WWE Monday Night Raw 07/04/2016 Recap (Dean Ambrose vs. The Miz, 16-Man Elimination Tag, Vickie Guerrero)

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During NCIS, Raw is hyped up with a USA vs. the World elimination tag team match featuring quite the cast of characters. The Dudleys, Big Show, Kane, Apollo Crews, Mark Henry, Zack Ryder, and Jack Swagger face Alberto, Sheamus, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Jericho, Cesaro, and the Lucha Dragons – mixing heels and faces together in ways that should further at least a couple of storylines. One would expect the Alberto/Sheamus issues and Owens vs. Zayn feud to be furthered, while everyone else will probably be cannon fodder. A food fight is hyped up and we get brief clips.

Raw begins with everyone backstage in catering and Golden Truth being booed off the stage. The Vaudevillains sing and have food thrown at them, while Miz yells cut. Miz gets stuff thrown at him, then Maryse, and then everyone tosses food around while music blares. Kane and Show choke each other, then chokeslam Heath through a table while Owens hides under another one. Xavier brags about having an inflatable shield to protect him. So WWE uses their chance to hype up Raw during NCIS on a food fight instead of anything substantial. Owens emerges, says this wouldn’t happen on Canada Day and then gets  pie in the face that the camera also gets so it’s from his POV. He chokes on the pie and then stomps it.

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Cole hypes up the biggest food fight in history and it being July 4th, leading to Lilian singing the national anthem. The ring has red, white, and blue ropes – which always brings back good memories even if they were also used for the awful early Great American Bash SmackDown PPVs. Rusev starts off the show as US Champion, and if there’s any justice, he should win King of the Ring and be King of America as well. Titus comes out as Uncle Sam looking ridiculous since his American flag shorts are gigantic.

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After a break, we see that he’s still wearing the giant shorts. Rusev beats him up in the corner and tosses him to the floor and then into the steps. Titus recovers from the a dropkick and gets a corner splash and hits Clash of the Titus for 2. Rusev locks on the Accolade and wins. Well, this was all rather odd. So Titus goes into the father’s day match with the momentum of it being father’s day and loses – gets a similar hype train for this and loses too.  Miz faces Ambrose tonight in a SmackDown rematch. Rusev tells everyone to celebrate with their hamburgers and little weenies and then to celebrate for Rusev! Will do – Rusev is great!

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The Social Outcasts come out to “Yankee Doddle Dandy” dressed as the minute men. As Bo explains their outfits, Enzo and Cass interrupt. Enzo talks about dropping some star spangled banter and raining on the Outcasts’ parade with a presidental diss. He runs through every president’s last name, and yet it didn’t lead to Bob Backlund cutting a promo with him. Bo dominates Enzo in the corner before hitting a lariat and Axel knees him for 2. Cole talks about how creative this is, while JBL rambles about how entertaining everything is. Cass comes in, slams Bo down, hits the elbow, a big boot and they win with the rocket launcher. Enzo puts one of their powdered wigs on and darts around.  Dolph faces Seth tonight because Dolph wants to face Seth before they’re drafted. Charlotte and Dana will cut a promo next.

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Charlotte cuts a promo about how Sasha dreams of being champ and might have chants – but chants don’t pay the bills. Sasha tells Charlotte that she’s done everything this year, but she only won at WM because of Ric. Charlotte says she’s been the champ for a year and that she’s the real boss. Sasha says she’s the boss, and a boss throws it down anywhere and doesn’t just live off her daddy’s ’80s game. Dana tries an attack, but Sasha attacks her before Charlotte jumps her. Sasha hits the backstabber and Bank Statement, but Dana pulls Charlotte to safety before she can tap. Sasha gets a huge chant and really felt elevated here.

