My live experience at WWE SmackDown in Montreal, Canada

I’m from Montreal and I’ve seen so many big moments in the history of WWE at both the Bell Centre and the old Montreal Forum.

During my lifetime, I saw Jacques Rougeau’s first retirement match in ’94, the Montreal Screwjob, and them trying to replicate the Screwjob twice — once at No Way Out 2003 and another at Breaking Point. I also saw Hogan return on the Raw after WrestleMania 18, and that’s just a few of the moments I’ve experienced over the years. But outside of Elimination Chamber in 2023, for the last 10 years or so, I’ve stayed away from going to TV tapings and mostly stuck to house shows. That’s mostly because I’m not a big fan of TV tapings — they tend to be long, and it’s kind of boring waiting through the commercial breaks, especially when you see wrestlers just standing in the ring waiting for the break to end.

But I broke my own rule and went to the SmackDown taping last night since I knew Cena was showing up, and let’s face it — I wasn’t going to miss the chance to see Cena one last time. I wasn’t as careless as I was in 2023 and bought my ticket right away, knowing it would be cheaper than if I waited a few weeks.

I actually got a pretty good seat in the 100 section for $150, which was a good price considering that same seat went up a couple of weeks later and doubled to $300 within three weeks of tickets going on sale.

The first thing I noticed when I got into the arena was how popular Cena was. The merchandise kiosk lines were really long, mostly for Cena gear, as I saw a lot of fans wearing his shirts in the arena. Personally, if the lines weren’t that long, I would have bought the SummerSlam ’97 shirt with Bret Hart and Undertaker on it, since I’m a big fan of retro wrestling shirts. But I wasn’t going to wait 30 minutes just for a shirt, so I gave up and went to my seat.

The show was supposed to start at 7:30, but since they only had one Main Event match to tape before SmackDown, it started at 7:40.

The first match, which will probably air on Main Event next week, was Axiom vs. Carmelo Hayes. I really wasn’t expecting those two to have a match on that show, but they did, and it was a pretty decent opener to get fans excited. The match ended with Hayes trying to cheat by turning Axiom’s mask around (he didn’t fully manage to) before hitting his finisher for the win.

Then we got the introduction of the announce team. I have to say, Joe Tessitore has a pretty awesome theme song, which I wasn’t expecting. Wade Barrett came out to his old theme song and played along with the crowd, even doing his old gesture when the “boom” hit.

After a few video packages promoting other shows, SmackDown began with Cena coming to the ring to a tremendous ovation. I don’t know how it sounded on TV, but in the arena it rivaled Hogan’s ovation on the Raw after WrestleMania 18. The difference was that Cena got straight to business instead of milking it like Hogan did. Cena’s promo was really well received and gave me goosebumps, seeing and hearing the crowd shower him with love. Then Logan Paul came out to tremendous heat, cut his promo, and got beat down by Cena before Cody Rhodes made the save to another huge ovation. That surprised me, since just half an hour earlier Cody was getting booed — probably being attached to Cena helped him get over that night. They then announced that Cena would wrestle in a tag team match in the main event, and the crowd went wild.

Next was the tag match between the MCMG and the MFT. Shelley and Sabin made their entrance, then stood in the ring for what felt like forever, waiting for the commercial break and a video package to end. After about five minutes, the MFT came out and the match started.

I hate how quickly MCMG’s momentum has dropped — from winning the tag titles in their debut to being fed to Solo’s group in less than a year. The match itself was decent, but fans knew who was winning, so they didn’t get too invested. Outside of a few chants for Solo and some clapping to support MCMG, the crowd was quiet. As expected, MFT won, then Solo cut a promo that drew a strong reaction — not quite as hated as Logan Paul earlier, but still booed.

Nick Aldis then came out and brought a surprise for the Montreal crowd: hometown favorite Sami Zayn as Solo’s opponent.

During the commercial break, Zayn milked the ovation by going into the crowd and interacting with fans. It was surreal — I honestly thought this would be the first WWE show in Montreal in a long time without a Quebecer on the card. Boy, was I wrong. Sami was as over as Cena and Rhodes, and I hope this leads to something bigger for him, as he proved he’s top-level talent.

The match was good, with the crowd firmly behind Zayn. Just when it looked like he would lose in front of his hometown, Sami won to a huge ovation and escaped a beatdown from the whole faction.

Side note: something that’s always bothered me in wrestling — why are heels so dumb? All a face has to do to escape a beatdown is roll out of the ring, and the heels just stand there like there’s an invisible force field preventing them from following. Makes no sense, but it always makes me laugh.

After a few backstage interviews and another break, we got the birthday bash segment with Charlotte and Alexa. I’m impressed by how quickly the crew can set up for segments in such limited time. Charlotte was surprisingly over, considering she was one of the most hated women in wrestling just a few months ago. The segment was fun, and Charlotte seemed to be having a great time with this version of her character.

The Charlotte vs. Chelsea Green match followed. During the break, they removed everything from the set except the cake — so you knew someone was getting it in the face. Sure enough, Chelsea took the cake to a good pop, and Charlotte won the match. It was a really good match overall, and Chelsea is a strong heel who gets legit reactions from the crowd — fun to see live.

Finally, the main event: Cena and Rhodes vs. McIntyre and Paul. The crowd went nuts for Rhodes and Cena’s entrances, and the energy stayed high throughout. We knew Cena wouldn’t take many bumps due to his Hollywood commitments, but Cody handled most of the work, making the hot tag to Cena even more exciting. When Cena tagged in and hit his “Five Moves of Doom” on Logan, the place exploded. After Cena hit the AA, we thought he’d get the win, but McIntyre made the save, and Logan hit a low blow for the DQ finish, which drew heavy boos. This set up the double main event for Clash in Paris, as Cena and Logan brawled to the back (we didn’t see much of it live), and McIntyre laid out Rhodes with a Claymore into the steel steps — which looked even more brutal live than on TV.

After SmackDown ended, we got two dark matches. The first was Bayley vs. Raquel Rodriguez, which was solid but not memorable. The second was Sami Zayn vs. El Grande Americano, mostly to give Sami the closing moment and send the crowd home happy with multiple hometown wins.

In the end, I had a really good time at the show. We can complain about WWE ticket prices all we want, but if the right stars are advertised, fans will still pay. This show was almost sold out, with lots of families and kids in attendance — and that’s the most important thing, as they’re the next generation of fans.

While I wouldn’t necessarily pay those prices again, especially for a TV taping, I’m glad I got to experience this. Chanting “Thank you, Cena” with a sold-out Bell Centre crowd is another moment in my fandom I won’t forget anytime soon.