4/19 WWE house show results from Manchester, England

Credit: Nathan Cortes & PWInsider

Arena was pretty full there were the odd few empty chairs here and there but a pretty good house like they always seem to get here in Manchester. Kane was advertised for the show but didn’t appear.

Show started with a video from The Uso’s promoting their upcoming Tag Title match tonight which got a pretty good reaction.

* Cesaro defeated Stardust via Submission with the Sharpshooter. Cesaro got a really good reaction to open the show while Stardust drew the usual “Let’s go Cody” chants. The match was okay was neither of the men’s best work as far as in ring work goes but on a personal note I’ll give props to Stardust here for his psychology playing the cowardly heel against Cesaro. The way he was running and cowering away was like a throwback to Chris Candido in his early 90’s SMW days. Most people get to play just straight forward Bad Ass heels or straight forward cheating heels but Stardust played the coward role really well tonight. Match ended when Cesaro hit the big swing and put it straight into a Sharpshooter.

* Zack Ryder & Darren Young defeated The Social Outcasts (Heath Slater & Bo Dallas) via pinfall when Ryder hit the Rough Ryder on Bo Dallas. A fair bit of comedy in the match with Slater and Dallas doing the Inspirational Victory lap during the match and unknown to them Darren Young joined at the back and ended up high fiving them until he knocked Dallas down and Ryder hit a baseball slide to Slater. Match was fine for what it was and as you can imagine Ryder was hugely over.

* Rusev defeated Jack Swagger via submission with The Accolade. Decent back and forth match, Rusev came out with his Bulgarian Flag to jeers but was interrupted by Swagger who came out with a flag pole and unravelled it to reveal a Union Jack flag which got the crowd going. Some close near falls and for a second it actually looked like they were going to give Swagger the win since it was a House Show but they swerved it and Rusev won after dragging Swagger back to the middle of the ring.

* The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods w/ Big E) defeated The Uso’s and The Dudley Boys via Pinfall after Kofi Kingston pinned D-Von with the Trouble In Paradise. All three teams got great reaction when they came out, until The Dudley Boys revealed a Liverpool FC flag which meant automatic boo’s from Manchester. Really fun match with a good comedy bit from Xavier surrounding people slapping his back. One of the Uso’s slapped Xavier’s back and the next minute was Xavier trying to repay the favour but he kept missing and everybody around the ring managed to slap him on the back. Kofi Kingston tried to slap the Uso’s back but the Uso moved and Kofi slapped Xavier’s back and he shouted at the top of his voice “WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT” at which point The Uso slapped his back again and Xavier shouted he was leaving which made everybody laugh. Tables chants and The Dudley’s teased using one but shrugged it off and put the table back under the ring. Uso’s seemed to be playing the faces but New Day were golden as always. Everything they did the crowd ate up.

Interval time where they were plugging Merchandise, for the record Dean Ambrose, AJ Styles, John Cena & Roman Reigns merchandise were all selling really well.

* Sin Cara defeated Tyler Breeze via Pinfall with Swanton Bomb. Lots of Lucha chants all throughout the match and both showed off their athleticism throughout with some high flying moves. Not quite as good as their respective NXT work but they put in the effort with the time they were given and ultimately that’s what you want.

* Charlotte w/ Ric Flair defeated Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks in a Triple Threat Match for the WWE Women’s Championship via Pinfall with feet on the ropes on Becky Lynch. Flat out – Match Of The Night. Huge pop when they announced the title was on the line before they even announced the challengers. All 3 got great pops as of course did Ric Flair. Becky Lynch probably got the biggest pop out of the women. They all got to show off their abilities with some added moves they didn’t even do at Wrestlemania. Comedy moment with Becky and Ric Flair shouting Woo in each others faces and Ric Flair having a fit about it. A lot of near pin falls and near submissions. Becky and Sasha at one point were working together to try and stop Charlotte from running away and give her a beating but Charlotte picked her spots on both of them throughout the match. Finish of the match came when Sasha Banks had the Bank Statement locked in on Becky but Ric Flair pulled her out of the ring and Charlotte sneaked in the ring and rolled up Becky. Charlotte and Ric bolted quickly after the match but Becky and Sasha took their time greeting the crowd afterwards. Great Match for a house show.

* Roman Reigns defeated Sheamus via Pinfall after a Spear. Reigns got a really, really good reaction, I’d say 90% of the crowd were cheering him and you could tell he had cracked a smile like he enjoyed hearing it. Reigns may not be the greatest person to be Champion but he works hard and you can tell it means a lot to him. The match was actually really good surprisingly probably the second best on the card after the Women’s Title match. It seemed like they worked a good stiff match and the crowd were really into it and rallied behind Reigns to make a comeback. Sheamus before the match started singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” a song synonymous with Liverpool Football Club. Reigns kicked out of a Brogue Kick and hit 2 Superman Punches followed by a Spear for the win.

Reigns spent a lot of time posing with the kids at the front and kept coming back when he saw some kids disappointed they didn’t get a picture so he could bring them to the front and take the picture with them. Really nice of him to do that rather than just wanting to get back to locker room.

Overall considering half of the roster including the likes of Ambrose, Owens, AJ Styles and so on were over filming Smackdown it was a fun show, they announced they would be back again Saturday 5th November for another show at the Arena.