Roman Reigns makes his entrance. If Roman gets disqualified, he loses his Championship to Joe. Both men stand in the ring and thye look ready to go.
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
(C) Roman Reigns Vs. Samoa Joe
Joe right in, ducks a lariat and throws some jabs, backing Reigns into the ropes. An overhead elbow in the corner from Joe, followed by a knee to the midsection, more jabs, and referee John Cone warns him to back off. Big uppercut from the champion, boots of his own in the corner and again Cone has to maintain the peace. Right hands, pulling him out of the corner, but they end up in the next one and again the ref backs them off.
Samoa catches Reigns with with a back suplex and earns a near-fall! Elbows, a snap suplex, and the Big Dog heads to the floor for a breather and to send us to break.
*Commercial Break*
Back from commercial, Joe is in control but Reigns gets to his feet and breaks with elbows. Off the ropes, run over with a back elbow, Samoa gets two on the cover and continues to stick on with a variety of strikes. Suplex denied, Roman reverses to one of his own, but Joe sidesteps the charge and the champion’s shoulder takes the post hard! Overhand chops to the back of the neck, a top wristlock follows, really wrenching it in and keeping the Big Dog grounded. Roman fights to his feet, breaks free and hits a big right hand and a lariat. Reigns hits another lariat, whip reversed into a short-arm punch and Joe hits the corner elbow/enziguiri combo for a nearfall!
Choking him over the middle rope, elbows in the corner, and a hammer whip follows, shaking the ring! Jab on the mat, rising to his feet, another hammer whip, jawing at the champion. Snapmare, into a kneeling half Japanese stranglehold, Reigns flags and fades but doesn’t fail, eventually posting to his feet and throwing body blows. Joe with another hard whip but Roman comes back hard with a leaping lariat to get himself some breathing room! Corner lariats ensue, leaving Samoa stumbling and open for the Mafia kick! Joe falls to the floor and Reigns follows around for the Drive-By Kick!
Back inside, the cover gets two, right hands in the corner, referee John Cone backs him off again and Joe puts him on the apron, a body avalanche sends Roman to the floor and follows-up with a suicide dive! The referee starts the count but both men make it back inside and so we go to break once again.
*Commercial Break*
Back from commercial, Joe is in charge and throwing hands. He draws Reigns back up and knocks him down with a headbutt. Rising back to his feet, fighting mat, they slug it out and Roman gets a near-fall out of the exchange! Prowling in the corner, he poses for the Superman Punch but Samoa heads to the floor and leaves him hanging. Roman chases after, runs up the steps and looks for a Superman punch but Joe catches him with a right to the throat.
Joe smashes Roman’s head into the steps, saying each shot in turn is for the Shield! Joe whips Roman but the whip is reversed and Joe hits the steps hard! The Big Dog pulls the steps apart as the referee slides out to warn him and remind him of the stipulation of the match! Samoa punches him in the side of the neck but Reigns uses the steps for the Superman Punch!
Back in the ring, another Superman Punch connects but only gets a two-count! The Big Dog is fired up, calling for the spear, and runs but Joe counters with a kick! He looks for an Urinagi clutch, Reigns fights out with elbows, Joe shoves him away and into the referee! He tries to talk sense into the referee, who is thinking about disqualifying him, and Joe charges and takes the advantage with a huge Urinagi but Roman kicks-out at 2.9!
The Big Dog draws himself up while Joe argues with the referee, he’s got a slap for his challenger but a second is ducked and the Coquina Clutch is on! Roman throws him off, they rol lto opposite sides of the ring, and Roman connects with a Spear for the 123!
Winner: Roman Reigns
Kurt Angle is shown backstage, watching Roman Reigns win. Paul Heyman walks-up and tells Angle that if Strowman and Angle team-up against Lesnar, his client will become pro-active and make 2018 the year of the beast.
*Commercial Break*
Back from commercial, Paige and Absolution get some promo time to issue a warning for the Royal Rumble, saying that they’re the only three women in the match that will matter.
Drew Gulak and Ariya Daivari are in the ring. Gulak introduces himself and says he’s been sent to deliver a very important message straight from the cruiserweight champion, Enzo Amore. Drew begins reading the note, and it’s Enzo’s usual schtick but of course he puts his straight-laced spin on it. Amore says he’s not doing so great and has the flu, therefore he won’t be defending the title tonight. Enzo’s note promises that he would have wiped the floor with Cedric Alexander and in fact wishes he was here to tell him what he thinks of him, and of course this brings Cedric out. He says he came here expecting a title match and for competition, but since Enzo is “sick”, which one of them will be stepping up in his place? Drew and Ariya have a huddle and talk it over.
