WWE Monday Night Raw results and observations (1/30/17): Samoa Joe finally arrives

Until about 11:05 p.m. EST Monday night, Raw felt like another ordinary three-hour effort from WWE.

However, business picked up rather quickly and the complexion WWE's flagship brand changed in an instant.

Before I get into my analysis, here are the full match results from Laredo Energy Arena in Laredo, Texas:

- Sami Zayn def. Chris Jericho

- Tony Nese def. Mustafa Ali

- Sheamus, Cesaro & Bayley def. Charlotte Flair, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson

- WWE Universal championship – Braun Strowman def. Kevin Owens via disqualification

- Nia Jax def. Sasha Banks via stoppage

- Tornado tag – Enzo Amore & Big Cass def. Rusev & Jinder Mahal

Samoa Joe finally arrives

Fans complained online Sunday night into Monday morning that the former two-time NXT champion did not make a "surprise" appearance in the Royal Rumble.

Those same fans were not complaining Monday night when Joe ambushed Seth Rollins at the end of the program and revealed himself as Triple H's hired gun.

Let us rewind a little, shall we?

Let's go back to Saturday when Rollins took over NXT Takevoer: San Antonio in an attempt to get his hands on Triple H. Rollins did not succeed in his attempt, as he was thwarted a by fleet of security guards.

Rollins was banned from the Royal Rumble Sunday as a result.

Raw commissioner Stephanie McMahon confronted Rollins about his transgression Monday and warned the former Authority member that Triple H was on his way to the arena.

Eventually, Triple H did show up and went to the ring. He said that he essentially made Rollins everything that he is today. That he essentially created his success and him crashing the NXT Takeover party was a slap in the face of another one of his creations.

Triple H then said that he was tired of creating and that Rollins should come to the ring so that he could meet his destroyer.

As expected, Rollins showed up ready for a fight, but before he could get into the ring, Joe came out of nowhere and attacked him.

Instead of getting his own hands dirty, Triple H calmly left the arena while Joe finished the job of decimating Rollins.

First off, let's celebrate the fact that Joe is finally on the main roster. He has belonged there since the day he arrived in WWE back in 2015, but he had to bide his time. In the meantime, he helped elevate NXT to a level it hadn't been before.

Now that he is on Raw, it gives the brand a new rugged character, but with the star power and experience to match.

Unlike Strowman, who has done a fine job to this point, there will be no need to bring Joe along slowly. Also, he has that persona down to a tee. He's a professional and fans unfamiliar with his exploits in NXT or elsewhere (TNA, Ring of Honor, etc.) will realize this soon enough.

Secondly, this throws an entirely new wrinkle in the Rollins-Triple H saga. Before Monday, it seemed destined that Rollins would get his hands on Triple H at WrestleMania.

I suppose that could still happen, but will Rollins have to go through Joe first? If so, does Rollins beat Joe in his first big match?

I don't think fans would be happy about that, but the fact that there is a new wrinkle being thrown in after months of the same rhetoric is a positive for fans to hold onto.

Brock Lesnar challenges Goldberg at WrestleMania

The other big news coming out of this show was Lesnar officially challenging Goldberg to a match at WrestleMania.

This comes after Goldberg utterly dominated Lesnar again at the Royal Rumble. The failure at the Rumble left Lesnar "crestfallen and disgraced," according to his advocate, Paul Heyman.

Despite that, Lesnar is willing to go toe-to-toe with Goldberg one last time at the biggest show of the year. Goldberg will be on Raw next week and will more than likely answer the challenge.

Although we all saw this coming, it only makes sense and I fully expect Lesnar to finally vanquish that man that somehow has his number, Goldberg, at WrestleMania.

Champions losing everywhere

No titles changed hands, but all four of Raw's champions lost Monday night. That is unless you count Neville, the current WWE Cruiserweight champion, as a Raw championship. I personally don't. I'll label that a 205 Live title.

But even Neville was served an unofficial loss, as former Cruiserweight champ Rich Swann crashed his coronation.

Regardless, a lot of champions lost Monday night in a variety of ways, which I'm usually not a fan, but given WWE's logic, I guess they made sense.

The first to fall was United States champion Jericho, as he lost to Zayn in the night's opening match.

By WWE logic, that should put Zayn in line for a future title match against Jericho, but who knows?

I'm happy Zayn got a big win, but I still don't like the logic of having to beat a champion twice to become champion. I believe that logic is rather flawed.

Two sets of champions lost in one match when Raw Women's champion Charlotte and new Raw Tag Team champions, Anderson and Gallows, lost to Bayley, Cesaro and Sheamus in a mixed tag team match.

Bayley pinned Charlotte, which I would imagine keeps her in title contention through at least Fastlane.

And finally, the brand's top champion, Owens, technically lost a championship match to Strowman, but he held on to the title due to being disqualified.

Strowman got the match because he remembered that Owens promised him a title shot if he retained it at the Royal Rumble. He did, so Strowman wanted what was coming to him.

The disqualification came after Roman Reigns attacked Strowman in an effort to get revenge on Strowman for costing him the Universal title the night before.

Owens losing made the most sense in my eyes, as it kept the title on him without pinning Strowman. Plus, it furthered the budding feud between he and Reigns.

Jax destroys Banks again

I understand that WWE is trying to tell the story of Banks being the courageous protagonist that fights even when injured, but the execution is not coming off well and I don't think the fans are necessarily buying in.

Jax tossed Banks around for the second night in a row and put her in a submission that put her knee in more pain. However, the bell rung early, which confused people. Jax kept the hold on until the referee eventually stopped the match.

This was weird and I don't think it is helping either woman involved.