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On Monday, December 30, 2024, the last stop of the WWE Holiday Tour was the Little Caesar Arena in Detroit, Michigan with the Smackdown crew. Here are the results:
Match #1: DIY defeated the Motor City Machine Guns and A-Town Down Under in a three-way tag match to retain the WWE Men's Tag Team Titles when Johnny Gargano pinned Chris Sabin with an inside cradle. Big pops for the MCMG with signs welcoming them "home". Grayson Waller gets heat from tearing up one of those signs. MCMG are definitely the hometown favorites. After the match, Grayson Waller trashes the Detroit fans, the Detroit Pistons, and the Detroit Red Wings. Before they can leave, MCMG take them out.
Match #2: Naomi and Bianca Belair defeated Piper Niven and Chelsea Green to retain the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship. Bianca pinned Piper after a KOD after Piper unsuccessfully went to the second rope to try a splash on Bianca. Naomi took most of the beatings in this match.
Match #3: Andrade defeated Carmelo Hayes with the Message in a great back and forth match. Before leaving, Carmelo taunted the fans by saying that Little Caesar's Pizza was the only one they could afford.
Match #4: Nia Jax defeated Michin in a Detroit Street Fight to retain the WWE Women's Championship. Before the match, A fan had a sign at ringside which said Nia Jax Sux. Nia took the microphone to to say that yes, she does suck, but she also swallows. Michin took a lot of abuse from Kendo sticks, but otherwise there was not a lot of plunder in this match. Nia got the win with the Annialator (sp) onto a chair on top of Michin. After the match, Nia set up a table and tried to put Michin through it, but Michin got out of it and slammed Nia through the table. Michin spent a lot of time giving autographs to the fans at ringside. With as long as her music played, you would have thought she won the match.
At intermission they were pushing a lot of Cody merchandise, including a "Detroit Nightmare" shirt and some cross-promotional shirts between Cody and the Red Wings, a Cody poster, and a WWE program with Cody on the cover. There was also a Detroit 3:16 Piston's shirt. The fans were not that excited for it. The T-shift stands were also full of Cody and Jey Uso gear, but there wasn't much else to pick from.
Match #5: Bayley defeated Tiffany Stratton with a Rose Plant. It was a pretty one-sided match. The fans weren't as into it as they should have been. There was more excitement for the 60-second countdown at the end of intermission. A fan at ringside had a sign which asked if Bayley could rip his sign for old times sake. At the start of the match, she did nothing, but when the match was over, she ripped the sign up.
Match #6: Solo Sikoa with Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu versus Jimmy Uso. A lot of heat for the Bloodline 2.0. Jimmy took a serious beating and didn't get in much offense. Tama and Jacob interfered where they could until the ref threw them both out. This also got one of the biggest pops of the night. The fans I think were wishing it was Jey and not Jimmy. Jimmy did hit an Uso splash for a 2.5 count. He tried a second one, but Solo put up his knees, gave him two Samoan Spikes and then pinned him quickly.
Match #7: Cody Rhodes versus Kevin Owens in a Steel Cage Match for the Undisputed WWE Championship. Kevin comes to the ring with the Winged Eagle belt and insists on being called the True Champion and Canadian Dream. Gets some heat, but not a lot. A lot of back and forth in this match with a lot of near falls. Cody with Cody Cutter, KO with a Stunner, Cody with a Cross Rhodes, KO with a Swanton, KO with a Cross Rhodes, KO tried to hit a package piledriver which Cody reversed into a Stunner. The match ended when Cody, climbing over the top of the cage was able to hit both feet on the floor before KO could escaping through the doors of the cage.
After the main event, Cody got on the microphone to thank people for coming, introducing folks to his father-in-law who was sitting in the front row, and reminding folks how special Detroit is to him, especially having a wife from Eastern Michigan. He then offered to give a weight belt and a turnbuckle pad to the loudest kid in the arena. The turnbuckle pad went to a young girl who looked almost exactly like the girl who got his weight belt at last year's Holiday Tour show in Detroit, while a little boy near the front row got the weight belt.
On the whole, the show was okay, but not as fun as house shows I've been to in the past. The arena at the start of the show was about 80 percent full but by 8:00 pm it was probably 95 percent full. A good crowd, but definitely some open seats. There was a lot of star power there with several title matches, but that made the finishes be somewhat predictable. I would have liked to see LA Knight at this show, but once we saw he had no merch at the t-shirt stand, we didn't expect to see him there. The fans weren't as into this show as they have been on other shows I've been to in the last year. Not a lot of "WHOO" or "YEET" or "YEAH" chants before the show. I even heard a couple of "boring" chants during some of the matches. No "Top Ten" videos on the Jumbotron to keep fans entertained pre-show or during intermission, mostly ads for Cody merch to buy at the the WWE Shop (which wasn't getting people excited; I'm wondering if they're going to turn Cody heel soon as it seems some of his stick is getting stale. There were also lots of ads for upcoming big shows like Royal Rumble in Indy, Elimination Chamber in Toronto, SNME in San Antonio, Wrestlemania in Vegas, Raw on Netflix in LA next week, and Summerslam at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey...not reminding people to watch them on Peacock, but to try to buy tickets to the show, focusing on QR Codes one could use to log in and get tickets and/or premium passes to those shows.
Biggest Pops of the Night:
-- Cody giving away his weight belt
-- Tama Tonga and Jacob Fatu getting thrown out of the Jimmy Uso/Solo Sikoa Match
-- The 60 second count down at the end of intermission
-- Cody Rhodes
-- Motor City Machine Guns
-- Jimmy Uso
Biggest Heat
-- Solo Sikoa being Solo
-- A-Town Down Under
-- Carmelo Hayes
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