Armageddon (2018)

The logo for Armageddon (2018)

**Armageddon (2018)** was a professional wrestling pay per view produced by War Hawks Entertainment Inc. for their Raw brand. It took place on Tuesday, January 29, 2019 from the Raising Cane's River Center Arena in Baton Rouge Louisiana. It was the second event in the WHEI Armageddon chronology, the 3rd Raw exclusive pay per view of Season 3, and the tenth pay per view of Season 3 overall.

## Background

The card consisted of matches that resulted from scripted storylines that played out on WHEI's Raw brand. Storylines played out on The War Hawks' weekly show on Twitch Monday Night Raw. Wrestlers portrayed heroes, villains, or less distinguishable characters as they built tension that lead to a match or series of matches heading into the event.

The primary feud heading into the event was between Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomasso Ciampa with the two feuding over the WHEI Universal Championship. At Raw's October pay per view Hell In A Cell, Nakamura defeated Samoa Joe in the titular structure to reclaim the title. He would then go on to compete in a triple threat match at Survivor Series against WWE Champion Daniel Bryan and LWL World Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles which was won by Bryan. The following Raw, Juggernaut announced that there would be a #1 Contenders Match later that night and the winner would face Nakamura at the pay per view. That night Ciampa defeated Drew McIntyre, The Miz, and Andrade "Cien" Almas to earn the right to face Nakamura at the event.

A secondary feud heading into the event was between Samoa Joe and War Hawks member Stephen, with the two feuding over the WHEI Intercontinental Championship. In the weeks leading up to Survivor Series, in an attempt to ensure no one man held every title on Raw, Raw Co-General Manager and EuroContinental Champion Juggernaut put himself in increasingly difficult matches in an effort to lose at least one of his Championships before the event. He would wind up losing both his titles, the Intercontinental Championship to Joe in an Ultimate Submission Match. The following Raw, Joe put out a challenge to anyone in the back to fight him for the title at Armageddon. His challenge was answered by Stephen who had been on a bit of a winning streak as of late. The match was later made official by Juggernaut for Armageddon.

Another feud heading into the event was between Savage & Canadian ("Macho Man" Randy Savage & Kevin Owens) and The Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Riley & Bobby Fish). With the two teams feuding over the WHEI Raw Tag Team Championship. At Hell In A Cell, Savage and Owens defeated The Club (Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson) to win the titles for the first time and put an end to their long rivalry. The Raw after Survivor Series, all four members of Undisputed Era (O'Riley, Fish, Adam Cole, and Roderick Strong) ambushed the champions and challenged them for the titles. They accepted and the match was made official for Armageddon.

Another rivalry heading into the event was between Asuka and Bianca Belair, with the two feuding over the WHEI Raw Women's Championship. After Asuka defeated Raw Co-General Manager Guardian at Hell In A Cell in the titular structure, she bragged that no one was ready for her and no one could beat her. This lead to Belair coming out and saying that not only was she ready, but she was undefeated as well. Guardian, fed up with Asuka's attitude and wanting someone to put her in her place, made the match official for the event.

Another rivalry heading into the event was between Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose with the two feuding over the WHEI European Championship. During the weeks leading up to Survivor Series, Rollins defeated Juggernaut to win the championship, ending his reign as the first WHEI European Champion. After Survivor Series, Rollins resumed his feud with former ally Ambrose who had betrayed him. Ambrose came out and said he had already taken the Intercontinental Championship from Rollins, and at Armageddon, he would take the European Championship from him as well. Shortly thereafter, a match between the two was made official.

Another feud heading into the event is between Beth Phoenix, Nia Jax, and Sherania with the 3 feuding over the WHEI Women's Intercontinental Championship. At Evolution Phoenix won a tri-branded 6 woman over the top rope battle royal to become the first champion. By virtue of the title being defended on all brands Phoenix agreed to put her title on the line against any competitors from any of the other brands. This led to Ironman scheduling a match between the three at Armageddon.

## Event

### Preliminary matches

The event opened with Seth Rollins defending the WHEI European Championship against Dean Ambrose. After a great back and forth match where both men hit their finishers multiple times for several near falls Rollins kicked out of a Dirty Deeds and hit Ambrose with a King Slayer to win the match and retain the championship.

Next was a match between Raw Co-General Manager Juggernaut and Triple H. After a long hard fought match Triple H hit the Juggernaut with a fifth Pedigree, which busted the General Manager open and pinned him to pick up the win.

After that was a match for the WHEI Raw Tag Team Championship with Savage & Canadian ("Macho Man" Randy Savage & Kevin Owens) defending against The Undisputed Era (Kyle O'Reilly & Bobby FIsh). In the end despite essentially cutting the ring in half and laying a severe beating on Savage, O'Reilly & Fish were unable to get the victory as Savage hit two consecutive Diving Double Axe Handles on O'Reilly and pinned him while Owens took out Fish to win the match and retain the title.

Then was a tri-branded Triple Threat Match for the WHEI Women's Intercontinental Championship in which the champion Beth Phoenix from Raw defended against LWL's Nia Jax and SmackDown's Sherania. After a brief but very good match Nia hit Sherania with a pop up Samoan Drop after tossing Beth out of the ring to win the match and the championship.

This was followed by a match for the WHEI Intercontinental Championship with War Hawks member Stephen challenging Samoa Joe for the title. After a brief match involving a very good showing from Stephen, Joe hit a Chimeraplex and pinned him to retain the championship.

The penultimate match was for the WHEI Raw Women's Championship with Asuka defending against Bianca Belair. After a decent match in which both women hit both their finishers and had several close calls including a beautiful 450 Splash from the challenger, Asuka locked Bianca in an Armbar and forced her to submit to win the match and retain the championship.

### Main event

The main event was for the WHEI Universal Championship between Tomasso Ciampa and champion Shinsuke Nakamura. After a very brief match that was hindered by internet issues, Ciampa hit Nakamura with two consecutive Project Ciampa's to win the match and become the new Universal Champion.