6/23 WWE in Salt Lake City, Utah: Reigns & Seth vs. McIntyre & Ziggler with big cheers for Reigns, Braun & Lashley & Balor vs. Owens & Corbin & Jinder

Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns (art credit Joel Teach © PWTorch)

SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...

WWE LIVE EVENT RESULTS
JUNE 23, 2018
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH AT MAVERICK CENTER
REPORT BY RYAN RASHID, PWTORCH CONTRIBUTOR


If you attend a live event, please sent results to pwtorch@pwtorch.com


It was a very empty crowd. It was at the Maverick Center where our minor league hockey team plays. I’d say a rough estimate is it’s probably a 5,000-seat arena. It was not even half full. They did not sell any seats in the upper deck. The cheap seats straight across from the ring entrance (separated by part of what is normally the rink) were mostly full. The middle parts, what would be the hard camera side and opposite of the hard camera at a TV taping, were mostly empty. The floor however was completely full. I didn’t notice any open seats down there. I’d say it was no more than 2,000 people there.

I paid $60 for the “hard camera side” for my daughter and I, so $130 total after a $10 service fee. I was not happy paying that much considering how empty it was and how small the arena is (first time I’ve been to the Maverick Center). It would have been fine just getting the cheap $20 tickets. But it’s no wonder WWE doesn’t come to Salt Lake very often and we don’t get TV events anymore. I heard that this is the only time they’ll be here in 2018. Or the last time this year. No surprise with this turn out.

However, even though there weren’t a lot of people there, the ones who showed up were definitely excited to be in attendance. That place was loud from start finish. I even noticed some of the wrestlers overtly reacting to how loud it was. Maybe they were surprised at how loud it was because they were told it was a small house. Or maybe they were just surprised at the acoustics of the building that, so few people could get so loud. In any case, the fans were into everything and seemed to really enjoy themselves. I also felt like the wrestlers were enjoying themselves and I didn’t feel any of the wrestlers were taking the night off because of the small house. They all seemed engaged with the crowd and happy to entertain.

There was a large screen above the entrance way. No Titantron, but a decently large screen. There was one camera man who filmed wrestler entrances and post-match celebrations and the entire Elias skit that were shown on the big screen. The screen was off during the matches. Obviously, no LED boards around the ring or ring posts. Old school metal barriers with a black WWE logoed cape over the barriers. They had padding on the floor around the ring but none going from the entrance way to the “ramp.” I use the term “ramp” loosely because it was pretty much just a step. The entrance was very short. Bryon Saxton was the ring announcer (which was weird) and MC for the night. Very informal style of ring announcing. He did an okay job as ring announcer. He was no Howard Finkel, but I’ve seen worse. There were almost no breaks between matches aside from the intermission. Though I will point out that WWE has improved their commercials during breaks from when I was at Wrestlemania 33 weekend in Orlando. That time they just showed the same two or three videos over and over again. This time (although granted they didn’t have commercial breaks to fill) I don’t think they showed the same video twice. And even added a silly cups game on the video screen during the intermission.

(1) Bayley & Dana Brooke beat Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan of the Riott Squad (w/Sarah Logan on the outside). The crowd was into everyone, but Bayley obviously got the loudest cheers. No inflatable waving Bayley gimmick. I don’t think it would have even fit on that tiny entrance way. Bayley even worked the crowd into doing a “Dana” chant at one point. Sarah Logan was really engaged antagonizing the crowd on the outside. Bayley pinned Morgan after hitting the Bayley to Belly.

(2) Cedric Alexander beat Kalisto to retain the Cruiserweight Title. I thought Kalisto would be over because we have a decent Mexican population here and, while it seems he got the bigger reaction coming out, the crowd seemed to be behind Cedric just slightly more. They even did a little dance off and were pointing at each other back and forth and Cedric definitely was getting the bigger cheers. This was not a Raw match with the fans sitting on their hands the whole time. They were very much into this match and it even got a “This is awesome” chant. This and the main event were the only two matches to receive that. The crowd was “oohing” at all the big spots. Cedric won after hitting the Lumbar Check. They did the handshake in the ring after the match.

As the handshake was going on Mike Kanellis’s music hit. He came out by himself. He looks in great shape. He had a mic and complained about coming all the way to SLC and he didn’t even have a match. He got in the ring and Kalisto and Alexander double teamed him and threw him out and Mike’s night was done.

