I just got home from the Smackdown House Show, and it was a ton of fun. It's so hard to watch some of these guys make due with what they are given on TV, and then see them at a house show completely free and having the time of their lives.
The last time, and first time, I was at the Everett Event Center (aka, Xfinity Center) was last year for a Raw taping. The main event was Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins for the WWE Title and Sheamus came out to cash in his money in the bank briefcase, and there was an awkward botch, and blah blah blah. My seats weren't that great then, but this time around was MUCH better.
The arena wasn't sold out at all, the top level (200 level) was closed down, so everyone was down on the floor and the 100 level. My side of the arena was pretty full, with a few empty spots, but the other side was only maybe 2/5 full. Not as empty as an Impact taping though
The card was pretty different from the night before in Vancouver, so it was cool to see a lot of different matches than what I expected.
Here's a quick rundown of the matches...
Tag Team Titles
Uso's vs New Day vs Mojo Rawley & Sin Cara
- Great kick off to the show. Believe it or not, Mojo and Sin Cara worked really well as a team, and when not forced to do "TV Stuff", Sin Cara is actually REALLY good. Uso's didn't do a whole lot in this match until the last 1/3 or so. Great comedy spots between Mojo and the New Day. Uso's won. No sign of Xavier Woods though, maybe he heard about Paige and Del Rio and went to try and hop back on it?
Tye Dillinger vs Aiden English
- OMG. Aiden English had so much damn heat. The crowd just despised him, but not Eva Marie heat, just legit "we hate you" heat. Tye was naturally over. The match started off with Tye holding up his "10" sign, and English making the ref put it away, then Tye pulled out a smaller "10" sign, and the ref took it and slipped it in his pocked, then Tye pulled out an EVEN SMALLER llittle sticky note sized "10" sign and that just pissed English off. This match was actually really good. English can go, and he's ripped as hell now too. Dillinger won via Tye-Breaker.
Breezango & American Alpha vs The Ascension, Epico & Erick Rowan
- This may be my match of the night. Just fun with a lot of great spots. Rowan was surprisingly over with his "Creepy Clown" gimmick, and American Alpha and Breezango got a very good sized pop too. As odd as the heel team may be, Epico was actually one of the original members of The Ascension back in FCW, soooooo it was kinda cool to see. A lot of fun spots, and Breezango really played a lot with the crowd. Fandango got the pin on Epico with a Falcon Arrow.
Woman's Title
Naomi vs Carmella
- This may have been the weakest match of the night. It wasn't bad, but just didn't feel exciting. But, Carmella ACTUALLY GOT BOOED, AND LOUD. Every time she's on TV you can hear someone scratching their ass in the 200 level from the lack of any reaction, but there was an overwhelming boo. Decent spots, but overall a forgettable match. Carmella is improving though. Naomi won with your RVD moonsault.
SIDE NOTE: My friend works at a radio station and had a Gold Record (I think) of one of The Offsprings albums, he DM'd Ellsworth asking if he'd like it and Ellsworth responded and was super stoked and I believe they met up.
US Title
Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn vs Rusev
- One of the best matches of the night. Kevin Owens' heeling it up at house shows is one of the best things I have ever seen. Rusev got a huge pop, and a lot of backing, despite working the match as a heel. Him and Owens went through a spot where they would take turns beating up Sami, then Rusev attacked Owens. Really fun match and for a moment it really did seem like Zayn was going to win. KO ended up getting the win with a Pop Up Powerbomb on Zayn.
Luke Harper vs Baron Corbin
- Meh, not a bad match, not a good match, just a match. This was the first match after intermission, so I'm guessing it was just here to warm the crowd back up. Harper is really great to see though, and the chops he was unleashing on Corbin were GODDAMN LOUD. Some of the nastiest chops I have ever heard. Corbin actually showed personality in this match, he seems to have some of KO's douchebag heel smack talking to the crowd down. Corbin won with his End of Days... and seeing him do it on a guy as big as Harper was awesome.
Becky Lynch & Charlotte vs Natalya & Tamina
- Really fun match! Becky and Charlotte were super over with everyone. Match started out with a ton of "Woo's", which pissed off Natty and Tamina. Tamina saw a "Woo" sign in the front row and tried to steal it from the guy, but he kept pulling it away, at one point he stood up and towered over Tamina hahaha. Becky and Charlotte got a hold of a couple "Woo" signs from the crowd to troll the heels, but Natty got a hold of one and ripped it in pieces. Great back and forth match, but the ending felt rushed with Becky of course taking the fall to Natty
WWE Title
Jinder Mahal vs Nakamura
- The heat for Jinder... WOW. I think me and my little brother were the only people cheering him. Due to travel reasons, Nakamura wasn't able to make it to the Vancouver show last night, so I was worried he wouldn't be here either, but then I saw him post on Instagram that he was at SeaTac Airport and got stoked! The whole arena was singing his theme as he entered, and this little girl behind me, maybe 8 or 9, was SO EXCITED to see him. She was screaming her head off, thought I was gonna go deaf, but so cool to see someone be that excited at a wrestling show. The match overall was fine. Jinder has improved a lot, and Nakamura got some good moves in.
At one point there was a 3MB chant, and Jinder actually paid attention to it and did some air guitar! A small group of the crowd were getting a bit smarky during this, chanting CM Punk, ECW, BOOOORRRRRRRING, but luckily a majority of us turned on them, and the match changed when they noticed the crowd was trying to get themselves over.
Overall it was a really great show. House Shows really show what these can do, and even if the matches aren't Meltzer 7 Star Classics, they're at least having fun and showing it without having Vince breathing down the back of their neck.
Biggest Pops
Nakamura
American Alpha
Charlotte
Dillinger
Biggest Heat
Jinder Mahal
Carmella
Baron Corbin
Uso's
My seat, an hour before the show started...
