RAW Results and Recap: The End of an Era?

#ThankYouRoman

Now for Baron Corbin to ruin everything by officially starting off the show in the middle of the ring, holding the Universal Championship—perhaps the closest he’ll ever get to being the champ, honestly—and wishing Roman Reigns the best. He also says he hopes that if Reigns comes back to WWE, it’s not to RAW—because he made Corbin’s job “very difficult.”

And now Brock Lesnar (with Paul Heyman) is here to do the same in Charlotte, NC. Heyman informs Corbin and the WWE Universe that Lesnar’s going to take the championship “back home,” this Friday at WWE Crown Jewel; in fact, he calls it both a spoiler and a promise.

Now, what does Braun Strowman think about that? Well, he says he’s going to become the new Universal Champion because Brock is gonna get these hands. And that’s it. That’s all Strowman has to say. It’s actually about to get physical between the two competitors until Corbin tries to get in between them. With that, Strowman pushes the Acting RAW GM away. But when Corbin tries to fight back, he ends up getting a powerslam for his troubles. Then another one, as Strowman informs Lesnar—who just laughs this off and poses with the championship—“THAT’S YOUR FUTURE.” As is one more powerslam for Corbin, as Strowman obliges with the crowd’s “ONE MORE TIME” chant. But this time, Strowman ends up getting F-5’d by Lesnar after the fact.

After that, Lesnar and Heyman leave for the back—but somehow, Strowman is able to get up, promising to see them on Friday.

Finn Balor def. Bobby Lashley via DQ

As Finn Balor makes his way to the ring, he also makes sure to “too sweet” Corbin (as the referees carry him to the back). Then Lio Rush comes out to tell Balor that last week’s win was a “fluke,” because he’s really no match for “the big man.” He also chants “LASH-LEY! LASH-LEY! LASH-LEY!” a bunch, as he is wont to do.

During the match, Lashley immediately starts things off by just destroying Balor with his raw power, and you know what that means: “LASH-LEY! LASH-LEY! LASH-LEY!” But Balor proves he’s still able to get the best of Lashley, which is why Rush also ends up pushing Balor when he goes for the Coup de Grace. That really only slows Balor down for a bit, before he goes to another corner to hit the move. But this time, Rush pushes Balor all the way to the ground. So the match is over, and Balor beats Lashley again (this time via Disqualification). The crowd chants “YOU SUCK” at Rush and Lashley as a result, and Lashley (“LASH-LEY!”) just keeps on destroying Balor after the match. You know, if Lashley’s all about winning, then he should really be upset he’s lost two matches in a row to Balor. Instead, he takes it out on Balor by putting in him in a full nelson while Rush trash-talks him and slaps him around.

Backstage, Rush and Lashley meet with Corbin in the trainer’s room. He’s impressed by what they did to the “disrespectful” Balor, and because of Lashley’s performance tonight, Corbin’s officially putting him into the WWE World Cup tournament at Crown Jewel… as John Cena’s replacement.

At Survivor Series, it will be RAW Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey against SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch, in a battle for brand supremacy. You can read more about the match-up here.

Natalya, Lita, Trish Stratus, Sasha Banks, & Bayley def. Mickie James, Alicia Fox, & The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, & Sarah Logan)

According to commentary, this is Trish Stratus’ first RAW match since 2011 and Lita’s first match on RAW since 2012. This is also technically a 10-woman tag team match, but Alexa Bliss is on the sidelines, so you can’t trust that. It would also appear that you can’t trust the Mickie James/Alicia Fox and Riott Squad team-up, as the latter doesn’t quite look all that happy to work with the former.

However, both tag teams actually end up working fairly well together. Perhaps it’s because of the common goals when it comes to taking out the legends (and Natalya… and Bayley… and Sasha Banks). The team of the legends and the current WWE Superstars mesh well too—especially Trish Stratus and Sasha Banks—and Natalya is eventually able to hit a Hart Attack with Lita’s help and get the win with a Sharpshooter (tapping out Alicia).

In an interview with Kayla Braxton, Nia Jax says she’ll challenge Ronda Rousey for the RAW Women’s Championship after Rousey wins at Survivor Series (because of RAW solidarity, of course). She really doesn’t have much more to add to that, which should make it okay that her buddy Ember Moon shows up to talk to Kayla as well. However, Nia cuts off Ember, reminding everyone that she actually won the battle royal at Evolution, so she should be getting all the interview time. Ember doesn’t mean to step on Nia’s toes and even thanks her for her guidance on the main roster, informing her that she respects her. But if there’s a chance Nia doesn’t respect Ember, then Ember is willing to have a match tonight to gain that respect. Nia accepts the match, noting: “Last night, when you caught lightning in a bottle, I still beat you.” And Nia promises to do the same again tonight.

Finally, it’s time to walk with Elias. He calls himself “the living truth” and even points out that he came into town early to hang out with Ric Flair. Not only did Flair apparently call Elias “the man,” he told him he loved what he did to Baron Corbin last week. So as a result, Elias wrote a new song for Corbin. And he’s going to go backstage and sing it to him—face-to-face—right now.

Now, Corbin won’t let Elias into his office, but Elias still sings for him. “You used to be the lone wolf / But now you’re just Stephanie’s little bi—” is a choice line from the song, but it’s unfortunately cut short by Jinder Mahal ambushing him from out of nowhere. Surprise! Elias has a match against Mahal next.

