2/12 WWE Raw HOLT Report from San Jose: Happenings Off Live TV including pre-Raw matches, Asuka vs. Bliss after Raw, crowd chants, more

WWE RAW HOLT REPORT
FEBRUARY 12, 2018
SAN JOSE, CALIF.
REPORT BY M.B. FROM CALIFORNIA, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

PRE-RAW MAIN EVENT TAPING

(1) Cedric Alexander beat Ariya Daivari.

(2) Curt Hawkins beat Heath Slater.

RAW NOTES…

-The venue was about 70 percentfull. All of the upper deck outside of 7 sections were blocked off.

-The crowd was dead for a lot of the show. I’ve been there for Raw after Mania (Levi Stadium Mania) and the crowd was insane. I was here for Payback as well in 2017 and the crowd was insane for Roman Reigns vs.  Braun Strowman, and NXT where only the opener with Velveteen Dream received any real reaction outside of the main with Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe in it. Kind of par for a “purely San Jose” crowd.

– Biggest pops of the night we’re Braun, Elias, and Finn Balor in that order. Crowd was entirely dead for the John Cena-Miz, the tag match, the women’s match with Bayley, the Absolution match, etc. The crowd heated up for Reigns vs. Sheamus (people were standing) and again for the Fatal Five-way.

-Lots of women and children. A surprising number of people cheering babyfaces and booing heels (Reigns was 80 percent cheers).

-Also standard, there were some annoying cheers. “C.M. Punk” during the main event, constant “Biscuit Butt” towards Bliss even if she was playing the half babyface, and some lewd chants at Paige around Albert Del Rio and Xavier (“Go make a porn” comments).

-One note with Paige: When she got in the ring to kick things off (on the apron during entrance) she did a sort of “back arch” and looked really stiff.

-Kurt Angle flubbed a lot of lines, and looked a bit awkward in the ring. Not sure he should be wrestling again with those knees.

-WWE lost the crowd during commercial breaks where it was obvious the work rate went down a bit. Nothing specific, but it happened consistently.

-Bonus points should go to Reigns and Miz tonight. Reigns clearly is working hard, and Miz was giving it his all against Cena, who was showing a bit of light and seemed a bit low energy.

-No advertised matches to make good on.

-Sounds like merch was in line with what was brought up by other Raw-goers. Taker shirt was there, about 40 percent Reigns stuff, a bit of Bailey, Balor, and Rollins.

-Tons of Bullet Club/Alpha Club/Omega shirts and the like. That, and kids wearing a mix of Cena/Reigns/Rollins merch.

AFTER RAW

(1) Asuka beat Alexa Bliss via DQ so Bliss retained the WWE Smackdown Women’s Title. The crowd seemed genuinely surprised when Jax ran out at the end and attacked Asuka. Bailey and Banks came out for the save, babyface play-off with Asuka’s music.

Then Miz and Miztourage came back out. Miz did some mic work with the crowd, mocked the “Yes” chants, and said “That was cool five years ago and that guy doesn’t perform anymore.” He demanded a rematch against Cena three-on-one for the elimination stakes again, but Braun came out, accepted instead, and powerslammed all three of them. Total comedy spots and “one more time” from the crowd until Braun stacked all three of them on top of each other mid-ring and went for the pin on all three.

Send results and newstips to pwtorch@pwtorch.com.

NOW CHECK OUT THE FULL RAW REPORT: KELLER’S WWE RAW REPORT 2/12: Cena addresses the Elimination Chamber match, Sasha vs. Bayley, Second Change Match to Determine Final EC competitor