Coming off Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe both getting involved in this week’s Tag Team title main event, Reigns vs. Cesaro, Joe vs. Dean Ambrose, and Seth Rollins vs. Sheamus are set for Monday. Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Rollins & Ambrose from this week was restarted as a no DQ match after Cesaro & Sheamus were initially disqualified. Joe came out to attack The Shield team before being chased off by Reigns, with Cesaro & Sheamus retaining in the midst of everything that was going on.
Joe’s program with Reigns began towards the end of last month when he ambushed Reigns from behind and tried to choke him out after Reigns had defended his Intercontinental Championship against Elias.
Braun Strowman vs. Kane is also scheduled for Monday’s Raw, along with a cruiserweight number one contender’s match between Rich Swann and Drew Gulak. The winner of Swann vs. Gulak will get the next shot at Enzo Amore’s title.
The Big Takeaway: A strong in-ring program with very good matches top to bottom. In the main event, Sheamus and Cesaro retained the Raw Tag Team Championships against Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. At first, Sheamus and Cesaro were disqualified, but Kurt Angle came out to restart the match. Then Samoa Joe interfered, leading to Cesaro pinning Ambrose after Sheamus delievered a Brogue Kick. Reigns defeated Jason Jordan, whose gradual heel turn continues. Matt Hardy is officially doing his Broken character, or in this case, his “woken” character in a program with Bray Wyatt. He’s got the Broken accent and everything.
Show Recap:
Kurt Angle came out. Angle announced Reigns would defend the Intercontinental Championship, but before he could announce his opponent, Jason Jordan walked out. Fans booed the living hell out of Jordan. He said he wanted Reigns. Angle said Jordan couldn’t be serious because his knee was still injured. Jordan said he’s been in the ring with Reigns, John Cena, Strowman, Kane and he knows he can beat Reigns. This brought Reigns out, who got a slightly better reaction than Jordan. Reigns said he was a fighting champion, so he would tell Angle who he was going to fight and it wasn’t going to be Jordan, it was going to be Joe. Crowd liked that idea much better. Reigns told Jordan if Jordan wanted an opportunity, he shouldn’t run to his daddy. Jordan said Reigns was one to talk about earning opportunity because Reigns was the posterboy for getting opportunity after opportunity. Reigns said that Jordan was right about one thing, he’s on a lot of posters. Joe said his patience has worn thin and he accept Reigns challenge. Joe gave Reigns five second to withdraw his challenge because Reigns knows he can’t beat him. Jordan spoke up and said he didn’t have to come out talk tough, unlike Joe he is tough. Jordan said he doesn’t have to come out and attack people from behind, he comes out and issues challenges just like he’s doing right now.
Reigns told Jordan to back off and told Joe his five seconds were up. Then Jordan gave Reigns an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Reigns sold it for a second, then got up and told Joe he would have to wait until later tonight. Jordan was going to get his right now and ordered Angle to make the match at once.
Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns defeated Jason Jordan to retain the Intercontinental Championship (20:35)
Reigns hit a DDT for a near fall, then immediately but Jordan in a half crab. After a long struggle where Jordan failed to make the ropes, Jordan countered with a small package for a near fall. Reigns quickly hit a Superman punch, but Jordan kicked out at two. Crowd always pops whenever Reigns’ opponent kicks out of the first Superman punch, even though he never gets the pin after the first punch. Reigns’ attempted the spear, but Jordan kicked him, hit a Northern Lights Suplex, then followed with a rolling Northern Lights suplex. Referee got confused and botched the count, getting two. Jordan attempted the hoist neckbreaker, but Reigns landed on his feet to hit the Superman punch, followed by the spear for the pin. Very good match. Reigns’ first attempt at the Superman punch was blocked when Jordan hit a dropkick. Jordan attempted his hoist neckbreaker, but Joe landed an uppercut that knocked him out of the ring. Reigns left the ring, jumped off the steps and attempted the Superman punch, but Jordan caught Reigns and rammed him into the post. Reigns worked over Jordan outside the ring early, sending him into the ring steps and giving him the Drive-By. Jordan made his comeback picking up Reigns and sending him into corner before Reigns missed a shoulder charge and crashed into the post, a regular Angle spot Reigns sold his left shoulder very well. Jordan has added some heel facials so he’s all but turned. Joe watched the match from the top of the ramp in a chair.
