1/28 WWE in Baltimore, Md.: Brock Lesnar in action, Reigns cheered wildly, Cedric vs. Drew

WWE LIVE EVENT
JANUARY 28, 2018
BALTIMORE, MD. AT ROYAL FARMS ARENA
REPORT BY CHAY MADISON

Royal Farms Arena is on smaller side of modern day arenas. Fits about 12,000 total. The full lower bowl was full and about one-third of the upper bowl. Overall decent turnout for a live event. Crowd was pretty hot from the start. A lot of kids in the audience.

(1) “Woken” Matt Hardy defeated Bray Wyatt. Crowd was really into Matt Hardy throughout. Wyatt got a great reaction also. The match itself had a lot of stalling and interaction with the audience. Oddly, Matt did a lot of talking in the ring and you really couldn’t make most of it out. Not many nears falls but the match served it purpose. Matt earned the win following a Twist of Fate.

(2) The Bar (Cesaro and Sheamus) defeated The Club (Gallows and Anderson) and Heath Slater and Rhyno in a Triple Threat Tag Match. This was a fun match with Slater and Andreson having fun with the audience early on. Slater spent most of the time in the match until Rhyno got the hot tag. Nothing overly special and no one worked super hard here. Just standard tags and hardly any signature moves. Sheamus gets the wins following a Brogue Kick on Rhyno.

(3) Cedric Alexander defeated Drew Gulak. I have to say that Gulak has a gimmick that draws massive heat. He did an awesome job with his powerpoint presentation. Alexander came out to a great pop because people were tired of Gulak. If we saw matches like this on 205 every week, I think people would care a lot more. Alexander worked hard and Gulak worked ever harder to make Alexander look great. Crowd was eating it up. Many near falls and in the end Alexander wins with the Lumbar Check. Why aren’t these two getting reactions like this on tv?

(4) Brock Lesnar defeated Kane. Brock entered to the biggest pop of the night thus far. I was surprised to see this on so early. Match started strong with german suplxes from Brock to Kane. Kane then hit two chokeslams on Brock maybe 60 seconds into the match. At one point, Brock went for an F5 and Kane’s legs hit the ref. Braun Strowman ran in and powerslammed both men. Once both men came to, Brock propped Kane up for the F5 for the win. Short match.

Elias comes out to give us a mini concert. Early on he had the crowd going with his every word. He did 2 songs before turning on the crowd to massive heat. He then started a third song and Finn Balors music hit.

(5) Goldust defeated Curt Hawkins. This match wasn’t anything special. Typical house show match. Goldust is like the perfect veteran. He made sure to shake hands and hug kids before and after his match. Goldust wins with a rollup.

(6) Elias defeated Finn Balor. Balor entered to a huge reaction from the audience. The match between these two was decent but, nothing special. Balor hit all of his signature moves. Elias doesn’t really have a move set yet. That kind of makes him look generic depsite his great look. At the end, Balor goes up to the top and Elias crotches him. Elias pulls Balor from the top and hits his finish for the win.

(7) Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan defeated The Miztourage. The reaction for Roman was completely insane. Nowhere as many boo’s as your hear on television. Prior to the match, Miz worked the mic and did an AWESOME job as always. Seth got a great reaction and Jordan never tagged into the match (maybe because of his back issues). The match itself was a lot of fun with Axel and Dallas getting a lot of ring time. In the end, Rollins hit Miz with the flying knee across the face. Axel was thrown over the top and Dallas took a spear.

Top Pop:
1. Roman Reigns
2. Brock Lesnar
3. Finn Balor

Top Heat
1. The Miz (By a wide margin)
2. Elias
3. Drew Gulak

NOW CHECK OUT THIS PREVIOUS REPORT: 1/26 NXT in Tom’s River, N.Y.: Final matches before Takeover featuring Gargano & Strong vs. Almas & Dream, Black vs. Cole, AOP vs. Undisputed Era