RAW Results for 1-30-2017: Owens Defends His Belt, Seth Finally Gets His Meeting with Triple H
Hello, ladies and gentlemen, due to school taking priority, I am barley getting my "RAW" review up. Regardless, if you didn't watch wrestling this week, I hope you got filled in with my article.
The show kicked off with Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho heading to the ring. Owens bragged about keeping the Universal Championship, and Jericho bragged about breaking the Royal Rumble Match record for most time in the Rumble for a career. "Y2J" said that he had spent almost five hours in the Rumble throughout his career, and went 61 minutes in this year's Rumble match. That prompted Owens to call Jericho the "61-Minute Man." The laughs didn't last, however, because Braun Strowman made his way to the ring, and immediately asked Owens for a title shot. The Universal Champ said he didn't know what Strowman was talking about, and that's when the former Wyatt Family member showed him footage from a month ago. Owens said he couldn't defend his belt in his condition, and that is when General Manager Mick Foley walked out onto the entrance stage. Foley said he didn't care for Owens' condition, and granted Strowman his title shot, with the match occurring later in the night.
Match 1 - Chris Jericho vs. Sami Zayn: In what could be called an upset, Zayn defeated "Y2J" by blasting him with the Helluva Kick, and then pinning him for the three-count.
After the first match, Owens approached Commissioner Stephanie McMahon, and asked to have his title match cancelled. Stephanie said that, unfortunately, there was nothing she could do since Foley does have the power to make matches.
Match 2 - Tony Nese vs. Mustafa Ali: Nese picked up the victory after hitting Ali with a running knee to the face and scoring the pinfall.
At the conclusion of the second match, Seth Rollins hit the ring and called out Stephanie. He said that he was going to get his face-to-face with Triple H at all costs. "The Architect" even went as far as saying that he would ring the doorbell to Stephanie's house if he needed to. That was the last straw for the "Billion Dollar Princess," and she said that Triple H was on his way to the arena. Rollins seemed satisfied, and walked to the back.
Match 3 - Cesaro, Sheamus, & Bayley vs. Luke Gallows, Karl Anderson, & Charlotte Flair: Bayley got the win for her team after she hit Charlotte with the Bayley-to-Belly and pinned her for the mandatory three seconds.
In the following segment, Adrian Neville marched to the ring for his "coronation," due to defeating Rich Swann on Sunday for the Cruiserweight Championship. He spoke about now truly being the king of the cruiserweights, and that is when he was interrupted by Swann. The former champ told Neville that his anger was misplaced, and that all of his rancor towards the fans stems from a fight inside his head. Neville got mad at Swann for that, and he attempted to hit him, but he got left laying in the ring.
Match 4 - WWE Universal Championship, (c) Kevin Owens vs. Braun Strowman: In the middle of the match, Roman Reigns came out and attacked Strowman. That caused a disqualification to be called by the referee, awarding the match to Owens. After Reigns had gotten Strowman down on the ground, he went after Owens inside the ring, delivering a spear.
The next part of the show kept people on an emotional high, as Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman made their way to the ring next. Getting straight to it, Heyman told the world that Lesnar was challenging Goldberg to a match at WrestleMania 33. "The Advocate" added that it would be their final encounter if Goldberg accepted the challenge.
Match 5 - Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax: The referee stopped this contest after seeing that Banks' leg was injured to the point where she couldn't stand. Despite that, Jax was going after Banks one more time, and only the appearance of Bayley kept her at bay.
Main Event - Tornado Tag Team Match, Rusev & Jinder Mahal vs. Enzo Amore & Big Cass: This was an entertaining match that spilled into the crowd, before ending up back in the ring. It ended when Amore splashed onto Rusev with Bada Boom Shakalaka.
When the last match was over, Triple H went down to the ring and explained to the WWE Universe that he was really trying to be a creator and not a destroyer, and that is why he had not answered Seth Rollins' call-outs. However, Rollins had gone too far recently, and he was going to give "The Architect" what he was asking for. Rollins' music hit at that point, and he charged to the ring with a fury. Only a few feet from the ring, something unexpected happened. Rollins was blasted from the left side by someone coming out of the crowd. After that person had laid Rollins out, it was shown to be Samoa Joe, former Ring of Honor, TNA, and NXT World Champion. On orders from Triple H, Joe picked up Rollins and threw him in the ring. He then knocked Rollins unconscious with his rear naked choke.
