6/18 WWE in Los Angeles – Detailed Report on pre-MITB show with Reigns vs. A.J. vs. Rollins, crowd reactions, more

WWE Live Show Results
June 18, 2016
Los Angeles, Calif. at Staples Center
Report by William Noetling, PWTorch reader

I took my 9-year-old daughter to her first WWE show and we were not disappointed. We had third row floor seats and got a great view of all the action. The card was the same as Friday night in Salt Lake City with the added bonus of Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn.

(1) Cesaro beat Alberto Del Rio, who was very over due to the heavy Latino crowd. Alberto is a legend in L.A. Both men looked amazing.

(2) The Club (Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows) beat Lucha Dragons (Kalisto & Sin Cara), who were also very over with the crowd. The heels were in full heat mode, too-sweeting the crowd. Nothing special here.

(3) Baron Corbin beat Dolph Ziggler after the End of Days. Good match overall. The crowd was behind Dolph and I don’t think they knew what to make of Corbin.

(4) Natalya & Paige & Sasha Banks & Becky Lynch beat Women’s champion Charlotte & Dana Brooke & Summer Rae & Eva Marie in an eight-woman tag match. The women were incredibly over with the crowd with Becky and Sasha being the most popular. Hair extensions were flying about the ring as well.

(5) Dean Ambrose beat Chris Jericho in a Street Fight after sending Y2J into a table and hitting Dirty Deeds. We saw a kendo stick, a chair, and the aforementioned table be used. Jericho cut a great promo on the crowd before the match and at several times he referenced 69 tacks he took in their Extreme Rules PPV match.

[Intermission. Ring announcer and host Byron Saxton took pictures with kids at ringside, including my daughter.]

(6) U.S. champion Rusev beat Titus O’Neil to retain the U.S. Title. Back from break, the “Ravishing Russian” Lana introduced her man Rusev for a U.S. Heavyweight championship bout against Titus O’Neil. This was virtual a squash match. Rusev is a monster in-person and he retained quickly.

(7) Sami Zayn beat Kevin Owens. Owens came out first and cut a promo on the crowd, like Jericho. He is hilarious in person. Sami Zayn came out to thunderous applause and the two had a very physical match as is their usual. Zayn somehow got the pin.

(8) WWE World Hvt. champion Roman Reigns beat A.J. Styles and Seth Rollins in a three-way match to retain the WWE World Title. Seth bailed immediately after the bell to let A.J. try to soften up Roman. Then, once he did get into the action the heels double-teamed Reigns. They even teased Seth joining The Club. But, as usual, it broke down. Great match all around. Everyone got off a finisher with Reigns getting the pin on A.J. after a spear.

It was a lively crowd at Staples. The arena was pretty much filled, though they blocked off the 300 section up above. I know it seats over 18,000 for hockey and basketball, so I’d guess at least 10,000 strong in attendance. No pyro for the house show, but it was very very loud.

WWE puts on a great live show, even if the matches are very predictable. The fanbase is skewing much younger these days, as parents are seeing it as more wholesome entertainment than in the Attitude Era.