By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
We are looking for reports on all WWE, AEW, NXT, Impact Wrestling, ROH, GCW, MLW, and other notable live events. If you attend a show, you are encouraged to send a report or even basic results to dotnetjason@gmail.com
WWE Live Event
June 18, 2023 in Charleston, West Virginia at the Charleston Coliseum
Report by Dot Net reader Eric Parsons
The only match advertised for the longest time that ended up not there was Rhea Ripley vs Natalya. There were several folks not advertised that were there, however.
The event was not quite sold out. They didn’t seem to have many of the upper-level sections for sale, but everywhere else was nearly full. None of the matches were particularly long.
1. Becky Lynch, Shotzi, and Michin defeated Iyo Sky, Chelsea Green, and Zoey Stark. None of these wrestlers were advertised. There was a massive pop for Lynch, who was announced shortly before the show started. The majority of the match was Michin getting beat on by the various heels until the hot tag to Lynch, who submitted Green via arm bar.
2. Bobby Lashley defeated Karrion Kross (w/Scarlett). Again, neither wrestler was advertised. There was a huge pop for Lashley, particularly since he wasn’t expected. I was happy to see Kross, only because I’ve long been curious what he does when Scarlett is vamping in the ring…he looks like he’s having a fit outside the ring. He’s a pretty big dude in his own right. Kross had most of the offense (at one point you could hear Kross scream at Lashley “I OWN YOU, LASHLEY!”) and Scarlet interfered a couple of times and nearly caught Kross’s elbow to the face. Lashley tried for the Hurt Lock, but Kross reversed out and Lashley ended up winning with a power slam.
3. Austin Theory defeated Sheamus to retain the U.S. Championship. This was another unadvertised match. Sheamus was cheered loudly and Theory was booed viciously. Theory grabbed the microphone and said the match would not start until he was announced properly and called the crowd “Kentucky Trash.” Sheamus said “the only trash is that guy in there!” The offense was back and forth. At one point, Theory tried to do the Ten Beats and Sheamus caught him. The match ended when Sheamus tried to avoid hitting the official, Theory rolled him up, held the shorts, and put his feet on the ropes for the pin. Sheamus got him back in the ring and hit him with the Brogue Kick after the match.
4. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn defeated “The Viking Raiders” Erik and Ivar (w/Valhalla), “Alpha Academy” Chad Gable and Otis (w/Maxxine Dupri), and Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso in a four-way to retain the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles. The match was announced as a Triple Threat. Adam Pearce (sort of surprising to see him at a house show) came out and said, “As a Father’s Day gift, we’re making this a Fatal Four Way.” The Usos got the loudest pop of the night. Gable and Erik started the match and the normal surprise tags in, etc. happened. Valhalla got into a war of words with a couple of children in the front row. When she tried to interfere in the match, Dupri hip-tossed her. At one point, Jey was getting beat on and made the hot tag to….Sami Zayn. Owens hit the Stunner on Ivar and then Zayn hit EriK with the Helluva Kick to retain.
We got a video promo from Dominik Mysterio saying that he doesn’t celebrate Father’s Day because his Dad is a deadbeat and he was going beat him senseless.
5. Cody Rhodes defeated Finn Balor. A pretty short match with both guys hitting their major spots–except the Coup de Grace–with Cody winning with CrossRhodes. Cody spoke to the crowd after to say that it was intermission. Rhodes signed anything handed to him and took what seemed to be at least 100 selfies.
6. Gunter (w/Ludwig Kaiser) vs. Matt Riddle vs. Shinsuke Nakamura in a Triple Threat for the Intercontinental Title. Truthfully, the crowd was only partially into this one, occasionally starting a “Bro! Bro! Bro!” chant. A short and standard Triple Threat match with Gunther being in the ring the majority of the time and swapping between beating on the faces. Kaiser got involved more than once. Riddle paid tribute to Randy Orton by performing the through the ropes DDT on Gunther and hitting the RKO (after doing the pounding the mat thing) on Kaiser when he interfered again. Gunter retained when it appeared he took Riddle’s head off with a clothesline.
7. Rey Mysterio defeated Dominik Mysterio in a Father’s Day Street Fight. The heat on Dominik is legit…wow, I mean deafening. Rey was a crowd favorite. The match was slow going, each Mysterio variously going to the turnbuckle and either being cheered or booed. Mysterio took his LWO shirt off carefully and it stayed in the ring…foreshadowing. It was a fairly standard match early on with several false set ups for the 619. Rey was the first one to get a weapon, a Kendo stick. Each guy used it on the other, with Dominik ending up with the most offense. Dom got a chair and set it up and started to try to run Rey to it. Rey reversed and launched Dom onto the chair, and retrieved a leather belt from his LWO shirt and beat Dom rather severely as he was laying across the chair. Rey hit the 619, but Dom got his knees up before the subsequent splash, then retrieved a table. Dom tried to put Rey through the table, but Rey reversed from the buckle and powerbombed Dom onto the table, which did not break and fell over, with the leg severely bent. Even the official tried to re-set up the table, but eventually Rey put it in the corner and whipped Dom through it, hit the splash for the fall. This was the longest match, roughly 17 minutes.
8. Seth Rollins defeated Damian Priest to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. Priest was well-received and the crowd was pretty loud for Rollins, but…mostly flat for the match. It was a standard match until the finish. Seth got thrown into the corner and took out the official, rolled up Priest, and would have had the three count. Rollins went to check on the official, and got a low blow from Priest when he turned around. The other official then ran in from the back and made a two count when Priest covered. The new official went to check on “fallen official” and Priest retrieved the belt and tried to hit Rollins, Rollins ducked, then hit the Pedigree, the Stomp, and covered for the three count.
We left before he did his post match promo. A great show with some legitimate surprises (honestly, Pearce showing up for like 20 seconds was probably the biggest surprise, as they had already advertised the Usos for the tag match earlier).
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