Welcome to Fightful.com's live coverage & discussion for the final show for WWE's red brand ahead of the 2022 Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Monday Night RAW! We'll be bringing you full, fight-by-fight results of every match on the card.
— The show begins, Jimmy Smith and Byron Saxton are on commentary and welcome us to the show and their third partner, Corey Graves is in the ring to host the weigh-in between WWE Champion Brock Lesnar and his challenger for this weekend's Royal Rumble pay-per-view, Bobby Lashley, who makes his way out to the ring alongside MVP. Graves beings to introduce Lesnar but Paul Heyman cuts him off, comes out and 'properly' introduces the WWE Champion Brock Lesnar, who makes his way out. Graves tells Lesnar that his plaid shirt and cowboy hat isn't suitable attire for a weigh-in, Lesnar asks Graves if he'd like for him to strip naked and tells him to get on with it. Graves asks Lashley to step on the scale, he does and weighs-in at 273-pounds. MVP grabs a mic and says Lashley's closer to a God than a man and he's 273-pounds of bottled lightning that Lesnar will have to contend with at the Royal Rumble. MVP says Lashley knew this match wasn't impossible like a lot of fans did, he knew it was inevitable. Graves asks Lesnar to step on the scale next and to perhaps remove some of his clothing. Lesnar removes his hat and steps up onto the scale and weighs-in at 286-pounds. Lashley says he's getting pissed off and Lesnar knows he's about to lose his title this Saturday and says this will be the shortest title reign of Lesnar's career...and that's not a prediction, that's a spoiler. Lesnar tells Heyman that on Sunday morning, hot off the press, it'll read Bobby Lashley defeats Brock Lesnar in the Hurt Lock and there's a new reigning, defending, WWE Heavyweight Champion of the world, Bobby WHO? Lesnar drops the mic and he and Heyman make their way out of the ring. A video package is shown of Bianca Belair winning the 2021 Royal Rumble match and going on to defeat Sasha Banks in the main event of WrestleMania 37 to capture the WWE SmackDown Women's Champion. Bianca Belair then makes her way to the ring and she's set for action after the break.
Bianca Belair vs. Queen Zelina Vega
— Bianca tosses Zelina around the ring then holds her above her head for awhile, goes for a suplex but Zelina reverses it into a cutter then drills Bianca with a super-kick. Bianca gets back on the offensive and looks for a press-slam, Zelina slides out and ends up on Bianca's back and locks-in a sleeper hold. Bianca powers out, lays out Zelina with a slam, bounces off the ropes, does a back-flip but misses a moonsault, Zelina runs towards her, Bianca catches her and plants her with the KOD and gets the 1-2-3 for the win!
Winner - Bianca Belair
— We then see Kevin Owens backstage, Kevin Patrick approaches and asks him about his win over Damian Priest last week. Owens says he wasn't faking an injury and renders Patrick's opinion moot. Owens says because of his win last night, he has a championship opportunity tonight and tells Patrick to read the back of his shirt, which reads 'Just Keep Fightin''. Owens says that's exactly what he plans to do. United States Champion Damian Priest makes his way out to the ring and he'll defend his title against the aforementioned Owens after the break.
Damian Priest (C) vs. Kevin Owens — United States Championship
— Owens looks for a stunner to start, Priest slides out of danger, tosses Owens into the corner but Owens is the one who starts unloading shots. Owens tosses Priest into the opposite corner, Priest nails him with a boot to the face, Owens stymies the champion's momentum with a running clothesline then a follow-up senton, goes for the cover but Priest kicks out at two. Owens looks for another clothesline, Priest catches him, Owens powers out and lays him out with an elbow, Priest tosses Owens to the side, Owens slides out of the ring, Priest fakes a dive out, then gets a super-kick blocked, Owens knocks Priest down with another elbow, then goes on the apron and nails Priest with a diving senton but the champion kips up and wallops Owens with a choke-slam onto the apron and we head to a commercial break. Back from the break and Priest is on the attack inside of the ring, Priest nails Owens with an inverted DDT, goes for the cover but Owens kicks out after a count of two. Priest puts Owens on the top rope, then follows him up there but Owens ends up drilling Priest with a diving bulldog from the top, Owens goes right back up and comes crashing down on Priest with a splash, goes for the cover but Priest is able to lift the shoulders at two-and-a-half. Owens looks for the pop-up power-bomb, Priest blocks it and lays the challenger out with a super-kick, goes for the cover but Owens stays alive after kicking out at two. Owens tries the same strategy that he did last week and fake an injury but Priest continues the attack, the referee stops him for a moment, Owens grabs rolls Priest up, grabs a hand full of tights but Priest kicks out at two, gets right up and drills Owens with a super-kick. Owens crawls to the bottom turnbuckle, Priest beats him down, the referee warns him of a possible disqualification, Priest ignores it and continues to beat Owens down and the referee disqualifies the champion
Winner - Kevin Owens via DQ, Damian Priest Retains
— We then see a video package of Nikki A.S.H.'s attack on Rhea Ripley last week. We then see Rhea in a pre-taped backstage promo. Rhea says while she still has Nikki on her mind, she's focused on winning this weekend's Women's Royal Rumble match and officially enters herself into the match. Dana Brooke then does the same, as does Liv Morgan. Rhea Ripley then makes her way to the ring and a six-women tag team match will go down after the break.
Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan & Dana Brooke vs. Nikki A.S.H., Carmella & Tamina
— Tamina and Dana start this one off, Tamina tosses Dana around and the latter quickly tags-in Rhea, who lays Tamina out then drills her with a clothesline, a head-butt, a fisherman suplex and then goes for the cover but Tamina kicks out at two. Tamina escapes Rhea's attack and tags-in Carmella but Rhea immediately locks her in The Riptide and Carmella quickly taps-out and this one is over!
Winners - Rhea Ripley, Liv Morgan & Dana Brooke
— After the match, Nikki A.S.H. sneak attacks Rhea and quickly scurries off and out of the ring-side area. We then see a video package of last week's events between the RAW Tag Team Champions Alpha Academy (Chad Gable & Otis) and Randy Orton and Riddle of RK-Bro. Alpha Academy then make their way out to the ring for their 'Spelling Bee' against RK-Bro, which is coming up after the break.
— Back from the break and Kevin Patrick is in the ring as our host for tonight's Academic Challenge. Patrick welcomes the RAW Tag Team Champions, Chad Gable and Otis of Alpha Academy. Gable says they'll compete in a series of three events over the coming weeks. Gable reminds everyone that he graduated with a Master's Degree and a 4.0 GPA. Gable says this challenge will prove that Otis isn't only the brawn, but also the brains and they're about to put RK-Bro into a mental submission. Gable announces that he and Otis have officially entered themselves into the 2022 Royal Rumble match. Patrick introduces Randy Orton and Riddle of RK-Bro, who make their way down to the ring. Patrick announces the winner of tonight's Spelling Bee will get to choose next week's event. Otis' word is 'Emmental', which he spells correctly. Next up is Riddle, who's word is 'calibration', which he apparently knows from weighing 'stuff' in 'ounces and stuff' and he spells it correctly. Gable's next and receives the word 'disillusion', which he spells incorrectly because he thought the word was 'dissolution', apparently due to Patrick's Irish accent. Orton tells Gable to sit down and Orton gets the word 'dumbbell', which he nails. Gable has great umbrage with Orton getting the word dumbbell and says Riddle's a dumbbell, Orton screams at Gable, asks the crowd if he should shut Gable up right here, right now and challenges Gable to a match, Gable seemingly accepts and Orton spells out RKO with some help from the fans and we'll see that match after the break.
Randy Orton (with Riddle) vs. Chad Gable (with Otis)
— Orton starts out hot, works over Gable for awhile and lays him out with a running clothesline. Gable eats a shoulder to the chest but drags Orton to the mat with a pair of arm drags then works over Orton's left arm, looks for another arm drag, Orton goes for the RKO, Gable pushes off and slides out of the ring and talks strategy with Otis. Gable gets back in the ring, Orton's the one now working over the limbs but Gable trips him with a drop toe-hold and Orton now slides out of the ring and talks with Riddle. Orton gets back in the ring and Gable chops him in the throat and begins to unload strikes to a cornered Orton. Gable eats up the boos from the crowd but Orton uses the distraction and starts to fight back but Gable rolls out of the ring but this time, Orton follows him out and delivers a side suplex to Gable on top of the announce table. Orton tosses Gable back into the ring, Otis distracts Orton, Gable dives at and takes out Orton's legs and we head to a commercial break. Back from the break and Gable's working over Orton's leg, Orton powers away and nails Gable with his patented back-breaker to regain momentum. Orton tosses Gable through the middle rope and plants him with a DDT. Orton starts banging on the mat, looks for the RKO, Otis drills Riddle with an overhead suplex on the outside, Gable dives out of the way of the RKO but Orton lays him out with a slam. Orton looks for the punt kick, Gable rolls out of the way and locks-in an ankle lock on Orton. On the outside, Riddle starts going to town on Otis with his scooter, Orton rolls Gable into the turnbuckle and nails him with an RKO and gets the three-count on the ensuing pin-fall for the win!
