Well Raw started off white hot! The first thing we see is a backstage brawl between Lashley and Seth Rollins with the roster, crew members, security and Referees all trying to stop it. It ends with them fighting on the stage and then the roster separated them only for Rollins to leap from the stage onto Lashley! Then they actually got broken up.. for now.
John Cena then came out and said he’s entering himself into the Royal Rumble. Drew McIntyre interupted and said he’s been waiting for this moment for years. He said he has a problem with Cena’s success and then runs down the list of all the people he’s attacked and “dismantled” lately like Ziggler and Kurt Angle. He then says he’s gonna show Cena what he’s about and add his name to the group has destroyed. Cena said he hears it every week from pretty much all the superstars, what makes Drew any different? Drew said they were all talk whereas he is gonna show him. Then Lio Rush comes out and says Raw is cancelled until something is done about Rollins because he has lost his mind, but Rollins just runs out and attacks Lashley but then Dean Ambrose is out helping Lashley, McIntyre and Cena were taking shots at one another and then Balor came out and evened things up, making an awesome impact in doing so with an awesome Topé.
Bobby Lashley, Dean Ambrose & Drew McIntyre vs Seth Rollins, John Cena & Finn Balor
This match was madness. Just for Seth Rollins’ run alone, go watch it. Stacked match and absolutely chocca block with awesome spots and keeping everyone away from Rollins and not allowing him to make the tag was great! Because when he finally did He whooped everyone’s ass! He hit a Stomp straight outta nowhere amd pinned Ambrose. Then went backstage slapped a coffee out of Triple H’s hand and said he wants Ambrose for the IC Title tonight. Triple H gave it to him, falls count anywhere too! Man what a RAW this started out to be!
Backstage
Hulk Hogan is making his return and we see him walking down the corridor and hear a surprisingly positive reaction. Personally I do not condone his behaviour nor do I appreciate the words he chose to utter, however as a wrestler he was arguably one of the main reasons WWE got so big back in the day! Plus, I’ve always been a Hulkamaniac at heart. When he isn’t ballsing up his promos.
‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund tribute
This was a lovely tribute to a wonderful man who will forever be missed but never forgotten. He was one of a kind.
Hulk Hogan Returns
This lead into Hogan making his comeback and as soon as “Real American” kicked off, the whole place erupted and everyone had their phones out to record history, man that song is an absolute banger isn’t it? ‘HOGAN!’ chants broke out through the Floridian crowd as Hogan let us hear those immortal words we’ve all missed dearly, “Well, let me tell you somethin’, Brother”.. Then he switched. His glasses came off and he became very real, talked about coming out in character because that’s what Mean Gene would have wanted, but he has to be real for us all and said some lovely things about his dear, departed friend which lead us into an amazing video montage of some of Okerlund’s best moments. They certainly don’t make ’em like Mean Gene anymore. He was as much a part of the show as the rest of the roster. Rest in peace, Mean Gene. – Hogan followed up with sending love to his fallen Brother. He was fighting back some serious tears too. Hogan Then cut a promo on Mean Gene just like he always used to, saying hes setting up a tag match between Mr Perfect, Ultimate Warrior, Macho Man & ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper, they all got a huge pop. Pretty cool way to end the segment, even if it was a little cringe.
The Revival vs Roode & Chad Gable for the Tag Team Championships – Lumberjack Match
All the Raw tag teams surrounded the ring and it looked pretty intimidating out there, like some seriously shark infested water. That someone is very obviously going to tumble into..
How good is Chad frickin Gable though, right!? That guy is something else entirely! He seems to bring out the best in Bobby Roode too if I’m honest. The babyface Bobby Roode anyway.
This match, disappointingly, ended prematurely as Gable pinned Dawson whilst his foot was under the rope. Another legitimate gripe they can use to do the match again. – Royal Rumble probably. Which I’m not against.
NXT Call Ups Video Reel
Another look at who’s coming to WWE, Lars Sullivan, Lacey Evans, Nikki Cross, Tucker Knight & Otis Dozivic – Heavy Machinery & EC3. Same promo as the last few weeks.
Elias performance
Elias did his usual stuff and had the crowd in the palm of his hand, he reflected on his 2018 with the drop of his debut album, selling out Madison Square Garden and now he’s entering the Royal Rumble in an attempt to keep his momentum going, he went on to say that he has enjoyed watching the failures of Baron Corbin too and wanted to play a song about it, but 3 chords in and Corbin was on the ramp to stop it, he also announced his entry into the Royal Rumble match and declared to win that and to win against Elias tonight.
