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WWE Monday Night Raw comes waltzing back into our lives tonight (Dec. 5, 2016) from the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas, featuring all the latest build to the upcoming Roadblock pay-per-view (PPV) scheduled for later this month in Pittsburgh.
Advertised for tonight: It’s time to make some matches for Roadblock, Charlotte is almost surely coming for Sasha Banks again, 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. 5
As you walk the path of least resistance, is it as simple as you claim it to be? Your tongue, your eyes, your lies, they do deceive you, but me, I'm just here to liveblog a pro wrestling show, folks.
Show opens with a “Previously, on Monday Night Raw...” voiceover recapping the last few weeks of the Universal Championship’s history.
In the arena, Seth Rollins makes his entrance. He gets on the microphone to say that something’s been bubbling under the surface the last few months, and he has to get it off his chest. He wants HHH. Life’s about choices, he says, and some years back he put together the Shield, and when the time was right, he had to dismantle the Shield. And that’s when he learned that life isn’t just about choices, it’s about the consequences of those choices.
HHH chose to anoint Kevin Owens as his new golden boy, but when Seth Pedigreed Chris Jericho on a car, he sent a message to HHH. He calls HHH down, but of course NXT’s papa doesn’t come out. He continues, saying he can’t beat Kevin Owens while Chris Jericho is part of the equation, and as we saw last week, without Jericho, the Kevin Owens Show isn’t quite ready for prime time.
Enter Kevin Owens. Seth asks how his friendship is going, and KO says he knows what Rollins is trying to do. Yeah, Chris and he had a fight, but what’s funny to him is that Seth doesn’t realize that sometimes best friends fight, because he doesn’t have any friends. He says Seth stabbed his brothers in the back first chance he got. What’s important is that best friends make up, he says.
Seth asks if Jericho has been returning his texts and Kevin says not to worry about it, Chris was just busy recuperating, and he was busy getting Y2J gifts. Not just one gift, but three! Seth points out that the Universal Championship is kind of a gift and Owens gets hot, saying he deserved the title 100% and is a fighting champion. The only reason Roman Reigns beat him last week, he says, is because he was distracted thinking about Jericho’s well-being.
But he went out and fought because that’s what he’s all about, Fight Owens Fight and whatnot. Rollins claims if Owens is such a fighting champion he’ll put the title on the line right here and now, and KO turns the offer down, saying he beat Seth two weeks ago and has a match tonight against Sami Zayn anyway. Plus his defense at Roadblock, but matches bring him to his gifts for Chris Jericho.
The first one is a title shot against Roman Reigns for the United States Championship... tonight! And the second gift is that Jericho will wrestle Rollins at Roadblock. The third gift is a match that Rollins will have right now... against the Big Show!
Show comes out and we go to commercial.
Back from break just in time for the bell to ring.
Big Show vs. Seth Rollins
Show shoves Seth down but Rollins immediately gets back in with strikes and backs the giant in the corner. Another big shove, Seth comes off the ropes but Show bowls him over with a shoulder block and sets him up in the corner for the big overhand chop! Whip in the corner, another big chop and a biel that takes Rollins across the ring.
Whip across again, back avalanche, off the ropes, Seth hits Big Show low with a dropkick to the knee and follows with a dive but Show catches him and drops him on the barricade ribs-first. The giant throws the Architect back in the ring and calls for the chokeslam. Goozle applied but Rollins throws leg kick after leg kick and manages to cut the big man down with a DDT.
Big Show kicked out so hard Rollins flew out of the ring, it was awesome. Show drags him up to the apron by his head but Seth fires a kick and then the springboard knee. Across to the other side, springboard knee part two! Up top, Show’s wobbling, diving knee off the top! Seth starts hooking the Pedigree but Show gets a back body drop counter.
KO gets on the apron to yell at Show to finish Rollins off but the giant doesn’t take it too kindly and chokeslams the Universal Champion back into the ring! He offers Owens up to Rollins and takes a powder...
Seth Rollins wins by count-out.
Seth, of course, takes the bait and Pedigrees Kevin Owens.
Commentary talks up our United States Championship match for tonight before recapping last week’s 205 Live and throwing to a video package for Jack Gallagher. He’s debuting on Raw after the break!
Back from commercial in time for Jack’s entrance.
Ariya Daivari vs. Jack Gallagher
Collar and elbow, Daivari grabs a wristlock, Gallagher twists out of it and into one of his own before shifting to a hammerlock. Ariya grabs a side headlock and takes the gentleman to the mat but Jack just pops right out. Daivari with a kick to the gut, whip to the corner, snapmare, shoulder block, dropdown, Gallagher with a cross-leg monkey flip!
