RAW Results and Recap: Slay The Beast
Seth Rollins won the men’s Royal Rumble match last night, and tonight, he’s kicking off Monday Night RAW. I’m sorry—Monday Night ROLLINS. “BURN IT DOWN,” the WWE Universe chants, and you’ve gotta agree with ‘em.
Rollins gets right down to it: “Seth freakin’ Rollins is going to the main event of WrestleMania!” The crowd chants “YOU DESERVE IT,” and while he promised himself he wasn’t going to do it, he points at the WrestleMania sign. Then he points out that he has the option to face either SmackDown’s WWE Champion Daniel Bryan—one of his oldest friends—or RAW’s Universal Champion Brock Lesnar. The WWE Universe? They want the latter. And they want him to “TAKE HIS BELT.”
Out comes an emotional Triple H—to “NXT” chants—who admits he’s proud of Rollins for stepping up to his “old Seth Rollins” challenge. But now he wants to know who Rollins is burning down at WrestleMania. (He also wants to know who Becky Lynch is burning down with her straight fire… but that won’t be until tomorrow on SmackDown LIVE. Or so he thinks.) This decision has to happen tonight.
Triple will H give him until the end of the night. And Daniel Bryan will be here… as will Brock Lesnar. You know what the WWE Universe says to that? “SLAY THE BEAST!” But Rollins still says this will be “one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever made in my entire life.”
And then out comes Dean Ambrose, sickened by Triple H and Seth Rollins’ “whole little father/son shtick.” He points out how things were during his and Rollins’ FCW days, back when Triple H didn’t believe in either of them. But Ambrose says he believed in Rollins. Then, Triple H calls b.s. to the whole “brother route” Ambrose is going for, but Ambrose says, “This conversation doesn’t concern you.” However, Triple H notes, “everything in this ring concerns me.”Nut Ambrose doesn’t care: He just calls Rollins “a pure kiss ass.”
Ambrose says he hopes Rollins beats Bryan or Lesnar… but he’s never been able to beat Ambrose. So Triple H? Triple H better make the match now.” Triple H just decides to leave the ring, so Ambrose asks if he has to “ask permission” from Vince first. The crowd? “YES HE DOES.” But I guess not, because, “Get me a referee now.”
Seth Rollins def. Dean Ambrose
Seth Rollins ain’t playing around tonight—seriously, he’s tired of Dean Ambrose’s crap—even though he’s been through some stuff these past 24 hours. But Ambrose finally gets some momentum once he rams Rollins into the post on the outside. And then he rams him into another post before throwing him back into the ring and cranking on an STF.
Both of these men have each other’s numbers, but this is Seth freakin’ Rollins’ time to burn it down. And ultimately, he ends up defeating Dean Ambrose with an absolutely devastating stomp.
Post-match, Ambrose is obviously upset… but he’s, like, really upset.
During the commercial, Ambrose got a chair, and once the show comes back on, he says he’s ready to bare his soul… but he’s interrupted by Nia Jax and Tamina. They have a scheduled qualifying match tonight for the Elimination Chamber match to determine the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions.
And now Nia Jax is stepping to Ambrose, following up her work from the Royal Rumble. She actually forearms him out of the ring, and officials have to hold him back. “LET THEM FIGHT,” the crowd chants, and Ambrose is ready. But
Nia Jax & Tamina def. Alexa Bliss & Mickie James
Alexa Bliss starts things off with Tamina, perhaps to prove she’s got no ring rust. But once Nia Jax tags in, of
But she’s still being dominated, and Jax is back in. Now Bliss really needs to tag in Mickie. (Because of last night, the crowd chants “RKO” when Jax is back in the ring.)
Tamina is back in, and now is the time to tag in Mickie James, if Bliss possibly can. And she does! Finally! Mickie absolutely dominates Tamina, even deflecting the superkick, but then Jax tags in… but Mickie’s speed is able to deflect Jax… for a moment. She’s about to eat a Samoan Drop, but Bliss comes to save her. Nope, Bliss is scared. And then she’s also on Jax’s shoulders. Nia Jax Samoan Drops both of them, pins Mickie James, and now she and Tamina are going into the Elimination Chamber.
