WWE Raw live results: Gunther speaks ahead of John Cena’s final match
Tonight’s WWE Raw emanates from the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri, as John Cena’s final match approaches this Saturday.
Gunther will appear on the show after defeating LA Knight on SmackDown to win The Last Time is Now tournament, earning the right to face Cena in his final bout. We’ll hear Gunther’s final message to Cena ahead of Saturday’s historic matchup. He’s looking to end Cena’s career on a losing note after already doing the same to Goldberg earlier this year.
After successfully defending their titles over The New Day last week, AJ Styles and Dragon Lee will defend their WWE World Tag Team title belts against The War Raiders.
In two singles bouts, Lyra Valkyria will face Roxanne Perez while Finn Balor takes on Rey Mysterio.
An appearance from WWE Women’s World Champion Stephanie Vaquer will give some insight into what’s next for her after defending against Nikki Bella at Survivor Series.
Our live coverage begins at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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Show Recap —
Raw started with a video package highlighting the John Cena tournament, culminating with Gunther beating LA Knight in the finals on Friday.
Gunther kicks off Monday Night Raw
Gunther entered wearing all black and was roundly booed. The boos turned into chants for John Cena as Gunther egged them on.
Gunther said he would be the final opponent for the greatest sports entertainer of all time, but Cena would be facing the greatest professional wrestler of all time.
Gunther called Cena the man who never gave up. But beating Cena wasn’t enough. He would break Cena’s spirit, bully him, drop him on his head, wrap his arms around his neck, and squeeze until the last bits of hustle, loyalty, and respect left his body.
There was only one way out, and Cena would do the one thing he said he never would: give up.
Gunther dropped the mic and left.
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Rey Mysterio, Lyra Valkyria & Bayley, AJ Styles & Dragon Lee, Stephanie Vaquer, and Iyo Sky & Rhea Ripley were shown arriving earlier today.
Oba Femi was shown in the front row with his NXT Championship belt, and they plugged his (non-title) match against Cody Rhodes on Saturday Night’s Main Event.
Iyo Sky (w/ Rhea Ripley) vs. Tag Team Champion Kairi Sane (w/ Asuka)
Sky was about to go for a dive, but Asuka leaped on the apron to block it (as Sane distracted the referee). Sky went after Asuka, but Asuka dropped the rope, and Sky spilled out of the ring. Ripley confronted Asuka, and Sane used the distraction to knock down Sky with a leaping forearm off the apron. (There was another distraction spot during the break, and Ripley decided not to do anything about it this time.)
Sky fought back when they returned from break and hit a springboard missile dropkick and corner meteroa for two. Sky set up for a moonsault, but Sane quickly went up to block it and followed with a double foot stomp for two.
Sane tried a back drop on the apron, but Sky landed on her feet. Sane didn’t notice, so Sky gave her a German suplex on the apron. Sky followed with an Asai moonsault.
Sky set up for the moonsault in the ring again, but yet another Sane distraction allowed Asuka to interfere again, this time by knocking Sky off the top rope. Ripley had enough and dumped Asuka into the timekeeper’s area.
Sane failed to take advantage of the distraction, and Sky hit a moonsault for the pinfall win. Sane leaped into Ripley’s arms to celebrate.
Match result: Iyo Sky defeated Kairi Sane (11:34)
A perfectly good TV match, and the crowd was into Sky (and Ripley).
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Logan Paul approached the rest of the Vision backstage. He asked if they didn’t see Rey Mysterio smack him in the face last week. Bronson Reed said he didn’t like it. Bron Breakker seemed unperturbed. Logan wanted something to be done about it. The Brons stood up and said they would handle it tonight. Logan was glad.
Logan pulled Paul Heyman aside and said he wanted the situation handled tonight. Heyman assured him that, for the first time in his life, he had backup. Logan was cool with that, but wanted them to know he was their backup if needed. Heyman was happy to hear that, but handed him brass knuckles, just in case.
(Normally, it’s stupid when these stablemates seemingly don’t speak to each other when they’re not on the show, but it’s believable that the Brons don’t talk to Logan in their free time.)
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Mysterio walked through the back and walked by Adam Pearce, who was off to the side, arguing with The New Day.
There was a Cena video package about the ‘you can’t see me’ hand gesture.
There was a War Raiders video package.
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Rey Mysterio / Logan Paul / LA Knight segment
Mysterio made his way to the ring (presumably to face Finn Bálor) but was decked from behind by Logan Paul. Mysterio fought him off and set up for 619, but was attacked from behind by the masked man. The man superkicked Mysterio and hit a curb stomp before being chased away through the crowd by security.
Mysterio slowly got to his feet, but Logan knocked him out with the brass knuckles.
LA Knight ran out to his music, and Logan bailed. Knight said he would have an aneurysm if the masked man really was Seth Rollins. Knight wanted to stomp his head in. Knight said he thought the Vision couldn’t suck anymore, but then Logan joined them.
Knight was pissed off, and it didn’t help watching Logan attack a legend like Mysterio. Knight said Logan would pay, not on Friday or Saturday, but tonight in KC. Knight said “Yeah” over and over as the fans sang along.
The crowd was really into Knight here. Knight vs. Paul was made official after a break.
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The announcers congratulated Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson on being nominated for a Golden Globe for best male actor.
