Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas officially cast The Miz aside last night, meaning the former Miztourage are finally their own leading men. Unfortunately, they still have a few things to work out. Despite their confidence, they were relatively easy pickings for “Woken” Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt, competing for the first time as Raw Tag Team Champions.
The titleholders were brimming with confidence from the jump — Wyatt turned his back on Axel to give the former Intercontinental Champion a free swing — and it turned out their faith in themselves was more than justified. Wyatt stopped an early run cold, and after dispatching a meddling Bo Dallas, he tagged in The Woken One to drop Axel with a double Sister Abigail. Wonderful.
Credit: WWE.com
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Having dispatched The Revival last week to earn a bout against Cesaro & Sheamus for the vacant Raw Tag Team Championship at the Greatest Royal Rumble event, “Woken” Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt turned their focus to The Ascension, making their Team Red return after coming over from SmackDown LIVE in the Superstar Shake-up.
The matchup was somewhat crucial to “The Deleter of Worlds’” preparation: If you’re looking for a team that can match The Bar’s physical prowess, Konnor & Viktor certainly fit the bill. And the former NXT Tag Team Champions put an undoubtable hurting on their opponents, pummeling Hardy into the corner while Wyatt was stranded on the apron.
Much like last week, however, The New Face of Fear’s entry into the match proved to be the turning point. He dispatched an interfering Konnor with Sister Abigail, leaving Viktor ripe for the picking of a wonderful tag team finishing maneuver. Now, having outsmarted the brains of The Revival and overcome the brawn of The Ascension, it’s time to see how Raw’s fastest-rising tag team fares when faced with both at once.
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Jeff Hardy vs. Jinder Mahal for the United States Championship
HARTFORD, Conn. — The roster has been shaken, to say nothing of the WWE Universe: No sooner did United States Champion Jinder Mahal reveal himself as the first Superstar to hop the divide from SmackDown LIVE to Raw in the Superstar Shake-up than he found himself dethroned by Jeff Hardy in an impromptu title defense that left The Modern Day Maharaja sputtering with anger.
The compromising position Mahal found himself in can partially be attributed to his own imperious attitude, which provoked Raw General Manager Kurt Angle to give an open call for a title challenger. Even after The Charismatic Enigma answered, The Modern Day Maharaja looked good in the early goings, and this Superstar Shake-up seemed that it may lead Mahal to the same career-making heights as the last one. But Hardy slowly crawled back from the deficit, thwarting Sunil Singh’s attempted interference before catching Mahal in the Twist of Fate. One epic Swanton Bomb later and Jeff was U.S. Champion for the first time and the newest Superstar to complete the Grand Slam.
Adding insult to injury, a fuming Mahal ran afoul of No Way Jose, who advised Mahal to stay positive and assimilated Renee Young into his conga line in the middle of The Maharaja’s backstage interview following the match. The result of his evoked rematch at the Greatest Royal Rumble could very well soothe Mahal’s wounds, but for now, he arrives to his new “kingdom” down a title, down an interviewer, and for tonight, at least, down for the count.
“Woken” Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt vs. The Revival
From the battlefield of The Hardy Compound to the Greatest Royal Rumble event, “Woken” Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt are now one win away from becoming the Raw Tag Team Champions. In just their second week as a tandem, the eccentric duo powered past The Revival in the finals of the two-week Tag Team Eliminator to earn a bout against Cesaro & Sheamus for the vacant Raw Tag Team Titles in Saudi Arabia.
They did so despite Dash & Dawson resisting the team’s mind games, which forced the duo to adjust on the fly. Specifically, Hardy turned Wyatt loose on the former NXT Tag Team Champions, and The Reaper of Souls quickly turned the tide in his team’s favor. The result was the one-two punch of Sister Abigail to Dawson and a Twist of Fate-combo maneuver to Dash that ended the bout. With The Great War behind Hardy & Wyatt and tag team glory only one victory away, the future could be very wonderful indeed.
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New Intercontinental Champion Seth Rollins may not be out of the woods with Finn Bálor, but the good news is that he has no shortage of allies when it comes to dealing with The Miz.
After a brief confab between Rollins and The Extraordinary Man (wherein a handshake — though non-binding — deal was struck to battle for the title), former champion The Miz resurfaced to reprimand Rollins for defeating him at WrestleMania, as the loss had made his baby daughter cry… which, in turn, made his wife cry… which made Miz himself cry.
That said, Miz — who made a point of saying he only dismissed The Miztourage at WrestleMania to avoid accusations of playing dirty — wasn’t about to invoke his rematch clause on The Kingslayer. He opted instead to call his shot for WWE Backlash, though he was more than willing to battle Seth and Finn in a 3-on-2 Handicap Match. Alas, that plan was thwarted by the arrival of Jeff Hardy, last seen haunting The Hardy Compound during The Ultimate Deletion. Jeff returned more than willing here to help Rollins and Bálor send Miz and his crew packing. Given that Kurt Angle sanctioned a Six-Man Tag Team Match for later in the evening, The Charismatic Enigma may well be willing to do a little more before all is said and done.
“Woken” Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt vs. Titus Worldwide in a Tag Team Eliminator Match
Last night, Bray Wyatt rose from The Lake of Reincarnation to help “Woken” Matt Hardy win the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, signifying the beginning of a wonderful new partnership. On Raw, the two former rivals made it official, teaming up for the first time and notching a Tag Team Eliminator victory that doubled as the start of their “Expedition of Gold.”
With Wyatt “rid of the succubus known as Sister Abigail” and Hardy bolstered by the presence of Humungous Wonder Number Eight, they were near-flawless against Titus Worldwide, despite having never competed together. The Eater of Worlds seemed to have picked up a few of Hardy’s mannerisms as well — he decreed Apollo’s athletics to be “Wonderful!” — but Wyatt still relied on his punishing power moves to take the wind out of Apollo’s sails. A Sister Abigail-Twist of Fate combo landed Hardy & Wyatt a victory, The Expedition of Gold is officially a go, and The Revival await in the distance.
