Conspicuous by his absence from Raw’s opening gathering (and last week’s siege, for what it’s worth) was The Miz, who chose to arrive “fashionably late” and was placed into an Intercontinental Title defense by Kurt Angle for his troubles. The opponent? Matt Hardy, and while The A-Lister’s casual disrespect of Angle certainly landed him in more hot water than he would have liked, he put on an impressive show for the General Manager who called him nothing less than a coward.

Initially, it seemed the key to Miz’s victory would be the reunited Miztourage, who threatened to interfere early on and succeeded in doing so in the later goings of the match, landing cheap shots on the former Raw Tag Team Champion to slow him down. But The A-Lister sealed the deal without his cronies’ help, rolling under the ropes after a Twist of Fate, bouncing Hardy gullet-first off the ropes and closing the match with a devastating Skull-Crushing Finale.

Credit: WWE.com