More detailed reports for tonight's WWE event in Philly: Cena vs. Owens, Reigns vs. Wyatt, Rollins
Thanks to WrestlingINC.com readers Jordan H, Waylon Mercy and Keith Farmer for sending in these results for tonight's WWE live event in Philadelphia, PA:
From Jordan H:
Most of the upper deck was empty and there were a decent amount of empty seats throughout the arena.
Intercontinental Championship Match: Ryback (c) vs. Mark Henry
Henry was out first and got a good pop surprisingly, but Ryback's pop blew his out of the water. Match was about three minutes with Ryback getting the win with a top rope splash. No shellshock.
Tag Team Championship Match: Prime Time Players (c) vs. The New Day
Good heat for New Day, Big E came out and threw boxing punches at the pyro which was funny. Prime Time come out and get a good pop, and Titus even grabs a young kid from the audience and does the "Millions of dollars" dance with him and Darren. The match was decent with some good power spots from Titus. Prime Time gets the win with Titus' sit-down spinebuster.
Luke Harper vs. Chris Jericho
Jericho comes out to an amazing pop, takes a selfie with a young girl in the front row, then tries to start cutting a promo until Harper immediately comes out. They fight for a little then Jericho asks Philly if they want to see a fight. They have an okay match with Jericho getting the win with the spinebuster, nothing special here.
United States Championship Match: John Cena (c) vs. Kevin Owens
Owens comes out to a pretty good pop but cuts an anti-Philly promo which got good heat. He says he's going to take the U.S. title back to Canada. Cena comes out to an incredible pop and they start. Standard stuff in the beginning and the rest of the match featured the same spots from the Elimination Chamber and Money in the Bank matches, like the package slam (should be a piledriver but it's a slam unfortunately), the second rope sideways suplex, and even Cena's half-Canadian Destroyer. They trade Attitude Adjustments and Cena kicks out of a pop-up powerbomb, until Owens simply low blows him for the DQ.
Intermission
Divas Championship Match: Nikki Bella (c) vs. Paige vs. Naomi
This was a "fan's choice" match about whether or not Brie and Tamina should accompany their respective associates, which they did. Standard divas match with multiple ass-to-face moves from Naomi. Nikki gets the win with the rack attack on Naomi.
Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt
Bray gets a nice pop but Roman gets a significantly better one. He came out from the opposite side of the arena than usual, which was disappointing because the last two events I've been to I stood five feet from him during his entrance. Bray gets good heat and as they go back and forth, Roman reverses the Sister Abigail into a roll-up for the win. Bray immediately attacks him afterward and walks to the back. Roman gets up and gets a standing ovation as he goes to the back.
Neville vs. Bo Dallas
Bo comes out to good heat, trashing Philly with the usual town-specific insults. Neville comes out to a good pop and they go at it for 4-5 minutes with Neville's usual athletic spots. Neville gets the win with the Red Arrow.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Dean Ambrose
Dean comes out to a pop that rivaled that of Cena's then Seth comes out to a mixed reaction that soon turned to a chorus of boos. Seth talks crap on Philly and ECW while beating on Dean until Dean makes his comeback. Seth teases weapons but goes back into the ring instead. Eventually while Dean makes his comeback he gets out chairs, a kendo stick, and a table. He sets up the table but Rollins ends up powerbombing him into it. Dean kicks out then elbow drops Seth through another table. As he goes for the pin, Bray Wyatt comes out (didn't this feud end half a year ago?) and lays out Ambrose and puts Rollins on top of Ambrose for the win.
Overall a pretty good show, nothing too special but a good time. The kids were into every match.
From Waylon Mercy:
We got there a little early and saw Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns arrive together.
The arena was not sold out but the floor level and upper level were pretty full. They did not tarp-off the second level of the arena like they normally do for house shows, but the second level was no where near full. I would say it was a 50%-60% sellout.
