By Jason Powell, Prowrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Dot Net Member Tyler England attended the WWE Raw event in Atlanta, Georgia at Philips Arena on Monday and sent the following report.
-The arena looked like a legit sellout. There was a few empty seats near the hard camera but that’s about it. There was no availability on Ticketmaster prior to the show, even for single tickets which inidicated a legit sell out to me.
-The crowd was really into the show the entire night. They even reacted pretty well to a lot of the filler in the third hour, which is unusual when compared to most of the events I’ve attended.
-The night started off strong with the Ronda Rousey and Kurt Angle confrontation with Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. I liked the format they used here with Jonathan Coachman. Rousey was heavily cheered, I actually felt like this was the strongest reaction for her to date (even beating the one at the Rumble, which I was also fortunate enough to be in attendance for.) Steph and Triple H were complete heels and the crowd booed them heavily, especially Stephanie’s lines. Ronda’s line about breaking Stephanie’s arm got a lot of “OOOs” and gasps from the crowd.
-The Bayley vs Sonya Deville match was pretty good live. The crowd was behind Bayley. I still don’t know who the heel is supposed to be in the Bayley and Sasha Banks feud, and the crowd didn’t appear to either.
-The video packages are mainly done for the TV viewers, and while most of the crowd watches them they don’t usually react too much to them. A lot of people used the Asuka package as a restroom/concession break.
-The Finn Bálor vs. Seth Rollins match was easily the best of the night. The crowd was hot from the entrances on. It took a little bit to get rolling but down the stretch the match was awesome. I was more shocked that they gave them 22 minutes on the WrestleMania go home show (this was prior to the third hour), but they had the crowd hanging on their every move towards the finish. An excellent showing.
-Up next was the Sheamus and Cesaro segment with Braun Strowman. The crowd reacted okay to The Bar while Strowman got a big pop. I know this was just a comedy segment, but the Brains Strowman skit was very well received by the live crowd. They even started a “Let’s go Brains” chant. Strowman keeps improving and I’m excited to see what’s in store for him post-WrestleMania. No one seemed to be upset or let down by WWE not revealing his tag partner on this show.
-Matt Hardy vs. Goldust was exactly what most people would expect. People popped for the entrances and the finish. Matt’s video promo pre-match got a lot of Delete chants from the mostly hardcore crowd.
-John Cena definitely had the crowd hanging on his every word. Most people were standing in wait of Undertaker. His lines about going as a fan and not wanting to take a spot from a full time star got a good pop. Most of the people in attendance were legitimately expecting The Undertaker to show up. Prior to the show I had gotten word from a source that The Undertaker did not show up for the taping, but I assumed they would do something similar to how they had him answer Bray Wyatt’s challenge at WrestleMania 31. To say the least, this felt like the biggest letdown of the night for the live crowd. The guy sitting next to me said he came just because he heard The Undertaker was going to show up, and WWE even played it up like he would show. I’m fairly certain the match will still take place at WrestleMania, but I just cannot believe they haven’t announced this match officially. I know that this is one of the most loaded WrestleMania cards of all time, but I can’t help but think that they are leaving some money on the table by not confirming the match for a few casual fans.
-Roman Reigns’ backstage segment with Kurt Angle got some boos early on, but they gasped at the line when Roman told Kurt to sell his peace treaty at the pawn shop where he sold his gold medals.
-Elias was super over during his pre-match schtick. I think just about everyone in the crowd chanted a long to “Walk With Elias.” He’s definitely gotten that over. Heath Slater’s music got the initial pop but the match was dead due to everyone knowing the outcome.
-The fans laughed at the backstage segment with Braun and Curt Hawkins. I guess that’s WWE’s way of telling us that Hawkins will not be Braun’s partner.
-The crowd was into the Nia Jax sit-down interview. I thought it was well done in getting Nia a little more personality for the crowd to get behind. Some of the lines might’ve been a little corny, but the emotion was there and this crowd seemed to connect with her.
-Alexa Bliss and Mickie James got an initial pop and that’s about it. I think it’s more of a case of burnout at this point that anything, since the third hour really started to drag. Dana got the initial entrance pop but the crowd seemed surprised to see Asuka. The match built well to Asuka coming in, as the crowd wanted Asuka in. They chanted for her and popped big for the tap out. The post match angle with Nia was more of the same from last week but the idea is that she can’t get her hands on Alexa because of Mickie so we will see how it plays out Sunday.
-Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman got a nice reaction at first. The promo was well delivered and the live crowd was very into it. Heyman will definitely be missed if they don’t have anything for him after Brock leaves. You had to know the line was coming to provoke Reigns, but it still got a gasp from the crowd. When Roman’s music hit, from my section it seemed like the crowd was about 80/20 in favor of Roman. The cheers definitely drowned out the boos. It became more apparent after he called Brock a part time bastard. I think it helped that WWE established that the locker room was behind Reigns since they all cleared the isle for him to walk to the ring. Roman’s offense was getting cheered, and the crowd even cheered him when he picked up the WWE Universal Championship and held it up. The F5 from Brock got a mixed reaction to close the broadcast.
-There was no dark match after the show. The Bar ran out and started to attack Reigns and then John Cena made the save. They posed to end the night. No return date announced for Atlanta since the Philips Arena is scheduled to begin renovations at the end of April.
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