Referee Darrick Moore backs Jack off and Daivari hot shots him across the top rope and throws mounted punches before stomping Gallagher’s chest in and shifting to a reverse chinlock. Gallagher to his feet, Daivari goes for a slam but eats a pair of dropkicks. Gallagher hits a big headbutt...
Jack Gallagher wins by pinfall with the running corner dropkick.
Gentleman Jack offers the handshake after and Daivari goes to take it before he kicks Gallagher and goes to work on his leg, leaving the Englishman clutching his knee as he rolls around in agony on the mat.
Commentary promises us a #1 contender’s tag between Cesaro & Sheamus and the Club before we cut to Titus O’Neil walking backstage and handing flyers out as we go to break with an ad for Tribute to the Troops, which will be airing next week.
Back from commercial and KO is walking backstage, rubbing the back of his head when he runs into Mick Foley. He asks if Mick saw what happened and says he shouldn’t be competing tonight and if Stephanie McMahon was here, this wouldn’t be happening. Mick agrees and reiterates that he’s wrestling Sami Zayn tonight.
He then rolls into Chris Jericho, who literally just got here. He asks if Chris heard about the gifts and he has not. Kev excitedly breaks down the matches for his pal but Jericho seems unmoved. Owens asks if they’re good and Jericho says no, they are not good before walking off.
Cut to Enzo & Big Cass talking when Rusev and Lana come through, arguing about something in Bulgarian. Enzo gets hot about the way Rusev is talking to his wife even though he doesn’t understand what they’re saying and goes over to interrupt. Rusev gets hotter and Lana tries to defend Enzo as only trying to help. Rusev calls her pathetic and says maybe she deserves a pathetic man.
She points to her wedding ring and reminds him of what it means before dropping it and he stalks off, sullen. Enzo asks Cass to let him have this and the big man walks off. Enzo gives her her ring back and says he wears his hair the way he does because it stays out of his ears and makes him a great listener, before legitimately asking her how she’s doing.
Back to the arena, where Sami Zayn makes his entrance. The match is after the break!
Back from break and Lana is telling Enzo that Rusev takes her for granted. He tries to give her advice but she has an idea that Rusev needs to be taught a lesson, and maybe if he thinks another man is giving her attention he’ll fall in line, because we’re in sitcom plot land. She tells him to come by her hotel room and we go back to the arena for KO’s entrance.
Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn
Slugging it out to start, right to the hockey punches and Owens bails. Sami throws him into the barricade a few times as referee John Cone counts. Zayn breaks the count , hits one more punch, and sends Owens into the ring but Kev pops a kick to the head to cut him off and knock him outside before hitting a slingshot senton atomico!
Sami returns the favor with a tope con giro and we go to break.
Back from commercial and Owens has a reverse chinlock in to ground Zayn. Sami fights to his feet and out with body blows but KO levels him with a forearm and a chop. Off the ropes, Sami catches the champion with a lariat and hauls off for more punches before teeing up a back drop only to get kicked in the face. Another lariat connects and Owens struggles to his feet on the apron before snapping Zayn’s neck across the top rope.
Sami up on the turnbuckles... TORNADO DDT ON THE APRON! Owens is gasping against the apron... SUICIDE DIVE THROUGH THE CORNER TORNADO DDT! HALF AND HALF SUPLEX BACK IN THE RING! Sami heads over for more punches and sets Owens up top for a superplex but KO blocks him and turns it around into his second rope fisherman buster! Not enough!
Owens hits the cannonball, and a second, but Zayn gets up on the third and goes for the exploder. Kevin reverses, package clutch, Sami reverses, wristlock, step-up tornado DDT, in for the Helluva Kick but Owens is ready with a superkick! Float-over on the pop-up powerbomb, half and half suplex, corner exploder, Blue Thunder Driver... KO kicks out!
Zayn considers what he has to do to finish this as Owens heads outside. Corner exploder into the barricade, he sends the champion back in the ring but runs right into him...
Kevin Owens wins by pinfall with a pop-up powerbomb.
Chris Jericho is backstage in the locker room when Roman Reigns comes in, asking if he can just show up when he wants. Jericho says his arrival is none of Roman’s business, and Roman asks if there’s any car paint still on him. Y2J denies this and calls him a stupid idiot. Reigns tells him to watch his tone, and Jericho says Roman’s luck is about to run out. Roman agrees that might be the case, but points out that Chris is just doing Owens’ dirty work.
