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WWE Live Review - October 20, 2018

10/20/2018

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By Graham "GSM" Matthews

Rey Mysterio and Jeff Hardy def. Andrade "Cien" Almas and Randy Orton

If I'm not mistaken, this might have marked Mysterio's first WWE house show since 2014, and if so, that's pretty damn cool. Mysterio and Hardy are a dream team straight out of 2009 and are huge fan favorites, so it was smart to have this open the show. In fact, I would argue Hardy received the bigger ovation of the two, but they were both beloved, nonetheless. This was a very fun match that gave us a sneak peak of an inevitable Mysterio vs. Almas feud as well as Mysterio vs. Orton (who have history with each other from years ago).

Asuka and Carmella def. The IIconics

To be completely honest, I couldn't have cared less about this contest, and I can't imagine the rest of the crowd felt much differently. The IIconics came out cutting a promo bashing Hartford and it was hard to hear them because their mics were not the greatest. Plus, their voices can be incredibly obnoxious at times, and not in the good kind of heel-heat way. At any rate, it was strange seeing Asuka and Carmella team up following their feud from the summer, but I guess we're supposed to forget about that because Carmella's a babyface all of a sudden. This was whatever, and I hated seeing Asuka relegated to such a throwaway match.
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Braun Strowman def. Raw Tag Team Champion Dolph Ziggler

Drew McIntyre was conspicuous by his absence on this show. Maybe he worked the other live event in Maine? Anyway, this didn't last long at all. Ziggler cut a promo about what we saw on Raw this past Monday night and unleashed a verbal assault on Strowman before the big man came out to a babyface reaction from the crowd. He then proceeded to squash Ziggler in a matter of minutes, which the audience was into. It certainly looks like Strowman will be back to being a babyface going forward based off what I saw here, but I guess we won't know for sure until the next episode of Raw because of how confusing WWE's writing can be at times.

SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bar def. The New Day

I've said it on countless occasions in the past, but The New Day and The Bar have strong chemistry together and this was another entertaining encounter from them. However, it was more focused on the wacky antics from both tandems than it was the actual wrestling, which was fine since it was a house show after all. The outcome was never in doubt, mind you, but this was decent for what it was. No sign of Big Show, though.

SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch def. Charlotte Flair

Similar to New Day and The Bar, Lynch and Flair have had so many matches against each other in recent months that this wasn't anything we hadn't seen before, but it was well-wrestled and solid, nonetheless. ​It did feel like they held back a bit early on, but the second half was terrific and I was pleasantly surprised by the clean win for Lynch. Their Last Woman Standing match at Evolution next weekend should be stellar.

Rusev def. Aiden English

Personally, I haven't been the biggest fan of this feud on SmackDown Live, if only because Rusev deserves better and it feels like undercard fodder. To English's credit, though, he generated an ample amount of heat beforehand with his pre-match promo, despite how simple it was. The actual match was exactly what it needed to be with English dodging Rusev at every turn only for Rusev to finally get his hands on English and defeat him with ease.

Raw Women's Champion Ronda Rousey and Nia Jax def. Alexa Bliss and Mickie James

I know their bad blood is all storyline-driven, but I find it comical that The Bella Twins are complaining about Rousey being a part of WWE only since the start of the year yet Rousey is the one who is working house shows at the moment and not them. She was the real attraction here and she made the match worth watching. It was basically a showcase for just her, but the other three women fared well for themselves and made this a nice little outing.

WWE Champion AJ Styles def. United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and DAniel Bryan in a Triple Threat Match (United States Championship Was Not Defended)

On paper, this reads like a WrestleMania-worthy main event, and if they were allowed to go all out, it certainly would be. Even while working a house show-style pace, this was still the best thing on the entire show and an excellent main event. Of course, no one actually expected Styles to drop the title, but from an in-ring standpoint, this was an action-packed Triple Threat and a great way to close out the evening. It was refreshing to see Styles and the WWE Championship headlining an event for a change, even if it was because The Shield weren't on the card.

Overall Show

I could have sworn Roman Reigns and Samoa Joe were advertised for the show when I purchased the tickets a few days ago, but I can't say I was heartbroken over them not appearing. After all, the other WWE house show that was happening at the same time in Portland, Maine needed some star power, too, and it looks like we definitely got the better end of the stick. It wasn't the most exciting event I've ever been to, but you typically know what you're getting with house shows going in (predictable results and all), and by and large, they are a fun time like this one was. The main event was worth staying for the and the rest of the matches were well-wrestled for the most part as well, so I enjoyed the experience.
SEE ALSO: "Event Photos - WWE Live Event - Hartford, CT - October 20, 2018"
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