7/6 WWE Raw in Philadelphia, Pa: Reigns & Braun & Balor vs. Owens & Elias & Corbin, Lashley vs. Mahal, Ziggler vs. Seth, Cedric vs. Murphy

WWE Raw analysis and discussion
Elias Samson (art credit Joel Tesch © PWTorch)

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

WWE LIVE EVENT REPORT – RAW BRAND
JULY 6, 2018
PHILADELPHIA, PA. AT WELLS FARGO CENTER
REPORT BY PAUL IN DELAWARE, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT

Great atmosphere: Lots of families, and long-time fans judging by t-shirts. Lots of Roman Reigns shirts too. Gates opened early, concessions organized.

Lower bowl about 85 percent full. Prompt 7:30 start.

(1) Dolph Ziggler (w/Drew McIntyre) beat Seth Rollins at 16:55.  Big pops for both. Slow start.  Drew interfered and was thrown out by ref.  Great heat.  Ziggler is the best seller in the business. Ziggler won with leverage pin on distraction by Drew. Great match. Drew and Dolph circled the ring afterward and attacked Seth.  Seth fought them off.  Fans were looking for Roman.  Great start to the show.

(2) Cedric Alexander beat Buddy Murphy at 11:39 to retain the Cruiserweight Title. Boos for cocky Murphy.  Cheers for Cedric.  Both guys worked hard and were crisp. Cedric won with his finisher.

(3)  Natalya & Ember Moon & Bayley beat Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan & Alicia Fox when Bayley finished Logan with a Bayley-to-Belly at 9:39.  Big cheers for all the faces.  Good action.  Natalya is a real general out there directing traffic and getting the crowd involved.  Ember was super athletic.

(4) Bobby Roode beat Mojo Rawley with a DDT at 9:38. The crowd ate up Roode’s entrance.  Crowd not super into these guys during match.

(5) Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt beat The B-Team and Titus Worldwide when Hardy pinned Titus in about 6:00.  Huge reaction for the champs.  Crowd knew who B Team was too.  Great antics by B Team.

(6) Ronda Rousey beat Nia Jax via submission in about 10:00. Alexa Bliss was the guest referee. Alexa took the mic and said before the match that she needs a second “impartial” referee: Mickie James. Nia turned an awesome bear hug into a nice vertical suplex. Rousey looked great in there bumping.  The referees turned on Rousey and Jax and ended up getting pummeled.  Rousey went up on top rope for a flying crossbody. Stiff looking match.  Jax and Rousey both did great. Rousey looked so happy to be here.  I wasn’t high on her when she first showed up, but I’m becoming a big Ronda fan.

15 min. Intermission

(7) Lucha House Party beat Drew Gulak & Jack Gallagher & The Brian Kendrick when Dorado pinned Gulak in 8:00.  Nice pop for Gulak.  Good action.

(8) Bobby Lashley beat Jinder Mahal (w/Sunil Singh) in about 4:00. A lot of good heat for Jinder and Sunil. Lashley is HUGE. Nice match.

Elias entered the ring and did his normal schtick that should make him a babyface.  Then he got the crowd to boo him using local sports cheap heat.  He’s a natural on the mic.

(9) Roman Reigns & Braun Strowman & Finn Balor beat Elias & Kevin Owens & “Constable” Corbin when Reigns pinned Owens in 10:00. Owens has great heel body language.  Constable Corbin wrestled in his dress clothes. Finn and Braun come out to huge cheers. Roman got a loud mix of cheers and boos. More cheers than boos.  The heels worked over Balor early.  Hot tag to Braun who sent Owens flying.  Braun went down, then made a hot tag to Roman.  Lots of faces hit their finishers.

Biggest pops: (no order) Seth Rollins, Ronda Rousey, Deleters of Worlds, Bobby Lashley, Finn Balor, Braun Strowman, Reigns

Most Heat: Elias, Jinder, Dolph during his match, Owens, Corbin.

FINAL THOUGHTS: Great Night.  Lots of fun.  The show ended promptly at 10:35. Shirts in concession stand included: John Cena, Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Braun Strowman, Roman Reigns, Ronda Rousey, Matt Hardy/Bray Wyatt. Lots of cash being handed over. Great video packages, pushing network. Vic Joseph came out at 7:05 and fired up the crowd.  Announced Ronda vs. Nia Jax as a match.  Crowd was excited for that.  WrestleMania 34 Instant Classic match voted on by fans.  Intercontinental Match (winner), mixed tag (close 2nd), and Charlotte vs. Asuka (distant third) match were the choices. They upgraded a family of three to ringside seats. Really nice atmosphere for families. They played National Anthem.


If you attend a live event, please send a report to pwtorch@pwtorch.com in the above format, listing who beat whom in the first sentence and then providing details on what happened in the match and your thoughts on the quality.


NOW CHECK OUT THIS REPORT: 7/7 WWE in New York City at MSG (2nd report): Undertaker and Rousey get huge pops from a nearly packed arena, Seth vs. Ziggler vs. Balor, Lucha House Party, more

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