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WWE LIVE EVENT REPORT
NOVEMBER 16, 2019
WASHINGTON D.C. AT CAPITAL ONE ARENA
REPORT BY PHILLIP BAGLEY, 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!
(1) The New Day defeated The Revival to retain the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Titles. Before the match Greg Hamilton danced with Big E and Kofi, crowd enjoyed it. During the match there was a cool spot where New Day had gotten The Revival to want to fight each other, but they turned the tables and got heat on Big E. Kofi got the hot tag and New Day won after the elevated Trouble in Paradise. New Day was very over with the largely youthful audience.
(2) Dana Brooke beat Tamina. Not a long match. Dana Brooke was surprisingly over with the crowd. Dana Brooke won via pin after a roll up.
(3) Gran Metalik, Kalisto & Chad Gable & Apollo Crews defeated Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler & Cesaro & Luke Harper. Decent action in this match. The normal multi-person tag format where each competitor comes in and gets their stuff in successively. Surprising finish where Gable got Luke Harper to tap relatively quickly to the ankle lock. Decent reception for Lucha House Party and Gable; luke warm for Crews. Heels got decent heel reaction
(4) Bayley defeated Nikki Cross to retain the Smackdown Women’s Title. Nice pop for Cross. Very nice heel heat for Bayley. Bayley did a nice job of being a heel to the kids in the front row. Decent match with a lot of action. Bayley won via pin with her feet on the ropes.
(5) Roman Reigns beat King Corbin. Corbin got some good heel heat. Roman got a very nice sustained babyface pop. Good match with back and forth action. Roman got all of his hits in – Drive By, Superman Punch, and spear. Roman won via pin after his spear. Roman again got great reaction and high-fived everyone around ringside before walking up the ramp.
Intermission: Greg Hamilton apparently did some crowd hyping activity, but this was my bathroom break so I missed exactly what happened.
(6) Lio Rush defeated Angel Garza to retain the NXT Cruiserweight Championship. Lio Rush came out first and got a massive hometown pop (maybe pop of the night). Good back and forth action. Garza let women kiss him on the cheek during his entrance but worked exclusively heel during the match. Lio Rush won via pin after a frog splash cross body Lio left to nice pop, gave high fives to EVERYONE at ringside, took pictures with fans, and signed a few autographs before exiting.
(7) Mustafa Ali beat Shinsuke Nakamura via DQ to Nakamura retained the Intercontinental Championship. Before the match, Sami Zayn cut a great anti-American promo to get really good heel heat. Mustafa Ali got a decent babyface pop. Short match that ended in a DQ after Zayn’s interference. After a brief two-on-one beatdown, Daniel Bryan made the save
(8) Daniel Bryan & Mustafa Ali beat Shinsuke Nakamura & Sami Zayn after a running knee by Bryan against Sami. Decent match. Not much to report about this match.
(9) “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt defeated Braun Strowman to retain the Universal Championship in a Last Man Standing match. Strowman got good babyface pop. Firefly Funhouse music hit followed by Wyatt’s old theme music. A large portion of the crowd had flashlights waving for firefly effect. Greg Hamilton announced that the match would be Last Man Standing. Strowman got in some offense and Wyatt actually sold for most of it. Strowman chokeslammed Wyatt through a table. They got to around a count of eight. Wyatt hit Sister Abigail on the steel steps, count of six or seven. Wyatt threw Strowman through a table that had been set up in the corner of the ring then threw the ring steps onto Strowman for the ten count. Fans in my section were complaing about not knowing what was happening because the arena was dark and the red light was in effect.
After Wyatt left, Nakamura and Zayn attacked Strowman. Strowman fought off the double team, knocked Nakamura down, then hit running powerslam on Zayn. Braun roared and the crowd popped.
Greg Hamilton thanked everyone for coming out and the show concluded.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Pretty good house show, in my opinion. This was the first WWE house show I had been to in about five years. The show, to me, would have benefited from being in a smaller venue than Capital One Arena. I went with four friends, all of whom were at various stages of “fandom.” One friend was at her first pro wrestling show. She had a lot of fun and was really into New Day, Roman, and Strowman. One friend was really into Lio Rush after hearing he was from D.C. and especially after he utilized his athleticism in his escape spots at the beginning of the match… Greg Hamilton announced early in the show that The Fiend was in the building. There were “Yowie Wowie” chants in my section at various points of the night.
Best babyface pops of the night: Lio Rush, Roman Reigns, New Day
Best Heel reactions of the night: King Corbin, Bayley, Sami Zayn
Crowd seemed mixed on The Fiend. Seemed split on whether to cheer or boo.
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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