Dot Net reader K. Badoghaish attended the WWE Greatest Royal Rumble event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Friday and sent the following report.
-This was my first ever WWE Live event, I was sitting close to the Kickoff Show panel. I’ve always heard how much fun it is going to live event and I’ll definitely attend a live show in the U.S. someday.
-I went to buy shirts before the Kickoff Show started. I was planning to buy AJ Styles, Matt Hardy, and the Bruno Sammartino shirt that they wore on Raw. But I was disappointed with shirts they brought. They brought Daniel Bryan, AJ, Roman Reigns, a Triple H vs. Cena shirt, a GRR shirt, Undertaker, and John Cena shirts. They also sold AJ and Roman gloves, a Cena sweatband and towel. There were singed AJ, Roman, and Cena pictures. They also had belts for the WWE, Universal, and Intercontinental titles. It’s weird they didn’t sell that weird looking green belt. I bought an AJ shirt, an AJ signed picture, and on my way out I bought an AJ glove.
-Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross received big crowd reaction when they were walking to the Kickoff Show panel and so did Booker T. During the Kickoff Show, Booker hair stuck in the chair, I don’t think it was while they were on air though because I saw him curse.
-It was a legit sellout. I didn’t see one empty chair and I think the stadium could’ve had more seats. The bus driver that drove the superstars to the stadium was sitting in front of me, he had a backstage access but chose to sit with the fans (what a waste). He told me, Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman arrived in a separate car and not with the superstars. Triple H, Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, Taker, Brock, and Kurt were in the same hotel. The other superstars were in another hotel. They’d been at the stadium since 1 p.m. local time and he was driving them to the airport after the show.
-Before the show started, Turki Al-Sheikh talked for a little bit to thank the fans, and he announced that he’s hoping that WWE will come to Riyadh in November. Riyadh has two stadiums, one can hold 70,000. He didn’t say if they will go balls out like this event or will be a house show.
-During the US national anthem, I heard a small boos “Sorry America” but it was shot down immediately. It was disrespectful. The crowd gave a big standing ovation after the US national anthem was finished.
During “The Best of Two Worlds” ad, the crowd popped for Sasha Banks. The crowd popped big time for Charlotte the end of the show when they were showing the Backlash card. It’s a shame they didn’t perform, but it is what it is.
-During the GRR promo, the crowd popped big time for Taker.
-Triple H vs. John Cena: both received big crowd reactions. I heard a little boos for Cena.
-Cedric Alexander vs. Kalisto: I went to pray and saw the ending of the match.
-Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt vs. Sheamus and Cesaro: Good reaction for both teams.
-Jeff Hardy vs. Jinder Mahal: Jeff received a big pop from the crowd. Samir Singh was booed. I heard a “This is awesome” chant, for Jinder, really? There were laughs during the botched Whisper in the Wind.
-I was thinking the intermission was going to be half an hour, I went to pray. Muslims pray five times a day. I went to get me some water and heard the USO’s music and I returned immediately to my seat. So, I didn’t hear what the crowd reaction for both teams. Should WWE instead of doing two hours pre-show during WM, do one hour before the show and one hour in the middle of the show?
-Seth Rollins vs. The Miz vs. Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor: Balor received the biggest reaction of the four and I think the fans wanted him to win it. But they were fine with either Seth returning or Fin winning.
-When The Daivari brothers came out I told the bus driver they were from Iran and he staring booing! The crowd ate this segment up. I was happy to see The Daivari brothers in the same WWE ring.
-AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura: A big reaction for AJ. It was a bit awkward with Nakamura because of his new theme. You start going along with the music and you get cut off. I agree 100 percent with them changing his song. The finish was disappointing. I just heard the bell ring and it hit me a double count out. I heard some boos because of the finish.
-Undertaker vs. Rusev: Taker had the biggest reaction of the night. The fans wanted to see him during his entrance I didn’t see a single person sitting down, everyone was on their feet.
-Brock Lesnar (w/Paul Heyman) vs. Roman Reigns: A big reaction for Brock. Roman received a mixed reaction, but I think the cheers were bigger than the boos. Funny, I was sitting next to a small kid and Roman did something and I booed. He looked at me and asked, “You hate him?” I said “Yes”. Man, I felt bad about it.
-The 50-Man Royal Rumble: Daniel Bryan, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Rey Mysterio, Elias, Mark Henry, Braun Strowman, and Kurt got big reactions. The others were good to no reactions at all. The crowd seemed dead at the end. And I think they were saving the energy for when Jericho came out. Fans really wanted Daniel to win it but they were fine with Braun winning.
-I was not expecting the crowd reaction because I was thinking that the tickets are so cheap and we will see a lot of people who know nothing about wrestling (like an Impact crowd when they tape at Universal Studios), but it as a complete opposite. Based on the reactions, I am thinking most were not hardcore fans, they were average fans.
Biggest Cheers: Undertaker.
Most Heat: The Daivari brothers.
A one hour break in the middle of shows? Yeah, no thanks. Talk about a momentum killer.
Maybe that’d work overseas or something, but not here in the states. Especially with people drinking…