Elias vs Baron Corbin
This match was amazing! Elias is main event level! The man can do it all! His charisma is on point, he’s organically over as hell and his moveset is something unlike anyone else! The jumping knee strike he hit on Corbin here was unbelievable, the height was crazy. He also added a little Easter Egg in this match for any original fans of his, where he used the original Drift Away, a sort of Short Arm Swinging Neckbreaker but after all this and a distraction from Corbin endangering the Referee, Elias took the End of Days and a 3 count for a loss thus ending the 4 week winning streak for The Drifter. Good for Corbin, although his new gimmick of being a whiney, self-entitled brat isn’t exactly what I’d like to have seen done with old Bazza Corbs, I still like his ring work and I hope one day he’s given the push he deserves.
Backstage
Ambrose is being totally deranged. He’s convinced that he’s the “last line of defence” against “That madman” – Seth Rollins. He said if Rollins gets his hands on the IC Title then its game over for all of us. He’s genuinely convinced he’s a hero – total narcacism on top of his deranged mentality.. That’s something that hasn’t been done in a long time. I love Heel Ambrose. He said he doesn’t care where he has to end it, the parking lot, on the stage, in the ring or waiting in line for a hotdog, “it ends tonight.”- great promo. Very reminiscent of the Attitude Era style.
Strowman and Lesnar face-off
Heyman is on the tron after Strowman wants to fight him. Brock refuses to go to the ring through fear of destroying Strowman and not having his Rumble match. He takes his time, but eventually Braun wound him up enough to show his face, walk through the back with cameras following, come to the stage, play his music and have have him walk to the ring, around the ring, back to the stage where he laughed and walked off after Strowman said he will take his title on the 27th of January.
Jinder Mahal & Alicia Fox vs Apollo Crews & Ember Moon
They started off with “shaanti”, which made me laugh when Alicia did it because she – then started roasting the audience members. Ember & Apollo came out, had a 3 minute match and won. What a pointless throw away match.
A Moment of Bliss
This started off super funny with Bliss dissing Orlando, then shouting “coffee!” and an assistant comes and brings her some, she takes it and dismisses him in a very Regina George style – Ronda then came out and says she wants to face Sasha Banks for the title, Bliss gets angry, Now Jax makes gagging noises and then mocks Rousey for saying nice things about Bank, Sasha then comes out and accepts Rousey’s challenge, but Jax stepped into Banks’ space and told her to get in line, to which Banks replies “Bitch, what line?” – Banks then said she’ll face Jax right now and the winner faces Rousey for the title.
Sasha Banks vs Nia Jax in a No.1 Contenders match
This was a solid showing from both women and the match went on for a good 15-20 minutes too. The offense of both women was incredible, but Banks finally found the Banks Statement and got a tap out victory! Which means Ronda Rousey vs Sasha Banks at the Royal Rumble for the title!
Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins for the WWE Intercontinental Championship – Falls Count Anywhere
Well this match was insane from start to finish. They fought mid Ambrose entrance, they fought in the crowd, backstage, on some stage boxes, in the crowd some more, on and through the announce table and it all ended in the ring after a Stomp, Lashley interfered before Rollins could make a cover and beat the hell outta him. Ambrose then made the cover and won the match. Rollins loses, starts a feud with Lashley and Ambrose is left to hopefully feud with Balor or Elias. But as for the match, I liked it. The ending was annoying, but that’s what you want! I cannot wait to see Rollins’ retaliation!
Conclusion
8/10 🌟
I liked this Raw a lot, still some major hiccups along the way and some questionable “listening” the management must have done over the last 4 weeks with Ember, Apollo, Jinder and Alicia being in a 3 minute nothing match that served no purpose and doing yet another “botched finish” for The Revival, not to mention their random creative choices for championships going forward.
Match of the Night: For me was easily the opening 6 man tag and closely followed by Elias and Corbin, not to say the other matches weren’t good, they were all pretty much great with exception of one or two, but even those matches would have been awesome if they gave them the time, so in terms of booking, it was spot on. Execution is where it lacked, but I expected a few hiccups along the road to the New Era.
Annoyance of the Night: The 3 minute random from Jinderlicia Mahox and Embollo Moows. Just no need for it. I’d have rather them just not be on the show at all than to give them a throw away match like that.
Thank you all so much for stopping by again if you’re a regular reader and if you’re not then thank you for taking the time out to have a little gander, I appreciate every single one of you, please feel free to comment, like and share and make sure to Too Sweet that follow button on the Twitter machine @KayfabeToday. Peace and love to one and all! ✌🏻💚
- CB
