Coming off a controversial and headline-grabbing Survivor Series on Sunday, Monday night Raw would once again air from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The main issue coming out of Sunday’s show was the aftermath of the shocking Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar match.
How would Lesnar respond to the most embarrassing defeat of his career? And would Goldberg be sticking around in WWE for longer than originally planned?
This, plus a number of other issues, were set to be dealt with on Raw, but how did the show play out?
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Let’s take a look at 10 “Say What?” moments from this week’s Raw:
#1 - Goldberg in the Royal Rumble
Goldberg would kick-off the show after his triumphant return to in-ring action at Survivor Series and addressed his future plans in regards to WWE.
At first, Goldberg claimed that “all good things must come to an end”, suggesting that he was about to officially retire. However, he then talked about how he spoke to Stephanie McMahon shortly after his victory over Brock Lesnar and she asked him whether or not he had one more Title run left in him.
Also read: WWE Rumours: Brock Lesnar participating in the Royal Rumble match
Goldberg would claim that he did indeed have a title run left in him and would announce himself as the first entrant in the upcoming Royal Rumble match in January to try and earn himself that Title shot.
Can Goldberg actually go on to beat 29 other men and win the Rumble? Or will Brock Lesnar have other plans for him? We’ll find out!
#2 - New Day acting heel
This week saw New Day actually reference Demolition’s record tag title reign of 478 days for the first time and announce their intentions to break that record.
This was prior to their Title defence against Cesaro & Sheamus, who had earned this opportunity by being Team Raw’s sole survivors in the 10-on-10 elimination match at Survivor Series.
Also read: The New Day: WWE’s best Tag Team has grown stale
Not for the first time, New Day retained their championships with a cheap victory and this week saw them use blatant heel tactics to get the win.
Xavier Woods would first distract the referee while Kofi was tapping out to Cesaro’s ‘sharpshooter’, and then prevented Sheamus from breaking up what was to be the decisive pinfall.
I like this development in New Day’s character as they now seem desperate to break the record and will do it by any means necessary, it certainly freshens up their gimmick that was starting to get stale.
#3 - Naked Enzo
That’s right, Enzo Amore was locked out of the men’s locker room after taking a shower and did not have any of his clothes, not even a towel. He was completely naked with nothing but a pixelation to hide his ‘Certified D’.
He would be seen by a number of people in the backstage area, but it was when he bumped into Lana that things took a turn for the worse for Enzo.
Rusev would catch the naked Enzo with his wife and demand that Enzo get dressed and then get to the ring so Rusev could ‘crush’ him, which was exactly what he would end up doing later in the night.
#4 - Sami punished
In a story that doesn’t make a lot of sense currently, Sami Zayn was punished by Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley for failing to win the Intercontinental Championship for Raw at Survivor Series, even though Miz & Maryse clearly cheated to get the victory.
His punishment was to go one-on-one with Braun Strowman who would destroy Sami in their match and force a stoppage as he was unable to compete, the match was stopped by Foley, not the referee, which again doesn’t make a lot of sense.
The best case scenario is that this leads to a high profile feud involving Sami and Stephanie McMahon, but I fear this is just more of the ‘Billion Dollar Princess’ burying talents and suffering no repercussions, I hope I’m wrong.
#5 - ‘Highlight’ of the night
The highlights of the last couple of months of Raw have more often than not involved Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho and this week was no different. The ‘Highlight Reel’ segment last night was one of my favourite segments of the year as Owens & Jericho would tease an implosion in hilarious fashion.
My words can’t do justice to Owens & Jericho’s comedic genius so if you haven’t seen the segment you can watch it in the video below.
Drink it in, man.
#6 Anderson & Gallows earn a Tag Team Title shot
Anderson & Gallows and the Golden Truth squared off this week to decide who would get a Tag Team Title shot next week against The New Day. Thankfully, Golden Truth did not win this match and it will The Club who will face New Day for the Championships next Monday.
It will be interesting to see whether or not New Day will continue to use underhanded tactics to hold onto the gold, as they approach Demolition’s record Tag Team title reign.
#7 Nia Jax not ready for the main roster?
When the WWE Universe first got a glimpse of Nia Jax, it seemed fairly certain that she would be a major player, even if it was for nothing more than her sheer size.
However, she has struggled thus far. Her in-ring work is average at best and her mic skills are poor.
Her booking hasn’t helped either and that continued this week when she said that she would be targeting Sasha Banks, not Charlotte and therefore not the Women’s Championship.
Why?
I’m not saying that Jax should be in the Title picture just yet, but for her to actually say she wanted Sasha and not Charlotte makes no sense whatsoever.
She is by far the biggest and strongest woman on the roster but the booking of her character so far has made her seem like just another female wrestler instead of the unique performer that she is.
#8 Charlotte vs Sasha next week
Despite their feud seemingly taking a break after Hell In A Cell, Sasha once again confronted Charlotte and asked for a rematch.
Charlotte agreed but for next week when Raw emanates from Charlotte, North Carolina, which is also Charlotte’s hometown. She already beat Sasha in her hometown of Boston, Massachusetts and now she wants to beat her on her turf.
While the two rivals regularly put on great matches, and I expect nothing different next week, I think both would benefit from going their separate ways, at least for a little while.
#9 Swann to face Kendrick for Cruiserweight Title
Another Title shot set for next week will come on the premiere episode of ’205 Live’ when Brian Kendrick will defend his Cruiserweight Championship against Rich Swann.
Swann earned this opportunity on Raw by defeating TJ Perkins and Noam Dar in a triple threat match.
The Cruiserweight coverage on this week’s Raw was slightly better than in recent weeks but we’ll see if this will continue or whether WWE only made this extra effort to promote the new ’205 Live’ show.
#10 Main event mayhem
It was revealed on Raw that the ‘future opportunity’ that Rollins was promised for joining Team Raw at Survivor Series was a shot at the Universal Championship. That opportunity came in this week’s main event as he took on Kevin Owens in a ’No Disqualification’ match, with Roman Reigns and Chris Jericho banned from ringside.
This was a fun match, worthy of main eventing any Raw, and the two men fought all over the arena using chairs, tables and anything else they could get their hands on. The finish came when Chris Jericho interfered, despite explicitly being told that he was forbidden from doing so, to help his best friend Kevin Owens retain the championship.
Jericho got involved by disguising himself in the crowd under a Sin Cara mask, a brilliant reference to the alleged backstage fight that Jericho & Sin Cara had on the recent European tour.
You have to expect that Jericho will face repercussions for his actions but just how severe will his punishment be?
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