As with most house shows in Philly, the normally insane Philly fans weren't there. The arena was mostly filled with families and young Cena and Reigns fans. There were pockets of more "hardcore" fans scattered throughout.
Ryback pinned Mark Henry in a match you would expect from these two. Ryback was way over, probably more so because he was the first one out.
The Prime Time Players beat the New Day. New Day got massive heat with the fans and Xavier Woods was hilarious at ringside.
Jericho came out for the Highlight Reel and was interrupted by Luke Harper. A match followed that Jericho won. Jericho hit all his normal spots and won by pin fall. A lot of offense by Harper. Jericho received a good reaction but not what I would expect for someone who isn't around too often. This was probably due to the makeup of the crowd. Alot of the younger fans seemed to not know who he was.
John Cena beat Kevin Owens by DQ when Owens low-blowed Cena. If this match was any indication of what Battleground is going to be, we are in for something special. These guys went back and forth for 20-25 minutes and put on an excellent match. Owens got massive heat and taunted all of the little kids in the crowd in a way only Owens could. Plenty of false finishes, good spots, and great action. This was one of the best matches I have seen in person and I have been to dozens of events WWE has hosted in Philadelphia. Cena was incredibly over and Owens got massive heat outside of some sparse "Fight Owens, Fight" chants.
Nikki Bella beat Naomi and Paige in a Triple-Threat match. Not much to say here. Typical divas match.
Roman Reigns beat Bray Wyatt. Reigns was way over and got a massive reaction. Reigns hit his five moves of doom and there were a lot of punches, kicks, and rest holds. Bray beat Reigns up afterward.
Neville beat Bo Dallas after Bo cut a promo about achieving your dreams. Neville is incredible to watch live. Short match.
Seth Rollins beat Dean Ambrose for the WWE World Heavyweight Title in a street fight after Wyatt interfered and hit Sister Abigail on Ambrose. This was a typical WWE street fight with kendo sticks, chairs, and two table spots, one with Ambrose going through and one with Rollins going through. Wyatt and Rollins continued to beat Ambrose after the match. Reigns ran in to make the save. Sheamus came out to tease a MITB cash in but was beat down by Ambrose and Reigns before he could cash in. Ambrose and Reigns posed afterward to "send the crowd home happy."
Biggest Pops:
Ambrose
Cena
Reigns
Ryback
Biggest Heat:
Owens
Rollins
Wyatt
New Day
I also wanted to add an incredibly awesome story. I was sitting next to an 8 year old kid and his dad in the second row on the floor. The kid was a HUGE John Cena fan, decked out head to toe in Cena gear. The kid was talking about Cena all night and went nuts when his hero came out. (To his defense, he also told me his favorite wrestler of all-time was HBK and let me know Ric Flair was a 16 time world champion).
Anyway, John Cena threw his shirt into the crowd. Somehow, the short landed on the cart of a man selling water ice in the middle of the row. There was a woman sitting in front of us with her kid, who was also about 8 years old. She was a pretty blonde wearing a Dolph Ziggler shirt and probably weighed 90lbs soaking wet. Needless to say when Cena launched his shirt and it landed in the middle of the row, there was a mad dash to retrieve it. This brave lady launched herself into the pile and somehow retrieved Cena's shirt. She then brought it back and gave it to the 8 year old John Cena fan. This kid was so happy he was brought to tears. The kid and his dad thanked this lady profusely. The lady's response? "If it was a Kevin Owens shirt, I would have given it to my son. He hates Cena though. I know you'd appreciate it more!" Class act and awesome parenting.
All in all, this was an excellent show with a stacked card and I'm looking forward to October 4th when WWE returns to Philly for Smackdown.
From Keith Farmer:
Intercontinental Championship Match: Ryback (c) vs. Mark Henry
Mark Henry dominated most of the match but Ryback got the 3 count with a splash off of the top rope. Mark Henry had a good showing.
Next, Bray Wyatt does a vignette on the titantron telling us to embrace reality because in the real world, the bad guys win.
