Raw results 2/1 – Road to Royal Rumble in full swing as Goldberg returns

WWE kicked-off 2017 with a Monday Night Raw that switched it’s full focus onto this month’s Royal Rumble, with the return of Goldberg.

The night began with a new-look Mick Foley introducing us to 2017 and dealing with a disgruntled Chris Jericho and WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens, still reeling from Foley’s decision to put Jericho in a shark cage during Owen’s defense of his title against Roman Reigns later this month. Their complaints to both Foley and then Stephanie McMahon fell on deaf ears and instead Jericho was booked in a US Championship match against Reigns, while Owens would face Seth Rollins - with the loser banned from ringside during the US Title bout. Owens was also informed that he would be hosting the first ever ‘Kevin Owens Show’ later that night with guest, Goldberg.

Owens was immediately in action following that exchange and it saw the Universal Champion lose to Rollins via a disqualification when he attacked ‘The Architect’ with the ring bell and therefore was banned from ringside during best friend Jericho’s championship match. That title encounter had an added stipulation of the belt exchanging hands if Reigns was disqualified or counted-out and it almost played into the challengers hands. When Jericho attempted to fool the ref into thinking Roman had hit him with the belt, however the official could not be persuaded and without the help of KO, Reigns retained his crown.

The night wasn’t complete for the two best friends though, and the Canadian pair closed proceedings with the first ever Kevin Owens show. Before we were introduced to guest Goldberg, Y2J revealed he’d be entering the Royal Rumble, but was soon warned by the WCW icon that he’s first in line as Goldberg looks towards a WrestleMania meeting with whoever the Universal Champion is. This prompted an interruption from Paul Heyman who championed Brock Lesnar’s credentials for the match, and then Roman Reigns joined in the fun and got into a stare down Goldberg. Finally, Braun Strowman then laid claim to his credentials only to suffer a double spear from Reigns and Goldberg to end the show.

Strowman entered the fray after earlier in the night defeating Sami Zayn in a Last Man Standing Match - even if the Canadian put up a bigger fight with the ‘Monster Among Men’ than any previous opponents. But the night eneded with Zayn on a stretcher, following the brutal match and then post-match attack from Strowman. 

Elsewhere Bayley became the number one contender for the Raw Women’s Title by defeating Nia Jax - even without Stephanie McMahon believing in her. Cesaro suffered a defeat at the hands of Karl Anderson and there were cruiserweight victories for Drew Gulak and TJ Perkins.

Full results for Monday Night Raw 2 January show;

Seth Rollins defeated WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens via disqualification

Karl Anderson defeated Cesaro

Braun Strowman defeated Sami Zayn in a Last Man Standing Match

Xavier Woods defeated Titus O’Neil

Drew Gulak defeated Cedric Alexander

Roman Reigns defeated Chris Jericho to retain the WWE United States Championship

TJ Perkins defeated Brian Kendrick

Rusev and Jinder Mahal defeated Big Cass

Bayley defeated Nia Jax to become the number one contender to the WWE Raw Women’s Championship

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