ONTARIO, Calif. — Roman Reigns beat John Cena last night at WWE No Mercy and announced on “Miz TV” that he’s looking for a fight with Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship, but The Miz wasn’t interested in talking about that. In fact, Miz quickly turned the focus of their much-hyped interview toward himself, reminding Reigns that Miz was the only one of the two with a title to his name after The Big Dog called him an “idiot” minutes into their sit-down.

Miz didn't take that kindly, of course, and if the most head-turning of his subsequent insults was a schoolyard boast that The Miztourage could have taken The Shield back in the day, it was his insistence on waving his title in Reigns’ face that came back to haunt him when The Big Dog offered to fight him on the spot.

The Awesome One attempted to back out with an impressive array of excuses (“I have a suit on!”), though Raw General Manager Kurt Angle hit the scene to sanction a match tonight between the two, as well as a tag team match between the rest of The Miztourage and the makeshift squad of Matt Hardy & Jason Jordan.

So Jason Jordan lost his Intercontinental Title bid and Matt Hardy is down a tag team partner thanks to his brother’s injury. That doesn’t mean either is showing any signs of slowing down, however, as the impromptu squad dispatched The Miztourage in Raw’s opening contest.

It was an inspired showing from Jordan, who took out his frustrations on the meddlesome Miztourage with an impressive array of suplexes. When Jordan found himself overwhelmed by Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel, Hardy swooped in to bat cleanup. Jordan resurfaced at the moment of truth, though, blasting both Miztourage members with a double charge into the corner after Axel tried to interfere. The maneuver took the former Intercontinental Champion out of commission, and Dallas was left to suffer the Twist of Fate.

It was a marquee performance for Elias against Apollo Crews at WWE No Mercy Kickoff, and the brutal balladeer impressively came back for an encore on Raw. That said, Titus O’Neil wasn’t about to let Elias get away with the type of disrespect he showed 24 hours prior.

Elias claimed victory thanks in part to taking a cheap shot, kicking The Big Deal in the knee outside the ring and throwing Crews off his game long enough for the guitarist to hit Drift Away for the victory. However, the former WWE Tag Team Champion’s payback was swift and overwhelming, as Titus attacked Elias in the ring with such ferocity that the singing Superstar was forced, for once, to cede the stage.

The good news for Curt Hawkins is that he didn’t lose again. Granted, it was almost certain that he was going to when his latest open challenge was answered by a fuming Braun Strowman, clearly looking for a fight after losing to Universal Champion Brock Lesnar 24 hours prior. But Hawkins wasn’t about to offer himself up as lunch meat, and the former WWE Tag Team Champion attempted to willingly take a count-out loss.

A competition-hungry Strowman, however, chased Hawkins down, put him through a table and Running Powerslammed him through the LED screens atop the ramp, refusing to leave the ring until another Superstar came out and gave him a real fight. Which, of course, brought out the one man reckless enough to answer such a call: Dean Ambrose.

Under ordinary circumstances, having Dean Ambrose banged-up in the locker room might put Seth Rollins at a disadvantage against Sheamus. But The Celtic Warrior’s tag-team partner, Cesaro, was reduced to moral support in a suit thanks to his gruesome dental injury, which put the bout on an even keel.

And, in this case, it was Rollins who came away with the win. Not that Sheamus didn’t give him a fight; The Celtic Warrior did his best to repay Rollins for The Swiss Cyborg’s injury, targeting The Kingslayer’s face with a vicious variety of kicks and knees. Rollins ended up landing the blows that counted, connecting twice with Sheamus’ face — first with a kick, then the ripcord knee for three.

Finn Bálor said his victory over Bray Wyatt at WWE No Mercy was to avenge The Reaper of Souls’ disrespect of Superstars like Goldust and to jumpstart his journey back toward his ultimate goal of reclaiming the Universal Championship. The Bizarre One, however, is no one’s charity case, and the former Intercontinental Champion both sucker-punched Finn in the locker room and showed just how much he can hang with the new generation in a subsequent match.

Goldust showcased the full scope of his physical expertise and his unorthodox mind games, but “The Extraordinary Man” rallied to Coup de Grâce his way to the win … and, moments later, the lights cut out and an eerie rendition of “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” blared throughout the arena as the fireflies surrounded Bálor in the ring.

Bayley is back in the ring, but she still owes Nia Jax for injuring her shoulder and taking her out of SummerSlam. And on Raw, The Huggable One came to collect. It certainly helped that they met in a tag team situation, as Bayley’s partner Sasha Banks occasionally spelled The Huggable One against Jax. She even saved Bayley from Jax on the outside, allowing the former Raw Women’s Champion to drive Jax full-bore into the ring post, removing her from the match. Jax's partner Emma, left with a 2-on-1 disadvantage, suffered the decisive pinfall soon thereafter on the back of a Bayley-to-Belly.