WWE Raw live results: WrestleMania 35 go-home show

Date: April 1, 2019
Location: Capital One Arena in Washington, DC

The Big Takeaway —

The women’s main event at WrestleMania is, in fact, a winner take all match with both titles on the line. They did a big time angle with Rousey, Charlotte and Lynch getting into a huge brawl which led to cops getting involved. All three women were handcuffed but still managed to attack each other and the officers while also smashing police cars.

The announced Angle vs. Mysterio match never happened. They aired a nice video tribute for Angle, which led to Corbin mocking him. Angle wanted to face Corbin tonight, but he refused, which led to Corbin defeating Mysterio in the main event. So, Angle will be facing Corbin at Mania. The show ended with Angle tapping out Corbin on the stage.

There was no real mention of John Cena on the show outside of his appearance in the Angle tribute video.

Show Recap —

Stephanie McMahon came out to the stage as the announcers ran down tonight’s lineup. Stephanie got a mixed reaction. She said the triple threat match was about to become even bigger when she adds herself to the match, which was booed, then admitted it was an April Fool’s joke, which got little reaction.

Stephanie announced that all titles will be on the line at WrestleMania. One of Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair or Becky Lynch will walk away with both titles because Sunday is “winner takes all.” The crowd cheered and Stephanie left. This was all done in 3-4 minutes, which is good.

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman came out next. They were heavily booed by the crowd, who also sang along with Heyman as he introduced Lesnar. Heyman said “winner takes all” was an appropriate phrase, because the winner Brock Lesnar would take everything Seth Rollins had to offer and still walk away as champion.

He said Lesnar would take everything Rollins has in life as well, just as he did when he took Undertaker’s streak at WrestleMania, and when he took the hopes and dreams of Roman Reigns. Heyman said Lesnar would end Rollins’ career.

Heyman said this was for the fans who watch hockey for the fights, Nascar for the crashes, or football for the riots — Lesnar would violate Rollins and raise the title above his head. When Lesnar was done on Sunday, Heyman said they would simply go out to dinner and discuss what was next, because Rollins was just an afterthought to the beast.

Rollins’ music hit and he marched to the ring. Rollins called it the biggest match of his career, but it was also the biggest of Lesnar’s career. Lesnar laughed.

Rollins said Lesnar would no longer be able to walk in here, push people around and make demands. Rollins said nobody wanted him here, not the wrestlers or the fans. Rollins knew that Lesnar found this amusing and called him the most decorated athlete in combat sports history. He said beating Lesnar was improbable, but not impossible.

Rollins said he would beat Lesnar and take the title on Sunday. Lensar laughed and shoulder-checked him on the way out of the ring, then Rollins grabbed him and kicked him low. Lesnar came back and gave him a German, but Rollins slipped out of an F5, gave him another low blow, followed by a superkick and curb stomp. Rollins held up the belt, dropped it and left.

The crowd ate this up. It should be noted that Rollins stood toe-to-toe with Lesnar and was almost as tall as him, which is funny given the story they’ve been trying to tell.

After a break, Charly Caruso told Rollins that if he did all that on Sunday he would be disqualified. Rollins blew this off and said Lesnar had it coming. 

8-woman tag match: Sasha Banks, Bayley, Natalya & Beth Phoenix defeated Nia Jax, Tamina & The IIconics (11:14)

Phoenix wore her old gear, or at least something similar, and looked great. The faces were in control but Phoenix got annoyed at Banks and Bayley when they jumped in to help because she didn’t need it. After a break, Bayley worked over Billie Kay, but was distracted by Peyton Royce, which allowed them to take over.

One of the IIconics was about to tag Jax or Tamina, but they hopped off the apron. Bayley went for a hot tag to Banks but Phoenix pushed her off the apron and made the tag instead. Phoenix gave Royce a powerslam but was pulled out of the ring by Tamina. Phoenix responded by driving Tamina through the barricade, which stunned her teammates.

Her teammates also just stood there instead of helping as Royce went after her. Royce wasn’t a problem, though, as Phoenix just grabbed her and hit the Glam Slam for the win. Phoenix and Natalya stared down Banks and Bayley afterwards. If you blinked, you might’ve missed that Nia Jax was even out there.

Batista was shown arriving in a Cadillac and was cheered. 

Batista promo

Batista came out to a big reaction. His music is still awesome. The crowd cheered and chanted “welcome back.” They turned off the arena lights and put on spotlights for his promo. Batista bowed his head and pointed at the screen, then a video package played. It was a series of clips of Batista destroying Triple H. The crowd cheered the video.

Batista looked into the camera, took off his shades and said: “Hunter… kiss my ass.” He smirked, dropped the mic and posed for the crowd. Before leaving, he bowed for the crowd. This was great. 

