Raw comes to us from Little Rock, AR this week and we had a huge show with huge stakes. Less than two weeks away from the Rumble, we got a massive tag-team title match along with more Raw Superstars announcing themselves for the Rumble.
WWE also paid tribute to the legendary Kimmy “Superfly” Snuka who passed away this weekend after a long battle with cancer.
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Raw kicks off with Roman Reigns
Roman Reigns’ music hits as Raw kicks off. He’s met by a volley of groans mixed with a smattering of cheers. Roman took the mic and didn’t even get a pop when he mentioned that he was a former member of the Shield. He adds that Owens would be the one complaining at the Royal Rumble because with Jericho suspended above the ring, the title would be his.
At this point, Paul Heyman came down to the ring and announced that Brock Lesnar was in the building. Heyman tried to address Roman and the fans but he was met by a wall of Goldberg chants from the fans. Heyman went on to tell the fans a “Royal Rumble spoiler” – eat, sleep, elimination, repeat. Reigns went to call out Lesnar but Kevin Owens’ music hit right then.
Owens came out accompanied by the new WWE United States Champion Chris Jericho. He says that he and Jericho would main event Mania. Jericho adds that when he won the Rumble, he and Owens would face each other in the Wrestlemania main event and no matter who won, they would both still be champ. Owens adds that he was the longest WWE Universal Champion in history and he’d still be champ after Wrestlemania.
Seth Rollins’ music hit at this point. Rollins said that there was no way they could have a conversation about the Wrestlemania main event without him.
Braun Strowman came out at this point, stomping his way down to the ring. He came in and looked Roman Reigns straight in the eyes. Before he could do anything Brock Lesnar came out.
Before Lesnar could do anything, Sami Zayn ran out of the crowd and attacked Braun Strowman. A huge brawl broke out as Reigns, Rollins and Zayn cleared the ring of Strowman, Owens and Chris Jericho. Lesnar then came in and dispatched of Reigns and Rollins before hitting a German Suplex to Sami Zayn as the fans came unglued.
Roman then came in and hit a Superman Punch to Lesnar before attacking Jericho and Owens who were getting back in. Lesnar recovered and hit F5 to Roman Reigns. As Lesnar stood over Reigns, we faded to commercial. What a way to begin Raw.
Rusev and Jinder Mahal vs Enzo and Cass
Rusev and Jinder were already waiting in the ring when Enzo and Cass’ music hit. The ‘Realest guys in the room’ cut their trademark promo on their way down to the ring. This was Enzo’s return to action from injury and he started off with Jinder as the bell rang.
Enzo threw a flurry of punches early on but Jinder Mahal soon hit a massive clothesline to try and take control. Enzo then booted Mahal in the chest before tagging in Cass. Cass cleared the ring of both Rusev and Jinder as we headed to a commercial break.
We come back from commercial to see Rusev all over Enzo. Enzo gets pounded in the corner before tagging in Cass. Cass came in and cleared Rusev out of the ring before punishing Jinder. He hit a massive fallaway slam for the nearfall before Rusev broke up the count. Cass then booted Rusev out of the ring before Enzo hit the Air Enzo on Jinder Mahal to pin him and pick up the win.
Enzo and Cass def. Rusev and Jinder Mahal
Ariya Daivari vs Lince Dorado
‘Gentleman’ Jack Gallagher is on commentary for this one, building up to his match with Daivari tomorrow on 205 Live.
Daivari is all over Lince Dorado in the opening stages of this match. He rained down punches on Dorado in the corner before Dorado hit back with a beautiful springboard stunner. Dorado then goes to the top rope and looked for a crossbody but he missed and landed hard on the mat.
Daivari followed it up with a massive lariat before locking in the side camel clutch. Dorado tapped out in quick succession.
Ariya Daivari def. Lince Dorado
Cesaro and Sheamus (C) vs The Club (for the WWE Raw Tag-Team Championships)
Cesaro and Karl Anderson start us off. Cesaro immediately shows off his superior athleticism and hits a huge deadlift backbreaker before tagging in Sheamus. Sheamus hit a huge knee drop before tagging Cesaro back in. Cesaro hit a double stomp in the corner and got a 2-cont off the following cover.
Anderson with back with a jumping boot to the face and tagged in Luke Gallows. Gallows hit Cesaro with a flurry of big right hands before Anderson tagged himself back in as The Club continued to punish the ‘Swiss Superman’. Cesaro tried to reach for a tag but Ander hit him with a knee to the gut and tagged Gallows back in.
Cesaro then reversed a backdrop and landed on his feet before tagging Sheamus. Sheamus hit a spear through the ropes before following it up with a flying clothesline as he took control. Gallows looked to throw Sheamus through the ropes and out of the ring but Sheamus managed to stay on the apron. He held Gallows from behind and hit his trademark chops to the chest.
