A live report sent to POST Wrestling from Brett in Vancouver:
The show started fifteen minutes late for whatever reason, but that worked out well for the crowd as it was a little late arriving. Looked like a pretty full Pacific Coliseum, aside from tarped-off sections, and had to be around 5,000 fans. (Note: WrestleTix listed approx. 7,500 tickets out for the show)
- Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy
Chad Gable cut a pretty standard heel promo, and also hit a really impressive rolling german on Dawkins with ease. Profits got the win after Gable was put on Dawkins’ shoulders and Montez came off the top to hit him with a blockbuster. Winner: Street Profits
Backstage Finn Balor & Damien Priest beat up Rey Mysterio and threw him through a door.
- Nikki Ash vs. Dana Brooke 24/7 Title Match
The finish came when Nikki got a roll-up and had her feet on the ropes to win the title. Winner: Nikki Ash (new champ) After the match, referee Aja Smith came out to inform the match official about the feet. Nikki pie-faced her, Aja rolls her up for the win. Winner: Referee Aja Smith (new champ) During the celebration, the original official tries to roll up Aja and make the count himself, but only gets a 2. Nikki then comes in from behind to roll up Aja for the win. Winner: Nikki Ash (new champ) Dana comes off the top with a cross body, pins Nikki for the win, then ran away. Winner: Dana Brooke (new champ) Hopefully all these results make it to the wiki.
At this point, an acapella version of White Rabbit played, some red lights went on near the entrance, but it was basically just a two-minute interlude.
- Alexa Bliss & Asuka vs. Damage Ctrl (Sky & Kai) w/ Bayley Women’s Tag Title Match
No Lily with Alexa, presumably she couldn’t make it across the border. For the finish, Asuka locked in the Asuka Lock after Iyo hit a blind tag on Kai’s back. After Dakota was able to roll out of it, Iyo hit a moonsault to Asuka’s legs, not super accurate, but very fluid. With Alexa down and out, Damage Ctrl secured the clean pin.
Winners: Damage Ctrl
A quick AJ Styles video promo
.@FightOwensFight wore a @Canucks jersey to #WWEVancouver and a “Bruce, there it is!” chant broke out. 🗣
🎥: @CanuckClay pic.twitter.com/ECYB4jCYZb
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) September 25, 2022
- Austin Theory vs. Kevin Owens
Austin Theory comes out to a huge chorus of boos. He runs down the city, pretty standard heel stuff. Then out came Kevin Owens wearing a Vancouver Canucks jersey to a massive pop. They go back and forth on the mic, nothing earth-shattering but all very entertaining and worked well for the crowd. Owens mentioned how the jersey was a gift from Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau (noted WWE and KO fan who he got to meet at the draft in Montreal earlier this year) and that kicked off the “Bruce there it is” chants. Owens challenged Theory to a match for the briefcase, Theory of course says no but relents and gives Owens a match without the briefcase stip. Good match, but I missed the finish.
Winner: Kevin Owens
Intermission was exactly 15 minutes
- The Miz vs. Matt Riddle
Miz with some basic heel promo work. Riddle comes out, the first name included, no scooter though, I was surprised he didn’t cut a Vancouver weed-centric promo. Long match here, the whole segment with promo went well over 20 minutes. The finish came when Riddle hit an RKO out of nowhere and sent Miz packing. No involvement from Dexter Loomis at all. Winner: Matt Riddle
- Finn Balor w/ Damien Priest vs. Rey Mysterio
No Rhea Ripley or Dominik to be seen here. Finn comes out and says they already disposed of Rey and the ref should count him out. Pretty decent fast-paced match. Damian Priest was thrown out of ringside for the easy pop. Rey hit the 619 then as he was setting up for the West Coast Pop, Dominic runs down to the apron to distract him. The finish came just after when Finn sat out from a sunset flip position and used Dominic for leverage and got the pin. Rey stayed in the ring a little after the match for a round of applause. Winner: Finn Balor
- Main Event: Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles – Universal Title Match
AJ made his entrance first then Roman’s music hit, he took nearly a full 2 minutes just to make his appearance, with no Bloodline with him at all. Roman cut a quick promo about how he came from Miami and it’s an important place, he showed up, he did his job, and he’s leaving. AJ called him a bitch and the match started. VERY slow pace to start, but things definitely got better as the match wore on. The finish came when AJ went for some sort of springboard maneuver, missed, and opened himself for a spear. A clean win for Roman after a few false finishes prior to that. Winner: Roman Reigns
The show ran 2.5 hours almost down to the minute, even after the late start. Good show, very well attended, despite the fact the building isn’t a good one and isn’t very accessible via public transit.