July 2020 – Page 109

12/18 WWE Roadblock PPV HOLT report: In-person report on crowd reactions for each match and off-camera happenings

PWTorch editor Wade Keller presents a special Thursday Flagship edition of the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Podcast featuring a WrestleMania 36 Preview with ex-WWE Creative Team member and professional stand-up comedian Matt McCarthy.

(Search “wade keller” to subscribe in podcast app or CLICK HERE to subscribe in Apple Podcasts.)

WWE ROADBLOCK – HOLT REPORT
DECEMBER 18, 2016
PITTSBURGH, PA. AT PPG PAINTS ARENA
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REPORT BY KEN ARNOLD, PWTORCH VIP MEMBER

Estimated Attendance: The entire lower bowl was about 80% full, excluding the tarps for the camera side, and the upper level and luxury boxes were full as well. There were quite a few empty seats on the floor section. My Dad and I sat three rows back of the time keeper area and there were a few empty rows to our right where the ringside announce desks was.

Pre-show match:

(1) Cass vs. Rusev: Crowd was into Enzo and Cass and it was quite fun to hear the crowd follow along with the introductions and chants also Lana and Rusev received good heat, but, as expected, the crowd did not like the count out finish. Decent match in my eyes and Cass continues to improve, but still has a long way to go.

Main Card:

(1) New Day vs. Cesaro and Sheamus: Crowd liked New Day and also liked the “odd couple” in Cesaro and Sheamus and as the match progressed the energy from the crowd got better which made the match itself more enjoyable. The crowd definitely got into the near falls during the latter part of the match and was very pleased with Cesaro and Sheamus winning the titles.

(2) Sami Zayn vs. Braun Strowman: The live crowd just didn’t get into this match and while they were happy to see Sami survive the full ten minutes with Strowman, they just didn’t buy into the notion that Sami was going to have his career end nor the story they were trying to tell with Mick Foley, Sami and Strowman.

(3) Seth Rollins vs. Chris Jericho: Outside of the usual chants for Jericho and Rollins, the crowd just wasn’t into what was going on between them. To formulaic and it seemed like they never got out of second gear. Expected finish with Rollins winning, but a match between these should have had more at stake then just Rollins getting his revenge.

(4) Rich Swann vs. T.J. Perkins vs. Brian Kendrick: Decent cruiserweight match, but the crowd didn’t seem to care. The crowd was more into what came after with Neville than the actual match – which says a lot about how the audience views the cruiserweights since the end of CWC. Why cheer or boo when you can’t connect with any of the wrestlers on any level outside of the highspots?

(5) Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte: The crowd was into both women and enjoyed the entire match. Dueling chants of ‘Let’s go Sasha’ and ‘Let’s go Charlotte’ and it was clear that the crowd was into Sasha. Charlotte received a ton of heat throughout the match. The match itself was great to witness in-person and its amazing how small Sasha looks and how big and tall Charlotte is. Charlotte is so much better to watch in-person and I feel is far superior to Sasha when it comes to wrestling and mic work. I also hope this is the end of all the trading back-and-forth with the title and both ladies can move on to new feuds.

(6) Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns: The boos were loud for Reigns and WWE clearly turned up the volume on his entrance music to try and drown it out, but it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it would be. Owens got a good reaction and was cheered at times. People were into the match and knew that Jericho was going to come out and interfere. The live crowd did cheer when Jericho hit the Codebreaker on Owens and were pretty happy to see both hug it out and be friends again. The Seth Rollins appearance at the end and the Shield mini-reunion got a good reaction and crowd did seem satisfied with the ending of Reigns and Rollins power bombing Jericho and Owens through the announce tables.

Notes:

-A return date to Pittsburgh was announced for Tuesday March 14^th, when WWE brings Smackdown Live to PPG Paints Arena.

-Once in awhile I’d peak over to the Raw announce desk – and while it came across like Corey Graves was into what was going on and Michael Cole was focused on calling the matches, Byron Saxton leaned back in his chair and slouched most of the time and it came across like he didn’t care about what was going on and was going through the motions. My assumption is that since they’re next to the stage and there are no lights on them nor are they sitting at ringside with a camera or crowd watching them, the Raw team or Saxton can sit back and relax more.

-Whenever a WWE camera crew came by our section and stood behind the time keeper we knew right away that there going to be some sort of big spot. Strowman plowing through the time keeper barricade or Owens splashing Reigns through the announce desk were the obvious two.

-I went with my Dad and, while he doesn’t watch Raw or Smackdown, he did enjoy the show and appreciated the athleticism and what they were doing in the ring, but he did laugh at the Owens-Jericho drama and thought Owens was a chicken and a crybaby during all of that. He was also one of the few who cheered and chanted for Reigns and that was probably because of his feelings about Owens and his character throughout the night. He was also very impressed by Sasha and what she could do in the ring despite how small she was and was also amazed by how big and talented Charlotte was as well. My Dad didn’t quite get what the crowd was chanting at Enzo and Cass in the beginning, but picked up on it fairly quick. He told me afterwards that he liked the show and enjoyed everything, but he admitted he prefers MMA over wrestling, but he also understand that WWE is simulating a real sport and that it’s all entertainment.

