11/8 WWE in Liverpool, U.K.: Reigns vs. Wyatt main event, more

WWE Live show results
November 8, 2015
Liverpool, England at Echo Arena
Report by Rich Hyland, PWTorch reader

(1) Neville beat Stardust. Neville got a pretty decent pop at the start being from the U.K.  Stardust stalled the match quite well early on with his cartwheels and shouting to the crowd. The match was a good opener, very lively.  Stardust tried to get the upper hand by hooking Neville up in to corner upside down, but Neville showed some great upper body strength to lift himself up under and onrushing Stardust. Great spot. Neville won with the spectacular Red Arrow for the win, which popped the crowd and looked great in-person. Good match by these two.

(2) Damien Sandow beat Heath Slater. Slater came out first to some small cheering and Sandow arrived with his ‘Intellectual Saviour of the masses’ to more or less silence.  Slater attacked Sandow before the bell with some kicks in the corner. The bell rang and Sandow rolled Slater up for a quick three count and the whole deal was done in under two minutes.  This felt really odd and a lot of the crowd seemed completely disinterested.

(3) The Wyatt Family (Erick Rowan & Luke Harper & Braun Strowman) beat The Usos & Ryback in a six-man tag match. Luke Harper started this one off for the Wyatts by teasing Ryback while beating down on one of the Usos. Harper spent a lot of time playing the crowd and ‘posing down’ in front of Ryback.  There was some pretty solid ring work by all parties in the match to start with. Eventually, Ryback had enough of Harpers teasing and got himself tagged in, much to the joy of the crowd there as Ryback was really over with the ‘Feed Me More’ chant ringing out for most of the match. The Usos both did a top-rope axe handle on to Harper, and then tagged in Ryback, who did the top rope move, too! Ryback put Harper in to a very, very long held vertical suplex. Harper eventually went down and tagged in Rowan, who also got put up in a very, very long held vertical suplex. Ryback showed amazing strength in this spot. As the match broke down, the Usos did their kicks and picked up the pace. Eventually,Strowman tagged in and Ryback got him up in a long vertical suplex too, which was very impressive.  Ryback missed the Shellshock, but hit the Meathook clothesline on Strowman for two. The ref then lost control with the Usos diving out of the ring on to all. After the melee went down, Strowman caught one of the Usos in his choking finisher and that was enough for the win.

Overall, I really enjoyed this match, as did my sons.  Ryback was very over with the crowd and did a really good job. Harper was excellent in working the crowd to get some heat, too.

(4) Wade Barrett beat Fandango. Sadly, I missed this match, but I know Barrett won.

(5) Lucha Dragons (Kalisto & Sin Cara) beat The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor) and Los Matadores (Diego & Fernando) in a three-team match. This was all about Kalisto. He was so good.  The usual triple threat tag team fare with all teams mixing it up. Not so much on the offence from Los Matadores, who simply couldn’t keep up with the pace of the Lucha Dragons.  The Dragons were really popular and the “Lucha” chant rang out throughout the arena the entire match. The Ascension piled on some decent pressure, but were outdone a lot by the pace of Kalisto throughout, as he really was on another level from every other wrestler in the match. About seven minutes in, ‘Bad to the Bone’ came on and El Torito came out to zero reaction, pretty much confusing those around me.  He attacked one of the Matadores and sent him to the outside, which resulted in him doing a running plancha move over the top rope to the outside on both Matadores. Kalisto picked up the pace and finished off the match for the win.

(6) Natalya & NXT Women’s champion Bayley beat Team B.A.D (Sasha Banks & Naomi). Personally, I was looking forward to watching this match having seen Sasha and Bayley’s matches in NXT. Sadly, they spent far too much time messing around with hair clips and glasses and playing the comedy style to the crowd. This was a huge let down for me.  Natalya won by submitting Naomi with Sharpshooter. Very disappointing.

(7) U.S. champion Alberto Del Rio beat Jack Swagger to retain the U.S. Title. Del Rio was pretty well supported at the start of the match by the more adult audience around me.  However, Del Rio managed to turn everyone against him by getting on the mic and telling the whole crowd that they sucked and threatening to walk out. He did this a few times whilst Swagger invited him in to the ring to fight. Del Rio left the ring and Swagger chased him, throwing him back in. At this point, Del Rio had the entire arena hating him and cheering Swaggers every move. Great stuff.  Swagger hit a Swagger Bomb for a close two count. Del Rio then went for the armbreaker, but Swagger countered it with the anklelock.  At this point these guys were having a heck of a match. Easily one of the best live matches I have seen for a few years.  Swagger kicked out of Del Rio’s kicks for another close two. The crowd at this point were on their feet. Eventually, Del Rio countered another anklelock attempt with the armbar and Swagger tapped out.

Overall, this match was excellent. It was such great heel stuff by Del Rio, who is far better live than I have ever seen him on TV.

Next was the main event with Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns. Wyatt’s entrance is pretty cool to see live. Reigns came right past where we were sitting and they were ready to go!

(8) Roman Reigns beat Bray Wyatt in a No Holds Barred match. A decent match which pretty much followed the same pattern as the Hell in a Cell match. Early on, Bray got a Singapore Cane and beat down Reigns on the outside. Reigns got the cane back, teased Bray with it, and gave him a few shots before breaking it in half in a show of strength.  There were a couple of decent table spots.  Wyatt superplexed Reigns through one, and Reigns powerbombed Wyatt through another.  Very back and forth with a hot crowd really in to it and some great close finishes.  Wyatt hit Sister Abigail and Roman kicked out at two, then hit the spear for Reigns to get the win.

Overall, This was much better than I was expecting and Roman has really come on in the ring.  Great stuff.