Sasha Banks is up next, and we head to break.
Back from commercial and commentary puts over Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair before tossing to a recap of their Falls Count Anywhere match.
Sasha is interviewed backstage about how it felt to beat Charlotte in her home town. Last week took everything out of her, she says, and they took it to a whole new level. She walked into Charlotte’s kingdom and walked straight out with the crown. She says Charlotte doesn’t deserve to live in Ric Flair’s legacy, and that she wasn’t crying because she lost but because she knew that the better woman won.
Ric may have cost her the title at WrestleMania, but Ric deserves better than Charlotte, and Sasha puts Charlotte over as somebody she doesn’t like but who brings out the best in her as a wrestler. No more excuses, she says, she wants to make history one more time, and she challenges Charlotte to an Iron Man match at Roadblock!
Commentary throws to a recap of Charlotte disowning her own father and says that she’s going to publicly apologize to Ric later tonight.
Back in the arena, Rich Swann makes his entrance. He’s got a match against TJ Perkins after the break!
Back from commercial and we get a video package for Rich Swann’s Cruiserweight Championship victory.
Rich Swann vs. TJ Perkins
Circling, collar and elbow, Perkins with a side headlock into a wristlock, Swann flips out and reverses to one of his own, TJP returns the favor and grabs a headscissors takeover. Dropkick, kip-up, dab from the former champ. Back to the lockup, TJP with the side headlock, Swann shoots him off but eats a shoulder block. Leapfrog, dropdown, leapfrog, flip, dropkick from Rich.
Arm drags, lariats, kick to the knee, Swann punctuates it going off the ropes for a double stomp to the back for two. Straight suplex gets two more and TJ is feeling it in his back. Chop in the corner, Perkins turns it around and they slug it out. Rich reverses a whip into a short-arm Russian legsweep and follows it up with the Rolling Thunder splash for a nearfall.
Rich with a grounded waistlock, he shifts to a grounded abdominal stretch and grinds his fist in to TJ’s abdomen. Switch to a standing surfboard with a foot to the back but Perkins fights out with an imploding dropkick and a Manhattan Drop. More hands, whip, revresed, duck a lariat, dropkick to the champion’s knee!
Back elbow in the corner, he sets Rich up in the tree of woe... hesitation dropkick! Can’t put Swann away like that, though. Wheelbarrow transition to the kneebar but Swann blocks it and turns it into a pin. Knockout kick ducked, Detonation Kick dodged, a drop toehold sets Rich up for the triangle dropkick and a springboard, but Swann is one step ahead...
Rich Swann wins by pinfall with the knockout kick.
Bayley’s walking the halls juggling stuffed bears, but she’s got a match against Alicia Fox tonight, and it’s up next after the break.
Back from commercial and Bayley makes her entrance.
Alicia Fox vs. Bayley
Fox charges right in with a Lou Thesz press! Knees in the corner crumple Bayley to the mat and Alicia fires off a dropkick when she gets up. She yanks Bayley over the middle rope by her ponytail and rains hammer blows down on her back. Bayley forces her in the corner but Fox gets separation with a knee and turns it around on her before throwing that bridging northern lights suplex for two.
Rear chinlock applied but Bayley fights to her feet and out with body blows, off the ropes, Alicia looking for the tilt-a-whirl slam but Bayley reverses it into a crossbody for a nearfall before pouncing on her and throwing a flurry of mounted punches. Fox charges in...
Bayley wins by pinfall with the Bayley-to-Belly.
Enzo is backstage talking to Cass about Lana’s offer. His mind is telling him no but his body says “bada boom, go to the hotel room”. He knows she’s trouble but he got a text from her of her face and collarbone area, and he decides to go with his body.
Rusev walks up to Cass asking where his wife is, but Cass says that’s not his problem and goes to walk away. Rusev grabs him and Cass tells him he lost his mind if he’s gonna put hands on him, and Rusev issues a challenge for a match.
Mark Henry vs. Titus O’Neil is up next, billed as the Tussle in Texas, and we go to break.
Back from commercial with yet another Emma vignette. She’s finally coming back next week, it seems!
Mark Henry vs. Titus O’Neil (The Tussle in Texas)
The bell rings and Titus jaws at Mark. Henry ducks a lariat...
Mark Henry wins by pinfall with the World’s Strongest Slam.
Mark takes a victory lap, celebrating with all manner of fans at ringside.