WWE Tag Team Championship: Prime Time Players (c) vs. The New Day
Kofi started with Darren Young. good solid back and forth finally Big E got Darren Young and from the distraction of Kofi they held the upper hand getting near fall after near fall with frequent tags finally Darren Young made the tag to a fresh Titus who cleaned house. Xavier woods distracted the ref again and Darren pulled Xavier off the ring and his head bounced off the apron, allowing Titus to hit his finisher on Kofi for the 123. Good showing the tag champs, they received a good pop from the Philly crowd.
There was a Highlight Reel segment with Chris Jericho. Luke Harper comes out and attacks Jericho. Jericho challenges Harper to a match.
Luke Harper vs. Chris Jericho
The match begins with Jericho using aerial moves that he hasn't used in a while. Harper almost gets Jericho counted out, but Jericho gets back in the ring to rally. Harper does a good job of keeping him grounded until Y2J winds up rallying with chops. Jericho misses a code breaker, but hits Harper with an Enziguri kick. Jericho puts Harper in the Walls of Jericho, but Harper reaches the ropes. Good back and forth action, the crowd was really into the match. Jericho hits the codebreaker out of nowhere for the pinfall.
Next on the Titantron they show a tribute talking about Warrior Award winner Connor Michalek.
United States Championship Match: John Cena (c) vs. Kevin Owens
Owens told Cena to "come get some!" Excellent match. Two pop-up powerbombs before Owens in frustration low-blowed Cena for a DQ. Owens said he still going to make good on his word and leave Philly with the US title. Owens grabbed the title and went to attack Cena, but Cena hit the FU and took his belt and received the second largest pop next to Jericho.
Intermission
Divas Championship Match: Nikki Bella (c) vs. Paige vs. Naomi (w/ Tamina)
There was a Twitter poll asking if Tamina and Brie should be banned from ringside. The poll resulted with 60% in favor of them being at ringside. Nikki pinned Naomi.
Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt
Roman wins and gets nailed by Wyatt after the match with Sister Abigail.
Neville vs. Bo Dallas
Pre-match, Bo promised to leave this disgusting city with a win because he Bolieves! Quick match with Neville hitting his top rope finisher. Bo Dallas received loud boos after the match while Neville gets a good pop as well.
Next up commercial on the Titantron was a promo for Battleground.
Then Tony Chimel announces that WWE will return to Philly for a SmackDown taping on Tuesday, October 6.
WWE World Heavyweight Championship Match: Seth Rollins (c) vs. Dean Ambrose
Seth pulled off his belt and then Dean pulled off his belt and whooped Seth like a government mule. As the crowd requested tables mid-match, Seth grabbed a mic and made reference to ECW and said that hardcore is dead and you won't get any tables tonight. Dean had time to recoup and rallied back and introduced chairs and a Kendo stick to the match. Dean finally got a table, but Seth stopped him with stomps as he got back in the ring and was able to use the table against Dean with his corner signature move. Dean kicked out of the quick pin attempt and rallied some more and went for Dirty Deeds, but Rollins quickly countered the move into a pedigree and still only got a 2 count. Dean willed himself back with a bulldog and was attempting Dirty Deeds for the 2nd time when Bray Wyatt out of nowhere and hit Sister Abigail on Dean and then pulled Seth on Dean for the 3 count.
Post-match, Seth and Wyatt attacked Dean viciously until Roman Reigns superman punched them both. Instantaneously you hear the Sheamus intro, who runs down with the MIB briefcase and calls a ref, but Roman stops Sheamus from cashing in with a Superman punch then he and Dean cleared the ring. The bell never rang so Sheamus still keeps his MIB briefcase. The crowd once again gave Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose a huge pop.
Overall it was great to see Jericho in action. John Cena and Kevin Owens blew the roof off of The Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. This was almost like watching NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS because all of the champions defended their gold.
Photo credit: Ichiban Drunk