WWE Raw live results: Brock Lesnar makes his return
The Big Takeaway: Stephanie McMahon announced there will be an all-women’s Royal Rumble for the first time ever next month. Kurt Angle announced the main event for Royal Rumble will be Brock Lesnar defending the Universal Championship against Kane and Braun Strowman in a Triple Threat match. It was a tough crowd as they wasn’t much heat for any of the matches.
This is my final recap before Christmas since I will be absent next week, so I’d like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday season. Thank you so much for reading each week.
Show Recap:
Kurt Angle came out and addressed the situation from last week with Strowman vs. Kane. He announced Lesar was here tonight and by the end of the night he will declare who Lesnar’s next opponent will be. Strowman walked out and said he was the only one left standing last week and that’s why Angle should pick him to be Lesnar’s opponent at the Royal Rumble. This brought out Kane, who told Strowman he’s been in the WWE for over 20 years and there was no way anyone was stepping in front of him. Kane said Lesnar’s list of victims is impressive, and while it does include his brother the Undertaker, it doesn’t include him. Kane said he will get his chance at the Royal Rumble unless Strowman was man enough to stop him.
Paul Heyman came out and said they weren’t going to have this discussion without his client, Lesnar, who came to the ring with his music. Angle announced the Triple Threat, as quickly as he could, that it would be a Triple Threat match at the Royal Rumble with Lesnar vs. Kane vs. Strowman for the Universal Championship. Angle rushed through his catchphrase and got the hell out of the ring before the three men could start fighting. Kane knocked Strowman out of the ring with a series of rights, but Lesnar (after a bit of a struggle) got Kane up for the F-5.
Lesnar walked back up the ramp with Heyman smiling, but then Kane sat up and looked at Lesnar, which wiped the smile off of Heyman’s face. Strowman glared at Kane outside the ring.
Seth Rollins was supposed to face Samoa Joe. Rollins made his ring entrance, but Jason Jordan came out. Jordan said he has asked Angle for a match with Joe for two weeks. Jordan said he was done asking, and if Rollins had a bone to pick with Joe, he’s going to have to pick the bones when he’s done with Joe. Rollins said he appreciated what Jordan was trying to do, then Joe came out to “Joe” chants. Joe said he felt like the girl at the Ball and all the boys wanted to dance with him. Joe suggested Jordan face Rollins with the winner facing him. Rollins said the most has already been made, Rollins vs. Joe, so he dared Joe to come to the ring while Jordan looked somewhere else for his daddy’s approval. Jordan pushed Rollins down, which was enough for Rollins to agree to a match with Jordan then and there. Joe walked down to ringside to watch.
Seth Rollins defeated Jason Jordan (19:41)
Jordan’s offense consisted mostly of lifting Rollins over his shoulder and ramming him into the corner. Rollins delivered a downward spiral into the turnbuckle, but Jordan got up and hit an exploder suplex. Rollins jumped off the top rope for a clothesline on Jordan. Then Rollins attempted the spinkout knee, but Jordan arm dragged him over. Rollins knocked Jordan out of the ring, then hit a tope where his head went right into the dasherboards. Both men barely got back in the ring before the ten count. Rollins went for a springboard, but Jordan caught him for an overhead belly-to-belly, following by a rolling Northern Lights suplex for a two count. Jordan put Rollins on the top rope for a superplex, but Rollins punched Jordan back to the mat for a frog splash for a long two count. Jordan got out of the ring, but Rollins jumped off the apron for a knee strike. Joe and Rollins started jawing outside the ring, and Rollins threw Jordan into Joe, who started to go after Rollins, but Rollins hit Joe with a superkick. Back in the ring, Rollins pulled off a sunset flip, but Jordan sat down on top of Rollins for a two count. Rollins got the pin with the spinout knee.
Postmatch, Joe and Rollins began brawling. Joe hit a uranage on Rollins, then put the fists to him on the mat to leave Rollins laying. A series of referees pulled Joe off, but Joe clotheslined Jordan over the railing into the crowd to a big pop on his way to the back.
