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WWE Holiday Tour Live Event Review (Atlanta, Georgia) December 27th, 2022

By Joel McIntyre • Published 28th December 2022
wwe live holiday tour bray wyatt

I had the pleasure of attending the WWE live event (house show) in Atlanta, Georgia at the State Farm Arena on December 27th, 2022. This was originally supposed to be the Day 1 Premium Live Event.

However, they canceled that earlier this year and decided to give us a live event on the annual holiday tour instead. I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t rather have the PLE but WWE live events are always fun so I didn’t mind it. I had decent seats (Section 106, Seat 11) and there were over 7,000 in attendance so it was a pretty good night overall.

We started off with Alicia Taylor hyping us up for the event. It was a chance for people to hear what is coming up while also getting their last chance to get to their seats. I don’t know the specific numbers, but WWE has to do a good number on merchandise sales at these events. I left my seat two or three times to check out the merch stand and every single time, the line was wrapped around the corner of the building.

Match 1: Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair versus Becky Lynch ends in a no contest

This was the first match of the night that started out hot. It was advertised as a triple threat involving Bayley but ended up just being Becky and Bianca. The crowd was equally behind both men as there were dueling Let’s Go Becky and EST chants. It was the standard good match between the two but didn’t have a chance to hit that second gear. Becky did that same spot where she pays homage to European wrestling. It looks so smooth when she does it. There was a somewhat worrisome spot where Bianca tried the KOD but Becky held on to the ropes, so Bianca dumped her over the top and Becky banged her face smack off the ring apron. Luckily it was nothing serious. Becky tried the Dis-Arm-her but Bianca lifted her up for the KOD but wasn’t able to hit it. The finish came when Bayley hit the ring and attacked both women leading to a no contest. Bayley then ran down the city of Atlanta and went to attack the women again, but Becky and Bianca double-teamed and disposed of her fairly quickly. It was an easy way to get the crowd into it so I don’t mind.

Omos then makes his way out with MVP. The crowd literally had zero reaction to Omos but MVP was able to garner some heat. He gets on the microphone and talks about how he’s never lost in Atlanta. I don’t know if that’s true or not. I’m sure one of the detectives on social media can find that out for me. He then runs down Atlanta for losing. He brings up The Braves, which doesn’t really make sense since they just won a World Series last year. He brings up the Atlanta Falcons blowing that Super Bowl lead to the Patriots because of course he does. It never ends. Finally, he runs down Bobby Lashley. He mentions how far Bobby has fallen since he ditched MVP. He keeps mentioning how he can’t come to work because he’s suspended so you kind of knew what was coming. Almost right on point, Bobby Lashley’s music hits and he makes his way out and the roof almost blows off the arena. Clearly, The Almighty is over in Atlanta. So this led to…

WWE ATL2

Match 2: Bobby Lashley defeats Omos with a Spear

This was the standard Omos match. Big man spots. MVP interfered. The biggest pop of the match came when Lashley suplexed Omos. Eventually, Bobby Lashley nailed the Spear on Omos for the win. Nothing special but the crowd was into it because Lashley is extremely over.

Match 3: The New Day & Madcap Moss defeat Imperium via Xavier Woods Elbow drop

Imperium was out next to a surprising amount of heat. People are legitimately impressed with GUNTHER but still booed Imperium. Madcap was out next to a minimal pop and then the NXT Tag team Champions The New Day came out to a big pop. Xavier Woods is from Atlanta so he got the hometown treatment. The match was okay. A lot of shenanigans between The New Day early. GUNTHER’s chops sound like legit gunshots live. It’s insane. There was a “You Can’t Wrestle” chant directed at Imperium at one point in a moment that almost made me get up and leave the arena. Then again we continue to support the Falcons so I guess it makes sense that our tastes aren’t always accurate. New Day and Madcap won when Woods hit his top rope Elbow drop.

Match 4: Karrion Kross defeated Drew Gulak via Elbow to the back of the head

Kross and Scarlett came out to a little bit of heat. Nobody cared about Drew Gulak. The match was what it was but continuing to put Kross in these matches with enhancement talent that nobody really cares about isn’t helping him. He won with an elbow to the back of the head. Definitely the worst of the night so far.

