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WWE Monday Night Raw comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Dec. 12, 2016) from the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, featuring the go home show to the upcoming Roadblock pay-per-view (PPV) scheduled for this coming Sunday night in Pittsburgh.
Advertised for tonight: The New Day defend their tag team titles in a triple threat match with a record on the line, and more!
Come right back here at 8 p.m. ET when the Raw live blog kicks off once the show starts on USA. It will be below this line here. (REMINDER: NO GIFS OR PICS ARE ALLOWED IN THE COMMENTS SECTION. OFFENDERS WILL BE BANNED.)
WWE RAW RESULTS AND LIVE BLOG FOR DEC. 12
Silence speeds the path to the streams of solace that run so few and narrow, brooks that babble the sounds of torture. You will one day rise to flood the banks of the chosen, but me, I'm just here to liveblog a pro wrestling show, folks.
Show opens with the intro video this week.
In the arena, Big E does the deal and that means it’s time for the New Day. He says tonight they join the immortals, Kofi adds that they’ve got a chance to break a record that’s stood for over 25 years, and Xavier finishes saying they have a chance to propel not just themselves, but anybody that’s ever owned their merch, chanted for them, or supported them in any way.
But first they have to win this triple threat, but what does that even mean? They say they’ve been called a triple threat before, with Xavier as the brains, Kofi as the face, and Big E as the big, thick, meaty third leg. They have not one, but two tag teams vying to become champions, but they’re going to retain, because...
Cesaro & Sheamus vs. New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) (c) vs. the Club (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) (WWE Raw Tag Team Championship)
Kofi and Cesaro start, Cesaro shoots him off a side headlock, criss-cross, Cesaro with a cartwheel evasion, whips Kofi in the corner, double jump crossbody gets a cover but it’s no good. Cesaro deadlifts him up for a delayed vertical suplex for a one-count of his own and Sheamus tags in .Assisted uppercut and Sheamus just bowls him over before heading up top for a diving double axehandle that gets two.
Kofi sends Sheamus into his corner with a dropkick and tags E in for a quick double-team combo. Tag to Kofi, Penalty Kick gets one, but Sheamus comes back with a knee lift, goes for a suplex, Kofi out with a knee, jawbreaker, Anderson tags in on Sheamus. Running in for a DDT, waistlock on Kingston, Karl shoves him to the ropes to clobber him. Gallows tagged in, corner avalanche, Anderson gets a lick in, big boot from Big Hoot! On this note, we go to break.
Back from commercial and Anderson has Kofi grounded with a reverse chinlock but he’s fighting it. Elbows to the gut get hammerblows, Anderson whips him off to the ropes and knocks him down before tagging Luke back in. Boot rolls Kofi over, quick tag, Anderson with a backbreaker, Gallows comes in with an elbow across the throat but E makes the save. Back suplex neckbreaker on Big E!
Gallows back in, Kofi floats over a suplex and shoves him at Cesaro, he knocks Cesaro off the apron but Kingston fires a turning missile dropkick to lay the good brother out. Sheamus tags in on Kofi, runs over both men and shoves Luke to the apron. Forearm smash sets up the Beats of the Bodhran before Sheamus brings him back in with a fireman’s carry. Anderson breaks it up but Sheamus hits a powerslam anyway.
E in to break it up, Irish Curse on Big, superkick from Gallows, tag to Anderson, Boot of Doom! Cesaro breaks up the pin! The Swiss Superman’s fired up for the tag and he gets it! Clothesline, big boot, springboard corkscrew European uppercut... TIGER FEINT KICK! CESARO’S RUNNING WILD!
Diving crossbody gets him a nearfall on Machine Gun and he calls for the swing. Transition to the Sharpshooter, Sheamus runs interference but Big E slips past, Cesaro counters a belly-to-belly suplex with a Frankensteiner! Tag to Sheamus, bear hug / Brogue Kick combo but Kofi is legal...
New Day win by pinfall with Trouble in Paradise from Kofi Kingston on Sheamus, retaining the Raw Tag Team Championship.
Cut to backstage where a bunch of people are already celebrating in New Day’s victory party.
Commentary puts over the Rollins Report with Kevin Owens over for later before saying that they’re celebrating over 7,000 hours of content on the WWE Network and tossing to break.
Back from commercial and Corey Graves hypes Rusev and Lana sharing what really happened in their hotel room.
Cut to New Day’s victory party, whre literally everyone is talking. Stephanie McMahon has a toast to the longest reigning WWE Tag Team Champions. Champagne is opened and sprayed all over her and she loses her mind, knocking a giant bowl of Booty-Os out of Big E’s hands and storming off.
