The lack of star power and three hour length of WWE Raw took its toll Monday night as even with a lower-rated NFL game than in recent weeks, the 11/9 tape-delayed edition set another modern audience record low mark.
Even on a night built around the first round of the WWE title tournament, Raw was down from last week’s 3.24 million viewers to 3.16 million this week, featuring the lowest viewed hour (hour three) in modern non-holiday history. When the brackets for the tournament didn’t list outside stars, and the most pushed star in the tournament, Roman Reigns, had already wrestled in the first hour, interest fell greatly.
I attended the WWE Raw TV taping in Manchester, England, Monday. Here’s some notes on some things you didn’t see on tv, and some overall thoughts. This was a completely different show in so many ways from the lacklustre WWE house show that I attended in Liverpool last night.
– Crowd make up was completely different. There were still some kids there, but there were far more adults, and it seemed much more like a Wrestlemania weekend crowd, in that it was the hardcores, with people travelling from different parts of the country to attend the taping. The arena looked full, with no areas curtained off.
– The crowd was very hot all night and made it seem like a hot product. They only went into ‘business for themselves’ during the opening RAW match featuring Reigns vs Big Show, doing the wave, and chanting ‘we are awesome’. Thankfully they got it out of their system and from that point forward, they were a really good traditional-style wrestling crowd. It was really clear who was over and who was not.
– For Superstars, it opened with Fandango pinning Bo Dallas with a top rope legdrop. Fandango got a great crowd reaction, with virtually everyone doing the dance – a complete 180 from the previous day in Liverpool. Bo’s goofy gimmick was also cheered.
– Dudleys & Ryback beat Stardust & the Ascension. This was so funny. The Dudleys got a huge reaction coming out. Then when it was announced to be a six man tag and their partner Ryback was introduced, everyone booed Ryback. People just wanted to see the Dudleys on their own and not team with a ‘new generation’ babyface. Fun match, Dudleys won with the 3D on one of the Ascension, I think Viktor.
– They showed lots of WWE corporate promotional videos pre-RAW, including the Wrestlemania 31 recap video. Hilariously, every single shot of Hulk Hogan was edited out of the Triple H vs Sting recap. It was unbelievably skilfully done.
– The opening RAW segment with Triple H and Roman Reigns, I thought, was really good. Triple H did a great promo, and they made the storyline clear going forward. Crowd desperately wanted Reigns to accept Triple H’s offer of becoming the Authority’s guy and booed heavily when he turned it down. The funny thing was, as much as Reigns was booed, I saw tons and tons of adult males buying and wearing the new Reigns t-shirt, which was by far the top seller at the merch stands. My perception is, at least amongst the crowd I was with tonight, he doesn’t have the same negative stigma that Cena has, but people don’t want to like him as a babyface, they want to like him as a heel (if that makes sense). It’s such a weird dichotomy that the best way to get him over as a babyface is to turn him heel (a throwback to that old Steve Austin/Rock ‘Rebel’ thing, I think).
– Owens got a big babyface reaction, even though he ripped on the Royal Family in his pre-match promo.
– Crowd chanted ‘We want Sasha’ loudly throughout Natalya vs Naomi, with Sasha at ringside. There were tons of ‘Sasha Section’ and ‘Cesaro Section’ signs.
– Crowd loudly chanted NXT throughout the show.
– Wayne Rooney of Manchester United was introduced early on in the show. Ryan Giggs (Man Utd legend and current assistant manager) and Darren Fletcher (a former United player) were all sat together. Rooney was the only one name-checked on-screen. I’m sure Rooney is at least known in the U.S., but it cannot be underestimated how big a star this guy is in the U.K. at this time. He’s arguably one of the 3 most famous sportspersons in the UK right now (and has been for many years), and is an A-list mainstream celebrity in his own right. There was a 1 hour documentary on his life shown in prime time on BBC1 just a few weeks ago. I will be shocked if his angle with Wade Barrett doesn’t make U.K. sports and news headlines tomorrow. People were massively into Rooney being there, chanting ‘Let’s go Rooney/Rooney sucks’.
