The card for Extreme Rules continued to take shape on tonight’s SmackDown.
Two more title matches were announced for the July 15 pay-per-view. Daniel Bryan will team with the returning Kane to challenge for The Bludgeon Brothers’ SmackDown Tag Team titles, while Carmella will again defend her Women’s Championship against Asuka.
Kane returned to television tonight for the first time since becoming the Republican candidate for mayor of Knox County, Tennessee. He made the save and helped even the odds against The Bludgeon Brothers after Bryan defeated Harper by disqualification in this week’s main event. Bryan and Kane hugged, reuniting their Team Hell No duo. Paige then announced the title match for Extreme Rules.
Paige also made Carmella vs. Asuka for the PPV. In the lead-up to the event, Asuka will face James Ellsworth on next week’s episode of SmackDown.
Here’s the updated card for Extreme Rules:
WWE Champion AJ Styles defending against Rusev
Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss defending against Nia Jax
SmackDown Women’s Champion Carmella defending against Asuka
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper & Rowan) defending against Daniel Bryan & Kane
Raw Tag Team Champions Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt defending against The B-Team (Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas)
Glenn Jacobs (Kane) will officially be the Republican nominee and is the overwhelming favorite to become the next mayor of Knox County, Tennessee.
Jacobs ended election night with a 17-vote lead and added to that margin when election officials decided on 43 provisional ballots today. Jacobs picked up seven votes, Brad Anders, who came in second place, added one vote to his total, and third-place finisher Bob Thomas gained four votes. The rest of the ballots were ruled ineligible, though two of them could still be counted if voters show photo identification today.
Voters not having a record of registration, not having photo IDs, and problems with the electronic voting system were the reasons cited for the provisional ballots.
Jacobs tweeted about his win and thanked his competitors, “Provisional ballots are counted… I’m proud to be the official Republican nominee for Knox County mayor! Thanks to the @knoxvotes for your exemplary work and ensuring an open and transparent process.
“Thank you, @andersbrad and @BobThomasKNOX. You ran good, clean campaigns. We all appreciate your many contributions to Knox County, and look forward to your future contributions to our community. To families and supporters of @andersbrad and @BobThomasKNOX, you should be proud of your guy. They’re both fine men and represented you very well in this campaign. Thank you for all of your hard work and your dedication to making Knox County even better!”
The general election will be taking place on August 2nd, with Jacobs expected to defeat Democrat Linda Haney.
Jacobs hasn’t been on WWE television since appearing in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34. He was originally slated for the Greatest Royal Rumble but instead made his final push in campaigning for the primary.
While there are still provisional votes to be counted, Glenn Jacobs (Kane) has declared victory in his bid to become the Republican candidate for mayor of Knox County, Tennessee.
Jacobs ended tonight with a 17-vote lead over second-place finisher Brad Anders. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, he received 14,633 votes to Anders’ 14,616. Bob Thomas came in third with 11,296 votes.
There are 43 provisional ballots remaining, with election officials set to decide if they’re eligible to be added to the count. Of those votes, 38 are due to the voter not having a record of registration, four are due to not having photo identification, and one person had to vote by paper because of a problem with the electronic system.
The provisional votes will be counted this Thursday. Anders has yet to address the subject of a recount.
Jacobs’ campaign declared victory after tonight’s results, “Glenn, along with his family, volunteers and supporters declare victory in a hard-fought Knox County Mayoral race this evening. Together we won! Tomorrow, we move forward.”
Jacobs himself also sent a message to everyone who has supported him, “Thanks to everyone who helped win this historic victory!! The people who cast a ballot for me, my great team, my wonderful volunteers. Looking forward to VICTORY in the general election!”
That general election will take place on August 2nd, and the Republican candidate will be the overwhelming favorite to become the next mayor. While this isn’t always an accurate representation of how the general election will turn out, Democratic primary winner Linda Haney received 4,250 votes tonight — over 10,000 less than Jacobs.
Jacobs didn’t travel to Saudi Arabia for last Friday’s Greatest Royal Rumble and had been making his final primary push over the last few days. His most recent in-ring appearance was in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 34.
Ahead of Sunday’s Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, five more wrestlers have been added to the lineup for the match.
