SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE LIVE EVENT REPORT
SEPTEMBER 1, 2018
SHANGHAI, CHINA
REPORT BY RYAN SIMS, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT
If you attend a live event, please send results in the format of the following report to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!
The show started late. The website and the ticket said 7:00 start but the announcers started the event at 7:18.
The last WWE Live show in Shanghai was 2016, right after John Cena did the Chinese language interview and announced the PPTV streaming deal. On the PPTV streams, the shows are redubbed with the Chinese commentators being very descript about what’s going on on-screen. The backstage segments are usually subtitled as well. In my opinion, it seemed like the crowd knew a lot more about what was going on with the product overall compared to two years ago.
(1) Bobby Roode beat Bray Wyatt. The crowd was very hot to start the show. I was surprised that there weren’t too many people singing along with Roode’s entrance music. I realize there is a language barrier but the fans here seem to learn things they like (regardless of the barriers.) Unfortunately, his theme music was not one of those things. Bray’s music hit and everyone participated in his “firefly” entrance. This was very cool, as I haven’t had a chance to participate in this entrance before. For whatever reason, Bray had a delayed entrance; his song played for nearly one minute before he finally came out to the ring. During the match, Bray played heel and Roode played a super babyface. Again, the crowd got really into it, even chanting “You Suck” when Bray did heelish things to Roode like leg sweeping him out of the ring and rolling out of the ring repeatedly. There was a solid amount of “Let’s go Bobby” chants around the midway point of the match. Bray set up Sister Abigail but got reversed into a fairly sloppy looking Schoolboy roll up (with Bray not even attempting to get out of).
(2) The B-Team beat Titus Worldwide and The Revival to retain the WWE Raw Tag Team Titles. This match seemed a bit weird to do as The Revival vs. The B-Team for the Raw Tag Team titles has already be set for Monday Night Raw on Sept. 3. The crowd was also pretty hot for this match as well. You could hear “B-Team Go, Go, Go” chants about throughout most of the match. B-Team’s music reminds me a lot of the old Spirit Squad music. The “family friendliness” of it and the ease of remembering, “Go, Go, Go” was a instant hit with the crowd. Oddly enough, there were some fans chanting “F*** The Revival” throughout the match as a nod to the Young Bucks’ “Being The Elite” YouTube series. During the match, there were a lot of “house show antics” as one of my friends likes to put it. Apollo and Curtis proceeded to have an impromptu dance contest instead of doing the collar and elbow tie up but the crowd got a solid laugh from it. The match itself was pretty slow throughout, especially in the middle. In the end, B-Team won with a schoolboy roll-up on a Revival member.
Promo: There was a video package for the WWE/Special Olympics partnership. The video was completely in Chinese and the two participants in the package were Chinese nationals. At the end of the package, an announcer came out with the two participants to congratulate them for being apart of the program. Rollins’ music hit (to a big pop) followed by Ambrose’ music (to another big pop) and they congratulated the two of them as well. The four of them did The Shield fist bump.
(3) Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler. To take a cue from Booker T, “Dean was looking jacked!” I know Wade isn’t necessarily the biggest fan of Ambrose’s new look but he looked like a completely new wrestler in person. My friend made a comment that, “Long haired Ambrose was convincing as a unhinged lunatic but short hair Ambrose means business!” A lot of his mannerisms were different and he did several moves I couldn’t recall him doing before. During the match, there were a ton of “Let’s go Rollins” chants as he was on the outside waiting for the hot tag during part of the match. This was definitely the match of the night. They had a decent pace throughout, several false finishes, a (very safe) suicide dive from Rollins – easily the best workrate of the entire card. It actually got the only “This Is Awesome” chant of the night. My friend commented, “Rollins seems like he’s in a whole different gear than the rest of the roster.” In the end, Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds on Drew. Rollins hit the Stomp on Dolph. Rollins got the pin. (Personally, I think Ambrose needs a finisher to match the new look. Drew is so much bigger than Ambrose and he didn’t kneel all the way down when Ambrose set up the move. Also, on last’s weeks Raw, whoever Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds on didn’t let him hook both arms. Ambrose doesn’t hit the move clean consistently.
Promo: A Ronda Rousey video package to promote WWE 2K19 was played on the screens. During this time they were setting up for Elias. Elias’s promo started with him saying “Hello, I am Elias” in Chinese. The crowd definitely wasn’t expecting that and it got a solid laugh/cheer from everyone. Next, he did “Who wants to walk with Elias” but not “WWE stands for…” After playing guitar for several minutes he said, “Unfortunately, Shanghai will not be walking with Elias tonight.” Then, he introduced his tag team partners. Corbin and Jinder came out separately, both to mild reactions.