– Barrett has had a good natured Twitter war with him for months, so as soon as Barrett and Sheamus came out, people knew something was going down with Rooney, as soon as Barrett had the mic. It was similar to the Ronda Rousey thing at WM31 when people sensed it. Barrett cut a scathing promo on him, mocking him, saying he’ll never be a champion again, that he’s finished and washed up, and that if he wants a piece of him, to get in the ring. Rooney did the ‘Bring It’ hand gesture to a big reaction. I think the Barrett promo on Rooney took place during a commercial, but they show a replay of it after the commercial break.
– Cesaro vs Sheamus was excellent, by the way. Crowd chanted ‘This is awesome’, justified in this case. The conclusion saw Sheamus arguing with Rooney at ringside, and Barrett pulled Sheamus away. Barrett then argued with Rooney, and Rooney slapped him, sending Barrett down. Crowd went nuts. Cesaro then pinned Sheamus. Crowd were 100% behind Rooney after the slap, after the earlier mixed reaction.
– Dean Ambrose vs. Tyler Breeze was pretty good. Crowd were heavily into both guys. It’s a shame Breeze had to lose his first tv match, although he wasn’t portrayed as a joke. I suspect he’ll cost Ziggler his tournament match with Ambrose.
– New Day came out and were the second most over act on the entire show, besides Undertaker and Kane. Just ridiculously over as babyfaces. Everyone was singing and dancing, singing along to New Day’s theme and chanting along with Big E’s introduction. New Day vs Neville & the Usos was another really good match. Neville did a tremendous Red Arrow to the outside on all the guys in the match.
– Ric Flair came out in a surprise cameo, for a quick promo. This won’t air on tv and was solely for the live crowd. He joked he was annoyed that Triple H had kept him in the back so long, and put over what a fantastic crowd we were. He plugged that Undertaker would be appearing at the following night’s Smackdown taping in the same building. Flair said the show was sold out, but I don’t think that’s the case. People booed when he mentioned Undertaker would be at the following night’s show, as they thought it meant he wouldn’t be at tonight’s show.
– The Undertaker and Kane entrance during the closing Bray Wyatt segment got over HUGE. The place went NUTS when Taker and Kane came out. I was surprised to see them clean house on all 4 guys. Not sure how this sets up Survivor Series given they already beat up 4 guys in a 2 on 4, but the live crowd ate it up.
– People were chanting ‘That was awesome’ after Taker and Kane had exited and the show had ended.
– Overall, I think that was one of the better RAW tapings in the UK that I have ever attended. Some really good/very good matches, the Rooney angle and Taker/Kane stuff was very well done. The crowd atmosphere was fantastic.
Filthy Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Tom Lawlor is back today with a shocking amount of stuff to talk about, especially for this show! We’ve got the WWE Title Tournament, Tom’s own Filthy Invitational 2015 tourney for a copy of WWE 2K15, the Smackdown finish and whether it was the worst ever, previews of Retro Raw and Retro Nitro this week, some comedy regarding the RUMBLR app, Bellator and UFC notes for last weekend and this weekend, Shamrock vs. Gracie, RIZIN fights, fun moves Tom has successfully applied to people and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
The Big Takeaway: HHH announced a 16-man tournament for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the wake of Seth Rollins’ injury that forced him to vacate the championship. HHH tried and failed to get Reigns to join the Authority, even offering him the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Kane and the Undertaker made their return for revenge against the Wyatt family, laying out Wyatt with a chokeslam to end the show. Only one good match on the three hour show.
Show recap:
HHH came out and put over Seth Rollins strong as a great WWE World Heavyweight Champion, but acknowledged his knee injury that will cause him to vacate the championship. The mention of Rollins’ name got a strong babyface reaction from the fans in England. HHH brought out the number one contender, Roman Reigns.
HHH said the tournament that will determine the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion will start tonight, but it seems unfair that Reigns just earned the #1 contendership, but now has to start over again in a tournament. HHH said all the other guys in the tournament could step in the ring to fight Reigns at the Survivor Series for the title. HHH told Reigns before they picked Rollins as the chosen one, they scouted Reigns first. The only thing that Reigns lacks is the willingness to do anything to be the man, which is why Reigns hasn’t been the WWE champion.
HHH asked Reigns how it felt to watch Rollins walk out of WrestleMania as the WWE Champion, and that Reigns will never know if he could have defeated Brock Lesnar. He said Reigns has run into wall after wall, then asked him if he wanted to be the man. HHH offered Reigns the chance to join the Authority. Reigns asked if that meant he had to sell out.