Kane, Shelton Benjamin, Chad Gable, Aiden English, and Curt Hawkins were the latest names announced for the battle royal. This will be the first time that Benjamin has wrestled at WrestleMania since 2010. Kane is also returning to WrestleMania after not competing on last year’s show.
Both the 2018 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal will air on Sunday’s pre-show. It starts at 5 p.m. Eastern time, with the second hour also airing on the USA Network. Cedric Alexander vs. Mustafa Ali in the finals of the Cruiserweight Championship tournament is the third pre-show match.
Here’s the updated list of entrants for this year’s Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal:
Heading into next week’s go-home show, John Cena is still looking for an answer from The Undertaker.
Cena defeated Kane in a no disqualification match last night and used a couple of Undertaker’s spots during it, and he called Undertaker out one more time before the final Raw before WrestleMania.
Paul Heyman opened the episode by announcing that Roman Reigns’ “temporary suspension” had been lifted, but he said Reigns wasn’t at the show after being destroyed by Brock Lesnar the previous week. Reigns did come out and, despite selling the beatdown from the previous week, gained the advantage with a steel chair. But Lesnar caught Reigns when he went for a Superman punch, then laid him out for the second straight week.
Also on Raw, Absolution’s attempt to recruit Ronda Rousey didn’t go well, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were featured in a video package and said that they plan on humbling Rousey at WrestleMania, and Sasha Banks attacked Bayley and started a brawl after Bayley said Banks can’t beat her.
John Cena did not hear from the Undertaker this week, but he did get a unwanted response from Kane.
A match has been made between John Cena and Kane for next week’s episode of Raw. The match came about while Cena was in the ring talking about the challenge he made last week to the Undertaker in regards to a match for WrestleMania. He wanted the Undertaker to come out and accept his challenge, or at least give him a sign. That was when Kane’s music hit. Cena asked him if he had a message from the Undertaker. Kane responded by chokeslamming Cena and leaving him lying in the ring.
Kane hasn’t been seen on WWE television since he was seemingly crushed by a platform back on January 29, the day after the Royal Rumble. The Undertaker hasn’t been seen since the Raw 25th anniversary on January 22 and did not respond to Cena’s challenge tonight.
Raw next week will be at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
The match was what you’d expect. Hardy was pretty over and won with the Twist of Fate.
– Mustafa Ali defeated Jack Gallagher, Ariya Daivari, and Lince Dorado in a fatal four-way match
This was lots of fun and Ali was super over. Everyone got great spots in, with Ali being sidelined for a minute and then coming in hot to close out the match.
– Braun Strowman defeated Elias
It was really hard to hear Elias for some reason. He was singing something specific about Chicago, but it just sounded very flat.
The match was quick. Elias played possum, but Strowman won with the running powerslam and hit another one after the match ended.
– Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, Heath Slater & Rhyno defeated The Revival, Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas
The Miz wasn’t on the show. The match was fun, with Gallows and Anderson hitting the Magic Killer for the win.
– Universal Champion Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman) defeated Kane to retain his title
Everyone was excited for Lesnar at the start. Heyman took the mic for Lesnar’s intro, saying he was fighting out of the “ultimate corner.”
The match only went 35 seconds. Lesnar gave Kane two German suplexes, Kane sat up and tried to give him a chokeslam, and Lesnar got out of it and hit an F5 to retain. There were lots of boos from the crowd. Lesnar was in and out in only a few minutes.
– Asuka, Sasha Banks, Bayley & Mickie James defeated Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss, Nia Jax, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville (w/ Paige)
Asuka got the hot tag before the finish. Everyone looked good and played their parts. Bayley was beat down for most of the match, and James turned on the babyfaces towards the end by not taking a tag when Bliss was in the ring. There was some in-fighting between Banks and Bayley as well.
Paige was with Absolution and was heeling it up and having fun with the crowd.
– Seth Rollins & Finn Balor defeated Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus by DQ
Rollins took most of the punishment, building up to the hot tag really well. The match was well paced and planned out, then the disqualification came when Sheamus gave Balor a chair shot when he was on the top rope.
Rollins and Balor got their finishers in after the match, with Sheamus taking a Curb Stomp and Cesaro being hit with the Coup de Grace. The crowd was really into this.
– Roman Reigns defeated John Cena
As expected, there were big mixed reactions for both. The match started out slow with rest holds, power displays, and staredowns. It picked up a little towards the end but never got near the level it should have been.