Je’Von Evan was shown in the crowd. Evans and Leon Slater will face AJ Styles and Dragon Lee on SNME.
World Tag Team Championships: AJ Styles & Dragon Lee vs. The War Raiders
Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, and Grayson Waller watched the match at ringside.
Erik and Ivar blocked early dive attempts by Styles and Dragon Lee. Erik drove Dragon into the barricade, and Ivar squished Styles into the side of the ring ahead of a break.
They worked over Styles until Dragon Lee got a hot tag and ran wild after a break. With Erik hanging upside down in the ropes (holding himself up), Dragon Lee hit a double foot stomp—a spot we saw in the opening match. (It’s ok to repeat spots, but maybe not that one.)
There was an ill-advised spot where Dragon Lee hoisted Ivar up on his shoulders for something, but he collapsed. The crowd cheered as Lee hoisted Ivar up again on his shoulders. He stumbled again, and Ivar tried to make up for it by pretending to counter. Dragon Lee tried it a third time and hit an accidental DVD that didn’t look like much. (The crowd was very forgiving.)
Lee continued to fight off both men on his own until Ivar powerslammed him outside the ring. Ivar followed with a moonsault, but Styles just barely broke up the cover. Erik got a two count on Styles with a knee strike.
Moments later, Styles used a hurricanrana to bring Ivar off the top rope, and Ivar collided with Erik on the way down. Dragon Lee wiped out Erik with a dive, and Styles hit Ivar with a Phenomenal Forearm for the pinfall win.
(This wasn’t the smoothest match you’ll ever see. It certainly wasn’t boring.)
Match result: AJ Styles & Dragon Lee defeated The War Raiders to retain the World Tag Team Championships (11:22)
The New Day and Waller approached Styles and Lee in the ring when Jey Uso’s music hit. The Usos entered together, and they ran the music back as the men in the ring patiently waited.
Jimmy Uso had a big announcement: The Usos were back in the tag division. They’ve been getting hit hard the past few months. They lost at WarGames and Wrestlepalooza. Jey lost his world title and lost in the Cena tournament. Jimmy saw his brother crashing out and knew he had to do something. He called Jey in the middle of the night and asked him what they would do about it.
Jey said they would get back to us. They would block the noise, body them all, and put the tag team on notice. The best damn tag team was now in your city. “We need gold. We need gold, Uce.”
The Usos meant no disrespect to the current champs, but said Styles and Lee didn’t know the Usos. But the New Day did. The Usos got in the faces of Kingston and Woods and compared their rivalry to Ali vs. Frazier and The Rock vs. Stone Cold. (This confrontation might’ve meant more if New Day weren’t ice cold.)
The Usos turned their attention to Styles and Lee until New Day tried to attack them from behind. The Usos decked Kingston and Woods. (Waller bailed.)
The Usos faced off with Styles and Lee as the segment ended.
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There was a Cena video package on his feud with The Rock.
SNME card (start time 8 pm ET / 5 pm PT):
- John Cena vs. Gunther — Cena’s retirement match
- Bayley vs. Sol Ruca
- World Tag Team Champions AJ Styles & Dragon Lee vs. Je’Von Evans & Leon Slater (non-title)
- WWE Champion Cody Rhodes vs. NXT Champion Oba Femi (non-title)
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Stephanie Vaquer segment
Jackie Redmond interviewed Stephanie Vaquer in the ring, although Vaquer quickly grabbed the mic to speak on her own. Vaquer said she wanted to face everyone. She didn’t talk much, but she spoke with her actions. She was the best—and not because of Devil’s Kiss.
Vaquer said Nikki Bella was a legend, but the women’s division was different than what it was 15 years ago. They had Ripley, Bayley, Natalya, Iyo Sky, and they were all amazing. Vaquer asked Bella if she knew who was on top.
Bella interrupted. Bella called herself a legend, a Hall of Famer and a celebrity, and she was not done with Vaquer. Bella demanded a rematch.
Raquel Rodriguez suddenly hopped the apron, effortlessly yanked Bella off the apron, and lawn darted her into the ring post. (That was a great spot, but Rodriguez didn’t get much of a reaction.)
Rodriguez confronted Vaquer. She told her to name the time and place so she could kick her ass and take the title.
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Byron Saxton interviewed Ivy Nile during a break, and she appeared with the Creed Brothers. Nile has an IC title shot against Maxxine Dupri next week. Nile didn’t care that Natayla, her old friend, was training Dupri. She said Dupri would drop the ball just like the KC Chiefs did yesterday (the crowd booed).
(Nile hasn’t wrestled on Raw since June, and her last televised win was over a year ago.)
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The Judgment Day met backstage. Bálor was happy he had an easy night after Mysterio got laid out.
Morgan was surprised that Rodriguez didn’t run her plan by her. Rodriguez said she didn’t realize she needed to. Morgan played it down and said it was cool. She wanted to see Rodriguez become world champion. Rodriguez was content and left to talk with Pearce.
Morgan turned her attention to Roxanne Perez and said they could be the next tag team champions.
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Sol Ruca was shown in the crowd. It’s been almost 30 minutes since the previous match ended.
Lyra Valkyria (w/ Bayley) vs. Roxanne Perez (w/ Liv Morgan)
WWE Raw and PLE recapper/reviewer. Contributed to WrestlingObserver.com as the SmackDown reviewer in the 2000s before turning to WONF4W in 2015.