HHH said Reigns will never be liked by everybody and he was offering Reigns everything he ever wanted. HHH talked about setting up Reigns’ grandchildren for life in exchange for Reigns being his man. Reigns said everything he’s ever done he’s earned, he didn’t need a handout. He told HHH to take his offer and to shove it.
HHH thanked Reigns for reminding him why he didn’t chose him in the first place and said Reigns’ first round tournament match would start immediately against the Big Show. It sounded like there was some crowd sweetning at work in this segment and Reigns got some boos when he spoke, which wasn’t much.
Roman Reigns defeated the Big Show in the first round of the WWE World Heavyweight Title tournament (14:32)
Reigns kicked out of a choke slam. Show teased the knockout punch, but Reigns blocked it with a punch of his own, followed with the Superman’s Punch and pinned the Big Show with a spear. Boring match where the crowd wasn’t behind Reigns’ comeback. He sold most of the way.
Reigns faces either Cesaro or Sheamus, who wrestle later tonight. It’s a 16-man tournament.
Michael Cole announced that Bray Wyatt will eulogize the Undertaker and Kane later tonight.
Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney was showed at ringside.
Kevin Owens did a prematch promo encouraging fans to buy his entrance music on iTunes. Owens ran down the fans for believing the Royal Family and said he was going to bring about the change the company needs, and said he was doing it for himself. Fans cheered him anyway.
Kevin Owens defeated Titus O’Neil in the first round of the WWE World Heavyweight Title tournament (6:52)
Owens escaped the Clash of the Titus and pinned Titus O’Neil with the Pop-Up Powerbomb. Owens advances to face the winner of the Neville/King Barrett match, which takes place on Thursday’s Smackdown.
Paige did an interview with Renee Young. Paige is wrestling Becky Lynch tonight. Paige called Lynch a rat. What the hell does that imply?
They showed highlights of the Undertaker’s WrestleMania 13 main event against Sid Vicious. Isn’t it amazing the Bret Hart-Steve Austin I Quit match wasn’t the main event of that show? Surprisingly, they didn’t mention the fact that WrestleMania drew about 70,000 fewer PPV buys than the WCW Uncensored show later that same month in 1997. If you recall, WCW Uncensored headlined with a horrendously booked Team NWO vs. Team Piper vs. Team WCW match. I guess that says all you need to know about how deep a hole the WWE was in at that point.
Becky Lynch defeated Paige (4:57)
Paige hit the Rampage but Lynch grabbed the ropes. Paige tried the PTO, but Lynch again grabbed the ropes. So Paige tried a Rolling Reverse Cradle, but Lynch reversed it to get the pin. I guess it was Paige’s turn to job in her home country. Paige attacked Lynch afterwards and put her in the PTO on the table, to which Cole screamed “NOT ON THE TABLE!” What difference did doing the PTO on the table make? Is Paige the new Sabu or something?
Next week is the Undertaker week on the WWE Network, which will include a Legends Roundtable with JBL, Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels and HHH talking about their memories of the Undertaker. Wonder if Bryan Clark will be invited for memories of Kronik vs. the Brothers of Destruction?
There was a package highlighting the first day of ticket sales for WrestleMania in Texas last Friday. They claimed there was a record-breaking amount of tickets sold. There was also an NXT show where Samoa Joe walked out. Booker T. and Austin did brief interviews.
Dolph Ziggler pinned the Miz in the first round of the WWE World Heavyweight Title Tournament (4:59)
Dolph Ziggler pinned the Miz with a Superkick out of nowhere. Miz had just used the Figure Four leglock. Ziggler faces either Dean Ambrose or Tyler Breeze in the round of 8. Ziggler sold his leg great.
They continued the flashbacks of the Undertaker and Kane, which included Daniel Bryan and Kane winning the WWE World Tag Team championships over Kofi Kingston and R. Truth when Bryan threw Kane off the top rope, only to have him land on Kingston and score the pin.
Alberto Del Rio and Zeb Coulter came out. Coulter said MexAmerica believes Mexico and America should band together as two countries but band together as one. Coulter says Germany tells England what to do and even Scotland doesn’t want anything to do with England anymore. He said he wouldn’t be surprised if Vladimir Putin tells England what to do in the future. Del Rio said England is only populated by haters. Coulter said Del Rio was given an opportuniy by HHH to be in the WWE World Title Tournament and become the first MexAmerica world heavyweight champion.