There were a few reversals, some near falls, and Reigns hit a spear for the win.
John Cena vs. Finn Balor, Braun Strowman vs. Kane in a last man standing match, and Matt Hardy vs. Elias are scheduled for tonight’s episode of Raw, with the winners advancing to the PPV. Cena vs. Balor will be the first time the two have ever faced off in a singles match, though Cena did eliminate Balor in last night’s Royal Rumble.
While WWE has yet to announce the three remaining qualifying matches, Roman Reigns has been expected to be Lesnar’s WrestleMania challenger for nearly a year. Dave Meltzer reported last March that Lesnar vs. Reigns was the plan for WrestleMania 34.
The T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada will host Elimination Chamber on February 25th. The show is the final Raw-exclusive PPV before WrestleMania, and the venue has indicated in their advertising that there will be two Elimination Chamber matches.
On the night before the Royal Rumble, the Raw roster was in Baltimore, Maryland and SmackDown was in Richmond, Virginia for house shows.
Brock Lesnar defending his Universal Championship against Kane was the biggest match on the Raw side. And Kevin Owens challenged AJ Styles for the WWE Championship in a steel cage match in Richmond.
In advance of the women’s Royal Rumble, there wasn’t a women’s match on either house show card.
Image and report submitted by reader Liam Renner from Raw’s house show in Baltimore
– Matt Hardy defeated Bray Wyatt
They did some spots where they tried to outspook each other, and Hardy sang the “Obsolete” song and chanted “Delete.” The crowd liked Hardy, but they weren’t really into the match. He won with the Twist of Fate.
– Cesaro & Sheamus defeated Heath Slater & Rhyno and Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
This had fine action but was nothing spectacular. Sheamus pinned Rhyno after hitting the Brogue Kick.
– Cedric Alexander defeated Drew Gulak
They had a very long match that was preceded by Gulak doing a PowerPoint presentation. Alexander hit the Lumbar Check to win. The crowd liked him and got into his comeback and the near falls.
– Universal Champion Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman) defeated Kane to retain his title
Heyman did Lesnar’s ring introduction. They went about five minutes, with Kane deadweighting Lesnar on every suplex.
Braun Strowman came out and hit a powerslam on Lesnar before trying (and failing once) to lift up Kane for the same move. After Strowman laid them out, both men sat up and Lesnar hit one more suplex and the F5 to retain.
– Goldust defeated Curt Hawkins
Goldust won via roll-up.
– Elias defeated Finn Balor
Elias sang two songs. One was about the Royal Rumble and the other was about how Baltimore and its people suck. The crowd responded well to the songs, but they hardly reacted to the finish. Elias won with the Drift Away.
– Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan defeated The Miz, Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas
Jordan, who has been injured, did very little. This was a good six-man tag with a lot of comedy to start. Rollins worked most of it, and Miz talked for a long time before the match while getting a lot of heat from the crowd.
Reigns got the pin on Miz following a spear.
Report submitted by reader Michael Yoen from SmackDown’s show in Richmond
– SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos defeated The New Day to retain their titles
Both teams were cheered. Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston worked the match for New Day. There was some comedy early, but The Usos worked as heels once it got serious.
The Usos won with a top rope splash. This didn’t have a string of false finishes like it would on pay-per-view, but it was still a good match.
– Sami Zayn defeated Sin Cara
Another good match. Zayn generated a lot of heat and did a good job working the fans at ringside. He hit the Blue Thunder Bomb to pick up the win.
– Breezango defeated Rusev & Aiden English
Rusev was cheered, but his team worked as heels throughout. Surprisingly, Fandango pinned English for the finish.
– United States Champion Bobby Roode defeated Jinder Mahal to retain his title
Both got strong reactions for their entrances. There was nothing wrong with this, though it was a pretty basic match. Roode retained with the Glorious DDT.
– Zack Ryder defeated Mojo Rawley
– Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Baron Corbin
Nakamura got a great reaction. This was also pretty basic, with Nakamura hitting the Kinshasa to end it.
– WWE Champion AJ Styles defeated Kevin Owens in a steel cage match to retain his title
Styles received the biggest pop of the night. Owens worked a regular match and didn’t seem to be protecting himself after he’s been dealing with an injury lately.
