WWE Live Event
11/7/15
Madrid, Spain at Barclaycard Center
Report by ProWrestling.net
A lively crowd of roughly 10,000 to 12,000 at Barcyleyscard Arena, which is a great venue. There was not an empty seat to be seen. The show kicked off with Spanish commentator team, who dub all WWE for Spanish TV. They came out to welcome and liven up the crowd. They did a quick presentation and included their catchphrases and got one of the best pops of the night.
After a WWE Network plug, Triple H welcomed us on the Tron with the “are you ready” shtick. The crowd was really excited. Out came Lilian Garcia donning a great red dress to an even greater pop. Lilian sang viva España/Spain; cheap pop that worked like a charm. Lilian played the role of the host tonight, engaging the crowd in Spanish between matches
1. Neville beat Stardust. Good heat for Stardust. The crowd played the part by booing the bad guys and cheering the good guys, and really ate up everything that was served to them by the performers throughout the night. There were lots of Cody chants. The kids next to me did not like him at all. A fun 12 minutes. Neville is awesome to watch live and neither man held back. Stardust’s transitions seemed seamless and show a lot of fluidity. Neville’s high flying worked like magic. Neville won with the Red Arrow.
2. Damien Sandow beat Heath Slater. It was very surprised to have witnessed a Heath Slater sighting and even more surprise to see Classic Damien Sandow. Sandow wore the robe, pink tights, and did the Hallelujah and all. Sandow win in a quick match.
Bray Wyatt vs. Roman Reigns announced as the main event in an everything goes match.
3. Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, and Braun Strowman defeated The Uso Brothers and Ryback. The Usos got a good pop and Ryback was definitely over in Madrid with loud Feed Me More chants. Harper played to the crowd by flexing his muscles in response to Ryback. The crowd played the part and booed accordingly. The match started slow but picked up in the end with great comeback spot from Ryback, highlighted by two delayed vertical suplexes to Harper and Rowan in succession. Harper carried the match for the Wyatts with some participation from Rowan and Strowman. One of the Usos took Strowman’s submission finisher. It was a long match, north of 15 minutes. Harper was the standout of the match.
King Barrett came out and cut a promo, saying he’s the king of the ring, which makes him the king of lucha libre, which somehow makes him the king of Spain.
4. Fandango beat King Barrett. Quite the shocker to see Fandango. The match didn’t click for me, which was a common theme of the night. We saw a handful of guys that we haven’t seen on television for months, Barrett dominated and all of a sudden Fandango got a rollup out of nowhere and got the pin on the King of Spain. What a shocker.
5. The Lucha Dragons defeated Los Matadores and The Ascension in a tag team Triple Threat match. Zero reaction for the Ascension.
An okay pop for Los Matadors, who were wearing the Spain national football jerseys, which kinda worked with the crowd, who couldn’t get enough of those national references. Weren’t the Matadors heels? A nice reaction for the Dragons, then a great action to start with the Matadors and the Dragons. If only they had a meaningful program to really show what they’re capable of. After a few minutes, the matadors turned on the Dragons and on the crowd. They were heels. I knew it! The classic routine of stomping on the Spanish national football team jerseys, spitting on them, and wiping their armpits. They even dropped knees on the shirt a-la Ric Flair, which infuriated the live crowd. The Matadors cleared the ring after a great exchange between Diego and Sin Cara. “Bad to the Bone” played and I thought maybe they went for too long and the music was the cue to go home. No, it was actually the entrance music for El Torito, who went after Los Matadores. It looked really cool live and the crowd loved every minute of it. Still, Bad to the Bone? Kalisto hit Salida del Sol on Viktor much to the crowd’s delight. There were plenty of lucha chants. The hostess with the mostess gave us another “I love Madrid” monologue. She threw a few t-shirts to the crowd and plugged some stuff.
Intermission
6. Bayley and Natalya beat Naomi and Sasha Banks. Plenty of NXT chants and We Want Sasha chants even in Spain. Bayley came out and apparently to a lot of other were surprised too because not a lot of people seemed to know her. One guy next to me actually Googled her. Natalya is great at engaging the crowd and pumping them, as the match progressed through her cheering and the crowd was rallying behind Bayley. It was great to see brief Bayley vs. Sasha exchanges during good chunks of the match. A great job by all four women, who got enough time to shine individually. Bayley looked like she belonged and the rhythm of the match stepped up when she and Sasha were in the ring. The crowd was behind Sasha. Natalya won via Sharpshooter on Naomi in a very good tag team match.
7. Alberto Del Rio defeated Jack Swagger to retain the U.S. Championship. Del Rio came out and cut a pro local team football promo in Spanish endearing to the fans and popped the hell out of them. It was an easy pop and very effective, as we’re passionate about our football. Once again, though, wasn’t Del Rio supposed to be the heel? Not according to the reaction he got. After the Del Rio “I love your football” speech, Jack got some considerable boos. A slow start to the match, but the pace picked up and it turned into a solid wrestling match. Swagger is yet another guy on the card who hasn’t been seen or involved in something meaningful in the last six months. That said, he hasn’t changed anything in his game and he could have freshened up his act a bit. There were a few good false finishes with Del Rio superkick to head in a seated position. They were trading submissions, but at the end Del Rio won with the doubt stomp while Swagger was hanging from the top rope. The finish came off a bit awkward live, The crowd still cheered Del Rio at the end. A good match that went for about 12-15 minutes. Del Rio sold the ankle very well by limping and falling on his way out.
Fans are chanting for Roman Reigns
8. Roman Reigns defeated Bray Wyatt in an anything goes match. Reigns got the biggest pop of the night by a large margin. Wyatt’s entrance was very cool and is a great live arena experience. It could have been better, but for some reason his music was just the intro of the song in a loop with no lyrics. Nevertheless, it was nice to experience that entrance live. A good physical match from both. Wyatt engaged the crowd more than usual, much like Harper before, acting more of a classic bad guy than the character he portrays. At one point, Wyatt took the mic and asked us if we knew who he was. He said he is the eater of worlds. He said if he doesn’t want to wrestle, he will not wrestle. Wyatt decided to leave. Roman took the mic and played the old “you have no cojones”card, which worked on Wyatt hook, line, and sinker. Both men exchanged attacks with a kendo stick. Roman set up a table and turned around only to be driven through the table by Wyatt with a uranage. Later, Wyatt got another table and tried to superplex Reings into the table, but Roman slipped underneath Wyatt and powerbombed him through the table. There was also some ring steps action.
In the end, Reigns sent Bray through a chair he had previously setup between the second and third turnbuckle, then followed with a spear to a massive pop from the crowd for the 1-2-3. A good, physical match with some hardware involved.
All an all, a fun night in Madrid mostly due to the audience’s reactions. The crowd consisted mostly of parents and children. There was a lot of Cena merchandise and every other kid had a John Cena baseball cap. Reigns was over, and there were plenty of his t-shirts in the crowd. Judging the reaction, Reigns was definitely the main event in Madrid.
As far as the in ring action went, everything was pretty much up to the TV standards. Everyone put in a decent effort and there wasn’t any specific bad match on the card. The live show looked great and was very professional in an amazing venue. The crowd left for home happy and everybody got their money’s worth.
Biggest Pops
Roman Reigns
Ryback
Spanish commentators
Most Heat
Brey Wyatt
Startdust
Los Matadors and Del Rio after turning on the crowd
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
