Bobby Lashley and Mickie James def. Jinder Mahal and Alicia FoxSimilar to Alexa Bliss, Sasha Banks is out of the Mixed Match Challenge due to injury and replacing her as Lashley's partner is Mickie James. She and Lashley were an odd pairing on paper, but they ended up gelling well together by the end of this outing. Plus, I give credit to Mahal and Fox for making their tandem work even though I had no interest in seeing them team up. It was a fine little match, yet nothing terribly exciting. The Miz and Asuka def. R-Truth and CarmellaMiz and Asuka are the defending champions from last season, but with Asuka no longer undefeated, it makes her matches in Season 2 a bit more unpredictable. That said, it was fairly obvious her and Miz were running through Truth and Carmella here. Miz and Truth already had a one-on-one match earlier in the evening on SmackDown Live, so I appreciated that they went for something different with the comedy and it paid off. It was an enjoyable encounter all things considered.
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The Miz def. R-TruthMiz and Truth will be facing off on Mixed Match Challenge after SmackDown Live, hence Truth's heavy involvement at the start of the show and his match with Miz. Truth TV was a chaotic mess (largely because of Truth and Carmella), but I actually enjoyed it because of the strong verbal exchange between Daniel Bryan and Miz. The subsequent match was fine for what it was and gave Miz his win back over Truth from two weeks ago. Sheamus def. SmackDown Tag Team Champion Big EYou had to know Sheamus was winning here to allow The Bar to continue building momentum ahead of Super Show-Down, where he and Cesaro will vie for The New Day's SmackDown Tag Team Championship. Mind you, they did nothing to earn the opportunity, so they need as many victories as possible prior to the event. As for this match, it was well-wrestled and fun while it lasted.
No Way Jose and Zack Ryder def. Mike Kanellis and Mojo RawleyThese four guys have had countless singles matches against each other on Main Event in recent months, so instead of taking the tired route of having them face off one-on-one again, they were thrown into a tag team match together, which I thought was a much better idea. It was also way more fun as a result and it had a good pace to it. Ryder and Jose were a fun pairing as well. Apollo Crews def. Tyler BreezeCrews has quietly been picking up victory after victory and building momentum on Main Event in singles competition. As I've said on countless occasions in the past, he's an exceptional athlete and I'm happy to see him getting more opportunities to shine on his own. Even the commentators mentioned the roll he's been on since breaking away from Titus Worldwide. I doubt it will translate to anything on Raw, but a guy can hope. At any rate, this was a very entertaining match while it lasted. Crews and Breeze still have chemistry from their NXT days years ago, so I can't say I was surprised by that.
Acting Raw General Manager Baron Corbin Interrupted The ShieldRaw opening with any combination of The Shield, Corbin, Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre has become so damn predictable by this point and sets the wrong tone for the rest of the night. In order to spice up the six-man tag team match that will be taking place at WWE Super Show-Down between the two trios, the heels started to tease Dean Ambrose turning on his partners, which has been rumored for weeks. I'm sure that will happen eventually, but because WWE is now pushing that as a possibility, it won't any time soon. After all, The Shield just reunited and to break them up this early in their reunion would be a mistake. Finn Balor def. Jinder MahalBoth Balor and Mahal couldn't be more directionless at the moment. Mahal not doing anything of note doesn't bother me as much as Balor, who has been spinning his wheels for months. They're involved in the Mixed Match Challenge and this was designed to serve as hype for that, so in that respect, it was a success. It was a fine match on the whole, only made memorable by Mahal attacking the healthy Singh Brother afterward. Considering he did the same thing a year ago and nothing came of it, however, I doubt it will lead anywhere.
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