WWE Vienna, Austria, live results: Big Cass vs. Rusev

Submitted by reader Markus Gronemann

After almost exactly three years (the last show was on 11/16/2013), WWE returned to Austria’s capital with a RAW house show. 

The show started at 7 pm local time and ran pretty much exactly 2.5 hours. They had a large, Titantron-like video wall, along with two smaller screens at the entrance. At the beginning of the show, they ran pre-taped promos by Kevin Owens and Seth Rollins, talking about their match and later also ran one by Charlotte, talking about her title match with Sasha Banks. They also ran some WWE 2K17 (who sponsored the tour) footage, along with some ads for the WWE Network (specifically a DX clip) on there.

– Big Cass (w/ Enzo Amore) beat Rusev (w/ Lana) after a big boot

Cass & Enzo originally were announced for a tag title four way with The New Day, Cesaro & Sheamus and Gallows & Anderson (who also were not on the card). Rusev was originally announced versus Sami Zayn, but had wrestled Reigns for the U.S. title the previous two nights.

There really wasn’t much to this match. Cass and Enzo were over and people seemed to know their catch-phrases during the intro. Lana then came out and introduced Rusev, insulting Vienna in the process. At one point, Lana slapped Big Cass behind the referee’s back, prompting Enzo to jump on the apron to complain, so she slapped him a few times. The referee then ejected her from ringside to a big pop and Enzo shuffle-dancing on the apron in joy. Cass won after a big boot shortly after that.

– Neville, Darren Young and The Golden Truth beat Bo Dallas, Titus O’Neill and The Shining Stars when Neville pinned Titus after a Red Arrow

This originally was announced as a Neville/Dallas singles match and Golden truth/Young vs. Shining Stars/Titus in a six-men, but they also did the same eight-men match on the two previous nights.

The faces came out separately, while the heels came out together to Titus’ music. Fun match with all eight guys doing some decent work. The faces all were over and Goldust especially showed that he is a seasoned and good worker, as while most of his stuff was basic, it all looked really smooth. They did the usual stuff with atomic drops to everyone and the faces whippins the heels into the center of the ring, bonking them into each other.

At one point, Goldust got carried away gvign everyone inverted atomic drops that he even had the ref up for one, until Truth notified him to it and Goldust stopped in horror and apologized. Neville at one point did an Asai moonsault to the outside, which pretty much was one of the only high-risk moves we got all night. Neville got the win with the Red Arrow on Titus. 

– Body Slam Challenge: Braun Strowman beat Big Show

This was basically a regular match, which could only end via body slam. Strowman repeatedly shoulder tackled Show early, who staggered into the ropes and looked concerned. They worked each other over for a bit and went back and forth. Show at one point gave Strowman a snap suplex, which was funny as you would think that would be more impressive than a body slam. They brawled around at ringside for a bit. Show went to the top rope and Strowman crotched him, leading to Strowman managing to slam Show for the win. Post-match, Strowman attacked Show, leading to a babyface comeback and a choke slam against Brauny the Strowman to make the people happy.

– WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte beat Sasha after a rollup with her feet on the rope

Sasha was really over here and Charlotte also had her fans, with some whoo-ing going on. They had a good little match, but nothing compared to some of the matches they had together in the past. Both worked hard though and did some of their usual spots, although nothing too risky and we neither saw the Figure Eight nor the Banks Statement at any point. Charlotte eventually rolled her up and put her feet up on the middle rope for more leverage and the win.

– Sami Zayn beat Chris Jericho with the Blue Thunder Bomb

Sami was advertised to face Rusev on the latest card they released, while Jericho was only announced as appearing.

This was really entertaining and along with the main event and the tag title match, the best match on the show. Jericho and his scarf came out first to a pretty big pop and Y2J chants. He is so good at facials, body language and portraying his current character just by the way he walks to the ring. He cut a promo on Vienna, telling us repeatedly to shut up, as the Y2J chants wouldn’t stop.

He eventually succeeded to turn the crowd on him, even though most people probably just loved to hate him. Someone called him a stupid idiot, to which he reacted, asking if we knew what happens, when we call Chris Jericho a stupid idiot. He had the list with him and asked if we thought he’d put Vienna, Austria on the list. This prompted Yes! chants. He said that Austria didn’t deserve to be on the list, but he said how he had been in Berlin the night before and he loved Germany and he put Berlin on the list (there is a long-standing rivalry between Austria and Germany, so people hated that of course). He said he’d still give “stinky Vienna” a gift, the Gift of Jericho and how we should drink it in. Sami then came out to another big pop.

