Monday Night Raw 30th March 2015

The raucous, predominantly British crowd were all over Triple H as he opened the show, spending the first few minutes in the ring alone as Stephanie had a storyline injury and was supposedly back home recovering. He spent the time blowing his own horn about his victory over Sting at Wrestlemania, then labouring the point once more about how he was the one to engineer Seth Rollins breaking up The Shield. On and on he went about how The Authority had hand picked Seth Rollins as the future of the WWE and had seen him as the champion. A rather loud chant of "Boring" did not even stop him from droning on. Eventually, the time came for the new champion to be introduced. "Allow me to introduce to you, the face of The Authority, the face of WWE, the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion... Seth Rollins!"

Seth's theme music began to play, to a mixed reaction of boos and cheers. The new champion walked out onto the stage wearing his usual leather pants and black t-shirt with the yellow SR logo, with his newly acquired title belt over his shoulder. Ronda walked beside him, wearing jeans and a dark grey Wrestlemania 31 t-shirt. They exchanged a kiss on the stage, then walked to the ring with smiles on their faces. Seth's music stopped when they entered the ring, and the crowd booed as he shared a hug with Triple H.

Next, Triple H approached Ronda and gave her a peck on the cheek and a smile. "Ronda Rousey, ladies and gentlemen," he introduced, as if he was a little surprised by her presence in the ring, but pleasantly so. A suspiciously male sounding cheer was the response to her name from the crowd.

While this was happening, Seth had taken a microphone for himself and stood near to the ropes on the commentary table side of the ring, ready to speak. The crowd booed to fill the silence, but there was no real viciousness to it. Seth was already becoming too popular for that. After a moment, he smiled and shook his head. "I really don't know what to say," he began, addressing Triple H. "I'm the WWE champion. I can't even tell you what I owe you for this." Still acting over awed, Seth widened his arms and offered another hug to Triple H.

The crowd booed the rather sickening show of affection more loudly as Triple H walked over and exchanged another hug with his protégé. "I'm proud of you," the boss could be heard saying to Seth, even though he was not using his microphone. No one in the crowd seemed to have noticed Ronda shift her position slightly on the other side of the ring so that she was directly behind Triple H.

Seth broke off the hug and Triple H turned around. At exactly the same time Ronda sprinted across the ring and literally flung herself through the air, throwing her new finishing move as hard as she could. There was no chance for Triple H to react and avoid the clothesline that was coming his way because he never even saw it coming. Ronda's arm made an audible crack as it impacted with the upper part of Triple H's chest.

The crowd exploded joyfully at the fact that Seth and his girlfriend appeared to be turning on The Authority, but Seth and Ronda wasted no time in enjoying the reaction they were getting. Seth went to work pounding on the fallen Triple H with right hands as Ronda bailed from the ring and quickly grabbed a chair from the ring announcer's position. She rolled back into the ring with it and gestured for Seth to pick Triple H up. The crowd were now going wild and Ronda encouraged them to take it up another notch with a small hand gesture before taking her position ready to strike with the chair.

The noise from the crowd rose in the same way that it did when Daniel Bryan was lining up his trademark kicks to his kneeling opponent's chest. Seth hauled Triple H to his feet and held his almost lifeless form in position for Ronda to swing at with the chair. The crowd's response rose to almost deafening levels and then Ronda swung, catching Triple H flush in the head with the chair, which was a rare thing in the modern era. "Boom!" Most of the crowd took immense pleasure in yelling as the chair shot connected and Triple H crumbled to the floor.

Ronda handed the now slightly bent chair to Seth and then jumped out of the ring. She grabbed another chair from the ring announcer's position as Seth placed Triple H's ankle into the partially open first chair. A "Yes!" chant began to erupt as the crowd figured out what was coming next. Seth was going to put Triple H out of action by breaking his ankle. After getting back in the ring, Ronda handed over the second chair to her boyfriend. "Do it," she said, smiling cruelly.

