Matt Hardy def. Curt HawkinsJeff Hardy's injury really should have opened the door for WWE to start pushing Matt on his own, especially considering how over with the audience he still is, but instead he's been relegated to meaningless matches on Raw and Main Event. It's a shame to say the least, but he did look good in this fun little sprint against Hawkins, who always excels at losing. The crowd was engaged in the action, too, so that helped. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows def. Titus O'Neil and Apollo CrewsIt isn't often we see O'Neil and Crews work as a tag team, but they would be a welcome addition to Raw's tag team scene at the moment (although I would much rather prefer Crews teaming with Akira Tozawa). This was a decent match while it lasted, but it never seemed to reach that next gear before abruptly ending coming out of the commercial break. Anderson and Gallows desperately need some wins, but Crews needs direction and/or character development just as much.
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Raw General Manager Kurt Angle Announced Matches for Survivor SeriesWas it just me or did Angle announcing the Raw vs. SmackDown Live matches for Survivor Series come off as extremely underwhelming? Of course, none of the four matches he confirmed for the card are incredibly exciting except for Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins vs. The Usos (no Shield reunion, damn), but this should have had more fanfare than it did because the crowd hardly reacted to any of it. Meanwhile, it made sense for The Miz, Sheamus and Cesaro to have beef with Angle following TLC and for Angle to immediately put them in a six-man tag team match to kick off the show against Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and AJ Styles. Speaking of Styles... Raw Tag Team Champions Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins and AJ Styles def. Intercontinental Champion The Miz, Sheamus and CesaroStyles wrestling on a Raw-exclusive event as a "favor" to Raw was almost excusable, but this was completely unnecessary. I love Styles as much as the next guy, but it's comical when Michael Cole is spouting on commentary, "Survivor Series is the one night of the year you can see Raw and SmackDown stars face off!" as Styles is beating up on a Raw guy in this match. It's insulting to our intelligence as fans, and while I realize that this isn't the first time that's happened, it was extra evident here. I understand Styles was filling in for Roman Reigns, but they couldn't have just used someone else from the Raw roster in this spot instead? On the bright side, this was an excellent match that received a ton of time and kicked off the night on a hot note.
Sasha Banks def. Alicia Fox (Kickoff Match)Needless to say, I couldn't have cared less about this bout coming into the event because they've feuded before and have never had the greatest in-ring chemistry, but this was actually a pretty passable matchup and the women made the most of the time they were given (almost 11 minutes, surprisingly enough). Banks winning was a no-brainer, but I hope she has some direction going forward, possibly going to back to teasing tension with Bayley. Asuka def. EmmaI fully expected this to be Squash Match City in favor of Asuka, but that's not what this was. Instead, it was all about Emma for the most part before Asuka battled back in the final minute or so of the bout before locking in her finisher and forcing Emma to submit. This didn't live up to expectations and it got to a point where the crowd got bored of seeing Emma on offense and likely would have wanted Asuka to destroy her. This could have been a stronger debut for Asuka, but it was still decent.
Johnny Impact def. Chris AdonisThe video package that preceded this match made it feel more meaningful as it established that Impact capturing the GFW Global Championship will be an impossible task as long as Adonis is in the picture. Adonis has never been anything amazing in the ring, but he improved during his last stint with WWE and I thought he had a solid showing here. In addition to this being a good match, I appreciated that the show kicked off with an actual match instead of a talking segment for a change. Afterward, Adonis and Eli Drake attacked Impact to maintain their heat, so this was a success all around. Texano def. Impact Grand Champion Ethan Carter III, James Storm, Eddie Edwards and El Hijo del Fantasma in a Five-Way MatchThe first half of the match was fairly boring because although the commentators played up Storm, EC3 and Edwards as babyfaces (which they are in GFW), the live crowd booed them because the event where this was taped emanated from Mexico. Thankfully, they picked up the pace down the stretch once it was every man for themselves. Jeremy Borash and Josh Mathews noted that this meant Team Impact "wasn't on the same page," but how could they be when it's a five-way match?
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