SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE LIVE EVENT – RAW BRAND
NOVEMBER 1, 2017
GLASGOW, SCOTLAND
REPORT BY JONATHAN GEDDES, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT
The arena was pretty full, but not a sell out. The merchandise stalls were selling stuff from both brands, as well as Roman Reigns gear, who wasn’t on the tour.
JoJo was ring announcer.
(1) Asuka beat Mickie James by submission. Interesting choice to have a babyface v babyface bout to open the show. Perhaps Emma’s firing at the weekend forced a shake-up. Both women were quite over and this was a solid, well worked 10 minute opener, with James playing a very mild heel. Asuka won clean with the Asuka Lock.
(2) The Miz (with the Miztourage) pinned Matt Hardy to retain the Intercontinental title. This was great stuff. Matt was really over, and the Miz got one of the biggest heel reactions of the night. He demanded we wait for him to remove his shades and ring gear before the match started, drawing it out to get more and more heat. Curtis Axel was wearing a neckbrace to sell his injuries from Monday. This match was very old school, with Miz distracting the ref and Bo Dallas cheap shotting Hardy a couple of times. There was a lot of heat as it went on, with the ref eventually throwing the Miztourage out. As they argued with the ref, Miz poked Hardy in the eye and hit the Skull Crushing Finale to retain. Very good match.
(3) Jason Jordan & Heath Slater & Rhyno & Goldust beat Elias & Bo Dallas & Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson. Has WWE forgotten about Goldust’s heel turn? He was back playing babyface again here. Before the match Elias performed a bit of Wonderwall, with a change to the lyrics informing us that he wanted to punch us all in the face. Funny stuff, and he got decent heat for it. Just a standard, throwaway eight man tag but fast paced. Dallas and Slater squared off at one point, as the Social Outcasts exploded. Jordan scored the pin for his team.
(4) Enzo Amore pinned Kalisto to retain the Cruiserweight Title. Enzo insulted Glasgow beforehand and didn’t do the SAWFT chant. His entrance was heavily cheered, but the crowd turned on him after that. A short, mostly uninteresting match that Enzo won clean. His mannerisms are good but his work is still sloppy.
(5) Pete Dunne pinned Wolfgang to retain the United Kingdom Championship. Wolfgang is a local lad so got a decent reaction. The match didn’t really click, though. It never told a story and felt like a random collection of moves with little flow, ending when Dunne won by pinfall somewhat abruptly.
(6) Braun Strowman beat Kane by disqualification. Strowman was really over and got a big pop when he first appeared. They did a big staredown to start, but the match barely went five minutes. Strowman chucked a table into the ring, and then Kane attacked him with a chair for the DQ. He then went to choke slam him through the table, but Strowman blocked it and gave Kane the running powerslam through the table instead.
A 15 minute intermission followed, including the announcement for the dates for next May’s tour. No Scottish date was among them, with London hosting Raw and Smackdown tapings.
(7) Bayley & Sasha Banks beat Alexa Bliss & Nia Jax when Banks made Bliss submit. Good reactions for everyone involved in this. A well worked, by the book tag match, with Bayley eventually making the hot tag. The faces managed to knock Jax out the ring, and Bliss then tapped out to the Banks Statement.
(8) Finn Balor pinned Samoa Joe. Balor got a big pop when he arrived, and he took the mic to mention that he’d been coming here for a long time, including long before he was in WWE, sparking some ICW chanting from the crowd. Some stiff looking shots in this one, although crowd interest seemed to cool a little as it went on. Balor won clean with the Coup de Grace. A good night for Balor, after his football team Spurs had a big European win too.
Thank you #WWEGlasgow & thank you @WWERollins and @TheDeanAmbrose for the vest…not a bad fit! #sHHHield #HHHUKTour pic.twitter.com/wIt9TJWDsy
— Triple H (@TripleH) November 1, 2017
(9) Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins & Triple H beat Bray Wyatt & Sheamus & Cesaro when Triple H pinned Cesaro. The main event went a good half hour or so, counting introductions and entrances. The Shield entered through the crowd, before Rollins cut a promo saying he’d made a call he never expected he’d have to make to help them out. Cue Triple H arriving, to a monster pop. He was presented with a Shield vest, which he wore for the match. Funny spot early on, when the three of them went to do a triple dive outside the ring. Triple H got to the ropes, pulled up, and just climbed outside instead.
This was an excellent match, best of the night. Ambrose was briefly the babyface in peril early, then Rollins took on that role for a longer segment. Ambrose and Wyatt ended up in the crowd at one point, while Cesaro gave Triple H a cheap shot that meant Rollins had no-one to tag when he reached his corner, in a great segment. The ref briefly squared up to Cesaro and Sheamus at one point, after they tried to intimidate him. Eventually Triple H got the tag and hit the Pedigree on Cesaro. Sheamus made the save, a brawl broke out and after Wyatt and Sheamus were cleared from the ring the triple powerbomb was given to Cesaro and Triple H scored the pin. Afterwards Triple H did the fist bump with Rollins and Ambrose, after a bit of delay to build a bit of tension.
sHHHield? @TripleH @WWERollins #DeanAmbrose pic.twitter.com/50DqpYc7fC
— WWE (@WWE) November 1, 2017
FINAL THOUGHTS: Overall this was a great show, comfortably WWE’s best here in some time, and miles ahead of the dull Smackdown show earlier this year. The Triple H and the Shield pairing gave a unique dynamic that helped make it feel a bit more special, but there was good work and over matches up and down the card, and plenty of star power.
Most Over: Triple H, Shield, Strowman
Most Heat: Miz, Elias, Sheamus/Cesaro
NOW CHECK OUT THIS RECENT REPORT: 10/29 Progress Wrestling in Camden, London: Travis Banks vs. Keith Lee for Progress Title, Toni Storm vs. Charli Evans, plus Seven, Bate, Havoc
QUICK TIPS FOR SENDING RESULTS
If you attend an arena event in future, either house shows or TV tapings, we encourage you to send us a report for publication. You can direct your reports to: pwtorch@pwtorch.com.
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