(4) Bobby Lashley & Finn Balor & John Cena beat Baron Corbin & Elias & Jinder Mahal. There was a very mild pop for Lashley but a big pop for Balor and a SUPER pop for Cena. This was my first time seeing Lashley in person since his last WWE run and he wass JACKED! Cena was noticeably pale and looked like he hadn’t had a haircut in a while (he was balding on top as well.) He had a disheveled look overall. With the exception of the paleness and working house shows, he can definitely be compared to Hogan now haha. Both balding, both super over (even past their prime), both show up “whenever they want to” and both have a super move that most wrestlers don’t kick out of. Lastly, I must say, Finn Balor literally looked like a child in the match. Between standing next to all of the other “giants” and the continuous smiling, he really looked out of place. Based solely on this, it’s kind of understandable why he’s not pushed as a main event guy on Raw. The matched started with a lock up from Lashley and Jinder and for whatever reason; the crowd began to chant “CM Punk.” I was blown away as this is something only “smart” fans would do. Chinese fans (and Chinese people in general) are very impressionable and will pop for almost anything but I never got the impression from the Shanghai crowd as being a “smart” crowd. When it happened, Cena threw his hands up and looked at the crowd with a face of disbelief almost as if he wanted to say, “Really?!” During the match, they saved the hot tag for Cena until the last possible moment and the crowd erupted when he finally got in the match. While waiting for the hot tag, Cena was pantomiming very well, really hamming it up. I’m sure you could tell exactly what he was expressing if you were sitting in the last row. On Chinese streams of RAW, during the commercials, Cena had been advertising that he would be in Shanghai and would debut a “sixth move of doom”, playing into how everyone say he has “five moves of doom.” After Cena tags in, cleans house, and hits his five moves of doom, he tags in Balor and Lashley. All three of them did a “Five Knuckle Shuffle” together. Cena then unveiled the sixth move…a throat punch? Apparently, it’s supposed to tie in to a movie he’s currently shooting with Jackie Chan. Cena gets the pin.
Post-Match: Cena cuts a five-minute plus in-ring promo completely in Chinese. The gist of it was, “Are you enjoying the show?”, “Thanks for supporting WWE”, “We will be making more moves in China and Asia soon,” and “I love you all.” Then, Cena went to the first row to acknowledge Tian Bing, who watched the majority of the show from ringside. Cena called Tian Bing, “The future of WWE in Asia.” Also, during the entire five-minute plus promo, Lashley and Balor stood in the ring near the corner and smiled. It was SUPER awkward. It was comparable to two young children waiting for their father to finish speaking to his friends so they could finally go home.
INTERMISSION: There was a small in-ring merchandise push before the intermission. They mainly pushed autographed pictures and t-shirts.
(5) Cedric Alexander vs. Drew Gulak – Cruiserweight Title match. Poor 205 Live guys. Both guys entered to very mild pop/no pop at all. Everyone was excited for the action to start again but I got the feeling that most people didn’t know who either guy was. I haven’t watched 205 Live in a while and this was my first time seeing Gulak’s new gimmick, since Enzo Amore left the company. I’m not sure what it’s suppose to be but it’s boxing inspired. The American flag robe felt like Apollo Creed from the Rocky films. The match itself was a lot slower than I would’ve hoped. There were a lot of rest holds. Perhaps if Cedric worked one of the luchadors or someone besides Gulak that has a quicker pace it would’ve helped. There were pops for certain moves but the crowd was pretty dead throughout the match. Once or twice there were a few “Neville” chants sprinkled throughout the arena. In the end, Cedrick hit the Lumbar Check to retain.
(6) Sasha Banks & Bayley & Natalya & Ronda Rousey beat The Riot Squad & Alexa Bliss. There was a big pop for Bliss. As mentioned above, during the streams here of RAW, there were several Chinese promos featuring wrestlers to advertise for the Shanghai show. There were ones featuring John Cena, Roman Reigns, Aiden English and Alexa Bliss. It’s clear that Bliss is being marketed as a mainstay for the women’s division on Raw. There was a huge pop for Ronda. I liked that she smiled and waved to fans on the ramp and immediately got her intense “mean face” when she got in the ring. The match itself had a very decent pace and it didn’t overstay its welcome. There were a lot of frequent tags and all of the babyfaces got their stuff in. The Riot Squad taunted the crowd and got some decent heat. Strangely enough, Bliss didn’t wrestle. She didn’t get tagged in the entire match. A friend of mine guessed she might be hurt as she wore a t-shirt the entire match and stood in one place on the apron. Obviously, the hot tag to went to Ronda and there was huge pop. The crowd really bought in to her and popped for every move she did. Seeing Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan in the match was a bit disappointing. Liv had a few decent spots in the match, screaming after certain moves, reminiscent of Melina. She threw a tantrum and the crowd got into it a bit but overall I think she’s a discount version of Carmella. Also, Sarah Logan doesn’t really have much of a personality so far and seems like a discount version of Nikki Cross. In the end, Ronda with an ARMBAR (in my best Chris Jericho voice.)