They had a good match. The finish was Styles climbing out of the cage at the same time as Owens was going out the door. Styles kicked the door in Owens’ face and jumped out to retain.
The first major match between Brock Lesnar and Kane is now being advertised for the January 27th house show in Baltimore, which is the night before the Royal Rumble.
Lesnar has been added to the card as a replacement since the main selling point locally, The Shield in a six-man tag, is off due to the injury to Dean Ambrose.
Local advertising is billing it as the first-ever meeting between the two in a Universal Championship match.
The original main event, as was the case with most house shows in January, was The Shield vs, Sheamus, Cesaro & Samoa Joe. It’s now being broken up as Roman Reigns defending the Intercontinental title against Joe, and Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan defending the Tag Team titles against Sheamus & Cesaro.
Lesnar’s next appearance on WWE television will be on the New Year’s Day episode of Raw. He’ll be on the show to further the build to his triple threat title defense against Kane and Braun Strowman at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view.
As expected, the Universal Championship will be on the line in a triple threat match at the Royal Rumble.
After Braun Strowman and Kane went to a double countout in the main event of Raw last Monday, Kurt Angle opened this week’s show and said he would be determining Brock Lesnar’s match for the Rumble by the end of the night. He was then interrupted by Strowman, who wanted to face Lesnar after standing tall in his post-match brawl with Kane last week. That brought out Kane and eventually Lesnar and Paul Heyman, and Angle announced that it would be Lesnar vs. Strowman vs. Kane at next month’s pay-per-view.
Following the announcement, Lesnar clotheslined Strowman over the top rope and gave Kane an F5, but Kane sat up as Lesnar was walking up the ramp.
Dave Meltzer had reported that Lesnar vs. Strowman vs. Kane was WWE’s plan for the Royal Rumble on last week’s post-Raw edition of Wrestling Observer Radio. Aside from the Royal Rumble match, the triple threat is the first thing officially confirmed for the January 28th PPV.
The Big Takeaway: Stephanie McMahon announced there will be an all-women’s Royal Rumble for the first time ever next month. Kurt Angle announced the main event for Royal Rumble will be Brock Lesnar defending the Universal Championship against Kane and Braun Strowman in a Triple Threat match. It was a tough crowd as they wasn’t much heat for any of the matches.
This is my final recap before Christmas since I will be absent next week, so I’d like to wish everyone a Happy Holiday season. Thank you so much for reading each week.
Show Recap:
Kurt Angle came out and addressed the situation from last week with Strowman vs. Kane. He announced Lesar was here tonight and by the end of the night he will declare who Lesnar’s next opponent will be. Strowman walked out and said he was the only one left standing last week and that’s why Angle should pick him to be Lesnar’s opponent at the Royal Rumble. This brought out Kane, who told Strowman he’s been in the WWE for over 20 years and there was no way anyone was stepping in front of him. Kane said Lesnar’s list of victims is impressive, and while it does include his brother the Undertaker, it doesn’t include him. Kane said he will get his chance at the Royal Rumble unless Strowman was man enough to stop him.
Paul Heyman came out and said they weren’t going to have this discussion without his client, Lesnar, who came to the ring with his music. Angle announced the Triple Threat, as quickly as he could, that it would be a Triple Threat match at the Royal Rumble with Lesnar vs. Kane vs. Strowman for the Universal Championship. Angle rushed through his catchphrase and got the hell out of the ring before the three men could start fighting. Kane knocked Strowman out of the ring with a series of rights, but Lesnar (after a bit of a struggle) got Kane up for the F-5.
Lesnar walked back up the ramp with Heyman smiling, but then Kane sat up and looked at Lesnar, which wiped the smile off of Heyman’s face. Strowman glared at Kane outside the ring.
Seth Rollins was supposed to face Samoa Joe. Rollins made his ring entrance, but Jason Jordan came out. Jordan said he has asked Angle for a match with Joe for two weeks. Jordan said he was done asking, and if Rollins had a bone to pick with Joe, he’s going to have to pick the bones when he’s done with Joe. Rollins said he appreciated what Jordan was trying to do, then Joe came out to “Joe” chants. Joe said he felt like the girl at the Ball and all the boys wanted to dance with him. Joe suggested Jordan face Rollins with the winner facing him. Rollins said the most has already been made, Rollins vs. Joe, so he dared Joe to come to the ring while Jordan looked somewhere else for his daddy’s approval. Jordan pushed Rollins down, which was enough for Rollins to agree to a match with Jordan then and there. Joe walked down to ringside to watch.
