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.