Orlando, FL is home to the very first Raw of the new year, which takes place from the Amway Center, on 1/7/19!
The action is fast and frenzied right off the bat as the first cut of the show has Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley tearing each other apart backstage as a multitude of talent does their level best to intervene.
The action spills out to the stage and Lashley is thrown off before Rollins hits a flying body press before the men are finally separated.
Here comes John Cena! They don’t even cut to commercial before the sixteen time world champion makes his return and he comes out and immediately announces his entry into the 2019 Royal Rumble match. he knows the road to Wrestlemania is perilous and he says he plans to win it all and he’s glad to be back.
He is interrupted by the “Scottish Psycopath” Drew McIntyre, who lists his accomplishments in Cena’s absence. He recognizes Cna, per the words of Vince McMahon, as “the greatest of all time”, and as such, he has to defeat him.
Cena runs down McIntyre’s rhetoric and he says he left because every superstar has stated the same thing each and every week on Raw while he’s been gone. He was sick of it.
Before the two men can come to blows, Bobby Lashley is out with Lio Rush, who is complaining that if something isn’t done about Rollins, they are cancelling the show! Rollins is out and he keeps fighting with Lashley. Dean Ambrose is out and he attacks Rollins before Finn Balor makes his way out to attack McIntyre. It is absolute anarchy and it leads to a stellar six man tag to begin the new year.
It’ll be John Cena, Finn Balor and Seth Rollins against Dean Ambrose, Drew McIntyre and Bobby Lashley, and it’s after the break!
John Cena/Finn Balor/Seth Rollins defeat Bobby Lashley/Dean Ambrose/Drew McIntyre via pin fall after a Blackout by Rollins on Ambrose.
This was terrific. Cena played the face in peril for much of the match and when Rollins got the tag? Wow. Rollins is being featured heavily and easily seems to be the odds on favorite for this year’s Royal Rumble match.
All six men saw their finishes in succession as Ambrose tagged in. He looked for Dirty Deeds, but was countered into a rollup and then Rollins came to his feet and his a massive Blackout and he grabbed the three count.
He immediately should have been arrested for knocking a perfectly good cup of coffee out of Triple H’s hand backstage after “The Game” was chatting with Bayley and Sasha Banks backstage.
Rollins demands an IC title rematch with Ambrose tonight and HHH books it, falls count anywhere and then he slaps him on the chest, welcoming him back.
After the break, we get a tolling of the bell and a beautiful video package for the late and definitely great, “Mean” Gene Okerlund. Hulk Hogan is out to a mixed reaction, but this night wasn’t about him and they made it so. He pays homage to Gene and even referenced a tag team match in the sky with all the fallen legends. That was heartbreaking. The crowd gives Okerlund a proper sendoff before a commercial break.
Lumberjacks surround the ring for a tag team title match, and after the controversial finish a few weeks back, Gable and Roode defend the straps against The Revival.
Bobby Roode and Chad Gable defeat The Revival via pin fall with a countered rollup.
The controversy isn’t in the match decision, but in what happened yet again. The match was intense and packed with high spots and tremendous offense.
At one point, Gable had Dawson in a bridging german suplex and Wilder came off the top with a frogsplash in a spot that had to hurt. Counters were fast and furious, and Dawson had the pin, but Roode pushed the pin fall and Gable got the three count, but Dawson’s foot was under the rope, and the ref missed it. This feud will continue.
We get the promo once again for the soon-to-be debuting NXT superstars, and we find out that Brock Lesnar will confront Braun Strowman later tonight. Alexa Bliss will have Ronda Rousey as her first guest on “A Moment Of Bliss” as well.
Elias is in the ring for a great song and promo segment before he is interrupted by Baron Corbin. They’ll do business after the break.
Baron Corbin defeats Elias via pin fall with End Of Days.
This feud continues as Elias has control for most of the match until he misses a spear in the corner. Corbin then drives Elias into the ring post and finishes him off with End Of Days.
Dean Ambrose is backstage and he cuts a promo about not trusting his partners earlier. He is ready for Rollins tonight and will be Raw’s “moral compass” moving forward.
We have an absolute dud of a segment up next and I won’t sugarcoat it. Braun Strowman is in the ring and he does his spiel about Brock Lesnar catching these hands. Lesnar and Paul Heyman are backstage and they refuse to come out. It’s as if Strowman forgot his lines because he stumbled through the promo. Lesnar was laughing and Heyman did his best to keep things on track.
Lesnar finally comes to the ring for a confrontation and decides not to get in the ring. That was that. If this stunk any worse, I’d have put it in a trash bag. Oh boy.
Jinder Mahal is in the ring with Alicia Fox and the Singh brothers. They insult Orlando and the locals and it was pretty funny. Ember Moon and Apollo Crews are out for a mixed tag match.
Ember Moon/Apollo Crews defeat Alicia Fox/Jinder Mahal via pin fall after an Eclipse.
This was a burial of sorts. The heels barely got in any offense and maybe it was kept short on purpose. Moon hit the Eclipse rather quickly and this one was history.
“A Moment Of Bliss” is up next and it plods along belong Rona Rousey comes out. She speaks at length about Sasha Banks and wanting to face her and she is interrupted by Nia Jax. Banks is out to confront Jax and calls her a synonym for a female dog before challenging her to a match.
Sasha Banks defeats Nia Jax via submission with the Banks Statement.
This one went long. Banks sold like a deadman for Jax for the majority of the match. There was a great spot where Jax press slammed Banks onto a ringside crate.
Unfortunately, Jax couldn’t pay Banks the same respect as she sold a hurricanrana in arguably the worst fashion I’ve ever seen. Bayley was out to even the odds as Tamina tried to get involved and it allowed Banks to capitalize and force Jax into the submission.
We’ll have Rousey and Banks at the Rumble.
Ambrose is jumped by Rollins on the entrance ramp immediately after a break, so it appears that the main event is underway.
Dean Ambrose defeats Seth Rollins via pin fall in a Falls Count Anywhere match after interference from Bobby Lashley to retain the IC Title.
Ambrose and Rollins beat the heck out of each other backstage and this was grueling and merciless. The action finally spilled into the ring and Rollins employed all of his power offense before hitting the Blackout.
He was set to score the pin fall to regain the title when he was pulled out of the ring by “The Almighty” Bobby Lashley. Lashley rammed him into the barricade twice and then hit an overhead suplex on the outside.
Lashley continued to assault Rollins before hitting a spear that led to Ambrose covering him and retaining the title. The show ended as Lio Rush introduced a table into the equation and Lashley slammed Rollins through it, standing tall as the broadcast went off the air.