Match 5: Braun Strowman and Ricochet defeated The Usos by DQ in an Undisputed WWE Tag Title match

Ricochet and Braun received good pops. Sami Zayn received the biggest pop of this group of talent. Jey Uso also lives in the Atlanta area. Sami Zayn caused the DQ when he pushed Ricochet off the top rope. All of the Bloodline then attacked Ricochet and Braun which led to…

Kevin Owens ran down to the ring to the type of pop you would expect him to get. He ran off the Bloodline with a Steel chair and then challenged The Usos and Sami to a six-man tag, which was the advertised match anyway.

Match 6: Kevin Owens, Ricochet, and Braun Strowman defeat The Bloodline via the Stunner

The crowd was into this match more than probably any other besides the main event. Watching Sami trying to do Roman’s moves will never not pop me. They did a good job of avoiding the Sami and KO confrontation until the end when Owend hit the Stunner on Sami for the win. The crowd loved it and they love KO.

This is where intermission came in. Nothing really of note other than promoting old programs with Sasha on them. She’s not coming back, people. At least not anytime soon.

Out comes Legado Del Fantasma. It was Zelina Vega’s birthday so naturally, she didn’t want to spend it in a crap hole like Atlanta so Santos said he was going to give her a present in the form of a victory. For those who have asked, Santos did get physical in this match and did not appear to show any signs of being hurt from the apparent injury at MSG the night before.

Match 7: Legado Del Fantasma (Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toro) defeated The Brawling Brutes (Sheamus & Ridge Holland) via Rollup

This was another pretty good match. Legado got a surprising amount of heat thanks to Santos and Zelina. Escobar tried getting involved but got disposed of by Sheamus. Ridge came in but got caught by surprise with a rollup by Cruz Del Toro. The crowd definitely did not expect the match to end so suddenly but there we were. It was a good match but lacked that second gear that could’ve made it a great match.

Jinder Mahal then came out and also ran down Atlanta. He says he’s a former WWE Champion (don’t remind us) and he is issuing an open challenge. The crowd erupted when the music of Bray Wyatt hit the arena. Bray Wyatt slowly made his way out which led to….

Match 8: Bray Wyatt Defeated Jinder Mahal with Sister Abigail

The match was what it was. The crowd was into everything Wyatt did. If anybody tries to tell you Bray isn’t in shape or that he isn’t over. I suggest you just stop talking to them because they’re a lost cause at this point. Bray easily got the second biggest pop of the night. Wyatt wins with Sister Abigail.

Match 9: Steel Cage Match – Austin Theory defeats Seth Freakin Rollins via A-Town Down

Match of the night here. It received the only “THIS IS AWESOME” chant of the night. Seth Rollins received the biggest pop of the night as the crowd in Atlanta sang along with his song. Austin Theory received an initial pop as he is from the Atlanta area but the boos quickly rang in. There were several big spots, including a superplex from outside the cage into the ring. There was a ref bump and then Rollins hit the Pedigree. Referee Jessika Carr ran inside the cage to count but Theory kicked out. Eventually, Theory hit the old nut shot which led to A-Town Down and the victory.

After the match, Austin Theory got on the mic and ran down Atlanta after he attacked Seth Rollins again. He then stated we would never see Seth in the ring again. He goes to attack but Rollins gets the upper hand. Seth hits the STOMP on Theory before grabbing the mic and thanking the fans to send them home happy.

The show ended right around the 10:45 mark so a little over a 3-hour WWE live event.

Top five pops in my opinion were:

Seth Freakin Rollins

Bray Wyatt

Bobby Lashley

Kevin Owens

Bianca Belair/Becky Lynch

Yeah I know that’s technically 6, but Becky and Bianca were really even in fan reactions. Sue me.

Top heat of the night goes to:

Imperium

Bayley

Jinder Mahal

Austin Theory

Final Thoughts

It was an entertaining show. Sure, I would have preferred the Day 1 PLE but what WWE gave us was a nice substitute. Quite a few Atlanta natives competed tonight (Theory, Jey Uso, Woods) and we got to see just Bray Wyatt’s second match since WrestleMania 37. We were excited about that so all in all, I have no complaints. I can’t wait for WWE to come back.

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Thanks for reading. Check out my TJRWrestling writing archive here. I’m on Twitter @GiftedMoney talking about wrestling among other things, so feel free to message me on there with any thoughts or comments. Until next time.