Dean Ambrose walked into WWE RAW Monday night as the Intercontinental Champion. He left RAW with...a lighter suitcase. Following a dive in the television ratings last week, WWE attempted to grab their fan's interest early on this week during the broadcast. The show started off with Dean Ambrose and Stephanie McMahon trading verbal jabs in the ring. Ambrose had talked about how he expected to experience an F5 tonight due to his actions last week during RAW (low-blowing Brock). Stephanie told him that he was going to get an F5, just not the kind he was expecting. She said F5 would stand for Fatal Five-way tonight, leading to a Ambrose defending his Intercontinental Championship against Kevin Owens, Stardust, Tyler Breeze and Dolph Ziggler to start the show. McMahon also gave the match the stipulation that if Reigns interfered, Ambrose would lose his spot in the main event at Fastlane this Sunday. The idea was that she was trying to drive a wedge between Ambrose and Reigns, as interference by Reigns would actually benefit him (one less opponent at the PPV). https://twitter.com/WWE/status/699404739151138816 The bout followed your typical multiple-man match format in WWE. Two guys wrestling in the ring while everyone else takes turns being laid out on the outside, mixed in with a couple highspots involving everyone. It turned out to be a very good match despite the chaos you'd expect with 5 participants. In the end, WWE chose to pivot directions heading into the final month before WrestleMania as Kevin Owens won the Intercontinental Championship to the surprise of many. The match result makes this Sunday's match at Fastlane between Ambrose, Reigns and Lesnar much more interesting. Without the Intercontinental title belt on Ambrose, it would seem that there's now an outside chance he prevails and could move into a championship match against Triple H at WrestleMania. This would allow WWE to put Reigns and Lesnar into a rematch from last year's WrestleMania if they've soured on the Lesnar/Wyatts storyline. Either way, there are more options now than the obvious outcome that everyone expected at Fastlane (Reigns winning and going on to face Triple H). Will Reigns still prevail this Sunday? That still seems like the likely bet, but they at least opened up the possibility of a change in direction for WrestleMania and have given us a reason to watch with a little suspense.
