The latest round of WWE and NXT live events was chockful of newsworthy material.
Let's start with the Raw brand, where Brock Lesnar made a rare house show appearance, defeating the Big Show on February 17 in Dallas. Lesnar came to the ring during an eight-man tag match pitting Curtis Axel, Sin Cara, and the Golden Truth against Bo Dallas, Titus O'Neil and the Shining Stars, and proceeded to lay waste to everyone in the match. Lesnar than stayed in the ring to face, and ultimately defeat, the Big Show.
Samoa Joe also made his debut on the Raw touring roster, facing Sami Zayn in a pair of singles matches before teaming with Kevin Owens to face Zayn and Roman Reigns in Long Beach, CA.
Over on Smackdown, Tamina Snuka made her return to action after missing most of 2016 after knee surgery. She worked as a face in tag team matches on all three cards—two with Natalya, who was also a face for the two events held in western Canada—and one with Nikki Bella.
As for NXT, Kassius Ohno continues to be presented as a force. Ohno, who has yet to lose on an NXT live event since returning to WWE, won singles affairs against Kona Reeves and Elias Samson.
NXT also was scheduled to hold an event in Winter Haven, FL, on February 18, but had to cancel due to mandatory building renovations.
Here are all the results.
RAW
February 17, Dallas, TX
Big Cass & Enzo Amore def. Jinder Mahal & Rusev.
Neville def. Rich Swann to retain the Cruiserweight Title.
Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows def. Sheamus & Cesaro and The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) in a Triple Threat to retain the Raw Tag Titles.
Curtis Axel, Sin Cara, Goldust & R-Truth NC Bo Dallas, Titus O'Neil, Epico & Primo.
Brock Lesnar def. Big Show.
Samoa Joe def. Sami Zayn.
Bayley & Sasha Banks def. Charlotte Flair & Dana Brooke.
Roman Reigns def. Braun Strowman.
February 18, Bakersfield, CA
Big Cass & Enzo Amore def. Jinder Mahal & Rusev.
Neville def. Rich Swann to retain the Cruiserweight Title.
Curtis Axel, Sin Cara, Goldust & R-Truth def. Bo Dallas, Titus O'Neil, Epico & Primo.
Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows def. Sheamus & Cesaro and The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) in a Triple Threat to retain the Raw Tag Titles.
Bayley & Sasha Banks def. Charlotte Flair & Nia Jax.
Samoa Joe def. Sami Zayn.
Roman Reigns def. Braun Strowman by DQ.
February 19, Long Beach, CA
Big Cass & Enzo Amore def. Jinder Mahal & Rusev.
Neville def. Rich Swann to retain the Cruiserweight Title.
Curtis Axel, Sin Cara, Goldust & R-Truth def. Bo Dallas, Titus O'Neil, Epico & Primo.
Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows def. Sheamus & Cesaro and The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) in a Triple Threat to retain the Raw Tag Titles.
Bayley & Sasha Banks def. Charlotte Flair & Nia Jax.
Braun Strowman def. Sin Cara.
Roman Reigns & Sami Zayn def. Kevin Owens & Samoa Joe.
SMACKDOWN
February 18, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Apollo Crews def. Dolph Ziggler.
Heath Slater & Rhyno def. The Ascension.
Mojo Rawley def. Aiden English.
Natalya & Tamina def. Alexa Bliss & Carmella.
Baron Corbin def. Kalisto.
American Alpha def. Breezango to retain the Smackdown Tag Titles.
Dean Ambrose def. AJ Styles and The Miz in a Triple Threat to retain the Intercontinental Title.
February 19, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
Apollo Crews def. Dolph Ziggler.
Heath Slater & Rhyno def. The Ascension.
Mojo Rawley def. Aiden English.
Alexa Bliss NC Natalya.
Natalya & Tamina def. Alexa Bliss & Carmella.
Baron Corbin def. Kalisto.
American Alpha def. Breezango to retain the Smackdown Tag Titles.
Dean Ambrose def. AJ Styles and The Miz in a Triple Threat to retain the Intercontinental Title.
February 20, San Diego, CA
American Alpha def. The Usos and Breezango in a Triple Threat to retain the Smackdown Tag Titles.
Kalisto def. Curt Hawkins.
Heath Slater, Rhyno & Mojo Rawley def. Konnor, Viktor & Aiden English.
Apollo Crews def. Dolph Ziggler.
Becky Lynch def. Alexa Bliss.
Dean Ambrose def. Baron Corbin, AJ Styles and The Miz to retain the Intercontinental Title.
Nikki Bella & Tamina Snuka def. Natalya & Carmella.
John Cena & Luke Harper def. Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt.
NXT
February 16, Jacksonville, FL
Kassius Ohno def. Kona Reeves.
Dori Prange def. Macey Estrella.
SanitY (Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain) def. Ealy Twins.
Elias Samson def. Buddy Murphy.
Asuka & Liv Morgan def. Kimberly Frankele & Mandy Rose.
No Way Jose def. Patrick Clark.
Angelo Dawkins, Montez Ford & Tye Dillinger def. Noam Dar, Akum & Rezar.
February 17, Tampa, FL
Patrick Clark won a battle royal to earn the right to face Shinsuke Nakamura in the main event. Participants included Alexander Wolfe, Killian Dain, Babatunde Aiyegbusi, Aleister Black, Dan Matha, Gabriel Ealy, Uriel Ealy, Gurv Sihra, Harv Sihra, Oney Lorcan, Jeet Rama, Tucker Knight, Otis Dozovic and Tian Bing.
Gran Metalik def. Drew Gulak.
Daria Berenato & Dori Prange def. Kimberly Frankele & Macey Estrella.
Kassius Ohno def. Elias Samson.
Roderick Strong def. Kona Reeves.
