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I took my kids to their first WWE Event, a house show in Rockford, IL tonight. Here's the recap:
- The house is about 65-70% full.
- In a class move, the announcer stated that Daniel Bryan won't be here because of a death in his family. They offered refunds through the first 20 minutes.
- Randy Orton is the first to come out, claiming that the real reason Bryan isn't there is because he's afraid of Orton. So he called an open challenge and Enter the Shield. Roman Reigns asked if Orton will take him on or if he's just a cream puff. Orton says he knows it would be 3-on-1, so no. Rollins and Ambrose take a powder and Reigns asked again. Bell rang and we've got our first match. Five minutes in, Reigns tuned up the Superman Punch and RybAxel comes in to make the save, causing the DQ. Ambrose and Rollins come in, Shield clears house and Ambrose calls for the six-man tag later.
- Next up, Fandango and Layla took on Xavier Woods and Cameron with Naomi at ringside. The guys do most of the work in a typical match with Woods getting the pin. Decent match.
- It's Party Time...all the time! Adam Rose came out with entourage, including a guy in a penguin suit, a guy in a French fry suit and a guy in a chicken hat. Really fun entrance, I was smiling, but I like Russell Brand. Don't judge. He took on Heath Slater. Pure comedy match in the beginning with Rose riding Slater around the ring at one point. Once things got serious, Slater worked Rose over for awhile before Rose literally Hulked up. A few chops, a modified Bronco Buster (he may do that in NXT, but I don't know the name) and his finisher and the entourage comes out after the three count to celebrate Rose's victory. If he's allowed to do that on screen, that's going to be a REALLY fun character. Santino should be nervous.
- Tamina Snuka and Summer Rae take on Natayla (big reaction) and Paige. Nattie sold most of the match with Paige getting the hot tag. Paige locked in the submission on Summer and they take home the win. As soon as she went for the move, the crowd reacted. It's definitely getting over.
- Jack Swagger came out with Zeb. Zeb with an easy heat promo, saying he was glad to be in Peoria. Classic dirty promo that had a mixed crowd completely booing him within two minutes. Out came R-Truth to take on Swagger. They started out with a crowd contest, alternating between "What's Up" and "We the People." Swagger dominated most of the early part of the match. At one point, Swagger and Zeb lock hands while Swagger has Truth in an abdominal stretch. Twice they got away with it, the ref finally catches it the third time. At one point, Swagger has Truth in the ankle lock and Truth was going for the ropes. Zeb pulled the ropes back and the ref ejected him. As they were arguing, Truth got a school boy roll up for the three. Really good story told in this match, TV-worthy and easily the best of the first half of the show. Intermission followed.
- Bo Dallas came out first for the second half. He is so wet coming out that he's dripping onto the mat. He started with a Bolieve promo that I expect will be the prototype for his television promos. One problem: he has almost the exact same cadence of speech as his brother. He took on Justin Gabriel. One funny spot, Dallas tried to kip up, but didn't get his balance and ended up stumbling to the outside of the ring. Gabriel is looking better, but this was a glorified enhancement match. Dallas for the win.
- Triple threat tag team match was up next. Cody Rhodes and Goldust came out to a tremendous reaction. Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal were next. Their reaction was somewhat less. Very good reaction to the Usos as well, but the Rhodes brothers had the best reaction. During the match, 3MB got more in on Goldust than they they have any right to get. They dominated the first half of the match. Dust finally made the hot tag to Cody. Soon after, the Usos tagged in, hit their high spots and got the win.
- Right after that match, Kane came out and laid out all six members of the match. Goldust gave the most resistance and got choke slammed, followed by a Tombstone on Cody. After laying everyone out, he left as quickly as he came.
- Main Event of the evening finished everything up. RybAxel come out first with Orton following and The Shield coming out last. Story of the match was not allowing Reigns to tag in. Finally he did, the Shield wolf pack took over, spear, goodnight Randy.
Overall, a really fun night, though without Bryan, it was hard to not think of the show as the B show.
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