9/13 WWE in New Zealand: Reigns vs. Strowman, Balor vs. Wyatt, Five-Way Women’s Title match, Miz vs. Jordan

WWE LIVE EVENT REPORT – RAW BRAND
SEPTEMBER 13, 2017
CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND AT HORNCASTLE ARENA
REPORT BY ADAM CLARK, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

Arena at near capacity (8,800 max seating depending on event. I would say around 7,000 as there was a large section of floor space with no seating. Nothing roped/ tarped off in any of the tiered seating.

Kurt Angle opened the show, welcoming everyone, said that he had a great show planned and that we will be starting with a battle royal to determine the number one contender for Miz’s Intercontinental title later in the night.

(1) Battle Royal – Goldust, Titus O’Neil, R-Truth, Miztourage, Apollo Crews, Jason Jordan, Elias, Dean Ambrose. Good pops for Goldust & Jordan on entrance. Mega pop for Ambrose. Huge boos for Elias.

WINNER: Jason Jordan (last eliminating Miztourage after they’d thrown Ambrose over just before). Decent reaction for Jordan though Ambrose was the clear favourite.

(2) Enzo vs. Tozawa vs. Neville – Cruiserweight Title  match. Huge pop for Enzo – did his usual schtick. Nothing specific to Christchurch or NZ which was a bit disappointing. Neville with the usual heel stuff. The opening consisted of Nevile continuously kicking Enzo out the ring every time he got back up to try and get back in the ring. Good back and forth with Tozawa (lots of AH chants). Quite a slow match considering it was Crusierweights and no high flying moves whatsoever. Quick match really with a couple of decent near falls for Enzo.

WINNER: Neville got the pin after throwing Enzo out the ring after he had dropped his finisher on Tozawa. No Red Arrow which was disappointing for some people (I’ve seen it a couple of times and was looking forward to seeing it again).

(3) Heath Slater & Rhyno vs. Cesaro & Sheamus. Decent pop for Rhyno and Slater. Slater spent the entirety of the match in the ring whilst the crowd chanted for Rhyno. Sheamus and Cesaro with lot’s of typical heel tactics, and pandering to the crowd. No signature moves (swing, white noise, uppercut etc.)

WINNERS: Heath Slater & Rhyno after Rhyno got the hot tag and pinned Cesaro with a spine buster. I know that the faces typically win on live shows but people were very surprised by the result here.

(4) Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt. Huge pop for Balor. Everyone was into his entrance. Little speech about how he gave Wyatt a good hiding at Summerslam and that NZ was ‘too sweet’. Saying things are ‘sweet’ is a big thing here so big pops all round there. Wyatt with the usual entrance with his lamp and all. Very cool with all the cellphone lights. Match took a while to get going as Wyatt rolled in and out of the ring avoiding confrontation. Good back and forth match that went for 8-10 minutes.

WINNER: Balor with his finisher (first time a finisher was used tonight).

Interval – 15 mins

(5) Sasha Banks vs. Emma vs. Nia Jax vs. Mickie James vs. Alexa Bliss – Raw Women’s Championship. Big pops for Sasha and Bliss. Nice reaction for James too. Emma was greeted with very little – thought she may have got some cheap heat being an Aussie but nothing really. Jax had a bit of an awe inspiring reaction due to her size I think. Really nice match that was well worked. Bliss tried to avoid Jax throughout and Jax pretty much ran through everybody until she was tossed out the ring by Sasha and James. Fast paced and good match to have straight after the interval.

WINNER: Bliss with the DDT on James after James had helped Sasha toss Jax out the ring. Bliss ran away quickly with the title as Jax got back into the ring. Really don’t understand if Jax is supposed to be a face?

(6) The Miz (w/Miztourage) vs. Jason Jordan – Intercontinental Title match. Slightly more muted reaction for Jordan second time coming out. Loud boos for Miz and Miztourage. This match took an age to get going as Miz played the heel to an absolute tee as expected. Great pantomime stuff really. Took an age to take his cloak off and then the ref called for the bell before he’d taken his sunglasses off. Spent a lot of time outside the ring interacting with the crowd and getting nuclear heat. Decent near falls for Jordan. His matches with Cena and Reigns have done him a world of good. After one too many interferences the ref ejected the Miztourage. Not 2 minutes went by before they ran back out and caused the DQ after Jordan hit a modified Angle Slam. R-Truth came down to make the save but to no avail. Ambrose then ran in and cleaned house to a huge ovation.

WINNER: Jason Jordan via DQ.

Kurt Angle came back out and said that the Miztourage have been in everyone’s buisness all night and now they would be in official business in the ring in 6 man tag action. Huge ovation.

(7) Miz & Miztourage vs. Jason Jordan & R-Truth & Dean Ambrose. Decent length match with Ambrose eventually getting the pin on Miz after dirty deeds. The three of them stuck around and danced with R-Truth. Really fun segment all round. People were pleased that Ambrose was in an actual match as everyone assumed he was done after the battle royal.

WINNERS: Jason Jordan & R-Truth & Dean Ambrose

(8) Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns – Street Fight. Biggest pop of the night for Braun. Loud boos for Reigns entrance but then once the match started it was pretty 50-50 on Reigns. Strowman the clear favourite though. Strowman dominated Reigns – lots of steel stairs spots. Reigns fought back with a kendo stick which Strowman eventually grabbed and snapped in half. Bit more back and forth and then Reigns set up a table which Braun choke slammed him through. Strowman set up another table in the turnbuckle. Usual superman punch routine and spear. Near fall. Strowman got up and got hit with another spear through the table for the 3 count. 12-15 minute match. Good fun. Roman took some serious steel steps hits.

WINNER: Reigns via spear through table.

Pop for the table spots and Reigns stuck around after and went round everyone at ringside. Class act. No one phoned it in tonight (bar maybe the Crusierweights working a particularly safe match, but not necessarily their fault).

Biggest pops: Strowman, Ambrose, Angle, Balor, possibly Jordan (he will have a lot of new fans tonight – he looked good and played off Miz very well) or Enzo.

Biggest boos: Reigns (entrance and video packages), Miz, Neville, Miztourage (in battle royal), Sheamus & Cesaro (hard to dislike them!)

Ambrose did a meet and greet earlier in the day at a shopping mall for 200 fans.

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