The referee wanted Jericho to take his scarf off and he refused, so the ref and Jericho got into a shouting match about it, with the ref even backing Jericho into the corner, getting on the middle rope and screaming at him to take the scarf off. Jericho then looked at the crowd confused and motioned to us who the ref was crazy. Sami eventually stole the scarf and played torero with Jericho, who tried to get it back. This prompted some Olé Olé Olé chants. Jericho eventually got it back and celebrated like he had just won the world title. Sami then started the match by clotheslining him.

They had a good, old-school match with Jericho working him over and even getting him into the Walls of Jericho, after Sami had fought him off before. Jericho reacted to some ringside fans and chants, screaming at them to speak English as he couldn’t understand them. Sami reversed out of it for a near fall. Sami went for the Helluva kick a few times, but Jericho always evaded it. Sami eventually won with a Blue Thunder Bomb.

– Bayley & Alicia Fox beat Nia Jax & Dana Brooke when Bayley pinned Dana after a Belly to Bailey

Emma came out first as the special referee. The heels came out next, followed by Bayley and Alicia. Bayley was pretty over, but not in a way that blew the roof off the house or anything. They had her inflatable balloon people there for the entrance, which was neat. A fan had signs for both Dana and Alicia there. Dana was happy and grabbed the sign and posed with it, prompting Alicia to do the same. Dana then was mad that the fan didn’t just bring a sign for her.

Decent match with all four women working to the best of their abilities. Fox at one point worked over Dana’s arm, to which she screamed “don’t break my biceps”. Bayley looked at her from the apron and said “your bicep’s not a bone, you can’t break that”. The heels got the heat on Fox and worked her over until she hot-tagged Bayley. Nia at one point had them both by the throats but they escaped and came back with a double dropkick on her. Bayley then hit the Belly to Bailey on Dana for the win. Alicia actually was looking around for the fan who made her sign to autograph it but couldn’t find her.

After the match, Dana was still crawling around ringside on all fours. She got into the ring and screamed how she should have won and wasn’t really pinned. Emma came in to calm her down, Dana shoved her and Emma kicked her in the stomach and gave her a butterfly suplex to a big pop and celebrated for a bit with the fans after that.

– WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) beat Cesaro & Sheamus after Kofi pinned Sheamus with a rollup

New Day were really over and are a fun live act. Cesaro and Sheamus came out on the ramp each to their own music with Cesaro being universally loved and Sheamus being hated. The fans wanted Cesaro to start and eventually Sheamus agreed, only to tag himself in within a few seconds to major heat. All four worked a solid-house show match, with Cesaro and Kofi especially working well together. For those who didn’t know, Cesaro is one strong dude, once catching Big E with ease and once catching Kofi only inches from the mat as he came off the ropes, hoisting him back up for a slam.

Sheamus and Cesaro would bicker back and forth. Sheamus was the bully heel here, and at one point Cesaro at ringside said in German “every night it’s the same thing with that guy”. Cesaro and Kofi each flipped over on respective monkey flips, landing on their feet, and then shook hands, which Xavier celebrated at ringside, shouting “they are shaking hands as a display of sportsmanship and mutual respect for their in-ring abilities!” Sheamus then clocked Kofi from the apron only a minute later, which upset Cesaro.

Cesaro at one point teased the giant swing, but turned it into a slingshot. He eventually hit an about 15-round giant swing to a major pop and transitioned into the sharpshooter, but Kofi made the ropes. He went for the Neutralizer but Kofi backdropped out of it. At the finish, Cesaro was in his corner, ready to finally hit the Neutralizer, when Sheamus tagged himself in and demanded he finish the match. As he argues with Cesaro, Kofi rolled him up for the win. 

– WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens beat Seth Rollins in a street fight after hitting a low blow with a kendo stick

Rollins came out first to a big pop. Owens was out second, also to a good reaction. Owens immediately scurried to ringside and grabbed a chair. Rollins followed suit and they fought with chairs for a bit, until Rollins smashed Owens’ chair out of his hands and Owens fled again. After Rollins hit a plancha (landing on his feet), they brawled around ringside for a bit. A young fan screamed at Owens to “go back to Canada”. Owens, smugly replied “I’ll gladly go back to Canada. But you, you do me one favor: you stay here and please, never come to Canada.” He got back into the ring, looked at the guy again and added: “Also, get a new haircut”. Good times.

The crowd chanted for tables next. Owens teased getting one but told us that we would not be getting any tables. After a bit, Rollins went to ringside and actually got a table to a big pop, but Owens attacked him before he could set it up and threw it out of the ring again. Eventually, Rollins threw Owens to the outside, got it back and set it up. As he went to grab Owens, he hit him with a kendo stick and then power bombed Rollins through the table for a near fall. They did some more kendo stick spots and Rollins went to the other side of the ring, got another table and propped it up in the corner. He went for a pedigree, which Owens backdropped out of. After a few more minutes, Rollins was ready to finally hit the pedigree, when Owes grabbed the kendo stick, hit a low-blow with it and pinned Rollins for the win.

