What you need to know
Remember when Brock Lesnar was "The Ass-Kicker"? Turns out, to return for his suspension for attacking the announce team after WrestleMania, Brock had to become "The Apologizer". Rather than just leave well enough alone with the Michael Cole Fallout video reporting that there'd been a monetary settlement, The Beast Incarnate made like a middle school bully forced to apologize by his gym teacher, and a controversial Raw was underway.
Along the way, Paul Heyman described The Authority's motivations for bringing his client back to the fold, setting up an evening long quest for WWE champ Seth Rollins to put "his family" back together by trying to convince Kane and J & J Security that he never meant all the crap he talked about them over the last couple of months. His first olive branch was interfering on the Corporate Monster's behalf, helping Kane to a win against another former "family" member, Dean Ambrose.
Dad of the Year Titus O'Neil, along with fellow Prime Time Player Darren Young, showed why they're the tag champs when they polished off The Ascension. They also showed off that they're still feuding with The New Day, and allied with Neville because they need a third for six-man tags, when they ran interference for the Brit and helped him Red Arrow Kofi Kingston.
Showing us why he wasn't Dad of the Year - and possibly why he's still not held a singles title, Roman Reigns was distracted by Bray Wyatt's latest TitanTron distraction. Forfeited his match with Mr. Money in the Bank Sheamus, Reigns ran backstage because he thought his daughter might be in Indiana without his knowledge. Luckily, she wasn't, but The Eater of Worlds had been very busy with a photo printer and some scissors. The Big Dog better FIND HIM before he's all out of publicity photos.
Issues between Kevin Owens and John Cena are getting personal. Respect between the two men is out the window, at this point, but the United States championship is on the table at Battleground.
Feeling froggy, Intercontinental champion Ryback flew to defeat Mark Henry. That displeased one of his challengers at the next pay-per-view (PPV), as Big Show disrespected the World's Strongest Man and broke up Big Hungry's latest heartfelt promo backstage - with his fists! The other corner of next month's IC Triple Threat triangle was in Florida, prepping to be the best thing about the new Tough Enough, and was spared too much involvement in the tedium of Monday night.
Other ennui-inducing content included: an R-Truth promo before a rare King Barrett victory, The Bella Twins (and new recruit to their army, Alicia Fox) killing time with a win over Naomi & Tamina Snuka while Paige was on Tough duty, and watching Adam Rose tongue kissing Rosa Mendes before losing to Dolph Ziggler, who had been photographed taking a leak by Rusev earlier before the Bulgarian was offered help getting over his ex Lana by Summer Rae.
Phew.
Rounding out a night of apologies, Rollins brought out his crew to kiss some butt - and hopefully recruit some allies for his coming war with the man he curb stomped in San Francisco this Spring. Kane, Jaime Noble and Joey Mercury didn't seem to be buying it, but it was all a ruse (and in Noble's case, he probably wishes he could have been more serious about leaving Seth to take on Brock by himself). Lesnar did some damage (ask Jaime), but in the end fell to DAT NUMBERS GAME, and the champ stood tall following a Choke Slam and a Pedigree.
What to look out for
Toledo, Ohio is where the trucks rolled from Indianapolis, and what you'll see on SyFy tonight was filmed there on Tuesday. So, if you want to know what happened in Klinger's hometown, click here. Otherwise, speculate along with Team Preview...
Okay, it's not TOTAL guesswork, because the front page of cSs told us about Rollins vs. Ambrose, round ∞, and WWE themselves told us about Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler, which will attempt to distract us from the fact that the guy they gave the rub of winning the briefcase to has nothing remotely resembling a storyline by mixing in a lot of Lana making doe-eyes, Rusev acting creepy and Summer Rae boxing out for a rebound.
Even if we gets lots of kissing, none of it should be of either competitors arse, so it'll be a step up from The Show-Off and The Celtic Warrior's last few showdowns.
Big Show getting the mid-week interview treatment means he'll show up, at least via clips from that and probably to advance the Intercontinental title story and maybe even his tension with Mizark. Reigns vs. Wyatt should get some screen time, and hopefully involve the effects Bray's mind games are having on Roman rather than another tea party.
Maybe the Divas story will make sense, or have a clear-cut protagonist? Nah, a Brock Lesnar sighting is more likely than that.
(Note: I know some folks have come looking for a more definitive match listing - that will be posted behind spoiler text in the comments. If WWE.com releases more information on anything that's officially going to take place on tonight's show, that'll be updated here)
Will we get a show-opening promo with the WWE champ gloating about putting his band back together, and will it change anyone's opinion of Monday night!
Entrenched as most of us are in pro wrestling views, it's good to have a fun place to discuss them. Continue to make cSs that place for you, tonight for WWE SmackDown!