As they so often are at other house shows, The New Day were an ideal choice for a crowd-pleasing opener, but the match itself did far more than clamour for cheap pops from pancakes - with Championship representatives Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods keen to reflect that with early high spots before the Challengers gobbled up the middle portion of the match.
In 2017, Sheamus and Cesaro were highlights in a division that contributed to a veritable highlight real of doubles delights. The Bar lit up Monday Night Raw against a reunited Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, and entered a sleeper hit of the year performance against The Usos at Survivor Series. It's just one of the reasons their absence in 2018 since surrendering the red brand belts at WrestleMania has been so perplexing.
It was in December 2016 that they terminated New Day's all-time longevity record with those belts, but they were unable to repeat the feat in this magnificent Melbourne opener. Far from being a one-off though, this felt like the first in a very formidable series indeed
Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett
