brie, who was roaming at ringside, jumped The Diva of Tomorrow to end the bout in a disqualification. Further humiliation followed the final bell, until AJ Lee, of all people, skipped her way down to the ring and joined forces with Paige to drive Nikki and Brie back. Why team with the woman who ended her record-setting title reign, you ask? Well, as the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. 'Nuff said.

Jon Stewart crashed ‘The Daily Show with Seth Rollins’

Enough about moments of Zen, time for the moment of truth: Jon Stewart finally chose to reveal himself to Seth Rollins about two-thirds of the way through Raw, right as Mr. Money in the Bank was eviscerating the late-night mainstay by mounting a one-man production of “The Daily Show with Seth Rollins.” Stewart, who brought no backup of his own, stepped up to Rollins with true Jersey bravado and called the legitimacy of his Money in the Bank victory into question, but understandably withered ever so slightly when J&J Security advanced on the outmatched anchor.

Donate Now:  Stewart hosts Comedy Central's "Night of Too Many Stars"

What a relief, then, that Randy Orton showed up? Strange as it sounds, The Apex Predator's arrival outta nowhere stopped Rollins in his tracks right as he was set to lay hands on the Comedy Central icon. Stewart capitalized by kicking Rollins full on in the crotch and making his timely escape while Orton looked on the whole scene in disbelief. Jersey strong, baby.

Daniel Bryan def. Luke Harper

The "Yes!" Man takes on the eerie Luke Harper.

Gain a championship, lose a match. Luke Harper’s weird moral victory earlier in the night when he stole the Intercontinental Championship from Bad News Barrett didn’t give him any kind of a champion’s advantage against Daniel Bryan. The “Yes!” Man sent the bearded behemoth back to the swamp in their one-on-one contest.

Watch: Who has the Intercontinental Title now? |  Photos of Bryan vs. Harper

The win was the easiest part in what had been, up till that point, a grueling slog for The Beard. Tossed about and battered to a pulp by Harper, Bryan was out on his feet thanks to repeated attacks on his surgically repaired neck. He pulled himself out of the fire by the skin of his teeth, though, reversing Harper’s crossface into the “Yes!” Lock for a quick tapout. Most baffling of all, however, was the scrum that erupted over Harper’s ill-gotten title when Dean Ambrose, R-Truth, Harper, Barrett and finally a superkick-throwing Dolph Ziggler all played hot potato with the championship while a perplexed Bryan looked on.

Seth Rollins def. Roman Reigns

Roman Reigns clashes with Seth Rollins in a huge Raw main event, with several Authority associates looking on from ringside.

First up, Paul Heyman, in epic fashion, said Roman Reigns had no chance of beating WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania. The Big Dog took a step toward proving that wrong in Raw’s main event by taking Seth Rollins, who has been in the ring with Lesnar, to the limit.

Photos: Heyman spits fire at The Big Dog | Rollins and Reigns collide in Newark 

Yes, Reigns held the early advantage by targeting Rollins’ groin. Yes, Kane and Big Show both felt Reigns’ wrath at ringside, as well as J&J Security (rough night for those guys). And yes, Randy Orton’s arrival — but not in Rollins’ corner, after a backstage verbal scuffle with The Authority — threw Mr. Money in the Bank off his game. But that same Viper snatched the victory from Reigns all the same. A big back body drop off the top from Reigns led to a one-armed sit-out powerbomb and the Superman Punch that followed set up for the Spear. Orton’s timely trip-up, though, allowed Rollins to claim the win with a rollup. A furious Reigns didn’t let the loss sink in for long, taking out the entire Authority singlehandedly (save Orton, who made a quick getaway). He may be ready for Lesnar yet. He certainly believes that.