WWE Raw live results: Goldberg returns on the road to Survivor Series
The Big Takeaway: Goldberg returned and gave Rusev a jackhammer, then gave Paul Heyman a spear to send Heyman “to the hospital.” Most of the show built the Survivor Series Raw vs. Smackdown matches. The main Raw team for the Survivor Series 5-on-5 match is currently comprised of Roman Reigns, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens and Braun Strowman, who won a battle royal on this show to earn his spot.
In consecutive hours, Vince’s great giant hopes squashed smaller babyfaces who have proven to be much more popular and marketable in NXT.
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Goldberg started the show with an in-ring interview.
He still looks overwhelmed at the reception he receives. He was two sentences into his interview when Paul Heyman came out. Heyman and Brock Lesnar were clearly the heels to this crowd, and Heyman did the same promo he did last week about his client not appreciating the fans chanting Goldberg’s name. Heyman said he had all the respect in the world for Goldberg and he wasn’t a physical threat to him, but teased that he had significant backup.
He reluctantly stepped into the ring and said he was probably going to make Goldberg, the fans, and all their families happy because his client was an impatient beast. He said Goldberg was 1-0 against his client, but his client conquers streaks like the Undertaker’s. That’s why his client has decided not to wait until Survivor Series…because his client wants to face Lesnar right now. Heyman introduced Lesnar and his music played, but Heyman had a devlish smile on his face as no one walked out.
Heyman said “Gotcha” and lampooned the fans. Heyman said to look at the look of disappointment on the face of his son at ringside. Instead of looking disappointed, Gage was smiling at ringside as was Goldberg’s wife. Goldberg backed Heyman into a corner as Heyman begged off, but Rusev came out.
Fans chanted for Lana, but Rusev asked Goldberg who he thought he was. Rusev said Goldberg thought he was a superhero, but he didn’t think he had it anymore. He said he used to watch Goldberg in WCW back in the day, and he thought Goldberg had two great moves: the spear and the Jackhammer. Those moves require a lot of power, but he didn’t think Goldberg had the power anymore. He didn’t think Goldberg had the heart anymore. Rusev thought Goldberg was weak and he crushes weak people.
Rusev punched Goldberg, who didn’t sell it. Goldberg stumbled to the mat throwing a knee to Rusev’s gut, but gave Rusev a Jackhammer and posed for the crowd. As Heyman stood over Rusev, Goldberg gave Heyman a spear.
Enzo Amore defeated Luke Gallows in a Trick or Street Fight (8:00)
Amore came out dressed as Buzz Lightyear and Big Cass as Sheriff Woody from Toy Story, dropping several references from that film. The ring was surrounded with various Halloween decoratons like pumpkins along the apron, a plastic skeleton, and a bucket of apples in water. Enzo stuck Luke Gallows’ head into the apple water and hit him with the skeleton. If you thought they were going to shoot the moon and have a tombstone with “Dixie” written on it, you weren’t alone.
Gallows ripped open a pumpkin and rubbed the remains inside across Enzo’s face. Amore threw a pumpkin at Gallows, who hit it with a kendo stick. Amore grabbed a whipped cream pie, Karl Anderson jumped up on the apron and Amore smashed him in the face with it. Cass got in the ring and gave Anderson a big boot through a table. Cass was supposed to put a big pumpkin over Gallows head, but it wouldn’t fit, so Cass just laid it across the back of his neck. Amore jumped off the top rope for what was supposed to be a DDT, but he barely touched Gallows, who bumped anyway.
An ambulance was shown backstage. They claimed Heyman was inside and had to be hospitalized because of Goldberg’s spear.
Brian Kendrick cut a prematch promo saying nice guys like T.J. Perkins would always finish last. Kendrick said he fooled Perkins into giving him sympathy so he dropped his guard.
T.J. Perkins defeated WWE Cruiserweight Champion Brian Kendrick by countout (6:28)
Lots of high spots in a short time, including Perkins pulling out the Dodon. Perkins put the kneebar on Kendrick, who made the ropes. Finishing sequence was Perkins jumping off the top rope to give Kendrick a huracanrana over the top rope, and both men took sick bumps. Perkins landed on his head on the apron, and Kendrick appeared to hit his forehead on the floor.
They did the New Japan-style tease of a countout, just with a lame finish. Perkins beat the count. Kendrick’s torso was in the ring, but it was ruled his legs were out of the ring. Kendrick rolled out of the ring to get intentionally counted out and retain the championship. Perkins was so mad he put the kneebar on Kendrick on the floor until the referees had to pull him off. Crowd liked the fire that Perkins showed.