Backstage, Ambrose wanted a match with Joe tonight. Ambrose came in and wanted to face Joe. Then Jordan walked in and demanded a match with Joe. Finally, this led to Angle ordering a six-man with Jordan, Ambrose and Rollins vs. Joe, Cesaro and Sheamus. Ambrose and Rollins didn’t want to team with Jordan, but Angle said it was that arrangement or nothing.
Bray Wyatt appeared on screen and wondered why so many people are drawn to Matt Hardy. Maybe it was the funny faces that Hardy makes. Wyatt said if he wanted to continue his little chess match, then he would oblige.
Finn Balor defeated Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas in a handicap match by DQ (5:33)
Finn Balor did a double stomp on Bo Dallas, and Curtis Axel ran in for the save. Axel placed Balor on the top rppe, but Balor kicked him off. Balor attempted the Coup de Grace, but Dallas ran in to stop Balor. Dallas refused to leave the ring, leading to the DQ. Axel and Dallas put the boots to Balor, but Hideo Itami ran down for the save. Itami went after Axel and sent him packing. Balor roughed up Dallas with a spin kick. Good reaction to Itami, and this led to a regular tag match.
Hideo Itami and Finn Balor defeated Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas (4:37)
Itami pinned Axel with the GTS. Crowd didn’t react to very much. Balor and Itami shook hands afterwards.
Alexander did an interview with Renee Young. Alexander said he wanted to show what 205 Live is all about. He said he wasn’t overlooking Gulak and he would be left alone with his arm up in the air ready to face Amore for the cruiserweight championship.
Enzo Amore came out with Gulak. Since the entire world is in a Star Wars mindset, Gulak compared himself to Jar-Jar Binks. Once again, Enzo looked at Gulak like he had lost his mind.
Cedric Alexander defeated Drew Gulak to become the #1 contender for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship (12:50)
Amore was on commentary largely hogging as much air time as he could. They did a spot where Gulak tried to give Alexander a vertical suplex over the top rope. Alexander landed on his feet on the apron, and it ended up with Alexander and Gulak doing a sick spot where they fell to the floor with Gulak taking a vertical suplex right on the back of his head, and Alexander didn’t fare much better. During a commercial, Gulak tossed Alexander off the top rope and landed on his back to the floor. Alexander hit the Queen’s Crowning, which is a standing moonsault side slam, for a near fall. Alexander attempted a handspring kick, but Gulak caught Alexander’s leg and put Alexander in the STF, which Amore claimed he taught Gulak and called it the Gabba Gulak Grip. Alexander got the ropes. Enzo then got a message on his cell phone and left. Gulak got distracted and wondered where Enzo was going. Alexander gave Gulak a backhand on the apron, flew off the top rope with a clothesline and got the pin with the lumbar check.
Amore went backstage, where he found a smiling Nia Jax waiting for him and wondered about his friend Drew. Amore said he didn’t know why everyone thought Gulak was his friend and shited the subject to the DM she sent him. At this point, Gulak walked in with tissue up his nose from blood, totally ruining the romantic moment Enzo was trying to build. Gulak apologized and said he lost to Alexander, and then apologized, saying he let Enzo down and the ‘Zo Train down. Jax walked off and said they would talk later. Enzo looked furious. Gulak said maybe they can sit down together and look at the tapes to determine what they did wrong. Enzo screamed that Drew did a lot of things wrong and left in a huff.
Alicia Fox cut an inset promo saying she would end Asuka’s winning streak tonight or else she would freak out.
Asuka defeated Alicia Fox via tapout (3:39)
Fox landed a roundhouse kick and hit the Northern Lights suplex, each for two counts. Asuka jumped off the 2nd rope for a dropkick, hit a running hip attack in the corner, got the buzzsaw kick and sank in the rolling armbar for the tapout.
They showed a Snickers Flashback from the Past. Of all things, they aired the memorable debut of Chris Jericho in August 1999.