Lumberjack match: Apollo Crews defeated Jinder Mahal

This match was designed to plug the Andre the Giant battle royal. They aired a graphic for the battle royal which shows all of the announced competitors. They also have a second graphic for the match which focuses only on Braun Strowman, Colin Jost and Michael Che. Strowman was not one of the lumberjacks.

Crews won in about 90 seconds with a frog splash. He posed with the trophy afterwards, but the B-Team wanted a photo op with it instead. This somehow led to a brawl with everyone involved. They did the thing where everyone got tossed over the ropes, and even though this isn’t a real match, the people who got tossed still left to the back.

Not only did Crews win the match, but he also came out on top of this fake battle royal. He pressed Samir Singh over his head and tossed him outside onto Mahal and Sunil.

Kurt Angle and Rey Mysterio were shown having a friendly discussion backstage. 

Yolanda Adams will perform America the Beautiful at WrestleMania.

Kurt Angle promo

Angle came out for the top-of-the-hour segment. He received a big reaction and “thank you, Kurt” chants. He said this was his last night ever on Raw. He wanted the fans to know how much he appreciated them through all the bad times and good times. He thanked the fans, and they thanked him.

The ring announcer directed the fans to the video board for a tribute video for Angle. This seemed to catch Angle by surprise. The video included praise from Ric Flair, Big Show, Randy Orton, John Cena, Triple H and Steve Austin.

The video showed his highlights as a performer in and out of the ring, getting hurt in his Mania match against Lesnar, and his Hall of Fame induction. They came back to the live crowd who gave Angle a huge ovation. He was in tears.

Baron Corbin interrupted. Corbin said the video should have been in black and white because it was ancient history. He said the man in the video wasn’t the same man in the ring. He said Angle struggled to even take his jacket off or go more than 2-3 minutes in the ring. He said the guys today were simply better than Angle.

Corbin was also sick of the fans flooding his social media demanding a different opponent for Angle. The crowd cheered and some chanted for Cena. Corbin said fans need to forget about the Angle they saw in that video because all they would see on Sunday is a broken down man. (Corbin was good here.)

Angle said they could have an exhibition match right now. Corbin marched to the ring, but then backed off. Corbin said Angle wouldn’t make it to Sunday if he got in there now.

Rey Mysterio came out before Corbin could leave. Mysterio said someone needed to teach him a lesson and offered to fight Corbin right now instead. The crowd chanted “619,” then Corbin gave him a cheap shot. Angle and Mysterio teamed up on him. Mysterio gave him a seated senton and Angle followed with an Angle Slam.

This was a good segment, but they also wanted you to forget that Angle and Mysterio were supposed to have a match. 

Backstage, Caruso asked Charlotte if she was concerned about having to defend her title at Mania. Charlotte said someone should ask Asuka if she was blindsided when she won the title last week. She said she would blindside everyone at Mania when she wins.

Charlotte wasn’t worried about tonight either because she wasn’t a hot-head like Lynch or a loose cannon like Rousey. She warned them to stay away from her after the match, or else they won’t make it to Mania. 

The Revival defeated Aleister Black & Ricochet via countout to retain the Tag Team Championships

There was a brawl outside involving Black and the Revival, then Ricochet did a damn flip dive over the turnbuckle onto both Revival members. Dash Wilder managed to get back in the ring before the 10-count, but as Ricochet went to the ring, Scott Dawson grabbed his leg from under the ring, preventing him from beating the ten count. Revival retained.  

Afterwards, Black killed both Dawson and Wilder with Black Mass kicks, then Ricochet gave Dawson a 630. (My feed died during this match, but it seemed pretty entertaining from what I saw.)

Rey Mysterio vs. Baron Corbin was made official for tonight.

Backstage, Rousey was shadow boxing when she was approached by Caruso. Rousey told her that she didn’t feel like talking, then talked about how Lynch and Charlotte were facing judgement day. 

Alexa Bliss told Tyler Breeze that she liked his new haircut and it made him like a cuter version of Chris Hemsworth (as if). Bliss also talked about how great she’s doing as Mania host. EC3 started laughing and said last week’s Weekend Update on SNL was great. (He initially seemed sarcastic, but that’s not what they were going for.)

Strowman suddenly appeared and wondered what they were laughing about. Breeze blamed it on some guys down the hall and Strowman believed him (Strowman had to have been within earshot when they were talking, so this made him look very dumb.) Strowman found two guys, one black guy and one white guy. He referred to them as Che and Jost (you can guess who was who) and told them to face him tonight or else.

Elsewhere, Roman Reigns told Dasha Fuentes that there were no rumours about him not being ready. He said he was totally ready to go, then Drew McIntyre attacked him from behind. McIntyre beat him down and told him he should’ve said no. Some officials backed off McIntyre. Reigns got to his feet, but for some reason didn’t go after McIntyre, who could’ve have been far.

Based on the previous two segments, it’s like you’re in another universe if you’re not in the camera frame. 

