The go home edition of Raw was live last night from Brock Lesnar’s home state of Minnesota. This year’s Summerslam is a 4 hour show, so WWE had a lot of ground to cover last night. John Cena and Dolph Ziggler returned, the NXT women reigned supreme and The Undertaker is kind of a dick. Let’s get to the 5 stars from last nights Raw!

1. Roman Reigns

Reigns and Harper had easily the best match on the show, and while a lot of that has to be attributed to the workhorse that is Luke Harper, Reigns had an impressive showing as well. The problem I have with Reigns is probably the same problem everyone else has with him, which is the same problem we’ve had with Cena forever. I’m past the point of thinking Reigns is going to lose, but Jesus Christ man, sell once in awhile. He and Harper go through a 15 minute war and Reigns wins and just hops around like he just got finished with a brisk job. Reigns should have lost after Harper hit the super kick/sit out power bomb, but that’s too much to ask of WWE right now. So if he’s not going to lose, at least have him make it look like he’s had a tough match. He’s got the look, his in ring skills are coming around and as long as his promo’s are kept relatively short, he’ll have no problem being the guy. But being the next John Cena is never going to work, so figure out something else and stick with it.

 2. NXT Women

Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks both won Raw matches via submission, and the NXT women continue to dominate on Raw. The only problem I see with this is that the same stuff has been happening since all three debuted. Nikki Bella is still champion, Team Bella is still referred to as the standard bearer of the Diva’s division and we haven’t even gotten a pay per view Diva’s title match yet. All 9 of the Divas are in an elimination tag match at Summerslam, so I guess we have to wait until Night of Champions for something to actually happen. I love the actual wrestling, but it seems to me that they’re going in circles. If you’re trying to buy time until Nikki Bella passes AJ Lee as the longest reigning Diva’s champion, fine, but at least develop a #1 contender to her title. As great as the NXT women are, they need a storyline beyond ‘I have two friends and six enemies”.

3. Seth Rollins

Rollins’ promo was a little long winded, but when you’re wearing a t-shirt that says ‘never shuts up’, that’s to be expected. As refreshing as his words were, this isn’t the first time someone has called out John Cena on his bullshit, and it won’t be the last. I still liked the promo though, and obviously Rollins is right. Honestly all you have to do is look back on the Kevin Owens feud to see that everything Cena says is bullshit. Owens beat him, CLEAN, in the middle of the ring, which is the one thing Cena asked the young guys to do. Cena has a rematch before the fucking pay per view is even over, and continues to beat Owens until he’s on to the next thing. Cena thinks by saying Owens is a ‘hell of a competitor’ that it negates the fact that he just tossed another young guy aside so he could stay on top, but of course it doesn’t. I know Owens is great on the microphone and in the ring, but what he needed, and what Bray Wyatt and Rusev needed before him, was to beat John Cena without Cena immediately getting back the heat he never lost to begin with. Cena will probably beat Rollins Sunday, and then six months from now the WWE will wonder why none of these young guys are big stars yet.

4. John Cena

As much as Cena completely usurped one of Rollins’ best promos, it still sold the match. Cena’s also got a legit reason to be pissed off, which always helps his promos out. Wacky, funny Cena is the worst Cena, but a John Cena who just wants to beat you up is the best Cena. Rollins legitimately busted his nose and kept him off Raw for a few weeks, and although I disagree with a lot of stuff Cena does, you can’t deny that the guy loves being in the WWE. He lives and breathes the WWE, and not being able to be on Raw and hear the crowd cheer/boo him probably ate him up inside. Also, everything he said was true. The crowd was chanting either ‘let’s go Cena’ or ‘Cena sucks’ but nobody was saying anything about Rollins. That’s mostly the WWE’s fault, but sometimes you have to call a spade a spade. I refuse to pick against Cena anymore, especially if he’s facing a young guy, so unless the Authority interferes, John Cena will be your new super duper champion.

 5. Paul Heyman & Brock Lesnar

Paul Heyman is a special kind of wonderful on the microphone, and watching Brock Lesnar get legitimately teary eyed during his homecoming was weirdly heartwarming. This is the same guy who ripped the door off a car and who could murder me, but is somehow making me root for him against the god damn Undertaker. Speaking of Taker, he’s kind of a dick now, going low on Lesnar for the second time in a month. How pissed off do you think everyone backstage is when they found out you could beat Brock Lesnar by just kicking him in the dick? Taker comes out and gets booed out of the building, which he should, because as much as he’s earned every ovation he’s received, he’s going against the Beast and Brock Lesnar is white hot right now. Plus, Brock beat Taker fair and square at WM 30. Lesnar was the alpha male and Taker was the old man. He didn’t’ cheat. He just beat him until he couldn’t get up anymore, so Taker is really coming off as a jackass. Heyman’s promo was great, too, and he continues to switch his delivery up and simultaneously hype up Brock and sell whatever match he’s pegged with selling. I hope Brock goes over Sunday, but you never know with the Undertaker involved. Either way, it should be one hell of a main event.

-Ryan