1/2 WWE Smackdown HOLT Report: Crowd reactions, pre-Smackdown dark match, post-Smackdown main event including “H2O” chants

WWE SMACKDOWN HOLT REPORT
JANUARY 2, 2018
ORLANDO, FLA.
REPORT BY CORBIN U. AND PATRICK W, CORRESPONDENTS

PRE-SMACKDOWN DARK MATCH

(1) Mojo Rawley pinned Zack Ryder

POST-SMACKDOWN DARK MATCH

(1) A.J. Styles & Shinsuke Nakamura & Robert Roode beat Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens & Jinder Mahal. Hilarious match that featured oversells on thrown water bottles and water spat at each other. There were chants of “H20” and “Let’s go Jinder.” It started when Styles grabbed a water bottle from the announce table, drank from it, and then threw it up to Nakamura, who then threw it at Sami in the ring. Upon impact, Sami did a back flip and flew across the ring. This led to other wrestlers getting water bottles and throwing them at each other, each taking a big bump from water bottles. It ended with Kevin Owens taking a drink of water, getting kicked by Roode, and then spraying water into the air. This was followed by Styles taking a drink of water and spitting it at Sami, who took another big bump from getting sprayed, following a pinfall. After the match, Roode, Nakamura, and Styles each got bottles of water and poured it on him in the ring, he freaked out and ran away. This was followed up with another funny moment with Roode and Karl Malone. Roode grabbed two bottles of water and did the Stone Cold beer spot with water and Karl Malone. Nakamura stayed out longer than anyone else, walking around doing autographs and taking photos before leaving.

OTHER NOTES

-A.J. Styles got the biggest pop of the show by far. Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon each got big pops, too. The Usos, Rusev, Charlotte, Naomi, and Becky Lynch also got big pops.

-Initially fans cheered for Breezango, but seemed to lose interest in the short match pretty quickly.

-New Day got their normal good reaction. So did Aiden English with Rusev. The match felt a little dead, though, and fans weren’t strongly behind either as it was more about the gimmicks and characters than the wrestling, it seemed.

-There were a lot of boos for Byron Saxton when he came out before Smackdown.

-The arena was nearly full. Only a couple segments of the upper deck were taped off.

NOW CHECK OUT THIS RECENT REPORT: 1/1 WWE Raw HOLT Report: Crowd reaction for Reigns, match results that didn’t air last night, Strowman, Tozawa, more