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Miz comes down with Maryse and he tells everyone that his suit was ruined in the food fight and it cost more than anyone here makes in a year. Dean comes out wearing the belt and outwrestles Miz a bit to start and we go to an ad break. Miz takes out the knee and stomps away at it before going for a kneebreaker – but Dean sunset flips him for 2. Miz gets the figure four, but Dean recovers and goes for a superplex. He can’t quite get it and goes for Dirty Deeds, but Miz avoids it and goes for a figure four that is turned into a cradle for 2. Dean sends him to the floor for a suicide dive. Dean gets a victory roll to counter the Finale and Miz hits a big boot. A seated version is countered and Dean wins with the Dirty Deeds.

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Seth comes down for a staredown and Seth comes down and gets his ass smacked by Dean.  Dean comes down to do commentary with the Spanish announce team and says he’s the champion in Spanish. They announce that Brock’s Summerslam opponent will be announced this week on SmackDown. Seth and Dean exchange a lot of holds and Dolph is sent to the floor after a high kick on the top rope for an ad break. Seth paintbrushes Dolph, but eats a slew of punches. Seth takes him down and goes up top, but eats a flying facebuster off the top. Dolph lands a series of flying lariats and then hits a swinging neckbreaker before getting 2 off the jumping elbow.

Dolph’s superkick misses, but Seth’s kneeling superkick gets 2. Dolph takes a facebuster right on his knees, then gets 2 off a fireman’s carry and a 2.5 off a superkick. Seth avoids the Zig Zag and wins with the Pedigree.  Dean calls it an incredible match – and it was good, but nothing amazing. Seth takes the top off the Spanish announce table and says that the Man leaves no doubt as to who the best is. Seth says that Roman is a joke and a disgrace, and he should be taken out of the match so he can be in a one on one match. Seth says Roman should be a role model, but he isn’t. Seth climbs on the English table so Dean can go on the Spanish table and they can talk. They brawl and Dean hits Dirty Deeds on the Spanish announce table, and it doesn’t break.

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Recap of The Club beating up Cena last week. We go to the Wyatt compound and Bray says that the power of positivity doesn’t exist, and in their world, the pains of reality are a constant. Bray invites them to the compound for a dose of reality. A hype video for Baron Corbin airs and we see him destroy guys on the main roster and say you can’t fight fate. Vickie comes out and says “excuse me” before going to the SmackDown podium. She says SD should be run by a COO with experience and wants #VickieRunsSmackDownLive to trend. Security escorts her while JBL says “excuse me”. Big Show tells Team USA that they aren’t friends while patriotic music plays and he says that the founding fathers didn’t get along either. Big Show’s giant American flag singlet is something else.

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Vickie tries to get Dolph to keep her in the building, but in a nod to their relationship on SmackDown, he says he’s never seen her before and makes sure she’s escorted out. Breezango relaxes at ringside while the Vaudevillains are mid-ring and Golden Truth comes out. Goldust dominates Gotch and English and hits a slick bulldog as well. A snap powerslam gets 2 before Gotch makes a save. A powerbomb/Side Effect is called Solid Gold and gets the win.

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Life lessons with coach Backlund involve Bob telling him to not have problems. Bob says he submits to his problems and Bob asks what his finishing move is and he says it’s the Gut Check. Bob wants to know his submission, and he doesn’t have one – so Bob tells him to become a master of the crossface chickenwing. If that’s the payoff to this, wow. Cena comes out and says he wants the crowd to get crazy tonight. He says that he feels the electricity tonight that he did when he was first in a ring with AJ – and he was as disappointed as anyone when he used The Club to win. We get a recap of last week’s Club beatdown of Cena costing him a chance at the Battleground WWE Title match. He says if the Club wants some, they can come get some. AJ and The Club come out

AJ says he expected Cena to act patriotic – not complain about a personal setback. AJ says that when they arrived in Japan, it was supposed to be The Club’s homecoming – but Cena’s face was all over their posters. AJ says that last week showed that Cena has no friends because no one can relate to Cena – but they can relate to The Club. AJ says that nothing is more fun than beating up John Cena – and they’ll all be doing that for Labor Day too. Gallows says that for Halloween, he’ll dress up like Bushacker Luke and lick AJ’s face before beating up Cena. Karl says he’ll wrap gifts for his kids with his hot Asian wife before kicking AJ’s ass on Christmas. They kick his ass for a bit, but Enzo and Cass make the save. A Shield hype video builds up the Battleground main event wonderfully.