Gulak says they’d happily oblige, but in a tag team match. Daivari says it’ll be the two of them against Alexander and anyone who walks down that ramp, but they both know he doesn’t have a lot of friends around here, so good luck on somebody coming down. It’s Goldust, bizarrely enough. He gets in the ring and says he has some friends in low places but none lower than Gulak and Daivari. He offers his friendship and Alexander gladly takes it! We have a match!
Cedric Alexander & Goldust Vs. The Zo Train
Daivari and Alexander to start, Ariya gets a wristlock but Cedric reverses to an arm wringer. Whip reversed, roll through, backflip Frankensteiner to a dropkick and kip-up! Daivari puts Alexander into the turnbuckles face-first before grabbing a rear chinlock. Cedric gets out, gets a back elbow for separation… tags made! Goldust ducks a lariat, throws one of his own, whipped but he gets a bulldog headlock and punches to Gulak’s face!
Bulldog follows out of the corner, he knocks Ariya to the floor and beats on Drew in the corner! A whip from Goldust, followed by a snap powerslam. Goldust hits a Manhattan Drop on Daivari, then heads up top and lands on both men with a crossbody! Tag to Alexander, he comes in with a diving double lariat (looking a little more slick that Goldust), Gulak whips Goldust off, gets caught by the sliding slap, Cedric connects with the Lumbar Check for the win.
Winners: Cedric Alexander & Goldust
The Club is walking backstage, ready for their match with The Miztourage, and we head to a break.
*Commercial Break*
Back from commercial, commentary reminds us that John Cena has entered the Royal Rumble as a prelude to some general hype for the show.
Elias is in the ring to sing us a song, saying after what he did to John Cena last week, one thing remains true– WWE stands for “walk with Elias”, which means that Raw is his show, the WWE Universe is his universe, and that he launches into his usual introductory schtick from there. He pledges to win the Royal Rumble and main event WrestleMania, but as far as tonight goes, he brought in the new year with some incredible artists but now he gets to perform with two very talented musicians…Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel step out of the shadows with a cow bell and rattle. Bo is playing the cowbell and dedicates the song to their hero, who will be returning to Raw next week, the A-Lister, Rolling Stone’s superstar of the year, the Miz! They launch into a halting version of Auld Lang Syne. Elias thanks them and says he’ll take it from here and begins his usual song about how much wherever Raw is sucks before getting cut off by Anderson and Gallows.
Finn makes his entrance as well, then poses in the ring with Anderson & Gallows.
*Commercial Break*
Finn Balor & The Club Vs. Elias & The Miztourage
The match is in progress, Axel in control on Balor, punishing him in the corner, snapmare to a running neck snap, tag to Elias. Right hand and a whip, Finn tries to come back but the Drifter is on him, putting boots to him in the corner and getting a near-fall out of it. Kneeling armbar applied, Balor fighting, back to his feet, he picks the leg and gets a double stomp off!
Tags made, Gallows runs Dallas over with lariats and knocks Axeldown. Big knee for Bo, Stinger splash and a big boot! Off the ropes, big splash gets two and Elias pulls him off. Ascends the Drifter back outside and Big Hoot lands a superkick! Tag to Machine Gun, tag to Finn, Magic Killer connects and Balor perches up top and connects with Coup De Grace for the win!
Winners: Finn Balor & The Club
The Club pose in the ring after their quick win. I hope this is a permanent teaming because all three guys need something to do.
*Commercial Break*
We return and get a promo for the return of The Miz next week.
Out comes The Beast Brock Lesnar with Paul Heyman. We see a replay of earlier when Strowman turned down Kane’s offer to team-up.
Heyman introduces the two of them, then talks about Lesnar having to defend against challengers, plural, again and does an old-timey ring announcement bit for a singular challenger and says at the Royal Rumble it’s Beast vs. Monster vs. Machine and we all know the trick, if Braun beats Kane, Brock loses the title. He says it’s a conspiracy against Brock.
If Kane beats Strowman, Lesnar loses the title. Note that he never said “if someone beats Brock Lesnar” because we all know that ain’t gonna happen. Spoiler: Brock will successfully defend the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble. Heyman knows commentary always talks about the odds changing but in his opinion, the odds of Lesnar retaining are always 100%.
He puts Brock over as the most dominant champion in history and says Lesnar doubts Kane is the devil’s favorite. Paul has actually spoken to Satan, you see, and the devil is actually a big Brock Lesnar fan. They go to take their leave but Kane shows up… and chokeslams the champion! He’s upset that they don’t think he’s actually the devil’s favorite and he goes to take his leave when Lesnar sits up! Brock laughs, then grabs his title and runs at Kane and clotheslines him over the rope with the title!
Both men fall to the floor and suddenly the entire roster is out to separate them. Kane is dragged up the ramp and to the back, while Brock poses with the title.
That’s it for tonight’s Raw. Let us know what you think and remember to join the conversation on the Ringside Talk app!
