WWE Live Event Results From Springfield, IL (4/20): The Shield In Headline, Finn Balor Defends

Thanks to Wrestling Inc. reader Jason Norris for sending these results from last night's WWE live event in Springfield, IL:

* Ricochet & Aleister Black pinned The Revival to earn a title shot against Ryder & Hawkins later in the night.

* Bayley & Nikki Cross pinned Ruby Riott & Sarah Logan. The Riott Squad lamented having to split up to different brands and it was their last tour together like the Shield. They noted the issues with Sasha Banks & Bayley and believed they weren't appearing so they'd have the night off. Bayley came out but brought out Nikki Cross as her partner. Liv Morgan was ejected late for helping Ruby hold Bailey down for a pin and was caught, leading to the belly-to-Bailey.

* WWE Cruiserweight Champ Tony Nese pinned Buddy Murphy. While the crowd wasn't into the match at first, they turned to comedy as Murphy made louds shrieks and Nese portrayed him as chicken.

* WWE Intercontinental Champ Finn Balor pinned Elias. Elias did a lengthy guitar solo before talking about his crazy week with John Cena, Undertaker and Rey Mysterio, and being named the future of WWE by Vinnie McMahon. While the crowd would yell Walk With Elias, he thought the crowd wasn't giving him the respect he deserves and he had an IC title match tonight. Balor came out before Elias could play some more.

* Aleister Black & Ricochet beat WWE Tag Champs Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins by DQ. Crowd was clearly behind Black & Ricochet tonight, Ryder & Hawkins were huge underdogs. The Revival despite being beaten decisively earlier in the night, ran out to attack Black & Ricochet to very loud boos before being run off.

* Lucha House Party pinned The Singh Brothers & Jinder Mahal.

* Alexa Bliss & Lacey Evans pinned Dana Brooke & Ember Moon. Bliss had her talk show Moment of Bliss with Lacey as her guest, while Bliss has a positive response from the crowd initially, the running down of Springfield turned the crowd against them. Ember Moon & Dana Brooke came out to interrupt and challenged them to a match.

* The Shield pinned Bobby Lashley, Drew McIntyre & Baron Corbin. While the villains had their way with the Shield, the closing moments had all three Shield members hit their signature finishers to close with the triple powerbomb on Lashley for the win.

Was surprised the lineup was quite different from St. Louis the night before. Usually when the WWE runs through the area on their house show tours the cards are virtually the same but they shook things up tonight. I think they should mix things up between house shows more often as there are some fans who will attend each show that are reasonable close together and card results have spoiled what happens on the next stop.

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Dr. John from Normal sent this report of the show:

The show opened with Ricochet's music and he entered with his signature handstand backflip off the ropes into his crouching pose. Black was out next with the creaking sound but walked out from backstage without props. The Revival then entered to their music. It was announced that the winners of this match would face Ryder and Hawkins later in the night for the Raw tag team titles. The two teams put on an old school match with Ricochet and Black getting offense, beating down on Ricochet, and then traded back and forth. Plenty of high spots in this one and Ricochet and Black won.

Next up was Murphy vs Nese for the Cruiserweight title. Nese was in full babyface mode, slapping hands with the fans on the way to the ring. This started slow with Murphy begging off by ducking between the middle and top rope any time he was cornered. They worked a lot of comedy with Nese mocking Murphy for being a coward with the chicken flapping of the arms. Later, they did a fun spot where Nese caught a kick and Murphy flapped his arms to sell it then Nese flapped his arms to make fun of Murphy for being a chicken. Nese hit a variation of the Styles Clash for a near fall and then got the win with a 450 splash.

The Riott Squad came out next and said the Shield wasn't the only group doing a farewell tour this weekend, as the draft had split them up. They said they wanted to go out like they came in, winning a tag match against Bayley and Sasha. They called out the Boss 'n Hug connection while insulting them (the subtext was that Sasha wasn't anywhere to be found). Bayley came out with two wacky waving arm men flanking her and basically said that it didn't matter where Sasha was, Bayley had come out for one last Raw fight. She brought out her partner, Nikki Cross. They got the win with the Bayley-to-belly.

Next, the Singh brothers did a big introduction for Jinder. The Lucha Dragons answered the call. Decent six man match though Jinder still snuck in the modified arm trap headlock but at least it wasn't prolonged. They did a few high spots and Lucha got the win on one of the Singhs.

The end of the first half of the show saw Elias do some impressive guitar blues work and insult Springfield as being the setting of "a cartoon show that was popular 20 years ago (weak Simpsons reference). He didn't have a foreshadowing line for his interrupter, Finn Balor. Elias looks to be in great shape and is bigger than you might think. They had a medium length match and Balor won clean with the Coup de Grace.

Intermission; I should note here that throughout the night they were showing classic Shield moments at many of the breaks between matches. All of those were positive as they showed their debut, title wins, and powerbombing of notables such as Ryback (ok, it was their debut), Randy Orton, the Rock, and the Undertaker. None of the breakups/feuds were shown.

The second half of the show opened with two stools like the one Elias had used in the ring. Alexa came out and worked the crowd by complimenting them and saying she had planned to have a huge guest like Lady Gaga or Bradley Cooper but Springfield was a place they would never come to. She then introduced Lacey Evans. Lacey walked around the ring and they showed it on the screen. Funny moment; she stuck out her hand and a guy tried to kiss it but she pulled it away at the last second. Another fun moment; somebody from the crowd yelled "I love you Alexa Bliss!" She replied, "I love me too!" They were interrupted by Ember Moon who brought out her tag partner Dana Brooke. This resulted in a tag match. There were some not great moments in this. However, Lacey did her jumping moonsault finish which looked impressive.

Next was the Raw tag titles. Ricochet and Black vs Hawkins and Ryder. Full entrances for both teams. They worked for about 10 minutes and Ryder and Hawkins looked good in getting about 40% of the offense in. The finish came when the Revival interfered by hitting Black. The match was thrown out and the DQ was obvious though never announced. Black, Ricochet, Ryder, and Hawkins cleared the Revival out of the ring and stood tall raising each others hands all together.

The main event of the evening was the six man tag pitting Corbin, Lashley, and McIntyre (they all got separate entrances in that order; Lio Rush did not appear) against the Shield. Ambrose, Universal Champion Rollins and Reigns entered through the crowd from their usual position and all were wearing their old gear and were introduced in that order. One of the biggest pops of the night was when the heels were beating down on Ambrose outside the ring and Reigns grabbed a chair from ringside and folded it with a loud noise. The finish came after Rollins hit a curb stomp, Reigns hit a spear out of nowhere and Ambrose nailed a Dirty Deeds. The Shield hit a triple powerbomb on Lashley and Ambrose got the pin.

Afterwards, Rollins cut a short promo on their time together up and down the roads and Ambrose thanked the fans. Roman didn't speak. They spent some time meeting and signing for fans on the way out and did the Shield fist pose at the top of the ramp.

Tyler Winter contributed to this article.