9/2 WWE in Kansas City, Mo.: Cena vs. Wyatt, Reigns vs. Strowman, Enzo messes up, Tag Team Reunites, Battle Royal

WWE LIVE EVENT REPORT – RAW
SEPTEMBER 2, 2017
KANSAS CITY, MO, AT SPRINT CENTER
REPORT BY FAHEEM MUNIR, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

The arena was mostly full with most of the upper seats being empty. Really good attendance for a house show. Samoa Joe did not make an appearance due to injury.

(1) The Hardys vs. Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins vs. Sheamus & Ceasaro – WWE Raw Tag Team Title match. Good pop for the Hardys and for Ambrose & Rollins. Basic tag match as Matt Hardy was being worked over to build a hot tag to Jeff. Each team got in their signature moves.

WINNERS: Ambrose & Rollins.

(2) Battle Royal to face The Miz for the Intercontinental Championship later at night. The Battle Royal consisted of: Enzo Amore, Scott Dawson of The Revival, Titus O’neal, Kalisto, Goldust, Darren Young, Kurt Hawkins, Jason Jordan, The Miztourage (Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel), Apollo Crews and R-Truth. Enzo came out to the biggest pop out of all of them. Enzo Amore did get boo’d when he mistakenly called Kansas City “St. Louis” during his promo. He did correct himself after hearing it from the fans, however.  Jason Jordan came out to mild cheers. Good heat for The Miztourage. Early on, there was a lot of punching and a lot of elimination teases. The Miztourage teamed together and eliminated quite a few Superstars. Goldust and R-Truth went at it a few times. During the match, the Prime Time Players (Titus O’Neal & Darren Young) did their dance for a few cheers. Titus O’neal then eliminated Darren Young. Enzo Amore did a comedy bit of trying to fight Titus O’Neal only to get eliminated by him. The last minute of the match was filled with rapid eliminations.

WINNER: Jason Jordan to face The Miz for the Intercontinental title later in the show.

Elias Sampson played a guitar solo running down Kansas City. The line that drew the most heat was when he sang that he wanted to punch people in Kansas City in the face. Good heat here. This went on for a few minutes until Finn Balor came out to massive cheers. Note: there were A LOT of Balor Club t-shirts being wore by kids and adults alike.

(3) Finn Balor vs. Elias Sampson. Both did some chain wrestling early on. Sampson drew several more boos when hiding being the referee at times when Balor got the upper hand. Balor played some air guitar to get a lot of laughs and cheers. Great ring psychology as Sampson worked over Balor’s arm for several minutes. Balor would sell that arm the entire match. One spot of the match was when Balor teased a tap out after being put in an arm bar, but Balor would start his comeback when the crowd started to clap. Balor hit his inzaguri kick on Sampson. Balor would then get in all of his offensive moves that culminated into a Coup De Grace by Balor.

WINNER: Finn Balor. Great match. The part of Sampson working over Balor’s arm was great and led to a very believable tap out tease. Props to Balor for selling that arm during his comeback sequence.

(4) Brawn Strowman vs. Roman Reigns. Strowman received a mixed reaction with the older fans cheering and the children booing him. Reigns surprising received more cheers than boos from the crowd. Several hard Irish Whips into the corner to Roman to start the match. Stowman would then work on Reigns’s back for some time. The crowd cheered when Reigns attempted to pick up Strowman for a Samoa Drop, but he couldn’t because of his back. Good sell. Strowman would continue to taunt the crowd and beat Reigns for several moments. Reigns slowly made a comeback with a few punches and kicks to Strowman. Reigns finally picked up Strowman for a Samoan Drop. This got a lot of cheers. Both men would end up outside of the ring. Strowman took apart the ring steps and hit Reigns with them to get disqualified.

WINNER: Roman Reigns by DQ.

After the match Strowman threw Reigns back in to the ring and pulled out a table. That received a good pop. The table was propped against the corner of the ring. Strowman tried his running powerslam through the table, but Reigns was able to reverse. After a Superman punch, Reigns speared Strowman through the table. Great crowd reaction for that sequence.

Intermission

(5) Sasha Banks vs. Dana Brooke vs. Alicia Fox vs. Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss – Fatal Five-Way for the Raw Women’s Championship. Crowd was somewhat silent for this match. Sasha Banks received the loudest cheers. No reaction for Dana Brooke, Alicia Fox, or Nia Jax. To begin the match, Jax would beat on everyone except Bliss. Bliss remained on the outside of the ring. Fox and Brooke would trying to double team Jax with dropkicks and a double-team suplex, but Jax would power through the both of them. While Jax was working on Brooke, Banks, and Fox, Bliss would climb the top rope to attempt a crossbody on Jax. Jax gave Bliss a menacing look. Bliss would then slowly climb down from the turnbuckle. This got a lot of laughs and cheers. Great stuff there. Interesting spot in the match is when Bliss broke up a pin attempt made by Jax, Jax sold being upset and teased getting ready to fight Bliss. This woke the crowd up a bit as they started to cheer. Bliss slapped Jax in the face. The crowd liked that.  Banks would break the moment up, however, and the three fought. Each person would hit their finisher on one another. Bliss won with a DDT to Brooke. Quick match.

