WWE RAW Results: January 23, 2017By Cassidy| January 24, 2017 WWE Raw Previous Page Detailed Results Before he challenges Kevin Owens for the WWE Universal Championship with Chris Jericho locked in a shark cage above the ring this Sunday at the Royal Rumble, RAW kicks off Roman Reigns as Roman makes his way to the ring where the shark cage that will hold Chris Jericho is in the middle of the ring. Taking a look at the shark cage, Roman says that, in the middle of the Alamodome this Sunday, Chris Jericho will be locked in a shark cage and that means he will get Kevin Owens one-on-one. Reigns then says that this means that he will be leaving San Antonio as the WWE Universal Champion. This brings out WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens and United States Champion Chris Jericho as Owens says that he did to Roman last week what Roman has had coming for years. Owens says that, during Roman’s time as a member of The Shield, he powerbombed countless Superstars through the announce table. Owens continues, saying that he is the “one” who powerbombed Reigns through the announce table by himself. Jericho then says that Reigns has a lot of “predictions”, but he has a prediction of his own for Roman, calling Reigns a “stupid idiot”. Jericho continues, saying that it was a real “knee-slapper” when he took the United States Title from Reigns a couple of weeks ago. The United States Champion then says that, while he will be locked in a shark cage this Sunday, there is nothing that is stopping him from coming down there and beating Reigns up right now. Roman takes Jericho up on his ‘offer’, saying that he should have their rematch for the United States Championship here tonight. Kevin Owens then takes it upon himself to accept Roman’s challenge on Jericho’s behalf and, while Jericho wants no part of it, Owens says that he has a “psychic vision” that Reigns is going to be the one locked in the shark cage by the end of the night. Roman responds by saying that he’s got a “feeling” that he is going to win the United States Title back tonight and that he will walk out as the WWE Universal Champion at the Royal Rumble. Reigns then concludes by saying that he is something that Kevin Owens will never be and that is “the guy”. Before they defend the RAW Tag Team Titles against Gallows & Anderson with two referees calling the match this Sunday on the Royal Rumble Kickoff, RAW Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus were on RAW as Cesaro, with Sheamus in his corner, would go one-on-one with Luke Gallows, with Karl Anderson in his corner. During the match, Sheamus would confront Karl Anderson on the outside as “The Celtic Warrior” would end up chasing Anderson all the way to the back. Later on in the match, Luke Gallows would exit the ring to try and provoke Sheamus into hitting him to get Cesaro disqualified, but Gallows’ plan would backfire as Sheamus would wait until the referee’s back was turned to blast Gallows with a clothesline on the outside. Shortly after this, Karl Anderson would return to ringside, taking Sheamus out before getting on the ring apron, ensuring that the referee did not see Gallows tapping out to the Sharpshooter. This would lead to Luke Gallows hitting a one-man flapjack on Cesaro, pinning one-half of the RAW Tag Team Champions to pick up the win. Backstage, Sami Zayn interrupts a phone call between RAW General Manager Mick Foley and RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon to ask the GM how he goes about announcing his entry into the Royal Rumble Match. Foley is then about to grant Sami a spot in the Royal Rumble Match, but Stephanie interrupts, saying that Sami will have to earn his spot in the Rumble Match, informing Zayn that he will have to defeat Seth Rollins tonight to gain entry. Stephanie then asks Foley to pick up the phone to discuss her plans for Seth Rollins for the night. Foley disagrees with the decision, but says that he will do what Stephanie asks regardless. After getting the orders from Stephanie McMahon, RAW General Manager Mick Foley confronts Seth Rollins in the locker room to inform Seth that he will go one-on-one with Sami Zayn tonight. Foley adds that Sami must defeat Rollins to gain entry into the Royal Rumble Match this Sunday before revealing that Sami winning will not only earn Zayn a spot in the Royal Rumble Match, but Sami will take Seth’s spot in the Rumble Match! Rollins says that he’s not blaming Foley, but he knows what he’s got to do, saying that he’s going to defeat Sami Zayn tonight then go on to win the Royal Rumble Match so he can main event WrestleMania and throw it in the