WWE Raw results, recap, reactions (Sept. 14, 2015): A record breaking night of champions hype!

WWE returned to the USA network for Monday Night Raw last night (Sept. 14, 2015) from Memphis, Tennessee with the go home show to the upcoming Night of Champions pay-per-view (PPV) scheduled for this Sunday night in Houston. That included Nikki Bella breaking the record for most consecutive days as Divas champion.

Click here to get full results with the live blog. Let's get to reacting to all the night's events.

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Cheat, cheat, achieve, repeat

It's really too bad WWE spent so much time screaming about this so-called Divas Revolution because as much as this worked for what they were doing, they never should have had to be doing it in the first place.

When they called up Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte, they immediately put them into groups of three and ignored the one thing fans were paying the most attention to, the fact that Nikki Bella was creeping up on AJ Lee's record for most consecutive days as Divas champion. That meant they never bothered to get us invested in her either breaking it or failing to do so.

It also doesn't help that Team Bella, and Nikki especially, switched character alignments more than Big Show could ever dream of. That she could never decide between playing a full blown devious heel who is better than you and can't wait to tell you about it and a babyface who was accomplishing something no one thought she could did an extreme disservice to every single story they've been involved in.

It is as though Nikki wants to tell both stories at once. She's the heel who will do whatever it takes to win but she wants so badly to push the reality behind the story, that no one believed she could get to a point like this. Again, doing so does an extreme disservice to the story they're trying to tell.

And that was a damn good story with the Dusty finish and some good old fashioned Twin Magic. They never took the proper time to build to an emotional payoff like this theoretically should have been and that's why it was the right call to go with this finish. Rush Ric Flair out there to celebrate with his daughter, shed a few tears, then viciously rip it away and give that title back to a cheater who shouldn't be breaking any record.

Instead of working for an emotional payoff they never set up, they went with getting nuclear heat on the heel leading into the favorable stipulation for the babyface in the rematch at the event you actually have to pay money for in six days.

That's just good business.

I can absolutely see the argument to the contrary but I was livid watching it live and that's the point. Even the smart marks are really worked up about this and isn't that the ultimate? Maybe Seth Rollins was right, maybe we just don't understand getting heat in pro wrestling anymore.

Yes, they haven't developed the characters enough nor have they stayed true to those characters during the times they have bothered to develop them. That's on the writing and, at least in part, on the performers tasked with carrying it out. But for this moment, and within this context, I loved what they did here and how they handled it.

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HISTORIC

The "historic announcement" they had teased before last night's show turned out to be Sting wrestling his first ever match on Monday Night Raw against none other than ... BIG SHOW.

You know, a guy he wrestled regularly back in the glory WCW days nearly 20 years ago.

It was bad then, it's still bad now.

But because this is WWE, we got a Seth Rollins run-in -- holding both titles in each hand for some reason that escapes my logical mind -- followed by a John Cena run-in that led to the booking of a tag team match.

Playa playa playa.

And it was your standard tag team match with your standard hot tag to the babyface who was going over except this time we were supposed to feel special about it because it was Sting. But none of this was in line with anything else they've been doing over the past couple weeks, not really, and suddenly I've forgotten what any of this is all about to begin with. Putting Triple H over? Destroying a statue? Winning a world title? Winning a first ever Raw match?

Do we even care at this point?

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All the best to all the rest

The New Day vs. The Prime Time Players: After the tag team division spent far too much time in limbo, they've actually done quite well booking these teams in recent weeks. PTP have become sacrifical lambs but that's necessary to firmly establish a hot feud, and we've got that with the Dudley Boyz back in the fold.

Sasha Banks vs. Paige: This was about as good as you can expect from a women's match on Raw. Banks is so clearly ready for an increased role, and giving her a victory like this while putting over Naomi and Tamina as HER crew within Team B.A.D. is absolutely the right call. They always needed to focus more on establishing a hierarchy within the teams, and Sasha felt like the big star here, as it should be.

THE THIRD MAN: This may have been the worst episode of Miz TV in its existence, what with Hollywood Miz so badly out of place with The Wyatt Family and an aimless line of questioning that failed to advance anything in any meaningful way. Then, Roman Reigns started getting all tough in a promo like only Roman Reigns can and we learned he and his buddy Dean Ambrose -- who totally knows how he likes his beer and coffee -- have found a third man. End segment. I actually like that they're leaving it open ended until the PPV, considering this show needs all the intrigue it can get. My idea? Have them bring in a woman and introduce her as Sister Abigail. I don't know how they would work it, but there are options there. And who else would they get? Erick Rowan? Baron Corbin?

John Cena vs. Sheamus: This was your "let's have a great match for the sake of having a great match" without much else behind it and that's fine. It was entertaining enough. Cena gets the win heading into his title match with Rollins this weekend and Sheamus is still the Money in the Bank briefcase holder. It works.

BIG GUY PROMO: Ryback was singing on Raw, y'all. Kevin Owens was throwing books in his face making fun of how big and dumb he is and they somehow transitioned right back into attempting to make THE BIG GUY a triumphant underdog babyface. I just can't see him ever getting over that way. He's just not that guy. He's a perfect foil for a heel Owens, though, if they're willing to let them go with it.

Cosmic Wasteland: Here's a cool thing that happened -- they actually advanced a story with Neville tabbing the Lucha Dragons to assist him in his battle with Stardust and The Ascension in all of like two minutes of TV time. It isn't much, but at least they advanced something, right?

Rusev vs. Cesaro: Dolph Ziggler is a scumbag. Cesaro rollup forever, though.

This wasn't a horrific show but it wasn't anything special.

Grade: C-

That's it from me, Cagesiders. Now it's your turn to sound off in the comments section below with all your thoughts on last night's show. How did you like it, if you liked it at all?