5 Ups And 9 Downs From Last Night's WWE Raw (Dec 10)

8. Perpetual Substitutions

Apollo Crews Sasha Banks
WWE.com

While Mixed Match Challenge isn’t technically part of Monday Night Raw, it’s referenced weekly and influences matches on Raw, so it’s worth mentioning once in a while.

Monday, we learned that Finn Balor’s storyline injuries from last week would prevent him from participating in Tuesday’s MMC bout with teammate Bayley against Jinder Mahal and Alicia Fox. Apollo Crews is stepping up as his replacement.

This isn’t a knock against Crews, but this isn’t the first substitution we’ve seen on Mixed Match Challenge. In fact, it’s the sixth. Six replacements among 20 wrestlers. That’s just ridiculous. Only one Raw team – Mahal and Fox – has remained the same since the tournament was announced in September.

That’s either insanely bad luck, or it’s a sign that this tournament – which grants the winning team #30 slots in both Royal Rumble matches – is snakebitten.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fortunately became a fan in time for WrestleMania III and came back as a fan after a long high school hiatus before WM XIV. Monday nights in the Carlson household are reserved for viewing Raw -- for better or worse.