WWE Raw live results: The Kevin Owens era truly begins; what’s next for HHH?

Date: September 5, 2016
Location: Sprint Center in Kansas City, MO

The Big Takeaway —

Triple H was not on the show following his appearance last week. Kevin Owens will have to defend his title at Clash of Champions against Seth Rollins. Roman Reigns will be added to the match if he can beat Owens next week on Raw.

Show Recap —

They started with a recap of Triple H helping Kevin Owens win the Universal Championship last week, heavily emphasizing how shocking it was.

They showed Stephanie McMahon backstage on the phone earlier tonight saying Owens wanted a giant celebration and she was going to give it to him, when Mick Foley interrupted her. Foley was displeased that Stephanie won’t acknowledge Triple H showing him up last week, but she said she had nothing to do with it. Foley didn’t believe her.

Foley reminded her that he’s known her forever, that she’s always been that girl with the shy smile, and wants to know why he should believe her. Stephanie admitted that she was embarrassed herself, embarrassed by her own husband. She pleaded that he believe her. Foley said he believes her, because he has to, otherwise that would make her a really good liar, and a really bad person.

Kevin Owens’ Championship Celebration

After the Raw intro, Stephanie and Foley were in the ring and there were balloons falling from the ceiling. They introduced Owens who came out wearing a black suit (no tie) and got a huge fireworks display. Balloons fell into the crowd and people were popping them. The crowd chanted “You deserve it” and Stephanie agreed.

Owens said he deserved the celebration and the title. He said he did not deserve a crowd full of idiots trying to hijack his moment. He said the crowd made it about themselves by trying to show how special they were, but he was the special one. Owens beat three of the best and was man enough to admit that Triple H gave him a nudge, but Owens did 98% of the work. He welcomed us to the Kevin Owens Show.

Seth Rollins stormed out and told Owens to shut up. He yelled at Stephanie, saying he carried the company on his back and blew out every ligament in his knee for them. Owens reminded him that this was the Kevin Owens Show. Rollins called him a puppet and threatened him.

Rollins yelled at Stephanie again, so Foley defended her. Rollins doesn’t believe Stephanie had nothing to do with it. He said Owens was handpicked by Triple H from day one, and threatened to burn the place to the ground.

Owens wondered where Rollins’ passion was this past few months and called him a failure since returning from injury. Rollins attacked him. Stephanie suspended Rollins indefinitely, which the crowd booed. Foley said no, and the crowd cheered. Foley said they don’t hand out suspensions, they make matches, so he announced Rollins vs. Owens for the title at Clash of Champions.

They announced Bayley vs. Charlotte (non-title) up next. 

Backstage, Stephanie demanded that Foley not usurp her position. Foley said he cares what people say about her, even if she didn’t. Owens showed up, pissed that Foley rewarded Rollins with a title match after he got attacked while wearing a suit. Foley “rewarded” Owens by putting him in a match with Sami Zayn.

Chris Jericho showed up and said they can’t treat Owens this way, considering he’s the longest reigning Universal Champion in history, which got a laugh out of the crowd. Foley put Jericho in a match with Rollins tonight.

Earlier tonight, Charlotte gave Dana Brooke a clipboard to take notes during her match.

Non-Title: Bayley defeated WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte (w/Dana Brooke) 

Crowd is super into Bayley. She tried a baseball slide dropkick but tweaked her knee. Charlotte took advantage and worked over the knee for most of the match. Brooke tried to get involved, but Bayley pushed Charlotte into her, and followed with Bayley-to-Belly for the win in about 13 minutes.

They aired a video package for Connor’s Cure.

They aired a promo for the cruiserweights coming to Raw, specifically mentioning Gran Metalik, Jack Gallagher and Akira Tozawa.

Backstage, Charlotte was pissed at Brooke. Brooke said she would make it up to Charlotte, but Charlotte slapped her.

Bo Dallas defeated Kyle Roberts

Dallas won in a minute with a rolling cutter. I guess the idea is he’s serious now, although his promo rhymed and he told us to “Bo-lieve in Bo.”

Backstage, Jericho told Owens he would beat Rollins tonight, because they’re best friends. Owens advised him to attack the knee. Owens said his suit cost $750 and Jericho complimented his haircut. They hugged.

There was a commercial for SmackDown announcing that AJ Styles would call out Dean Ambrose. Michael Cole yelled about Raw being the only flagship show.

Seth Rollins defeated Chris Jericho

They didn’t mention this on commentary, but this appears to be just the second one-on-one match between this two (on TV), and first in over two years.

Jericho countered a flying knee into the Walls, but Rollins got to the rope. Rollins followed with an enzuigiri and low superkick for two. Rollins missed a Frog Splash and Jericho nailed a Lionsault for two. Jericho hit an enzuigiri, but Rollins came back with a Pedigree for the win. Good match that went about 14-15 minutes.

They announced earlier that Sasha Banks would be on Raw with some “bad news.”

Sheamus defeated Cesaro 

They’re playing up Cesaro’s back injury. They each did inset promos. Cesaro said he would be right back in the series after winning tonight, despite his injury. Sheamus said he would break Cesaro’s back and would sweep the series after their match in London on Wednesday.

Cesaro couldn’t do any of his usual stuff, and Sheamus won in about 3 minutes after a crucifix powerbomb into a backbreaker. Sheamus leads the series 3-0. (Update: Sheamus followed the backbreaker with a Brogue Kick for the win.) 

The Shining Stars were cutting a promo but were interrupted by Enzo & Cass. Super-tan Enzo called them haters and said listening to Primo and Epico was so painful, it made him feel like he was in labor. Cass talked him through breathing techniques as Enzo… gave birth to an invisible baby. Cass thought they should name it after Primo and Epico and called them sawft. Saxton said that was the first time we’ve seen a birth on Raw, and Graves reminded him that it wasn’t.

The Shining Stars defeated Enzo & Cass

The finish was sort of clunky. Basically, Enzo and Cass went for the Rocket Launcher, but one of the Shining Stars got in the way and the other used a school boy on Enzo for the win.

Backstage, Sami Zayn told Todd Phillips he thought beating Kevin Owens would solve everything. Now he seems without a direction, Owens is the champ, and he admitted to being a little jealous. Owens showed up and said the title was always the finish line, and he won the race. Owens was better than Zayn, and called Zayn “nothing.” Zayn said he beat him at Battleground, and it’ll never be over between them. Zayn said he would win the Universal Title and he would do it on his own, without Triple H handing it to him.

Nia Jax defeated Ann Esposito

They said Esposito was friends with Alicia Fox. She got a very brief flash of offense, but Jax won in 2 minutes with a lame powerslam.

Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson Promo

Gallows and Anderson called themselves retirement specialists and were ready to retire New Day as tag champs. Anderson said New Day would feel just as fulfilled in retirement as they do as champs. Gallows introduced us to “The Old Day.” They had an old man’s voice do Big E’s introduction, as three guys came out dress as older versions of New Day. They made a bunch of old people jokes as the crowd watched in silence.

The real New Day interrupted. Xavier Woods figured Old Day must be from the future, and asked them who his favorite member of X-Men was. (It’s Cyclops.) Kingston said if those guys were from the future, they could alter history just by touching them. Woods figured they should just beat up the bald guys instead. They jumped in the ring, but Gallows and Anderson bailed.

New Day danced and one of the Old Day guys hit Big E from behind with his tiny trombone. Big E had them cut the music and New Day beat up Old Day. This was extraordinarily bad, and probably the worst WWE segment in a long while.

Darren Young (w/Bob Backlund) defeated Jinder Mahal

Titus O’Neil was on commentary, but left to distract Darren. The distraction didn’t work, and Darren won with the Gut Check. Darren attacked O’Neil afterwards until referees broke it up. O’Neil backed away not selling a thing.

They showed Alicia Fox coming out of the trainer’s room after checking on Ann Esposito. Jax confronted her and Fox yelled back at her. Jax pushed Fox into a table and walked off as Fox freaked out.

Braun Strowman defeated Sin Cara

Backstage, Sin Cara said he challenged Strowman because he doesn’t respect Lucha culture, noting Strowman ripped off that guy’s mask last week. Sin Cara got some offense outside the ring, but Strowman took him out and won via countout. He also attacked Sin Cara afterwards. Happy birthday, Sin Cara.

Sasha Banks’ Announcement

Banks said every story has an end. For years, WWE was in need of a revolution, but before social media, there were women like Mae Young, Alundra Blayze, Trish Stratus and Lita paving the way. Then the revolution happened when Stephanie introduced the newest crop of women’s wrestlers. No more bra and panties matches, and no more “stupid” butterfly title.

She said the women’s revolution was about all of them, not just the wrestlers. She gets in the ring for every little girl, and everyone with a dream. She recalled saving every penny she could with her mom, just to buy a ticket to a WWE show.

Banks said Charlotte tried to break her back at SummerSlam, but wouldn’t make excuses, because Charlotte beat her straight up. Banks said she visited with her doctors and had some bad news–but was interrupted by Dana Brooke.

Brooke said she would finish what Charlotte started. Brooke tried to attack her, but Banks countered into a back cracker/Bank statement. Banks called her “Miss Piggy” and said the bad news was for Charlotte, because the Women’s Title was coming back to Sasha Banks at Clash of Champions. This was pretty dumb.

Non-Title: WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens defeated Sami Zayn

Owens has a new “The Kevin Owens Show” t-shirt, stylized as the old Raw is War logo. As Owens had control, he slapped Zayn in the face. Zayn slapped him back even harder, followed by a flip dive and Blue Thunder Bomb for two. This led to dueling chants from the crowd, which was quiet before that.

Zayn hit an exploder into the turnbuckle, but Owens rolled into the apron before Zayn could hit the Helluva Kick. Owens hit a cannonball and went for the powerbomb, but Zayn countered with a half-nelson suplex for a near fall.

It looked like Zayn wanted to attempt a tornado DDT, but landed awkwardly on his ankle. He rolled to the outside and Owens went after him, but Zayn caught him with a half-nelson suplex and Owens landed right on his head.

Zayn went for the Helluva Kick, but he couldn’t run on his ankle, allowing Owens to hit a superkick and powerbomb for the win. Good match that went about 13 minutes.

Roman Reigns came out afterwards to confront Owens. Chris Jericho followed, which brought out Mick Foley. Foley figured Reigns, who didn’t say anything (again), wanted a shot at the title. Foley said if Reigns can beat Owens next week, the title match at Clash of Champions will be a triple threat. Reigns speared Jericho to end the show.

Final Thoughts —

This show was pretty bad. It started off well with the first 75 minutes or so, and the main event was good, but the rest was crap and dragged the whole show down.