After the match, Joe said maybe the kid wore Reigns out and he was going to go down to the ring to put Reigns to sleep. Joe put Reigns in the Coquina Clutch, but Jordan came up from behind and gave Joe a back suplex to send him away from Joe. Joe and Jordan traded words after Joe was knocked from the ring. Reigns showed his appreciation to Jordan by giving him a Superman Punch from behind.
Angle was on the phone with Stephanie McMahon when Jordan walked up demanding a rematch with Reigns. Then Jordan wanted a match with Joe. Angle asked Jordan who he thought his was and he couldn’t be playing favorites. Angle told Jordan he would take it under advisement and to go somewhere a cool off. Joe roared in and crushed Jordan against the wall, leaving him motionless. Angle got Joe away from his son.
Paige defeated Sasha Banks (16:04)
Alexa Bliss was on commentary. Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose were out with Paige. Bayley and Mickie James accompanied Banks. After satellite head scissors, Banks got a two count after a crossbody off the top rope. After a lengthy straight jacket hold, Banks tackled Piaige into the ropes and they both took a bump out of the ring. During the commercial, Banks went to the second rope, but Paige tripped her. Banks whiplashed the back of her head against the top rope. Then Paige hit a Sunset Power Bomb and Banks landed horribly again on her neck. Banks hit the mat with such velocity, her knees nearly hit her face. Referee checked on Banks for a moment. Paige went for the Rampage, but Banks got out and put on the Bank Statement. Paige got to the ropes. Then Bayley and James started brawling with Rose and Deville. DeVille laid out Bayley quickly. As Rose fought with James, DeVille chop blocked James. Banks got distracted by the fight outside the ring, leading to Paige hitting the Rampage for the pin.
Postmatch, Deville and Rose jumped Banks. Rose gave Banks a front suplex onto Deville’s outstretched knee.
Elias approached Angle backstage and wanted another Intercontinental Championship opportunity, but Angle gave that chance to his son. So Elias wanted a musical performance instead. Elias said the bias against his bastard son will be the end of Angle. Angle told Elias to go to the ring and perform while he finds an opponent for him.
MGK was shown at ringside. No mention of the time Kevin Owens power bombed him off the ramp two years ago, which may have been for the best since MGK barely sold it.
Amore was backstage with his “Zo Train,” Gulak, Nese, Ariya Daivari and Noam Dar. Amore barked at Gulak and Nese for one of them to win their four-way tonight after Swann won last week. Nia Jax showed up acting like she was smitten with Enzo and asked him “How you doing?” Enzo looked horrified.
Drew Gulak pinned Mustafa Ali to win a Fatal Four-Way which also included Cedric Alexander and Tony Nese. Gulak faces Rich Swann next week to determine the #1 contender for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship (14:53)
This was one of the best cruiserweight matches on Raw this year. Ali did a handspring spot and sold his left knee. Gulak and Nese dragged Ali out of the ring, leading to Alexander doing a somersault tope onto the heels. Nese did a spot where he was doing crunches for his abs while kicking Alexander, who was tied to the tree of woe. Nese wanted to jump off the top rope, but Gulak stopped him since Gulak’s gimmick is no cruiserweight should fly. Ali soared in for a crossbody on both men. Lots of great spots during a sequence that won the crowd over, including Gulak hitting a stiff clothesline on Alexander, followed swiftly by a springboard clothesline by Ali on Gulak. For the second week in a row, the cruiserweight match had a tower of doom spot that had Nese taking a double superplex. Alexander hit a great springboard enzuigiri on Gulak, which Ali broke up. Alexander wasn’t happy with Ali, and they did a hockey fight spot. Alexander did a standing spanish fly, which was broken up by Nese. Later, Nese crotched Ali on the top rope. Alexander went after Nese, who put Alexander on the top rope, as well. It led to Ali doing the Spanish Fly off the top rope on Alexander, but Gulak made the save. Gulak missed a charge to the corner and Ali attempted the inverted 450, but Nese dragged Gulak out of the ring. Alexander hit the Lumbar Check on Nese, who bounced out of the ring. Alexander, in desperation, gave Ali the Lumbar Check. But Gulak ran in and gave Alexander a knee to the back, knocking Alexander out of the ring. Gulak pinned an unconscious Ali.