Seth Rollins defeated Jason Jordan (19:41)
Jordan’s offense consisted mostly of lifting Rollins over his shoulder and ramming him into the corner. Rollins delivered a downward spiral into the turnbuckle, but Jordan got up and hit an exploder suplex. Rollins jumped off the top rope for a clothesline on Jordan. Then Rollins attempted the spinkout knee, but Jordan arm dragged him over. Rollins knocked Jordan out of the ring, then hit a tope where his head went right into the dasherboards. Both men barely got back in the ring before the ten count. Rollins went for a springboard, but Jordan caught him for an overhead belly-to-belly, following by a rolling Northern Lights suplex for a two count. Jordan put Rollins on the top rope for a superplex, but Rollins punched Jordan back to the mat for a frog splash for a long two count. Jordan got out of the ring, but Rollins jumped off the apron for a knee strike. Joe and Rollins started jawing outside the ring, and Rollins threw Jordan into Joe, who started to go after Rollins, but Rollins hit Joe with a superkick. Back in the ring, Rollins pulled off a sunset flip, but Jordan sat down on top of Rollins for a two count. Rollins got the pin with the spinout knee.
Postmatch, Joe and Rollins began brawling. Joe hit a uranage on Rollins, then put the fists to him on the mat to leave Rollins laying. A series of referees pulled Joe off, but Joe clotheslined Jordan over the railing into the crowd to a big pop on his way to the back.
Backstage, Ambrose wanted a match with Joe tonight. Ambrose came in and wanted to face Joe. Then Jordan walked in and demanded a match with Joe. Finally, this led to Angle ordering a six-man with Jordan, Ambrose and Rollins vs. Joe, Cesaro and Sheamus. Ambrose and Rollins didn’t want to team with Jordan, but Angle said it was that arrangement or nothing.
Bray Wyatt appeared on screen and wondered why so many people are drawn to Matt Hardy. Maybe it was the funny faces that Hardy makes. Wyatt said if he wanted to continue his little chess match, then he would oblige.
Finn Balor defeated Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas in a handicap match by DQ (5:33)
Finn Balor did a double stomp on Bo Dallas, and Curtis Axel ran in for the save. Axel placed Balor on the top rppe, but Balor kicked him off. Balor attempted the Coup de Grace, but Dallas ran in to stop Balor. Dallas refused to leave the ring, leading to the DQ. Axel and Dallas put the boots to Balor, but Hideo Itami ran down for the save. Itami went after Axel and sent him packing. Balor roughed up Dallas with a spin kick. Good reaction to Itami, and this led to a regular tag match.
Hideo Itami and Finn Balor defeated Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas (4:37)
Itami pinned Axel with the GTS. Crowd didn’t react to very much. Balor and Itami shook hands afterwards.
Alexander did an interview with Renee Young. Alexander said he wanted to show what 205 Live is all about. He said he wasn’t overlooking Gulak and he would be left alone with his arm up in the air ready to face Amore for the cruiserweight championship.
Enzo Amore came out with Gulak. Since the entire world is in a Star Wars mindset, Gulak compared himself to Jar-Jar Binks. Once again, Enzo looked at Gulak like he had lost his mind.
Cedric Alexander defeated Drew Gulak to become the #1 contender for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship (12:50)
Amore was on commentary largely hogging as much air time as he could. They did a spot where Gulak tried to give Alexander a vertical suplex over the top rope. Alexander landed on his feet on the apron, and it ended up with Alexander and Gulak doing a sick spot where they fell to the floor with Gulak taking a vertical suplex right on the back of his head, and Alexander didn’t fare much better. During a commercial, Gulak tossed Alexander off the top rope and landed on his back to the floor. Alexander hit the Queen’s Crowning, which is a standing moonsault side slam, for a near fall. Alexander attempted a handspring kick, but Gulak caught Alexander’s leg and put Alexander in the STF, which Amore claimed he taught Gulak and called it the Gabba Gulak Grip. Alexander got the ropes. Enzo then got a message on his cell phone and left. Gulak got distracted and wondered where Enzo was going. Alexander gave Gulak a backhand on the apron, flew off the top rope with a clothesline and got the pin with the lumbar check.
