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WWE Live Event
Santiago, Chile at Movistar Arena
Report by Dot Net reader F Javier Diaz Fischer
The attendance was 14,000 and sold out for the second night of the two shows WWE brought to Chile. Considering this was the original show (the one last night was scheduled later), you could tell the difference between these hardcore fans and the mix of hardcore and casual fans from the previous night.
The atmosphere was quite like those Post-WrestleMania Raw’s, but with the fans enjoying the show and trying to chant, cheer and boo rather than going into business for themselves and be a part of the show. That was a relief.
1. Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston defeated Enzo Amore & Big Cass and Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in a Triple Threat to retain the Raw Tag Team Championship in 5:00. The New Day and Enzo & Cass’s entrances were really over but the match was not good at all. Anderson and Gallows were much more over tonight compared to the first show. A couple of “Bullet Club” chants.
2. Sami Zayn and Darren Young beat Titus O’Neil and Bo Dallas in 8:00. Tremendous ovation for Zayn, who was really over tonight. The match revolved around him and he got the pin. No reaction whatsoever for Young. He was certainly “not great again” in Chile.
3. Sin Cara over Luke Harper in 9:00. This was the first good match of the night. Both guys were very over and the fans were very happy that Sin Cara had the chance to actually work tonight considering he was squashed by Strowman the night before in less than a minute. A lot of “Lucha! Lucha! Lucha” chants.
4. Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Alicia Fox defeated Charlotte, Dana Brooke, and Nia Jax in 9:00. You could really tell the difference between this crowd and the one from the first show when it came to the reception Bayley got. She was really over here, to the level of Sasha and Charlotte, who received humongous pops both nights. Not a very good match, Sasha made the hot tags and beat Charlotte again, clean in the middle, with the Bank Statement. Nia Jax received real heel heat.
5. Roman Reigns defeated Rusev (w/ Lana) to retain the U.S. Title in 13:00.
Lana came to the ring first and tried to get heat by purposely confusing Chile with Bolivia and making fun of the loss of the Chilean National Football Team (what you guys call soccer in USA) minutes earlier. It worked to certain extent, but the crowd absolutely loved here regardless. She introduced Rusev, who got cheered. Reigns was booed out of the building when his music played. Real hostile crowd for him at the beginning, not that much during the match and after. It almost felt that people wanted to boo him during his entrance because it was “cool” to do it, but not that much during the match Good match, mixed reaction. They understood they were not the main event tonight.
6. Braun Strowman beat Neville in 2:00. Neville got some kicks and moves in, but Strowman destroyed him in no time as expected.
7. Cesaro, Sheamus, and Golden Truth defeated The Shining Stars, Curtis Axel, and Jinder Mahal in 9:00. Once again, Cesaro received quite the ovation but this night he was over like hell. There was a sea of “Cesaro Section” signs all over the crowd. As you would think, nothing to say about this match other than Cesaro being quite the Chilean favorite. Lots of respect for Goldust, who showed in one minute that he’s a better worker than 95 percent of the roster. In an interesting note, “Axelmania” ran wild for 30 seconds.
8. Seth Rollins defeated Kevin Owens by DQ in a WWE Universal Championship match in 15:00. The match of the night. Owens was more over tonight, this crowd recognized what a great performer he is but also understood he was the heel and went along with the ride. Rollins received an ovation that I can only compare to the one The Undertaker received in Chile back in 2008. Rollins is over here like you wouldn’t believe, he has quite the cult following but is also capable to capture the more casual fans with his wrestling style. He worked total babyface, before, during and after the match. If there was any doubt about his role in the States, I can tell you it was patently clear tonight that he was the top babyface. They worked a great match with Owens resorting to every little trick in the book in order to get some real heel heat. He managed to do it. After 15 minutes of great wrestling, Rollins was going for the Pedigree but Owens low blowed him causing the referee to DQ him. The champion grabbed the microphone and told the audience that the only thing that mattered was that he was “Still Your Universal Champion” and the people booed him until Rollins gave him a Pedigree. This was by far the best match of both nights. After the match, Seth Rollins said this was the best crowd he ever performed in front of and posed with the Chilean flag.
We all understand wrestlers do not have the “match of their careers” in a house show, but when WWE comes to a country once every five years, you certainly appreciate what Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins did for this crowd tonight in Santiago, Chile. Better show than last night, once again a good night for WWE but monumental night for the fans that jammed-pack the Movistar Arena.
On a different note, during WWE’s visit, Cesaro and Sami Zayn were very gracious and cordial with the fans and the Swiss Superstar even took the time to go to a rehab-center for special needs children. He is quite the ambassador for the company. You can tell he is a different breed of cat, as they say.
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