WWE Raw Live Results 10-19: The First Steps Towards WrestleMania

The Big Takeaway: An unusual show, but a good one. The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair all appeared. Neither guise of Kane, who is wrestling the WWE World Heavyweight Champion on Sunday, showed up. There was an impromptu Shield reunion in the main event. Plus, the company had its top babyface appear in the opening segment, and never showed up again. And said babyface was treated as a heel. 

Show Recap: 

Steve Austin is out first. He talked about growing up in Texas going to the Sportatorium, where he got his start. Then he introduced the Undertaker. 

Michael Cole and JBL billed the Undertaker’s match with Brock Lesnar as the final ever battle between the two men. Austin vanished as Undertaker made his entrance. The Dallas fans made the Undertaker the babyface, even though he’s been treated as a heel in the program. Undertaker said the depths of hell will look like the gates of heaven compared to where he’s going to take Brock Lesnar this Sunday. 

Lesnar and Paul Heyman came out. Heyman cut his promo from the ramp. Heyman said his client wanted to gain revenge for the Undertaker’s tainted win at SummerSlam. He said after Undertaker losses this weekend, he’ll have to wonder what it’s like to live a legacy where he defeated everyone but Brock Lesnar. 

Undertaker replied that when you take everything from a man, that man ends up fighting with nothing to lose. Undertaker motioned for Lesnar to come to the ring. Lesnar went to the ring despite the objections of Heyman. Lesnar jumped on the apron, laughed at the Undertaker, then jumped off. Heyman told Lesnar he did the right thing because now he’s in the Undertaker’s head. Crowd treated Lesnar as the heel and this was really good. 

The rest of this show is going to be tough to live up to the opening segment because it will mainly feature characters we’ve seen for three hours every Monday night. Perhaps that’s why this segment opened the show, to sell the main event for this weekend before thousands of viewers switch to Monday Night Football. 

The New Day’s promo included Big E. saying Everything is Booty in Texas, mentioning Dez Bryant’s foot and Tony Romo’s clavicle. Xavier Woods’ trombone was broken based on an angle on Smackdown where he used it against the Dudley Boyz. 

The New Day defeated The Dudley Boyz and John Cena (8:35) 

Woods pinned Devon Dudley with a schoolboy cradle while holding the trunks. John Cena did a rare plancha onto Big E., which distracted Devon. In the midst of all that, Kofi Kingston and Big E. rammed Bubba Ray Dudley into the post. Pretty good match where Big E. shook his ass several times while Cena was getting the heat. 

Cole announced Randy Orton missed the tour of Mexico due to injury and wasn’t in the building tonight. They announced that Orton wouldn’t be at Hell in a Cell on Sunday, leaving Dean Ambrose without a partner for his tag team match against Braun Strowman and Luke Harper. Ambrose was shown talking to Dean Malenko and Fit Finley in the back. 

Renee Young interviewed her boyfriend, who claimed that the Wyatt Family injured Orton and challenged Harper and Strowman to a fight tonight. 

Nikki Bella and Alicia Fox defeated Naomi and Sasha Banks (8:48)

Nikki Bella pinned Naomi after the Rack Attack. Alicia Fox looked pretty good, including a spinning backbreaker on Naomi. Sasha Banks and Nikki had some rough spots during the hot tag sequence. Match was just there. 

On an interview on Smackdown, Nikki Bella apparently said “Divas Revolution? No. It’s the Bellas’ Evolution.” You know things are bad when they’re lifting catchphrases from 1999 WCW factions that failed (I know, that’s being redundant). One that included Malenko and Shane Douglas, no less. 

They announced that Corporate Kane has been suspended after a closed door meeting with the Authority for tonight’s show after his actions last week. This was an announcement made on the company website. 

Shawn Michaels came out to a surprisingly tepid reaction. Michaels took a bite from a kid’s pizza on the way to the ring. Apparently, it went down the wrong way because he coughed throughout the interview. He brought up being in the first Hell in a Cell match against the Undertaker, and the 18th anniversary of that match will be this Sunday. Then he brought up Roman Reigns also being in a Hell in a Cell match against Bray Wyatt, and he believed those two matches will tear the house down. 

Seth Rollins came out. The two went nose-to-nose and the crowd chanted for a match against them. Rollins said Michaels was supposed to introduce him. Michaels said he’s been getting instructions from the back for 20 years, then he forgets them once he gets to the ring. Rollins said Michaels got the order from his best friend, HHH. Rollins said he was the one who was going to stop the show this Sunday. Rollins billed himself as Shawn Michaels 2.0, but he was better than the original. 

Michaels said if he had a nickel for every time he heard that he heard that someone was going to be the second coming of Shawn Michaels, he would be a billionaire. Michaels cut a promo that seemed aimed at various people that said he never once wanted to be the second coming of someone else when he was the greatest wrestler who ever lived. 

Michaels brought up Kane. Rollins cut a promo on Kane, then requested to have his music played so he could leave. Michaels said the problem with being the second coming of anyone is they never listen to anything you say compared to an original. Michaels told Rollins that he had an match coming up next against Ryback, then asked to hit his music. Which they did. Great segment by Michaels. 

Seth Rollins defeated Ryback (4:02)

Rollins worked over Ryback’s ribs, including a nice tope where Ryback landed against the announcers table. Ryback made a comeback, but Rollins kicked him in the ribs and pinned him clean with a pedigree. 

Members of the Dallas Cowboys were shown at ringside. 