Winner - Randy Orton
— After the match, Riddle grabs a mic and says next week, he and Orton will face Gable and Otis in a scooter race.
Austin Theory vs. AJ Styles
— AJ locks up Theory to start, Theory pushes out, AJ with the roll-up, Theory kicks-out, another roll-up by AJ, another kick out by Theory then AJ drop-kicks Theory out of the ring and dives over the top rope and drills Theory with a forearm on the outside. AJ tosses Theory back in the ring, Theory nails him with a left hand then trips AJ into the bottom turnbuckle and unloads with a bevy of kicks, goes for the cover but AJ gets the shoulder up at two. Theory locks-in a choke on AJ but the grand-slam champion knocks Theory back with an elbow then slides his knee across the forehead of Theory, goes for the cover but the latter's able to kick out after a count of two. AJ plants Theory with a snap-suplex, goes for another cover but Theory, again kicks out at two. Theory knocks AJ down with a trip, lays into him with a pair of stomps, tosses him into the corner, then fires him into the opposite corner and over the turnbuckle before drilling him with a hammer-first right to the side of Styles' head. AJ knocks Theory back with a forearm, goes for a suplex but Theory counters and puts Styles on the top rope. Theory follows AJ up to the top rope, goes for the super-plex, AJ pushes Theory off but Theory sends AJ flying out of the ring with a jumping drop-kick and we head to a commercial break. Back from the break and Theory blasts AJ with an overhead slam, goes for the cover but 'The Phenomenal One' kicks out at two. AJ nails Theory with a running clothesline, then a bevy of strikes and lays him out with a forearm and plants Theory with a neck-breaker then a sliding forearm to the face and goes for the cover but Theory's able to kick out at two. Theory comes right back and does a wild rolling, then jumping overhead neck-breaker, goes for the cover but AJ kicks out after two-and-a-half. Theory puts AJ on the top rope, goes for a super-plex but AJ slides through his legs and trips him uo, Theory goes for a power-bomb, AJ slides to the side and nails Theory with a Pelé kick right to the temple. Both men struggle to their feet, AJ goes for the Styles Clash, Theory counters into the ATL but Styles rolls through and locks-in the Calf Crusher but Theory gets to the ropes and forces the referee to break the hold. Theory rolls AJ up and puts is legs on the ropes as leverage but the referee sees it and stops the count. Styles knocks Theory back, jumps on the apron and lays out Theory with the phenomenal forearm and gets the 1-2-3 for the win!
Winner - AJ Styles
— We then see a promo hyping up WWE 2K22 before we head to a commercial break.
— Back from the break and Jimmy Smith, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton interview RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch and her challenger at the Royal Rumble, Doudrop. Smith begins to ask Doudrop a question but Becky cuts him off and says she'll start because she's the champion. Becky says Doudrop idolized her growing up across the pond and says many people may wonder who in their right mind would fight someone like Doudrop, Becky says maybe she's not in her right mind or maybe she's that confident that she can beat her. Doudrop says ever since Becky returned she's been desperate to hang onto her title and Becky hand-picked her because she's the new girl and it might be an easy match but the only thing that's going to be easy is breaking Becky's ribs. Becky says Doudrop should've thanked her for giving her the spotlight and allowing her to be in the biggest match of her career on one of the biggest stages in professional wrestling. Becky says she's the reason Doudrop is in this position and at the Royal Rumble, she'll just be another woman on the list of people she's beaten. Doudrop says all Becky does is nag and whine. Doudrop says Becky's not a goat, she's just a lamb on the way to the slaughter. Becky tells Doudrop to know her place, Doudrop takes her mic off, Becky says Doudrop can't run from her then Doudrop runs to the room Becky's in and attacks her as WWE officials break it up and we head back to the ring-side area and we see highlights from last week's eight-man tag match where the Street Profits and Rey & Dominik Mysterio defeated Dolph Ziggler, Robert Roode, Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez. Backstage, we see Rey and Dominik who are approached by Sarah Schreiber. Sarah asks Rey how it feels to be on the cover of WWE 2K22, Rey says it's one of the biggest honors of his career and the only thing that would be better, is to see Dominik on the cover one day. Dominik says that would be a real honor but he's just focused on winning the Royal Rumble, Saturday night. Rey laughs and says if Dominik wins the Royal Rumble, that would mean he would need to eliminate his father, Dominik laughs and says after Rey's 'little stunt' after their match last week, he's going to be the first one he eliminates. We cut back to the the ring and Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins of the Street Profits are making their way to the ring and they'll be in action after the break.
