WWE RAW Results: January 4, 2016By Cassidy| January 5, 2016 WWE Raw Previous Page Detailed Results The first RAW of 2016 was set to kick off with WWE Principal Owner Stephanie McMahon, but as soon as Stephanie comes out to the stage, she is interrupted by the arrival of WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns as the champion walks right past Stephanie on his way into the ring! Appalled, Stephanie follows Reigns into the ring and Roman says that it’s not about Stephanie tonight, it’s about her dad, Mr. McMahon. The champion then decides to call out the Chairman, but Stephanie informs Roman that her father isn’t in the arena yet, but he will be there. Stephanie then tells Reigns that the odds are not in Roman’s favor later tonight and the champion says that this is a “joke” to Stephanie, but if he loses the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, then he doesn’t have a “job”. Reigns then says that, as far as he’s concerned, the championship is his “life” and his “family” and “no one” is going to take it away from him. The Principal Owner then says that it’s “pathetic” how the fans cling to the “hope” that things will be different, saying that hope is not a “strategy” and “nobody” competes with Mr. McMahon and wins. Stephanie continues, saying that you can’t keep a “good millionaire” down before telling the champion that she is the “boss” and Roman is the “help”! Stephanie then says that she’s not going to fire Roman Reigns after he loses the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, he is going to “use” Reigns and make him fight each and every night until his body “breaks down”. Stephanie continues, saying that the fans will “forget” about Reigns and cheer the next “arrogant Superstar” who thinks they can stand in her ring, saying that she is going to do to Roman what her father did to Roman’s father, Sika. However, the champion cuts Stephanie off, saying that, if anybody screws him out of the WWE World Heavyweight Championship tonight, Stephanie won’t have to worry about picking her father up from jail, she’ll be picking him up from the “hospital”, sternly telling Stephanie to “believe that”. Roman then exits the ring, leaving a seething Stephanie McMahon in the ring. After getting putting through the announce table by Kevin Owens on last week’s RAW, Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose would be a guest on commentary as the self-proclaimed “Prize Fighter” Kevin Owens would go one-on-one with “The Man That Gravity Forgot” Neville in a rematch from last week. Despite having his ribs taped up following the attack by Kevin Owens last week, a determined Neville would take it to Kevin Owens early on in the match. However, a shot to the injured ribs would allow Kevin Owens to gain the advantage in the match, dropping the high flyer on his head in the ring before tossing him into the barricade on the outside with Neville just barely beating the referee’s ten-count. With destruction clearly on his mind, Owens would rip off Neville’s bandages, exposing the injured ribs and again tossing Neville into the barricade on the outside. Owens’ pre-occupation with Dean Ambrose would give Neville the opening to regain the advantage before “The Man That Gravity Forgot” hits a stunning 450 Splash off of the ring apron to Owens on the floor! Despite an impressive performance by Neville, Owens would ultimately prevail, scoring with the Pop-Up Powerbomb and pinning Neville for the win. After the match, Kevin Owens would shout at Dean Ambrose before exiting the ring, but Owens would turn back around to try to inflict further damage to Neville. However, Dean Ambrose would make the save, sparking a brawl between the two rivals that ends with the Intercontinental Champion putting Kevin Owens on the announce table and diving off of the barricade, putting Owens through the table with a vicious elbow drop! “The Lunatic Fringe” then holds his Intercontinental Title belt high, having exacted his revenge for the attack last week. Backstage, WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon arrives in the arena and is confronted by interviewer Jo-Jo, who asks for comments regarding his arrest last week. The Chairman says that all of his charges were dropped last week and the irony of what took place last week is that, tonight, when he’s the Special Referee in the WWE World Heavyweight Title match, he is “the law”. In a one-on-one encounter, “The Prince of Dark Matter” Stardust would go one-on-one with Titus O’Neil. In the end, it was Titus O’Neil hitting the Clash of the Titus, pinning Stardust for the win. In a rematch between two supposed best friends, Charlotte would have her Hall of Fame father Ric Flair in her corner as the Divas Champion would go one-on-one with Becky Lynch in a non-title match. During the match, Ric Flair would again get involved on his daughter’s behalf, tripping Becky Lynch, but when Charlotte tries to capitalize with a roll-up, Becky would counter with a roll-up of her own, scoring