Sean Raw-Sapp: Goldberg Returns, Braun Strowman, Last Man Standing, Nia Jax Loses

Opening Segment

• Mick Foley didn't look like he actually lost 100 pounds until he cut his hair. Good for him. For the weight loss, not the hair cut.
• JeriKO are funny. The sky is blue.
• I didn't miss the Stephanie McMahon hiatus a while back, but glad she's acting like she's on the same page as her hand picked GM.
• Great that Stephanie brought up that Smackdown beat Raw in the ratings last week. Good stuff.

Related Article

Willow Nightingale: Being Mercedes Mone's First AEW Opponent Would Be An Honor, I Think I'm Deserving

Seth Rollins defeated Kevin Owens via DQ

• These two did really good work, as was expected, but weeks away from the Rumble, everything feels inconsequential. Maybe that's why they wait so long to announce PPV cards generally.
• The Owens DQ protected both guys, but made Owens look dumb. He's banned from ringside during the Jericho/Reigns match.
• I'm pretty sure Owens knows the rules. An accidental DQ would have been better. 

 Karl Anderson (w/ Luke Gallows) defeated Cesaro (w/ Sheamus)

• Cesaro got an awesome pop.
• The crowd was much more into this match than I thought they'd be and that's awesome. 
• Shocker that a guy named Anderson has an awesome spinebuster.
• I wish they'd imply that Karl is related to Arn, Gene, Lars and Ole. I mean, why not? 
• The finish of this match was fantastic. Sheamus yanked Gallows off the apron, and caused Cesaro to get crotched.
• Anderson hit a flying neckbreaker for the win. Awesome more.

Last Man Standing
Braun Strowman defeats Sami Zayn

• This was my main event, and unless Strowman gets involved later, should have been anyway.
• Zayn made Strowman look like a million bucks. A perfect opponent.
• Strowman looked like he killed Zayn when he went for the Torpedo DDT.
• Going to commercial in a match like this is stupid. 
• God, this is some awesome stuff. We don't see this anymore, and it's so much fun. 
• WWE needs to explain why there's no chairshots to the head. Massive fine. There you go. You're welcome.
• Braun can't sell for shit, but I'll allow it.
• Strowman threw some awesome knees.
• This was just great. They used a lot of production tricks and it worked. Braun has to work on his selling though.

New Day, Gallagher, Titus

• New Day gives Jack Gallagher the rub in a segment. They're all backstage playing with umbrellas.
• New Day out for their New Year's resolutions. Titus O'Neil interrupts and wants to join the New Day.
• Titus gets a nice pop when he plays a whistle, but they end up trashing each other. 

Xavier Woods (w/New Day) defeats Titus O'Neil

• Sometimes you forget how athletic Xavier Woods is.
• Sometimes you forget how bad Titus O'Neil is.
• Remember when people had Titus pegged as a future main eventer?

Backstage stuffs

• Bayley and Stephanie McMahon had a great exchange. I'm okay with Bayley getting run down by Stephanie here, because that's a part of getting Bayley over.
• STOP PUTTING SO MUCH GODDAMN MAKEUP ON THESE GIRLS.
• We got some Noam Dar/Cedric creepiness again.

Cedric Alexander (w/ Alicia Fox) vs. Drew Gulak (w/ Tony Nese) then TJP defeats Brian Kendrick

• Cedric is over, so they beat him a lot. Okay.
• One of the reasons I wasn't hot on the brand split idea was that we'd see the same matches 100 times. We're getting close with TJP and Kendrick. 7 televised singles matches since September.

United States Championship
Roman Reigns (c) defeated Chris Jericho

• There were stakes for this match that I liked. If Reigns got DQ'd or counted out, he lost the title.
• I wasn't too into this one until the end, but they brought the heat.
• Jericho pulled an Eddie Guerrero and tried to get Reigns DQ'd, but it didn't happen. 
• Reigns won, and I don't know why he still has this title belt. 

Number One Contender Match
Bayley defeated Nia Jax

• Whoever agented this match should have nixed the ringpost shoulder spot we've seen three times tonight.
• Sasha Banks distracts Nia Jax, allowing a Super Bayley to Belly to get the win.
• I'm cool with Bayley having Nia's number. Kind of cool.
• Also. I skipped talking about the Enzo/Cass vs. Jinder/Rusev thing. It was wack.

Kevin Owens Show, Goldberg

• Hilarious setup with a guy wearing a Kevin Owens show sign.
• Chris Jericho announces he'll be in the Royal Rumble, and Owens isn't happy. Perhaps foreshadowing. I think this is Jericho's best chance to win a Rumble.
• Goldberg comes out, he's terribly on the mic. So cheesy. 
• Reigns comes out, and faces off with Goldberg. I thought this was a cool moment.
• Heyman comes out and announces Lesnar isn't there. Then he cowers when Braun Strowman shows up. Good spot.
• Strowman gets speared by Reigns and Goldberg at the same time....because EVERYTHING is a tool to get Reigns over except a quick heel turn that will get him there. OK.