Charly Caruso did an interview with Gulak in the ring. She asked Gulak if he conflicted about possibly facing Enzo. Gulak said that was a good question which could only be answered with a powerpoint presentation. Corey Graves announced they didn’t have time for the powerpoint presenation. They did have time for a Total Divas trailer where Lana told Rusev in front of Jax and Sheamus that she didn’t want to have children, which looked more staged that Gulak’s interview.
Elias started his performance. He got a pretty big babyface pop. Elias said Los Angeles worships vapid and soulless celebrities, his is the air you breathe and he is everything. He sang about everybody in Los Angeles wanted to be a celebrity but the children are pathetic and the city was full of nobodies. Strowman’s music hit and the place erupted. Elias started to leave. Strowman posed, but Elias jumped him from behind. Strowman didn’t sell it, gave Elias a beal and a boot out of the ring. Strowman ran after Elias, who gave Strowman a boot and pushed Strowman into the corner. Elias smashed his guitar to Strowman’s back, but Strowman didn’t sell it. Elias tried to run away, but Strowman ran him down and delivered the running powerslam on Elias. They’ve done such a good job getting that finisher over the crowd chanted “one more time.” Strowman threw the ring steps into the ring, but Kane’s music played.
Kane just appeared on the TitanTron and said Strowman has been a monster among men for so long, maybe he’s forgotten what it’s like to be a monster among monster. Next week, Kane said they would step into the ring again and they would descend into the abyss and only one monster would emerge.
Reigns told Ambrose and Rollins backstage that he’s done his part, now it’s time for them to do theirs. Rollins said they would get their job done. Ambrose acted like he didn’t know their rematch was tonight, then admitted he was kidding. Ambrose said he’s been thinking about beating up Sheamus all day and it smells like gold.
Alicia Fox did an inset promo about how she saw what Asuka did to Brooke last week. Fox claimed she led the Raw women’s team to victory at Survivor Series, she now has a t-shirt and she’s going to end Asuka’s undefeated streak. Fox is still wearing her captain’s hat from the Survivor Series.
Asuka defeated Alicia Fox via tapout (2:20)
Asuka sold the most since her strange two-match run with Emma, taking a big boot from Fox. Asuka tried various kicks where Fox was totally out of position and ultimately won with the flying cross armbreaker.
Postmatch, Absolution came out and once again surrounded the ring. Fox stayed in the ring. Asuka just stepped out of the ring as Paige, Rose and DeVille didn’t make a move on her. Paige told Fox to relax, she wasn’t there to hurt her. Paige said Fox was her friend because Fox was the only one who liked her when she was here a year ago. Paige said she loved Fox, but she didn’t think Rose and DeVille felt the same way. Rose and DeVille stepped in the ring and jumped Fox. Rose gave Fox a V-Trigger knee, and Deville laid her out with another knee strike.
They showed Charlotte playing a role on the USA Network series “Psych: The Movie” named “Heather Rocklear.” It included a soundbite from veteran character actor Kurt Fuller, who was not identified as the main heel from “No Holds Barred.”
Finn Balor defeated Bo Dallas (5:38)
Curtis Axel accompanined Bo Dallas, who distracted Finn Balor when he went to the top rope for the Coup de Grace. After a lengthy armbar spot, Balor hit a forearm and a series of clotheslines. Balor caught the sling blade, the woo dropkick and a Coup de Grace.
They replayed Matt hardy reacting to his loss last week to Bray Wyatt. After showing Hardy’s Tweets proclaiming himself “Woken,” Wyatt popped up on the screen. He said Hardy was a fool. Then Hardy popped up on the screen, speaking in his broken accent, saying he’s traveled through several milleniums, has danced with Cleopatra. Wyatt showed up again and said that Hardy’s rhetoric was the dialogue of a madman. Hardy then popped up and said he was now woken. Wyatt showed up and said he feels alive again. Hardy said Wyatt has left him no choice and he will sentence Wyatt to deletion! Then Wyatt and Hardy each took turns laughing laugh madmen.
