LOS ANGELES — With a Universal Title opportunity and grudge match against Acting General Manager Baron Corbin riding on the result, Braun Strowman was unquestionably the Superstar whose fortunes were most entwined with the outcome of the Men’s 5-on-5 Traditional Survivor Series Elimination Match. Given all that, it was only fitting that The Monster Among Men almost singlehandedly won the contest with four straight eliminations — a feat that was doubly impressive due to the gritty performance by Team SmackDown … and some pointed tensions within Strowman’s own squad.
Strowman had made his distaste for all his teammates — Finn Bálor excluded — clear before the bell rang, and the feeling was clearly than mutual, especially between himself and Drew McIntyre. The Scottish Psychopath threatened to seize control of the match from the opening moments when he tagged himself in and scored a surprise elimination of Samoa Joe (the only Team Raw elimination not recorded by Strowman). That set off a chain of events that culminated in a brief throwdown between Strowman and McIntyre.
Shane McMahon elbow drops Braun Strowman through announce table: Survivor Series 2018 (WWE Network Exclusive)
Team SmackDown responded in opportunistic, and impressive, fashion. Rey Mysterio ousted Bálor after a dizzying back-and-forth. And the legendary luchador did his best to hold “The Almighty” Bobby Lashley at bay. The Miz called a surprisingly crisp game as Team Captain. Shane McMahon put his death-defying bonafides to good use with a Leap of Faith that took out both Strowman and the announce table, as well as a Coast-to-Coast that helped send Raw’s Dolph Ziggler to the showers.
It seemed, for a moment, like SmackDown had a puncher’s chance to outlast the red brand … at least until Strowman re-entered the picture. The Monster Among Men clotheslined McMahon clean out of the air on a second Coast-to-Coast attempt (this one to Lashley) and stormed back with near-immediate eliminations of Jeff Hardy, Mysterio and Miz. That left Shane, spent and sucking wind, as the last man standing for Team SmackDown. The SmackDown Commissioner refused to drop his hands, but even Shane knew he was destined to go down fighting. Strowman scooped him up for a Running Powerslam and put the match away in monstrous fashion, giving Raw a 4-0 advantage over SmackDown in the Survivor Series standings and effectively sealing the WWE fall classic for Team Red.
With that win, Strowman now has free rein to tee off on Corbin, but the Acting General Manager of Raw — who had been animatedly patrolling the outside as Team Captain —struck first, blindsiding Strowman before retreating up the ramp alongside Lashley and McIntyre. Their shared mocking of The Monster Among Men’s signature roar indicates that there might be a couple more people that Braun Strowman has to go through before he gets to Corbin. If Survivor Series was any indication, that won’t be a problem.
Credit: WWE.com
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The Charismatic Enigma continued to show the ruthless side that has awakened inside him after his brutal Hell in a Cell Match against Randy Orton, ramming Miz’s face repeatedly into the turnbuckles. However, Hardy’s high-risk offense gave The Awesome One an opening to take control of the bout and ground the high-flyer.
Hardy once again took to the skies, however, as he stunned Miz with Whisper in the Wind, then used the ringside barricade to propel himself onto a dazed A-Lister at ringside. Back in the ring, The Miz showed just how low he would go to advance, rolling Hardy up and attempting to put his feet on the ropes for leverage during the pin, but the official caught Miz in the act and stopped the count.
Hardy attempted to take advantage of the situation and put The Awesome One away, but The Miz swiftly countered and planted The Charismatic Enigma into the mat with the Skull-Crushing Finale to secure his place in the WWE World Cup Semifinal. The A-Lister will meet Rey Mysterio, who will certainly still be reeling after a brutal post-match attack by Randy Orton following their opening-round battle. Did The Viper’s brutality open the door for The Miz to move one step closer to becoming the best in the world?
Credit: WWE.com
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That Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton’s Hell in a Cell Match ended the way it did is less than surprising: Hardy’s rivalry with Orton had become far too stomach-churning to conclude with something as quaint as an RKO and a pinfall, and The Charismatic Enigma has been in search of a blaze of glory inside Hell in a Cell for some time now. He found one.
For Hardy, competing inside Hell in a Cell was one of the last few milestones he’d yearned to achieve in WWE, though he fought like a Superstar stepping into his eighth dance in the cage rather than his first. With the psychological advantage he usually possesses rendered obsolete, Orton had no choice but to battle Jeff with pure brutality: After wearing Hardy down with lashes from his own belt, The Viper produced a toolbox from under the ring, pulled out a screwdriver and threaded it through Hardy’s earlobe, twisting the tool around and around in a sickening display until The Charismatic Enigma finally beat him away with a low blow.
