By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)
Dot Net reader TA Perkins attended Monday’s Raw in Kansas City, Missouri at T-Mobile Center and sent the following report.
I haven’t been to a WWE show since June 2015, so I was excited to see how things have changed in person. The last event I attended was a house show with Randy Orton vs. Seth Rollins in a steel cage match. Everything is digital now. No more paper tickets. The lines for the merch table were very long. A good mix of shirts and belts were bought. There were plenty of YEET glasses for the kids. I think that’s probably one of the hot ticket items. I had to dust off my spinner belt from 2011 so I could at least look the part tonight. That was the last Raw I was at, and that was the night the locker room gave Triple H that no-confidence vote and walked out on him. It’s funny how things evolve over time. On to the show!
There were plenty of videos were being played starting at 6:00. The last one was a highlight package of Seth Rollins, Paul Heyman, and Bron Breaker teaming up.
Alicia Taylor came out to a big pop. She was getting us hyped for the show but we were starting with Main Event. Honestly I had no idea they still did this but I guess it replaces the pre-show matches. WWE is the king of content I’ve been told.
After the Main Event taping, the lights went down and we were ten minutes out from Raw starting. The ring crew works ridiculously fast.
Michael Cole and Pat McAfee get separate entrances and big pops. I hate the Name Only titantron graphics. Bring video packages back for the Titantron!
We got a last-minute audio-only hype package that had the voices of John Cena, Randy Orton, Steve Austin, The Rock, Mick Foley, and more.
Raw started with Seth and his crew. It’s exactly how it looks on TV with the crowd singing along. Sami Zayn got his usual crowd singing as well. It was dark enough that you could see the drones flying around.
Big pops for Rhea Ripley. Roxanne Perez got some decent reactions. Perez has some fans for sure, as some areas in the crowd started chants for her.
There were mild boos for Judgment Day. They have done great with the audio for backstage interactions. It used to be hard to hear what was being said back in the day, but I guess that’s not a problem anymore.
During the commercial break, we could see the setup for a Austin Theory and Waller interview. Waller is in action next week. They are still teasing a breakup between them.
Back on TV, Logan Paul came out to big boos. How does he get a Titantron action highlight package while everyone else just gets their name?
A major reaction for Jey Uso coming out. YEET! There were a few boos because he didn’t come out through the crowd. That’s why I bought my ticket in the area I did. Silly me. Huge cheers for the kid beating cancer down in the front row. We all hate cancer!
New Day came out to good boos. At this point in the show, I had to pull up Netflix to see what was being shown and how big of a time difference there is between the stream and in-person viewing. It was only a couple of minutes at most.
We didn’t see Penta pop up at the end of the tag match, but everyone cheered once we realized it. There were a lot of Penta shirts in my section!
The ring crew changed the mat during the Sami Zayn and Paul Heyman backstage chat. They really do work very fast.
Becky Lynch came out. There really is a lot of smoke for her entrance. It was funny to see how much comes down on the fans by the entrance area. There was a mild pop for Lyra, but she gained support as she was talking.
The crowd let the Boos rain for Penta getting a match next week.
There was a BIG pop for Stephanie Vaquer.
There was a good pop for a Rusev video that played during the commercial break for us.
Stephanie Vaquer vs. Ivy Nile was a good match (it could be me, but the fans here in KC actually like competitive matches). Lots of pocket “This is Awesome” chants.
Pat McAfee got on the mic had the crowd going. Personally, I was a fan of Gunther’s work last week. Cheers for cursing that I’m sure they’ll edit out if they didn’t bleep it live.
There were big pops for John Cena and Randy Orton while their hype package was shown. Sadly I’ll have to miss Backlash because of my kid’s birthday party. Maybe I can get Orton to RKO her and free me up for the PLE!
We had no idea that the final segment was going to turn into a match until we saw the ref hit the ring and Bron Breakker came out in his ring gear. Sami is still massively over. I have no idea why the fireflies came out for Sami, but it was a cool moment to see it live. What I didn’t think was cool was the “One More Time” after Bron kept spearing Sami. We were literally cheering for Sami from the start of the segment, through the march, and after he ate the first spear. It reminds me of the “WHAT” chants.
Seth and crew left, and then Sami was assisted to the back. We got thanked for coming out, and that’s the end of the show. No dark matches. I guess times really have changed. No deadpan reactions for any of the talent. I heard a few people were sad we didn’t get CM Punk, but I didn’t expect him after how the show ended last week. No Dominik Mysterio either in front of the live crowd.
A couple of people had Netflix on their phones so they could hear commentary. I’d say the delay from the live to the stream never exceeded three minutes. I guess they don’t give those headsets for people to listen in anymore.
They had photo areas set up around the arena. These events have really evolved! It was fun overall. I can still recommend going to see it if they come to your city. Hopefully, I don’t have to wait another 10 years to catch them. If the Chiefs get a new stadium, we probably can get WrestleMania. A man can dream! I’ll have to watch the show back to see how the crowd came across the stream. We really did enjoy the show.
This was a really great on site report, thanks for writing it up TA!
My pleasure!! It was a great time and I’m glad I went last minute for it. I missed the last time they were here and couldn’t go to the AEW show last year either. 3rd times the charm!