Cesaro. Sheamus and Samoa Joe defeated Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Jason Jordan (13:08)
Rollins got the first hot tag and did a cool spot where he was on the apron. Cesaro attempted to give him a shoulder to the midsection, but Rollins dodged it and gave him a Famouser, then followed with another tope. Sheamus kicked Rollins on the bridge of the nose while Cesaro distracted the referee. Rollins did a great job getting the heat. The buildup to Ambrose’s hot tag got the best reaction of anything all night. Cesaro threw Rollins out of the ring, leading to a brawl outside the ring where Joe threw Jordan into the time keeper and Ambrose gave Cesaro a backdrop. Ambrose rolled Rollins into the ring, Rollins was about to make the hot tag, but Cesaro ran in and kicked Ambrose off the apron. It built up to a dive spot where Rollins hit a tope on Sheamus, Cesaro and Ambrose, who looked injured. A ringside doctor attended to Ambrose. To make it look legitimate, they went right to the finish where Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick on Rollins and Cesaro pinned him. Ambrose looked shaken up holding his right arm to his body as they abruptly went to a video package from the opening segment.
A limo pulled up in the back and Stephanie McMahon came out.
This week’s Hardy “Woken” sketch was Hardy at a chessboard. Hardy was talking to a goldfish, then said the vast battlefield of the WWE is much like a chessboard, every move must be precise. Otherwise, one wrong move could lead to annihilation. His light will illuminate brighter than any shadow that Wyatt could cast. Now that the new battlefield has been set, he will stand side by side with all of his Woken warriors. Sister Abigail must be stopped, they must be deleted, and he started chanting “delete.”
Backstage, Rollins checked on Ambrose when Joe, Cesaro and Sheamus attacked them. The heels put the boots to Rollins and rammed him into the wall. Joe then slammed a giant road case and rammed it onto Ambrose’s right arm, who sold it huge. Michael Cole said Ambrose would be taken to the hospital for X-rays.
The Revival defeated Rhyno & Heath Slater (3:04)
Titus O’Neil, Apollo Crews and Dana Brooke (now with her hair in a bun dressed like Stacey Kiebler during her Miss Hancock WCW days) watched from the back. Brooke was taking notes on a notepad. Rhyno knocked Dash Wilder into Heath Slater. Wilder dragged Rhyno off the apron, and Scott Dawson set up Slater for the Shatter Machine. Wilder got the pin. The Revivial didn’t get much of a reaction for their latest return from an injury.
Rhyno and Slater were backstage when Angle walked up to them. Angle said he appreciated the effort and told them they need to toughen up a little bit if they want more opportunities. Slater freaked out and wondered if they were going to get fired. Rhyno told Slater he needed to toughen up and he knew exactly how to do it. Slater asked if it was going to hurt.
Elias was out. He started to strum “Jingle Bells” and told the crowd to give it up for Tom Brady. He claimed that he and Brady had crossed paths several times, that Brady had told him his music had been the path to his success, and for doing things like deflating football, altering the rulebook and things like that. Elias talked about Angle is afraid about what he is becoming. Elias said he will enter the Royal Rumble, which will be the performance of the year. Elias said his song tonight was dedicated to Roger Goodell, who got booed. I was most interested to hear this song, but Sasha Banks interrupted him. Elias thanked Banks for joining him and started to sing but Mickie James came out. Elias said normally he doesn’t mind being interrupted but all the women want to walk with Elias. He started to sing again when Bayley came out. Elias walked out of the ring and declined Bayley’s offer for a hug.
John Cena is advertised for next week’s Christmas Raw.
Bayley, Sasha Banks and Mickie James defeated Absolution by DQ (3:09)
Absolution largely dominated Bayley, Banks and James until they triple-teamed Banks. Jax came out, threw Sonya DeVille and Mandy Rose into the corner. Paige backed away in a corner. Jax, verryyyy slowly, put Rose and DeVille on her back and gave he a Samoan Drop. Then Paige ran in and chop blocked Paige. The heels triple teamed Banks until Brooke, Alexa Bliss, Fox, Asuka, and Jax ran down for the save.
They brawled until Stephanie came out. Everyone stopped and looked like their mother had arrived home and got caught doing something naughty. Stephanie said three years ago, a revolution started. Because of all of them, the revolution became the evolution. Because of them they had the first women’s Hell in a Cell match and women competed in the Middle East. Stephanie said all of the girls had started passion within girls. But she wanted to make history once again. Stephanie announced there would be an all-women’s Royal Rumble match on January 28th. She said “if there was ever a time for a yes chant, it’s now.”