Anderson looked to come in but Cesaro chased him around the ring. Anderson got back into the ring and hit a dropkick to Sheamus’ knee as the referee stopped Cesaro from re-entering the ring. Gallows followed up with a massive kick to Sheamus’ head as we headed to commercial again.
We came back from commercial to see Gallows and Anderson hit Sheamus with a huge double-team neckbreaker for the nearfall. Sheamus took advantage of a slightly distracted Gallows to hit a modified powerslam before both men made tags.
Cesaro came in and hit Anderson with the uppercut train before hitting a stunning running dropkick for a nearfall of his own. Cesaro then signaled for the Cesaro Swing but Gallows came back into the ring. Cesaro sent Gallows packing before hitting a 619 to Anderson. He followed it up with a crossbody to Luke Gallows.
The ‘Swiss Superman’ turned his attention back to Anderson and hit a Springboard Corkscrew Uppercut before locking in the Sharpshooter. Thankfully for The Club, Gallows came in at this point and booted Cesaro in the face. Anderson covered Cesaro for a nearfall as the fans began chanting “This is awesome”.
Sheamus came in at this point and hit Anderson with a massive forearm. He followed it up with a massive forearm to the referee by mistake. The Club then disposed of Sheamus before hitting Cesaro with the Magic Killer. With the referee down, another referee came out as Anderson covered Cesaro for the three count!
It looked like we had new champions but the original referee got back up and declared that The Club had won by DQ since Sheamus had punched him in the head. No title change tonight. This was terrible booking. Classic Vince.
The Club def. Cesaro and Sheamus by DQ
We’re backstage with Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn. Zayn lays out the strategy for dealing with their opponents in the main event tonight, saying that they would have to focus on Braun Strowman.
Rollins asked Zayn to calm to down before Zayn laid down his fist in the style of The Shield, waiting for Roman and Seth to join fists. Roman said something about Zayn being no Dean Ambrose before he and Seth Rollins walked away.
Rich Swann vs Tony Nese
As Rich Swann was making his way down to the ring, the self-proclaimed ‘King of the Cruiserweights’ attacked Rich Swann from behind, laying him down. As Neville gloated, Rich Swann suddenly got up and started hammering Neville as the referees who had come down to help Swann had to hold him back.
Tony Nese jumped Rich Swann from behind at this point. Neville pulled Nese off Swann, saying he wanted Swann all to himself. Nese went back to kicking Swann but Neville just threw Nese out of the ring before turning his attentions back to Swann. This match is being built up really well.
Match called off
The New Day address the WWE Universe
The New Day are out next. Kofi addresses the fans saying that the 2017 Royal Rumble would be the most stacked of all time. He went through the names on the list – Lesnar, Strowman, Undertaker etc. before announcing the most important participants were themselves.
Big E then said it was foe vs foe, man vs man at the Rumble but if any member of the New Day won, then to them, every member of the New Day won.
Titus O’ Neil’s music hit at this point. He came out saying that he didn’t want to be in the New Day anymore because he wanted to replace The New Day. He then told the New Day members that since they had 3 spots in the Rumble, he wanted one of their spots. Big E laughed in his face and refused.
Titus then added that he would fight one member of the New Day for their Royal Rumble spot. Big E stepped up as we headed to commercial.
Big E vs Titus O’ Neil
We come back from commercial to see Big E in action against Titus O’ Neil. Big E taunted Titus before locking in the abdominal stretch. He followed it up with clubbing blows to Titus’ midsection outside the ring. A frustrated Titus pushed Xavier Woods down before running back into the ring and hitting Big E with a Big Boot.
Titus mounted E after this and hit forearms. He then picked Big E up and planted him face-first into the mat. The crowd got behind Big E as he kicked out of the cover and tried to fight back. Titus hit Big E with a Powerslam before hitting a legdrop.
The Titus Brand looked to be heading to the Rumble as Titus took control and locked in an abdominal stretch. Big E finally fought back however and hit a massive belly-to-belly suplex. He followed it up with his trademark Big Splash before hitting the Big Ending to pin Titus.
Big E def. Titus O’ Neil
Charlotte addresses the WWE Universe and Bayley
The Raw Women’s Champion Charlotte came out and addressed the WWE Universe about the secrets behind her success. She said that ‘average’ was the word that described Bayley and it was the word that connected the WWE Universe to Bayley.
She then pointed to the Titantron where there were photos of Bayley with various WWE stars being displayed. Charlotte added that there was something else about Bayley that the fans didn’t know, she was a poet. Charlotte added that while Bayley was busy writing in her little notebook, she was winning state championships and training.
Charlotte then put down a fan who was trying to be smart, calling him 4 eyes and telling him to shut up when the champ was talking. ‘The Queen’ then showed footage of Bayley reading out some of her writing. She pretended to cry after which she announced that she had a copy of Bayley’s poem to read to the fans in person.
The fans started to chant “We want Bayley” as Charlotte riled them up, calling Bayley’s words a pipe dream. Charlotte continued to put down Bayley before Bayley’s music finally hit.