Revitalized by Orton’s savagery, Hardy saw red. The Charismatic Enigma propped a chair on Orton’s chest and executed a pinpoint Swanton — aggravating The Viper’s already-wounded back — before erecting a sinister setup involving two ladders (a short one and a tall one) and a table. After propping Orton up on the table, Hardy scaled the smaller ladder, seemingly planning a leapfrog. Then, he audibled onto the taller one, seemingly planning a Swanton. Then, Hardy left the ladders entirely, suspending himself from the Cell roof like monkey bars, dropping for what appeared to be some kind of splash on The Apex Predator.
Only Orton moved. And Hardy crashed and burned, shattering the table in his attempt to put Orton away. Much to the referee’s horror, Orton made the cover and insisted on defeating his opponent with a 1-2-3, and the official counted the pinfall, if only to get The Apex Predator out of the ring so EMTs could strap Hardy to a stretcher and wheel him away. It was the result Orton wanted for sure, and, perhaps, the one Jeff Hardy wanted as well. After all, he said would take Randy Orton to hell with him. He didn’t say anything about coming out.
Credit: WWE.com
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Jeff Hardy threw caution to the wind in his fight against United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura at SummerSlam, but that fearless mentality led to The Charismatic Enigma’s demise. The King of Strong Style capitalized on a failed high-risk maneuver from Hardy to retain the red, white and blue crown.
The two rivals wasted no time getting into it, exchanging strikes and taunts in equal measure. Hardy evaded one of Nakamura’s signature low blows and went on an offensive barrage that saw him connect with two Twist of Fates.
Ever the risktaker, Hardy attempted the Swanton Bomb on Nakamura, who was laying prone on the edge of the ring apron. Nakamura evaded the dive, causing Jeff to splat right onto the hardest part of the ring. From there, it was academic: Nakamura took advantage of Hardy’s mistake, finishing The Charismatic Enigma off with the Kinshasa for the win.
Moments after his victory, Randy Orton arrived, seemingly salivating at the prospect of getting to inflict more pain onto the defenseless Hardy. Then, in a perplexing move, The Viper opted to just turn around and walk away, leaving the WWE Universe to speculate on his intentions.
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As jubilant as The B-Team were after their title win, it was an even more shocking loss for Hardy & Wyatt, who were undefeated as a team after joining up to form The Deleters of Worlds. Given that The B-Team had scored individual wins over Hardy heading into the pay-per-view, they unsurprisingly built their game plan around isolating The Woken One from Bray Wyatt, and for good reason. Dallas & Axel struggled to find an answer for the former WWE Champion in the opening moments of the match, and The Reaper of Souls’ re-entry into the contest seemed to swing it in the champions’ favor within a matter of seconds.
The B-Team, however, had clearly progressed more than the champions had given them credit for, and they turned their attention back to Hardy when he tagged back in to set up the Kiss of Deletion to Bo Dallas. Axel climbed on the apron to break up the maneuver, and Dallas quickly followed up, shoving Hardy into Wyatt and dropping The Woken One with a hanging rolling cutter off the ropes — earning a victory that seemingly solidified their belief that the “B” in B-Team stands for “best.” Now, Dallas & Axel’s Cinderella story extends to chapter two, while Hardy & Wyatt face a task even more daunting than deletion: A reset.
The opening bell hadn’t even rung before The King of Strong Style made his move on Hardy, flooring the champion with his signature move — the low blow — behind the ref’s back. Hardy struggled to his feet and insisted on starting the match, only to suffer an instant Kinshasa that snapped his reign and landed Nakamura the first championship of his WWE tenure.
Nakamura’s celebration was cut short by the arrival of recent U.S. Champion Randy Orton, but while The Apex Predator appeared to be sizing up Nakamura, he surprised the Pittsburgh faithful by turning his attention to Hardy and administering a punishing stomp to the nether regions before making his exit. Jeff Hardy was a proud, confident champion, but life didn’t just come at him fast at WWE Extreme Rules. It came out of nowhere.
Credit: WWE.com
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NEWARK, N.J. — The Jeff Hardy comeback tour rolls on, as The Charismatic Enigma dispatched Randy Orton to retain his United States Title at WWE Backlash, capping a rivalry that has been tenser than anticipated, even though Hardy and Orton have only been on each other’s radars for a short period of time.
Jeff Hardy drops Randy Orton with a vicious flying kick: WWE Backlash 2018 (WWE Network Exclusive)
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United States Champion Jeff Hardy stops The Viper in his tracks with a brutal kick: Courtesy of the award-winning WWE Network.
