Show
Time and location
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Believe this: Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins, brothers-turned-rivals and back, reformed their alliance and burned down “The Bar,” defeating Cesaro & Sheamus in Brooklyn’s Barclays Center to become the new Raw Tag Team Champions.
Yes, this really happened. Not only did The Lunatic Fringe successfully win tag team gold with the man he once vowed to hunt to the ends of the Earth, but the two reunited Shield-mates knocked off one of the most imposing tandems in WWE to do it. Cesaro & Sheamus held an undeniable early advantage over the challengers, bullying them around the ring and employing a tag team strategy that was all but ironclad. The Swiss Cyborg knocked Ambrose off the apron into the path of a waiting Brogue Kick, while Sheamus joined in with his partner to smash Rollins hip-first onto the arena floor.
With The Lunatic Fringe briefly kayoed, Sheamus metaphorically tore Rollins to pieces, while Cesaro leapt over the outside barricade and literally tore apart a beach ball that had been making its way through the capacity crowd. Even though Ambrose roused to life and helped get his team back in the match, “The Bar” held a narrow advantage by the skin of their fingertips.
Ambrose & Rollins got more and more innovative, but the titles remained just beyond their reach, usually because either Cesaro or Sheamus saved the other from disaster. (The King of Swing had the biggest save of all, bailing Sheamus out of a potential double powerbomb.) Now, it was Ambrose who found himself isolated and trapped in Cesaro’s Sharpshooter after Sheamus flattened Rollins with a rolling senton to the outside. The champs took full advantage of the two-on-one, hitting a top-rope clothesline-powerbomb combo and landing a cheap shot after a brief distraction of the referee.
This wasn’t exactly overwhelming to The Lunatic Fringe, who all but dared the champions to hit him with their best shot. So, they did, setting him up for a double-team White Noise variation. But the move never hit home. Rollins repaid Ambrose’s earlier assault and rose to life, connecting with a springboard hurricanrana that hurled Cesaro into his partner, then superkicking both champs and blasting the legal man Sheamus with his ripcord knee to the face. Ambrose provided the finishing touch to The Alabaster Gladiator, hitting Dirty Deeds to break “The Bar” and win the Raw Tag Team Titles.
Given that the new titleholders celebrated their win with the old-school Shield fist bump, allow us to sum it up in the only way that feels appropriate: “November, Echo, Whiskey, Charlie, Hotel, Alpha, Mike, Papa, Sierra.”