Seth raised the chair high over his head, and without hesitating, slammed it down onto the other chair and Triple H's ankle. The boss had seemed to be almost unconscious until the impact, but now he began screaming in agony and rolling around the ring, holding his ankle. While this was happening, Ronda had been given a microphone and she was ready to say something, but she had to wait as the crowd were going insane. The cheering was like nothing she had ever experienced in person before, and she felt goose bumps rising on her arms. Involuntarily, a smile broke out on her face. Seth picked up his title belt from where it had fallen to the canvas and walked over to stand next to her as the cheering changed gradually to a chant of, "Ronda Rousey!"

"I think they like you," Seth whispered to her.

"This is crazy," she whispered back, careful not to let the microphone she was holding pick up her words. It was time for her to deliver her first line as a wrestler. "If you wanted The Authority taken out, all you had to do was ask us."

"Seth Rollins and Ronda Rousey have taken out Triple H!" Michael Cole yelled as the crowd cheered yet again. "Stephanie McMahon is injured back home, and now Triple H may have a broken ankle. The Authority are gone!"

"This is disgusting!" JBL protested. "Triple H gave Rollins everything, and this is what he gets for it? And Ronda Rousey is a... Is a... She's a referee, damn it! What was she even doing in the ring to start with, let alone assaulting the boss? She should be fired right now!"

"Who's going to fire her?" Booker T asked. "Don't look like Triple H is going to do it, to me."

During this exchange, Seth and Ronda had left the ring and were heading up the ramp towards the stage as paramedics ran in the opposite direction to come to the aid of Triple H, who was still writing around, holding his supposedly destroyed ankle. Seth and Ronda were shown laughing as they walked through the curtain to the back, then the paramedics were shown for a few moments as the began to attend to Triple H, before the show went to commercial.

After the break, Seth and Ronda were shown talking as they walked along a hallway backstage.

"What these two just did is reprehensible," JBL complained, but then everyone's attention was diverted to someone who was walking in the opposite direction along the hallway. The camera began to track this person instead.

"There's Paul Heyman," Cole said. "From what I hear, his client, Brock Lesnar, is not here tonight after losing the WWE title last night at Wrestlemania. No one has seen Lesnar since, but is Heyman coming out here?"

Heyman was not coming out to the ring. The camera followed him along the hallway until he stopped in front of a door, straightened his suit jacket and then walked in without knocking. The door closed behind him as Booker T asked, "Whose locker room is that? What is Heyman doing?"

The cameraman reached the closed door and the name on it was revealed in the shot. Roman Reigns. The crowd could be heard booing in the arena as they watched on the big screen.

Later in the night, Nikki Bella came to the ring with her Diva's title, fresh from her victory over Paige at Wrestlemania. As usual, her sister Brie accompanied her. They got in the ring and Nikki took a microphone from Lillian Garcia, who was in the ring, seemingly ready to introduce a match.

"Let me save you the trouble," Nikki told Lillian. "There won't be a match for the Diva's title tonight. And do you know why? Because I've already beaten everyone, that's why. Last night I beat Paige so badly that no one knows when she will be back, if ever. I've done it all. There's no one in WWE who can beat me. So for that reason..." She stopped herself and seemed to think for a moment.

"Actually," she began again, "I've changed my mind. Why don't we just go round again? I've beaten them all before, so I'll just do it again. Come on, whoever is in charge back there, throw someone at me. I don't care who it is, just get someone out here." With that, she tossed the microphone back to Lillian and turned to Brie, sharing a joke with her sister. After several moments no one's entrance music had played, so Nikki opened her arms out wide. "Come on," she yelled impatiently.

Some of the crowd began to chant "Ronda!" They were sensing where this might be going, but still nothing happened. However, just when it began to appear that no one was going to accept Nikki's open challenge of sorts, Seth's entrance music and video began to play and the crowd exploded, knowing that it had to mean Ronda was coming out. The music played for almost twenty seconds and the cheering died away, but then Ronda walked slowly out onto the stage, wearing black shorts and a black sports bra. The crowd erupted once more.

"Oh my God," JBL mumbled, stretching out the first word.

"Ronda Rousey," Cole announced. "She's a black belt in judo and an Olympic bronze medalist."

Ronda walked slowly down the entrance ramp as Nikki was shown looking a lot less sure of herself, speaking to referee Charles Robinson, who was ready to call the match.

"Ronda's a referee," Booker T reminded everyone. "Referee's can't just come out here and wrestle if they feel like it, back belt in judo or not. I don't think this thing is going to happen, guys."