Enzo is backstage yelling at his Uber driver over the phone because apparently the guy can’t find him. A limo rolls up and Ric Flair steps out, he’s happy to see Enzo and they trade a bunch of “Wooo!” and “How you doin’?” before Enzo talks about Lana’s offer. Ric says he’s got a solution and thinks Enzo can be a kiss-stealin’, wheelin’-dealin’, jet-flyin’, limousine-ridin’... you get the idea, and offers Enzo to take his limo to Lana’s hotel.
Commentary puts over our United States Championship match as being up next and we go to break.
Back from commercial just in time for Roman to make his entrance. But KO rolls up on Chris backstage to tell him he’s got his back but Jericho cuts him off and tells him not to bother, he’s going to win the title himself, and finishes telling Owens to stay away from him.
Chris Jericho vs. Roman Reigns (c) (WWE United States Championship)
They circle, Jericho throws his scarf at Reigns and hammers him in the corner with punches, knees, and headbutts. Whip to the corner, Roman comes back strong with a lariat and returns the corner punches. Whip across, Y2J gets the boot up and goes for the one-hand bulldog but Roman blocks and sends him flying crotch-first into the turnbuckle before lighting up the back Jericho’s head with the corner lariats and hitting a rare Moment of Silence for the big finale!
Roman’s calling for the Superman Punch but Chris gets up with a dropkick to counter and clotheslines Reigns out of the ring. Jericho up top for a diving crossbody to the outside and we go to break.
Back from commercial and Jericho is throwing crossface strikes before he locks a reverse chinlock on. Roman refuses to fade and keeps struggling, to a knee for body blows and then to his feet. Whip across, dropkick from Jericho, off the ropes for a kick but Reigns dodges and Y2J gets hung up on the ropes. Lariat combo from Roman, he gets fired up and charges in but eats a boot.
Chris off the top but Roman pops him one. Jericho throws him outside and catches him with a corner dropkick when he tries to get back in. Slingshot dropkick dodged, Roman hits the Drive-By and throws Jericho back in. Superman punched dodged, back elbow, Lionsault! No good! Jericho in with kicks but Roman catches him with a Samoan drop and then the Superman punch!
Roman’s calling for the spear but Jericho throws a kick, Codebreaker attempt but Reigns deadlifts him clean up and into a sitout powerbomb! Roman puts the boots to Jericho in the corner and referee Rod Zapata backs him off, giving Y2J room to shoot him shoulder-first into the ringpost. Walls of Jericho attempt fails, small package kicked out, Y2J with the enzuigiri and the Walls of Jericho is locked on!
Reigns is fighting, struggling, pushing himself up and crawling, he gets the ropes and breaks the hold! Jericho celebrates like he won and KO runs up and superkicks Reigns! Codebreaker connects... REIGNS OUT AT THE LAST SECOND! Owens jaws at Zapata and Y2J gets in his face and tells him to shut up, that he doesn’t need him. He slaps Owens and tells him to get the hell out of here and orders him to go.
Jericho leapfrogs one spear but Roman catches him on the rebound...
Roman Reigns wins by pinfall with the spear, retaining the United States Championship.
Commentary recaps the falling out the Flairs had one more time.
In the arena, Big Cass makes his entrance. His match against Rusev is after the break.
Back from commercial as Cass waits for Rusev to make his entrance. Rusev’s music hits and Cass gets to continue to wait, because the Bulgarian is taking his sweet time. Cass heads out to ask one of the ring crew for a phone and he dials Enzo.
We cut to a hotel where Enzo refuses to answer an unknown number (me too, buddy) as he rolls up on Lana’s room. She opens the door in a robe and he says this isn’t a good idea, showing shocking self-awareness. She cries and heads inside and he says he can’t stay and that he’s really uncomfortable.
Lana says she’s uncomfortable too and offers Enzo a drink, “accidentally” dropping a napkin and bending over to pick it up. She gives him a drink and offers a strawberry. Enzo declines and Lana takes a bite. Enzo tries to leave and she reads his shirt before ripping it off. He says that’s cute but he has to go. She fools around with her robe, opening it up to show more cleavage and demands that he take off his pants.
He relents and she tells him he’s a fool and calls Rusev in. Enzo has a look of dawning horror on his face and turns around Looney Tunes style to see a furious, mumbling Rusev. He tries to run and Rusev slams him into the couch and lays a hell of a beating on him, forcing him in the corner and punching him hard before putting him through the coffee table!