Natalya defeated Naomi (2:06)
Natalya threw Naomi into Tamina and scored the pin with a schoolgirl cradle. Naomi appeared to injure her leg while rolling out of the ring in the opening seconds. Fans chanted “We Want Sasha” to taunt Naomi. So they’re teasing dissension with Team BAD. That’s two Divas groups who will break up within three months of forming. What is this, TNA?
Postmatch, Banks jumped Natalya, which the crowd cheered. Natalya turned the tables and put Banks in the Sharpshooter. Fans booed the babyface. Tamina jumped Natalya and Banks put her in the Bank Statement. Natalya tapped repeatedly while Naomi put Tamina’s sunglasses on her face.
Cesaro defeated Sheamus in the first round of the WWE World Heavyweight Title Tournament (15:28)
Easily the best thing on the show so far. Cesaro pinned Sheamus with the Inverted Chikara Special. Sheamus was distracted when Barrett got slapped by Rooney at ringside. Earlier, Cesaro hit Sheamus with a European Uppercut on the floor and high-fived Rooney. Best Sheamus match in a while. It’s Reigns vs. Cesaro next week so Cesaro fans can get back to reality. On the WWE website, under the caption of Sheamus winning the Money in the Bank briecase last June is the caption “Can we get a booking mulligan on this move?”
Barrett ran down Rooney during a prematch promo, challenging him to get in the ring. Barrett said he would hate to see Rooney’s son watch his father fail, but then again his son does that every Sunday on the football pitch. Rooney had a slight grin on his face, but this was the English equivalent of Lebron James shooting an angle.
They congraulated Sheamus for “Spectre” being the #1 movie in the world this weekend.
Breeze did a promo saying Prince Pretty would send Ambrose back to the trash heap he came from. Summer Rae said Breeze would be a blessing for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Breeze said he would be the new face of the WWE at Survivor Series.
Dean Ambrose defeated Tyler Breeze in the first round of the WWE World Heavyweight Title Tournament (11:07)
Ambrose won with a small package in a pretty good match. Finish was abrupt. Ambrose sold his left arm after hitting a missile dropkick. Breeze promptly rammed Ambrose’s arm into the ringpost three times and clamped on a Fujiwara Armbar. Ambrose teased a tope but Breeze moved. Ambrose stopped before he hit Rae, who let out a scream worthy of the next Friday the 13th sequel. Rae and Breeze have the potential to be a great act.
It’s Ambrose vs. Ziggler next week.
The next Undertaker-Kane flashback was Undertaker winning over HHH in their final WrestleMania match. Kane’s highlight was the 2001 Royal Rumble, when he eliminated 11 men. It was the final Rumble won by Austin.
New Day came out to a good pop. Kingston was unhappy that the New Day was left out of the tournament. Xavier Woods bragged about New Day laying out John Cena and the Dudley Boyz. Woods dedicated tonight’s match to their fallen captain, Seth Rollins, who again got cheered. Woods said European magic is garbage, to which Kingston added “And so is Harry Potter.”
The New Day defeated Neville and the Usos (8:43)
Woods pinned Neville with a cradle with his feet on the ropes after Big E. tripped Neville, who was going for the Red Arrow. How the ref missed Woods feet on the rope was unbelieveable. Big spot was Neville doing a twisting moonsault plancha onto all five other men. The spot where the New Day takes turns stomping on an opponent in the corner has now been renamed “The Unicorn Stampede.” JBL called them “The Gleebirds.”
Main Event segment was Wyatt coming out. Crowd in England was still singing “He’s Got the Whole World in his Hands.” Wyatt said change wasn’t easy, but it was inevitable. And how you deal with change is how you tell who you really are. He wanted to celebrate the spirit of Kane and the Undertaker tonight. They have been the benchmark of power for over two decades, and they reigned supreme.
He told everyone watching to bow their heads and pay respect to the legends of Kane and the Undertaker. After a moment of the fans chanting “Undertaker,” Wyatt laughed at them saying there will be no more respect paid for them. Wyatt said he owns the spirits of Undertaker and Kane, because their power is now running through his veins.
