WWE Champion AJ Styles def. Daniel BryanOn the surface, it was a dumb decision to rush into this WWE Championship match and not save it for Crown Jewel, but reportedly Bryan didn't want to be a part of the pay-per-view, and similar to John Cena, this was WWE's way of writing him off the show. I don't know why WWE couldn't have hyped it up for the main event slot, but whatever. At any rate, this was as excellent of a matchup as you'd expect from these two. What's scary is that I'm sure they could do even better with more time, so hopefully they get that chance in the future. It also looks like Samoa Joe isn't done in the title picture yet and I'm so stoked about that. A Styles vs. Bryan vs. Joe Triple Threat? Yes please. Big E def. SmackDown Tag Team Champion Cesaro in a Trick or Street FightThe New Day dressing up and coming out as The Brood (epic entrance theme and all) was something I didn't know I wanted until now. That was pretty damn cool. The match itself (if you can really call it that) consisted of your typical Halloween shenanigans, but I enjoyed it for what it was (hey, I'm a Halloween mark, so don't "@" me). New Day spitting "blood" in the face of Big Show was a nice treat and the whole thing was just fun. It also give New Day some much-needed momentum before their rematch for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at Crown Jewel.
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Titus O'Neil def. Mojo RawleyMan, Rawley was on quite the roll upon coming to Raw in the Super Shake-up earlier this win, whereas now he can't win a match to save his life. Not only is he losing more matches, he came up short against Titus O'Neil, who has been on the WWE roster since 2010 and hasn't shown any signs of improvement in years. Honestly, I couldn't care less, if only because he is a painfully bland performer. This was a perfectly fine matchup, though it offered nothing out of the ordinary whatsoever. The B-Team def. Heath Slater and RhynoRemember when The B-Team were the Raw Tag Team Champions for a few months and were beating teams with actual potential such as The Revival? Yeah, me either. Both of these tandems are babyfaces (I think), so it was all fun and games for the most part (including cringe-worthy dances) and the crowd was into it. Beyond that stuff, the match was barely above average, but the final stretch or so was solid with The B-Team picking up the win in fluky fashion per usual.
braun Strowman Confronted Brock LesnarEven before Roman Reigns' announcement last week, WWE had been doing an abysmal job of building up the Universal Championship match for Crown Jewel, so this last-minute attempt to make Strowman vs. Lesnar mean something ran hollow for me. On the bright side, Paul Heyman's mic work was above-average per usual and the crowd was behind babyface Strowman, but I still don't find myself looking forward to the matchup, especially considering how dull their last one-on-one encounter was at No Mercy 2017. Finn Balor def. Bobby Lashley by DisqualificationThis was another quality contest from Balor and Lashley, but Lio Rush's live mic remains a major annoyance. It makes me want to change the channel more than it makes me want to boo him and Lashley. It was weird of Lashley to lose clean last week and then lose by disqualification this week (following interference from Rush), only to be added to the upcoming WWE World Cup by Baron Corbin immediately afterward. He'll be replacing John Cena, who reportedly wants no part of Crown Jewel and I can't say I blame him.
Trish Stratus and Lita def. Mickie James and Alicia FoxThis was probably the perfect match to open the show considering the star power involved. Plus, the crowd was hot for everything they did, so that added to my enjoyment of it as well. It's a shame Alexa Bliss wasn't medically cleared to compete in time for the pay-per-view (she has gone on record many times in the past and said how it has been her dream to share a ring with Stratus), but at least she still interfered and I could see WWE throwing her a bone at some point and giving her a one-on-one match with Stratus on another show. Despite the lackluster build, this turned into a very entertaining affair. Nia JAx Won the Women's Battle Royal to Earn a Future Title OpportunityThis was basically every women's Battle Royal you've ever seen. That's not to say it was bad, but it didn't really stand out as anything special until the final stretch or so. There were a few rough spots here and there, but on the whole, this was a decent Battle Royal with a few fun cameos from women of the past. I've mentioned before how the Jax and Ember Moon partnership that's been happening recently did nothing for me on Raw, but it made sense to establish an alliance between the two coming into the event for their face-off here to actually mean something. I would have preferred Moon or Asuka winning over Jax, but Jax's victory does set up a rematch with her and Ronda Rousey, which we never got after Money in the Bank earlier this year.
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