by 2014 Evolution reforms as Paige Debuts and The Ultimate Warrior makes his final appearance
The following nights Monday Night Raw started off the same way WrestleMania XXX ended, with Bryan in the ring being cheered on by a raucous crowd! As predicted, HHH came out to wreck the party once again and promptly remind Daniel that he was a B plus player and he would proceed to make his life a living Hell, starting that night by challenging him to a match for a title.
None of this sits well with Batista and Randy Orton who both wanted a piece of Daniel Bryan after he beat them at WrestleMania as well. Instead of getting their revenge on Bryan, Stephanie McMahon booked Orton and Batista in a tag team match against The Uso’s for a Tag Team Title match later in the night. HHH ended the segment by mentioning that when the three of them are on the same page, they cannot be stopped. An obvious allude to Evolution from years past. Batista and Orton were part of a double count out in that match, as they clearly had no interest in it.
Speaking of Six Man combinations, Sheamus teamed up with John Cena and Big E Langston to take on The Wyatt Family. In a three-hour show, you need some matches there for the sole reason to soak up time and hopefully begin or end a storyline. This was the case in this one as the only thing that actually came out of it was the crowd cheering for Wyatt while booing Cena. Not much else of note in this one as The Wyatts took home the victory with a Sister Abigail on Big E Langston.
Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman wasted no time bragging about ending The Undertakers streak. Heyman came to the ring smiling ear to ear as Lesnar was besides him sporting a shirt that touted, “Eat, Sleep, End The Streak!” This was just the next logical step in the process that made Lesnar untouchable for nearly the next decade. He wouldn’t lose cleanly again for 5 years. Lesnar would roll through John Cena in a squash match later that Summer to main event SummerSlam 2014 and take his WWE Championship with him. This would be the storyline for Lesnar for years to come as suplex city became a thing.
This was not the last time we’d see Paul Heyman on this night however, as Cesaro was feeling froggy and decided to jump ship from Zeb Colter as his mentor, to Paul Heyman. He did this by declaring he was no longer a Zeb Colter guy, but rather a “Paul Heyman Guy”. This was somewhat of a turn from annoying heel to cool heel for Cesaro. The crowd loved every second of it!
Speaking of feeling froggy and Paul Heyman, RVD returned to the WWE out of nowhere on this night as well. The RAW after Mania is known for this, and RVD was a pleasant surprise for all involved as he had been a staple of WWE highlight reels from 2001-2007. The fans ate up every moment of RVD with chants of “you still got it” as he defeated Damian Sandow with ease.
RVD was back, Cesaro turned from Colter to Heyman, and now it was time for a debut! Rusev arrived under the direction of the ravishing Russian Lana and began his year long undefeated streak by demolishing Zack Ryder. Rusev was a monster heel, but cheered at times because of his incredibly sexy manger and wife, Lana. She went down as one of the sexiest women in the history of the company.
The Rusev debut was the beginning of NXT call ups that would start to become a regular tradition of this magical night after WrestleMania tradition. Fans became conditioned to see debuts of their NXT favorites on this night yearly worth Rusev in 2014 being the first.
As exciting as the Rusev debut was, the Cesaro switch and the RVD return was, this night would feature a farewell no one saw coming as it became tragic. While the night after Mania had been used for goodbyes to legends such as Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair, this was different, much different as a bit red and clearly stressed-out Ultimate Warrior had his own segment to talk with the fans.
It was clear something was seriously wrong with The Ultimate Warrior as he looked awful and his beat red skin was sweating uncontrollably. He gave a rambled promo about one day taking his last breath, sadly for him, that moment would come in the parking lot of the hotel the very next death as he fell to his death with a massive heart attack.
The Ultimate Warrior was beloved by fans and despised by his peers as he went down as one of the most controversial pro wrestling figures of all time. He was the first man to cleanly pin Hulk Hogan during a six plus year reign at the top for Hogan, and the Warrior won the WWF Championship at WrestleMania VI.
The WrestleMania VI win would prove to be his greatest moment as the rest of his career was filled with bizarre walkouts, promo’s and just overall odd behaviors that kept him from becoming one of the greatest of all time as many felt he should have been. It was a one-night return because of his passing the next day, but the truth is the WWE did have plans to bring him back full time as a company ambassador. It simply wasn’t meant to be.
While The Ultimate Warriors time with the WWE was tragically ending, it was time for yet another one to begin as the second NXT call up of the night took place. This time around it was the NXT Women’s Champion Paige who graced everyone with her presence. She ended the 295 Divas Championship reign of AJ Lee with a surprise challenge and victory!
With Paige and Lana both debuting on the same night, men everywhere rejoiced! She had a look like no one other with her pale white skin mixed in with all dark features, a sexy voice and incredible in ring ability. Paige was impossible not to get behind and remained a fan favorite for years. These two would go on to have a feud that lasted throughout the summer with the title bouncing back and forth.
The show ended as The Shield came out to protect Daniel Bryan with a faceoff with Evolution as the crowd lost their minds. All of this led to a passing of the torch from Evolution which disbanded pretty quickly to The Shield. Crazy enough however, by summer The Shield was no longer a thing either as Seth Rollins broke them up. Still, back-to-back years of an amazing post WrestleMania Raw filled with huge moments!