Next week, Strowman and Kane will meet in Cleveland. Plus, Swann vs. Gulak for the #1 contendership for the Cruiserweight championship.
Raw Tag Team Champions Sheamus and Cesaro defeated Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose in what became a No-DQ match to retain the Raw Tag Team Championships (18:39)
Great spot early where Rollins attempted a pescado on Cesaro. Sheamus pulled Cesaro out of the way, then came up from behind to ram Rollins into the post. Cesaro gave Ambrose a big boot off the apron. Rollins backdropped Cesaro, but Ambrose was on the floor selling his arm, so no hot tag. Rollins gave Sheamus a superkick, which sent him out of the ring. Ambrose got the hot tag. Ambrose ran wild and tried a tope on Cesaro, who caught Ambrose with an uppercut. Ambrose rolled through Cesaro’s crossbody for a two count, then reversed Cesaro’s giant swing with a small pacakage for two. Ambrose’s head rested against the second rope, and Sheamus nailed him stiff with a knee to the head. Sheamus went to the top rope while Cesaro hoisted Ambrose up, but Ambrose punched Sheamus and crotched him on the top rope. Rollins gave Sheamus a superplex, followed by the Falcoln Arrow, but Cesaro came in for the save. Cesaro went for the Neutralizer, but Rollins hit the Rainmaker Knee, but Sheamus made the save. Sheamus then started kicking Rollins repeatedly even though he was the illegal man. The referee disqualified Sheamus at 17:09 and the crowd booed.
Sheamus and Cesaro took the belts and started to leave. Then Angle came out and restarted the bout as a no disqualification match. Ambrose hit a rebound clothesline on Cesaro, followed by a frog splash on Rollins, but Cesaro kicked out. Joe ran out through the crowd and gave Ambrose a urange and Rollins a forearm. Reigns ran down to send Joe packing. Reigns gave Cesaro a Superman Punch as he came through the ring. In the midst of the confusion, Sheamus hit Ambrose with a Brogue Kick, placed Cesaro on top for the pin. Sheamus, Cesaro and Joe left together through the crowd and Reigns watched on in disbelief. Really strong match and a terrific show.
Wyatt won by hitting Sister Abigail. After the match, Hardy started doing the “Delete” chant for a couple of minutes.
– Apollo Crews, Heath Slater & Rhyno defeated Curt Hawkins, Curtis Axel & Dash Wilder
– Asuka defeated Alicia Fox
– Finn Balor defeated Karl Anderson (w/ Luke Gallows)
Gallows constantly interfered during this. Balor hit the Coup de Grace to win, but Kane came out and attacked him after. Braun Strowman then came down and put Kane through a table.
– Elias defeated Jason Jordan
Elias sang a song about wanting to punch kids in the face before the match. Jordan was selling his knee here.
After Paige returned and Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville debuted on Raw last week, the three are set to team together in a six-woman tag match tonight.
WWE announced this afternoon that Paige, Rose & Deville would be facing Sasha Banks, Bayley & Mickie James on the show. Paige, Deville, and Rose arrived as a unit last Monday, interrupting a fatal four-way number one contender’s match between Banks, Bayley, James, and Alicia Fox and later attacking Alexa Bliss in a backstage segment.
Tonight will be the first time Paige has wrestled in over a year. Also set for Raw is a match between Seth Rollins and Cesaro as WWE continues to build to Rollins & Dean Ambrose getting their tag title rematch. Rollins and Cesaro faced each other on this weekend’s house shows as well.
In his first appearance on television since he won the Intercontinental Championship, WWE is teasing that Roman Reigns will issue an open challenge tonight.
After being delayed due to Roman Reigns being out of action with a viral infection, The Shield’s in-ring reunion will take place on Raw tonight.
WWE announced today that Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose would be teaming against The Miz, Cesaro & Sheamus in a six-man tag match on tonight’s show. The Shield were originally supposed to face Miz, Cesaro, Sheamus, Braun Strowman & Kane at last month’s TLC pay-per-view before Kurt Angle had to replace Reigns on short notice.
