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WWE Live Event
Frankfurt, Germany
Report by Dot Net reader Dennis Hirth
1. Big E & Xavier Woods (w/Kofi Kingston) beat Enzo & Big Cass, Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows, and Cesaro & Sheamus to retain the Raw Tag Team Championship. Enzo and Cass did their usual schtick. Cesaro and Sheamus came out in German soccer dresses with Sheamus sporting a FC Bayern München shirt (which drew some good heat) and Cesaro getting the cheap pop by wearing the local Eintracht Frankfurt shirt. Tim Wiese came out for an interview with Cesaro, who asked him out about his debut tomorrow. Wiese, who was cheered in the beginning, cut a clunky promo about being ready to begin a new age in WWE, which turned the crowd against him. Sheamus then declined the handshake with Wiese. Woods began against Anderson, who tagged in Gallows. Woods brought in Big E. The big guys fought until Enzo tagged himself in, but he got cut down quickly. Cesaro brought his team into play. He delivered an uppercut to Enzo, but Sheamus tagged himself in. They traded several forced tags and started to bicker. Enzo finally got the hot tag, so Cass could clean house. Chaos broke out, which ended in Big E throwing Woods to the outside onto the other competitors. New Day then delivered their finisher to Anderson for the win. An OK opener with the disappointment of New Day not speaking to their fans.
2. Sami Zayn beat Curtis Axel. The crowd welcomed Zayn with “Ole!”-chants while Axel was mainly booed. They traded some armbar sequences and played to the crowd. Axel worked over Zayn from corner to corner, but Sami surprised him with a Helluva Kick for the win. Very short and unexpectedly weak match. Axel got a mic repeatedly yelled “No!” and claimed that he will not leave like this. He demanded another match and got Sin Cara.
3. Sin Cara defeated Curtis Axel. Axel got some short offense but Sin Cara quickly took over and ended it with a Senton Bomb from the top rope.
Emma came out to her usual music and name as special referee for the next match. No sign of Emmalina at all. Bayley got a great reaction while Alicia Fox got none whatsoever. Dana Brooke brought out Nia Jax as her partner which drew a roar from the crowd.
4. Bayley & Alicia Fox beat Dana Brooke & Nia Jax. Brooke stole a “Playtime is over”-sign from the crowd and showed it to their opponents, which Bayley countered with a Bayley. The two women rushed into each other with Dana coming out on top. Bayley tagged in Alicia, who got the better of Brooke, who then handed things over to Jax. Nia no-sold some of Alicia’s attacks and pushed her down. The lights went out for a few seconds and switched to spotlights, which felt more like a technical mistake than a cool lighting effect. All four women went at each other, with Bayley and Brooke ending up as the legal competitors. Bayley and Alicia avoided a double chokeslam from the interfering Jax and kicked her out of the ring. Bayley then got the win for her team with the Bayley-To-Belly against Brooke. Best match so far.
5. Neville pinned Bo Dallas. Neville entered to a good reaction. Dallas got nothing but yawning from the crowd when entering with his campaign sign. Neville mainly was on the receiving end of some aggressive offense, though Dallas wasted a lot of time with posing and teasing the crowd. Neville got he better of him and went for the Red Arrow twice, but Bo managed to avoid it. After a kick, Neville hit the third attempt to put Dallas away. Another unexpected letdown with way too much posing from Dallas.
Lana entered to some good heat and delivered a promo in which she called the crowd and Roman Reigns cheaters. She introduced Rusev a “true German hero”. Good stuff here. Reigns was out next to very loud and veeeery mixed reactions.
6. Roman Reigns defeated Rusev (w/ Lana) to retain the U.S. Championship. Rusev attacked before the match even started and continued his assault after the bell finally rang. Roman fought back, but was constantly put back down by his opponent. He got back with a horribly weak looking Superman Punch on which he could not capitalize. Rusev got back on track and even put Reigns into the Camel Clutch. Reigns powered out of it with a Samoan Drop and another awful Superman Punch. Lana tried to interfere but was send backstage by the referee. Reigns hit a spear and got the clean win. Good match with some fun crowd interactions.
Intermission after 6 matches within 1,5 hours, which felt quite rushed.
7. Goldust, R-Truth, and Darren Young beat The Shining Stars and Titus O’Neil. No one cared for the Shining Stars, or Titus, or Young. No Bob Backlund, though Jojo announced him. Meh. They traded some back and forth offense, with especially R-Truth standing out. Titus had some domination over Young. At some point, all six men faced each other with the heels starting and attack but finding themselves ending up in a Triple Atomic Drop. Golden Truth delivered a double team maneuver for the victory.
8. Charlotte defeated Sasha Banks to retain the Raw Women’s Championship. Sasha Banks entered to the best pop of the night and really enjoyed it. Charlotte drew some good heat. They delivered a competitive and well-balanced match with Charlotte having the slight advantage. Sasha came back and nearly delivered the Bank Statement, but Charlotte weaseled her way out of it. Dana Brooke entered the arena and stood on the apron to distract Sasha, which led to a roll-up. Sasha kicked out, so Dana once again interfered the same way with Charlotte getting the pin this time. Sasha looked quite stupid for falling for the same trick twice within ten seconds, but the crowd nonetheless gave her a warm farewell.
JoJo thanked us for coming and announced the main event as a Street Fight. Seth Rollins was greeted with some warm reactions, while Owens was booed loudly. Jojo delivered the ring introductions.
9. Kevin Owens defeated Seth Rollins in a Street Fight to retain the WWE Universal Championship. Rollins got the upper hand early and wore down Owens. He got him with a cool top rope Neckbreaker and went outside to grab a chair. Owens avoided it and started some offense of his own. He hit Rollins gut and back with the chair and teased the crowd while sitting on the chair over his fallen opponent. Rollins fought back and obeyed the crowd’s call for a table, which he did not instantly use. A second chair came into play. Owens placed them in the middle of the ring but went through them himself via Back Body Drop courtesy of Seth Rollins. This got a good near fall, even for a “The title does not change hand on house shows” match. Rollins placed the table into the corner. He went to the top rope, but Owens got back up and went for a Superplex. Rollins flipped over him, pushed him up and delivered a very nice Running Power Bomb through the table in the opposite corner. Owens managed to kick out. Rollins went for the Pedigree two times, but Owens blocked it and delivered a Cheap Shot, which got him the win.
Owens grabbed a mic and announced himself the winner because he thought Jojo is not good at it. He then called Germany his least favorite place to be and the he despises this country. He declared that he is in a good mood nonetheless and that the Kevin Owens Show continues. He attacked Rollins again, but he countered him and finally delivered the Pedigree to end the show on a high note. On his way out, Rollins grabbed a “Frankfurt loves WWE” sign and held it up on top of the ramp for a nice pop.
Overall, this was an OK show with a very good main event and some OK to good action on the mid-card. Some matches were way too short, some even disappointing. The crowd was into most of the matches and gave the wrestlers some good reactions.
Best Pops
Sasha Banks
Cesaro
Seth Rollins
Most Heat
Kevin Owens
Tim Wiese
Sheamus
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