(7) Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns – Universal Title. This was a match that had “Dusty Finish” written all over it from jump as it was not advertised at all beforehand and it had already been announced they were set to fight at Hell in a Cell. Both wrestlers got solid pops during their entrances but nothing special. I would say the crowd was about 50/50 for/against Roman. There was a noticeable amount of “Roman Sucks” chants throughout. During the entrance, Roman’s music was noticeably louder than any other wrestler’s music. My friend claimed it was probably done intentionally to drown out any booing. During the match, Braun tried to crush Roman’s leg with ring stairs and the crowd started to chant “Yes!” A minute later, Braun hit Roman with the ring stairs but there was no disqualification. About 7 minutes into the match, Dolph and Drew did a run in, put the boots to Roman and the referee called for the bell. Roman retains by DQ. After the match, Braun pushed Drew “Bubba Ray” style and told him to “Get the table!” After the table got set up, the Shield music hit to a big pop. The Shield cleaned house and Roman hit a spear on Drew. The Shield delivered a triple powerbomb on Drew threw the table. They posed and did The Shield fists for a photo op to close the show. I hate to say it, but they’re definitely using The Shield to get Roman more over as a face. After being booed throughout different parts of the match, the additive of Rollins and Ambrose instantly made everyone happy… I had two wrestling friends (two guys) and two non-wrestling friends (one guy and one girl) attend the show. The non-wrestling friends don’t watch wrestling at all but the guy was semi-familiar with Lashley (from his MMA days) and the girl was familiar with John Cena and Seth Rollins for whatever reason. They were both impressed by Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre. The girl said, “Drew McIntyre looks like a bigger Seth Rollins” haha. My two wrestling friends and I thought that was quite funny.
Best Match: Ambrose & Rollins vs. Ziggler & McIntyre FOLLOWED BY Women’s Tag.
Biggest Pops: Cena, Rollins, Ronda, Balor
Most Merch Worn By Fans: Hard to say as a lot of people wore regular clothes. There was a mix of Shield shirts, WWE Live in Shanghai “I Was There” shirts and random vintage shirts (including nWo, CM Punk and one Nexus “N” shirt!)
RANDOMS THOIUGHTS
•Bullet Club is super over! There were quite a few Bullet Club shirts throughout the building. A group of Chinese guys showed up waving Bullet Club and Elite flags on plastic poles.
•For whatever reason, some of the wrestlers had generic Titantron videos but some had the same videos they’d use on TV. Roode’s video used a very generic font that was NOT Glorious. Sasha, Bayley and Reigns on the other hand used their actual videos.
•There were a few fans with the replica title belts – one Chinese national with the newest WWE title design, one Hispanic guy with the Universal title and one Chinese national with the last design of the Ring of Honor world title.
•There was a random guy interviewing people about MMA matchups – including the upcoming Connor McGregor fight and who would win in a face off between Roman Reigns vs. Jason Mamoa (the actor.) I saw a few people wear UFC and Connor shirts as well.
•All third floor seating was tarped off around the entire arena. During showtime it was about 85-90% full (of what was left.)
•Shirts were selling for 170 RMB, which is about $25 USD. Wrestler photos were 100 RMB, which is about $15 USD. They had a few “Money In The Bank” replica briefcases selling for 515 RMB, which is about $75 USD.
•I paid 1080 RMB for my tickets, which is about $158 USD. We got the tickets on the day of the show at the box office but they were the same price online. We sat in the first row behind the floor seats. The tickets in 2016 were a bit a cheaper and we sat on the floor. The tickets were a little expensive in my opinion but we all had fun. It’s not often we get to see wrestling shows in Shanghai or China.
•Sorry for such a long read! I listen to the RAW and Smackdown podcast post shows each week and these are the kinds of things they usually ask correspondents for, so I hope I was thorough enough! Let me know if you have any follow up questions!
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 PREVIOUS REPORT: 8/29 WWE Raw in London, England: Reigns vs. Braun, Rousey vs. Bliss, B-Team vs. Revival vs. Titus Worldwide, Elias and Lashley
I enjoyed reading your article. It was detailed and interesting to hear how fans in other countries react to the WWE wrestlers. Interesting about the louder music playing for Roman Reigns.