Caruso interviewed Lynch, who didn’t care what the wooden Charlotte had to say. Lynch also said she purposely pushed Rousey’s God complex to make her feel like she was unbeatable. She thought it was funny they were trying to find another way to take her out of this match, but she was wise to their act. She said her opponents talked about wanted to make history, but she had no choice to make history.

6-woman tag match: Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey, SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch defeated The Riott Squad

Sarah Logan worked over Lynch and Rousey was not impressed with Lynch’s effort. Lynch fought back and made a comeback on Liv Morgan. She gave Logan and Morgan exploder suplexes. Lynch tried applying the Disarmer but Charlotte tagged herself in. She got in Lynch’s face, then Rousey tagged herself in. Morgan tried to catch her with a schoolgirl, but Rousey immediately through into an armbar for the submission win.

As soon as the bell rang, Rousey attacked Charlotte, which was funny. The three women brawled until security ran down. The women fought security until the lamest looking cops ran down. Rousey pushed through to get to Lynch and accidentally knocked down a cop, so they put her in handcuffs. Lynch took a shot at Rousey so the cops put her in cuffs as Charlotte watched.

As the cops tried taking Rousey away, Charlotte booted her, then went after Lynch. The cops put her in cuffs, too. All three were in cuffs and taken away by the officers. Renee Young said this was “unbecoming” of these women. The three women continued to make things difficult on the officers as they were taken through the back.

Charlotte was placed into a police car, then Rousey kicked Lynch. The officers thought it was a good idea to put Rousey and Lynch into the same backseat, which led to a great camera reveal when they saw each other. They kicked away at each other and even smashed the back window. They pulled Lynch out of the car, then Charlotte escaped and kicked away at her.

Suddenly, Rousey was in the front seat and pressed on the gas, causing the car she was in to smash into the other. Rousey was finally placed in the backseat again, then Charlotte kneed her in the face (which looked brutal). The two cars drove off, taking away Rousey and Lynch as Charlotte continued to make life difficult for the officers.

It won’t make any logical sense that these women will be allowed to wrestle on Sunday, but this was still great chaotic fun. After a break, Michael Cole said that was the damndest thing he’d ever seen. 

Heavy Machinery defeated Bobby Roode & Chad Gable (3:03)

A minute into the match, Lacey Evans was allowed to strut out onto the stage to her music. Otis did the worm into an elbow drop on Roode, but Gable broke up the cover. Gable knocked Tucker out of the ring, but Otis caught him off the ropes and they used the Compactor for the pinfall win. Roode wasn’t happy after the match.

They plugged Daniel Bryan vs. Kofi Kingston. 

Cole said Rousey, Charlotte and Lynch were taken to a local precinct where they will be booked and told us to check social media later for updates.

2-on-1 handicap match: Braun Strowman defeated two guys (3:01)

Strowman ran over both guys on the outside. The crowd asked him to do it again, so he did. He gave them each powerslams, then picked them up at the same time and gave them another powerslam for the pinfall win.

Young wondered if Che and Jost could call in sick, to which Coe responded, “there is no sick in WWE.” Amazing timing. 

The WrestleMania kickoff starts at 5pm ET, then the main show starts at 7pm ET. 

Caruso interviewed Bobby Lashley in the ring. She asked him if he was at all concerned with Finn Bálor after he won last week. Lio Rush took over and said they won’t have deadweight like Mahal to deal with. He said their only concern was over where the afterparty would be in New York. Caruso asked about rumours that we’d see the demon Bálor.

Lashley wasn’t concerned and said he’s beaten Bálor every time. Bálor showed up on the screen and said he’s always been a man with demons, and on Sunday, his demons would become Lashley’s nightmare. Smoke covered Bálor’s face, then after a camera cut, he was suddenly in his demon makeup. He stuck his tongue out and snarled.

This was really lame. They should’ve just kept it a surprise. 

They aired a clip of Rob Gronkowski tackling Mahal at WrestleMania 2017. 

Baron Corbin defeated Rey Mysterio (13:35)

The last time Mysterio wrestled on Raw was the night after WrestleMania 30 in 2014 when he lost to Bad New Barrett.

After a break, Corbin was in control and tried ripping off Mysterio’s mask. Mysterio landed awkwardly off the top and sold his leg, so Corbin began kicking away at it. Mysterio responded with kicks to the face but Corbin launched him to the outside, then followed with a clothesline. Mysterio eventually came back with a hurricanrana and tilt-a-whirl DDT for two.

Mysterio hit the 619 and went to the top but missed a frog splash. Mysterio tried mounting another comeback, but Corbin caught him off the ropes with a Deep Six for the pinfall win.

Corbin posed on the ramp, then Angle attacked him from behind and put him in the ankle lock. Corbin tapped out, then officials ran out to separate Angle as his music played.

They showed one more replay of the angle involving Rousey, Lynch and Charlotte before going off the air.