So much is happening in the wrestling world now, Stephanie can barely keep her mind wrapped around it all. Smackdown going live, her and Shane running either it or Smackdown, reinstating the brand draft and what that might mean for Team Work. There's a lot to figure out, but first she needs to get through this week. So she does, loses herself in the mundane of it all, the signing off on matches, the scheduling referees, the everything else required to make the show go off as well as it can.
The first match of the night sees Kenny Omega facing off with Johnny Mundo, neither of them looking that thrilled to see the other. Kenny sneers as Mundo wanders away from him, looking unimpressed as he brushes his hair back over his shoulders. Finally Kenny tires of the cat and mouse game and punches at John, missing a few blows before hitting one square in his jaw, rocking him back. Mundo lunges forward and kicks Kenny hard in the side, winding him with a jab to the chest before kneeing him hard in the face. They both stagger back, eyeing each other, before lunging forward and going for it again- Kenny hits a running knee strike, John lands a backflip kick before running forward and striking him in the head with his knee, sending Kenny crumpling down to the mat.
John attempts The End of the World from there, but Omega rolls away and sweeps John's legs out from under him before rushing into position for an enziguiri, just to get snagged in midair with a spear that takes whatever oxygen's left in his body. He kicks out at two, however, and both men roll away to reset, try again. John smirks, the very vision of smugness, and storms forward just to get caught with a double knee strike to the head, that sends him down to the mat. He's still laying there, dazed, when Omega lifts him up, their limbs tangled up in a way that John can't figure out, before slamming him down back in a fisherman buster. When his mind clears, he realizes that he's lost. Slamming his fist against the mat, he rolls up and over, watching as Omega hesitates on the entrance ramp, smirking back at him.
Naito then wins a six man match against Sami Zayn, Jack Evans, Rusev, Trevor Lee and Tyler Breeze, followed up by Xavier Woods beating Al Snow after hitting a stomp facebreaker on him, downing him long enough for a three count.
Nick Jackson then finds himself in the what seems to be becoming a weekly gauntlet match, staring as his first opponent comes out. Zack Ryder puts up a good fight but eventually falls to repeated superkicks, the match changing drastically in tempo when Chris Sabin comes out and their natural antagonism for each other shines through, the two of them beating each other down until Nick hits a solid 450 splash, pinning Sabin.
He pales when he realizes his next opponent is his former Bullet Club leader, AJ Styles. The two of them stare at each other before AJ begins, forearms and kicks leaving Nick struggling to gain any kind of upperhand. AJ had never had an opportunity to get payback against him and the other members of the Bullet Club who had turned on him, and he makes up for it now in spades. Until, that is, Matt Jackson runs down and distracts him, leaves him open for Nick to squirm up and grab AJ, roll him up into a pin that's just enough to defeat him. AJ seems torn between staying and paying Nick back for that or getting his hands on Matt and finally he runs out after the other Buck brother, leaving Nick behind to face Joey Ryan, who makes quick work of him and pins him after barely a minute, causing him to black out with a body scissored kimura lock.
After this, Kofi Kingston defeats Jeff Hardy after targetting his recently injured leg, and ACH beats Cesaro upon reversing out of his swing and kneeing him hard in the face. Paige wins a triple threat match against Natalya and Gail Kim after reversing Eat Defeat into a PTO, and Fandango pins Alex Shelley after a diving leg drop.
Despite AJ Styles' need for justice, it's not enough for him to help Chris Jericho, apparently, because when Jericho wrestles Matt Jackson, nothing untoward happens. Jericho eventually loses when Matt twists his codebreaker attempt into a wheelbarrow facebuster.
The next match has Kevin Owens coming out to the ring, a bland look on his face as he leans in the corner and waits, watching closing. PJ Black makes his way to the ring and Kevin's unimpressed gaze continues until the two men are across from each other, eyes locked. With a heavy sigh, Kevin pulls him up and out, walking towards him. "The man formerly known as Justin Gabriel, huh?" he snaps loud enough to be heard over the crowd. "Well, I can see why WWE let you go."
PJ's dark eyes flash as he lunges forward and grapples with Owens, just to get thrown back down. The cry of pain from Owens when PJ's lightning quick kick makes contact with the back of his thigh is worth it. "What the hell?!" he bellows out, lunging after PJ and failing to catch him as PJ's speed overwhelms Kevin's strength. For awhile. Until he goes up one too many times and gets snagged out of midair, thrown to the mat in a bone-rattling pop up powerbomb. Kevin performs a flawless moonsault off of the top next and digs his forearm into PJ's face. "See, I can do it too!" he screams at him before tangling him up in a pin that leaves PJ unable to move, much less breathe. The three count that comes is almost a relief as Kevin pushes PJ away and stands up, glaring out at the crowd in painful victory.
Bad blood from the year prior never quite forgotten, Alberto Del Rio defeats Cage with a rapid succession of kicks and stomps before drifting him into the armbar, wrenching back until even the large man can't help but to tap. Next, Dean Ambrose loses to Tanahashi's frog splash.
The main event starts next, the crowd getting to their feet when Cass comes out, Enzo dancing around him for the first time in weeks on this stage. He's not cleared to wrestle and, after watching Cass destroy the Dudleys for weeks, Stephanie's decided to put him to a bit of a more stenuous test. Enzo's protests are still echoing in Cass' ears and he can't deny that his friend's right, but there's not much that they can do about it, so he squares his shoulders and watches as Big E, The Miz and Baron Corbin come out to the ring for the 3-on-1 match that Stephanie had authorized. Big E seems to want to take it easy on him, but Miz and Corbin are like pitbulls after a steak, almost looking for a bit of weakness.
Enzo on the outside makes Cass nervous too because he's vulnerable out there, and Baron keeps looking out at him with an expression on his face that Cass doesn't like, constantly breaking away from Miz to take a swipe at the man to keep his focus on him. This leaves him open to further spine blows from Miz, who looks all the more eager to take him down. Big E does the bare minimum and only when his reluctant partners yell at him to help out, Cass able to catch his breath during their arguments and sideslam Baron down, kicking Miz in the face before eyeing Big E, who holds his hands up in supplication, allowing him to continue getting some offense in on the two downed men while Enzo urges the crowd to come alive for Cass.
Finally more of a one on one match with Big E, they exchange blows and Cass claps his hands together, ringing Big E's ears and forcing him to let go before he could try his belly to belly slam. Cass then hits the East River Crossing, followed by the Empire Elbow, leaving Big E vulnerable to a pin. As soon as the bell rings to prove Cass' success, he's leaning over the rope, watching Corbin and Miz's exit to ensure they don't do anything to Enzo on the other side. He relaxes when he senses his best friend rolling in behind him, getting to his feet and hugging him. "Knew ya could do it, big man!" he exclaims, slapping Cass on the chest before raising his hand in victory, the two of them standing side by side and taking in the crowd's reaction.
Cass sucks in a deep breath and then grins down at Enzo before tugging him closer and hugging him, burying his face in his wild hair. "Thanks, Zo," he mumbles, so relieved that he'd made it through the last month and that, next week, Enzo would be cleared and they could go back to doing what they do best- dominating the tag team scene on the mic and between the ropes. Sometimes at the same time.