Raw Women’s Champion Bayley & Sasha Banks def. Charlotte Flair & Nia Jax
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PHILADELPHIA —Man,Bayleycould use a hug right now, or at least a win. The Raw Women’s Champion came to the final Monday before WrestleMania in about as dire straits as she could have been in after suffering consecutive defeats toSasha BanksandNia Jax, each of which earned those victors a place in what is now aFatal 4-Way Elimination Matchfor Bayley’s title on Sunday. The good news, however, is that The Huggable One still has a leg up onCharlotte Flair.
In a tag team match that united Bayley and Sasha against Charlotte and Nia, the champion got a much-needed victory over her most dogged opponent, administering a Bayley-to-Belly after Sasha (who, for what it’s worth, Charlotte accused before the match of using Bayley to get herself back in the title picture)helped free her from the confines of the Figure-Four Leglock. Though Bayley got the final count, Nia got the last word, laying out all three women before posing with the Raw Women’s Title — or, as it may be known on Sunday,herRaw Women’s Title.
The Huggable One looks ahead to the Raw Women's Championship Fatal 4-Way Elimination Match at WrestleMania, a title defense that has grown more perilous in recent weeks.
Featured Superstars
Bayley
Charlotte Flair
Sasha Banks
Nia Jax
Austin Aries def. Noam Dar
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A-Double battles The Scottish Supernova, six nights before challenging Neville for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship in the WrestleMania Kickoff.
In six days,Austin AriesandNevillewill both make their WrestleMania debuts,with Neville’sWWE Cruiserweight Title at stake. Aries, at least, will go into The Show of Shows with a full head of steam — literally. He barreled intoNoam Darwith a running dropkick to the face only seconds into their match on Raw and didn’t let up. Despite a solid distraction fromAlicia Foooooooxthat set Dar up for a rollup pin, Aries kicked out of the pin attempt and blasted Dar with an elbow and the Discus Five-arm. Then, with Neville watching from commentary, Aries provided the cherry on top: the Last Chancery submission hold, to which Dar tapped almost instantly.
Featured Superstars
Austin Aries
Noam Dar
Neville
Alicia Fox
Seth Rollins signed Triple H’s Hold Harmless Agreement
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Seth Rollinshas put pen to paper, and all bets are off — and that might not be as good news asTriple Hthought it would be. The King of Kings had intended The Architect to sign his own doom when he ratified The Game's Hold Harmless Agreement, as it would give Triple H free reign to brutalize his former protégé in aNon-Sanctioned Match at WrestleManiawithout fear of legal repercussions.
But what he didn’t take into account was that, by signing The Game’s document, The Architect gave himself the ability to reclaim the identity he sacrificed to align with Triple H in the first place, which is as powerful a motivation as any Superstar has ever had going into The Showcase of the Immortals. And judging by the way Rollins withstood The Game’s subsequent sneak attack on his injured knee, there’s a chance Seth Freakin’ Rollinsmight just survive The King of Kings’ onslaught and get the payback he’s been angling for. Triple H seemed somewhat unnerved when Rollins sent him running, but he really shouldn’t have been surprised: He’s the one who taught Rollins that there’s always a Plan B.
Featured Superstars
Seth "Freakin" Rollins
Triple H
An Over-the-Top-Rope Challenge descended into chaos
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Six nights before the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal in the WrestleMania Kickoff, The World's Largest Athlete makes a massive statement.
Jinder Mahal’s looking pretty cut up these days, but does he have the strength to toss Big Show over the top rope? On his own, not necessarily — The Man Who Comes In Peace tried with all his might, but was unable to topple the giant in an Over-the-Top-Rope Challenge. But the combined strength of subsequent challengers Mahal, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axeland The Shining Stars was enough to send The World’s Largest Athlete tumbling over the ropes.
Of course, Show was quick to return to the ring and destroy everyone who ganged up on him … at least until the arrival of Braun Strowman suddenly threw a wrench into the giant’s victory lap. But The Monster Among Men assured Show he wouldn’t be throwing hands just yet. He’d wait to do that until Sunday in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
Six nights before the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania, The World’s Largest Athlete makes a massive statement.
Featured Superstars
Big Show
Jinder Mahal
Braun Strowman
Curtis Axel
Primo Colon
Epico Colon
Goldust
R-Truth
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville def. Gentleman Jack Gallagher
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Gentleman Jack Gallagher clashes with the WWE Cruiserweight Champion, six nights before Neville defends his title against Austin Aries at WrestleMania.