Reigns is returning to television for the first time since October 16th tonight. He was also absent from WWE’s European tour as he waited to be cleared to return from the illness.
Cesaro & Sheamus won the Raw Tag Team Championship from Rollins & Ambrose in Manchester last week, with a distraction from The New Day playing a part as they faked another SmackDown invasion of Raw. WWE will follow up on that tonight and on SmackDown tomorrow, likely setting up a Shield vs. New Day match for Sunday’s Survivor Series PPV.
The finish came after Balor hit the Coup de Grace.
– Apollo Crews & Titus O’Neil defeated Curt Hawkins & Goldust
O’Neil got the pin for his team with the Clash of the Titus.
– Asuka defeated Dana Brooke
Brooke tapped out to the Asuka Lock.
– WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore defeated Kalisto to retain his title
– Samoa Joe defeated Jason Jordan
Joe won with the Coquina Clutch, then shook Jordan’s hand after the match.
– Braun Strowman defeated Kane by DQ
The disqualification came when Kane used a chair. Strowman then countered a chokeslam and gave Kane a powerslam through a table.
– Bayley & Sasha Banks defeated Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss & Alicia Fox
Banks got the submission with the Banks Statement.
– Intercontinental Champion The Miz (w/ Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas) defeated Matt Hardy to retain his title
Miz poked Hardy in the eyes and hit the Skull Crushing Finale to retain.
– Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus defeated The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) and Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose to retain their titles
Cesaro pinned Kingston for the finish. After the match, Rollins got on the mic and put over The New Day for their performance. He wanted to shake hands with them, but The New Day attacked him and Ambrose. That led to Cesaro, Sheamus, Balor, and Samoa Joe making the save.
They all beat up New Day. Big E got a Brogue Kick, Kofi got a Coup de Grace, and Woods got the Cesaro Swing and the Shield powerbomb. Joe did Reigns’ part in the powerbomb after Ambrose told him what to do, which was pretty funny.
Rollins cut a short promo saying that SmackDown should consider this as a warning and said they’d see them at Survivor Series. The New Day were still laying down for another five minutes after everyone left the ring, with security helping them to get up and go backstage.
The Raw roster was in Birmingham, England for another house show on their European tour yesterday, with Kurt Angle wrestling at his first non-televised event for WWE in over a decade. Here are the results from the show:
– Finn Balor defeated Bray Wyatt
Both got a good reaction. There was a lot of stalling by Wyatt early, with Balor getting on the mic and telling him to come into the ring or Balor will come to him.
Wyatt controlled the match until Balor made his comeback and won with the Coup de Gras.
– Titus O’Neil & Apollo Crews defeated Goldust & Curt Hawkins
They had a basic match. The crowd seemed into Crews, and O’Neil got the pin on Hawkins with the Clash of the Titus.
– Jason Jordan defeated Bo Dallas (w/ Curtis Axel)
Jordan threw Dallas around before pinning him. The crowd liked Jordan here.
– WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne defeated Dan Moloney to retain his title
Dunne got a big pop. The match was short, with Moloney getting in a bit of offense until Dunne came back with kicks, strikes, and the Bitter End to retain.
– Asuka defeated Dana Brooke
Asuka got a much better reaction here than she did in Cardiff earlier in the tour. Brooke tried playing the cowardly heel, but Asuka wouldn’t give in. She used hip attacks and a stink face before Brooke got a short period of basic offense, then Asuka fought back and won with the Asuka Lock.
– Braun Strowman defeated Kane by DQ
There was a big pop for Strowman. Kane got disqualified for using a chair, but Strowman countered a chokeslam after the match and powerslammed him through a table.
Alicia Fox was the special guest referee for the match and tried to pin Bliss at one point. Bayley and Banks got big reactions, including the crowd singing to Bayley until Bliss attacked her.
Bayley pinned Bliss after hitting the Bayley-to-Belly.
– Intercontinental Champion The Miz (w/ Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas) defeated Matt Hardy to retain his title
Hardy got a big pop. Axel and Dallas got ejected but came back to distract Hardy, who got poked in the eye by Miz and hit with the Skull Crushing Finale for the finish.