Baron Corbin def. Kurt Angle
It’s shocking WWE isn’t saving this match for WrestleMania, isn’t it? It’s also shocking Baron Corbin has learned absolutely nothing, as he
But then he gets cocky and decides to attack Angle with a post-match End of Days. “THAT’S ON YOU,” he screams at the WWE Universe in Phoenix.
After Baron Corbin gets a fluke victory, Finn Balor is out to talk about last night:
“Last night, for 10 minutes, I went toe-to-toe with Brock Lesnar. But I make no excuses: Brock Lesnar beat me. And then: Brock Lesnar beat me again.”
Balor admits he’d never felt speed or power like that, especially not combined. But he also knows he “made Brock Lesnar believe.”
The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder) def. Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins
Lifelong friends—and former tag team champions in the WWE—taking on The Revival. But it’s still a team with Curt Hawkins, so of course Hawkins eats the Shatter Machine and loses the match for them.
Charly asks Daniel Bryan—who is backstage, as noted—about the Erick Rowan situation. She wants to know if the only reason he was able to defeat AJ Styles last night was
Well, while Rollins noted he and Bryan are friends, Bryan doesn’t seem to agree. He even calls out Rollins love of “wanton destruction.” (You know, because of his constant burning it down.) And he notes he’d win with or without Rowan. Sure, Jan.
Elias comes out, and after the commercial break, he shames the WWE Universe. So they chant “WE’RE NOT WORTHY.” True. And then he says he won’t be singing songs for the WWE
But when he does that, he ends up getting interrupted—Jeff Jarrett is back to let him know. Yes, in true “Listen up, Slapnuts.” form. But as he spells his name, The Roadie… er… Road Dogg (rocking a “THE MAN” shirt,
Then Elias ruins (“ruins”?) all of this. It looks like Elias is about to get his comeuppance from last night but nope. Elias wins.
Ember Moon was Natalya’s first choice for a possible Elimination Chamber tag team partner—not Ronda, somehow—but Ember’s injured post-Royal Rumble. Instead, she has Dana Brooke as her replacement, and she’s not feeling it. And Dana knows she’s not feeling it:
“I’m just as good as Ember, don’t you think?”
Girl, you gotta learn to crawl before you walk. But then she says she’s not just better than Ember: She’s better than Natalya. That probably isn’t the thing you want to say to someone to get on the same page, but okay…
The Riott Squad (Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan) def. Natalya & Dana Brooke
Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan defeat Natalya and Dana Brooke pretty damn quickly, unsurprisingly to everyone who’s not Dana Brooke.
Also, before that match, Mojo Rawley had a soliloquy, as you do.
Ronda Rousey (c) def. Bayley, for the RAW Women’s Championship
You can read more about Ronda Rousey’s latest open challenge, as well as her second challenge courtesy of “The Man,” here.
Backstage, Braun Strowman lets Seth Rollins know he “earned it last night” and shakes his hand in respect. He tells Rollins to make the right choice and then go and make it happen at WrestleMania.
Braun Strowman def. Drew McIntyre, via Disqualification
Braun Strowman is dominant during what exists of this match… but then Baron Corbin apparently gets cocky and decides to attack him from behind with a chair. The end result? Both Drew McIntyre and Baron Corbin getting these hands.
Actually, no, the end result is them teaming up to give the hands to Braun, right onto the steel steps. And the crowd goes “BOO.”
To close out the show, Seth Rollins is announced, but
But Rollins doesn’t want that, so he comes out and immediately beats Lesnar up (and down), going after Lesnar’s hurt midsection. He’s about to go for stomp, but whoops, he eats an F-5. And then another one. The fifth one ends upon the Universal Championship.
But after that, as Lesnar is leaving, a still down Rollins asks:
“Hey, Lesnar! Is that all you got?!?”
That leads to a sixth F-5 and the other main event to WrestleMania.