As Bayley charged down to the ring, Charlotte rolled out of the ring and walked up the ramp. Bayley took the mic and told Charlotte what she was doing was unnecessary. She then added that she wasn’t embarrassed about her passion for WWE before adding that even she could bring up old stories.
Bayley said that her dad may not be a Hall Of Famer but he took her to every wrestling event in San Jose even though he didn’t always have the money. Bayley added that she would beat Charlotte at the Royal Rumble and the best part of it would be the look on Charlotte’s face when she did it.
Jericho and Owens were talking to Braun Strowman next about strategy for their match later in the night. Owens says that Strowman should beat up Reigns so bad that he’s out for at least 2 weeks to which Jericho adds that if Strowman destroyed Rollins, he would be out of commission for the Royal Rumble.
Strowman replied that he did what he wanted, when he wanted to. Tonight he would make Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn scream ‘Mercy’.
Brian Kendrick vs Cedric Alexander
Cedric Alexander came out alone tonight, following last week’s events on 205 Live when Alicia Fox helped Noam Dar beat Cedric Alexander, which led to Alexander ending things with Foxy.
Kendrick and Alexander shook hands as the match began. Kendrick started off the match sending Cedric face-first into the turnbuckle. Alexander hit back immediately with a hurracanrana. He followed it up with a springboard rope-assisted moonsault.
Kendrick hit back with a Superkick to regain control. He covered Cedric immediately but only got a 2 count. He followed it up with a submission hold but Alexander hit a nasty back elbow which he followed up with an enzeguiri and a springboard elbow for a nearfall.
Cedric then signaled for the Lumbar Check. Kendrick raked Alexander’s eyes mid-move and transitioned it into a Captain’s Hook. As Cedric looked to reach the ropes, Alicia Fox came out and pushed the ropes towards Cedric helping him break out.
Cedric took advantage of Foxy’s help and hit a Lumbar Check to Kendrick for the win.
Cedric Alexander def. Brian Kendrick
Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho and Braun Strowman vs Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn
The 6-men came out in turn and met in the middle of the ring. Zayn immediately attackedStrowman, who immediately cleared the ring of Zayn as Rollins, Jericho and Owens went at it on the side. This left Roman Reigns and Strowman in the ring. Strowman easily deposited Roman outside the ring as we cut to commercial.
We came back from commercial to see the match officially underway as Chris Jericho isolated Roman Reigns in the corner. Jericho made the mistake of repeatedly slapping Roman in the face. Roman hit back with a hard right hand before tagging in Zayn who hit a standing moonsault before Jericho drove him into the corner and tagged in Kevin Owens.
Owens pounded Zayn in the corner before taunting Reigns and Rollins. He followed up with a flurry of vicious knees to Sami Zayn’s back. He then got Zayn in his trademark chin lock before Owens hit back an enzeguri. Jericho then got tagged in and headed to the top rope. He went for a double axehandle but Zayn hit him in the gut, Zayn crawled to make a tag as Jericho tagged Owens back in. Owens came in and taunted Zayn before looking to hit a Senton. Zayn got his knees up and tagged in Reigns who went to work on Owens.
Reigns then signaled for the Superman Punch but Jericho grabbed onto his leg. Rollins then came and jumped on Jericho only for Strowman to throw Rollins against the barricade. Strowman then climbed onto the apron but Reigns hit him with a Superman Punch. Strowman didn’t even flinch and pushed Reigns back and Owens met him with a superkick as we headed to another commercial.
We came back from commercial to see Owens, Jericho and Strowman picking Roman Reigns apart. Owens then got Roman Reigns into one of his chin locks as he looked to wear the ‘Big Dog’ out. Roman finally got to his feet and hit back with a Samoan Drop as both men lay down on the mat. Rollins and Jericho got tagged in.
Seth Rollins was all over Chris Jericho as he hit a Blockbuster from the middle rope. Owens then came in but Zayn send hm packing out of the ring. Rollins then hit a suicide dive to Chris Jericho as Zayn took out Owens with a Tope Codheiro.
Rollins then went for a Pedigree but Chris Jericho managed to power out as Braun Strowman came back in. Rollins tried to take Strowman out but failed. He then tagged in Zayn. Zayn hit a crossbody to Strowman and managed a nearfall, almost becoming the first man to pin Braun Strowman. Zayn then looked for a Helluva Kick but Strowman hit Zayn with a huge lariat, nearly taking his head off.
Strowman followed it up with the running powerslam to finish Zayn off.
Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho and Sami Zayn def. Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn
Strowman carried Zayn to the announcer's desk on the ramp but thankfully Rollins came and hit him with a steel chair as Roman came in and hit a spear. Owens and Jericho then came and took out Rollins as they looked to powerbomb Reigns through the table. Rollins came back for the save and Pedigree-d Jericho on the ramp. Owens then took out both Reigns and Rollins with a steel chair before powerbombing Roman Reigns through the announce table. What a way to end RAW.