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WWE brags about having over 671 million followers on social media. The Shining Stars a green screen promo on America’s independence day being overly commercial. Summer Rae is mid-ring to face Becky Lynch. We get a recap of the Nattie-Becky issues since Money in the Bank. They will face off at Battleground. Becky kicks at Summer, and “hits” an enzuiguri. Summer chokes Becky on the ropes while Nattie looks on via a backstage monitor. Summer locks on a facelock, but Becky won’t give up. Becky lands some calf kicks and rolls around. Becksploder hits for 2. Summer misses a spinkick and the Disarmor ends it.

Jericho rallies the international troops and wishes them a belated Happy Canada Day. Alberto claps and says no one made him captain before they argue in Spanish, then Sheamus interrupts and Owens yells in French. Enzo and Cass eat in a Sonic product placement ad, with Enzo eating out of a Certified G lunchbox. Cass brags about his Sonic boom box and Enzo says it’s DE-licious. New Day dances out, and Xavier is sadly not dressed like Consequences Creed in his Apollo Creed getup.

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Big E says that the Wyatts don’t stray from the family tree and keep it all in the family. They say Rowan doesn’t need a bowl of Booty Os, before Erick cuts in and says laughter is a precious sound – but a scream is music to his ears. Bray says the balance of dark and light is delicate, and he wants to know how far New Day is willing to go to fight for what they believe in. E says they’ll shoot positivity all over the place, while Woods says the Wyatts are dangerous and they shouldn’t just accept the invitation – but they’ve done it. He says if E and Kofi can’t see the threat, then the New Day can’t survive and leaves.

They announce that at Battleground, Cena will team with Enzo and Big Cass to face The Club. National anthems play everyone out, which results in Cesaro getting no reaction. Owens destroys Ryder in the corner and hits a cannonball before yelling “USA”. D-Von comes in to face Sin Cara, who elbows him down. 3D hits Sin Cara and he’s eliminated. Sheamus Brogue kicks Bubba, and Kalisto hits a springboard frog splash to eliminate him.

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Cesaro swings D-Von and locks on the sharpshooter to win. Swagger and Cesaro do a brief “we the people” bit before Swagger locks on the ankle lock, but Cesaro gets to the rope. Jericho tags in and eats a lariat. Swagger avoids a Walls and gets 2 off a belly to belly. Swagger bomb misses and a codebreaker takes Swagger out. A giant brawl breaks out before an ad break.

A backstabber gets 2 for Alberto on Crews. Crews dropkicks ADR and tags in Henry. Kalisto jumps into Henry, who pins him with a World’s Strongest Slam while a “sexual chocolate” chant breaks out. Owens hits the pop-up powerbomb to take out Henry. Owens slams Ryder and hits a senton. Owens and Sami brawl for a bit and Owens hits Sami with a chair, so KO is DQed. Kane punches him and hits him with a chair – so he’s DQed as well. Kane chokeslams Sami and Crews pins Sami. Sheamus kicks Crews to eliminate him.

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Jericho goes after Zack and Cesaro tags himself in. Jericho slaps him and Cesaro hits the uppercut train on his partners and Ryder. Ryder jackknifes Cesaro and pins him to boos. Show punches Jericho to beat him and chokeslams ADR to beat him. Sheamus tries to leave, but gets tossed in and chopped in the corner. Sheamus escapes a chokeslam before dropkicking the knee, and Ryder tags in to unload on Sheamus. A powerslam gets 2 for Sheamus. A Rough Ryder gets the win. Pyro goes off to close what was a fairly mundane, but good at times show.

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Screenshot gallery –

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