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WWE Live Event
Syracuse, New York at the War Memorial
Report by Dot Net reader Mr. Paramedic
About 4,000 people attending. Many kids with their family. Very vocal crowd throughout the show. i was working the show as part of the medical crew, so i got to watch more as an observer, rather than a fan. Different viewpoint.
1. Big Cass (w/Enzo Amore) defeated Jinder Mahal in 5:00. Good opener, with Enzo giving great work on the mic. He had the crowd eating out of his hand.
2. Golden Truth, Sin Cara and Curtis Axel defeated Titus O’Neil, The Shining Stars, and Bo Dallas in 10:00. Lots of comedy for this one. At one point there was a “we want Axel” chant. I know they were trying to fit everyone on the card, but I really saw this as a “good luck in your future endevors” match in about six months time.
3. Neville defeated Rich Swann to retain the WWE Cruiserweight Championship in 12:00. Good back and forth action. Rich’s music is actually a really good tune. Neville faked a leg injury (i actually thought I was going to have to work!) but it was all a ruse and he managed to get Rich to submitt. Neville is smaller in person than i thought he would be. He was arguing with the crowd and one of the kids was almost as tall as he was!
4. Sami Zayn and Finn Balor defeated Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe in 10:00. I thought Chris Jerico would have been Sami’s partner, but Finn was an excellent surprise. I will say this about Kevin: he is a classic heel. Great stalling, better trash talking, plus he has that smarmy heelish comedy that makes you laugh but want him to see him get his butt kicked. Case in point: he was mocking out Sami trying to tag Finn by over acting the “crawling to the corner to make the desperate tag” and then standing up and trash talking Finn. If the WWE ever got behind him as a heel, they would have a performer as a heel what John Cena is as a babyface
Break time. Lots of people buying merchandise.
5. Sasha Banks and Bayley defeated Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax in 10:00. 1) Bayley is absolutely adorable in person. The kind of girl you want to take home to Mom. 2) Charlotte is gorgeous, the kind of girl you would take home to Dad. Good back and forth action. Bayley pinned Charlotte. I was near Nia when she walked to the ramp and I must say she is a much bigger woman in person than on TV (and not in a bad way, she is solid!).
6. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows defeated New Day and Cesaro & Sheamus in a Triple Threat to retain the Raw Tag Titles in 10:00. Standard tag team matches (they could do sooooo much more with this division!). After the match, Cesaro swung Anderson about 20 times before they dumped him out of the ring. After, they got Sheamus to dance and sing to Irish music (it is St Patrick’s day after all) before leaving. Side note: Syracuse, NY is the only place in the country where there is a traffic light with Green on the top and Red on the bottom!
7. Roman Reigns defeated Braun Strowman by DQ in 15:00. Braun used the steps for the DQ. Lots of cheers for Roman. Good back and forth, but not as good as their pay per view match. Its nice to see WWE take their time and develop Braun as the wrestler he has become. Too many times we get too much too soon, and it just ruins it. Reminds me of how back in the ’80s the squash matches built up wrestlers and it meant something (just showing my age!). On another note, if WWE wants the fans to start to cheer Roman, they need to turn him heel. Turn him, make everyone hate him, and watch them cheer him. Give him a year as a heel, and turn him good just before WrestleMania and he will explode in popularity!
Overall, a good show. Not as long as I wanted, but it was fun to watch not as a fan but observer of the crowd. The wrestlers all made sure that the fans were given a good show and a lot of the babyfaces took the time to go around the ring and shake hands, sign stuff, etc. I will give them credit for doing that when they don’t have to at a house show.
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