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Mick Foley talked with a stagehand about The Walking Dead and brought up the character Dale Horvath using a barbed-wire baseball bat, questioning where he got that idea. Braun Strowman walked up and demanded to be on Team Raw at the Survivor Series because he still wants competition. Foley said if Strowman thought threatening him would work, he was right. Foley said there would be a battle royal later tonight and the winner would be placed on Team Raw, so he would put Strowman in it and ordered him to show him something.
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Foley came out to the ring and said what Owens and Chris Jericho did last night at Hell in a Cell left him with a bad taste in his mouth. Owens and Jericho came out with Jericho getting “Y2J” chants. Owens wondered what they did that was so wrong. Maybe it was because Foley’s number one draft choice, Seth Rollins, didn’t win the Universal Championship, or that Jericho outsmarted Foley. Owens determined it was him that stole the show in the main event and became the first man ever to succesfully defend the Universal Championship in Hell in a Cell. Jericho said Foley should be thanking Team Chris and Kevin because they showed what a true team can do and he needed them to anchor Team Raw.
Foley admitted he needed them for Survivor Series. Owens said he and Jericho were the top two guys on Raw and it killed Foley that he needed them. Owens said he walked out of Hell in a Cell match a winner last night while Foley lost four Hell in a Cell matches. In fact, the last match that Foley lost inside Hell in a Cell was to HHH in the very building they were in tonight. Foley got in Owens’ face and said Owens had the talent to win by himself, but he always needed Jericho’s help.
Jericho joked about taking the key from the referee to get into the Cell and said it was “The Key of Jericho. Lock it in, man.” Foley said he needed them both, but Stephanie wanted only Owens, not Jericho. He said Stephanie was incensed about the finish last night and didn’t want Jericho on the team, but he stopped her because any guy who was devious enough to ruin the integrity of Hell in a Cell was the guy they needed on Team Raw. But he also needed another guy. The guy.
Roman Reigns came out to “Roman sucks” chants. Foley muttered “My wife loves you.” Reigns called Owens and Jericho “SponeBob Squarepants and his best friend Patrick.” Jericho said Reigns wasn’t wearing a Halloween outfit. Reigns said he was going to go dressed as a stupid idiot, but the store was out of Chris Jericho outfits. Jericho teased putting Reigns on the list, which the crowd was dying to see. Jericho didn’t do it so he could be a heel and insulted the United States, saying he would take the U.S. Championship from Reigns tonight if he wanted to.
Jericho was sure that Reigns was too beat up from his match with Rusev last night. Reigns said he would never pass on the chance to shut up Jericho. Foley made the match for later tonight.
Braun Strowman won a 12-man battle royal to earn a spot on Team Raw at the Survivor Series (8:18)
Darren Young is now dressing like Bob Backlund with suspenders, a dress shirt and black slacks. Strowman eliminated R-Truth at :36 and Bo Dallas at :43. Sami Zayn gave Strowman an Helluva kick, followed by Sheamus delivering a Brogue Kick, but Strowman fell out of the ring between the ropes. Cesaro eliminated Jinder Mahal with an uppercut at 4:41.
Then Darren Young tried to eliminate Cesaro, but Sheamus eliminated Young at 4:52. The tag team that can’t get along showed cohesion, for a few minutes at least. Strowman threw out Curtis Axel at 5:22. Zayn knocked out Titus O’Neal with a big boot at 5:43. Cesaro threw out Goldust at 5:52.
Then Sheamus turned on Cesaro, but Cesaro threw out his tag team partner at 5:58. Then Strowman immediately tossed Cesaro over at 6:04. Cesaro and Sheamus argued again. We were down to three with Strowman, Neville and Zayn. Strowman clotheslined Neville inside out and tossed him over with ease at 6:04. Zayn was back doing the underdog gimmick. Strowman placed Zayn on the apron over the top rope, but Zayn tried to give him a guillotine choke over the top rope. Strowamn budged, but eventually threw out Zayn.
The Raw Survivor Series team is now Owens, Strowman, Jericho and Reigns with one more spot up for grabs.
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– Another makeover of Emmalina vignette.
– Byron Saxton was dressed in rubber duckie pajamas while Corey Graves was in a black pumpkin outfit.
