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WWE LIVE EVENT RESULTS
MARCH 9, 2019
DETROIT, MICH. AT LITTLE CAESARS ARENA
REPORT BY GREG LATOUR, PWTORCH CORRESPONDENT
If you attend a live event, please send results with details on the matches, crowd reactions, and attendance to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!
Attendance: The show was held at Little Caesars Arena in downtown Detroit. The arena is only about 2 years old and is the home to Detroit Red Wings of the NHL and the Detroit Pistons of the NBA. The arena capacity is 19,500 for hockey, 20,491 for basketball and 15,000-22,000 for concerts. The entire upper deck and mezzanine sections were closed off. The floor was mostly full but did have some empty rows towards the back, the lower bowl along the entrance ramp, even with the ring and the end opposite the ramp we’re mostly full. The corner sections were very spotty with entire rows being empty. If I had to guess, I would say the number of tickets that could be sold would be about 7,500 and the actual attendance was probably about 4,000-5,000.
(1) Samoa Joe beat Jeff Hardy to retain the United States Championship at 5:02. Hardy comes out first to very big pop, immediately gets “Har-dy” and “Delete” chants going. Jeff gets some good offense early but Joe quickly takes control of the match. The crowd is firmly behind Hardy and he mounts a comeback, big pops for his combo offense of leg drops and drop kicks. He climbs to the top rope and hits the Whisper in the Wind for a near fall. Hardy tries to hit the twist of fate but Joe reverses it into the Coquina Clutch. He forces Hardy down to the mat and the referee lifts Jeff’s arm three times but each time it falls back down. The referee calls for the bell and Joe is declared the winner. Jeff takes a few moments to get up, he plays to the crowd and gets a good reactions as he limps around the ring, shaking hands with the fans, taking pictures and signing a few autographs. the fans chant “Har-dy” as he heads to the back
(2) Nikki Cross beat Sonya Deville at 6:35. Neither woman gets much of a reaction when they come out but as Nikki runs the ropes and swings the jacket over her head, the crowd does give her some cheers. Shortly after the bell rings, Sonya is thrown to the outside, Nikki hits her with a baseball slide and starts giving high fives to kids at ringside. Sonya rolls back in the ring and when Nikki gets in, Sonya takes over the offense of the match. Sonya tries some different submission maneuvers, Nikki fights out of them but Sonya applies the next one rather quickly. Nikki reverses one and whips Sonya into the corner. Nikki then hits Sonya with a modified running bulldog. Sonya gets up and tries to put Nikki into another submission move buy Nikki reverses it and hits her finisher (I believe Nikki calls it the Twisted Nikki) but it’s a swinging fisherman’s neckbreaker. It was very cool looking, gets the three count on Sonya. After the match as Sonya limps to the back, Nikki runs around the ring and gives high fives to everyone, she kind of ran the ref who was waiting on the outside of the ring and scared him, that got a good reaction from the crowd.