Wyatt says the apocalypse is here. He got down on his knees and said “Follow…” Before he could finish, a video of Kane and Undertaker played on the TitonTron, ending with the Undertaker saying “Rest in Peace.” Thunderbolts shot down into the ring and from the stage. Then the Undertaker’s music played as Wyatt looked confused and uncertain. Undertaker’s video played and the fans reacted like he was coming out. And he did come out with Kane. Wyatt was stunned.
Undertaker looked like he had spent too much time under a tanning bed. Wyatt’s flash music played, and Braun Strowman, Eric Rowan and Luke Harper appeared. Fans chanted “This is awesome.” Wyatt charged at Undertaker, who decked him. Rowan and Harper were quickly taken out. Strowman approached the Brothers of Destruction. Rowan and Harper ran in to get destroyed with chokeslams. Strowman clotheslined the Undertaker and Kane, but both rose up and clotheslined Strowman over the top. Strowman was thrown over the announcer’s table. Wyatt was left alone in the ring, and Undertaker and Kane gave him a double chokeslam, then stood over him.
SUMMARY: Considering how newsworthy the last week has been, this was a disappointing show. There isn’t anyone who stands out as a larger than life star ready to be the next superstar. The tournament just felt like a series of matches, with only Cesaro’s standing out as anything special. Giving Reigns a win over the Big Show is understandable since he’s now in the legends emeritus role, but it was hard to get a good match out of Show when he was in his 20s. Imagine what it was like tonight, going 14 mintues to boot. Crowd was dead most of the way.
The bracketing for the WWE World Championship tournament which starts tonight on Raw and will continue with first round matches at Smackdown goes like this:
Roman Reigns vs. Big Show (Reigns winning) versus the Cesaro vs. Sheamus winner (Cesaro winning).
Alberto Del Rio vs. Stardust winner (takes place tomorrow at the Smackdown tapings in Manchester) versus the Kalisto vs. Ryback winner (takes place tomorrow).
Kevin Owens vs. Titus O’Neil (Owens winning) versus the Neville vs. Barrett winner (takes place tomorrow).
Dolph Ziggler vs. The Miz (Ziggler winning) vsersus Dean Ambrose vs. Tyler Breeze (Ambrose winning).
The winner of the Reigns vs. Cesaro match will face the winner coming out of Del Rio vs. Stardust and Kalisto vs. Ryback series in one semifinal.
The other semifinal will be Owens versus the Neville vs. Barrett winner against the winner of Ambrose vs. Ziggler.
If this goes via predictable patterns (and we are told it will be fairly predictable) the semifinals would be Reigns vs. Del Rio and Ambrose vs. Owens.
Raw kicks off at 8 ET/5 PT tonight for a show taped this afternoon in Manchester, England. Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer will review the entire show later on tonight on Wrestling Observer Radio.
– HHH came out with the WWE title belt on a table in the ring. He said that Seth Rollins was injured, the title is vacant, and there will be a tournament starting tonight. Roman Reigns came out and vowed to win the tournament. HHH invited him to join The Authority and take Rollins’ spot. Reigns turns him down, so HHH announces Reigns has to face Big Show in the first round.
– Tournament Match: Roman Reigns beat Big Show with a spear. The crowd did everything but pay attention to this match. It was the crowd getting themselves over here.
– Tournament Match: WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens beat Titus O’Neil with the power bomb.
– Becky Lynch beat Paige with a roll-up. Paige attacks her after the match and lays her out with the PTO on a table. Big reaction to that.
– Tournament Match: Dolph Ziggler b Miz with a superkick.
– Natalya beat Naomi
– Tournament Match: Cesaro beat Sheamus when Wayne Rooney of Manchester United fame distracted Sheamus.
– Tournament Match: Dean Ambrose beat Tyler Breeze with a schoolboy to advance in the tournament.
– WWE Tag Team Champiosn The New Day beat Neville & The Usos in a six-man.
– Bray Wyatt did an interview with the Wyatt Family out. Undertaker & Kane came out to confront them, and cleaned house.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including tons of spoiler-free notes on the WWE World Title tournament which starts tonight on Raw. That includes the full brackets and some thoughts on where they could be going leading into the finals at Survivor Series. Plus, full notes on the New Japan Tokyo Dome line-up, John Cena return to TV today, your calls, emails and text messages on a number of different topics and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
The Bryan & Vinny Show returns tonight with tons to talk about including Smackdown with the single worst advertisement for Survivor Series of all time, Ring of Honor with some fun action, plus Vinny’s take on ISHII VS. HONMA from New Japan on Friday night! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today for two full hours to talk all the news of the weekend — Seth Rollins, the Survivor Series tournament, Bellator and UFC results and upcoming big fights, New Japan Power Struggle and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
– Neville beat Stardust in the opener with the Red Arrow. Okay match. Neville got a pop for his finisher.
