The new year is nearly upon us, and with that, Monday Night Raw presented an attractive show, filled with new opportunities for young stars, and a tremendous cage match to close it out.
Detroit, Michigan, the Motor City, is home to the final broadcast of the year which takes place at on 12/31/18. Michael Cole immediately tells us that a marquee matchup will kick off the final broadcast of the year. The cage is lowered and the match between Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre begins the night.
Drew McIntyre defeats Dolph Ziggler in a steel cage match.
Heck of a way to start the in-ring action this evening. A fierce battle that was back and forth, but McIntyre hit a Claymore and then a second to put this one away. After the match, Ziggler asked him if that’s all he had and he issued a third Claymore with the aide of a steel chair. That was brutal, and looked fantastic.
McIntyre declared for the Rumble and plans to win it all to become “King Of The WWE”.
After an exhilarating cage match, the crowd doesn’t even have a chance to come down as “The Architect” Seth Rollins is out and he is demanding his rematch for the IC Title against new champion, Dean Ambrose.
“The Game” Triple H is on hand on behalf of the McMahon regime tonight and he states that automatic rematches are “canned” if you will, and a thing of the past. He and Rollins have a great banter about Rollins bringing back his ruthless, take his prisoners attitude. In the end, it leads to Triple H saying that Seth Rollins will see singles action against “The Almighty” Bobby Lashley this evening.
Shane McMahon is out to join “The Game” and he announces that there will be a “fresh start” battle royale tonight and the winner of that will see a championship opportunity against Dean Ambrose later tonight! It’s up next!
Apollo Crews wins the “Fresh Start” Battle Royale after eliminating Baron Corbin.
There were an array of big names involved in this, including Corbin, Finn Balor, Lucha House Party and a smattering of under-card talent. Balor is shockingly eliminated, but in the end, Crews surprises those in attendance by snatching the victory and he’s on to an IC Title match later in the evening.
Crews eliminated eight people in this match and cut a fun promo after the match. He’s excited, happy for him.
Natalya is backstage and she’s interviewed about her title match with Rousey last week. She is interrupted and then attacked by Nia Jax and Tamina. How will it effect the main event?
Baron Corbin is frustrated after the battle royale and he states that he deserves respect and better treatment. He appears to begin a program with Elias, who confronts him atop the ramp with a guitar and they start feeding each other rights and lefts as a scuffle ensues.
Bayley and Ember Moon defeat The Riott Squad via pin fall.
A fun tag match to keep the evening going. Bayley continues to look strong as she and Moon defeated Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan after Bayley went to the top rope and hit a Macho Man-esque elbow drop to secure the victory for her team.
Seth Rollins defeats Bobby Lashley w/ Lio Rush via DQ after a chairshot from Lashley.
They protected Lashley well, especially since he’s competing against one of the most popular names on the Raw roster. Lashley employed his power game, and Lio Rush was up to the task of providing an annoying foil on the outside.
Rollins fought back and just as he was about to secure the victory, Lashley introduced a steel chair into the equation and it got him disqualified. Lio Rush wasn’t fortunate enough to escape the post-match tomfoolery. Rollins grabbed a steel chair and rained down shots on both heels, stating that triple H is getting what he asked for. Rush ate a ridiculous Blackout from Rollins and he sold it like a dead man. It was a great spot, even for what appeared to be a rough landing.
John Cena will be on Raw next week to get the year started right. Many have missed him. I’m sure he’ll be a welcome presence for the ratings.
We see the NXT superstars promo once again. They’ll be arriving soon.
Jinder Mahal/Singh Brothers defeat Rhyno/Heath Slater via pin fall with a Khallas.
Mahal comes back strong this week after being foiled by Rhyno last week. It was a three on two match which saw Rhyno distracted after a Gore attempt. He ate the Khallas and that was all she wrote.
Dean Ambrose cuts a promo in reference to his title match. He downplays the “fresh start” idea and says he doesn’t need one. He mocks Seth Rollins and his 2018 finale and plans to burn everything down that Rollins holds dear in 2019. He says Crews’s fresh start will be spoiled and it’ll have a rotten ending.
Dean Ambrose defeats Apollo Crews via pin fall with Dirty Deeds to retain the IC Title.
Crews had some great fan support, but being as this was a “canned” show, the crowd began getting restless as the night drug on. Ambrose and Crews battled each other hard as Crews actually teased taking the title on several occasions after beating the odds earlier in the night to win this opportunity.
Crews eventually made a key mistake and that was enough for the champion to seize a crucial opportunity, hitting his patented move to put this one away. Crews was able to hold his own and with some character tweaks and promo time, he might finally be a player to watch in 2019 if booked right. We shall see.
Alexa Bliss will debut the “Moment Of Bliss” talk show next week and it’ll be along the lines of Piper’s Pit, openly mocking Ronda Rousey and her affinity for the fallen legend.
Brock Lesnar will be on Raw next week too. Cena and Lesnar on the same show? That’s rare.
Ronda Rousey/Natalya defeat Tamina/Nia Jax via submission after a Rousey armbar on Tamina.
The faces end the night strong as they make quick work of the heels after the heels showed promise in the early part of the match. Natalya sold the attack from earlier, but the hot tag to Rousey spelled the end of the night for Jax and Tamina after the submission was applied. The crowd celebrated the win and we recap the events that’ll take place on the live show next week.
Cena is there. Lesnar is there. The Revival will compete for the tag titles once again. It should be a fine start to 2019.