Elias def. Jinder Mahal

Corey Graves literally call Sunil and Samir Singh the wrestling equivalent of Slash and Duff McKagan, in case you were wondering how out of touch with reality Corey Graves has become. Both men are definitely very involved in the match, helping Mahal out as much as they possibly can. But what they can do isn’t enough, as Elias is eventually able to hit the Drift Away and pick up the win. But he’s clearly hurting, and surely Corbin will have his sights set on him (just like he does Finn Balor).

According to Kurt Angle, winning the WWE World Cup tournament “would mean more to [him] than anything [he’s] ever accomplished.” (And he won a Gold medal with a broken fricken neck, you know.)

Bobby Roode & Chad Gable def. The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor) & AOP (Akam & Rezar)

It’s triple threat tag team action: The Ascension, Bobby Roode & Chad Gable, and the AOP. (As it turns out, Gable wants the deets on Roode’s custom—GLORIOUS—robe.) After the AOP’s attack three weeks ago, both teams take it to them immediately, before the match can officially start. Then it’s back to The Ascension and Roode/Gable’s issues. And it ends with those two teams too, as a rolling German suplex (Gable) that turned into a neckbreaker (Roode) combo allows Roode to pin Viktor. Yes, Roode gets the win and actually contributes to the match this time… but the AOP are not happy and destroy both teams post-match. Drake Maverick has never been happier.

“YOU GOT THIS, ROMAN”

And Seth Rollins wants to get answers about why Dean Ambrose did what he did last week, in the wake of Roman Reigns’ announcement. According to Rollins, “[Dean] turned his back on all of us.” And yet, he feels “guilty” about it, blaming himself because of what he did to The Shield four years ago. So maybe Ambrose just “lashed out” because of all the emotion.

But only Ambrose actually has the answers, and Rollins hasn’t been able to find him to get those answers. Until now, when Ambrose’s music hits. But he’s not here. Wait, no, he is—but he’s out in the crowd. Rollins thinks Ambrose is mocking The Shield by doing this, but Ambrose actually has to say something to confirm or deny that. Only, Ambrose won’t come down to the ring, and he won’t say a word (despite having a microphone). This leads to Rollins getting real with his brother: “At least when I put the knife in your back, I had the decency to stare you in the eye and tell you why I did it!” He’s not wrong. Rollins then calls him a “soulless lunatic,” which might upset Ambrose but still not enough to get him to come down. Instead, Ambrose just walks away.

Backstage, Charly Caruso interviews Lashley and Lio Rush about Crown Jewel. Rush says the WWE World Cup is “about dominating the field of competition,” which is Lashley in a nutshell. He’s done it all, and Rollins—his opponent at the pay-per-view—clearly doesn’t stand a chance with all his Shield drama.

Nia Jax def. Ember Moon

Ember Moon knows to stay on Nia Jax immediately, to keep hitting the bigger woman with big moves early on. But Nia is, well, she’s Nia. And so she decides to just stomp on Ember. (They’re supposed to be friends, right?) Ember eventually gets Nia off her feet with a somersault to the outside, but Nia gets up, headbutts Ember before tossing her friend/opponent back into the ring.

But all of a sudden, Tamina comes out. To get into Nia’s head? No, to help distract Ember Moon. At least, Nia uses this distraction as an opportunity to get Ember down and then take her out with a leg drop. Post-match, it appears this wasn’t a planned interference between the two cousins. Instead, it appears that Nia just took advantage of her Tamina’s distraction. But what next?

Lucha House Party (Kalisto & Lince Dorado) def. The Revival (Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder)

It’s the Lucha House Party (on RAW! and with Penelope the Piñata!) versus The Revival (in Revival Country!), which should definitely be some good tag team wrestling. This match ends up mostly being an uphill battle for Kalisto, and while he isn’t able to tag in Lince Dorado, he is able to hit a Salida del Sol on Dawson—thanks to Gran Metalik’s distracting noise-maker—with Lince cutting Dash off from preventing the pin with an absolutely beautiful crossbody.

Dolph Ziggler def. Apollo Crews

Pre-match, Dolph Ziggler talks about Crown Jewel and how his first-round match-up is against Kurt Angle. Both men have impressive amateur and professional wrestling backgrounds, but most people would probably agree that Angle’s is more impressive. (By the way, Drew McIntyre says that since they “have finally broken The Shield,” he’ll be focusing on the result of the Universal Championship match.) “We’ve done nothing but tell the truth since the very beginning,” says Ziggler. About The Shield, about their talent as a team, etc. He also notes how he’s looked up to Angle his whole life. But: “I’m Dolph Ziggler—and you’re not.”

What that means? According to Ziggler, he’s “the best damn thing that’s ever happened to this business.” And now he’s going to have to prove it against Apollo Crews.

It seems he might have a problem because Crews loves to show off too—he just doesn’t keep running his mouth about it. But ultimately, knees up for Crews’ frog splash—at the tail end of an impressive showing—and a big superkick later, Ziggler gets the win.

According to The Undertaker, the match at Crown Jewel won’t just be the end of an era: It will be the end of Triple H and Shawn Michaels’ “error.” He and Kane are calling D-Generation X out—not just for Friday but tonight. So, DX does come out… Well, Triple H does, only for Shawn Michaels to get the jump on Undertaker from behind. According to Michael Cole, it’s “DX, up to their old tricks.”

But Taker soon sits up from the attack, proving that they only made him (and his brother) angry.