Street Profits (Montez Ford & Angelo Dawkins) vs. Rey & Dominik Mysterio
— Angelo and Dominik start this one off. Dominik hits Angelo with a hurricanrana, then a flying arm drag but Angelo stymies the momentum with a spinning back kick to the face, goes for the cover but Dominik is able to lift the shoulders in-time. Dominik tosses Angelo out of the ring then goes flying through the middle ropes and takes Angelo out, Rey and Montez brawl in the ring, Rey gets tossed out by Montez and the latter goes absolutely airborne over the top rope and takes out both Rey and Dominik as we head to a commercial break. Back from the break and Angelo tosses Dominik to the mat with a clothesline, goes for the cover but Dominik kicks out at two. Angelo locks-in a choke on Dominik, who's trying to power out and tag-in his father Rey, Dominik plants Angelo with a flying DDT, both men crawl to their respective corners and both make the tag. Rey takes out Montez, then goes up top and lands a double leg drop, Montez kips up and takes out Rey with a slam, goes for the cover but Rey kicks out. Dominik goes for a double-team move on Montez but Angelo drags Dominik out of the ring, Rey sets up Montez for the 619 but Montez catches his legs through the ropes, drags him back in the ring but Rey slides through and rolls Montez up for the three-count and the win!
Winners - Rey & Dominik Mysterio
— After the match, Dominik tries to toss Rey over the top rope but Rey reverses it into a hurricanrana over the top rope, Montez tosses Rey out, Angelo tosses Montez out then Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode come out of nowhere and toss Angelo out. Montez, Angelo, Rey and Dominik all come back in and tosses Ziggler and Roode out then the four stare each other down in four separate corners, we then cut backstage and see Seth Rollins with Kevin Patrick who'll speak with Rollins after the break.
— Back from the break and we see a highlight video of what happened on last Friday's edition of SmackDown between Seth Rollins, WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Jimmy & Jey Uso. We then see Rollins, who's backstage with Kevin Patrick. Rollins says he's beaten Reigns before and this Saturday will be no different Rollins says he has Reigns' number, and they both know that he [Rollins] is the only one who can put Reigns in his place. Rollins says he'll see Reigns this Friday night.
— We cut back to the ring where The Miz is making his way down to the ring to host Maryse's 39th birthday. The ring is full of gifts and decorations and we head to a commercial break ahead of the festivities. Back from the break and commentary announces that Hall of Famer Shawn Michaels will be on tonight's edition of RAW Talk to preview this weekend's Royal Rumble event. Back in the ring, Miz hypes he and Maryse's match against Edge and Beth Phoenix, set for this weekend and says that tonight, we celebrate his wife and Saturday we'll celebrate the 'It Couple' defeating the 'Grit Couple'. Miz introduces the aforementioned Maryse, who makes her way to the ring. Miz calls for a drum roll. Maryse opens a gift and it's a painting of she and Miz. Maryse talks about how he's made her feel more special than ever, Miz says he paid a lot of money for security to protect the ring-side area to make sure this celebration isn’t interfered with. Miz hands Maryse another gift and it’s a purse covered in diamonds, and it says ' no limit' because there are no limits to their love. Maryse asks to open the massive gold gift, Miz says he didn’t get her that gift, he thought that was something she got for him. Miz calls for security to come and open the gift. There’s a brick sitting on a table inside the gift, the same brick Maryse had in her purse when she hit Beth on last week's show. Miz laughs shows us footage of Maryse's attack on Beth. Miz says it’s time for everyone to stand up and sing Happy Birthday, he counts down to 3 but has to stop and yell at the crowd to stop booing and to count. He starts the count again and this time he starts singing along and then Edge's music hits and he makes his way down to the ring alongside Beth Phoenix. Edge says this security won’t help Miz on Saturday because he has a pissed off 'Rated R Superstar' and a pissed off 'Glamazon', and they’re coming to the ring to show why that’s bad for Miz and Maryse. Edge and Beth start attacking the security guards then they rush the ring and destroy the decorations then go right for Miz and Maryse but the 'It Couple' escape and scurry out of the ring and watch on from afar as the show goes off-the-air.