Ronda got in the ring and her entrance music stopped. She stood across the ring from Nikki, staring at her fiercely. Nikki resumed her conversation with the referee, then took Lillian's microphone once more. "You're not a wrestler Ronda," she explained in a very patronising tone. "I mean, well done. You came out here and got yourself a nice cheer, and that's great, but you're not on the roster. That means you can't wrestle. Why don't you get out of here and leave this to those of us who know how to do it? You're just a little referee, sweetheart, you don't want to get hurt."

"Did Nikki miss the start of the show?" Cole asked. "After the way she hit Triple H with that clothesline, I wouldn't say Ronda was a 'little' anything if I was Nikki."

Unsure what to do, referee Charles Robinson climbed out of the ring and walked over to the timekeeper's area.

"It looks like the referee wants to know if Ronda is eligible to compete," Cole guessed. The timekeeper spoke to someone on a portable radio and there was a brief exchange with the referee, who then headed back into the ring. The crowd began enthusiastically chanting Ronda's name at Nikki who played up to it by trying to make them shut up so that she could speak to the referee.

"Have we got a match or not?" Booker T demanded. Robinson passed on the verdict to Nikki, who gulped and looked over at Ronda, who now allowed herself to smile as she began to loosen up her right shoulder, the clear message being that she was getting a big clothesline ready for Nikki. She threw an imaginary clothesline and then pointed at Nikki. Nikki reluctantly handed over her title belt to Brie, who left the ring as the referee ordered for the bell to be rung.

"Alright, we have a match," Cole confirmed enthusiastically. "The Diva's title is on the line, Nikki Bella against Ronda Rousey."

Now that she was in the match, Nikki decided to change her attitude and walked over to Ronda, getting in her face. "This is my ring!" She could be heard yelling. "It's my ring, and you don't belong in it!" With that she slapped Ronda in the face, hard. Ronda just smiled, so Nikki started throwing right hands, taking Ronda by surprise and causing her to back into the corner. With Ronda seemingly stunned, the referee ordered Nikki to back up out of the corner. As she did so, Nikki raised her arm to the crowd, pretending to celebrate a victory already.

With the crowd booing her, Nikki grabbed Ronda's arm and whipped her across the ring, into the opposite corner. Ronda crashed in the corner and Nikki sprinted after her, intending to run right into her, but before Nikki could make contact, Ronda ran off to the side, causing Nikki to miss her and crash full force into the turnbuckles instead. Ronda had bounced off the ropes, and by the time Nikki turned around, holding her chest in pain, Ronda was already coming at her at full speed. As they had earlier with the chair shot that Ronda had delivered, the crowd joined in with the huge impact of the clothesline connecting with Nikki, shouting, "Boom!"

Nikki almost did a full backflip, crashing to the mat on her head and right shoulder before falling limply onto her back. "Count to twenty," JBL advised the referee.

Ronda made the cover and the crowd joined in with the count, like the forgone conclusion that it was. "One! Two! Three!"

"We've got a new Diva's Champion!" Cole announced as Seth and Ronda's music began to play again. "Ronda Rousey is the Diva's Champion! She just beat Nikki Bella in thirty seconds, and she might have killed her in the process."

"I don't think she killed her," Booker T laughed. "But I definitely think she knocked her out."

In the ring, Ronda was having her hand raised by the referee as the crowd cheered. She was handed the title belt, and looked at it proudly before raising it in the air in celebration.

"I might not like it," JBL said, "but Seth Rollins and Ronda Rousey took out The Authority tonight, and now they're both champions. I don't think we have to look far for our new power couple."

Following the commercial break, Dean Ambrose was shown backstage, walking along a hallway with his Intercontinental title belt over his shoulder. He entered the door that had already been seen once earlier in the night, the door bearing the name Roman Reigns.

As some kind of punishment for his actions at the start of the show, Seth had been put into the main event against Bray Wyatt by Kane, who had been left to take charge of Raw, with The Authority gone. The crowd were now fully behind Seth, so they cheered loudly as he managed to hit Wyatt with a curb stomp and counted along with the easy three count, ending the match in just under ten minutes.