The last time, and first time, I was at the Everett Event Center (aka, Xfinity Center) was last year for a Raw taping. The main event was Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins for the WWE Title and Sheamus came out to cash in his money in the bank briefcase, and there was an awkward botch, and blah blah blah. My seats weren't that great then, but this time around was MUCH better.
The arena wasn't sold out at all, the top level (200 level) was closed down, so everyone was down on the floor and the 100 level. My side of the arena was pretty full, with a few empty spots, but the other side was only maybe 2/5 full. Not as empty as an Impact taping though
The card was pretty different from the night before in Vancouver, so it was cool to see a lot of different matches than what I expected.
Here's a quick rundown of the matches...
Tag Team Titles
Uso's vs New Day vs Mojo Rawley & Sin Cara
- Great kick off to the show. Believe it or not, Mojo and Sin Cara worked really well as a team, and when not forced to do "TV Stuff", Sin Cara is actually REALLY good. Uso's didn't do a whole lot in this match until the last 1/3 or so. Great comedy spots between Mojo and the New Day. Uso's won. No sign of Xavier Woods though, maybe he heard about Paige and Del Rio and went to try and hop back on it?
Tye Dillinger vs Aiden English
- OMG. Aiden English had so much damn heat. The crowd just despised him, but not Eva Marie heat, just legit "we hate you" heat. Tye was naturally over. The match started off with Tye holding up his "10" sign, and English making the ref put it away, then Tye pulled out a smaller "10" sign, and the ref took it and slipped it in his pocked, then Tye pulled out an EVEN SMALLER llittle sticky note sized "10" sign and that just pissed English off. This match was actually really good. English can go, and he's ripped as hell now too. Dillinger won via Tye-Breaker.
Breezango & American Alpha vs The Ascension, Epico & Erick Rowan
- This may be my match of the night. Just fun with a lot of great spots. Rowan was surprisingly over with his "Creepy Clown" gimmick, and American Alpha and Breezango got a very good sized pop too. As odd as the heel team may be, Epico was actually one of the original members of The Ascension back in FCW, soooooo it was kinda cool to see. A lot of fun spots, and Breezango really played a lot with the crowd. Fandango got the pin on Epico with a Falcon Arrow.
Woman's Title
Naomi vs Carmella
- This may have been the weakest match of the night. It wasn't bad, but just didn't feel exciting. But, Carmella ACTUALLY GOT BOOED, AND LOUD. Every time she's on TV you can hear someone scratching their ass in the 200 level from the lack of any reaction, but there was an overwhelming boo. Decent spots, but overall a forgettable match. Carmella is improving though. Naomi won with your RVD moonsault.
SIDE NOTE: My friend works at a radio station and had a Gold Record (I think) of one of The Offsprings albums, he DM'd Ellsworth asking if he'd like it and Ellsworth responded and was super stoked and I believe they met up.
US Title
Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn vs Rusev
- One of the best matches of the night. Kevin Owens' heeling it up at house shows is one of the best things I have ever seen. Rusev got a huge pop, and a lot of backing, despite working the match as a heel. Him and Owens went through a spot where they would take turns beating up Sami, then Rusev attacked Owens. Really fun match and for a moment it really did seem like Zayn was going to win. KO ended up getting the win with a Pop Up Powerbomb on Zayn.
Luke Harper vs Baron Corbin
- Meh, not a bad match, not a good match, just a match. This was the first match after intermission, so I'm guessing it was just here to warm the crowd back up. Harper is really great to see though, and the chops he was unleashing on Corbin were GODDAMN LOUD. Some of the nastiest chops I have ever heard. Corbin actually showed personality in this match, he seems to have some of KO's douchebag heel smack talking to the crowd down. Corbin won with his End of Days... and seeing him do it on a guy as big as Harper was awesome.
Becky Lynch & Charlotte vs Natalya & Tamina
- Really fun match! Becky and Charlotte were super over with everyone. Match started out with a ton of "Woo's", which pissed off Natty and Tamina. Tamina saw a "Woo" sign in the front row and tried to steal it from the guy, but he kept pulling it away, at one point he stood up and towered over Tamina hahaha. Becky and Charlotte got a hold of a couple "Woo" signs from the crowd to troll the heels, but Natty got a hold of one and ripped it in pieces. Great back and forth match, but the ending felt rushed with Becky of course taking the fall to Natty
WWE Title
Jinder Mahal vs Nakamura
- The heat for Jinder... WOW. I think me and my little brother were the only people cheering him. Due to travel reasons, Nakamura wasn't able to make it to the Vancouver show last night, so I was worried he wouldn't be here either, but then I saw him post on Instagram that he was at SeaTac Airport and got stoked! The whole arena was singing his theme as he entered, and this little girl behind me, maybe 8 or 9, was SO EXCITED to see him. She was screaming her head off, thought I was gonna go deaf, but so cool to see someone be that excited at a wrestling show. The match overall was fine. Jinder has improved a lot, and Nakamura got some good moves in.
At one point there was a 3MB chant, and Jinder actually paid attention to it and did some air guitar! A small group of the crowd were getting a bit smarky during this, chanting CM Punk, ECW, BOOOORRRRRRRING, but luckily a majority of us turned on them, and the match changed when they noticed the crowd was trying to get themselves over.
Overall it was a really great show. House Shows really show what these can do, and even if the matches aren't Meltzer 7 Star Classics, they're at least having fun and showing it without having Vince breathing down the back of their neck.
Biggest Pops
Nakamura
American Alpha
Charlotte
Dillinger
Biggest Heat
Jinder Mahal
Carmella
Baron Corbin
Uso's
My seat, an hour before the show started...
Do you like old people porn? Because I just put enough to fill an old folks home in the wrestling section!