Goldberg returns tonight, looking for some trouble on Raw’s go-home show before the Royal Rumble. But will Brock Lesnar be in the building as well? Will these two leviathans of the ring clash just six days before the pay per view? Hopefully, this time their encounter will last longer than 86 seconds. I’ll take us back to the last time these two fought under the bright lights of the WWE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcoq3_02AR8
We also just got word that multiple-time World Champion The Big Show will be added to the Royal Rumble match. So, you shouldn’t be surprised to see the 7-foot giant return tonight. Goldberg vs. Big Show is rumored to headline March’s FastLane pay per view. So, if Big Show is returning tonight, he’ll probably return as a bad guy to confront Goldberg. (This didn’t happen. A good guy version of Big Show confronted Braun Strowman instead.)
Where will Team Chris & Kevin take their bromance this week? How much will fans boo Roman Reigns this time? Find out here!
WWE Monday Night Raw Viewing Details
Date: Monday, January 23, 2017
Time: 8:00 P.M. EST/ 5:00 P.M. PST
TV Channel: USA
Location: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH
WWE Raw: Announced Matches
- WWE United States Championship match: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Roman Reigns
- Cesaro vs. Luke Gallows
- Royal Rumble qualifying match: Seth Rollins vs. Sami Zayn
- Jack Gallagher, TJ Perkins & Mustafa Ali vs. Tony Nese, Ariya Daivari & Drew Gulak
- The New Day, Enzo & Cass vs. Rusev, Titus O’Neil, Jinder Mahal & Braun Strowman
- Nia Jax vs. Ray Lyn
- Non-title match: WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann vs. Noam Darr w/ Alicia Fox
WWE Monday Night Raw Results
Stay tuned to find out what happens tonight’s on Monday Night Raw. We’ll be giving you live updates as they happen.
Intro-Segment: Roman Reigns In-ring Segment w/ WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens & WWE United States Champion Chris Jericho
Roman Reigns music hits to kick off this edition of WWE Raw. Reigns talks about his match at the Royal Rumble against the top champion of Monday Night Raw Kevin Owens. KO’s music hits and he comes out with his best-friend Y2J.
Both Owens & Y2J are obviously superior to Reigns when it comes to mic work. These guys are seasoned-pros. Jericho is hilarious with his ‘sexy pinata’ and ‘hanging like a piece of salami’ line. Reigns is still the future of the WWE, so I won’t cut him short. But he really needs to step up his mic game if he’s going to trade verbal shots with the likes of Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho.
Y2J puts his foot in his mouth, when he threatens to come down to the ring and knock Reigns’ teeth or chiclets out. This leads to Roman asking if Jericho is hinting at a rematch for the WWE United States Championship. Chris looks like he wants no part of that match, but KO answers for him.
WWE United States Championship Chris Jericho will put his title on the line against Roman Reigns tonight!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_kAoOqYtk4
Cesaro vs. Luke Gallows
Before their match, the announcers mentioned that the Royal Rumble kickoff show will feature a WWE Raw Tag Team Championship match, with Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Gallows and Anderson.
Cesaro and Gallows trade high-impact moves. Cesaro hits two-consecutive running uppercuts, but Gallows fires back with a brutal big boot. We go to commercial break as Cesaro is laid out in the ring.
We’re back from commercial break, and Gallows is in control. Luke has Cesaro in a headlocked. The Swiss Superman battles back, only to suffer a sidewalk slam. Meanwhile, we see footage from commercial break of Anderson giving Cesaro a clothesline outside the ring while the referee is distracted. The footage also showed Sheamus chase Anderson all the way off-camera, presumably backstage. Cesaro hits a vertical suplex but Gallows gets to his fight. Cesaro hits the larger Luke with a fury of uppercuts leading to a tornado DDT. Cesaro pins the big man, but Gallows kicks out at 2. Cesaro tries to swing Gallows, but the bigger man squirms out of the ring. Sheamus comes out and gets in Gallows face. Gallows gets up on the turnbuckle and eats a big boot from Cesaro. As the referee is distracted, Sheamus nails a clothesline on Luke, as a measure of retribution for earlier.
Cesaro has Gallows locked in the center of the ring with a sharpshooter. Anderson runs back to the ring, and attacks Sheamus from behind. This distracts Cesaro enough to relinquish his submission hold. This also distracts Cesaro enough for Gallows to gain the upperhand.
Luke Gallows defeats Cesaro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwX46tLushM
Backstage Segment in Mick Foley’s Office
Foley is on the phone with Stephanie McMahon. Sami Zayn enters the offices and requests to be entered into the Royal Rumble match. Foley is about to grant him this wish, but Stephanie overhears the conversation. She says that is not how things work around here. Sami has to earn it!
Segments: Bayley Is Ready For The Rumble/ Rollins & Foley Backstage
We see a video filmed earlier of the night of Corey Graves interviewing Bayley. She seems prepared for her match at the Rumble at Charlotte. We see footage of Bayley’s colorful entrances, where much of the crowd goes wild for the delightful Bayley. She thinks she will break Charlotte’s unprecedented pay per view streak.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC1z99ElLmA
Foley informs Rollins in the lockerroom that he will face face off against a friend tonight. Rollins will wrestle Zayn, the winner will earn their way into the 30-man Rumble match. Rollins says something disrespectful about Stephanie and her husband Triple H to end the segment.
Royal Rumble qualifying match: Seth Rollins vs. Sami Zayn
This was a very entertaining, back and forth match that is worth a re-watch. Zayn is really coming to his own as a superstar knocking at the door of the main event. The final wrestling move of the match looked to be the most devastating. Rollins executed a pedigree on Zayn onto the hardest part of the ring. Sami’s face smashed into the ring apron. It looks like Rollins is going to win. Rollins rolls Sami into the center of the ring. And then…Triple H’s music hits. Seth goes crazy in anticipation of The Game. Triple H never comes out, he only distracts Rollins long enough for Sami to sneak a roll-up pin.