-Damian Sandow beat Heath Slater in one minute with a roll up. Sandow was back in his old blue robe intellectual gimmick. This was a head scratcher. Either give these guys at least five minutes or don’t do the match at all. Why you would fly these guys to Europe to do a one minute match is baffling.
– Luke Harper & Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan beat Ryback & the Usos. Decent match. Ryback did impressive standing suplex spots with both Harper and Rowan, but ‘couldn’t do it’ with Strowman, putting over how big Strowman was. Strowman made one of the Usos submit in his sleeper finisher.
– King Barrett beat Fandango with the Bull Hammer. Crowd cheered Barrett and had no reaction for Fandango. Virtually nobody in the crowd did his dance.
– Lucha Dragons beat Los Matadores and the Ascension in a triple threat match. Los Matadores came out, clearly as heels (they made fun of El Torito not accompanying them to the ring), yet virtually nobody in the youthful audience picked up on it. The finish saw the song ‘Bad to the Bone’ play out of nowhere (I was having Steve ‘Dr Death’ Williams NWA flashbacks, given it used to be his entrance theme for a period) and El Torito ran out, cleaning house on both Fernando and Diego. Kalisto pinned Viktor with the Salida del Sol. Crowd enjoyed doing the ‘Lucha Lucha’ arm wave.
– NXT Women’s Champion Bayley & Natalya beat Sasha Banks & Naomi. It seemed like about 10% of the audience knew who Bayley was, and the rest didn’t. There was a very weak NXT chant that didn’t catch on and lasted just a few seconds. The work itself was fine, and amongst the better matches of the night. Banks was funny tying her hair back and mocking Bayley. Finish saw Natalya make Naomi tap in the sharpshooter.
– U.S. Champion Alberto Del Rio beat Jack Swagger. This was the second best match on the show. Del Rio was great as a heel, begging off from Swagger and getting on his knees with his hand extended. Del Rio shook hands with both the referee and a fan in the front row to try convince Swagger to shake his hand, but it was all a heelish ploy. At one point Del Rio grabbed the mic and berated the crowd for being dead and asked why Liverpool Football Club suck so much.
This got a mixed reaction, with some fans cheering because there are two Premier League soccer clubs in Liverpool, with there being Everton Football Club fans in the building, all happy at that comment. Swagger kicked out of a superkick and broke/reversed Del Rio’s armbar, before eventually submitting to the cross armbreaker.
– Roman Reigns beat Bray Wyatt in a No Holds Barred match. Most heat and reaction on the show, and best match on the show. Crowd was 95% behind Reigns. They used a kendo stick, chairs and the ringside stairs as props. Reigns eventually brought a table in too. Reigns won after nailing Wyatt with a Superman punch, sending everyone home happy.
Notes & Observations —
– This felt like the least star power on a WWE house show on a U.K. tour for several years. The arena was packed. There were no sections curtained off, and I couldn’t see any empty seats in any sections, so I’d estimate the crowd to be at least 5-6000. It was mostly families with lots of kids, especially given the family-friendly 5pm start time.
I’m aware of all of WWE’s current limitations at this time, and that this was at the start of a lengthy tour, and that some guys may have taken notice of Rollins injury and may be working even more safe than usual. But to me, this felt like a boring show. It was, essentially, a near-three hour version of WWE Main Event/WWE Superstars. Okay matches, featuring limited star power, involving people the main tv shows don’t feature. Even something as simple as the show’s tour programme told a story. The cover of the programme featured seven people, and only four of them (Paige, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Kofi Kingston) are on the tour. And of those, only Reigns was on this show. The other three – John Cena, Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins all aren’t even on the tour. I guess Rollins was, and his absence through injury was very unfortunate.
There was a scary lack of crowd heat and crowd reaction for anyone or anything on this show, bar Del Rio vs Swagger (entirely due to Del Rio’s excellent work as a heel, predominately on the mic) and the Reigns vs Wyatt main event. People didn’t react to anything. Even kids didn’t seem that excited or were starting any chants.
