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- Finn Balor defeated Bo Dallas with the coup de grace. Excellent work from both men. A noticeable amount of Bullet Club hand signs in the audience.
- Anderson and Gallows defeated Titus O’Neill and Apollo Crews with Dana Brooke. Gallows pins Titus after the Magic Killer. Solid tag match. Saw more impressive work from the Titus Brand than what we see on TV. Titus was getting a lot of support from the fans as a face. Dana was not instrumental in the match at all, other than just a valet.
- Goldust defeated Curt Hawkins in a rather brief encounter. Hawkins started out with heat seeking mic work, and after the match demanded to face anyone in the locker room. Enter...
- Braun Strowman defeated Hawkins after a series of powerslams. Braun is over and embraced by the fans. They really took to him squashing Hawkins.
- The Revival defeated Heath Slater and Rhyno. Dash Wilder pins Slater with his foot on the rope. A lot of great old school heel tag team psychology. Slater worked well despite being the Royal Rumble whipping boy. Some minor ECW chants for Rhyno.
- WOKEN Matt Hardy defeats Bray Wyatt after a Twist of Fate. Interestingly, Wyatt was the over performer, as his entrance and the cell phone illumination was a big reaction. The Omaha fans seem to be out of the loop with the Broken gimmick, as only a percentage of fans chanted “DELETE!” The men worked a very physical match that made fans happy.
Intermission.
- Cedric Alexander defeated Jack Gallagher in an awesome match. Both men connected well in a physical contest that the fans enjoyed.
- Bayley and Asuka defeated Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax. Asuka tapped Bliss with the Asuka lock. All four women had a devoted fan base. The Omaha fans have really embraced Women’s wrestling. Most fans are hoping Asuka and Bliss face off at Mania, and for good reason, as they worked very well together. Nia also had a good amount of fans cheering for her. Unfortunately, no Bayley sing-a-longs.
Elias segment where he played to the audience. Massive heat and boos. He actually played a nice guitar solo with some melodic blues licks, and got a nice respectable pop. He then goes into a song (an obvious “Yellow Ledbetter” rip-off with lyrics trashing Omaha.) He is joined by The Bar, who join him a song.... then they are interrupted by...
- Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns defeated Elias and The Bar. Roman pins Elias after both he and Seth hit their finishers. Very hot tag match. This crowd is 85% pro-Roman, as any Roman jeers were drowned out. All five men worked hard and sent the crowd home happy.
A few live notes:
There was no overwhelmingly big pop, or unified chant for anyone other than Roman Reigns. In Omaha, Roman is over in a big way. Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, and Asuka also had big reactions. The loudest heat belonged to Elias and The Bar — appropriate since they were in the main event. Beneath the main event, Curt Hawkins received a good amount of heat. The rest of the roster simply had reactions that were down the middle.
The CenturyLink Center was 80-90 full for a house show setup.
I’m not sure if it is a WWE event standard or a CenturyLink Center standard, but I was note ground floor and there was a security member constantly telling us to sit down during the matches. To me it didn't make any sense, as there was absolutely no one sitting behind me. The nature of WWE performances yield reactions to big spots, and either they understanding of that culture or they just felt like being bossy. Either way, it was very stifling to be forced to sit during a live event where wrestlers worked hard for a reaction.
The fans were very warm and receptive to Jojo.
The Alexa Bliss shirt seemed to be the biggest seller, as it sold out early at one of the kiosks. I also noticed a lot of title belt sales. With Roman, Shield, Balor, and the new Matt Hardy shirt I’m surprised by what sold fast. Two summers ago, remember when fans chanted the Universal Title belt “sucked”? Also, A.J. Styles shirt for sale but no A.J. on the show was funny to think about.
There were fans at ringside with different abilities. Roman Reigns was very loving and generous with them. Matter of fact, most of the babyfaces were very generous with selfies, autographs, and handshakes to fans and children at ringside after their matches.
For those that don’t attend WWE live events, it is a nice way to see the ring work removed from the television booking. There is much difference in the way they perform versus how they are presented on TV. Roman, for example came off much better. Every hot tag meant more, and you could feel the connection with the superstars without it being contrived or forced upon us.
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