Wrestling

Sean Raw-Sapp: Goldberg Returns, Braun Strowman, Last Man Standing, Nia Jax Loses

Opening Segment

  • Mick Foley didn't look like he actually lost 100 pounds until he cut his hair. Good for him. For the weight loss, not the hair cut.
  • JeriKO are funny. The sky is blue.
  • I didn't miss the Stephanie McMahon hiatus a while back, but glad she's acting like she's on the same page as her hand picked GM.
  • Great that Stephanie brought up that Smackdown beat Raw in the ratings last week. Good stuff.

Seth Rollins defeated Kevin Owens via DQ

  • These two did really good work, as was expected, but weeks away from the Rumble, everything feels inconsequential. Maybe that's why they wait so long to announce PPV cards generally.
  • The Owens DQ protected both guys, but made Owens look dumb. He's banned from ringside during the Jericho/Reigns match.
  • I'm pretty sure Owens knows the rules. An accidental DQ would have been better. 

 Karl Anderson (w/ Luke Gallows) defeated Cesaro (w/ Sheamus)

  • Cesaro got an awesome pop.
  • The crowd was much more into this match than I thought they'd be and that's awesome. 
  • Shocker that a guy named Anderson has an awesome spinebuster.
  • I wish they'd imply that Karl is related to Arn, Gene, Lars and Ole. I mean, why not? 
  • The finish of this match was fantastic. Sheamus yanked Gallows off the apron, and caused Cesaro to get crotched.
  • Anderson hit a flying neckbreaker for the win. Awesome more.

Last Man Standing
Braun Strowman defeats Sami Zayn

  • This was my main event, and unless Strowman gets involved later, should have been anyway.
  • Zayn made Strowman look like a million bucks. A perfect opponent.
  • Strowman looked like he killed Zayn when he went for the Torpedo DDT.
  • Going to commercial in a match like this is stupid. 
  • God, this is some awesome stuff. We don't see this anymore, and it's so much fun. 
  • WWE needs to explain why there's no chairshots to the head. Massive fine. There you go. You're welcome.
  • Braun can't sell for shit, but I'll allow it.
  • Strowman threw some awesome knees.
  • This was just great. They used a lot of production tricks and it worked. Braun has to work on his selling though.

New Day, Gallagher, Titus

  • New Day gives Jack Gallagher the rub in a segment. They're all backstage playing with umbrellas.
  • New Day out for their New Year's resolutions. Titus O'Neil interrupts and wants to join the New Day.
  • Titus gets a nice pop when he plays a whistle, but they end up trashing each other. 

Xavier Woods (w/New Day) defeats Titus O'Neil

  • Sometimes you forget how athletic Xavier Woods is.
  • Sometimes you forget how bad Titus O'Neil is.
  • Remember when people had Titus pegged as a future main eventer?

Backstage stuffs

  • Bayley and Stephanie McMahon had a great exchange. I'm okay with Bayley getting run down by Stephanie here, because that's a part of getting Bayley over.
  • STOP PUTTING SO MUCH GODDAMN MAKEUP ON THESE GIRLS.
  • We got some Noam Dar/Cedric creepiness again.

Cedric Alexander (w/ Alicia Fox) vs. Drew Gulak (w/ Tony Nese) then TJP defeats Brian Kendrick

  • Cedric is over, so they beat him a lot. Okay.
  • One of the reasons I wasn't hot on the brand split idea was that we'd see the same matches 100 times. We're getting close with TJP and Kendrick. 7 televised singles matches since September.

United States Championship
Roman Reigns (c) defeated Chris Jericho

  • There were stakes for this match that I liked. If Reigns got DQ'd or counted out, he lost the title.
  • I wasn't too into this one until the end, but they brought the heat.
  • Jericho pulled an Eddie Guerrero and tried to get Reigns DQ'd, but it didn't happen. 
  • Reigns won, and I don't know why he still has this title belt. 

Number One Contender Match
Bayley defeated Nia Jax

  • Whoever agented this match should have nixed the ringpost shoulder spot we've seen three times tonight.
  • Sasha Banks distracts Nia Jax, allowing a Super Bayley to Belly to get the win.
  • I'm cool with Bayley having Nia's number. Kind of cool.
  • Also. I skipped talking about the Enzo/Cass vs. Jinder/Rusev thing. It was wack.

Kevin Owens Show, Goldberg

  • Hilarious setup with a guy wearing a Kevin Owens show sign.
  • Chris Jericho announces he'll be in the Royal Rumble, and Owens isn't happy. Perhaps foreshadowing. I think this is Jericho's best chance to win a Rumble.
  • Goldberg comes out, he's terribly on the mic. So cheesy. 
  • Reigns comes out, and faces off with Goldberg. I thought this was a cool moment.
  • Heyman comes out and announces Lesnar isn't there. Then he cowers when Braun Strowman shows up. Good spot.
  • Strowman gets speared by Reigns and Goldberg at the same time….because EVERYTHING is a tool to get Reigns over except a quick heel turn that will get him there. OK.

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