11/9 WWE in Nottingham, England: No Owens, Sami, or New Day severely weakens star power, Styles defends in main event, tease of tag team double turn

WWE LIVE EVENT
NOVEMBER 9, 2017
NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND AT MOTORPOINT ARENA
REPORT BY MATT, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

Here are some details on WWE in Nottingham, the final night of the UK tour. The show took place last night at the Motorpoint Arena with a near sold out attendance of approximately 6,000. A fun show, but it was severely lacking star power compared to previous years. No New Day, Kevin Owens, or Sami Zayn hurt the show.

(1) Bobby Roode beat Dolph Ziggler with a nice reaction for Roode

(2) The Usos beat The Hype Bros and Fashion Police and Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Titles. Usos were by far the most over and they retained when one of the brothers pinned Rawley. Interestingly, Gable and Benjamin showed heel tendencies, especially Gable, who would bail out the ring when an Uso got in. Double turn coming? A good match with some fun comedy spots involving all four teams.

(3) Baron Corbin defeated Sin Cara to retain the U.S. Title. A short match where Sin Cara got in limited offense.

(4) Tye Dillinger & The Ascension beat Luke Harper & Erik Rowan & Mike Kanellis (no Maria). Talk about highlighting how weak the card was. I forgot Kanellis existed and it was weird seeing the Ascension as faces but they were the highlight of the match. Harper and Rowan were not billed as the Bludgeon Brothers. Viktor (who showed good athleticism) pinned Kanellis for the win.

(5) Randy Orton defeated Rusev (w/Aiden English). English did some good mic work before the match to introduce Rusev, who got some Rusev Day chants initially. Orton got a great reaction with lots of RKO chants. Orton won a surprisingly short match with an RKO from out of nowhere, of course. Not sure Randy broke sweat.

(6) Naomi & Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair defeated Lana & Tamina & Natalya & Carmella in a handicap match. Becky and Charlotte both got good reactions, especially Charlotte. Lana tapped to the figure eight before Ellsworth came out to apologise to all the women. Natalya wasn’t having any of it and clotheslined him before taking a chokeslam from Charlotte, a People’s Elbow from Becky, an axe kick from Naomi, and a Superfly Splash from Tamina. Carmella then superkicked him before all the women celebrated on stage to Carmella’s music. While fun, it was jarring to see all the women suddenly become faces.

(7) Tyler Bate & Trent Seven beat Pete Dunne & James Drake. A good match worked in a more stiff, less WWE style. Dunne and Bate stood out. Dunne can be a great heel and Bate an underdog babyface. Bate pinned Drake.

(8) A.J. Styles defeated Jinder Mahal and Shinsuke Nakamura to retain the WWE Title. Styles was hugely over, way more than anyone else on the night. His case was helped by being a new champion on a weak card, but he was hugely popular. He pinned Jinder after a Phenomenal Forearm.

Best reactions:

1 A.J. Styles
2 Randy Orton
3 Shinsuke Nakamura
4 Bobby Roode
5 Charlotte Flair

NOW CHECK OUT THIS RECENT REPORT: 11/9 WWE in Leipzig, Germany: Cesaro & Sheamus vs. The Shield vs. The New Day, Braun vs. Kane, Balor vs. Bray, Asuka vs. Dana

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