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WWE SMACKDOWN ON-SITE REPORT
NOV. 13, 2018
ST. LOUIS, MO.
REPORT BY DAVE PEACHTREE, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT
205 LIVE…
-I got there for the last match of 205 Live, and Cedric Alexander beat Lio Rush. There were “Let’s Go Lio / Lio sucks!” dueling chants going. There were definitely Lio fans.
SMACKDOWN NOTES…
-When Becky came out, huge “Becky!” chants broke out. There were even Becky chants during the recap videos early in the show. I’d rank her Becky’s popularity on par with Styles and Bryan. Braun was right there too when he came out for Mixed Match Challenge.
-When they announced Becky was out of Survivor Series, it seemed to take the air out of the building.
-Asuka got a bigger pop than Charlotte did when Becky walked past each of them when teasing who she was going to choose as her replacement against Ronda Rousey at Survivor Series. The crowd was letdown it was Charlotte.
-I could sense a turn coming from Daniel Bryan, but I didn’t think it would be tonight. You could tell something wasn’t right with him. After Bryan stomped away at Styles and Smackdown went off the air, everybody was just stunned. There were a few rebellious “Yes!” chants, maybe 25 percent. Some were really into it, most other shocked and not sure how to react. A lot of kids were Daniel Bryan fans and they didn’t know how to react.
-During the Styles-Bryan match, it was strange because everyone was assuming there wouldn’t be a finish because the Raw wrestler would invade. We never though there’d be a clean finish, so that played into the shock at the finish.
-Big Show looked really, really slow and didn’t do anything during the match. It was apparent to everybody something was up.
-The New Day got a good pop, especially from the kids.
-Most people stuck around for Mixed Match Challenge because they knew Braun Strowman was coming out. They wanted to see him.
MIXED MATCH CHALLENGE NOTES…
(1) Ember Moon & Braun Strowman defeated Mickie James & Bobby Lashley. It was a pretty quick match. Braun did his thing and then Ember Moon hit her finisher. Braun is super-over.
(2) Jeff Hardy (replacing Styles) & Charlotte defeated Asuka & The Miz. This was pretty good. It went quickly. Charlotte won with the figure-four leg lock.
FINAL THOUGHTS…
-They advertised Samoa Joe & The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan & A.J. Styles and Charlotte & Asuka & Naomi vs. Becky Lynch & The IIconics. Neither of those matches happened.
LISTEN TO THE WADE KELLER PRO WRESTLING POST-SHOW AFTER THIS EPISODE OF SMACKDOWN…
PWTorch editor Wade Keller is joined by PWTorch East Coast Cast host Travis Bryant as they discuss WWE Smackdown with a really good caller segment and a lot of good emails in the mailbag segment, plus our on-site correspondent from St. Louis with in-arena reaction to Becky Lynch’s announcement and decision, the Daniel Bryan heel turn, and everything else. Tons of hot topics including the surprise WWE Title change, Becky choosing Charlotte, and other Survivor Series developments.
-On Tune In HERE
-On Apple Podcasts HERE
-Or search “Wade Keller” on your podcast app of choice
ADDTIONAL NOTES BY WILLIE SUMNER, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT
-Pop wise, Becky Lynch was hands down the loudest and A.J. Styles was next. Randy Orton and The Usos got large pops when they appeared. Daniel Bryan on the other hand didn’t seem to be that large and from my standpoint it was definitely not 50/50 with A.J. and more like 75/25 for A.J. Every “Yes!” chant seemed forced and, at one point when Bryan entered the ring, I was the only one in my section standing up cheering for him and, cool enough, he gave me a head nod when this happened. Honestly, the crowd on an overall basis seemed like they were going through the motions most of the night.
-I’ve only missed two events at this venue, minus live events, since 2010 and I have NEVER, I repeat NEVER, seen the building this empty. There were three huge sections where the hard cam is which were tarped off from bottom to top. I actually pulled in to the parking lot down the street that I’ve used since 2000 and got one of the closest parking spots which never happens as I usually have to park about a half mile further away. I started watching the replay tonight and noticed the corner camera cut off on its pan of the building to prevent the television audience from seeing the tarped off areas. Also there were giant gaps in sections, which could be because it was 27 degrees which is 20 degrees colder than it normally is here this time of year.
-Also, something I noticed was the diversity of the crowd compared to normal. I’m a 36 year old white male from the Illinois side of St. Louis and generally the crowd is middle-aged caucasians, but last night I was happy to see a large number of other ethnicities. Maybe this is the reason for the lack of huge pops other than Becky. It just seems like every demographic has “their person” which prevents the Steve Austin/Rock-like pops we saw 20 years ago and spreads out the cheers and boos.
-I paid $100 for each ticket which was awesome especially compared to the $250 per seat I paid for the exact same seats for Raw earlier this year.
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