Amore went backstage, where he found a smiling Nia Jax waiting for him and wondered about his friend Drew. Amore said he didn’t know why everyone thought Gulak was his friend and shited the subject to the DM she sent him. At this point, Gulak walked in with tissue up his nose from blood, totally ruining the romantic moment Enzo was trying to build. Gulak apologized and said he lost to Alexander, and then apologized, saying he let Enzo down and the ‘Zo Train down. Jax walked off and said they would talk later. Enzo looked furious. Gulak said maybe they can sit down together and look at the tapes to determine what they did wrong. Enzo screamed that Drew did a lot of things wrong and left in a huff.
Alicia Fox cut an inset promo saying she would end Asuka’s winning streak tonight or else she would freak out.
Asuka defeated Alicia Fox via tapout (3:39)
Fox landed a roundhouse kick and hit the Northern Lights suplex, each for two counts. Asuka jumped off the 2nd rope for a dropkick, hit a running hip attack in the corner, got the buzzsaw kick and sank in the rolling armbar for the tapout.
They showed a Snickers Flashback from the Past. Of all things, they aired the memorable debut of Chris Jericho in August 1999.
Cesaro. Sheamus and Samoa Joe defeated Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Jason Jordan (13:08)
Rollins got the first hot tag and did a cool spot where he was on the apron. Cesaro attempted to give him a shoulder to the midsection, but Rollins dodged it and gave him a Famouser, then followed with another tope. Sheamus kicked Rollins on the bridge of the nose while Cesaro distracted the referee. Rollins did a great job getting the heat. The buildup to Ambrose’s hot tag got the best reaction of anything all night. Cesaro threw Rollins out of the ring, leading to a brawl outside the ring where Joe threw Jordan into the time keeper and Ambrose gave Cesaro a backdrop. Ambrose rolled Rollins into the ring, Rollins was about to make the hot tag, but Cesaro ran in and kicked Ambrose off the apron. It built up to a dive spot where Rollins hit a tope on Sheamus, Cesaro and Ambrose, who looked injured. A ringside doctor attended to Ambrose. To make it look legitimate, they went right to the finish where Sheamus hit the Brogue Kick on Rollins and Cesaro pinned him. Ambrose looked shaken up holding his right arm to his body as they abruptly went to a video package from the opening segment.
A limo pulled up in the back and Stephanie McMahon came out.
This week’s Hardy “Woken” sketch was Hardy at a chessboard. Hardy was talking to a goldfish, then said the vast battlefield of the WWE is much like a chessboard, every move must be precise. Otherwise, one wrong move could lead to annihilation. His light will illuminate brighter than any shadow that Wyatt could cast. Now that the new battlefield has been set, he will stand side by side with all of his Woken warriors. Sister Abigail must be stopped, they must be deleted, and he started chanting “delete.”
Backstage, Rollins checked on Ambrose when Joe, Cesaro and Sheamus attacked them. The heels put the boots to Rollins and rammed him into the wall. Joe then slammed a giant road case and rammed it onto Ambrose’s right arm, who sold it huge. Michael Cole said Ambrose would be taken to the hospital for X-rays.
The Revival defeated Rhyno & Heath Slater (3:04)
Titus O’Neil, Apollo Crews and Dana Brooke (now with her hair in a bun dressed like Stacey Kiebler during her Miss Hancock WCW days) watched from the back. Brooke was taking notes on a notepad. Rhyno knocked Dash Wilder into Heath Slater. Wilder dragged Rhyno off the apron, and Scott Dawson set up Slater for the Shatter Machine. Wilder got the pin. The Revivial didn’t get much of a reaction for their latest return from an injury.
Rhyno and Slater were backstage when Angle walked up to them. Angle said he appreciated the effort and told them they need to toughen up a little bit if they want more opportunities. Slater freaked out and wondered if they were going to get fired. Rhyno told Slater he needed to toughen up and he knew exactly how to do it. Slater asked if it was going to hurt.
