Off-Camera WWE RAW Notes: Attendance, Braun Strowman's Destruction, Alexa Bliss' Pop, Roman Reigns
Thanks to Wrestling Inc. reader Brian Reed-Baiotto (@BReedBaiotto) for sending in these notes from last night's RAW taping in Ontario, California:
WWE Main Event:
The buzz around the concourse before the Main Event matches were recorded was people waiting and hoping the Shield would reunite tonight.
* The first match on Main Event was Rhyno vs. Dash Wilder. It started at about 4:40 California time, which meant they had 20 minutes to get both matches in. There was very little excitement for this match.
* The second of two Main Event matches was Tony Nese and Drew Gulak vs. Lince Dorado and Gran Metalik. The crowd was pretty brutal, and within the first 90 seconds were chanting 'this is boring.'
WWE Main Event results for this week are here.
In between the two matches, they went live to the USA Network for about 30 seconds.
WWE RAW:
* Michael Cole came out to almost a unison of jeers, Corey Graves got a decent reaction and Booker T got an incredible show of respect from the fans in the Inland Empire.
* With about 30 seconds before Raw went live on the air, The Miz, Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas walked down in the dark to boos and waited ringside until the "Awesome" hit and they walked up into the ring just in time for the camera shot.
* There were a few moments that the crowd thought The Shield vs. The Miztourage was going to happen, but it never came close to happening.
* Matt Hardy, and his brother Jeff in street clothes, got a great pop, but Jason Jordan got a negative response for the most part. There were several times the crowd was chanting "delete, delete."
* During the Lesnar – Strowman recap of their PPV match, the ring crew put a chair in the ring and then Elias came down in the dark and sat there until they lit him up so he could do his thing.
* People were laughing when Titus attacked Elias because Titus kept slipping in the ring with his dress shoes on while he tried to pummel Elias.
* Braun Strowman came out to squash Curt Hawkins and it was hard for people in the arena to see the action when Strowman caught Hawkins over by the announcers table.
* After Strowman threw Hawkins through part of the set, it took the crew at least 10 minutes to get that back up so that it looked the usual backdrop for the RAW stage.
* Strowman asked for a fight and that he wasn't leaving until he got one. Dean Ambrose's music hit and he came down to a good pop, but they went to commercial and both Ambrose and Strohman literally stood still in the ring for over two minutes until they came back on camera. Once they were back and Ambrose's music hit, he walked out of the ring and then back up the stairs and into the ring. The crowd seemed to appreciate Ambrose and his willingness to take yet another ass whooping for their entertainment.
* Enzo Amore's first cameo started and the crowd was split about 50-50 in support, while the other half was annoyed.
* It might not have come over as clear as it was live, but Alexa Bliss' entrance was the loudest of the night and her back-and-forth with Mickie James was the most entertaining and laughed at segment. The crowd appreciated each of them slamming the other verbally.
* In the Rollins vs. Sheamus match, both sides got a decent reaction, but what had many laughing was a small chant of "where's your teeth?" to Cesaro.
* During the segment where they showed Jerry Lawler interviewing John Cena from Sunday night's PPV, the crowd – or at least a significant portion – showed appreciation for Cena's honesty and his announcing that he was likely going to have a lesser role in WWE. It seemed like almost an appreciation of the 15 years Cena gave the WWE Universe.
* Many more people were rooting for The Miz over Reigns, and there were two or three times that all three (Miz, Dallas, Axel) were beating Reigns that most of the crowd was chanting "The Shield," but it never happened.
* When it was time for the women's match, Nia Jax, Sasha and Bayley got nice crowd reactions, but literally not one person in the lower level could be seen clapping or making any noise for Emma.
* During the final segment, the crowd was chanting "you deserve it" and "thank you Neville!" when he was beating Enzo down, because by the end of the night, the crowd was about 75-25 against Enzo.
* After Raw went off the air, Strowman's roar comes over the sound system and he comes out and threw Enzo around. Stroman left and encouraged the rest of the '205' guys to come down and for about five minutes, they all took their time laying Enzo out with their own moves. The Ontario crowd appreciated the beatdown Amore was getting, but many left disappointed because they expected to see a dark match.
Random thoughts:
* Seeing two-thirds of the upper level blacked out by curtains at an arena that is one-half the size of the Staples Center and just one day after a PPV was kind of surprising.
* People leaving voiced disappointment that 1) there was no Shield reunion and 2) they expected a Brock Lesnar segment, especially after they took a few minutes going over highlights of the Strowman – Lesnar match on the big screen.
* Others were talking about Cody Rhodes and the Bullet Club, who were outside the show in Ontario earlier in the day.
* Biggest pops: 1) Alexa 2) Finn 3) Strowman
* Most heat: 1) Roman Reigns, 2) Enzo Amore, 3) Elias