2/5 WWE Raw HOLT Report: What happened off-camera, notes on crowd reactions, advertised match that didn’t happen

WWE RAW HOLT REPORT
FEBRUARY 5, 2018
DES MOINES, IOWA AT WELLS FARGO CENTER
REPORT BY ERIC S., PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

MAIN EVENT TAPING

(1) Goldust beat Curt Hawkins

(2) Kalisto beat Ariya Daivari

OTHER NOTES

-There was the biggest snow storm of the winter which led to traffic issues. The attendance was strong, nonetheless. The arena capacity is around 17,000. There were sections with patches missing at the very top and some seats were tarped off behind the hard camera. WWE hadn’t been in Des Moines for Raw in several years, but there have been several Smackdown tapings. It was a crowd made up of mostly families.

-They advertised an eight-man tag match as the dark match to help sell tickets, but it didn’t take place. They advertised Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns & John Cena & Braun Strowman vs. Miz & The Bar & Kane. They advertised Samoa Joe originally in place of Kane. When Raw ended, that was the end of the live experience.

-As usual, the guys booed Roman Reigns and the kids and women cheered him, and that was consistent throughout the night. John Cena got a warmer response than Reigns.

-The most popular wrestler of the night was Seth Rollins because he is from there.

-Elias got one of the bigger reactions, a warm reception mixed with boos. Kids booed and the dads were laughing at his insults of our city.

-The least popular wrestler was Jason Jordan. Every time they saw him, they hated him. People just do not like him.

-The crowd cheered Miz for the most part, even little girls in front of me.

-When Coach came out at the start, he was cheered. Michael Cole was warm but muted. Corey Graves was pretty good.

-They were selling Undertaker t-shirts with an image of taker wearing an American flag shirt under a trench coat.

-I paid $27 for my ticket which was about eight rows up in the lower deck opposite of the hard camera. The same ticket cost $17 the last time they were here. It still was a good deal.

NOW CHECK OUT THIS PREVIOUS UPDATE: Raw Rating: Without Raw 25 celebration or post-Rumble boost, how did WWE viewership fare (w/Keller’s Analysis)