WWE Monday Night Raw results and observations (12/12/16): The New Day makes history
WWE was in my stomping grounds of Philadelphia Monday night for Raw and it felt like everyone in the city was at the Wells Fargo Center to witness it in person but me.
Maybe I'm exaggerating just a little bit, but I was unfortunately bound to my other professional obligations for philly.com and was unable to attend the event.
It turned out my timing could not have been much worse, as I missed a chance to witness history.
Fortunately, WWE comes to Philadelphia quite often and the company will be back on Monday, March 27 for another episode of Raw. In fact, it will be the final episode of Raw before WrestleMania.
But let's keep our focus on Monday night's event with the full match results:
- WWE Raw Tag Team championship – The New Day def. Sheamus/Cesaro & Karl Anderson/Luke Gallows
- Braun Strowman def. Curtis Axel
- Ariya Daivari def. Lince Dorado via disqualification
- The Brian Kendrick def. TJ Perkins
- Bayley def. Alicia Fox
- Sami Zayn def. Jinder Mahal
- WWE Raw Tag Team championship – The New Day def. Kevin Owens/Chris Jericho & Roman Reigns/Seth Rollins
New Day makes history
By the time most of you read this, The New Day will have reached day No. 478 of their tag team title reign, which puts the trio on equal footing with Demolition for the longest tag title run in WWE history.
By Wednesday, The New Day will hit day No. 479 and take sole possession of the long-standing record.
The New Day didn't clinch the record in easy fashion. It actually had to defend their titles not once but twice, both of which occurred under triple threat rules.
Their first defense was their previously scheduled one against Sheamus/Cesaro and Anderson/Gallows. The New Day, as they have done time and time again, narrowly escaped with the victory.
The New Day was all ready to celebrate its historic win with a party in the locker room full of local wrestlers, including Drew Gulak's younger brother Rory, and Raw authority figures, Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley.
The champions received a hero's welcome upon their entrance and began to spray champagne all over the place. Unfortunately for them, they got a lot of that bubbly on McMahon, who was none too please about getting a lot of it in her eyes.
McMahon then stormed out of the party, but not before she flipped a gigantic bowl of Booty-O's out of Big E's hands. McMahon was not going to take this embarrassment lying down and with the help of Owens, booked The New Day in yet another tag title match against Owens and Jericho.
Foley later added Rollins and Reigns to the equation to make it another triple threat.
After a thrilling main event, Xavier Woods found a way to pin Jericho to retain the titles and ensure that the record would be broken.
Some people are upset that Demolition's record was broken and there are some that think The New Day has grown stale, but no matter where you stand on any of this, you have to respect how far Woods, Kofi Kingston and Big E have come over the last two years.
Kingston was one of many superstars milling about in mid-card purgatory. The same could be said for Big E, but without nearly the amount of clout and tenure of Kingston.
But at least Big E had a run – albeit brief — with the Intercontinental championship. Woods didn't even have that to his credit.
But all three men came together to form a group that has dominated WWE's tag team division for well over a year. And even though the group has been dominant, their run together hasn't always come up roses.
Remember when The New Day made its debut and everyone hated the group despite the fact that they were supposed to be the "good guys?"
Their run together could have died a painful death before it ever really got started, but they overcame that initial stumble out of the gates and took off running.
The trio went from being the act no one cared for to one of the biggest merchandise sellers in the company. The group has its own cereal for crying out loud. A real breakfast cereal!
It is a credit to the three of them for having the drive and the awareness to make things like that happen. That only happens because of ingenuity and intelligence.
So say what you want about the record being broken or how stale their act has gotten. The fact of the matter is that The New Day is one of the best examples of going from the outhouse to the penthouse in recent memory in WWE.
JeriKo is no more?
While The New Day harmoniously made history, Owens and Jericho are apparently no longer making beautiful music together.
At least that is the way it looked on Raw after the main event. Jericho blamed Owens for losing, as Owens tried to calm Jehim down by telling him that it wasn't his fault, but Jericho was hearing none of it.
He told Owens that he was done being his friend and then told him to turn around, which led him right into a spear from Reigns to end the show.
I guess it had to end at some point, but it doesn't make it any easier to witness. I say that not because I care that much about the Owens-Jericho friendship. I say that because their friendship has been the most consistently entertaining thing on Raw going back to the summer.
And now that it is apparently coming to an end and that means one less entertaining part of the three-hour show, which is not good.
I suppose Jericho and Owens could patch things up at Roadblock: End of the Line, but it doesn't seem likely after Raw.
Zayn was almost traded
Zayn had a simple request and that was for a match against Strowman.
Foley did not want to grant Zayn the match fearing it might be the last of his career.
Since Zayn didn't get what he wanted, he demanded to be traded to Smackdown Live. Out of respect to Zayn, Foley got on the phone and did his best Theo Epstein impersonation with the hopes of striking a deal.
At first, it looked like his phone work resulted in a deal and presented it to Zayn. Foley said that he spoke to Smackdown Live general manager Daniel Bryan and received a wrestler of equal value in return.
That wrestler turned out to be Eva Marie. Yes, the same Eva Marie that hasn't been on WWE television since August.
This set Zayn off, as he lashed out about being better than 1,000 Eva Marie's, which would actually be a terrific idea in reality.
After Zayn showcased some of his patented passion and fire, Foley told him that it was all a ruse. There was never a trade in place to move him to Smackdown Live. He just wanted to see if Zayn was going to get angry enough to face Strowman.
I guess Foley saw what he wanted to see because he then granted Zayn his wish, and that was a match at Roadblock: End of the Line against Strowman. The only caveat is that he has to last at least 10 minutes.
I seriously thought that Zayn was on his way to Smackdown Live via a trade, which would have been cool, but once I heard Eva Marie's name uttered I knew something was up.
I guess it could be justified why Foley used the trade as a motivational ploy, but I also couldn't imagine the general manager of a traditional sports team making a player think he's going to be traded merely to motivate him or her.
It would make the general manager look like a bit of a jerk, which Foley is not supposed to be.
Will Sasha Banks, Charlotte main event Roadblock?
WWE produced a tremendous video package Monday hyping up the 30-minute ironman match between Banks and Charlotte at Roadblock and it got me to thinking.
The match Banks and Charlotte was already a prime candidate to headline the event due to its stipulation, but after Monday, it was clear that this story is the best one going on Raw.
I understand that the Universal title probably should be in the main event, but people aren't as invested in an Owens and Reigns match at the moment as they are the women's match, especially since it's going to be contested under ironman rules.
On top of that, it has been going on for months. Heck, years if you count NXT. Meanwhile, Owens and Reigns just started feuding a week or two ago and their interactions have not been anything stellar.
Jack Gallagher is such a gentleman
This is a brief observations, but I loved Gallagher being such a gentleman that he told everyone beforehand that he was going to interfere in Daivari's match and hand him a thorough thrashing.
I need to see things like this more often from Gallagher. As a matter of fact, how about we get more of Gallagher period.
Emmalina is still 'premiering soon'
Making people wait for her debut would be cool if WWE hadn't done essentially the same thing with Eva Marie and Curt Hawkins this year.
Eva Marie would at least make her entrance and Hawkins would at least make an appearance in a motion video. All we have gotten of Emmalina are still photos, which are very nice to look at, but you run the risk of people not caring once she finally does make her debut.