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I attended WWE Smackdown live in Oslo yesterday and going by memory.
We got into the arena about 45 mins before show start and was walking around looking at other Norwegian wrestling fans curious as to how the crowd would react, since the only way to watch WWE TV is online here.
I think the ratio of WWE shirts vs. other promotions shirts was the same, lots of Elite and Young Bucks shirts (which surprised me). The merchandise table was small and seated right after the main entrance so it was crowded the three times I checked it out. I was told the selection was small and consisted of mostly stars that weren't on the show, including Randy Orton, Roman Reigns and Becky Lynch.)
Before the start there were lots of the usual chants (Let's go Cena/Cena sucks and a small CM Punk chant were among the chants). Before the show I checked out the rapport from Smackdown's Helsinki show and Oslo got the EXACT show and finishes to the matches.
Looking at the crowd I'd say the arena was 70% sold out – lot's of empty seats. The avarage age of the crowd was +35 years old if I had to guess. Like me, they've grown up with WWE and wanting to see if it still holds up. (Spoiler Alert...It did..)
*Carmella & R-Truth defeated Andrade & Zelina Vega; R-Truth was mad over with the crowd, it could be since he was the first to appear for the crowd. Both he and Mella got great reactions throughout the match. Andrade and Vega are a damn great team, and boyyyy did Zelina look amazing in person. Everyone played to the crowd and this was the match that had the most crowd heat and chants. The faces won with a roll up (First of many roll up finishes)
*Xavier Woods defeated Sami Zayn.Like the show in Helsinki this wasn't more than time waste. Woods came out to an ok crowd reaction and kinda just stood there. Then came Sami out to a better reaction than Woods and demanded the mic. He cut a promo about how beautiful Norway is but then said it was being ruined by the People living here. After about a 2 minute promo Wods rolled him up and won the match (two roll ups in a row is lazy booking if you ask me)
*Charlotte Flair defeated Naomi. This was a strange match and a stranger crowd. Charlotte came out first to a good reaction despite being and acting like a heel. Naomi got close to crickets when she came out. The crowd sent out a few "Woooooo's" once in a while and sat on theire hands the rest of the time. The women worked hard but it was sloopy at times, not a good showing of womans wrestling really.
*WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions Daniel Bryan & Rowan defeated The Usos and Rusev & Shinsuke Nakamura (with Lana) in a Triple Threat Match. This was where the crowd came to life ! Rowan got a HUGE reaction and everytime he did anything the crowd ate it up and chanted "ALT FOR NORGE" at Rowan. His family is of Norwegian descent, so he was the home town hero returning. In 2010 Rowan participated in a Norwegian reality series called Alt for Norge (Google it..) where selected Americans come to Norway to win the chance to meet their Norwegian relatives and finished in fifth Place. The TV show is worth the watch. He looked very happy and proud to be here and Daniel Bryan cheered him on and let him do most of the work in the match while looking happy for his friend. It was damn cool to see Nakamura in person and Lana looked hot but didn't do much. Uso' were solid as always.
*WWE Women's Tag Team Champions The IIconics defeated Asuka & Kairi Sane. This was after the intermission so People were still finding theire seats when it started, The heels came out to a good reaction whilst the faces got a good "Hey, I knew them from NXT, they're pretty damn solid" reactions. The heels were entertaining throughout the match and I gotta say they are one of the best WWE acts today. Kairi & Asuka bumped for the champs and took the loss again.
*WWE United States Champion Samoa Joe defeated Matt Hardy. Earlier in the evening Samoa Joe Attacked Matt when he was making his entrance and told the crowd on the mike that the match is off since Matt hardy cannot compete tonight. Towards the end of the show Matt Hardy came out to a hero's welcome reaction and challenged Joe to come out. Joe got a good mix of Cheers and boos from the crowd and won the match after about 10 mins of mostly Hardy offense. Both of them got good reactions after the match too.
*WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defeated Kevin Owens by DQ after Sami Zayn interfered. Xavier Woods with the rescue, setting up a bonus match.
*The New Day defeated Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn in a No Disqualification match. Here was the main event and the crowd was chanting for tables early on.KO even got on the mike and said, "You want Tables? NOOOOOO!" which drew a good laugh from the crowd. Again the heels looked better than the faces and held the crowds attention. Personaly I think Kofi is too much of a comedy act to be taken serious as a champion as is his sidekick Xavier Woods
Before the main event, they thanked the crowd and hoped to be back soon.
All in all it was an ok great show ruined by the lack of real star power. Matt Hardy was the biggest star while Rowan get the best reaction, that says it all really.
Will I go to another show if they come back – the Magic 8 ball says...Most likely.
Keep up the strong work
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