Elias was out. He started to strum “Jingle Bells” and told the crowd to give it up for Tom Brady. He claimed that he and Brady had crossed paths several times, that Brady had told him his music had been the path to his success, and for doing things like deflating football, altering the rulebook and things like that. Elias talked about Angle is afraid about what he is becoming. Elias said he will enter the Royal Rumble, which will be the performance of the year. Elias said his song tonight was dedicated to Roger Goodell, who got booed. I was most interested to hear this song, but Sasha Banks interrupted him. Elias thanked Banks for joining him and started to sing but Mickie James came out. Elias said normally he doesn’t mind being interrupted but all the women want to walk with Elias. He started to sing again when Bayley came out. Elias walked out of the ring and declined Bayley’s offer for a hug.
John Cena is advertised for next week’s Christmas Raw.
Bayley, Sasha Banks and Mickie James defeated Absolution by DQ (3:09)
Absolution largely dominated Bayley, Banks and James until they triple-teamed Banks. Jax came out, threw Sonya DeVille and Mandy Rose into the corner. Paige backed away in a corner. Jax, verryyyy slowly, put Rose and DeVille on her back and gave he a Samoan Drop. Then Paige ran in and chop blocked Paige. The heels triple teamed Banks until Brooke, Alexa Bliss, Fox, Asuka, and Jax ran down for the save.
They brawled until Stephanie came out. Everyone stopped and looked like their mother had arrived home and got caught doing something naughty. Stephanie said three years ago, a revolution started. Because of all of them, the revolution became the evolution. Because of them they had the first women’s Hell in a Cell match and women competed in the Middle East. Stephanie said all of the girls had started passion within girls. But she wanted to make history once again. Stephanie announced there would be an all-women’s Royal Rumble match on January 28th. She said “if there was ever a time for a yes chant, it’s now.”
While WWE had hyped that Brock Lesnar’s next challenger would be decided on Raw last night, that didn’t end up happening.
Braun Strowman and Kane instead went to a double countout in their number one contender’s match, with them brawling after it was over and Strowman giving Kane a powerslam through a table. WWE has yet to officially announce Brock Lesnar’s challenger for the Royal Rumble, though Lesnar is scheduled to be on Raw next Monday.
Also on last night’s show, Roman Reigns defended his Intercontinental Championship against Cesaro, Seth Rollins faced Sheamus and Dean Ambrose took on Samoa Joe in other singles matches involving The Shield, and Bray Wyatt and Woken Matt Hardy went back and forth for the second straight week.
WWE is hyping that Brock Lesnar’s next challenger will be decided on tonight’s episode of Raw.
A video that WWE put out this afternoon announced that Braun Strowman vs. Kane on Raw tonight is now a number one contender’s match, with the winner set to challenge Lesnar for the Universal Championship at next month’s Royal Rumble pay-per-view. Strowman and Kane have been feuding since TLC in October and have regularly faced each other at house shows since then.
The finish to Strowman vs. Kane at the house shows has been Kane getting disqualified minutes into the match, then Strowman fighting back and putting him through a table with a powerslam. Strowman previously lost to Lesnar in a Universal title match at No Mercy in September.
Dave Meltzer reported last month that WWE had changed their plans after Lesnar vs. Finn Balor was originally scheduled for the Royal Rumble, which will take place at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 28th.
Lesnar has been advertised locally for next Monday’s Raw in Providence, Rhode Island, though WWE has yet to officially announce that he’ll be on the show.
After announcing last week that Roman Reigns would be facing Cesaro on Raw tonight, WWE has now also confirmed that Reigns’ Intercontinental Championship will be on the line in the match.
A cruiserweight number one contender’s match and Braun Strowman vs. Kane are set for next week’s episode of Raw.
Drew Gulak will be facing Rich Swann on the show after stealing the pin from Cedric Alexander in a fatal four-way match that also involved Mustafa Ali and Tony Nese last night. Swann won a fatal four-way the previous week to get his spot in the number one contender’s match. The winner of Gulak vs. Swann will receive the next shot at Enzo Amore’s Cruiserweight title.
Tonight’s 205 Live will be built around an angle where Gulak is in charge of The Zo Train with Amore not on the show.
WWE has been building to Strowman vs. Kane since October’s TLC PPV, but their match will be the first time they’ve officially wrestled on television since their program started. Strowman destroyed Elias this week, then Kane appeared on the video screen to challenge him after they had taken turns laying each other out over the last couple of weeks.