face of Stephanie and her “coward husband” Triple H. Per the orders of RAW Commissioner Stephanie McMahon, “The Architect” Seth Rollins would go one-on-one with “The Underdog from the Underground” Sami Zayn with the winner earning a spot in the Royal Rumble Match. During the hard-fought match, Sami Zayn would go for the Helluva Kick, but Seth Rollins would dodge the kick before going for the Pedigree, but Zayn counters, sending Seth to the outside. Sami then prepares to dive off of the top rope onto Rollins, but Seth gets back into the ring, catching Zayn with a kick. Seth then climbs to the top rope, looking for the Pedigree off of the top rope, but Sami battles back, hitting a sunset flip powerbomb, but Rollins is barely able to kick out. Sami then hits the exploder suplex into the corner before Zayn goes for the Helluva Kick on the ring apron, but Seth counters, planting Zayn with the Pedigree on the ring apron! Rollins then rolls Sami back into the ring but this is when the entrance music of Triple H would play as Seth desperately looks around for Triple H. This distraction would allow Sami Zayn to capitalize as Sami traps Seth in a roll-up, scoring the three-count to pick up the win and take Seth Rollins’ spot in the Royal Rumble Match! After the match, the realization would hit Seth Rollins that he just got screwed out his spot in the Royal Rumble Match and, more importantly, screwed out of his spot in the main event of WrestleMania as a seething Seth Rollins would storm off to the backstage area. The Cruiserweights were in 6-Man Tag action as the team of Jack Gallagher, T.J. Perkins, & Mustafa Ali would face Ariya Daivari, Tony Nese, & Drew Gulak. In the end, it was Mustafa Ali hitting Drew Gulak with the reverse 450 Splash, pinning Gulak to pick up the win for his team. The New Day would then make an appearance on RAW to offer their predictions for the Royal Rumble Match before they are interrupted by Enzo & Big Cass. Big Cass takes the opportunity to officially announce his entry into the Royal Rumble Match before being interrupted by Rusev & Jinder Mahal, with Lana in tow. Rusev takes issue with Big E and Big Cass putting “big” in front of their names before saying that he doesn’t go around calling himself “Handsome Rusev”. Rusev then announces that he is also going to be an entrant into the Royal Rumble Match. Much to the chagrin of The New Day, Titus O’Neil makes his way to the ring, saying that he was just informed that they’re going to have an 8-Man Tag match right now, pointing out that it will be The New Day and Enzo & Big Cass versus “all four of us”. However, Xavier Woods points out that there are five of them and, while there are four people on Titus’ side, one of them is Lana! This leads to The New Day asking who will be teaming with Rusev, Titus, and Jinder and this brings out “The Monster Among Men” Braun Strowman! In 8-Man Tag action, the team of The New Day’s Big E & Kofi Kingston, with Xavier Woods in their corner, and Enzo & Big Cass would face the team of Rusev, Jinder Mahal, Titus O’Neil, and Braun Strowman, with Lana in their corner. In the end, it was Braun Strowman squashing Enzo Amore with the running powerslam, pinning Enzo to pick up the win for his team. After the match, a legend would return on RAW as the leaner, meaner Big Show would make his way to the ring as “The World’s Largest Athlete” would come face-to-face with “The Monster Among Men”! However, Braun Strowman would decide to back away from the fight against the giant. Two weeks after Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho defeated him in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match to earn Chris Jericho the United States Championship, Roman Reigns would get his rematch on RAW as Reigns would challenge Chris Jericho, with WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens a guest on commentary, for the United States Championship with the shark cage hanging above the ring. During the match, Roman Reigns was about to hit Chris Jericho with the Spear when Kevin Owens would make his way down to the ring, attacking Reigns to end the match in a disqualification. After the match, Owens and Jericho would put the boots to Reigns before calling for the shark cage to be lowered! Owens and Jericho would then toss Roman into the shark cage, but before the best friends could lock the cage, Roman grabs Owens and pulls him face-first into the cage before doing the same to Jericho. Reigns then emerges from the shark cage, grabbing Kevin Owens and putting the WWE Universal Champion in the cage and locking the cage door! The cage is then raised above the