Sami Zayn defeats Seth Rollins and qualifies for the Royal Rumble match
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZSDzPJry2k
Post-match: Seth Rollins is freaking out backstage.
Jack Gallagher, TJ Perkins & Mustafa Ali vs. Tony Nese, Ariya Daivari & Drew Gulak
The good guys (Gallagher, Perkins & Ali) were dominant all throughout this match-up. This was a very one-sided affair, which is a disappoint. WWE can’t keep treating the cruiserweight division in this manner. They need to have stand-out matches to excite the WWE crowd and make the fans care about their match. The crowd was largely silent during this match. Although, there was great moves performed by the good guys, I don’t think it’s profitable to make their adversaries look like chumps if WWE wants to build a successful division. Despite this, Gallagher has become an excellent addition to the Monday Night Raw telecast. Mustafa Ali looks like a promising new competitor that nailed a superb reverse 450 splash to end the match. Poor Drew Gulak.
Jack Gallagher, TJ Perkins & Mustafa Ali defeats Tony Nese, Daivari & Drew Gulak
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siBfXeaDC5A
The New Day and Enzo & Cass vs. Rusev, Titus O’Neil, Jinder Mahal & Braun Strowman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtE80O0qtJI
After a hilarious segment, an 8-man tag team match was scheduled. Rusev will turn into a good guy, I can see it. The guy is getting better on the mic. But The New Day are still the kings of microphone shtick. Enzo & Cass come in at a close-second.
The good guys were also dominant in this match-up. The New Day and the team of Enzo & Cass took control much of this match-up. They were able to get the upper-hand of all the competitors, but Braun Strowman. When Strowman got tagged in, the mood changed completely. Braun dominated the much smaller Enzo Amore. Strowman slammed Enzo. Light out for Love.
Braun Strowman, Titus O’Neil, Rusev & Jinder Mahal defeats The New Day and Enzo & Cass
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jyWozYylX8
Post-match: The Big Show comes out and has an epic stare-down with Braun Strowman.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YboZNAr8uR8
WWE United States Championship match: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Roman Reigns
Reigns dominates the match early-on. He dominates people like Hulk Hogan in the ’80s and ’90s. He’s kicking Jericho’s ass as we go to commercial break.
We’re back from commercial, and Y2J has Reigns in a headlock. Jericho is finally in control. But you can’t keep Reigns down for too long. Roman is back to dominating Y2J and is about to put him away. Kevin Owens is alarmed by the idea of his friend losing the championship to his rival. KO walks up to the ring and interferes.
Roman Reigns defeats WWE United States Champion Chris Jericho by disqualification
Both KO and Y2J assault Reigns, the shark tank is lowered and they’re planning to lock Reigns inside. But Roman fights back and Owens ends up locks in the cage. Reigns attacks Jericho. KO looks upset as the cage ascends to the roof of the arena.
When we come back from commercial break, Y2J and KO are still in the ring. They’re pissed and slamming the door of the cage. An attractive interviewer walked into the shot and tells KO that Foley made the Universal Championship match at the Royal Rumble will be a no disqualification match. Owens is pissed!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRUBcA49o6s
Interview with Charlotte
We see a pre-recorded video of Corey Graves having a sit-down interview with Charlotte, much like he did with Bayley earlier. Charlotte informs Graves that she will dominate Bayley, destroy the hype and leave her in the dust.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXrYK25CdaU
Nia Jax vs. Ray Lynn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEBYTBQ5bHQ
Nia is completely dominant in this match. If you blinked, you might have missed it. Nia crushed Lynn. Enough said.
Nia Jax defeats Ray Lynn
Post-match: Nia Jax gets interviewed by the interviewer who ticked off Kevin Owens. Nia says that Sasha Banks career is over, adding that there should be an ESPN 30-30 on her career, but it would be too tragic to watch. Sasha Banks comes down to the ring with her crutch. But Sasha uses her injury to her advantage, as she beats the crap outta Jax with the crutch. Sasha smacks the crutch so hard and so many times on Jax that the crutch breaks into pieces. Jax looks unfazed. She charges Banks, who ducks out of the way and opens up the ropes to have Nia fly to the outside. The Boss is officially back on top!
Non-title match: WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann vs. Noam Darr w/ Alicia Fox
This was a much more back-and-forth match than the Nia Jax squash affair. Noam Darr looked strong in this match. He looked like he might come out on top against the Cruiserweight Champion. But then out of nowhere, Swann hits a sick superkick to Darr’s head.
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann defeats Noam Darr
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StxMMnPS6mo
Main Event Segment: Goldberg in the ring
Goldberg hypes the Royal Rumble match. He promises his road to success will lead him to WWE Universal Championship. Goldberg is about to say all the 29 other wrestlers at the Rumble are Next! But Heyman interrupts him before finishing that sentence. He gives the former WCW-icon a hint that Lesnar will absolutely demolish, emasculate, eviscerate, eradicate, and utterly humiliate Goldberg at the Rumble. Goldberg taunts Lesnar and verbally provokes him for a fight. And that’s something you just don’t do to Brrrooooccckkkkk Lessssssssnaarrrrrr!
Lesnar is pissed, walking down to the ring with a purpose. He circles the ring. He jumps on the apron, all the while starring holes through his rival. Lesnar enters the ring, and you can cut the tension with a knife. And then, the lights goes off and the bell tolls. The Undertaker appears when the lights go back on. Goldberg, Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker are all in the ring at the same time! The light goes back off and the show ends.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XTYpCUn1o8
