SmackDown Review: Dean Ambrose vs. Randy Orton

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Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins promo

Ambrose talked about how The Authority planned the Beat The Clock Challenge on Raw, but how nobody can plan for him.

Ambrose then pulled out a list of possible match stipulations, which included some great ideas, such as, “JBL’s Cowboy Hat on a Pole Match”, putting alligators around the ring (logistics put a stop to that one), “Good Housekeeping Match”, and “Loser Washes Triple H’s Car Match” (Ambrose is pretty sure Rollins is already on that task). Ambrose was still scanning over his list when Rollins interrupted.

Rollins said that everybody knew he was the “brains” behind The Shield, but gave Ambrose credit for a clever distraction on Raw. He said he knows Ambrose has already decided on a stipulation, and presses Ambrose to just make the announcement already.

Ambrose then mockingly introduced Rollins as “Mr. Money in the Bank”, then tells him he should probably give the briefcase a polish.

Rollins said that Ambrose thinks with his heart, not his head, and, while it is courageous, it won’t get him very far. He said that SummerSlam will be the end of Ambrose. He then said that the entire world will see the end of Ambrose on the WWE Network for only $9.99.

Ambrose then asked if that’s what the world would see, or if they would just see him run away again. Ambrose then promised that the world would get something worth more than $9.99, a Lumberjack Match, where Rollins can’t get away. He said that the Lumberjacks will be compromised of all the enemies they made when they were in The Shield, so they won’t be favoring either guy, but Ambrose doesn’t care because they will make sure that Rollins has nowhere to run.

Ambrose said you could call it a Lumberjack Match, a “human cage”, or whatever you want, but it will be the end of the line for Rollins. He said that “Mr. Money in the Bank” will go broke at SummerSlam.

Rollins said he’s not going anywhere, and that the briefcase makes him the future of the WWE. Rollins then announced that he was given the privilege of picking Ambrose’s opponent for the evening, then he introduced video of Randy Orton attacking Roman Reigns two weeks ago. Rollins announced that Ambrose will go one-on-one with Orton.

These guys are so awesome. As disappointed as I was that they didn’t have a match at Battleground, it was the right call because it delayed the match until they could have it on a bigger stage. SummerSlam is that stage.

A Lumberjack Match was absolutely the right call. In storyline, it makes it impossible for Rollins to escape. Looking at it from a behind the scenes perspective, it gives The Authority a chance to stack the deck against Rollins, and it gets some Superstars on SummerSlam, when they might not have been on the show otherwise.