Posted on 12/10/124 by Bob Magee
Show Recap —
Raw started with technical issues (at least, that was the
case on Sportsnet in Canada). You could hear everything
starting as usual, with various wrestlers arriving, but the
actual video feed was frozen on an establishing shot of the
city and then a still shot of Gunther from his match against
Dominik Mysterio last week.
The live stream was fixed as Gunther entered to start the
show. Gunther said Finn Bálor has made a grave mistake.
Bálor had his attention, and Saturday Night’s Main Event
would not end up like Survivor Series.
Judgment Day (minus Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez)
interrupted. Bálor didn’t appreciate that Gunther passed
over him for a title match to instead face Dominik Mysterio,
who didn’t deserve it. (Dom looked over at him but didn’t
react too much.)
Bálor said he was the only reason Gunther was still
champion. SNME wouldn’t be like Survivor Series because
Gunther wasn’t retaining the title because of him—he would
lose the title because of him. After eight long years, Bálor
would walk out as World Heavyweight Champion.
Gunther said Bálor didn’t earn his title shot. Bálor did
become the first Universal Champion eight years ago and
Gunther looked up to him. That respect faded away over the
years because Bálor began cutting corners. He took shortcuts
and aligned himself with weirdos in a clubhouse. He chose to
play second fiddle to Damian Priest.
There was no respect left and now Gunther looked down on
him. Bálor was the best in the world eight years ago—for one
night. Gunther was the best in the world right now and for
thousands of days to come, and his title proved it. Bálor
would not win on Saturday because he was not on Gunther’s
level.
Judgment Day took offence, so they hit the apron but stopped
what they were doing upon hearing Priest’s music. They ran
after Priest instead, and he laid everyone out by himself.
Bálor tried attacking from behind, but Priest chucked him
into the ring. Gunther and Priest took turns attacking
Bálor.
They were not on the same page, though, because Gunther
clotheslined Priest. Gunther was about to powerbomb Priest
onto the announce table, but Bálor attacked Gunther before
going after Priest.
Bálor gave Gunther a Coup de Grace off the apron. Priest
attacked the rest of Judgment Day in the ring until Bálor
attacked him from behind. Bálor hit Priest with the Coup de
Grace three times as Gunther looked on. Judgment Day stood
tall.
(Bálor stood tall but this segment didn’t make him look like
any sort of threat. He and his buddies got beat up by Priest
alone and only stood tall after Gunther attacked Priest.
He’ll probably get a nearfall with his finisher on Saturday,
and that’ll be that.)
After a break, Adam Pearce informed Bálor that the world
title match at SNME was now a triple threat with Priest.
Bálor was fine with this because it would be even more
satisfying when he beat them both.
Bálor was less happy when Pearce told him that he and JD
McDonagh would defend the tag titles against the War Raiders
next week with Judgment Day banned from ringside. They were
pissed. Liv Morgan (sarcastically) asked Bálor if he had any
advice for their matches tonight since he had everything
under control. Bálor was stunned and couldn’t find the
words.
********
Professional bull rider Koltin Hevalow was shown at
ringside.
Eight-man tag team match: Karrion Kross, AOP & The Miz
(w/Scarlett) defeated The Wyatt Sicks (9:02)
Kross pinned Uncle Howdy.
This was the first match for the Wyatts since September. Bo
Dallas wrestled in his Uncle Howdy mask. The other members
wrestled without masks.
They seriously went to commercial 25 seconds into the match
(after Miz saved Kross from a Sister Abigail). After the
break, Final Testament was randomly in control of Joe Gacy
until he quickly made a hot tag to Erick Rowan. Rowan had
Miz pinned, but AOP broke up the cover, so Dexter Lumis and
Gacy got rid of them with dives.
Uncle Howdy tagged in and beat up Miz until Kross tagged
himself in. Uncle Howdy went for a dive, but Scarlett
tripped him. Nikki Cross appeared out of nowhere to take out
Scarlett. (Cross didn’t enter with her team, so you knew
she’d show up as a “surprise” at some point.)
Howdy went for Sister Abigail on Kross, but Miz saved him
again. As Kross distracted the referee, Howdy went after Miz
but the returning Paul Ellering chucked powder in his face.
Kross gave Uncle Howday a Final Prayer (F5 variation) for
the pinfall win.
This wasn’t good.