Commentary recaps Sami Zayn’s abortive match against Braun Strowman from a few weeks ago.
Braun makes his entrance in the arena, and he’s got a match after the break.
Back from commercial and Steph is getting toweled off and asking a crew member to get her a change of clothes. Kevin Owens rolls up and says he saw what happened and she deserves better. She says she’s cold and covered in champagne, so if he needs something, just spit it out. He says he’s just got an idea he thinks she’d like, and she tells him to wait while she gets dry.
Back in the arena for the Man Event!
Braun Strowman vs. Curtis Axel
Braun charges in, Axel ducks and throws punches but Strowman ends up bieling him across the ring. Corner avalanche, hammer blow to the chest drops Curtis to the mat, and Braun picks him up in an Argentine backbreaker rack. Axel fights out with punches, fends Braun off in the corner with kicks, but Strowman just lariats him out of the air...
Braun Strowman wins by pinfall with a Face Eraser.
Byron Saxton interviews Braun after the match and gets told to shut his mouth and congratulate Braun for winning before he asks questions. Byron congratulates him and asks about Sami Zayn’s challenge. Strowman says Zayn is just an annoyance and Mick is protecting him, like he should, because just like everybody else, he can’t last more than two minutes with Braun.
Cut to Mick Foley watching backstage when Sami rolls up, saying he’s not going to be spoken of like that and he’s getting sick of asking for the match. Mick says he can’t and Zayn objects, saying he won’t because he feels like he needs to save Sami, but nobody tried to save Foley back in the day. And who would he be if he had been saved from himself?
Foley says some days he wishes somebody had and tells Sami he doesn’t understand the danger. He’ll give Sami literally any other match he wants, for the title or whatever, but he’s not going to make the Braun match. Sami says Mick thinks he can’t do it, and Mick agrees. Zayn says if Foley doesn’t want to give him the oppotunity on Raw, maybe he doesn’t need to be on Raw anymore. Mick says if that’s what he truly wants, out of respect for Sami, he’ll call Daniel Bryan right now and work out a trade.
Off to commercial with an ad for Tribute to the Troops.
Back from break with some cruiserweight action.
Ariya Daivari vs. Lince Dorado
Meow! Meow! Meow!
Circling, Lince flips, collar and elbow, Daivari with a side headlock, Dorado tries to shoot him off but he blocks. Body blow, shoots him off, gets run over by a shoulder block, Ariya grabs a hammerlock, Lince out with a flying mare, headscissors takeover, leaping heel kick, springboard crossbody for a cover!
Lince misses a dropkick in the corner and Daivari clobbers him with a lariat before yelling at the crowd. Jack Gallagher’s music hits and he comes out, mic in hand. He says as an extraordinary gentleman, he’s here to announce his intention of interfering in this match. Usually he doesn’t condone this kind of unsportsmanlike behavior, but Mr. Daivari is a scoundrel and honor dictates that he’s here tonight to give him a thorough thrashing!
Ariya Daivari wins by disqualification.
They brawl outside before taking it in the ring, where Jack gets off a sick headbutt and a running dropkick that knocks Ariya off the apron. Gentleman Jack stands tall in the ring!
Seth Rollins is walking backstage and we go to break.
Back from commercial and Seth Rollins makes his entrance.
He welcomes us to the Rollins Report, saying he said it last week but the people want to hear it again— he wants Triple H. Last week he laid down the gauntlet, and his path to redemption leads to HHH, but it goes through Kevin Owens. And he can’t isolated Owens until he gets rid of his maybe-best-friend Chris Jericho.
Luckily, he’s got the opportunity to get rid of Jericho at Roadblock on Sunday. But he’s got a question— is it going to be Rollins vs. Jericho, or Rollins vs. Jericho with Owens? He doesn’t have an answer, but his guest tonight does. He introduces Kevin Owens as his guest.
KO comes out... and walks right back in. He comes back out in a moment with a stool and sets it on the ramp before taking a seat. Rollins asks if he can’t make it all the way to the ring without Chris holding his hand. Owens says the stool is the best he’s gonna get, because he doesn’t care about the Rollins Report and he only came out here because he had an announcement to make.
Seth says that’s cool, but he wants to know how his friendship with Jericho is going. Owens continues with his announcement and Rollins cuts him off, recounting the events of last week. The only thing KO says Seth needs to know is that he and Jericho will have each other’s back next week. He threatens to break Seth’s face if he’s interrupted one last time, so of course Rollins dares him.
But no, the announcement is too important, and Owens continues, saying that the New Day have another title defense tonight, against the team of Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho. Enter Chris Jericho. He says he needs to ask KO if he really thinks that he’d ever agree to be his tag partner again after what’s happened the last few weeks.
