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The next stop on the WWE's tour of the UK was Birmingham, England with the Superstars of Monday Night RAW rolling in the day after that memorable episode of Monday Night RAW in Manchester, England, and I was lucky enough to be in attendance.
The Bar had just beaten The Shield to win the Tag-Team belts, The New Day interfered and the Survivor Series teams added more Superstars. There was so much to be excited about for this house show.
But perhaps the biggest thing to be excited about was Kurt Angle's return to wrestling at a WWE house show after eleven years away, and the fact that this would be his only appearance on the tour.
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#1 Finn Balor vs Bray Wyatt
There would be no Demon vs Sister Abigail in Birmingham, but I'll admit that it was nice to see Balor and Wyatt go at it again following their TLC match being cancelled. even if we didn't get the body paint and cross-dressing.
This was a surprising first match of the evening, with Bray Wyatt playing up to the crowd by constantly leaving the ring, leading to Balor grabbing a microphone and calling Wyatt a coward. This causes Wyatt to return to the ring and the match finally started.
The pair exchange near falls until Bray Wyatt is able to attempt Sister Abigail. However, Balor is one step ahead and counters into his string of moves leading to a Coup De Grace to pick up the victory.
Result: Finn Balor def. Bray Wyatt
#2 Goldust & Curt Hawkins vs Titus O'Neil & Apollo Crews
Titus Worldwide was strangely in good spirits considering they'd been ambushed and assaulted by Samoa Joe the night before, still, they made their way to the ring to face the unlikely tag-team of Goldust and Curt Hawkins.
Unfortunately for Curt Hawkins, his undefeated streak didn't end this night, with Titus displaying his raw strength and Crews showing his sheer impressive athleticism, both proving too much to handle. Titus picked up the victory, pinning Curt Hawkins after Goldust is cleared from the ring.
Result: Titus Worldwide def. Goldust and Curt Hawkins
#3 Jason Jordan vs Bo Dallas with Curtis Axel
This was a bizarre matchup that I don't think anyone in the Birmingham Indoor Arena was expecting, but nevertheless, The Miztourage made their way out to the ring so that Bo Dallas could take on Kurt Angle's son, Jason Jordan, in singles action.
One thing to note is that Curtis Axel was still sporting the neck brace he wore on Monday Night Raw, following the attack from Braun Strowman the week before. It was a nice bit of continuity that made me chuckle.
As for the match itself, Jordan and Dallas embarked on a display of strength, allowing each other to try and pick their opponent up from the mat. Jordan is physically impressive, he deadlifted Dallas with ease, slamming him on the mat, and hit a sequence of five running turnbuckle slams, going corner to corner with the hapless Dallas. Jordan wins using his finishing move in somewhat of a squash.
Result: Jason Jordan def. Bo Dallas
#4 Pete Dunne vs Dan Maloney - UK Championship Match
In a treat for the hometown fans in Birmingham, the WWE put on a UK Title match involving two wrestlers who are from the city, Pete Dunne the current WWE United Kingdom Champion and local wrestler Dan Maloney in a match for the title.
It wasn't a particularly long match, but each man managed to get a decent amount of offence against the other. Dunne sold Maloney's strikes really well, getting knocked off his feet a couple of times.
Maloney never stood a chance though as Dunne literally punched him from the middle of the ring to the turnbuckle, and then hit his signature moves, followed by a Bitter End to retain his title.
Result: Pete Dunne retained against Dan Maloney
#5 Asuka vs Dana Brooke
In another fairly surprising match, given that Dana Brooke was yet to make an appearance on the tour so far, we got 'The Empress of Tomorrow' vs Dana Brooke in single's competition.
This wasn't a squash match like we've seen Asuka deliver to enhancement talent on the last two weeks of Monday Night RAW, with Dana Brooke getting a decent amount of hits in, and even having time to mock Asuka in the middle of the ring.
Mocking Asuka in the ring has never seemed like a good idea and the unbeaten Superstar wastes no time teaching Dana a lesson for her disrespect, hitting her with several hip attacks, including one that knocked Brooke off of the ring apron, and also this Stinkface.
Following that, Asuka mocked Dana's entrance pose and swiftly ended things with a slam, followed by the Asuka lock.
Result: Asuka def. Dana Brooke
#6 Kane vs Braun Strowman
This was a fairly quick match with Kane and Braun colliding in the ring in an attempt to knock each other down. Eventually, Braun gets Kane out of the ring but Kane found himself a steel chair to swing at Braun with, taking "The Monster Among Men" out.
Kane then found a table under the ring, which provoked a huge audience reaction. Unfortunately for "The Big Red Machine", Strowman was able to power out of the Choke Slam attempt and punished Kane by hitting him with the Running Powerslam through the table.
Result: Kane def. Braun Strowman via DQ
#7 Bayley & Sasha Banks vs Nia Jax & Alexa Bliss W/. Alicia Fox as Special Guest Referee
Next, we had Bayley and Sasha Banks vs WWE RAW Women's Champion Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax, otherwise known as Team Rude. Bayley is incredibly over in the UK and it sadly makes you wonder how the WWE has ruined her character so much on RAW.
Alicia Fox almost stole the show here with her 'crazy' antics as the special guest referee that saw her attempt to roll-up Alexa Bliss for the pin-fall victory, much to the chagrin of the actual competitors in the match and tease a suicide dive onto all four women on the outside.
The finish came when Bayley managed to get Alexa Bliss away from Nia Jax, she downs the champion with her Bayley-to-Belly Suplex and gets the pin to pick up the win for herself and Sasha Banks.
Result: Bayley & Sasha Banks def. Alexa Bliss & Nia Jax
#8 The Miz W/. The Miztourage vs Matt Hardy - Intercontinental Title Match
I would say that Matt Hardy got the biggest cheer of the night when he was revealed as Miz's opponent in a title match, but because of the main event, I'll say he received the biggest pop of the night up to this point.
Sadly for Hardy, The Miz and his cronies used every heel trick in the book to keep him away from winning the title. Every time it looked like Matt was going to put the champ down with Twist of Fate Curtis Axel or Bo Dallas found a way to save The Miz.
The referee eventually ejected The Miztourage, but even then they returned to distract the referee long enough for The Miz to poke Matt Hardy in the eyes and then put him away with a Skull Crushing Finale.
Result: The Miz retains against Matt Hardy
#9 The Shield (Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose) & Kurt Angle vs The Bar (Sheamus and Cesaro) & Samoa Joe
Even though I knew this was coming, seeing the Shield enter through the crowd and then announce that they'd be teaming up with Kurt Angle to take on Sheamus, Cesaro and Samoa Joe was a huge moment.
The match itself was decent, predominantly based around Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose getting beaten down by their three opponents until they can eventually get the hot-tag to Kurt Angle.
Angle gets plenty of cool moments such as Suplexing Samoa Joe like it's TNA all over again, escaping from a Coquina Clutch, hitting German Suplexes to both Cesaro and Sheamus and finally joining in with The Shield's Triple Powerbomb to win the match.
