WWE MSG live results: Undertaker, Ronda Rousey in action

Submitted by Christopher Curtice

– Bobby Lashley defeated Jinder Mahal (w/ Sunil Singh)

This was a fairly basic, nothing happening match. Singh was cheered initially before getting booed as he started introducing Mahal. At one point, Singh attacked Lashley at the ropes when the referee wasn’t looking. The crowd was fairly loudly behind Lashley, though they got quieter as the match went on.

Lashley won with the delayed suplex.

– WWE Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander defeated Buddy Murphy to retain his title

A very good match. It had a good amount of heat for a cruiserweight match, especially after the halfway point. The crowd chanted heavily for Alexander. By the time the finish came, they were more into it than the opener.

They did lots of great near falls. Alexander won with a Lumbar Check and got a big pop.

– Raw Tag Team Champions Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt defeated Titus Worldwide (Titus O’Neil & Apollo Crews) and The B-Team (Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas) in a triple threat match to retain their titles

The B-Team got a big pop coming out. It seemed to be a bit louder than the reaction for Hardy and Wyatt, but I wasn’t certain. All three teams got pops, though.

Even if The B-Team had the bigger reaction, Hardy and Wyatt were the clear crowd favorites once the match got going. Each team did their usual spots. Axel had the heat on O’Neil at the end, but Hardy tagged him, then hit the Twist of Fate on O’Neil for the win. Average match overall, but each team made it fun.

– Bayley, Ember Moon & Natalya defeated Alicia Fox, Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan

Bayley was clearly playing babyface, and Fox got a decent pop despite being a heel. This match had the least heat so far. After Natalya started, most of it was built around Moon trying to get the hot tag to Bayley. Bayley pinned Morgan with the Bayley-to-Belly.

– Baron Corbin cut a promo in between matches, introducing himself as the Constable of Raw, talking about being in the main event, and declaring that he would deliver the End of Days.

– Mojo Rawley defeated Bobby Roode

Rawley got little reaction, but Roode got a big pop. A lot of people sang along with his song. As the second chorus began, Rawley attacked Roode from behind, getting a lot of heat.

Rawley actually got lots of heat throughout the match — the most I noticed up to this point (the only other person to get any real heat was Mahal). Rawley surprisingly won after Roode’s knees buckled coming off the top rope. His win didn’t get much reaction. Roode sold the knee after Rawley left and got cheered on his way out.

– Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler (w/ Drew McIntyre) defeated Seth Rollins and Finn Balor in a triple threat match to retain his title

Rollins got the biggest reaction coming out, with a big “Burn it Down” chant at his entrance. McIntyre is super imposing in person, especially when next to Ziggler. Rollins and Balor got big pops for their introductions, while Ziggler got decently loud boos.

After a lot of roll-up attempts by all three, Rollins got Ziggler out of the ring and faced off with Balor, but Ziggler and McIntyre continually interrupted them. McIntyre got ejected, but he threw Rollins into the barricade on the way out, leaving Balor and Ziggler alone in the ring for a while. As Rollins tried to get back in, Ziggler threw Balor at him, keeping him out a bit longer. Rollins then dodged the same spot, though Ziggler soon got a sleeper hold on him.

Rollins got out of that before Balor ran wild on both, chopping each in opposite corners and eventually throwing Ziggler out before getting thrown out by Rollins, who then hit separate suicide dives on each. With all three in the ring, Rollins hit the falcon arrow on Ziggler for a huge near fall. Balor and Rollins traded strikes after a Curb Stomp attempt, but Ziggler came in and hit the Zig-Zag on Rollins for an even bigger near fall. “This is awesome” chants started after that.

Ziggler stopped Balor attempting the Coup de Grace. He tried a superplex before getting buckle bombed by Rollins, who tried to superplex Balor but got kicked down. Rollins rolled out to avoid the Coup de Grace attempt, after which Balor got hit with a Zig-Zag for another gigantic near fall.