Owens apologizes and says Chris needs to forget about the past and worry about the future— not only could they be champions, but they could ruin New Day’s attempt at the record. Think about it all you want, he says, but Steph made the match and it’s gonna happen. So you can stay mad and lose the opportunity or work together and get the titles.
Rollins goads Jericho, telling him that it sounds a lot like Owens is telling him what to do. Jericho tells him to shut up and Rollins mocks him, asking if he’s going on the list. Jericho builds it up big but drops the pen, saying there’s only one list he’ll put Seth on, the disabled list. He charges down the ramp and Owens follows. They have a moment and shrug, running down for the two on one.
Rollins has a end table but Jericho manages to blindside him and the former best friends put the boots to him before throwing him hard into the barricade. The beatdown continues until Roman Reigns’ music hits! He clears house until he focuses on Owens just a moment too long and gets double-teamed. Rollins wakes up and fights for his buddy.
They double-team the erstwhile best friends and soon Jericho is isolated, nearly eating a Pedigree before Owens drags him out of the ring.
Commentary promises a special look at Sunday’s Iron Man match as well as the Rusev and Lana deal and TJ Perkins vs. Brian Kendrick, which is next after the break.
Back from commercial and commentary puts over New Day’s second title match of the night before heading backstage.
Cruiserweight Champion Rich Swann is interviewed, and we get a quick recap of him winning the title before he talks about his preparation for his title defense. He says it doesn’t matter if it’s the entire division or even Santa Claus and Kendrick rolls up. He says Rich is glossing over things like his chum TJ Perkins being responsible for his loss.
But there’s no such thing as alliances in a triple threat, and TJP rolls up, asking if Kendrick’s plan is to ask Swann to lose. Rich says Kendrick’s idea is that TJ will stab Swann in the back, and Kendrick agrees. TJ says as far as his plan goes, Rich’ll find out on Sunday, but Brian can find out right now.
Brian Kendrick vs. TJ Perkins
Kendrick charges in, TJ sidesteps, Brian with a kick, Perkins ducks. Knucklelock, Kendrick with a knee and an armbar, TJP to his feet, shoots him off, eats a shoulder block, right back to the armbar. TJ to his feet again, struggling, roll through, cartwheel, dropkick escape! Kendrick with a waistlock, looking for Saka Otoshi, Perkins throws him away, looks for the kneebar, Kendrick escapes!
Whip across, TJP up and over, shoots a kick off, fireman’s carry, Kendrick gets the ropes, shoves Perkins outside. TJ slides in, clotheslines Kendrick over, triangle dropkick clips him and we go to break.
Back from commercial and Kendrick has a chinlock in but TJP is soon out. Saka Otoshi blocked, northern forearm, flips TJ over but he counters with a kick before the Captain’s Hook can go in. Trading punches, TJ off the ropes with a chop block ,corner back elbow, hangs Brian up in the tree of woe... HESITATION DROPKICK!
Missile dropkick gets two, looking for the chickenwing gutbuster, Kendrick blocks, hits a Regalplex for a nearfall of his own. Kendrick blocks the Saka Otoshi again, grabs the kneebar but Kendrick gets the ropes and soon shoves his shoulder into the ringpost...
Brian Kendrick wins by pinfall with Sliced Bread #2.
Rollins and Reigns are walking backstage when they run into Mick, who says they remind him of a brash young tag team that once won the WWE Tag Team Championship. They say they’re focused on their current singles goals, but Mick has something for them anyway— the tag title match later is now a three-way, with the Shield boys in!
Off to break we go.
Back from commercial and commentary puts over the tag title match before shifting gears to the women’s championship and toss to a video package for it.
Bayley is walking backstage and we go to break on a clip of CGI animals wearing people clothes and singing.
Back from commercial again and Bayley makes her entrance.
Alicia Fox vs. Bayley
Fox charges in and Bayley takes her down, locking a side headlock in. A takeover grounds Alicia but she gets to her feet and shoots Bayley off. Drop-down, leapfrog, Bayley levels her with an elbow for two. She takes Fox for a ride and yanks her out of the corner into a waistlock but Fox escapes and hits an Axe Kick for two.
Choke against the ropes and Fox grabs a headscissors double wristlock but Bayley turns it into a pin and escapes. Straight suplex, Fox holds on, shifts, bridging northern lights, not enough! Fox grabs Bayley by the ponytail and throws forearms, but Bayley blocks...
Bayley wins by pinfall with the Bayley-to-Belly.
