The first of John Cena's Open Challenges took place the night after WrestleMania, and it really did feel like Dean Ambrose was going to walk out of Raw as the new champion. After all, most of us were at the time pretty confused about Cena holding the US title. Why? Well, it felt like the midcard belt was "beneath" him in some ways, so the former Shield member coming along to quickly take it from him (thereby allowing Cena to continue feuding with Rusev) seemed plausible. The even sided match featured a lot of great moments, including Ambrose locking in a far more effective and nasty looking STF than Cena has ever performed, and it seemed for a second like it might bring John's reign to an abrupt end. The raucous crowd was 100% behind the Lunatic Fringe when he later reversed the AA and hit Dirty Deeds, and it at this point again seemed like he would emerge victorious. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, and Cena would win with one of his familiar AAs out of nowhere. Despite that, there's no denying that this was an exciting match, and Ambrose coming so close to winning meant that it ultimately helped to establish the tone moving forwards that anything could happen when Cena put his title on the line in one of these Open Challenges.
