12/30 WWE in Toronto, Ont.: Joe vs. Reigns stopped due to excessive bleeding, Seth & Jordan defend against The Bar, Woken Matt vs. Bray

WWE LIVE EVENT
DECMEBER 30, 2017
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA AT RICOH COLISUM
REPORT BY RICHARD KIRWIN, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

This report is coming to you from the Ricoh Coliseum, capacity for the venue is just shy of 8,000 people and it is home to the minor league affiliate to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The crowd was a really mixed bag of demographics ranging from a set of grand parents in head-to-toe lime green John Cena gear that had ringsides, to twentysomethings out on dates, to guys like that me who were taking their kids to their first or second live event. Lots of people carrying belts, most common merch was Roman Reigns or other Shield members. At least one each little girl cosplaying Sasha, Bayley, and Alexa.

We had center seats three rows from the back of the bowl. Perfect view of the ring and straight up the entry ramp. I had my son (6) who was attending his second house show and my daughter (9) attending her first. They do not watch regular programming, just a match here or there, so this is my way of introducing them to wrestling.

(1) Finn Balor defeated Ken Anderson (w/Karl Gallows). Crowd jumped right up for Finn and one guy shouted “Bullet Club” really loud when all three were in the ring. Nice match, Finn did more bumping then I would have expected for an opening match. He also did some solid mic work announcing a “sell-out” of the arena and welcoming Toronto to the Balor club. Solid opening bout.

(2) Apollo Crews & Titus O’Neal & Heath Slater & Rhyno & Goldust defeated The Revival & Curt Hawkins & The Miztourage. Goldust was really over with both fans and the other guys in the ring. Revival did some great heel work denying fans high fives and mocking people in the front row. Everybody got to do some of their stuff, Rhyno pinned Hawkins after hitting him with a spinebuster. (I assume saving the spear for Reigns later in the night which was good booking.)

-Elias came out and did some funny stuff taking song requests from the audience while heeling on them at the same time. He led a “hotline bling” sing-a-long because Toronto is Drake country, then turned the song around and made it about how much he dislikes Torontonians. Kane came out and sang, Elias said he was no good and got chokeslammed for his trouble. Entertaining segment that went on five minutes too long.

(3) Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan defeated The Bar to retain WWE Raw Tag Team Titles. This was the half way point of the show and, for me, the match of the night. Rollins was super over but people didn’t really seem to know what to make of Jordan. He got some boos early on, but won the crowd over by being an absolute beast in the ring. Sheamus and Cesaro are a really excellent tag team at this point and worked a really solid match. There was a fun sequence where Cesaro and Rollins went back and forth with chest slaps that got the crowd “Woo-ing.” Match ended with Rollin and Jordan getting pins side-by-side after hitting their finishers. Minor complaint, but they haven’t updated Sheamus and Cesaro’s house show video, which is still set to just Sheamus. Small detail, but they have been a team for quite a while now.

INTERMISSION

(4) Asuka & Bayley & Sasha Banks beat Nia Jax & Dana Brooke & Alexa Bliss with Mickie James as special referee. All the ladies got big pops with the exception of Dana Brooke. Alexa and Nia did a funny chest bump bit with Nia knocking Alexa down before the match got underway. Dana Brooke got in Mickie James face as the ref then took a really stiff kick from Asuka before winding up tapping to the arm bar. (are we calling that the “Asuka lock” now because her old move was too close to the Coquina Clutch?)

(5) Matt Hardy defeated Bray Wyatt. The crowd was really into both of these guys. It was my first time doing the fire-flies bit for Bray, which was visually really cool. My son popped. People were really into the “delete” chant and Matt was totally Woken for the whole match. After some back and forth, Matt hit the Twist of Fate for the win. Another minor complaint, Matt came out to the Hardy Boyz music and entry screen which really didn’t fit the Woken persona.

(6) Roman Reigns fought Samoa Joe to a no contest when it was stopped due to blood loss. Before I say anything about the match, I have to say that Roman got the biggest reaction of the night. There were definitely cheers and boos mixed in to the noise but there is no denying how loud it was. The match was hard hitting and looked to be a really great main event but maybe five minutes in, they went to the outside where after he tossed Roman into the stairs, Joe was checked out by medical staff. I couldn’t see blood from where I was sitting, but it was clear that they were checking Joes head. After he tossed Roman into the steps again, the refs ordered Joe up the ramp. Half way up he ran back down, attacked Reigns, and threw him in the ring. Reigns immediately hit a Super man punch (which looks just as goofy in person as on TV) followed by a spear. Joe went down and the match was over. There was no announcement or explanation for why the match ended or who had won, which made for a really anti-climatic finale. Reigns made up for it with posing, taking pics with fans, and tossing his glove and wrist gear into the fans.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I really enjoy house show wrestling, as it’s clear the wrestlers are having fun and being creative while putting on their matches. I was really impressed with how attentive the babyfaces were to all the fans at ringside and how long they spent out there taking pictures and signing things. I did find it odd that no heels won any matches over the course of the night, but the kids in attendance didn’t seem to mind. The cheering, chanting, and clapping encouragement interactive parts of the show were all really fun and my kids got right into it… We paid $48 per ticket and had an amazing view of the action… My only complaint about the show is that it ran until almost 1030 p.m., which for the families in attendance was rather late. Lots of small ones being carried out asleep, my daughter barely made it. Reigns got the biggest reaction of the night, with Rollins, Hardy and Balor also getting lots of love.

If you attend a live event for any pro wrestling event, please send a report in the format like this one to pwtorch@pwtorch.com.

NOW CHECK OUT THE PREVIOUS REPORT: 12/30 WWE in Tampa, Fla.: Styles vs. Cena vs. Mahal, Mojo vs. Ryder, Charlotte defends in four-way, Riot Squad vs. Naomi & Becky Lynch