#BGReviewer: WWE Live Road To Wrestlemania
If you're looking for an event that is action packed, makes you get on the edge of your seat while telling a wonderful story inside a 20x20 ring, then World Wrestling Entertainment is for you. It makes you feel all sort of emotions; you feel for these good guys, babyfaces, that are overcoming the odds and you find yourself drawn to them, cheering them on as they fight these bad guys who are out to destroy them; they are egotistical, get under your skin, will do anything to win. You will know when the WWE is in town because there is a buzz in the air, it is all that anyone can talk about. You see fans around the city decked out in their favorite superstars gear. You see young fans waiting outside, hoping to see their favorite up close. You get fans lining up at gates as early as 2 pm. I say the most passionate fans are wrestling fans, and that shows when the WWE rolls into London.
I entered the building around 4:00 pm, and it was already packed. The fans came out in full force for this show. I quickly got my merchandise for the evening; a women's title belt and an Alexa Bliss top, before rushing to my seat with my good friend, who like myself, is a major wrestling fan. Let me tell you something, there is nothing like entering the arena, walking through that curtain, and seeing that ring in the middle of the floor. The feeling you get; you get chills down your spine, goosebumps on your arms, your heart beat goes up. You feel something you haven't felt before, it's electric. There is no best way to describe it. There is no feeling like it. I am sure every fan reading this knows what I am talking about, but if you don't, go to a show next time, and really take it all in. I promise you, you will feel what I felt that day. Now to the show.
The opening segment had Goldust come out and deliver a promo. He talked about his lengthy career, spoke about wrestling John Cena the previous Monday on Raw, before throwing a curveball and turning heel, proceeding to give a promo against the fans in attendance. He challenged anyone in the back to fight him, and Woken Matt Hardy answered it. I must say, as a pro wrestling fan, Matt Hardy is a genius. He created this fantastic gimmick by himself in other promotions, had major success with it, and brought it over to the WWE, where it has so far had a positive reaction with the fans and the company. This match was a standard match between two great veterans. Matt was over big time with the London fans, as the crowd roared with chants throughout that match. The finish of the match saw Hardy deliver his finishing move, the Twist of Fate, to Goldust.
The second match on the card was a tag team match, Heath Slater and Rhino vs The Revival. The crowd favorites were Slater and Rhino as the "He's Got Kids" chant rang throughout the arena. The Revival dominated most of the match, using plenty of old school tricks like quick tags and the classic heel move, cheating. Near the end of the match, Slater got the hot tag, clearing out the ring, which made you feel that his team could pull off the upset. But in the end The Revival delivered the Shatter Machine double team move for the win.
The next match was the cruiserweight match between TJP and Cedric Alexander and I can honestly say this match was the match of the night. These athletes have tremendous chemistry inside that square circle and it showed on Sunday night. The match started off with a bit of a slow pace with lots of holds, but as the match went on, the pace picked up, and they did some more aerial stuff as the fans chanted this is awesome as a sign of respect. The highlight for me was when Alexander did a suicide dive onto the outside on to TJP; the crowd went nuts for that. After some false finishers, Alexander won the match with the Lumbar Check. I would guess the match went fifteen minutes, and it was the longest match on the show.
The fourth match was another tag team match, but this time it was for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships as the Challengers, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, took on the Champions, Sheamus & Cesaro. Cesaro and Sheamus are one of the best tag teams on Raw, and on Sunday they showed why. They are both great heels who love to play off the crowd. The heels isolated Anderson for most of the match, as the crowd desperately wanted Gallows to tag in. The heels took notice and played on that, even resulting in Cesaro moving in front of Gallows so Andersen couldn't tag him. The end of the match saw Gallows chase Cesaro down the aisle as Sheamus delivered the Brogue Kick to Andersen for the win.
