2/18 WWE in Rio Rancho, New Mexico: Rusev still working as a heel, Styles vs. KO & Sami, Charlotte in four-woman match, plus Ziggler, New Day, Orton, Nakamura

WWE LIVE EVENT REPORT
FEBRUARY 18, 2018
RIO RANCHO, NEW MEXICO AT THE SANTA ANA STAR CENTER
REPORT BY ROBERT VALEJOS, CORRESPONDENT

Although the attendance was sparse at the beginning of the show, near the end the arena was seemingly three-fourths of the way full. Above-average attendance for this area. Albuquerque/Rio Rancho typically gets a live event every six months.

(1) Bobby Roode defeated Baron Corbin and Jinder Mahal (with Sunil Singh) to retain the United States Title. The crowd was really into Roode, with several “Bobby, Bobby” chants breaking out. Mahal got a nice heel reaction after cutting a pre-match promo. Basic match that was essentially a handicap match. Corbin worked really hard to get boos from crowd (he succeeded). Corbin has a presence live that does not come across on television. Both Mahal and Roode attempted more athletic moves than typically seen on SmackDown.

(2) Dolph Ziggler defeated Sin Cara. Sin Cara got a good reaction from the children in the audience. Ziggler was clearly the heel here. He spent the first part of the match avoiding Sin Cara by touching the ropes and asking for a time-out. Once the match got going both men exchanged high-flying moves before the other kicked-out. Eventually Ziggler got the win. This was a little long, but the crowd was against Ziggler by the finish.

(3) Zack Ryder & The Asension defeated Mojo Rawley & Mike Bennett & Epico. Nobody got a significant reaction, until “Ryder cants surfaced before he was tagged-in. Rawley spent a large portion of the match taunting the crown. Probably the quietest the crowd was the entire night.

(4) Becky Lynch & Naomi defeated Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan (w/Sarah Logan). Both Lynch and Naomi received big pops, especially among the young girls. The reaction to the Riott Squad sounded indifferent. Basic tag match. Naomi did several impressive acrobatic moves. After the match Lynch and Naomi did a dance routine, to a nice reaction.

(5) Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Rusev & Aiden English. With the exception of English everyone initially got a massive face reaction. Arguably, Orton got the loudest pop of the night. At the start of the match Nakamura grabbed a microphone and mocked English. The match saw Nakamura take a beating for large portion, eventually Rusev got booed by the crowd. The building went nuts when Orton tagged-in, chanting “RKO.” Orton got the pin over English.

Intermission

(6) Charlotte defeated Carmela and Natalya and Lana to retain the Smackdown Women’s Title. Tepid reaction to Lana, fans sang along to Carmela’s entrance, face-reaction to Natalya, Charlotte got a big face pop. Fun match with some entertaining comedy. Charlotte really commands her surroundings, and makes her moves look impressive even to those in the “cheap seats.”

(7) The Usos defeated The New Day, Shelton Benjamin & Chad Gable, and The Bludgeon Brothers to retain the SmackDown Tag Titles. The heels got a mild reaction, The Usos gat a decent pop, while The New Day got a massive reaction. Good match, where everyone involved got a moment to shine. As the match wore on, the Usos stole the pop from the New Day. Also, their music (without them rapping) sounds really solid over a p.a. system.

(8) A.J. Styles defeated Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn in two-on-one handicap match to retain the WWE Championship. In general, the crown seemed fatigued throughout this match. Zayn’s music got a pop, but he delayed coming out for a few minutes. Owens cut a promo to a phone when he walked out, (I believe it is circulating on Twitter). Styles got a nice reaction, about a tier below Orton’s reaction from earlier, about on-par with The New Day, Nakamura and Charlotte. Lots of stalling by Owens and Zayn, at one-point Styles threatened to walk-out, and went past the floor section into the lower-bowl. The crowd was mild until Styles hit the “Phenomenal Forearm” As people exited they cheered Styles,  he thanked the crowd.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Overall fun show, quality wrestling with good pacing. The crowd being somewhat dead for the main event seemed to be a result of tired children, and parents holding those sleepy kids.

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