Christopher Daniels def. ROH World Tag Team Champion Jay Briscoe by DisqualificationI don't know if this was done intentionally, but The Briscoes and SoCal Uncensored will be facing off at All In this coming Saturday, so this served as nice hype for that bout even if Daniels won't be involved and will be taking on Stephen Amell instead. This was a well-wrestled opening match while it lasted between two seasoned Ring of Honor veterans before Mark Briscoe interfered to cause the contest to be thrown out. I assume a win from SoCal on Saturday will earn them a future shot at the tag titles. Flip Gordon def. Silas YoungThese two clashed for the ROH World Television Championship only a few short months ago, but Gordon has grown as a performer (and character) exponentially since then. They produced a very fun, hard-hitting match where the crowd was solidly behind Gordon from start to finish. This was an awesome performance from Gordon that proved he was not only on Young's level but better than him as well via the victory. I'm not sure why Bully Ray attacked Gordon afterward because I thought that rivalry wrapped up a while ago, but apparently not. At least there's the possibility of a Bully and Young alliance as was teased here.
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Akira Tozawa def. The Brian KendrickTozawa and Kendrick have plenty of history from the first half of 2017 and they rekindled their rivalry here after Kendrick and Gentleman Jack Gallagher crashed Tozawa vs. Colin Delaney last week before it could begin. This was a good match, but the crowd had zero reason to get invested in the action because it wasn't anything above average. If nothing else, Tozawa scored a meaningful victory for a change. Hideo Itami vs. Michael Blaise Ended in a No ContestI have no doubt that the jobber Itami faced here was given the name he was because he strongly resembled Michael P.S. Hayes, and WWE loves to take shots at their own employees by naming local athletes after them. At any rate, this was effective in getting more heat on Itami and establishing him as a ruthless badass. That led nicely into the return of Mustafa Ali, who has been out injured for weeks thanks to Itami. They'll settle their score soon enough.
King Booker Celebrated with SmackDown Tag Team Champions The New DayYou had to know New Day would go all out following their SmackDown Tag Team Championship victory on last week's show, but Booker T showing up was a totally unexpected and a cool surprise. It was fitting, too, since New Day are now five-time tag team champs and Booker is, of course, known for referring to himself as a five-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion. This was a ton of fun and definitely a different way of kicking off the show than usual, which is what I appreciated most about it. The Bar def. The Colons and Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows in a Triple Threat Tag Team Match to Advance in the SmackDown TaG Team Championship TournamentMan, SmackDown really does like their tag team tournaments, eh? In all seriousness, I will say that it is a nice way of establishing new No. 1 contenders to the championship without just giving a random team a title shot. This was a well-wrestled, enjoyable match on the whole even if the outcome was never once in doubt. I honestly forgot The Colons were still on the roster before they resurfaced here (I believe they hadn't wrestled a televised matchup together since June 2017).
No Way Jose def. Tyler BreezeBoth guys are babyfaces, so it was a weird dynamic and thus the crowd didn't really know who to cheer for here, but I appreciated that it was a fresh match and not a rehash of Jose vs. Curt Hawkins for the umpteenth time. They put together a nice little bout, but Breeze is so much better than this. I can't say I'm surprised the guy is still relegated to enhancement talent status even though his tag team partner Fandango is out injured for the time being, but it would be cool if the company actually gave him a chance to shine against a guy like Seth Rollins one of these days and let him take Rollins to his limit. Ruby Riott def. Ember MoonThis was an interesting case where these two have actually been feuding on the main roster lately and their storyline was furthered on Main Event, which rarely ever happens. In fact, Moon has been at odds with The Riott Squad long before Riott returned to the ring from injury. They have history from NXT as well, so they have that established chemistry and worked well together here. It was an enjoyable affair, and while I could have done without all the interference from Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan at ringside, it protected Moon in defeat and gave Riott a notable victory (Moon has lost only one other singles match since arriving on Raw).
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