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WWE Live in Copenhagen, Denmark Report
Last night, the WWE European Tour went to Copenhagen for the first time in nine years, and this is what happened inside Royal Arena. Byron Saxton was the ring announcer and host for the evening, and he did an excellent job at hyping the crowd up for the show before it even started.
“Main Event” Jey Uso vs. Finn Bálor
Jey is still massively over with that entrance, and I can’t imagine how crazy the crowd would have gotten if booking hasn’t treated him this bad for the last year. His theme restarted about four times during the beginning of the match to the point that if this was a TV taping, people would probably feel it was too much, but in a house show setting where most people likely experienced it for the first time, it was a blast. Both guys worked well in this setting, and especially Finn with his wrestling upbringing knows exactly how to play to the crowd as the heel but still being cheered because he is getting to the point of being a modern legend. Jey won to the surprise of nobody and after the match, he ran around with the Danish flag to the delight of everybody.
Liv Morgan w/ The Judgment Day vs. Lyra Valkyria
People were really into Lyra’s entrance with the soaring chants, and at this point, it was clear that people were there to have fun and enjoy themselves and the show more than being a critical wrestling crowd. The match itself was what it was, Liv is a superstar, but the highlight was when the referee threw The Judgment Day out of ringside. Everybody milked it perfectly and it added to the crowd participation. Liv won, also expected, and after she left the ring, they swapped to Lyra’s music and she got a good exit as well, once again with the crowd chanting with the theme.
“The Ring General” Gunther vs. Sami Zayn
Gunther is a massive human being live, and that imperial entrance is awe inspiring in the best way. He was booed loudly, but I think that was mostly due to the crowd wanting to participate and do the right thing rather than genuine hate, even though he did make John Cena tap out like a little bitch.
Sami was probably the best opponent possible for him because that man can sell his ass off and did. I was sitting quite far away from the ring, but I heard the chop loud and clear so I can’t imagine how it sounded at ringside and even more how it felt. Sami did the Five Knuckle Shuffle which got a massive pop from the crowd, and he did set Gunther up for the Helluva Kick but instead he ended up in the same position as Cena and tapped out to the Sleeper, even though the crowd clearly would have preferred if he didn’t and passed out instead. After Gunther left, Sami was still selling as he got his exit with music. Really good match.
Kairi Sane w/ Asuka vs. Alexa Bliss
The Kabuki Warriors entrance is really cool live with the theatrics and everything, and Alexa was the perfect foil for them as she might have been the most over person at this point. The match itself sadly lacked a bit of interest, but that was probably also expected due to the placement of it after the tap out by Sami. Alexa won and got a big pop and really took her time celebrating for the fans which was really nice that she didn’t rush anything.
WWE Championship Match: Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Nakamura is the perfect opponent for Drew, and I think Dave and Eps compared him to Tito Santana, which feels really accurate here. Nakamura will likely not win another major championship in the WWE, but he can be beaten over and over again, and people will feel that he is always somewhat credible as a challenger. Drew is incredibly over and good luck trying to keep him as a heel. Regular “You deserve it” chants by the crowd so this felt more like a babyface versus babyface match than anything else.
Drew won with the Claymore, and after the match he took the mic while the crowd still chanted that he deserved it. His response was in the best Drew way possible. “I have only one thing to say to you Copenhagen. You’re damn right I deserve it”. Great way to go into intermission.
AJ Styles & Dragon Lee vs. The New Day
After intermission where Byron Saxton did his best to keep energy high, and succeeded quite well, it was time for the final stretch of the show. AJ Styles is a f’n legend and in my personal opinion, he might very well be the best wrestler in this century. How he is able to perform at this level at 48 is beyond me, and his introduction was just like on TV chanted from the entire crowd in unison with Saxton.
Kofi and Woods looked like they were having a blast being the heels in this match. Regular “New Day sucks” chants and they milked every bit out of them. This was a case where I got more into the match simply because it was so clear that all four wrestlers in the ring were having a ton of fun delivering a show until AJ and Lee won the match, but Kofi and Woods lost nothing by losing it.
The MFT’s w/ Solo Sikoa vs. The Wyatt Sicks w/ Nikki Cross
Holy something, the Tongans are huge and while the booking of them haven’t exactly been good, their natural intensity still showed through as they came to the ring. The highlight though was the Wyatts entrance with the lights going down and the crowd holding up their cell phones as the fireflies. Sadly, I never got to see Bray Wyatt in person, but if this was just half of the atmosphere that his entrance had, it must have been one of the most amazing visuals live.
The match got jump started by the Tongans, and I have to admit that I zoned out quite a bit during it because I saw the match on Friday on TV and wasn’t impressed so it was hard to keep focus when you knew that CM Punk was right around the corner. The Wyatts won and the fireflies came back out. Again, if nothing else, then that visual in an arena can give slight goose bumps.
World Heavyweight Championship Match: CM Punk (c) vs. “Big” Bronson Reed
Now for the main event and what we all have been waiting for. Earlier in the show, Reed appeared on the screen and told us that he didn’t care about Copenhagen, and he was ready to take the first plane out of the city. Fine local promo but I don’t know if he purposely pronounced Copenhagen the German way instead of the English way to get heat or if he simply didn’t know that he was doing it. Either way, it worked because Saxton did it the right way for comparison.
There is zero doubt in my mind that CM Punk is the biggest star in pro wrestling after this show. He was over with everything from looking at the imaginary watch on the stage to his walk to the ring and inside it. The crowd was constantly chanting CM Punk, and this was the point where all remnants of trying to be an analyst went out the window, and I completely suspended disbelief to just enjoy watching a master at work.
The match was a great house show main event. Big man versus little man with the story being whether Punk could get Reed down and later get him up for the GTS. Reed was a great monster foiling Punk’s constant attempts at offense until the comeback and finish, where he hit the GTS and just like on Monday in Brooklyn, it was 1, 2, 3, and the crowd exploded.
Notes:
Royal Arena was about halfway filled from my best guess, and this was even with the upper part of the arena closed off, but the atmosphere was great and lively even though the crowd was sitting in clusters around the ring.
The venue itself is great for wrestling with incredibly easy access to both drinks and toilets. This might obviously be different if it was filled to the brink with the 16000 it can hold, but at this capacity, it was a really easy time. The only major criticism is that the merchandise cue was ridiculously long even an hour before bell time. I guess the venue and possibly WWE didn’t realize that for most people this was the first time they went to a show, so it seemed everybody wanted a shirt to remember the night.
Pro wrestling live is this weird place where you completely decide yourself how much fun you want to have when you are there. I could probably poke holes in most of the matches and complain about the recent booking, but I, and it seemed that by far most of the crowd, decided to just have fun and be wrestling fans, tapping into the fun part and just enjoyed
what was for many a once in a lifetime opportunity. If WWE or anything else comes around and you can afford to go, I would strongly recommend it as it is a completely different experience live and one of the most fun three hours I have had being at any event in recent memory.
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