the three-count to pick up the win over the Divas Champion! After the match, Becky’s focus would be on Ric Flair, who was climbing up onto the ring apron and that is when Charlotte would show her true colors as the Divas Champion would blindside her supposed best friend. Charlotte would then pummel Becky with right hands before laying Becky out with the Spear. With her father cheering her on, Charlotte would drop the knee on Becky before grabbing the Divas Title belt and holding it high with a smile on her face. Backstage, Sheamus enters Mr. McMahon’s office and the Chairman is quick to lay down the law, telling “The Celtic Warrior” that, in the championship match later on in the evening, there will be no outside interference and no use of foreign objects, but above all else, Sheamus will “obey” his commands. The Chairman then tells Sheamus, “may the luck of the Irish be with you”, which puts a smile on Sheamus’ face before he exits the office. In a rematch from last week’s RAW, two of the thirty men who will take part in the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match in three weeks at the Royal Rumble would square off on RAW as “The Big Guy” Ryback would collide with “The World’s Largest Athlete” Big Show. Early on in the match, Big Show would plant Ryback with a chokeslam before symbolically forcing Ryback over the top rope to the outside. However, that is when The Wyatt Family would make an unexpected appearance as Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, & Braun Strowman surround Ryback on the outside! As Big Show looks on from inside the ring, The Wyatt Family mauls “The Big Guy” before Bray Wyatt feeds Ryback to Braun Strowman, who locks in his triangle choke, rendering Ryback unconscious on the outside. However, The Wyatt Family was not through as Bray instructs his followers and all four men surround Big Show on all sides and Big Show strikes first, taking down Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, & Erick Rowan before coming face-to-face with Braun Strowman, but before a titanic fight could get underway, the rest of The Wyatt Family re-enters the ring. The Wyatt Family then beats Big Show down before Luke Harper puts “The World’s Largest Athlete” down with a vicious super kick. The four men then exit the ring as Bray screams at the fans that, in the Royal Rumble Match, they will “rise” while the rest of the competitors will all “fall down”, informally announcing that Bray, Harper, Rowan, & Strowman will all be a part of the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match! Two members of The League of Nations were in action on RAW as “The Bulgarian Brute” Rusev and United States Champion Alberto Del Rio would face the 2015 Tag Team of the Year The Usos. During the match, Jey Uso would manage to hit the Superfly Splash on Alberto Del Rio, but a last minute save by Rusev would keep the match going and, after The Usos work together to take Rusev out on the outside, Del Rio would position Jey Uso on the middle rope, leaping off of the top rope with the double stomp, pinning Jey to pick up the win for himself and Rusev. The latest Superstar to announce his entry into the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match was in action on RAW as “The Show Off” Dolph Ziggler would go one-on-one with Heath Slater, with Slater’s new cohorts Adam Rose, Bo Dallas, & Curtis Axel in his corner. In the end, Heath Slater’s new running buddies would pay dividends as a distraction from Bo Dallas would allow Slater to surprise Dolph Ziggler with a roll-up, keeping Dolph down for the three-count to pick up a major upset victory! After the match, the gathering of unique Superstars would comment on their new alliance as Heath Slater says that it looks like he found some “friends”. Adam Rose then says that they are “four unique flowers” who are “ready to ride off into the stratosphere” before Curtis Axel proclaims that the “chains are off”. Bo Dallas then says that a man is measured by how many times he gets back up and they are up, standing “together” before Slater concludes that they are the “Social Outcasts”. The WWE Tag Team Champions would then make an appearance on RAW as The New Day would poke some fun at Mike Tyson’s Hoverboard accident before they would present a special New Year’s style countdown. However, The New Day’s countdown was interrupted by a much more familiar countdown that would count down to the return of six-time former World Champion Chris Jericho! “Y2J” re-introduces himself to the fans before saying that, sixteen years after his initial debut, he is back to “save WWE”. Xavier Woods argues that they already saved WWE in 2015 before Jericho delivers an updated promo that brought back memories of his debut address in 1999. Jericho says that network subscriptions, television ratings, and live event attendance all need a little bit of “Y2J” before the legend apologizes for making the fans sit through five minutes of “Green Day with their trombones with their rooty, tooty booty