SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE RAW HOLT REPORT
APRIL 23, 2018
ST. LOUIS, MO.
AIRED LIVE ON USA NETWORK
If you attend a live event, please sent results and notes on the experience to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!
The event was sold out, packed to the last row.
MAIN EVENT TAPING
I didn’t arrive in time to see the first match.
(B) Heath Slater & Rhyno beat The Revival. Good for a Slater hot-tag. The Revival used Shatter Machine to get the win.
SMACKDOWN NOTES
-Huge pop for Booker T during announce team entrances.
-There was a fairly large reception for Roman Reigns during the promo, and mixed emotions on entrance. The crowd was flat after such a long opening segment.
-On the big screen they showed a Jimmy Fallon lip sync battle segment during a commercial.
-The crowd was completely flat for Bobby Roode vs. Elias. No one really knew who to cheer for. There was general disappointment with the lack of Elias promo. There was, though, a positive reaction for Elias’s win.
-The Woken Matt & Bray promo got a nice response.
-The Ascension entrance was cut short for a Rock Instagram on the big screen.
-Wyatt and Hardy were over with the crowd and got a good pop for the finish.
-Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens got a mixed reaction. Kurt Angle got a huge pop.
-Chris Jericho and Braun Strowman got a big pop when they were shown on the screen.
-The Titus Brand got zero response. Drew McIntyre got a good response, but not Dolph Ziggler. The crowd just wasn’t into the show at all at this point.
-The XFL commercial actually got a big pop.
-Chad Gable got the best crowd reaction of the night. The crowd came alive for him and his match against Jinder Mahal.
-When the announcers talked on TV, the crowd didn’t hear them.
-On the “earlier tonight” Reigns-Lesnar recap, the sound was turned way up for the crowd. It was not that loud in person.
-Bobby Lashley got a good pop, but Braun Strowman bowl the roof off the place; biggest pop of the night. The hot tag was definitely hot.
-After the match, Lashley and Strowman played to the crowd while Owens and Sami were carried out by the ref. I don’t think that aired on TV.
-The “Moment of Bliss” got a bunch of laughs and a good pop.
-Huge pop for Finn Balor’s ring entrance. Equal for Seth Rollins. The crowd was flat for the early part of the match, but Seth got them back into it.
-The crowd booed Bayley when she walked away from Sasha Banks on the video segment backstage. Alexa got a big pop coming to the ring. Ember Moon got a huge reaction. Natalya got a good response. Then big pops for Sasha and Jax. Big cheers for Ember Moon’s tag in. Nia might have gotten the second biggest pop of the night. Then Ronda Rousey got a great response when she came out. The crowd cleared out fast when Ronda helped Natalya up the ramp after Raw ended.
-WWE had changed the advertised main event when advertising ticket sales to adjust to the Superstar Shake-up. The latest match advertised was Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns & Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn & Jinder Mahal. That match did not take place. There was no dark match. Reigns, despite being advertised for weeks as being in a match, didn’t wrestle in front of the fans. All they saw was him walking to the ring and saying a couple sentences and leaving.
If you attend a live event, please sent results and notes on the experience to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!
NOW CHECK OUT THIS PREVIOUS REPORT: 4/21 WWE in Johannesburg, South Africa: Reigns and Strowman team together in main event, Miztourage, Asuka vs. Banks vs. Bayley, Matt Hardy & Bray vs. Gallows & Anderson
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