They showed an angle from Smackdown where Summer Rae was a special referee for a match with Dolph Ziggler and Rusev. Rae helped Ziggler win. Afterwards, Rae came onto him, but Dolph said he wasn’t interested in being used. 

King Barrett, Rusev and Sheamus defeated Neville, Dolph Ziggler and Cesaro (12:52)

King Barrett pinned Ziggler after Barrett kicked out of a cradle, and Ziggler wound up against the ropes where Sheamus gave him a Brogue Kick outside the ring. Neville worked almost the entire match, getting the heat after Rusev knocked him off the apron with a forearm into the announce table. At one point, Neville did a somersault plancha onto Rusev and Cesaro. There was nothing at all regarding Rusev’s romantic life, aside from Cole mentioning he’s now engaged. While Neville was getting the heat and Rusev pounded away on him, the fans chanted “USA.” At that moment, the only American in the ring was the referee. 

Ric Flair didn’t even get a ring entrance for his appearance. He didn’t seem to know he was on camera and waited forever to start his promo. Flair brought up the Von Erichs and the Freebirds. Flair announced that Ambrose had found a tag team partner in Roman Reigns, which was strange since it was announced earlier that Ambrose would face Harper and Strowman alone. 

Reigns came out. I guess they just used Flair to help Reigns get cheered because he disappeared after the Wyatt Family magically appeared on the ramp. Eric Rowan was back with the Wyatt Family with no explanation as to why he’s back with them, or why he’s even a heel. 

Reigns pulled out two chairs and sat down in the middle of the ring. Reigns called out Wyatt to sit down in the other empty chair. Wyatt sat down in the chair, and Reigns told him face-to-face that Wyatt was a bully and his digs power by fear. He said Wyatt was afraid of being alone, and he was scared of Reigns. 

Reigns kept poking at Wyatt until they wound up in fistacuffs. It ended up with Reigns using a chair across Wyatt’s back, and another chair to the shoulder of Rowan. Ambrose ran down to back up his partner. 

Rollins, Stephanie McMahon and HHH watched this from the back. Michaels walked in. HHH talked about how they didn’t want Reigns and Ambrose to face Harper, Rowan and Strowman in a handicap match tonight. Michaels suggested Rollins be the third partner. Shawn insuinated it may be too heavy a load for Rollins to handle since he already wrestled tonight. Rollins objected to that and said he would join Reigns and Ambrose tonight in the main event. I can’t believe they would give away a Shield reunion on an one-off show.  Wait, when did this become a six-man? 

Charlotte (C) defeated Brie Bella via submission in a nontitle match (5:31)

Charlotte won with the Figure Eight. Nikki posed with Charlotte’s Divas title for heat. Probably the deadest match of the night so far.  

Paige watched the match from the back. Young asked Paige if she was the person if she was the person who attacked Natalya on Smackdown. Paige didn’t answer. Young pressed her for a honest response. Paige said it could have been anyone, bringing up past names like Kaitlyn and Eve Torres, or Lita, Trish Stratus or even Alundra Blaze. Paige heeled on Young saying she was no Erin Andrews and she wasn’t as cute. Actually, Young did a better job asking questions than Andrews ever has. Granted, they were scripted questions, but still. Paige even called her Sally Jesse Raphael at one point. Is this 1985 again? 

Kevin Owens (C) defeated Mark Henry in a nontitle match (3:38)

Kevin Owens was very good in getting heat since Mark Henry was in his home state. Henry seemed more animated, at one point screaming at Owens that he had been a bully in this company for 18 years. Owens actually got Henry up for the Pop-Up Power Bomb and the pin. 

Ryback came out to go after Owens, who slid out of the ring. Henry threw Owens back in, and Ryback power bombed Owens. 

Young asked Rollins about reuniting with the Shield. Rollins laughed that off and said he just wanted to prove to HHH and Michaels that he was the man. He said if Ambrose and Reigns wanted to relive the past, he would destroy them again. 

The Wyatt Family defeated Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose by DQ (14:05)

The match ended when Strowman put the head and arm choke on Regins. Ambrose couldn’t budge Strowman, so he pulled out a kendo stick and repeatedly whacked Strowman with it. Strowman didn’t sell that and broke the stick over his knee. Ambrose tried to give Strowman a tope, but Strowman caught him and rammed his back into the ring apron. Reigns followed with a tope where he cleared the top rope by plenty onto the Wyatts. The final sequence appeared screwed up. Reigns gave Wyatt a spear, but Rowan fell over them. Reigns ended it by giving Rowan a spear. 

Earlier in the match, Ambrose tried to make a hot tag. Strowman had tripped Reigns off the apron and thrown him into the barricade. That left Rollins, but just as Ambrose got to the corne, Rollins faked a knee injury. Wow, he really does want to be the next Shawn Michaels. Rollins walked out.  

Crowd was so hungry for a Shield reunion, they chanted “This is Awesome” before the match started. When the Wyatts had a face-to-face staredown with Reigns and Ambrose, Rollins just stayed back and left his teammates hanging. Then he stepped up and stared down Rowan, and the crowd roared. Then Rollins told his teammates to get out of the ring because he was the architect. When Rollins saw Rowan was going to start the match, he tagged out. 

SUMMARY: A good show, although I sense this was one of those shows where the main event was rewritten several times. Almost all the matches were solid. I still don’t think the Lesnar-Undertaker buildup has the juice it should have going into Hell in a Cell, but it was rushed since it was announced for HIAC to begin with.