(3) The B-Team beat Breezango and Titus World Wide. The two “face” teams both got a good reaction. Titus O’Neil and Apollo Crews seemed to enjoy the strong positive reaction. The B-Team did not get much of a reaction coming out, but I think they crowd saw them as the heels. They were getting quite a few boos, though they did get some cheers as the match went on. The early part of the match was mostly Fandango and Curtis Axel dancing and joking around. Crews also joined in with some dancing. This was a short match and kind of ended just when it was getting into a grove. Axel pinned Crews on a roll up with a handful of tights. The B-Team did their usual over the top celebration after winning, including lifting the referee and carrying him around the ring.

(4) Mojo Rawley beat No Way Jose. This was a bathroom/ice cream break for us. I didn’t pick this match on purpose. I was hoping there might be a break between matches but there was not. I was not upset to miss most of this match. We got back mid-match so I missed the entrances. The crowd was doing a “We Want Ryder” chant when we got back. Rawley won with a shoulder block or something shortly after we sat down.

(5) Braun Strowman & Bobby Lashley & Finn Balor beat Kevin Owens & Jinder Mahal & Baron Corbin. This one was advertised with Sami Zayn as a part of the heel team, but he was obviously replaced by Corbin because of the injury. I was disappointed not to get to see Sami. Everyone was VERY over in this match. The least over was probably Corbin. The most over would be Braun, though Finn was a close second in this match. Close battle between Braun, Roman, and Sasha as most over of the night; I actually think I’d give the edge to Roman. And even Lashley got a pretty strong reaction. Jinder got some very strong heel heat (as did Sunil Singh, who even got his entrance music before coming out). Owens got a huge babyface pop when his music hit. Lashley was another of the wrestlers who seemed slightly surprised and appreciative of the strong positive reaction. Braun came out with the briefcase, which just looks silly on him, in my opinion. Corbin came out in his whole constable getup but started the match with just the vest on and ended up taking that off and wrestling the rest of the match with just a tank-top. It looked much more comfortable for him. This was an energetic match that the crowd was into huge all the way through. Big Braun chants during the heat segment on Finn. He played right into it, pumping his fist and walking back and forth on the apron begging for a tag. Finn did his typical tope onto the three heels at one point but came up holding his lower back, which did not seem like a work. After a chaotic period of all wrestlers getting in, Braun pinned someone, I think it was Owens, after hitting the powerslam. Finn laid on the floor for quite awhile after the finish with Braun and Lashley celebrating in the ring. Lashley actually went out and helped Finn up and he went in the ring and celebrated with the other two briefly before leaving and heading to the back, as Lashley and Braun continued to celebrate. I saw someone meet Finn as he headed off to the side, still holding his lower back. The person seemed to be asking Finn a question as they disappeared.

It was intermission after this and I saw them setting up the chair and microphone for Elias during the intermission. Either this crowd wasn’t as hip to the Elias bit as some (though they mostly repeated his “Walk with Elias” part). Or maybe they were just playing along, booing the heel. I could hear a lot of “You suck,” “You can’t sing,” “Go away” comments from fans around me. He started with a two and half minute guitar solo, then stopped to tell the crowd how great he was, then went into another guitar bit where he asked the crowd to sing along with him. He did some “ohs” and “yeahs” then sang how Salt Lake sucks. That as usual got a big reaction from the crowd. But a regular heel reaction. He started to threaten to leave when the lights went out and Bobby Roode’s music hit. The crowd sang along (though not like at the NXT Takeover Orlando I was at last year). Elias said Roode’s interruption was well rude. Which got a laugh from the crowd. But he invited Roode to sing with him. They did “Sweet Child of Mine.” Roode is a terrible singer. Also, that song may have been a little dated for a crowd filled with little kids. But the adults in the audience did their best to sing along. Then Elias attached Roode from behind and got back on the mic and said Roode was trying to steal his spotlight. Roode came back, hit the Glorious DDT, and left to his music.

(6) Alexa Bliss beat Sasha Banks. As noted, Sasha got a huge reaction coming out. Right up there with Roman and Braun. Sasha definitely noticed because she made a gesture to indicate it was very loud as she came out. She also seemed to really enjoy the big reaction and how loud the crowd was. Alexa also got a strong reaction. The fans were very into this whole match. I’d say from a work rate stand point this was the match of the night. They didn’t take a ton of bumps, but there were a lot of cool pinfall sequences and reversals. It was just a really well-worked and engaging match. Alexa eventually won with a roll up and a handful of tights.