Nevilleis indeed The King of the Cruiserweights, butGentleman Jack Gallagherundeniably gave the WWE Cruiserweight Champion one of the toughest tests of his title reign — twice, now. Granted, this week’s Neville-Gallagher clash was non-title, butAustin Arieswas hopefully taking notes at the way the British brawler exposed whatever weaknesses The King of the Cruiserweights has.
Actually, Aries was definitely taking notes at the conclusion — Neville defeated Gallagher with a superplex floated over into the Rings of Saturn — because immediately after, he conducted an impromptu interview on “AANN” (The Austin Aries News Network) with The New Day asking who they thought would win the WWE Cruiserweight Title Match at WrestleMania. After Aries displayed that he possessed the ability to do the New Day hip swivel, they cast their unanimous vote in A-Double's favor. The people have spoken.
Featured Superstars
Neville
Austin Aries
Kofi Kingston
Big E
Xavier Woods
The Undertaker confronted Roman Reigns
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At WrestleMania, The Undertakerand Roman Reigns will clash to determine which Superstar can lay claim to the “yard” The Deadman has held dominion over for almost 30 years. And, for all Roman’s bravado and insistence he would do no less than "put The Undertaker down"in six days’ time, Undertaker may still possess a slight edge. During The Big Dog’s final address before WrestleMania, The Last Outlaw appeared on the TitanTron in front of a freshly dug grave, with Reigns’ name chiseled on the accompanying tombstone. The lights then went out in the arena and when they came back up, The Deadman was face-to-face with his foe, just in time to promise that Reigns would, indeed, rest in peace.
In a chilling message, The Deadman shows The Big Dog where his final resting place will be after their collision at WrestleMania.
Featured Superstars
Undertaker
Roman Reigns
Raw Tag Team Champions Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. Enzo Amore & Big Cass never happened
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Cesaro & Sheamus get some payback against Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson as the "good brothers" prepare to battle Enzo Amore & Big Cass.
The Raw Tag Team division has been something of a demolition derby lately, so it’s only fitting that the three teams battling for the titles at WrestleMania brought some steel into the equation. After attackingCesaro&Sheamuswith several implements — a ladder chief among them — earlier in the evening, reigning championsLuke Gallows&Karl Andersonfound themselves on the receiving end of reciprocity before their non-title bout withEnzo Amore&Big Cass.
The King of Swing and Celtic Warrior crashed the match before the bell, blasting the good brothers with a ladder of their own. The attackkicked off a massive brawl that ended, somehow, with Gallows & Anderson using the ladder to reclaim the advantage and leave all their No. 1 contenders down. Too sweet indeed.
Featured Superstars
Luke Gallows
Karl Anderson
Big Cass
Cesaro
Sheamus
Sami Zayn def. Kevin Owens to earn his way into the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal
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The Underdog from the Underground will be fired if he fails to defeat his former best friend live on Raw.
If you thought Raw CommissionerStephanie McMahon’s vendetta againstMick FoleydevoteeSami Zaynended with him getting choked out bySamoa Joe, you were sorely mistaken. Not only did she put The Underdog from the Underground into a No Disqualification Match againstKevin Owenswhen he tried to declare for the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, she attached a dire stipulation to it: If Zayn won, he’d be in the Battle Royal; if he lost, he’d be fired.
Good news, though: The No Disqualification rule meantChris Jerichowas free to save Zayn at the moment of truth, thwarting an attempted interference from Joe and allowing Zayn to roll up KO for the win. Owens received no quarter after the match, either. The Prizefighter was swarmed by the U.S. Champion and sent running. Moments later, Owensreceived the ultimate, crushing declaration of war before his and Jericho's title match at WrestleMania: a long-awaited spot on the resurrected List of Jericho.
Featured Superstars
Kevin Owens
Sami Zayn
Chris Jericho
Samoa Joe
Universal Champion Goldberg confronted Brock Lesnar
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According toPaul Heyman’s Theory of WrestleMania Relativity, WrestleMania's Universal Title Match will end in one simple solution: F-5 = Lesnar goes up, down goes Goldberg. But when The Advocate unveiled that theorem a couple of weeks ago,Goldbergwasn’t around to provide any evidence to the contrary. That changed on the final Raw before WrestleMania.
Moments after Heyman insisted that challengerBrock Lesnardid not “fear the Spear,” renamed WrestleMania “Death of a Superhero” and declared Goldberg would not “survive the F-5,” the Universal Champion came to the ramp, challenged Lesnar to brawl and speared him to the ground. To paraphrase Heyman: Down goes Lesnar.
The Universal Champion reveals he will take his time with The Beast Incarnate when they battle for Raw’s most elite title at WrestleMania, The Ultimate Thrill Ride.
Featured Superstars
Brock Lesnar
Goldberg
Paul Heyman