WWE stayed in Canada after Friday Night SmackDown and Saturday Night’s Main Event to bring you RAW from Toronto.
Just six days before the Royal Rumble, let’s get into the results:
Six woman tag: Rhea Ripley, IYO SKY and Stephanie Vaquer def. Judgement Day (Liv Morgan, Raquel Rodriguez and Roxanne Perez)
Theory def. Rey Mysterio
WWE Tag Team titles number one contenders match: Alpha Academy (Otis and Tozawa) def. Los Americanos, American Made and The New Day
WWE World Heavyweight title: AJ Styles def. CM Punk (C) via DQ
Notes:
AJ Styles opens the show to talk about his match with Gunther, but CM Punk comes out, full fo respect we should add, to say he doesn’t like the matchup because it means he might not ever get the chance to wrestle AJ in a WWE ring. Styles takes that as a sign that Punk doesn’t believe he can beat Gunther and finds it disrespectful.
The outcome? Styles and Punk agree to fight for the title right here tonight.
Balor catches Punk backstage. Balor thanks Punk for the most memorable night of his career. Punk tells Balor that he needs to leave the Judgement Day and ‘garbage’ like Dom Mysterio if he wants to be champion again…
The Vision arrive in full force for a promo. They are here to have a face-to-face with GM Adam Pearce. Heyman shows footage that Pearce put his hands on Breakker first and he took brass knuckles from Heyman that Rey Mysterio then used to beat Theory.
Pearce gives a seemingly heartfelt, but confident apology. He lifts Breakker’s suspension, puts all Vision members in the Royal Rumble and then gives Theory and rematch agaisnt Mysterio.
Theory won, but there was carnage everywhere with Dragon Lee, Penta and The Vision all got into it at ringside. After the match, The Vision destroyed the luchadors. You give The Vision an inch, they take a mile.
Natalya gives her first promo since turning in a vignette backstage. “Natalya elevates. But Nattie decimates,” is her main line. Seems the Bloodsport Nattie has arrived.
Gunther does a sit down interview and Michael Cole questions why he wants to rob the fans of AJ Styles having a retirement year. Gunther says he’s sick of old timers clinging on for one more moment. Those are his moments.
Finn Balor tries to declare himself for the Royal Rumble but Adam Pearce tells him it’s full. Liv Morgan then catches the Irishman outside and scolds him for thanking Punk and considering leaving the Judgement Day. Balor says “It’s not as simple as it seems” and walks away.
Becky Lynch gives a promo backstage (very entertaining again) and she is interrupted by the Kabuki Warriors who says Becky is not ready for Asuka, Becky says she is… then they say “we’ll see you in the Rumble.”
Je’Von Evans catches AJ Styles backstage to wish him well and hopes he faces him on the retirement tour.
Oba Femi is announced for the Rumble.
The Vision discuss their Rumble plans backstage and Logan Paul proposes they work together to ensure Breakker wins it.
In the main event, after both Punk and Styles had given all they had, Balor attacked Punk, seemingly heeding Morgan’s words. A few shotgun dropkicks into the barricade and then three coup de grace.
Analysis
Interesting direction for Balor just as fans thought they might be getting the babyface version we have all missed. The thing with WWE at this time of year is, they line up world champions with challengers unlikely to beat them.
Yes, Drew McIntyre was the exception to that rule with Cody, but if you look at the Royal Rumble in years gone by, the champion hardly ever drops the title. The last time a world title changed hands on this PPV was four years ago and that was just so Brock Lesnar could then go into the Rumble and win.
So Balor finds himself in that position. It seems like Roman Reigns may well be on course to face CM Punk and Balor will most likely have a story with the Judgement Day, more specifically, Dom Mysterio.
Otis and Tozawa becoming the number one contenders – see my point above.
Something about Logan Paul suggesting Breakker has to win the Rumble immediately makes me suspicious. The group shouldn’t fracture at this point, but if Breakker doesn’t win this will be a moment to recall. Have to doubt Paul is this selfless all of a sudden.
If AJ Styles is not retiring on Saturday, then WWE are doing a good job fooling me. He’s been doing the rounds on all their shows and has snuck in a couple of dream matches before facing Gunther. They either know this makes it look like he’s retiring and are playing into it, or he really is going. I sense the latter – Styles has been begging to retire for a while.
A strong RAW by all accounts heading into the Rumble. Finn Balor was a good thread running through the show, some good developments with The Vision and a stellar, star-studded main event. Very good.
