SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
WWE LIVE EVENT REPORT
SEPTEMBER 29, 2019
TUCSON, ARIZ.
REPORT BY CHARLES STARKS, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT
If you attend a live event, please send results with details on the matches, crowd reactions, and attendance to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!
Sarah Schreiber was the ring announcer.
Show opened with the National Anthem and the Fiend version of the WWE Theme song video.
(1) Ricochet defeated Cesaro. A very good match to get the crowd excited right away. I missed part of the match due to getting a surprise seat upgrade in the middle of it, from a nearly back row balcony seat to a third row floor seat.
After the match, Anderson and Gallows of The OC came out and attacked Ricochet briefly, then got on microphones and called out The Viking Raiders
(2) Viking Raiders defeated The OC. The crowd started off quiet for this match, but slowly got more into it, and were excited by the finish.
(3) Lucha House Party & Sin Cara & Titus ONeill defeated EC3 & Drew Gulak & Eric Young & Tony Nese. A few minutes in, Titus provided a light-hearted moment by donning a Black Panther looking lucha mask for about a minute. He put it on for a few seconds again after the match while they were celebrating. There was a moment where Titus was going to try a suicide dive over the top rope, but the three luchadors stopped him, and they all dove over instead.
(4) Baron Corbin defeated Cedric Alexander. This was a decent match for the two of them, and I could see them working together with a good feud. Corbin won after raking Cedric’s eyes, and rolling him up.
(5) Natalya defeated Lacey Evans via submission with a sharpshooter. This was a serviceable match, with Natalya definitely carrying it. The funny part to me was the lone guy cheering for Lacey, while the rest of the crowd was booing her and cheering Natalya.
(6) Roman Reigns defeated Erick Rowan in a “Tucson Street Fight.” The whole Street Fight thing was odd, since they never left the ringside area. They did, however, pull out the usual array of weapons, with the finish being a spear through a table propped up in a corner, after Roman managed to throw an interfering Luke Harper out of the ring. Roman celebrated for a while and greeted some fans, especially the kids. He even took off his gloves and threw them to the audience (a guy right behind me caught one).
Intermission (had to clean up the table fragments)
(7) Becky Lynch defeated Sasha Banks in a Raw Women’s Title match. Sasha had Becky in the Bank Statement and Becky had crawled toward the ropes, Sasha went to roll her back to the center of the ring, and Becky managed to reverse into the Disarm Her.
(8) Braun Strowman defeated A.J. Styles via disqualification in a U.S. Title match. This match had a few humorous moments between Braun and AJ. Eventually The OC came out and attacked Braun, and a minute later the Viking Raiders came out and evened things up, with them and Braun standing tall in the ring at the end.
(9) Seth Rollins defeated “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt via disqualification in a Universal Title match. This match was easily the shortest of the night, with Bray getting the DQ after not releasing a Mandible Claw in the corner. After the match, Seth went after Bray, giving him multiple stomps, with Bray not selling the first couple, but Bray eventually putting Seth down with another Mandible Claw. Bray went back up the ramp to his creepy music, and eventually Seth got up and stumbled out also.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Overall is was a fun night, with good matches. No title changes makes sense, with the Raw “Season Premiere” being tomorrow. They did advertise this at one point with a video package. The biggest pops of the night were for Sasha and Becky, but Roman was close behind. At one point after Luke Harper came out and before Roman overcame the odds, there was a chant for Daniel Bryan.
The overall show length including intermission was 3 hours, which for the matches presented, felt about right.
Max capacity for the arena is about 8900, and I’d say it was about 75-80 percent full, which isn’t bad for an event that I’d only seen advertised on Facebook, and maybe a couple short radio ads.
If you attend a live event, please send results with details on the matches, crowd reactions, and attendance to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!
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