WWE Dublin, Ireland, live results (Thursday): Sheamus vs. Roman Reigns
Submitted by Manus Cronin
– Sin Cara beat Stardust with a top rope senton
Kids were into chanting ‘Lucha’ and not much else. Decent match with no heat whatsoever beyond ‘Lucha’ chants.
– Darren Young & Zack Ryder beat the Social Outcasts (Slater & Dallas)
Ryder pinned Bo with the rough Ryder. Comedy tag match. Basic and short.
– Cesaro beat Rusev
This was a long match Cesaro won after a 10 rep swing and a sharpshooter. Lot of power moves as one would expect. Cesaro worked over Rusev’s leg Bret Hart style to set up for the sharpshooter. Probably the best match on the show.
– WWE Tag Team Champions New Day beat Dudleys & Usos in a triple threat tag match to retain
End came when the Dudleys hit a 3D and Xavier stole the pin. New Day and Dudleys were super over initially. Dudleys did the whole tease the table and don’t deliver gimmick to get heat. Usos were booed surprisingly.
> During the interval, Jo Jo and generic announcer were hyping the rest of the card. Massive boos at the mere mention of Roman Reigns which was contrary to what I expected but it might simply have been a reaction to the fact that he was facing Sheamus later and he is the home town guy.
– Jack Swagger beat Tyler Breeze with the ankle lock in a short match
Neither guy was particularly over save for when Tyler did ‘the worm’. That got a babyface pop. A dad who had brought his kids that was sitting behind me asked ‘Is that Scotty 2 Hotty?’ which may be an indictment on the degree to which older fans are keeping up to date with the product today.
– WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte (w/ Ric Flair) def. Becky Lynch vs Sasha Banks to retain
Charlotte pinned Lynch with a rollup after a long match. Becky was over like crazy as the hometown girl. I was amazed that there was barely any pop for Flair but they didn’t announce him so that was probably a factor. Decent match but I had hoped for better. Lots of athletic spots from Charlotte (she really is a step above as far as being an athlete goes). Finish was Becky had Sasha in the disarmer, Ric grabbed Sasha, pulled her out of the ring and Charlotte rolled up Becky.
– WWE Champion Roman Reigns def. Sheamus
Sheamus came out first to huge cheers. Roman came out to THUNDEROUS boos. I have no idea why they booked Roman against Sheamus in Dublin. It was guaranteed that he would not be cheered against the local boy (there was an audible ‘You’re from Cabra’ chant at one point during the match). Sheamus did a LONG promo trying to make himself the heel. He insulted the crowd over a myriad of things, including the fact that we haven’t had a government for 7 weeks (this actually got a few cheers).
Eventually after a solid 5-7 minutes of Sheamus trying to make himself the heel, the crowd cottoned on and started to boo him but their heart wasn’t really in it. All it served to do was make the match a complete damp squib. A steady stream of people started to leave at about the 2 minute mark (which I’ve never seen at a WWE live event in Dublin before). The remaining crowd wasn’t really into either guy. I have no idea why they couldn’t just let Sheamus work babyface in Dublin. The crowd wanted to cheer him anyway and at least if they’d booked it that way, the match might have had some heat rather than a mass exodus of bored parents and children.