Final Score: 6 out of 10. Average show with a solid Women’s Championship match, an okay Universal Championship match, and a nice tag title match and title switch, but I got the feeling like they were going through the motions during the show as if they were counting down the days until they can take time off for Christmas. Though it moreso had to do with the crowd, I think the crowd’s reaction to everything tonight had do with the inconsistencies of the booking and storytelling aspects on Raw these last few months.

Finally, I want to point out that it’s not just Smackdown with the roster depth issues, but also Raw. Even with the supposed “more star power” on the Monday show, there are still issues with the main event and the mid-card is barren when it comes to the number of options available. Everything feels more stale and dragged out on Raw and that being three hours every week continues to expose that.

Please send any news tips and results to: [email protected]. For instance, let us know if you hear a pro wrestling reference on a popular talk show, see a pro wrestling related Tweet or Instagram from celebrity, hear an ad for matches advertised for an upcoming WWE event, or anything else pro wrestling related that’d be of interest to our readers.

If you attend a live event, please send results. We don’t set up correspondents ahead of time and count on readers like you to send an email with a report on live events you attend – not just WWE, but also ROH, NXT, international groups. and anything else.

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1941

Kansas City, Kansas:

– Orville Brown beat Carl Von Herbert 2 falls to 0

– Bobby Bruns beat Benny Rosen 2 falls to 0

– Steve Brody and Earl Wampler went to a 30 minute draw

– Jack Hader beat Abe Friedman

1965

Minneapolis, Minnesota:

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– Larry Hennig & Harley Race defeated Crusher & Verne Gagne for the AWA World Tag Team Titles

– Danny Hodge beat Rene Goulet

– Tex McKenzie beat Kurt von Brauner

– Chris Markoff beat Larry Hennig

1969

Kansas City, Kansas:

– Tarzan Tyler defeated The Viking

– Dick Murdoch fought Ernie Ladd to a draw

– Danny Little Bear & Big Luke defeated K.O. Cox & Stan the Mad Russian in three falls

1981

St. Louis, Missouri:

– NWA Champion Dusty Rhodes defeated Ric Flair in 2 out of 3 falls

– Jack Brisco double DQ Ken Patera

– Rocky Johnson draw David Von Erich

– Kerry Von Erich and Dick the Bruiser defeated Von Raschke and Dick Murdoch

– Pat O’Connor defeated Bobby Jaggers

– Bobo Brazil defeated Gene Lewis via DQ

– Buzz Tyler and J.J. Dillon defeated Bob Sweetan and Ron Sexton

1982

Denver, Colorado:

– Hulk Hogan beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel by DQ

– Rick Martel beat Greg Gagne

1986

Kansas City, Kansas:

– Moondog Moretti defeated John Paul Demann

– DJ Peterson defeated Mike George

– Joe Lightfoot & Billy Two Eagles defeated the Masked Ape Man & Bob Owens

– Sam Houston vs. Buddy Landell

– Giant Baba & Hiroshi Wajima defeated JR Hogg & Earthquake Ferris

– Rufus R. Jones defeated Butch Reed

– NWA World Champion Dusty Rhodes pinned Ric Flair

1987

St. Louis, Missouri:

– Sting fought Rick Steiner to a draw

– Ron Simmons defeated Ivan Koloff

– Terry Gordy defeated Black Bart

– NWA US Tag Team Champions Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane defeated Ron & Jimmy Garvin via disqualification

– NWA US Champion Lex Luger defeated Nikita Koloff via count-out

– Barry Windham defeated Big Bubba

– Dusty Rhodes & Steve Williams defeated Dick Murdoch & Eddie Gilbert in a bunkhouse match

– NWA World Champion Ric Flair defeated Michael Hayes

1988

Kansas City, Missouri:

– Rick Steiner fought Larry Zbyzsko to a draw

– Al Perez defeated JR Hogg

– Jimmy Garvin pinned Kevin Sullivan

– Ron Garvin defeated Kendall Windham

– Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers defeated NWA US Tag Team Champions Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane via disqualification

– Sting defeated NWA TV Champion Mike Rotunda via disqualification

– Steve Williams defeated NWA Tag Team Champion Arn Anderson via count-out

– The Road Warriors defeated Ivan Koloff & the Russian Assassin in a scaffold match

– Dusty Rhodes, Lex Luger & Dick Murdoch defeated NWA World Champion Ric Flair, NWA US Champion Barry Windham & NWA Tag Team Champion Arn Anderson in a steel cage match

1992

Castlewood, Virginia:

– Mike Sampson pinned The Demon

– Dixie Dynamite pinned Killer Kyle

– Tim Horner pinned Buddy Landel

– Robert Gibson pinned Jimmy Golden

– SMW Heavyweight Champion Brian Lee pinned Dirty White Boy

– Bobby & Jackie Fulton defeated SMW Tag Team Champions Stan Lane & Tom Prichard via disqualification

Nagoya, Japan:

– Hiro Saito & Tatsutoshi Goto defeated Koji Kanemoto & Hiroyoshi Yamamoto

– Arn Anderson defeated Black Cat

– Jushin Liger & El Samurai defeated Pegasus Kid & Norio Honaga

– Shiro Koshinaka & Kengo Kimura defeated Masahiro Chono & Takayuki Iizuka

– The Great Muta & Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Terry Taylor & Barry Windham

– Masa Saito & Riki Choshu defeated Bam Bam Bigelow & Tony Halme

– NWA World Championship Tournament Opening Round: Terry Taylor defeated Hiroshi Hase via forfeit

– NWA World Championship Tournament Opening Round: Kensuke Sasaki pinned Jim Neidhart

– NWA World Championship Tournament Opening Round: Shinya Hashimoto pinned the Barbarian

– NWA World Championship Tournament Opening Round: WCW US Champion Rick Rude pinned Super Strong Machine

1993

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:

– Eddie Gilbert & The Dark Patriot defeated The Super Destroyers in a tournament final for the ECW Tag Team Titles

1995

Memphis, Tennessee:

– Steven Dunn beat Gorgeous George III

– Brian Lee beat Axl Rotten

– Bill Dundee beat Pat Tanaka

– Tommy Rich & Doug Gilbert beat Tracy Smothers & Robert Gibson

– Billy Jack Haynes beat Brad Armstrong to win the USWA Title

– Frank Morrell & Randy Hales beat Jim Cornette & Mark Curtis

– The Heavenly Bodies (Pritchard & Del Rey) beat PG-13 to win the USWA Tag Team Titles

– USWA Unified World Champ Jerry Lawler beat Buddy Landel

– Jerry Lawler, Bill Dundee, PG-13, Tommy Rich, Doug Gilbert & Billy Jack Haynes beat Tracy Smothers, Robert Gibson, Gorgeous George III, Buddy Landel, Pat Tanaka & The Heavenly Bodies (Pritchard & Del Rey) in a rage in a cage match

2001

Los Angeles, California:

– Chris Kanyon & Diamond Dallas Page defeated The APA for the WWF World Tag Team Titles

– Kane & The Undertaker defeated Sean O’Haire & Chuck Palumbo for the WCW World Tag Team Titles

2002

Nashville, Tennessee:

– Ron “The Truth” Killings defeated Ken Shamrock for the NWA World Heavyweight Title

– Low-Ki defeated AJ Styles for the NWA/TNA X Division Title

2010

NWA Legends Fanfest: Charlotte, North Carolina:

– Phil Shatter defeated Davey Richards to win the Futures Legends Cup

– Adam Pearce defeated Bryan Danielson to retain the NWA Championship

2011

TNA Hardcore Justice: Orlando, Florida:

– Brian Kendrick defeated Alex Shelley and Austin Aries to retain the TNA X Division Championship

– Ms. Tessmacher and Tara defeated Mexican America (Rosita and Sarita) (with Anarquia and Hernandez) to retain the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship

– D’Angelo Dinero defeated Devon

– Winter defeated Mickie James to win the TNA Knockouts Title

– Crimson defeated Rob Van Dam (with Jerry Lynn) by disqualification

– Fortune (A.J. Styles, Christopher Daniels, and Kazarian) defeated Immortal (Abyss, Gunner, and Scott Steiner)

– Bully Ray defeated Mr. Anderson

– Kurt Angle defeated Sting to win the TNA World title

Month: July 2020

AEW adds Baker & Riho vs. Nakajima & Priestley to Fight for the Fallen

College Recruiting: state placewinner Bents to Concordia

Tag Team title match official for NXT TakeOver: Toronto

WWE announces Matt Riddle's opponents for EVOLVE 133 and 134

12/18 WWE Roadblock PPV HOLT report: In-person report on crowd reactions for each match and off-camera happenings

1/11 WWE Raw HOLT Report: Happenings Off Live TV including another Undertaker appearance, Shining Stars win, interesting stat

Jeff Cobb added to PWG Battle of Los Angeles

Impact Ratings: Big surge in week two of new era with Alberto vs. EC3 and Four-Way X Division Title match on top (w/Keller’s Analysis)

Daily Pro Wrestling History (08/07): Kurt Angle wins TNA title at Hardcore Justice 2011

Raw Rating: Superstar Shake-up leads to a surge in viewership – full details, year-ago comparison (Keller’s Analysis)