#80: John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler, WWE Raw (10/12/2015).
This is for Cena’s United States Championship.
Cena talks about how there’s only one Allstate Arena, as Raw is in Chicago. He gives his montra of challenging anyone backstage to come take a shot at the US Title. Here comes Dolph Ziggler! The current TNA World Champion makes his way out to face long time rival Cena in the latest Open Challenge.
The bell rings, and the crowd is hot already. They lock up, and Ziggler takes the side headlock immediately. Cena gets a hip toss off, and takes control of the arm of Ziggler. Cena sends Ziggler into the ropes, and the Show Off slides out of the ring for a breather. Cena grabs the mic, and points out that a wedding proposal just took place in the audience. Nice! Cena takes control of the arm again, and twists and tugs at it.
Ziggler gets a hip toss of his own, and gets the armbar in on Cena. Back from commercial break, and Ziggler has a sleeper hold locked in. Cena is on his feet, and he forces Ziggler back first into the turnbuckle. Ziggler fights back with a Stinger Splash, and a swinging neckbreaker for a 2 count. Ziggler hits 9 straight elbow drops, but misses the final one. Cena is up and he hits the two shoulder tackles, followed by a side slam. He gears up for the Five Knuckle Shuffle, but Ziggler is up and hits a nice dropkick for 2.
Cena avoids a stomp and hits the side slam again, followed by the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Cena looks for the AA, but Ziggler counters into a Sunset Flip pin for 2. Cena immediately transitions to the STF submission. Ziggler slips out and gets a sleeper hold in. Cena gets back to his feet, and reverses the sleeper into the AA, and Ziggler wisely rolls to the outside. Cena goes to the outside, and he lifts Ziggler up into the ring. Cena lifts Ziggler up and places him on the top rope.
Cena climbs up and lifts Ziggler up for the AA, but he fights out. Ziggler jumps back up, and hits an avalanche DDT to the mat below! He makes the cover, but Cena kicks out. Ziggler stands in the corner, and signals for the Superkick. He goes for it, but Cena catches the boot and hits a huge clothesline. Cena tries for the STF again, and Ziggler counters with a dropkick. He goes for the Stinger Splash, but Cena catches him and tries for the AA. Ziggler counters that into a Famouser, but that’s only enough for a nearfall!
Ziggler with a punch, and Cena with a drop toe hold, right into the STF! After some struggle, Ziggler is able to make it to the bottom rope. They go up to the top rope, and Cena looks for a suplex. Ziggler fights back with a headbutt. Ziggler hits a crossbody, but Cena catches him. He tries for the AA, but Ziggler rakes the eyes! He escapes, and hits the Superkick! He makes the cover, but Cena kicks out! They throw heavy punches back on their feet. Cena goes for the AA, and Ziggler escapes. He goes for Zig Zag, and Cena escapes. Ziggler with a headbutt, and he hits it on the second attempt, and Cena kicks out!
Ziggler rushes towards Cena, but the champ connects with the AA finally, and he gets the 3 to retain.
The US Open Challenge lost a bit of its charm when Cena traded the title with Seth Rollins at SummerSlam and Night of Champions, but he still had a badass match in him as it neared its end around this time. Cena would drop the title to Alberto Del Rio at Hell in a Cell weeks after this, and Cena's full time run in WWE was essentially over after that.
Here, you have two guys who always had good chemistry with one another. Cena was giving as always, and Ziggler is a guy who goes out of his way at times to steal the show. He wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire story wise around this time, but he reminded a lot of people of how damn good he is. These two had a great little TV match here that I think was better than a lot of people thought it would be.
I liked how Ziggler raked the eyes towards the end of the match. That action sold just how much a win here would've meant to the Showoff. Awesome match, and the last great one of the US Open Challenge era.