Ronda had been watching the match from the outside of the ring, with her Diva's title belt over her shoulder. When Seth won the match and their theme music played, she climbed into the ring and they hugged. Seth was handed his title belt by the referee and he held it up high in his left hand and Ronda held hers up in her right. Their other arms were wrapped around each other's waists as they celebrated. Cole chirped on about how there was a new power couple in WWE, making it appear that the show was about to end. But the music cut off abruptly.

"Ladies and gentlemen." The voice was very familiar, and so was the person who walked out onto the stage a moment later. "My name is Paul Heyman," he confirmed as the crowd joined in. Paul started heading for the ring. "Seth Rollins, you're out here calling yourself the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. The way I recall the Wrestlemania main event is that there were two men who were supposed to be involved in it, with one of them emerging with the title. That's not what happened, is it?"

Seth and Ronda exchanged glances which seemed to ask 'What is this idiot doing out here?'

Heyman reached ringside, but stopped short of entering the ring itself. "What happened was that you, Seth Rollins, stole the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by cashing in your Money in the Bank contract during a match that was still in progress." The crowd booed despite the fact that the statement was essentially true. Heyman continued, "I'm sick of how things are around here. If it's not title matches being ruined by people interfering, it's the so-called Authority abusing their power and using it to hold people back. If it's not either of those things, then it's these so-called fans thinking they can dictate who get's chances and who doesn't. Well, The Authority is gone, thanks to you, so I say, no more! Starting right now, no more of this crap... and my clients agree."

At that moment the music for The Shield hit, to an instinctive, thunderous cheer from the crowd.

"What?" Michael Cole yelled as Roman and Dean appeared on the stage. "What is this? Is it... Are they... Is this The Shield? Are they back together?"

"It sure looks like two of them are," Booker T said.

"I wouldn't want to be Seth Rollins right now," JBL chirped. "Might not have been such a good idea to stab Triple H in the back there, champ. Where's your backup now?"

The two members of what was now The Shield joined Heyman at ringside, standing either side of him as he continued, "Mr. Ambrose here has a title belt, which he won fair and square at Wrestlemania. Mr. Reigns here does not have a title belt because he was unfairly cheated out of it at Wrestlemania. So, what I have to say to you Seth Rollins, and indeed you, Ronda Rousey, is that either Mr. Reigns is granted a one on one rematch at Extreme Rules for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship right now, or you're going to wish that he had been."

Seth immediately headed over to get a microphone from Lillian Garcia, who passed it to him through the ropes. "You want a rematch, Roman? All you had to do was ask for one. I have no problem beating you again at Extreme Rules, but if you're going to come out here and make threats to Ronda, then things are going to get serious because not only am I going to kick your ass, but she probably will do as well." The crowd cheered loudly at the thought of seeing Seth and Ronda go up against Roman and Dean.

"So you agree to the match at Extreme Rules?" Heyman asked. "A one on one match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship between Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins?"

"Is he deaf?" Seth asked Ronda, drawing a laugh from the crowd. "Yes, I agree to your match."

"Good," Heyman said before dropping his microphone to the floor. Simultaneously Roman and Dean jumped up on the apron. Seth walked forward and stood staring at the two men as they stared right back, only inches apart.

This went on for several moments with some of the crowd chanting "Let's go Rollins," and other's were replying with, "Let's go Shield."

Suddenly Paul Heyman seemed keen to avoid the confrontation getting physical. He signalled to his new clients and they dropped down from the apron to a chorus of boos from the crowd. They retreated up the ramp as Seth's music played yet again. Ronda walked forward to stand beside Seth in the ring.

Michael Cole hyped up the main event for Extreme Rules which had just been agreed upon and began to close the show with, "My God what a night. We've seen seen The Shield reform under Paul Heyman, and we've seen The Authority taken out by Seth Rollins and Ronda Rousey."

The shot changed from Heyman and The Shield to Seth and Ronda still standing in the ring with their belts over their shoulders. The threat from The Shield had passed for now, so they turned to each other and exchanged a kiss. Booker T had the last word as Raw went off the air, "There are the new faces of WWE."

END

The next story in this series is titled Faces. You can find a link to it in the bio section of my profile page, along with a list of the other stories in the series.