– Kurt Angle, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose defeated Samoa Joe, Cesaro & Sheamus
Rollins got on the mic before this started to say that him and Ambrose were a man down and would have beaten the three of them in a handicap match, but he made a call and found a partner who’s a Hall of Famer and Olympic gold medalist. There was a big pop for Angle after that.
Rollins started the match with Sheamus before Ambrose and Joe were brought in. Ambrose then tagged in Angle, who took a couple of punches from Joe but hit him with a belly-to-belly throw.
The heels worked over Rollins until he got the hot tag to Angle. The crowd erupted for that. He hit German suplexes on Sheamus and Cesaro and locked on the ankle lock on Cesaro, but Joe broke it up and tried to choke Angle out. Rollins made the save for Angle and they hit the Shield powerbomb on Cesaro, with Angle pinning him for the finish.
Rollins and Ambrose put over Angle after the match to send the crowd home happy.
Bayley got the pin after hitting the Bayley-to-Belly suplex.
– Matt Hardy defeated Dash Wilder
Hardy won with the Twist of Fate.
– Goldust & Titus O’Neil defeated Darren Young & Curt Hawkins
Elias came out with Young and Hawkins and sang a song before being interrupted by Goldust and O’Neil. Both got a good reaction and the crowd was really into O’Neil. They ended up getting the win.
– Braun Strowman defeated Finn Balor
They had an okay match. Balor got his usual offense in but was eventually overpowered with the size difference.
– Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss defeated Mickie James to retain her title
This was the best match of the night up until this point. The crowd was into it and Bliss retained her title.
– WWE Cruiserweight Champion Kalisto defeated Enzo Amore to retain his title
Kalisto got a good reaction, but Amore was really over. Amore then cut a heel promo on St. Louis, taking shots at us for cheering Mark McGwire, claiming that he sent Neville packing, and calling us St. Losers. He teased spelling out “S-A-W-F-T” but dropped the mic instead. That turned the crowd against him pretty effectively.
The match was better than I expected, though Amore did get a “You can’t wrestle” chant at one point. Kalisto hit the Salida Del Sol to retain.
– Raw Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose defeated Cesaro & Sheamus in a street fight to retain their titles
Rollins and Ambrose got great reactions. They used tables, kendo sticks, and did a spot where a chair was wedged in the corner. This was the best match of the night for the crowd reactions and the overall fun factor.
The Shield’s first match as a reunited trio is officially set after the group joined forces again on Raw tonight.
Kurt Angle first announced that Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins would be taking on The Miz, Cesaro & Sheamus in a tables, ladders, and chairs match in the main event of the TLC pay-per-view later this month. It was later changed to a three-on-four match, with Braun Strowman joining Miz, Cesaro & Sheamus after The Shield powerbombed him through the announce table.
Their reunion came after Miz TV with Cesaro and Sheamus opened Raw tonight. The Miz gave out some “Mizzie Awards” during the segment, including a best supporting actor one to Cesaro and Sheamus for their help in attacking Reigns last week. Miz tried to give himself an award for proving that he’s the real Big Dog of WWE, which brought out Reigns and then Ambrose and Rollins.
TLC will take place at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota on October 22nd. Alexa Bliss defending her Raw Women’s Championship against Mickie James was previously announced for the PPV, with Asuka also set to make her main roster debut on the show.
According to those close to the situation, Cesaro did not get his teeth cracked or knocked out when he went mouth first into the post last night after taking a catapult into the corner spot by Dean Ambrose.
What actually happened is that the blow caused Cesaro’s front teeth to be jammed into his gums.
According to someone familiar with this type of situation, the teeth possibly could be saved by having oral surgery to pull the teeth down and stabilize them, although that would require a root canal. But it was noted in a WWE.com post that Cesaro will see “a maxillofacial surgeon today, most likely removing the teeth and then having some implants made” and that they hope to have him back in action by mid-week.
The injury took place at last night’s No Mercy pay-per-view in Los Angeles where Cesaro & Sheamus were challenging Ambrose & Seth Rollins in a match for the Raw Tag Team titles. Cesaro wrestled much of the match badly bleeding from the mouth, and it appeared that his teeth had been knocked out. He later posted photos of his injury after the match was over.
