SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE SMACKDOWN LIVE EVENT
AUGUST 11, 2018
GREENVILLE, N.C. AT EASTERN CAROLINA UNIVERSITY ARENA
REPORT BY RONALD LEWIS, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT
If you attend a live event, please send results in the format of the following report to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!
(1) The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) beat The Bar. Entertaining match. New Day is still very over with the crowd. Lots of interaction. The Bar was over with the crowd. Lots of cheers for them, although they were clearly the heels , pretending to give a t-shirt to crowd and Sheamus threw it to Cesaro.
(2) Shelton Benjamin beat Tye Dillinger. The match was okay; both men worked hard. The crowd was kind of not sure who to cheer for. It took Tye a while to get his “10” chant going. Shelton teased leaving because he got booed and he told fans he shouldn’t be booed. It was fun. The action was good. Shelton got the win with his finisher and did get cheered in the end, maybe with him being from our Southern sister state.
(3) Rusev & Lana beat Andrade Cien Almas & Zelina Vega. Fun match. Rusev and Lana were clearly faces and seem to embrace it. Zelina was entertaining and good for Almas. She is very comfortable with heel persona, even doing crying eyes to my daughter! Action was back and forth with constant cheating by Zelina. Aiden came down and Rusev shoed him away before Rusev and Lana did the double Accolade and double tap out win. They even slapped hands with fans on the way out.
(4) Shinsuke Nakamura beat Jeff Hardy after the Kinshasa to retain the U.S. Title. Great action between the two, with both mimicking each other’s antics. After Shinsuke got the win, he came back to attack Jeff, but the tide changed and we got to see the Swanton. And Jeff was the last to leave. He was great with fans, slapping hands with everyone along barricade. He even went out of his way to shake my hand for keeping fans back a bit during the match when Shinsuke rammed him into the guardrail by us. A class act who really enjoys his fans!
Intermission
(5) Asuka beat Carmella via DQ after the IIconics interfered. Asuka was really over with crowd. The action was better than I have seen with them in the past. Carmella has the obnoxious heel role down, but in-ring seems to be getting better. Asuka was very interactive with fans. When the IIconics beat on Asuka, Becky Lynch’s music played and then Charlotte’s music played and they came in for the save. They cleared the ring. Then a WWE official changed it to six women tag!
(5b) Charlotte & Becky Lynch & Asuka beat Carmella & The IIconics. Becky was truly the favorite throughout with the fans. I must say, the women are great after the match with going all around the ring and interacting with the fans, signing and taking pictures. They are awesome with that and are truly appreciative of the fans. Thumbs up to the women.
(6) The Bludgeon Brothers beat Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Titles. This was not a squash match. A good eight minute match, back and forth until the Bludgeon Brothers got the pin and retained. The Bludgeon Brothers were even going back and forth with fans, claiming they are no nerds. Fun stuff! Rowan is freaking huge, by the way. They are awesome.
(7) A.J. Styles beat Samoa Joe to retain the WWE Title. Good, intense, Summerslam preview and the best match of the night. Those two delivered a hard-hitting match. Joe escaped the the Calf Crusher, then threw Styles all around, but got hit with The Phenomenal Forearm and ended up being pinned. Styles got a great reaction and was was very interactive with fans on the way out, posing and signing with as many fans as possible.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Overall a fun entertaining evening. I attended the show with my two daughters 8 and 10 and they had a blast… TheEastern Carolina University basketball arena was about three-fourths full with upper seats empty, but everything else was full… I got three tickets, front row on the aisle where the wrestlers come down to the ring seats 1, 2, and 3 for $96 dollars each and it was well worth it for the interaction with wrestlers and most importantly the smiles on my girls faces throughout the night!
If you attend a live event, please send results in the format of the following report to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!
NOW CHECK OUT THIS RECENT REPORT: 8/10 WWE Raw in Salsibury, Md.: Strowman vs. Owens, Reigns vs. Ziggler, Deleters vs. Revival, Balor vs. Corbin, Bliss vs. Ember Moon
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