ring with Chris Jericho grabbing the cage as it ascends, putting Jericho in a vulnerable position as Roman catches Jericho in mid-air with the Superman Punch, knocking the United States Champion down to the mat as Kevin Owens hovers over the ring. Owens is then left powerless to help his best friend as Reigns blasts Jericho with the Spear! After Chris Jericho is able to get back to his feet following the Spear, Jericho is finally able to release his best friend Kevin Owens from the shark cage. After taking turns slamming the cage door, Owens & Jericho are informed that, per the orders of Mick Foley, not only will Jericho be locked inside the shark cage during the WWE Universal Title match at the Royal Rumble, but the title match will also have no disqualifications! Outraged, Owens shouts that Jericho should not be forced into a shark cage and he should not be forced to defend the WWE Universal Title against Roman Reigns in a No Disqualification Match, saying the title match should be “cancelled”. Owens then storms out of the ring, followed shortly by Chris Jericho. The women were in action on RAW as Nia Jax would go one-on-one with local competitor Rae Lynn. The powerhouse would make quick work of the local competitor, squashing Rae Lynn with a modified Banzai Drop, pinning Lynn for the win. After the match, Nia Jax says that she wants to dedicate her match to the “deceased career” of Sasha Banks, who Nia assaulted last week. Despite still walking on a crutch and sporting a knee brace, Sasha Banks would still make her way down to ringside before “The Boss” uses the crutch to hit Nia in the ankle! Sasha then gets into the ring, repeatedly hitting Nia with the crutch to no avail. However, Nia Jax would then charge at Sasha, but “The Boss” low-bridges Nia Jax to the outside before diving off of the ring apron with the double knees to the face of Nia Jax! Sasha then backs up the ramp with a smile on her face as Nia Jax gets to her feet. Before he defends the Cruiserweight Championship against Neville at the Royal Rumble this Sunday, the Cruiserweight Champion was in action on RAW as Rich Swann would go one-on-one with Noam Dar, with Alicia Fox in his corner, in a non-title match. In the end, it was Rich Swann catching Noam Dar with the Swann Kick, pinning Dar for the win. After the match, Rich Swann would call out his Royal Rumble opponent, Neville, and the Cruiserweight Champion would get his wish as Neville would come out to the ring. However, “The King of Cruiserweights” opts not to enter the ring so Rich Swann dives out of the ring onto Neville, getting a few shots in on Neville before the #1 Contender is able to escape the ring and create some distance from Swann. Six nights before he is one of the thirty men in the Royal Rumble Match, the dominant former World Champion Goldberg would make an appearance on RAW. Goldberg says that, this Sunday in the Alamodome, there will be 29 other competitors gunning for the same thing that he is gunning for and that is a shot at either Kevin Owens or Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Title at WrestleMania. Goldberg then says that he will “stop at nothing” to win the WWE Universal Title and, if that means that he has to Spear and Jackhammer his way through 29 other Superstars, then that’s what he’s going to do. Goldberg is then interrupted by Brock Lesnar’s advocate, Paul Heyman, as Heyman mentions that they could see Goldberg against the likes of Randy Orton, Braun Strowman, The Undertaker, and Brock Lesnar. The advocate then brings out his client as Brock Lesnar makes an unexpected appearance on RAW! With Heyman keeping “The Beast” at bay, the advocate tells Goldberg that Goldberg will be “humiliated”, “conquered”, and “eliminated” by Brock Lesnar. Goldberg then asks Brock Lesnar if he is going to come to the ring and fight or stand up on the stage like a “dumbass”! This was all Brock needed to hear to bring “The Beast” down to ringside as Lesnar circles the ring before getting on the ring apron. Then, for the first time since Survivor Series, Brock and Goldberg are in the same ring at the same time, face-to-face. However, this is when the lights would go out in the arena and the legendary gong of The Undertaker would sound in the arena and, when the lights come back on, The Undertaker is standing in the ring next to Brock Lesnar and Goldberg! The three legends then come face-to-face-to-face for the first time ever as a blue hue clouds the arena, leaving three of the favorites to win the Royal Rumble Match staring each other down! What did you think of this week’s RAW? Post your comments in the box below.