The final segment before intermission was Elias inside the ring performing a pre match song. He just ripped on the people of London, and I got a good chuckle out of that. Elias is wonderful on the mic, he knows how to play the crowd and he knows how to get them to go from cheering for him to booing him within a blink of an eye. Elias got major heat, before the Monster Among Men, Braun Strowman, interrupted and the roof blew off the place, he got a monstrous cheer...see what I did there? The match lasted for about five minutes. Elias got a lot more offense in then what I thought, but Braun in the end dominated as he usually does. After winning the match, Braun grabbed Elias as he was walking up the aisle, threw him into the ring, and delivered another Running Powerslam, sending the fans into the intermission happy. There is no doubt in my mind Braun is the future of the WWE, and I can't wait to see him one day as World Champion.
The match after the fifteen minute intermission was Apollo (w/Dana Brooke) vs Curt Hawkins. This match is where the Entertainment part of World Wrestling Entertainment comes in. There were some funny moments where Brooke teased kissing Hawkins, and Apollo punching Hawkins when she got Hawkins to close his eyes. Apollo got the win of course with his spinout spinebuster. After the match, Dana kissed the ref on the cheek. Honestly, this was my least favourite match of the night. The highlight of the match for me was someone who wasn't in the match, Dana Brooke.
The second final match of the night was the match I was looking forward to the most, the Women's match; Sasha Banks vs Bayley vs Alexa Bliss (w/Mickie James) for the Raw Women's Championship. Women's wrestling is back on the map, their matches are now the must see matches, gone are the days where their matches meant popcorn breaks. They have fought through gender roles. They have shown that they can do what the men can do, that they can put on a show just like, or better, then the men. I am personally a huge fan of Sasha Banks and Alexa Bliss, as I think these two women are the best in the division, so it was great to see them in action live.
Like they do often, the women tore the house down. This match was great, it was up there with the cruiserweight match. Sasha shined in this match, showing why she is the best women's wrestlers to date. She had the fans on the edge of their seat. Throughout the match Alexa showed why she is the best heel in the women's division, I will even go as far as saying best hell in the WWE; as she kept running away from the two women. Fans today enjoy the person who plays their character well; it doesn't matter if they are supposed to like him or her, and that is the case with Alexa. She's a heel, but fans love her. The sequences they preformed were amazing; there was one spot between the three girls and it went like this: Bayley preformed an running elbow to Alexa in the corner; Sasha followed that up with a knee to the face of Bayley before performing a double knee to Alexa in the corner. Bayley then countered the corner attack from Sasha, running at Alexa only to get sunset flipped, before Sasha came running at Bliss with double knees to break up the pinfall. It was a sight to see. After a few false finishes, including Bayley giving the Bayley to Belly to Alexa only for Mickie James to interfere, Alexa pinned Bayley with a rollup to retain the championship. After the match, we saw the tease of the Sasha/Bayley feud play out as Sasha went to hug her former friend, only for Bayley to put Sasha's arms down and walk away.
The main event of the night was a six man tag team between Finn Balor, Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins vs The Miz, Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas. The Miz got the loudest boo's of the night as Balor and Rollins received great ovations. Reigns got a mixed reaction, like he does every time he enters an arena. The Miz is the best heel WWE has today, and it showed during this matchup. When he wasn't putting a beatdown on his opponents, The Miz was playing to the crowd, as he kept teasing taking off his jacket and kept doing comedy muscle poses. That's what I love about house shows, wrestlers can be themselves, they can have fun and joke around. The heels seemed to have control most of the match, resulting in the crowd cheering for Reigns to make that hot tag. In classic Roman fashion, when he got the tag, he beat down each of his opponents. The match ended with each face hitting their finisher onto the heels; the Curb Stomp to Axel by Rollins, the Coup de Grace to Dallas by Balor, and a Spear to The Miz by Reigns for the win. The fans were delighted that the good guys won, sending them home happy. After the match, Reigns, Balor and Rollins went around the ringside area to shake hands with fans, take selfies and sign autographs.
The show overall was a great show, one of the best performances the WWE has put on in a while. As a huge wrestling fan, I was so honored to go and can't wait for them to return to London. I want to thank the Canada Life Place for the amazing opportunity.
Until next time,
#BGReviewer: Eden Kleinschroth
@LeafsNation619
