WWE Raw live results: CM Punk vs. Finn Balor World Heavyweight title match
WWE Raw takes place today at SSE Arena Belfast in Northern Ireland, with a special start time of 3 pm Eastern /11 am Pacific.
CM Punk will defend his World Heavyweight Championship for the second time in three weeks as he faces Ireland’s own Finn Balor for the first time ever. Punk successfully defended the title against Bron Breakker on the first Raw of the year while Balor called his shot last Monday.
Becky Lynch will defend her Women’s Intercontinental Championship against Maxxine Dupri in their fifth televised match against one another since October.
Je’Von Evans will be in singles action against El Grande Americano. Evans handily defeated Bravo Americano last week despite interference by El Grande and Rayo Americano.
Rey Mysterio teams with Penta and Dragon Lee to take on The Vision’s Austin Theory, Bronson Reed and Logan Paul in a six-man match.
Plus, Gunther kicks off Raw in Belfast following a controversial win over AJ Styles last week.
Our live coverage begins at 3 p.m. Eastern time.
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Show Recap —
Michael Cole announced a sold-out crowd in Belfast, which hosts its first-ever WWE live broadcast.
CM Punk, Finn Bálor, Maxxine Dupri and Alpha Academy, El Grande Americano and friends, and Penta, Dragon Lee and Rey Mysterio were shown arriving at the arena. Bálor got a big pop.
The show kicked off with a big fireworks display, which doesn’t often happen.
Gunther opens Monday Night Raw in Belfast
They showed a replay of Gunther tapping on purpose last week to escape AJ Styles’ submission and ultimately win the match. Cole admitted it was a brilliant move.
Gunther entered and was booed and greeted with chants of, “You tapped out.” He was in a good mood as usual lately, and he told the fans to calm down.
Gunther said Styles made a mistake last week by being singularly focused on trying to make him tap out, because he was in the ring with the greatest wrestler in the company, the greatest Intercontinental Champion ever, a two-time World champion, the man who retired Goldberg, and the man who made John Cena tap out.
His success would lead him straight back to the World title, and he declared himself for the Royal Rumble.
AJ Styles entered to a huge reaction. Styles knew Gunther wanted to move on, but Styles didn’t. Styles challenged him to a rematch at the Royal Rumble. (The fans actually cheered even though he didn’t make the challenge for tonight.)
Gunther said he would win the Rumble and didn’t plan on pulling double duty. He said no.
Styles accused him of being scared. Styles said Gunter didn’t beat him—he beat himself. Styles showed him mercy when he should have ripped his leg off, but remember—Gunther tapped out like a little bitch. Styles accused him of being scared, and the crowd chanted, “Little bitch.”
Gunther said he proved he was the better and smarter wrestler. There was no incentive to do it again, so his answer was still no. The crowd kept chanting, so Gunther returned to the ring. The fans called him a wanker.
Gunther had an idea. Gunther would agree to a rematch only if Styles put his career on the line. Gunther told him to think if that was a hill he was willing to die on, but he wanted an answer by the end of tonight.
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Natalya approached Maxxine Durpi as she was warming up backstage. Dupri was thrilled to see her. Natalya wanted to be in Dupri’s corner against Becky Lynch, so we didn’t get a replay of what happened last time. Dupri was happy to hear it.
Becky Lynch entered. She cut a promo during a commercial break. She was happy to be back and be reminded of why she left. The weather and the food were awful. It was fine for the locals, but she was rich and famous. Her stepfather was actually from there, but he was smart enough to move to Dublin.
She knew they were going through hard times, so she offered to be their hero. Unlike Rory McIlroy, she wouldn’t lose on the final hole. She was the greatest of all time, and everyone was saying it, including America.
Intercontinental Championship match: Becky Lynch (c) vs. Maxxine Dupri (w/ Natalya)
This was their fifth singles match against one another since October. In fact, Lynch has not wrestled anyone else in a singles match since August.
All three women (Natalya included) wore predominantly red gear.
Dupri had the edge early on, but Lynch quickly took control as they went to an early break. Dupri fired back after the break with a clothesline, a boot, a corner splash, boots in the corner, and a fisherman’s suplex. Dupri dropped her straps and hit a big leg drop on Lynch’s back for a two count.
They traded cradles after Dupri blocked a Man-handle Slam before Lynch applied a Disarmer, but Dupri countered out of it and applied an ankle lock. Lynch countered that into a rollup for two. They battled on the ropes until Lynch hit a superplex, followed by a DDT for two.
Lynch removed the top turnbuckle cover, but Dupri caught her in a schoolboy for two. Dupri followed with a German suplex and a flying crossbody, but Lynch countered her cover into a cover of her own for two.
Dupri countered the Man-handle slam and (slowly) countered into an ankle lock. Lynch kicked Dupri into the corner, but Dupri managed to avoid hitting the exposed buckle. Lynch charged at Dupri, but Dupri moved, and Lynch bounced off the exposed buckle.
Dupri hit a spinning heel kick (she missed completely, actually) and made the cover, but Natalya placed Lynch’s foot on the bottom rope to break up the cover. Dupri was stunned.
Dupri went after Lynch, but Lynch caught her with the Man-Handle Slam for the pinfall win.
— Natalya attacked and attacked and attacked Dupri after the match, and placed her in a Sharpshooter. Dupri tapped before a referee broke it up. They cut back to Cole for a moment before cutting back to the ring because Natalya attacked Dupri again.
Match result: Becky Lynch defeated Maxxine Dupri to retain the Women’s Intercontinental Championship (11:34)
This match was ok. Dupri looked better than usual, at least until the end. It helps that she’s been wrestling the same person over and over again, but this was presumably the last time, and she’ll have to wrestle someone else eventually.
The post-match didn’t get a ton of heat. The fans only care somewhat about Dupri, and they cared even less about Natalya.
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WWE Raw and PLE recapper/reviewer. Contributed to WrestlingObserver.com as the SmackDown reviewer in the 2000s before turning to WONF4W in 2015.