Rusev keeps yelling and putting the boots to him breaking a lamp over his back and tearing at his mouth. He throws him into the wall as Lana yells that it’s perfect, and Rusev throws him into the bar. More punches commence... RUSEV GLASSES ENZO WITH A VASE OF FLOWERS!
Rusev drags Enzo’s unconcious body back in the hallway and leaves him for dead and we go to break.
Back from commercial and New Day are ringside doing... something on Xavier’s phone.
Cesaro & Sheamus vs. the Club (Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows) (WWE Raw Tag Team Championship #1 Contender’s Match)
Anderson and Cesaro start off, Cesaro with a waistlock, Karl reverses to a wristlock and Cesaro does stuttering kip-ups to escape and reverse. Uppercut stops Gallows from tagging, Cesaro runs a one-shot uppercut train and tags Sheamus in for a slingshot battering ram. Anderson whips, reversed, Gallows tags in and levels Sheamus with a big boot.
Sheamus fires forearms and Gallows comes back with a big slap only to eat an Irish Curse backbreaker and bail. The Club jaw with New Day and the Europeans take advantage to bowl them over. Sheamus throws an uppercut back in the ring and tags Cesaro for a double suplex that gets two and we go to break.
Back from commercial and Anderson has a reverse chinlock in on Cesaro. The Swissman fights to his feet but Anderson shoots him to his corner. Cesaro with a flurry of strikes but Machine Gun hits that beautiful spinebuster to stop him short of the tag! Tag to Gallows, backbreaker / guillotine elbow drop combo!
Anderson in, they set up the Magic Killer but Sheamus makes the save and Cesaro hits a tornado DDT! Cesaro ducks a pump kick, tag to Sheamus! He bowls Karl over and tosses him to the apron for the Beats of the Bodhran. Gallows in, Sheamus with the Finlay Roll and a second for Anderson on Gallows! Looking for White Noise, Anderson escapes, Sheamus tries for the cloverleaf but Cesaro tags in.
Cesaro with a huge crossbody off the top for two, ducks a lariat, springboard corkscrew uppercut, he boots Gallows on the apron and looks for the swing. Luke gets involved anyway, and Anderson Cactus Clotheslines Cesaro to the outside! All four men end up on New Day and referee Chad Patton calls for the bell after E clobbers Sheamus.
Either Cesaro & Sheamus won by disqualification or the match went to a no contest, but no result is announced.
A brawl breaks out and Kofi tries a dive but gets caught by the Europeans and powerbombed into his New Day teammates!
Charlotte is walking backstage, so her segment is next after the break.
Back from commercial and they announced New Day vs. Cesaro & Sheamus vs. the Club for the tag titles next week, so presumably that unannounced finish was a no contest.
In the arena, Charlotte makes her entrance. Last night it dawned on her that six months ago she made the biggest mistake of her life. She’s ashamed of what she did and said, and for those of us who don’t remember what kind of a cold-blooded bitch of a daughter she was, she rolls the footage.
After the replay, she continues, saying it was hard for her after she lost the title. The WWE means everything to her and so does the title. Even harder than losing the title was watching her dad walk to the ring, put his arms around Sasha Banks, and raise her hand. It was like her dad was saying Sasha’s the woman, the athlete, the competitor that he wished his daughter would be.
All she’s ever wanted is her dad’s approval, for him to be proud of her, and no one knows what it’s like being Ric Flair’s daughter in this business. Every single day she asks herself if she’s good enough, and she sat in that audience and watched her dad raise somebody else’s hand, so she obviously failed. That broke her heart, she says, and she hadn’t seen her dad in six months, so she asked him to come here tonight so she could apologize.
Wooo!
Ric gets into the ring and Charlotte says she’s sorry. She hugs him after a moment and he hugs back, but he’s still got kind of a hard look on his face. He relents and offers another and she slaps him hard across the face!
She calls her dad a stupid son of a bitch and asks who Sasha is to dedicate her match to him and how he can turn his back on his own flesh and blood.Sasha runs down and Charlotte puts the boots to her, choking her over the ropes! Knee lifts on the outside as Ric gets to his feet and begs her not to do it. Charlotte throws Sasha into the barricade and continues the attack... GALLON THROW INTO THE RINGPOST!
Charlotte ain’t done yet, though, and she hauls Sasha’s body back in the ring, taunting Ric for crying as she drags Banks in front of him, telling him that’s his trophy. Charlotte leaves the ring, mock clapping for Sasha as she heads up the ramp.
That’s the show, folks.