Ever since Hardy supplanted Jinder Mahal as U.S. Champion, Orton — who had already invoked his rematch clause after losing the title to Mahal at WrestleMania — has been seemingly overlooked by The Charismatic Enigma. Having reminded Hardy of his skills with an RKO after a tag team match on SmackDown LIVE, The Viper opened the WWE Backlash contest with another display of ruthless efficiency, targeting the champion’s lumbar with a trifecta of backdrops onto the barricade. The veteran Orton was clearly hoping to slow Hardy down and turn the match into the kind of drawn-out beatdown that typically precedes the RKO.
Hardy vs. Orton
Jeff Hardy puts the star-spangled championship on the line in a melee against WWE’s Apex Predator.
Even when Hardy fought to quicken the pace, the threat of the RKO loomed large. The Charismatic Enigma had to stop cold to avoid the maneuver at one point, allowing The Apex Predator to reclaim the advantage, though the champion was more familiar with Orton’s playbook than he let on. Hardy took a page out of his challenger’s repertoire, surprising Orton with a Twist of Fate and following up with an immediate Swanton Bomb to retain his title.
Even for Randy Orton, it seems, defeat can come from out of nowhere.
Credit: WWE.com
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“Woken” Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt vs. Cesaro & Sheamus
JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA — The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Woken Warriors around the globe rejoiced during the sold-out Greatest Royal Rumble event in King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, where “Woken” Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt completed their “Expedition of Gold” and procured the abeyant Raw Tag Team Championship by defeating Cesaro & Sheamus.
Despite The Bar using the same cohesive, hard-hitting tactics that had previously netted them four Raw Tag Team Championships, Hardy & Wyatt — known collectively as The Deleter of Worlds — utilized unorthodox tactics to counter their opponents’ brute strength, beginning an Era of Wokenness that could change Raw forever.
At WrestleMania, on the same night Hardy and Wyatt forged their Woken alliance, Braun Strowman and a 10-year-old named Nicholas captured The Bar’s Raw Tag Team Titles, but due to scheduling conflicts — The Monster Among Men’s partner was still in fourth grade, after all — the titles were vacated. Per Raw General Manager Kurt Angle, a Tag Team Eliminator determined which team would battle the newly former champions at the Greatest Royal Rumble event. Despite being bitter rivals prior to The Eater of Worlds’ disappearance into The Lake of Reincarnation, Hardy & Wyatt prevailed, earning a tandem opportunity at the historic, first-ever Greatest Royal Rumble event.
It seemed Wyatt & Hardy might suffer cruel defeat at the hands of the brutish Bar as Sheamus prepared to seal Wyatt’s fate with a Brogue Kick. However, The Deleter of Worlds rallied after Wyatt’s unsettling Spider Walk made The Celtic Warrior recoil, leaving him susceptible to “deletion” by way of Sister Abigail’s Kiss and an elevated Twist of Fate. With a pinfall, Hardy became a nine-time Tag Team Champion, and a Woken quest was completed to the delight of the sold-out crowd packed inside King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
United States Champion Jeff Hardy def. Jinder Mahal
JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA — Jinder Mahal seemed to have given himself an advantage going into the Greatest Royal Rumble event. He had sent Sunil Singh to SmackDown LIVE to attack Jeff Hardy’s knee ahead of their United States Title rematch. However, The Charismatic Enigma was able to fight through the pain and withstand Mahal’s punishment, retaining the star-spangled championship at the sold-out King Abdullah Sports City Stadium.
Though Hardy was in visible discomfort from last Tuesday’s attack, it didn’t slow his risk-taking style in this championship battle. Hardy winced as he managed to climb onto the ringside barricade, dash along the guardrail and leap onto his challenger. On this night, Hardy would not only have to compete against Mahal, but also keep an eye on Sunil Singh, who proved to be a distraction for the champion, which allowed The Modern Day Maharaja to take control of the bout.
Mahal slowed the battle down to a pace more fitting of his overpowering style in the squared circle, keeping Hardy grounded and wearing him down on the canvas. Jeff battled back, slipping out of Mahal’s grasp and staggering The Modern Day Maharaja with a flurry of dazzling moves. Perhaps seeing Mahal’s chances at reclaiming the United States Title slipping away, Singh leapt up onto the ring apron to distract Hardy once again, but he was met with a fierce right hand from the champion.
Though Singh was neutralized, Mahal tried to catch Hardy off-guard with the Khallas. The Charismatic Enigma evaded his challenger, though, countering with the Twist of Fate, which opened the door for him to hit a breathtaking Swanton Bomb and put Mahal down for the three-count.
Hardy’s victory ensures that the United States Championship will stay with The Charismatic Enigma on SmackDown LIVE, while The Modern Day Maharaja’s quest to turn America into the United States of Mahal comes to an end with his transfer to Raw in the 2018 Superstar Shake-up. What new challenges await Hardy as he begins his journey on Team Blue?
Credit: WWE.com
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