With Rollins still down, Owens cut a promo, starting out like a sympathetic babyface, saying that he was not supposed to say this, but after coming here for the very first time and seeing how the fans received and treated them, that without the shadow of a doubt, Vienna, Austria was… the absolute worst place he had ever been to in his entire life! He would make sure, that as soon as he got back to Canada, the world’s greatest country, he’d talk to WWE officials and specifically request they never come back here again.

He said they would listen to him, as he was Kevin Owens, the greatest professional wrestler in the history of this company, the WWE Universal champion and that this was The Kevin Owens Show. He got on the middle ropes as he finished his promos, posed with the belt and demanded they play his music. Of course, at that point, Rollins snuck up behind him with the kendo stick and hit him in the back. He then slowly realized how Owens was positioned, so he hoisted him up buckle bombed him through the table still propped up in the opposite corner.

He then cut a promo of his own, saying how he had been coming to Vienna for ten years (well, technically he was here for two dates in March of 2007 and then had a match on the last WWE house show here in 2013), we had always had his back and that he would also go to WWE officials and specifically request that they would return to Vienna every year from now on.

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Notes:

The local promotion agency gave the attendance as 6,000 to the press (a person I know works for a local newspaper and had an interview with talent scheduled at the vent, and that wad the number they gave to him). I would have guessed it at closer to 5,000, but I am by no means especially good at these kinds of estimation so I’ll take them at face value. As was already the case three years ago, there were noticeably less kids in attendance than in previous years (they ran Vienna annually from 2007 to 2011), with a lot more people from their early 20s well into their 40s making up a big chunk of the crowd. There still were kids with their parents there obviously, but I noticed a lot less of kids rushing to the guardrails at every false finish, which was a common sight at those earlier shows.

Ticket prices also were steeper than last time, as the cheapest tickets were available for about 45.30 euros (~$45), but those were those way in the back. Other categories were available at between 65.40 euros and 86.40 euros (~$71 to $94), but those were still all on the risers. Floor seats went for 98.20 euros (~$107), with ringside tickets going for a whooping 121.70 euros (~$133) – I wanted to get some riser seats, but just as I looked a few weeks back, the had a few front-row ringside seats available, so I bit the bullet and got two of those. There also were golden circle/VIP ringside tickets available, which included a meet & greet with a WWE star, three merchandise items, an autograph book and a VIP ticket holder for 444 euros  (~$484).

There hardly was any local press for the event beforehand, at least none that I noticed, besides an interview with Kevin Owens a few weeks ago on the website on one of the free newspapers that’s available mostly in subway stations. This paper also covers wrestling (mostly WWE and on ocassion TNA and UFC) on a regular basis.

There were no autograph or meet & greet sessions scheduled, but local Vienna soccer club Rapid Austria currently runs a series of events called the “cage tour”. Some of their players visit public soccer courts, which mostly are fenced off areas in parks and where local kids (mostly with an immigration background) play soccer. They had one such event during the afternoon, at a “soccer cage” close to the arena where the card took place and they brought along Cesaro and Sheamus to train with the kids, give them some advice on technique and gameplay and do some penalty shootouts. An article on this event (as well as pictures from last night’s show), including a video of Sheamus and Cesaro performing penalty shootouts can be found here.

The tour at this point seems to have taken a toll on at least some of the talent, as one person who was backstage noted to me that some of the guys really looked tired, drawn out and not in a very good mood, noting how Enzo and Rusev looked rather pissed off.

The crowd, while certainly lively and into the show was also quick to go quiet again. They did react to most obvious spots and major stars, but didn’t seem to get into all of the matches, with chants only sparsely appearing and dying down again quickly.

They had two booths, with merchandise for most of the people on the card (shirts were 30 euros/~$33), with the notable exception being that they also had Cena shirts (who isn’t even on the brand) as well. Reigns wasn’t on the show, but of course they still had merch for him as well. They also sold replica belts (at 400 euros/~$435) and a replica Money in the Bank briefcase. No Brock, Goldberg or Undertaker merch though, which I guess would also have done well. From the looks of it, they were almost sold out of most of the shirts after the show ended, at least at the one stand I was at.

Overall, it was a fun, if somewhat typical house show and I guess at 6,000 people and those ticket prices, Vienna should be a lucrative market for them (also, they didn’t run anywhere else in Austria, so people from other areas probably came as well; they did run one show in Innsbruck/Austria in May of 2014). As RAW and SmackDown now both run on a free TV station that is widely available to most cable and satellite households here, I guess they will be back within a year or two, if interest levels keep up.