WINNER: Alexa Bliss.

(6) The Miz (w/Miztourage; no Mayrse) vs. Jason Jordan – Intercontinental Championship match.

Before the bell rang, The Miztourage drew loud boos when they told the crowd to shut up. Miz offered Jordan a spot in The Miztourage saying that he could elevate Jordan’s career. He used Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel as examples of how their careers were elevated. The crowd chanted “no.” The Miz then put his hand up and then did his “when my hand goes up, you mouths go shut” line. More boos there. The Miz then offered one more time for Jordan to join The Miztourage. When The Miz began his sentence with “Do you…” the crowd said “What?” The Miz would then say “Do you…” again to begin his sentence. The Crowd said “What?” again. The Miz, being so good on the mic, took notice and said “Do you?” again. That elected a “What?” from the crowd. The Miz would do the same thing only faster. The crowd said “What!” even faster. Really good interaction from The Miz to the crowd. Jordan then took the mic and said “No” to joining The Miztourage. Loud cheers for that.

The crowd got behind Jordan with several chants. The two fought for a bit until Jordan was tripped up by Axel. With Jordan distracted, The Miz began his beat down. The Miz would work over Jordan with various rest holds. In between, we would taunt the crowd for loud boos. More boos for The Miztourage when they get involved while the referee was distracted. Jordan would start to “hulk up” after The Miz would punch him in the head. The crowd liked that. The comeback was cut short. The Miz had Jordan set for the YES! kicks. After about four kicks, Jordan caught The Miz’s final kick and turned it into a belly-to-belly suplex. Good crowd reaction for Jordan after that. Jordan got in some impressive offense with a variety of suplexes. The Miztourage would interfere again only to be caught by the referee this time. The referee asked the crowd if The Miztourge interfered. After a few moments, the referee ejected The Miztourage to loud cheers. As they were going to the back, The Miz took his championship and began to follow them. Good stuff and the crowd was fully engaged during this. Jordan chased The Miz down and threw him back in the ring. As the referee was handing the championship back to the ring announcer, The Miz poked Jordan in the eyes and scored a three count with a School Boy roll up.

WINNER: The Miz. Really good match. Great mixture of mic work from The Miz, wrestling from Jordan and crowd interaction from everyone involved. There were a few believable near falls for Jordan during his offensive sequence. The Miz vs. Jordan feud on live TV should do well as both seemed to have ring chemistry. Jordan got his cheers as we was was walking to the back after the match.

(7) John Cena vs. Bray Wyatt – Kansas City Street Fight. Wyatt got his cheers for his entrance, but boos after that. John Cena came out to a loud pop. The match started off slow as Wyatt was working over Cena. Wyatt did a DX-like crotch chop to get some heat. Wyatt would then work over Cena more. Another memorable taunt by Wyatt is when he did Cena’s “You can’t see me” hand gesture. Cena then would start his comeback only to get a low blow by Wyatt. Wyatt then got a chair from under the ring. He would hit Cena in the gut with it and then on the back. Wyatt scored a two-count after that. As Wyatt did more taunting, Cena rolled to the outside of the ring to grab a chair of his own. He returned the favor to Wyatt by hitting him in the gut and then in the back for a two-count. Both men would then fight up the ramp. Cena suplexed Wyatt on the ramp. Cena grabbed a piece of the steel barricade and tried to hit Wyatt with it, but missed. Wyatt set barricade piece against the ring apron and floor. After more fighting, Cena teased an Attitude Adjustment through the barricade. Wyatt countered and delivered a suplex to Cena on the barricade. Ouch. The barricade was bent. After that sequence, Wyatt got a table (cheers) and set it up in the ring. He threw Cena in the ring and attempted to put him through it. Cena countered and did the shoulder blocks into the Five Knuckle Shuffle sequence. Cena then gave Wyatt and Attitude Adjustment through the table for the three count. This sent the crowd home happy.

WINNER: Cena.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Good show overall with Elias Sampson-Balor and Miz-Jordan putting on excellent matches. The main event was okay. Too bad Samoa Joe is hurt.

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NOW CHECK OUT THIS RECENT REPORT: 8/12 WWE in Augusta, Maine: Seth & Dean vs. Bo & Curtis, Balor & Hardys vs. Elias & Gallows & Anderson, Reigns vs. Braun, Cena vs. Rusev