(7) Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns beat Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre. For me unfortunately my daughter, who is six and not a wrestling fan, had had enough during the previous match and wanted to go home. I thought taking her to a live show may change her opinion, but it did not. So, I had resigned myself to skip the main event because I’m not a Roman fan and the outcome was predictable. But I was interested because this was the first time I’d get to see Roman and Drew McIntyre in ring together. My consoling of my daughter worked, and she calmed down enough for us to get through the match. The reaction to Dolph and Drew was fine. Seth’s was definitely loud, but I don’t know if it was quite to the level of Roman, Braun, Sasha, and Finn. Seth and Finn were probably on the same level. The other three were tops. But this did confirm the stories I’ve heard that Roman is over at house shows because he got the top reaction of the night and very few boos. They were there but they were small compared to TV. There was a huge Roman chant during the heat segment on Seth. I think it’s nights like this that keep Roman going. He seemed really happy to be getting the big babyface reactions. This was not the sad, mopey Roman you see on TV sometimes. The match was good, the ending was really fast-paced, but I have to admit I don’t see what everyone else does in Drew McIntyre. Sure, he’s got a great look and he’s really big. But as a worker, he’s just blah. He was by far the most boring guy in this match and one of the most boring guys on the whole show in terms of in-ring ability. Just a bunch of weak kicks and punches and a rest hold or two. I don’t look forward to the main events of Roman and Drew that are inevitable and probably the point of this main event – to get them to become familiar with each other. Surprisingly, to me at least, Seth got the pin on Dolph after hitting the Stomp. The Seth and Dolph segments were really good and I think they could build to a really solid PPV match down the line. I did not stay to watch the post-match celebration. As I mentioned I’m not a huge Roman fan and I wanted to try and beat traffic out of the arena. But I will say the pop for the finish was the biggest pop of the night.

FINAL THOUGHTS: All and all, though I wish I got the cheap tickets I still thought it was a fun and entertaining show and I’m more of a Smackdown guy too. Plus, aside from Finn, none of the Raw guys I really like were there. No Sami, no Bray or Matt Hardy, no Mustafa Ali. Also, as a long time wrestling fan I called all the outcomes a mile away. I know they sell these shows on having title matches, but it just makes the finish a foregone conclusion. Even if they still do a very rare title change on house shows, it’s not going to be at a show in Salt Lake City, Utah with only 1,500 or so people there. Yet, with all that being said, I still thought it was an entertaining show. It was fast-paced, there was little down time, and the wrestlers all seemed to have a good time and they all worked good matches. The show started at 7:30 p.m. and ended almost exactly at 10:30 p.m. It was a full three hours of wrestling that went by very fast.

It is amazing to me that a show with no storyline advancements and predictable outcomes the crowd can be that loud and engaged for a full three hours, yet the people that attend TV tapings and PPVs sit silent for half the show. I guess it’s the kind of crowd you get. Whehttps://www.pwtorch.com/site/2018/06/24/6-23-wwe-in-albequerque-n-m-shelton-benjamin-in-main-event-rusev-vs-miz-sanity-runs-in-on-singles-match-becky-lynch-vs-sonya-deville/n it’s in a non-wrestling town the people who show up are big fans of the product, but when it’s a TV taping you get a lot of people who don’t care but attend because it’s on TV.

Lastly, based on the positive reaction that Roman Reigns received at this show, I do believe there is still money in a heel turn for him. Kids really do love him, and I think there is money to be made with Roman as a heel going up against Braun as well as guys like Finn or Seth.

Oh, and my quick glance at the merch table I saw Roman, Seth, Shield, Ronda, and Braun stuff. I’d say the top shirt I saw in the audience was Macho Man Randy Savage and John Cena. Plus a few Braun and Roman shirts.


If you attend a live event, please sent results to pwtorch@pwtorch.com


NOW CHECK OUT THIS RECENT REPORT: 6/23 WWE in Albequerque, N.M.: Shelton Benjamin in main event, Rusev vs. Miz, Sanity runs in on singles match, Becky Lynch vs. Sonya Deville

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