Commentary shills for the Network some more and we see Rusev and Lana walking backstage, because their segment is up next after the break.
Back from commercial and Lana’s in the ring to introduce Rusev.
“USA!” chants rain down and Rusev says that’s enough. Since he got here, he’s destroyed our American heroes one-by-one, but last week was different. Week after week Enzo comes out running his mouth about how he’s a certified G, and it wasn’t until last week that Rusev realized the G stands for “garbage.” So he took the garbage out to the hallway and closed the door behind him, and then he and Lana “took care of business.”
He asks the crowd if they’d like to see, and they do! He’s really excited about this. He warns us that the footage we’re about to see is a little edgy, a little out there, and Lana warns children to close their eyes. They cut to the screen and we get a clipped replay of last week’s beatdown.
Back in the ring Rusev and Lana laugh and laugh about how good the footage is before wondering aloud if the crowd thought they were really going to show off their private business. She says the crowd is gullible like that stupid Enzo Amore, who thought he had a shot when she says week after week that Rusev if the only man that can have her. He’s weak like all the Americans here.
Rusev says his wife put a plan into motion to trap that little mouse and when the time is right, he destroyed the rat. (Rat? Mouse? Mouse Rat?) And he’ll crush anybody else that messes with his wife, who does a nice little cheer for the idea.
Big Cass comes out, mic in hand. He says Enzo is at home recovering with ice all over his body. Sure he likes to run his mouth but at least he has the balls to back it up. And tonight, this isn’t a hotel room, he’s wearing pants (well, trunks), and he’s not Enzo.
He hits the ring and Rusev clobbers him but he quickly turns it around. Rusev hits a double leg takedown but Cass keeps throwing punches. Rusev spears Cass through the ropes and hammers him against the barricade, all while Cass is still throwing punches. They keep at it, Cass slamming Rusev into the barricade and Rusev giving it back to him into the ringpost before he stalks off up the ramp.
Backstage, Kevin Owens is complaining to Chris Jericho about Mick Foley. He tries to pump Jericho up about winning the tag titles, but ol’ Lionheart is skeptical and tells him to just concentrate on winning the titles.
Sami Zayn is walking backstage, he has a match up after the break.
Back from commercial and we have an Emma vignette. Is she actually debuting as promised? No!
Jinder Mahal vs. Sami Zayn
Circling, collar and elbow, Jinder pushes Sami in the corner and Sami goes around for chops. To the next corner for another, and to a third for yet more. Whip across, reversed, Zayn with a pop-up dropkick but Jinder sends him to the apron. Shoulder thrust, slingshot, off the ropes, lariat, Sami throwing grounded punches.
Mahal with a hot shot and a running knee for one, boot to the face, forearms, whip, back elbow, sliding dropkick, cover gets two. Cravate knee lifts, off the ropes for a knee drop and he locks a reverse chinlock before thinking better and shifting to a half nelson chinlock on Zayn. Sami to his feet, pops out of a slam, clobbers Mahal with a lariat!
Jinder charges in, gets caught by the corner exploder, Sami’s calling for it...
Sami Zayn wins by pinfall with the Helluva Kick.
Mick Foley’s music hits and he appears to have a contract. He makes his way to the ring and we go to break.
Back from commercial and Mick says he just got off the phone with Daniel Bryan and after much negotiation, they will be trading Sami to SmackDown for a talent of equal value. This is what Sami wants, isn’t it?
Sami asks one more time for the Braun match, and Mick says deep down they both know he doesn’t really want the match, and the answer is no. That’s all Sami needs to hear, and he’ll sign whatever he needs to sign. Mick says it’ll be nice to be a big fish in a small pond, but wouldn’t he like to know who he’s being traded for?
Bryan and Mick agreed to a straight-up trade, Sami Zayn for Eva Marie. Great deal! Sami gets hot and says he’s worth a hundred Eva Maries, a thousand Eva Maries, and it blows his mind that Mick doesn’t get him when they’re so similar. How many people told him no, don’t take the risk, and Mick treats him like he’s made of glass.
They continue to yell and Sami gets in his face about wanting Braun Strowman. Mick tells him to remember this moment in time, remember how bitter and angry he is here, remember that rage, bottle it and duplicate it on Sunday night when he faces Braun Strowman at Roadblock. There was never a trade, he says, he wouldn’t trade Sami from Raw for anyone. He believes in Sami, always has, but he wasn’t sure such a nice guy could tap into a dark enough part of his soul to survive Strowman, but tonight, he convinced him.
Braun said Sami couldn’t last two minutes, but on Sunday, Sami has ten minutes to prove everybody wrong.
New Day are walking backstage, their title match is next.
