WWE Raw: Sasha Banks earns title shot against Ronda Rousey at Royal Rumble
Wednesday 9 January 2019 13:37, UK
Sasha Banks will compete for the Raw women's championship when she takes on Ronda Rousey at the Royal Rumble later this month.
Banks earned her shot at Rousey's gold by defeating Nia Jax in an impromptu match on Raw after the pair had come to verbal blows on Alexa Bliss' talk show segment, A Moment of Bliss.
Rousey had spoken glowingly of the talents of Banks, who is a four-time Raw women's champion but has not held the belt since August 2017, an appraisal which drew out Jax to make her own claim for a title shot.
WWE Late Night Raw
With Bayley for back-up, Banks took the fight to Jax and eventually overcame her with a clean tap-out victory via a Banks Statement in the centre of the ring.
As a result, it is The Boss who will face the undefeated Rousey at the Rumble, live on Sky Sports Box Office on January 27.
Lashley costs Rollins his title chance
Seth Rollins had his former Shield partner Dean Ambrose beat for his Universal title on Raw, only to see the chance to regain the gold snatched away from him by Bobby Lashley.
Rollins and Ambrose had taken several lumps out of each other in a gruelling Falls Count Anywhere match which even saw the action spill to the backstage area.
The Kingslayer put himself in position to regain the championship - which he lost to Ambrose at TLC - with a picture-perfect Stomp after 14 minutes of non-stop action.
But before Rollins could make the cover, Lashley dragged him out and put a ringside beating on him before - literally - giving Ambrose a helping hand for the win.
Cena confirms Rumble entry
John Cena will be in this year's Royal Rumble, although his declaration for the event was interrupted by a certain Scottish Psycopath.
Drew McIntyre was happy to call Cena "the greatest of all time" but went on to talk about how he has made a habit of 'destroying' the greats of WWE, whether that's The Shield or Kurt Angle.
"I've come for you now," was his message to Cena, which led to the emergence of Bobby Lashley and, eventually, a six-man match between Cena, Rollins and Finn Balor, and McIntyre, Lashley and Ambrose.
Rollins beat Ambrose with the Stomp in that one, but - as it would transpire later in the night - it was a contest which took a lot out of him.
