5/19 WWE in Amsterdam: Styles & Club vs. Nakamura & The Bar, Hardy vs. Rusev, Carmella vs. Becky, Aleister Black vs. Wolfe

WWE LIVE EVENT REPORT
MAY 19, 2018
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS
REPORT BY ADAM BAR, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

(1) The Bludgeon Brothers beat New Day and The Usos to retain the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Titles. Thought I’d give a “short” recap of last night’s Smackdown show in Amsterdam. All three teams seemed to have fun in there. Short match.

(2) Aleister Black beat Alexander Wolfe after Black Mass. Pretty decent and maybe the only “serious” match of the night. It was Aleister’s birthday and the crowd kept singing all kinds of Dutch birthday songs (we have three well-known birthday tunes we can do at birthday) and it was sung extremely loudly and was a contrast to the serious faced Black who no sold it completely. Aleister did a little speech at the end which I found a little weird in that in the Netherlands, wrestling, skating, and soccer are “number 1.” Holland is not a very patriotic country (they are very pragmatic: If the national team wins we shout “We won!!” if we lose, they say “They lost.” But he got a good pop for that. He also said he was planning to give a little speech but was lost for words because of the amazing reception.

(3) Naomi & Charlotte & Asuka beat Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose & Lana. The crowd was super into this one as well. A little sloppy at times, but a fun six minute match with Lana turning the chants of the positive “Rusev Day!” into boo’s with her heelish antics. Asuka won this one for the team, but Lana looked better than expected and pulled off some nice moves.

(4) Daniel Bryan & Tye Dillinger beat The Miz & Big Cass. All four were met with a great reception. The heels were booed and faces where cheered. Of course, Bryan had the pop of the night but not much more than an Asuka or Becky Lynch later on. The crowd was actually very enthusiastic for all the women wrestlers, which was different than the “bathroom breaks” a few years back. Solid 12 minutes-ish tag with the wrestlers having fun and playing to the crowd, who eat everything up. The Miz was treated with taunts “Pannekoek” the whole match, which he didn’t get and asked Cass a few times, “What does that mean??” Well, it means “Pancake” and it describes a person that is… well… a pancake. Dutch people use it in that form if a person is “dweeb” I guess is the best translation. A quarter into the match Cass seemed to tweek his knee and was limping the rest of the match. Not only that, but when the action was going on in the ring he was cursing to the turnbuckle and pulling all kinds of faces hiding his dissapointment. It even looked like he was crying at one point. But then he’d tag in and limp badly when doing the moves he was doing. It could be a work, as there was no X sign, but he did limp back with help of the ref and I even saw Tye seeking eye contact and mouthing “You okay?” As I read that he did the same limping the days before, it could be a work, but it didn’t look that way. He did a pretty convincing job if it was a work.

(5) Jeff Hardy beat Rusev. Chants for both. Slow, old school match, with Jeff getting a good beat down but ending victorious with a Swanton at the end.

(6) Becky Lynch beat Carmella via DQ. This was a surprisingly good match. I feel Carmella is getting there. She is loudly boo’d, so doing that job well, and keeping up with Becky. It was a fast-paced ten minute match with too many holds, submissions, and highspots to mention. Really impressed with both and the crowd loved Becky!
One of the loudest entrance pops (with Bryan and Asuka and the last match…) I think.

(7) A.J. Styles & Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows beat Shinsuke Nakamura & The Bar (Sheamus & Cesaro). Pretty good main event with all men getting in their signature moves. Gallows and Anderson where also pretty over, but oddly enough The Bar was even more! Lots of pops for Shaemus and Cesaro. And even a little odder (I took a friend along that has never seen wrestling since the late-’90s when he saw just  one match, so extreme novice) and he said: Why are Gallows/Anderson and Styles acting like heels and the Bar as babyfaces? It was rather strange. Not that the crowd noticed: they loved the club, but the way the match was booked.

OTHER NOTES: It was a two-and-a-half hour show and for a house show pretty decent… This was my second house show ever in Holland. Last one was in 1992 ! With Big Bossman, Kerry Von Erich, I.R.S., and the Undertaker… So finally back! I have been watching wrestling since 1981/’82 and have been to three WrestleManias, some Raw tapings, and quite a few indy shows the last few years because of my heavy traveling work as a musician.
But in the end it was nothing more than a fun night out to see the “Superstars” on my turf, but perfectly fine. My non-wrestling-fan-friend was thoroughly entertained. No storylines, no pyro, and only two-star matches, but all in all I think the audience enjoyed the night and was far more into it than I was expecting. The Dutch can be a little “stand off-ish” and not really vocal about things, even though they enjoy it. But they where far more vocal and into it than I thought beforehand. So all in all: a good night out!

Kind regards from a VIP member since 2013 and still enjoying the content.

NOW CHECK OUT THIS RECENT REPORT: 5/18 WWE in Sheffield, England: Styles vs. Nakamura, Daniel Bryan vs. Miz, Aleister Black vs. Wolfe, Tyler Bate in UK six-man tag, Hardy vs. Rusev