Back from break and we get a recap of John Cena’s appearance on Saturday Night Live, as well as one of the events that lead to this second tag title defense.
We get all three teams’ entrances before going back to break again.
Back from commercial in time for our championship introductions.
Jeri-KO (Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens) vs. New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) (c) vs. the Shield (Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins) (WWE Raw Tag Team Championship)
Xavier starts for New Day against Rollins. Circling, collar and elbow, Rollins goes behind for a hammerlock, spins it around into a wristlock, Woods reverses to a hammerlock of his own, side headlock, Seth shoots him off, eats a shoulder block. Dropdown, leapfrog, Xavier picks the leg, quick cover, Seth does the same in return, jumps a few kicks, eats an uppercut, and hits a Sling Blade.
Armbar, tag to Roman, whip, Woods ducks lariats and tags E in. He and Reigns circle, collar and elbow, Roman with a headlock, E shoots him off, dropdown, leapfrog, Big throws him outside, goes for the spear through the ropes but Roman cuts him off with a knee and clobbers him with a jumping lariat. Jericho tags in on the Big Dog as Owens rakes Big E’s eyes.
Jericho puts the boots to Big and plays to the crowd before tagging Owens in. KO fires punches at E’s head before setting him down with a boot for a nearfall. Stomp to the hand in passing, overhead elbow to the shoulder, shoulder thrusts in the corner. Y2J in again, he slaps E across the face a few times but Big fires up and slaps back only to get caught on the turnbuckle. Chris puts boots to him and chokes him on the turnbuckle before heading up top.
Diving back elbow gets two and he kicks at E before tagging KO back in. Owens throws a senton for two before dragging E to his feet, fireman’s carry, Big slips out, both go off the ropes and wipe out with a double clothesline. Xavier gets the tag, forearms and chops, KO shoves him off the ropes and eats a flying forearm and a boot before Woods hangs him on the middle rope and throws a dropkick to his back for two.
Woods up top, Owens cuts him off with Y2J’s help and heads up after him, thinking superplex. Woods won’t go over so Jericho comes into help. Rollins comes in and joins the party, followed by Reigns and E... TOWER OF DOOM! With all six men writhing in pain, we head to break.
Back from commercial and Owens has a reverse chinlock in on Xavier. Woods gets to his feetand Kevin immediately knocks him down and hits a somersault senton before going back to the chinlock. Xavier back to his feet again, and Owens knocks him down again, but time wasted with the Shield boys lets Woods duck the senton. Tags made to E and Jericho, Big runs wild with the trifecta of belly-to-belly suplexes.
Off the ropes, Rollins tags in on E, big splash connects and Seth dumps E outside. Y2J outside too, Seth hits a suicide dive! Back in the ring, suicide dive on Big E and Seth lies in wait on the apron. Roman tags in, springboard knee connects! Spear blocked, Codebreaker, Reigns catches him... LIGER BOMB!
Big Dog calls for the Superman Punch, hits Owens with it on the apron but Jericho gets a tight nearfall off a schoolboy! Double leg takedown, looking for the Walls of Jericho, Roman blocks, throwing hands. Woods tags in on Jericho, knocks Reigns down with a kick, goes up top... GRAN NANIWA ROPE-WALK ELBOW DROP! NOT ENOUGH!
Reigns and Woods go forearm for forearm, Rollins tags in, wheelbarrow on Woods, Seth knocks him down and all hell breaks loose! Woods out on the mat, Seth up top, Jericho knocks him off, tagging in in the process, Owens cannonball, Lionsault... WOODS KICKS OUT! He and Jericho slug it out for a second before Y2J gets the Walls of Jericho on! Xavier is in agony, reaching for the ropes and he manages to turn Jericho over and get a pin for a nearfall.
Fighting in the corner, looking for a DDT but Owens catches him... POP-UP CODEBREAKER! ROLLINS BREAKS IT UP! Jericho yells at Owens for falling on him, KO protests that Rollins pushed him, Seth comes in with the Pedigree on Jericho! E yanks Seth out of the ring, Woods gets an arm on Jericho...
New Day win by pinfall with a one-arm press from Xavier Woods on Chris Jericho, retaining the Raw Tag Team Championship.
New Day celebrate up the ramp as Jericho fumes in the corner. He turns around to face Owens, who asks him what the hell his problem is. They bicker and Jericho says this is it, it’s done. Roman is lying in wait in the corner while they argue and Jericho leaves, telling KO he might want to turn around.
The Universal Champion does so, and eats a spear! Roman picks up the Universal Championship and gets his United States Championship, hold both belts up in celebration.
That’s the show, folks!