(3) New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods w/Kofi Kingston) beat Shinsuke Nakamura & Rusev (w/Lana) and The Bar at 14:01. The New Day come out to huge pop, Kofi is throwing pancakes in every direction, Big E is dancing and playing to the crowd, Xavier is blowing his trombone. The New Day dance to Nakamura’s music, and throw pancakes at him as he makes his way to the ring. Kofi launches a pancake from the ring, to entrance stage and Rusev catches it. Lana is in a walking boot and limping all the way to the ring. The bar comes out to a pretty decent pop. Triple threat tag team matches have so much going on, it’s tough to keep up with the action some of the time. Obviously the referee lost control of this match a few times and it’s up to the fans to keep track of who the legal men are. “New-Day-Rocks” chants fill the arena as all entrants get ready for action. Lana on the microphone gets some good heat as she yells at the crowd to shut up. Nakamura and Big E start the match, Nakamura hits some kicks on Big E but Big E gets him into the spot where he spanks Nakamura. Nakamura then reverses it and spanks Big E. Big E tags in Xavier Woods and Nakamura gets a little to close to the corner where The Bar is and Sheamus tags himself in. Xavier and Sheamus have a really odd spot here where Sheamus runs the ropes a good six or seven times and Xavier does drop down, leap frog over and over again. Sheamus finally grabs the ropes to stop himself and the spot continues but with the rolls reversed. This time, Xavier is running the ropes and Sheamus does drop down, leap frog over and over again. Rusev tags himself in while Sheamus is running the ropes. He takes control of Woods, Shinsuke gets a few kicks on Woods as the ref is distracted. Rusev then takes Nakamura into the match. Nakamura gets some offense and goes for a pin but Cesaro breaks it up. When Nakamura goes to the corner to confront The Bar, Cesaro tags himself into the match. He then stops Woods from getting to the corner to tag in Big E. The ref loses control at this point as all the men are in the ring, Rusev takes a Brogue Kick from Sheamus, Cesaro stands over him taunting him, as Big E enters the ring, he picks up Rusev in a wheel barrow position and flings him into the lower region of Cesaro. The ring clears and Xavier is finally able to make the hot tag to Big E. He beats up The Bar a little bit but quickly catches the Machka Kick from Rusev. Shinsuke enters the ring and hits Big E with spinning heel kick. Shinsuke shows great power picking up Big E for a modified AA and Rusev hits a neckbreacker at the same time. Xavier comes back in and throw both men out of the ring. He then runs the ropes and does a dive onto the four opponents on the outside. Back in the ring, Sheamus hits a Brogue Kick on Nakamura. Sheamus is thrown out of the ring by Big E. Big E and Xavier hit the midnight hour on Nakamura for the pinfall. The crowd chants “New Day Rocks.”
(4) Rey Mysterio beat Andrade at 16:05. Rey’s music hits to a big pop, he leaves the crowd waiting a good 15-20 secs before he come out to the stage and there is an even bigger pop. Andrade really takes his time getting to the ring, getting heat as he and Zelina Vega work the crowd, drawing boos. Before the match start Rey says that he’s not getting in the ring until Zelina leaves because she interferes in every match they have and the crowd sees every week on TV. Andrade rolls out of the ring a few times, refusing to lock up, playing to the crowd the whole time. Rey finally gets sick of it and jumps off the apron and knocks Adrade to the floor. When they get back in the ring, Andrade takes control and works a slow pace. Not allowing Rey to get any sustained offense and working the crowd between every move. Rey gives Andrade an arm drag and he falls to the floor between the top and second rope. Andrade climbs back in the ring and Rey gives him another arm drag and Andrade slides out of the ring again. Andrade goes over the ring announcer Greg Hamilton and shoves him out his chair. Andrade picks up the chair and threatens to bring it in the ring but the referee and Zelina stop him. Rey does another sit down off the apron onto Andrade to a pop from the crowd. Zelina distracts Rey by yelling at him and Andrade goes for a chop but Rey ducks and Andrade chops the ring post. Rey rolls Andrade back into the ring and gives him a springboard leg drop. Andrade is set up for the 619 and as Rey runs the ropes Zelina grabs his leg. The referee sees what happened though and kicks Zelina out of ringside and to the back. This of course gets a huge reaction from the crowd. It’s enough of a distraction that Andrade does take over for a few minutes. He gives Rey the three suplexes. Andrade sets up Rey on the top rope to give him a superplex but Rey slips off and knocks Andrade’s leg off. Rey lands a springboard hurricanrana. Rey then hits his 619, crowd is going crazy, them he gives Andrade a springboard splash for the three count
(5) Mustafa Ali beat Daniel Bryan (w/Rowan) by DQ but Bryan retains the WWE Championship at 12:20. Crowd is split pretty evenly on boos and cheers when Bryan’s music hits but they change to all boos when Daniel gets on the mic and says “I’m the greatest wrestler these idiots in Detroit have ever seen.” Ali gets the mic and says that Bryan is the real idiot and the crowd starts chanting “Yes!” The crowd chants “You’re an idiot” at Bryan. Bryan rolls in and out of the ring refusing to lock, he picks up the mic and says that he’s leaving because the people of Detroit don’t deserve to see him wrestle. He gets most of the way up the ramp and Ali runs after him, punches him and brings back to the ring. Ali gives Bryan a hurricanrana and Bryan slides to the outside. Ali threatens to jump off the top rope but Rowan steps in front of Bryan. Ali gets some good offensive moves in but Rowan interferes. Ali does a suicide dive onto Rowan. He gets back in the ring and throws Bryan to the outside, Ali does a splash onto both of them. Ali gives Daniel the Yes Kicks and hits him with a facebuster for a near fall. Ali reverses a Bryan move into a DDT. Ali climbs to the top to hit his 450 splash but Rowan jumps up on the apron and pushes him off. The ref calls for the bell, Mustafa wins by DQ. Bryan and Rowan beat up on Ali but Kofi Kingston comes out for the save. “Ko-fi” chants from the crowd. Mustafa grabs a sign from a fan that says “Kofimania” and brings it into the ring. The two wrestlers hug and high five each other and the fans on the way to the back.