Liv Morgan def. Billie Kay.
Authors of Pain def. Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli.
Shinsuke Nakamura def. Patrick Clark.
February 18, Cocoa, FL
Heavy Machinery def. Ealy Twins.
Oney Lorcan def. Dan Matha.
Elias Samson def. Buddy Murphy.
Adrian Jaoude & Tye Dillinger def. Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli.
Asuka & Dori Prange def. Macey Estrella & Mandy Rose.
Aleister Black def. Andrade Almas.
SanitY (Alexander Wolfe, Killian Dain & Nikki Cross) def. Angelo Dawkins, Montez Ford & Liv Morgan.
Sunday, Feb 19 Raw House Show in Long Beach, California: report submitted by Brian Reed-Baiotto
First match: Big Cass-Enzo vs Jinder Mahal-Rusev.
The show started with Big Cass and Enzo coming out to their opening spiel. Before Cass could spell out s-a-w-f-t. Lana came out by herself.
She talked a little smack to Enzo and Cass by saying "I've got one word to describe what's going to happen to you, and I'm going to spell it out for you. C-R-U-S-H, cruuuuuuushhhhh."
Cass ended the match on a hot tag from Enzo by pinning Mahal.
The crowd was so-so into this match, but Rusev got a solid heel reception before and throughout the match.
Next Match: Rich Swann vs Neville:
Believe it or not, this match got the most consistent crowd noise, including the only match the crowd chanted "this is awesome."
Both Neville and Swann did their high-flying moves, especially Swann. At this arena, there wasn't much room between the crowd and the ring, and Swann dove over the top rope with very little room for error, did a complete flip and landed with his thighs around Neville's neck on the floor. After several back-and-forth, Neville got Swann to tap out.
After Neville had left the arena area, the crowd gave Swann a solid reaction like "thank you," for an incredible and pretty dangerous match.
Next Match: Bo Dallas, Titus O'Neil and the Shining Stars vs Golden Truth, Curtis Axel-Big Show:
The Big Show got such a huge reaction and it lasted so long that he seemed visibly moved. He would put his hand to his heart like "this means a lot to me," and he also waved throughout.
The match was pretty routine until the Big Show got his hot tag and he knocked Titus down a few times before beating O'Neal.
After the match, while they went up the ramp, Axel, R-Truth and Goldust were showing deference to Big Show, but Show motioned them to come up, stand next to them and they raised each of their hands for a respectful send off.
Next Match: Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson vs Cesaro and Sheamus vs The New Day.
Before the match, Gallows and Anderson did a video promo where they talk about how they're 'the man' in Japan and how this isn't Japan.
New Day comes out first, and there was a big box of their cereal to the side of the stage and they did their dance, but didn't get on the mic.
Sheamus and Cesaro came out like they always do.
The match was pretty decent and not that predictable until the end when Anderson pinned Cesaro with a wrap up and Anderson's legs were on the ropes and the ref missed it.
After the match, New Day got Cesaro to dance, and eventually, Sheamus did a couple dance moves.
They went to a short intermission.
Next Match: After the break, Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax came out and Charlotte was shown a lot of respect by the crowd. Bayley and Sasha came out and got a decent ovation.
In a very short match, Bayley pinned Charlotte after a the Belly to Bayley.
The loudest the crowd got during this match is when Nia just destroyed Sasha because of the well-over 100-pound difference in weight.
Next Match: Sin Cara came out to the most quiet of reception of the night, and followed out by Braun Strowman.
Strowman pinned Sin Cara about 5 minutes in. One take away from the match. You hear the Raw announcers talk a lot about how quick Braun is. Unless you see him live, you can't really appreciate how quick, agile and athletic he really is.
Main Event: Kevin Owens and Samoa Joe came out to good pops.
Joe is from nearby Huntington Beach, and Owens is just a great heel. Sami Zayn got a pretty good reaction, but his tag-team partner, Roman Reigns was the loudest entrance of the night. It was much more boo's than cheers, but there were a lot of both.
Both teams had pretty good back-and-forth action. A friend of mine, who had never been to a match live was surprised at how athletic Joe and Owens were despite their "size," and at the end, Zayn and Reigns got in their finishing moves on Owens and Reigns got the win.
Side Notes: Byron Saxton sat near ringside all night and got on the mic from time to time. He thanked the crowd for being the first-ever in that arena (Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center) to see a live pro wrestling match. During the intermission and sometimes between matches, Saxton was incredibly generous with his time and taking pics and talking with whomever wanted to say hello or hug him.
** The arena was the worst place I had ever seen a show. I have even been to the old Olympic Auditorium and the old Sports Arena. This place had only 2,000 fans at most, and yet, there was about 40-man line outside the men's restroom because they only had one open.
** Their alcohol lines never thinned out, even after and during matches.
** They had two concession stands within 20 yards of each other and they had seven people behind the counter and only 2 lines. Several people commented on how they waited 20-plus minutes and they gave up.
** Their teenage security was telling everyone during the match to stop doing video on their phones or they'd "be kicked out." It seemed odd since they allow you do to that at Raw and Smackdown.
** The arena was pitch dark, had lousy seats, although, there wasn't a bad seat (for viewing) in the small arena.
** I would be surprised if WWE ever used that site again. They could go to Long Beach State's Pyramid and have a better scene for fans and wrestlers alike.
** If you were watching closely, despite being a heel, and despite being pinned, Charlotte was walking out to leave and noticed a little kid sticking out their hand and Charlotte turned around, came back and gave the fan a quick high-five.
** JoJo was the announcer for each match.
** ALL WWE talent were incredibly crowd friendly. Vince would have been very proud of their behavior and efforts in and out of the ring.
** TJ Perkins was advertised to be in action, and he never came out.
Arena = D
Matches = A