gyrations”, starting a “rooty, tooty booty” chant from the fans. Jericho continues, saying that The New Day may not have anything important to say but he does before “Y2J” makes the huge announcement that he will be entering the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match, vowing to win the Rumble and main event WrestleMania again! Jericho then proclaims that, now that “Y2J” is back, WWE will “never, ever be the same again”, leaving a stunned New Day in the ring as Jericho soaks in the adulation of the crowd. With his tag team partner Sin Cara recovering from a dislocated shoulder suffered on last week’s RAW, Kalisto would join forces with The Dudley Boyz to face all three members of The New Day in a rematch from last week’s SmackDown. In the end, it was Big E & Kofi Kingston hitting the Midnight Hour on D-Von with Big E pinning D-Von for the win for the WWE Tag Team Champions. Then it was time for the huge main event as the first RAW of 2016 would be main evented by a WWE World Heavyweight Title match as Roman Reigns would defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against “The Celtic Warrior” Sheamus with WWE Chairman Mr. McMahon serving as the Special Referee. Early on in the match, both champion and challenger would find themselves on the outside of the ring and that is when Sheamus would tell Mr. McMahon about something on the other side of the ring as the Special Referee gladly turns his back as Sheamus picks up the steel steps and blasts Roman Reigns in the face with the heavy steel! Later on in the match, Roman Reigns would mount a comeback against Sheamus, planting the challenger with a Samoan Drop, but unsurprisingly, Mr. McMahon would give a ridiculously slow count. The Chairman’s antics would continue as Roman would plant Sheamus with a powerbomb, but before he could count the three, McMahon claims to have something in his eye that keeps him from counting. Then, when Roman scores with the Superman Punch, the Special Referee flat out refuses to count the pinfall and this leads to a face-off between Reigns and McMahon before Roman sizes Sheamus up for the Spear. However, instead of hitting the Spear on Sheamus, the champion turns around and drops Mr. McMahon with the Superman Punch! Roman then dodges the Brogue Kick of Sheamus, connecting with the Spear, but with the Special Referee down, there would be no one to count the pinfall. The match would then continue on the outside as Reigns would catch Sheamus with another Superman Punch before tossing the challenger over the announce table. Roman then sets his sights on the Chairman in the ring as the champion would keep Mr. McMahon from making a quick exit, but before Reigns could do any more harm to the Chairman, Stephanie McMahon comes out to her father’s aid. However, with Stephanie standing on the bottom rope, Roman would send Mr. McMahon into the ropes, causing Stephanie to flip forward into the ring! The champion then stalks Stephanie before Stephanie slides out of the ring and Roman actually sizes Mr. McMahon up for the Spear, but thankfully for the Chairman, Sheamus would intervene, catching Reigns with the Brogue Kick before delivering a second Brogue Kick! With Mr. McMahon still recovering from the Superman Punch, the Chairman and Sheamus would frantically signal for another referee and the referee they would get would be none other than the infamously crooked referee that has aided The Authority on multiple occasions, Scott Armstrong. Armstrong would rush to the ring, but even with the crooked referee, Roman would still manage to kick out before the three-count! Armstrong then pulls Reigns to his feet as Sheamus readies another Brogue Kick, but the champion would break free and catch Sheamus with the Superman Punch before Reigns drops Armstrong with a Superman Punch, as well! Reigns then blasts Sheamus with the Spear before one of the regular referees rush out to count the three as Roman Reigns successfully retains the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against seemingly insurmountable odds! As Roman celebrates a successful title defense in the ring, Mr. McMahon argues with the replacement referee on the outside, dropping the official with a right hand. The Chairman then grabs a microphone, making the monumental and landscape-changing announcement that, in three weeks at the Royal Rumble, Roman Reigns will defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship against 29 other Superstars in the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match! Roman Reigns nearly drops the title belt in utter shock as, for only the second time in the near thirty year history of the Royal Rumble, the WWE World Heavyweight Championship will be on the line in the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match, meaning that the last Superstar standing after everyone else is eliminated over the top rope will be the WWE World Heavyweight Champion! What did you think of the first RAW of 2016? Post your comments in the box below.