Intermission
(6) Carmella & Naomi beat the IIconics at 7:07. IIconics come to ring, Peyton say that Detroit sucks, Billie says they should be the new women’s tag champions because they were robbed at the elimination chamber. The match starts with Peyton v Carmella. The IIconics do some quick tags and isolate Carmella. Benny hill music plays over the speakers and The IIconics have their own Seven Seconds Dance Break. Naomi runs into the ring and throw them out, then Carmella and Naomi have a Seven Seconds Dance Break. Naomi finally gets a hot tag after Carmella is able to fight off Peyton, Naomi hits her Rear View and then the split legged moonsault off the top rope for the pin.
(7) Asuka beat Mandy Rose (w/Sonya Deville) to retain the Smackdown Women’s title at 11:26. Not much of a reaction when Mandy Rose came out. Asuka gets a better but tempered reaction. Asuka takes early control of the match but Mandy rolls out of the ring. Mandy takes over with some rest holds and different submission moves. Mandy tried for a few near falls. Mandy is trying her best to work the crowd but doesn’t get much of a reaction from people. Asuka makes her comeback, finishing the move set off with an excellent looking dropkick. they back and forth with some chain wrestling and a pair of submission maneuvers. Asuka takes control with combo strikes that lead to the Asuka lock, Sonya jumps on the apron, Asuka turns to look at her and Mandy runs over to kick her but at the last second Asuka ducks out of the way. Mandy kicks Sonya off of the apron. Asuka quickly applies the Asuka Lock, Mandy taps out.
(8) A.J. Styles beat Randy Orton at 19:29. Huge pop for Randy’s music. Equally big pop for Styles’s music. They lock up a few times but they end in stalemates. Randy continually rolls the outside, getting boos from the crowd. Styles paces around the ring waiting for Randy to re-enter. This happens three or four times. Styles gives Randy a really hard chop that can heard across the arena, he tries for another one but Randy reverses it and almost lands the RKO. Randy takes control of the match, working a slow and methodical pace. There are a few near falls as Randy gets all the offense on Styles. Styles manages to throw Randy out the ring and hits the Phenomenal Forearm to the outside. The security guards move people on side of the ring as Styles is about to whip Randy into the barricade, but Randy reverses it and sends Styles to the other side of the ring, frightening the security guard and fans who weren’t ready for it. They get back into the ring and trade some rest holds. Styles hits the moonsault off the 2nd rope onto Randy. Styles goes for the Calf Crusher but Randy rakes his eyes to get out of it. Randy hits the DDT with Styles’s feet on the second rope. Styles reverses an RKO attempt into a Pele Kick. And then an RKO out of nowhere, huge pop. Styles is right next to the ropes though and when the ref is just about to hit three, Styles puts his foot on the bottom rope, the crowd pops even louder. Randy is visibly frustrated, he hits Styles with uppercuts and sets him up on the top rope. He looks to be going for an RKO off the top rope when Styles slides off and knocks his leg. Styles hits the running forearm, Randy goes for the RKO again but AJ pushes him off, when Randy turns around Styles hits him with Phenomenal Forearm over the top rope. 1-2-3.
If you attend a live event, please send results with details on the matches, crowd reactions, and attendance to pwtorch@pwtorch.com. Thanks!
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