1/21 WWE in Greenville, N.C.: Very first live event, New Day vs. Rusev Day, Styles vs. Sami in a cage main event, Nakamura vs. Corbin

WWE LIVE EVENT REPORT
JANUARY 21, 2018
GREENVILLE, N.C. AT MINGES COLISEUM
REPORT BY LAURENCE SHAUGHNESSY, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

I attended my very first live WWE event at Minges Coliseum today in Greenville, N.C. The venue is rather small seating roughly 8,000 and was about half full with a very lively crowd.  The merch stand was rather skimp, but all the staples (John Cena, A.J. Styles, Roman Reigns, and New Day) were represented as well as Rusev Day and Undertaker.  I saw more A.J. shirts amongst the crowd by a large margin.

(1) New Day (Kofi Kingston & Big E) defeated Rusev Day (Rusev & Aiden English). This kicked off the show with a big pop for both teams.  As the match progressed the New Day chants got louder and louder and the heat for Rusev Day increased as they attempted to win backhandedly as the heels in this match.  English and Rusev had the majority of the offense through the match but the New day went over with Big E getting a hot tag and pinning English after New day hit the midnight hour.

(2) Tye Dillinger beat Mike Kanellis. The crowd gave Tye a good pop and “TEN, TEN, TEN’ chants throughout the match.  Mike received a mixed reaction, half the audience didn’t know who he was and the other half simply didn’t care.  Tye withstood a fury of surprisingly good offense from Kanellis and went over after hitting a tie breaker.

(3) The Bludgeon Brothers. beat The Ascension and The Colons. This turned out to be a squash by the Bludgeon Brothers despite the other two teams splitting them up early and getting in some two-on-one offense.  The crowd was rather quiet during this match not really reacting to any team over the other.

(4) Shinsuke Nakamura beat Baron Corbin. The fourth match of the night was the turning point in the crowd.  Shinsuke’s music hit and the whole building erupted and sang along while he danced around the ring.  The match was advertised to feature Shinsuke and Jinder so when Corbin’s music hit the crowd was confused momentarily but when he walked out he got a mixed reaction.  After the match got started there were multiple “Where’s your briefcase?” chants to which Baron responded by finding a fan in the front row who had purchased one from the merch stand and paraded around outside the ring with it.  Shinsuke owned most of the offense during the match but Corbin did hit an End of Days that Shinsuke kicked out of.  Shinsuke went on to win the match with a Kinsasha.

(5) Bobby Roode pinned Jinder Mahal (w/The Singh Brothers) to retain the U.S. Title.  Jinder cut a short promo for some cheap heat and was welcomed with multiple “USA” chants.  He was interrupted while “speaking to his people” by Bobby’s entrance much to the delight of the fans in the building.  The match itself was full of offense on both sides which ultimately led to Roode retaining the title after a spinebuster to both Jinder and Sunil Singh followed by a glorious DDT to Jinder.

INTERMISSION

(6) Charlotte Flair & Naomi & Becky Lynch beat Natalya & Carmella & Tamina & Lana.  The faces all got big pops with Charlotte being the most popular.  There was some confusion in the building when Tamina’s music hit and she never actually came out for the match.  There was no explanation from the ring announcer about why she didn’t enter but the match went on as a six-woman tag instead of the advertised four-on-three handicap match.  All of the women got in some good offense including Lana.  She really stood out to me in the ring today.  Her run on Smackdown was lackluster in ring, but she looked vastly improved today.  That being said, her offense was still more stiff then the rest of the women but she definitely has improved.  The match ended with Charlotte putting Lana in a Figure-eight leglock after a short brawl involving all six women.  The women were the first to spend extensive time interacting with the fans after the match ended, signing autographs for the fans on the rail.

(7) The Usos beat Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Titles.  The Usos walked out to a huge pop while the crowd wasn’t too sure what to do with Benjamin & Gable.  Shelton stood out to me during the match.  He actually looked like he was enjoying being in the ring while on TV he looks like he’s only there for the paycheck.  This was match featured the most high flying offense of the night that concluded with the Usos hitting a double superkick and a frog splash on Benjamin to retain the titles.

(8) A.J. Styles beat Sami Zayn in a cage match to retain the WWE Title.  Sami came out first to a great deal of heat which is a true testament to how good he has been as a heel since Hell in a Cell.  In contrast, A.J.’s entrance blew the roof off the building.  There wasn’t a single person in the building sitting down once his music hit and there were a plethora of “Too Sweet” gestures among the crowd.  The match itself was electric as well with Sami getting the early offense and nearly walking out of the cage.  A.J. turned it around later on and attempted to climb out of the cage leading to a trading of right hands while both men were straddling the top of the cage.  The finish was very exciting as A.J. knocked Sami off the inside of the cage to the mat and climbed over.  Sami then crawled for the door of the cage as A.J. started to climb down only to be met with a stiff door to the face after A.J. kicked it shut and jumped to the floor to retain the WWE Title.

TOP POPS: AJ, Charlotte and The Usos (with New Day getting the honorable mention)

MOST HEEL HEAT: Sami, Jinder, and Corbin.

CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS REPORT: 1/21 WWE in Binghamton, N.Y.: Alexa vs. Bayley vs. Mickie, Reigns & Seth vs. Miztourage, Braun vs. Kane

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