A bit later, Rollins hit a superkick on each and was signaling for the Curb Stomp before a distraction from McIntyre allowed Ziggler to get the pin. After celebrating, McIntyre and Ziggler beat down Rollins. They seemed to be about to hit their tag team finisher before Balor made the save, hitting the Coup de Grace on McIntyre and allowing Rollins to Curb Stomp Ziggler. Rollins and Balor shook hands afterwards. Awesome match with a ton of heat.

– The Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado) defeated Drew Gulak, Brian Kendrick & Jack Gallagher

They had a good match, but it was nothing you wouldn’t see as a 205 Live opener. The crowd was in and out of this, but they were still louder than most cruiserweight matches.

– Ronda Rousey defeated Nia Jax

Alexa Bliss was introduced as the special guest referee. She cut a promo, admitting that there was mutual disrespect between her and the two wrestlers in the match, and thus she was adding a second guest referee, Mickie James. Jax got little reaction, but Rousey got a huge pop. Like in Philadelphia on Friday, she was again announced as the first woman to enter the UFC Hall of Fame.

Rousey started off on fire, but she got cut off by James, who pulled her away from Jax after she beat on her too long in the corner. Bliss also attacked Rousey while James attended to Jax. After that, Jax got the heat for much of the match. Rousey countered the bear hug into a sleeper hold, but Jax was able to again counter into a vertical suplex.

After recovering, Rousey got a big kick on Jax and got her into a sleeper hold, eventually putting her in an armbar over the ropes before James forced the break. Rousey fired up into a striking combination and followed with a big knee, but James counted slow for a two count. Jax then bumped into Bliss, giving Rousey another chance to take Jax down, but James pretended her arm couldn’t make the three count. Rousey put her into an armbar, which she tapped out to before Jax broke it up with a leg drop.

Jax went for the pin, and Bliss counted to one before stomping on Jax. Both referees were eventually taken out, with Rousey then hitting a crossbody on Jax. She got about a 12 count on her as a referee ran down, finally getting to the ring for a two count.

Rousey finally got the armbar and submitted Jax clean, getting a big pop and having probably the most genuine celebration with the crowd of anyone on the show. The match was a lot of fun despite everything with the referees, and it was helped a lot by the heat it had.

– AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe for the WWE Championship and Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz were announced for SmackDown’s house show at MSG on December 26, with the pre-sale password “HOLIDAY.”

– The Undertaker, Roman Reigns & Braun Strowman defeated Kevin Owens, Baron Corbin & Elias

Elias started this with a performance, saying he thought about not doing a concert but had to since he was in the main event at MSG. He was super over until he got mega heat for burying New York, though the first few comments got laughs. He complained about the crowd not appreciating him, then brought out Owens and Corbin by saying that he had two partners who do.

Strowman was the first babyface out and got a big pop. Reigns got a 50/50 reaction when he first entered, but after that initial pop it was overwhelmingly negative. Undertaker’s pop was absolutely ear shattering when he first came out and when Jojo announced his name. From the beginning of Elias’ concert to the ring of the bell was about 22 minutes.

The noise from Undertaker’s entrance never left, and the entire match was extremely hot. None of the heels wanted to start, with Owens finally going against Strowman. The heels kept tagging out until Strowman tagged in Reigns to huge boos. As expected, the tag to Undertaker was constantly teased throughout the match, with a huge pop coming when he entered the ring without being tagged when Owens knocked into him.

Undertaker finally tagged in after Reigns hit a Superman Punch. He set up Owens and Elias for a double chokeslam but got interrupted by Corbin. After Strowman and Reigns took out Corbin and Elias, Undertaker hit the tombstone on Owens for the pin and got another ear-shattering pop.

Undertaker shook hands with Strowman, then had a staredown with Reigns before shaking his hand to another huge reaction.

This was my favorite of the three Undertaker matches this year. It was a lot of fun, though that was probably helped by having the experience of being in the crowd. The Cruiserweight and Intercontinental title matches provided great in-ring action, and the two main events had unbelievable atmospheres.