With two big matches at the top of the card already set, WWE continued to add to the No Mercy lineup on tonight’s episode of Raw.
It had been announced earlier in the day that Alexa Bliss would be defending her Raw Women’s Championship against Sasha Banks at the pay-per-view, but that was changed to a fatal four-way when Nia Jax and Emma won their way into it by defeating Bliss & Banks in a tag match.
The tag title match was revealed for No Mercy as well, with it officially being announced that Cesaro & Sheamus would be getting their rematch against Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose. Both teams got wins on Raw tonight as Cesaro & Sheamus beat Heath Slater & Rhyno and Rollins & Ambrose defeated Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson in a non-title match.
Bray Wyatt will also face Finn Balor at the PPV, which was set up tonight when Wyatt challenged Balor to face him without relying on his “Demon” persona.
No Mercy will take place on September 24th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. Here’s what the card looks like so far:
WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Braun Strowman
John Cena vs. Roman Reigns
Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss defending against Sasha Banks, Nia Jax, and Emma in a fatal four-way match
Raw Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose defending against Cesaro & Sheamus
After Enzo Amore vs. Big Cass was announced earlier in the day, WWE rounded out the card for Great Balls of Fire with the addition of two title matches tonight.
Cesaro & Sheamus will defend their tag titles against The Hardys in a 30-minute Iron Man match at the pay-per-view. Kurt Angle announced that in a backstage segment on Raw, with the champions approving of the stipulation. The teams previously went to a draw in a two-out-of-three falls match on an episode of Raw last month due to getting counted out after splitting the first two falls.
It was also confirmed that Dean Ambrose would be challenging for The Miz’s Intercontinental Championship at Sunday’s PPV. Part of the storyline was that Ambrose wanted the match to take place tonight, but Angle made it for Great Balls of Fire after Heath Slater asked for a title shot as well. Slater was given a match against Miz on Raw.
The Miz successfully defended his championship against Slater before laying out Ambrose with the help of his entourage.
The American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas will host Great Balls of Fire on Sunday night. The updated card is:
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Samoa Joe
Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman in an ambulance match
Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss defending against Sasha Banks
Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt
Intercontinental Champion The Miz defending against Dean Ambrose
Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus defending against The Hardys in a 30-minute Iron Man match
Enzo Amore vs. Big Cass
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville defending against Akira Tozawa (kickoff show)
Stipulations for two of the title matches at Extreme Rules were added on Monday night.
It was revealed that Neville would be defending his Cruiserweight Championship against Austin Aries in a submission match at the pay-per-view. Aries submitted Tony Nese with the Last Chancery on Raw before Neville put Nese in the Rings of Saturn to build up the stipulation.
Matt Hardy and Sheamus also faced off with the winner getting to decide the stipulation for their tag title match at Extreme Rules. After Hardy won, he declared that The Hardys would be defending their titles against Cesaro & Sheamus in a steel cage match.
A double main event was announced for next week’s go-home episode of Raw as well. It will be Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Samoa Joe in a triple threat and Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins before all five collide in the main event of the PPV on June 4th.
The next challengers for The Hardys’ tag titles will be decided as Raw makes its way to London on Monday night.
Kurt Angle announced a number one contender’s tag team turmoil match for the show during a backstage segment with the Golden Truth last week, though no other participants were revealed at the time.
WWE.com has since posted that Cesaro & Sheamus, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, Enzo Amore & Big Cass, and Heath Slater & Rhyno will join Goldust & R-Truth in vying for a shot at the Raw Tag Team Championship.
The program between The Hardys and Cesaro & Sheamus continued after their match at Payback, with the champions being laid out in an attack after the match. Cesaro & Sheamus also fled the ring as The Hardys looked to get revenge last week.
WWE hasn’t yet revealed when the winning team will get their shot at the titles, though Raw’s next pay-per-view is Extreme Rules on June 4th in Baltimore, Maryland.
Both Raw and SmackDown will be taped at the O2 Arena in London shortly before they air this week as WWE continues its European tour.