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Big E. was dressed as Farooq backstage, while Xavier Woods showed up as Papa Shango. Kofi Kingston was in Godfather gear. They mourned the death of their trombone, Francesca 2, last night. Woods said her sister would be here soon. Kingston said they had been announced as the captains for the Raw tag team during the 10-man tag team match at Survivor Series. They wondered what they were up against. Woods said he didn’t know because he didn’t watch SmackDown Live. They made fun of the Hype Bros and Rhino and Heath Slater, and the Vaudevillains. They did put over American Alpha but it didn’t matter because their team shall overcome. Woods didn’t know what he was talking about but they did the New Day Rocks chant.
Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander and Lince Dorado defeated Tony Nese, Drew Gulak and Ariya Daivari (5:31)
Tony Nese went to the top rope, but Swann did a handstand into a huracanrana. Dorado and Alexander did a double dive on Gulak and Daivari. Nese tried to pin Swann with a O’Connor cradle while holding the tights, but Swann gave him a Pele Kick and pinned him with a jackknife cradle.
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Charlotte came out on a throne with four men dressed like Roman Gladiators hoised her to the ring. It was the female version of the Randy Savage entrances when he was doing the “Macho King” gimmick. Charlotte said she made history last night when she walked into the first-ever female Hell in a Cell match and walked out the 3-time Raw Women’s Champion. She said the biggest mistake that Sasha Banks made was getting off the stretcher because there’s nothing wrong with losing. She admitted that Banks pushed her to her limits, but she was like every other woman in the WWE, running into second place and she better learn to love it.
She turned her attention to Survivor Series where she will be the team captain for the Raw women’s team. She cut a promo on Nikki Bella, saying she put Nikki on the shelf for a year and if Bella gets in her way again, she will put Bella on the shelf forever. She called Bayley the weak link of the team and ordered her to come out.
Bayley said what Charlotte and Banks did last night made her emotional. She said when she was in NXT, the thought of competing at that level was just a dream and Charlotte made it a reality. She congratulated Charlotte on winning the championship. Charlotte snickered at her, saying while Bayley was dreaming of all of this, she was achieving all of this. Bayley shot back that she’s become a jerk and all the success has gone to her head. She said she would never want to be a champion like Charlotte.
Charlotte wondered when Bayley would realize they aren’t in NXT anymore. She didn’t know if Bayley was a wrestler or a glorified fan wearing a Halloween custome. She said a team is only as strong as its weakest link. Bayley interrupted her and said everyone was tired of hearing her talk. She realized that Charlotte wanted to put her in another match with Dana Brooke, but she beat Brooke last night. Charlotte said she wouldn’t be facing Brooke.
Instead, Nia Jax came out.
Nia Jax defeated Bayley (6:52)
Jax pinned Bayley after a Samoan Drop. Charlotte was on commentary and spent the whole time making fun of Saxton. Jax just did monster spots while Bayley was the undersized underdog trying to fight insurmountable odds.
Sheamus and Cesaro defeated the Shining Stars via submission (4:05)
Sheamus made Epico submit to the Cloverleaf after Ten Beats of the Bowery. Primo tried to made the save by jumping off the top rope, but Cesaro intercepted it with an European Uppercut.
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The Golden Truth visited a haunted house. Truth walked past a werewolf and wondered if that was Reigns. Various figures dressed like clowns lunged out at them as Goldust acted scared and ran out the exit door.
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Jericho talked with Owens about how the U.S. Championship was the only title he had never captured in the WWE. Owens said they would win it together tonight and rename it the Canadian Championship.
U.S. Champion Roman Reigns defeated Chris Jericho by DQ (15:49)
Reigns had Jericho pinned after a spear, but Owens ran in for the DQ to end a very good match. Jericho was so good he had the fans chanting for Reigns midway through. Owens threw Reigns into the post before a break. Jericho had Reigns in the Walls of Jericho, but Reigns got out. Reigns blocked a codebreaker and hit a Liger Bomb for a great near fall.
Owens and Jericho double-teamed Reigns, giving him a pop-up Codebreaker. Fans could be seen leaving in droves at this point. Those who were stayed around chanted for Rollins for the run-in, who came out for a huge pop. Rollins cleaned house. It was Rollins and Reigns alone in the ring together and the fans clamored for a mini-Shield reunion. There was a palpable buzz for this more than any performers on the week-to-week roster, but all that happened was Rollins and Reigns glaring at each other as Reigns’ music played.