********
CM Punk sit-down interview
Jackie Redmond had a pre-taped sit-down interview with CM
Punk. Punk said they would fight if she asked about the
Chicago Blackhawks. He laughed when she responded, “No, I’m
going to ask you about something much more relevant.” (That
was good.)
Redmond asked about the favour. Punk said it wasn’t the
right time to talk about it. He went back many years with
Paul Heyman and it would stay between them for now.
Remond asked about Seth Rollins. Punk said he wouldn’t shy
away from a fight but was confused about Rollins’ hatred. He
didn’t hate Rollins at all, and they had a long history. A
16-year-old Rollins went to Punk and asked for wrestling
training—for free. That entitlement has carried over into
the adult Rollins.
Rollins wanted to be on everyone’s ten top list of best
wrestlers of all time, but there was a time when he was on a
top ten list to be fired from WWE. Punk “shielded” him from
that. Punk would hate Punk, too, if he had to live in his
shadow. Everything Rollins did, Punk did already and did it
before him.
Rollins did a fantastic job while Punk was gone to fill the
void, but the starter was back, and the second-string guy
could now go back to the bench.
********
Women’s World Champion Liv Morgan defeated Dakota Kai in a
non-title match (approx. 6 minutes)
They went to break 45 seconds into this one. Morgan was in
control after the break, and Pure Fusion Collective marched
out to watch from ringside. Morgan tried three amigos, but
Kai countered the last suplex and made a comeback but became
distracted dealing with Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark at
ringside.
Morgan responded with a Codebreaker but Kai countered a
missile dropkick into a powerbomb. Kai was distracted again,
this time by Sonya Deville on the apron, and Kai knocked her
off. The referee was fine with all of this. Kai went for a
running boot but Morgan avoided it and hit Oblivion for the
pinfall win.
(This was another nothing much with too much going on
outside the ring.)
PFC attacked Kai post-match but Iyo Sky and Kairi Sane made
the save. Sane wiped out PFC with a dive. Sky had her back
turned, so Morgan laid her out with Oblivion. Morgan stood
tall.
********
Drew McIntyre video
There was a Drew McIntyre pre-taped video promo. McIntyre
called HIAC the most violent match of his career, and he
suffered massive blood loss. He had to return to Scotland
after that because his family needed him. While he was away,
he wondered if he was wrong and wondered if everyone else
was right. Maybe people could change.
But then he watched Survivor Series. Roman Reigns teamed
with Punk. Sami Zayn and the Usos were right there with
them, even after everything Reigns did. At least Punk took a
bribe. The rest of them sold out for nothing. That’s when he
knew he had to return to take out Zayn and Jey Uso. He can’t
change the past, but he can change the present, “and I will
change the future.”
********
[SECOND HOUR]
Joe Tessitore gave a shout-out to Barry Sanders, a native of
Wichita. He also gave a shout-out to another Wichita native,
MrBeast of all people.
There was a video recap of the New Day angle last week.
Cody Rhodes was shown leaving a meeting with Pearce. He
bumped into Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods. Rhodes said he’s
known them a long time. He’s known Woods since they were
kids. But they should both be ashamed of themselves.
Kingston and Woods left.
(I believe Woods and Rhodes were both high school wrestlers
and faced each other representing different schools.)
********
Seth Rollins and Sami Zayn segment
Rollins entered. He said Punk had a career as a politician
in his future because he knew how to spin the truth. Punk
spun the truth and played the victim. He’s been doing it his
entire life. He was a fraud and a con man.
Rollins told his version of the story. He did go to Punk and
asked for training. Punk helped him get in the door. They
were friends. The part of the story Punk left out tells you
why Rollins hated him.
When Punk walked out of the company, Rollins called him as a
friend. Punk never responded. It wasn’t just Rollins. Punk
did it to everyone. If your priorities didn’t line up with
Team Punk, you were evil. For the next ten years, all Punk
tried to do was tear this company down. He took any shot he
could.
Punk finally came back because he failed at everything. He
burned every bridge—and the money was right. The crowd
chanted for Punk.
Rollins used to respect Punk. He wanted to be just like him.
But he realized Punk was a fraud and wanted to be better.
Whatever Punk has done in this ring, Rollins has done it
twice. Rollins also did the one thing Punk never did and
that was main event WrestleMania.
