11/25 WWE in Greensboro (2nd report): Starrcade headlines with Styles defending against Jinder, Charlotte vs. Natalya in a cage, plus Dustin, Flair, Arn, Steamboat, R&R

WWE LIVE EVENT REPORT – “STARRCADE”
NOVEMBER 25, 2017
GREENSBORO, N.C. AT THE COLISEUM
REPORT BY T.J., PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

(1) Bobby Roode beat Dolph Ziggler.  Arn Anderson was the special “enforcer.” He hit his spinebuster on Ziggler.   It was awesome. Still the best spinebuster in the business.

(2) The Bludgeon Brothers & The Colons & Mike Kanellis & Rusev beat The Ascension & Breezango & Sin Cara & Tye Dillinger. Rusev was by far the most over wrestler in the match. He has a great babyface run in him. Bludgeon Brothers win for their team, then they beat up everybody in the ring and looked impressive doing it.

(3) Naomi pinned Tamina (w/Lana) after a split legged moonsuit. Why is Lana with Tamina and not Rusev?

A Dusty Rhodes tribute aired which led into… (4) “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes beat Dash Wilder with a bulldog. Goldust’s music started playing and then turned into “The Natural’s” old country western intro music. Awful music (!!), but it fit what was coming next.  Dustin coming out in bright red leather chaps.  Big pop.

Next came a live Ricky Steamboat interview that led into…

(5) Shinsuke Nakamura beat Baron Corbin via DQ so Corbin retained the U.S. Title. A fun match that ended with Corbin getting himself disqualified with a chair.  There were rumors of Nakamura getting knocked out for a little while.  Not sure when exactly this supposedly happened.

The Hardy Boys came out and cut a hometown promo and then introduced the Rock & Roll Express.    Cool to see both in person. That led to…

(6) The Usos beat Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods (w/Big E) and Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn and Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Titles ending when an Uso pinned Gable. KO and Zayn were very over with this crowd.   Good match.

20 minute intermission to build the cage.

A Ric Flair tribute video aired. Flair came out and thanked the crowd, then introduced his daughter.

(7) Charlotte beat Natalya in a cage to retain the Smackdown Women’s Championship. Solid match from both of the women with Charlotte picking up the win via the figure-eight.

(8) A.J. Styles beat Jinder Mahal (w/The Singh Brothers) in a cage match to retain the WWE Title. There were rumors on Twitter going around that A.J. could drop the title tonight.  This had me extremely anxious especially since there were no other title changes. This was a fun match. A.J. sold a lot for Jinder to setup the babyface comeback. Only thing was, when AJ looked like he’d win, the Singh Brothers got into the cage… Twice.   They worked over A.J. a good bit.  It definitely looked like AJ was in danger. A.J. won by climbing the cage just seconds before Jinder exited through the door. High drama.

FINAL THOUGHTS: This was a glorified house show.   No special stage.  No title changes.   They brought out some legends (which was cool), but I don’t think it should have bared the Starrcade name… The merchandise had me angry at the start of the night.   WWE had two different cards that were advertised for Starrcade.   None of those cards were on the shirt that they were selling at the event. The shirt shows Corbin vs. Sin Cara, Nakamura vs. Zayn, and Rusev and English in the tag team match.  Also Kevin Owens was not advertised.    None of those matches were even rumored for Starrcade.  Let alone put on the $35 event t-shirt.   Seriously.   That was ridiculous.  Plus, this shirt had me worried we were gonna see an inferior card.   No offense to Sin Cara but Nakamura in a U.S. Title match was one of the biggest matches of the night.    They were selling 1983 Starrcade posters but no posters of last night’s card?   Huge gaffe… Rusev and KO (maybe Zayn) got huge reactions from the crowd (for heels)… A lot of big pops in a night filled with nostalgia : Flair, Charlotte, Styles, Nakamura, Arn Anderson… All in all, I thought it was a good event.  The star power was there and the Legends were fun to see in person.   I just wish there was a defining “water cooler” moment.

NOW CHECK OUT THIS PREVIOUS REPORT: 11/21 WWE HOLT Report: Big Shield spot with Miz after Raw went off air, plus pre-Raw matches involving Apollo Crews, Hawkins,, Metalik, Kendrick

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