Sami Zayn interrupted. Zayn admitted it was wrong of him to
accuse Rollins of attacking Jey. Zayn knew him better than
that. Zayn apologized. Rollins spoke about how close they
were and that their kids played together, so he wanted to
know why he was the first person Zayn thought of when Jey
went down.
Zayn said Rollins was out of his mind last week. He was
pointing his finger at everyone else and acted like the only
person with moral clarity. He sounded less like Rollins and
more like McIntyre. Rollins was a better person than
McIntyre but this thing with Punk brought out the worst
person in him.
Zayn admitted he shouldn’t have gotten involved. The issue
with Punk was Rollins’ business, and he could handle it
however he wanted. Rollins appreciated it. Zayn asked if
they were good. Rollins said yes. Rollins said Zayn now had
his own issues with McIntyre to deal with. He left.
Zayn wanted to end things with McIntyre as quickly as they’d
started, so he spoke to Pearce and got a match against
McIntyre at SNME. “Drew, I will see you Saturday.” As Zayn
left, McIntyre blindsided him. McIntyre hammered away at him
until officials stepped in.
********
Women’s IC title tournament first-round triple threat match:
Lyra Valkyria defeated Ivy Nile and Zelina Vega (7:46)
Continuing the trend, they went to break 47 seconds into
this. As Valkyria and Nile traded counters, Vega nailed them
both with a senton. Vega took a page out of Rey Mysterio’s
book and gave Nile a sliding powerbomb outside the ring.
Later on, Nile simultaneously gave both women a German
suplex. Vega hit Nile a Code Red, but Valkyria broke up the
cover. Valkyria gave Nile a Nightwing for the pinfall win.
Valkyria advances.
********
New Day segment
Cathy Kelley tried interviewing Kingston and Woods
backstage. They were loudly booed and greeted with “New Day
sucks” chants. Kingston and Woods were dismissive of her
unbiased questioning and decided they should go to the ring.
Woods grabbed a camera away from the cameraperson and went
to the ring with Kingston. (He put the camera down once they
entered.)
The crowd continued to chant, “New Day sucks.” They loudly
booed as Kingston spoke. He said after the ten years of
positivity that the two of them gave the fans, “You’re this
mad over one day?” Woods couldn’t speak because the crowd
kept booing. Fans chanted, “We want Big E.” Woods responded,
“We didn’t even do anything to E!”
Kingston said they could’ve taken a steel chair to E’s back
or a sledgehammer to the back of his head. Kingston may have
had more examples but stopped because of the crowd. They
chanted for Big E again. Woods had more to stay but was
drowned out again. They both dropped their mics and left.
This was great.
********
SNME card:
World Heavyweight Championship triple threat match: Gunther
vs. Finn Bálor vs. Damian Priest
Sami Zayn vs. Drew McIntyre
Women’s World Championship match: Liv Morgan vs. Iyo Sky
Women’s United States Championship Tournament final
Cody Rhodes vs. Kevin Owens
********
Anything Goes Match: Rhea Ripley defeated Raquel Rodriguez
(8:07)
Ripley attacked Rodriguez during her entrance, and the match
began once they entered the ring. Ripley was all over
Rodriguez and grabbed a table, but Rodriguez grabbed her and
gave her a fallaway slam onto the announce desk.
They dropped each other with big boots after a break. Ripley
went on offence and (safely) dropkicked a chair into
Rodriguez’s face. Rodriguez dumped Ripley face-first onto
the top turnbuckle for two. They messed up whatever spot
they had planned involving a chair, so Ripley nailed her
with another chair to make up for it.
It was time for more interference, so Morgan ran out. Ripley
yanked her into the ring, but Rodriguez booted Ripley and
slammed her on some chairs for two. Ripley avoided a Tejana
Bomb and headbutted Rodriguez. Ripley set up for Rip-tide,
but Morgan saved Rodriguez. Ripley fought them off
initially, but Morgan gave her an Oblivion.
Sky ran out and took out Morgan with a springboard dropkick
and suicide dive.
Rodriguez set up a table but Ripley drove her shoulder-first
into a chair that was wedged in the corner. Ripley followed
with a Rip-tide through a table for the pinfall win. The
crowd was happy.
This was a perfectly cromulent street fight.
— After the match, Sky and Ripley both grabbed the title
belt. They stood face-to-face as the show ended.