Superstars
- The Usos beat Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal with the Superfly Splash in a
pretty good match. The Usos' entrance is really cool live, but it's pretty hard
to hear them. Actually audio problems were pretty common all night.
- Big E. Langston beat Zack Ryder in a borderline squash. Ryder got a bit of
offense in, but nothing to write home about. I wonder who he ticked off to get
saddled with that awful new ring gear. Big E. is a beast who moves very well and
is very fluid in the ring. If he can avoid serious injuries, he's got a long,
successful career ahead of him. Wish they had let him keep the 5-count when he
got called up to the main roster though. Both guys are wasted on Superstars, in
my opinon.
Dark Match
- Well, if you can call it a match. CM Punk and his tag team partner Ken D.
O'Stick beat the hell out of Curtis Axel and Paul Heyman for a few minutes,
before getting the pin on Axel with the GTS and chasing off Heyman. Surprised
this was even the dark match, since last I checked WWE wasn't in the habit of
giving away PPV matches the week of, even if it's not going on TV.
Notes
Surprisingly not a sell-out crowd. No taped off sections, but there were
scattered empty seats all over the building.
The "Randy Savage" chants throughout the night weren't just a case of Canada
being Bizzaroland. I'm not sure if you could see him on TV, but on the hard
camera side by the ring announcer area, there was a fan dressed like a dead
ringer for late-WCW Savage, with a shiny silver outfit from his WWF days. Even
had the mannerisms down.
It's kind of scary how over Daniel Bryan is. It's one thing to hear the "Yes!"
chants on TV, it's quite another when there are thousands of people around you
and you can't see a single one who isn't doing it. From where I was sitting, it
sounded like he was getting bigger pops than Edge, which is just mind-blowing.
The Wyatt Family's entrance isn't near as cool live. On TV it looks like the
entire arena goes pitch black, but in person the ramp and ring area are
surprisingly well-lit. It's still one of the coolest things on TV, but in a live
setting it loses a lot of the magic.
Biggest Pops (based on my section, may have been different
depending on where you were in the building):
1. Daniel Bryan. I couldn't see a single person in their seat whenever he was in
the ring.
2. Edge.
3. Three-way tie between CM Punk, Goldust (who I'd love to see back on a regular
basis, looks like he's still got plenty left in the tank), and Santino. Some may
find that surprising, but keep in mind Santino is from down the Gardiner
Expressway in Mississauga, and we love our fellow Canadians up here.
Runner-up: Pick a Canadian. Even Renee Young (who used to host the sports recap
segments during Raw as well as Aftermath with Arda Ocal and Jimmy Korderas on
The Score) got a healthy response from the crowd.
Biggest Heat:
1. The McMahon-Helmsley Faction 2.0. Though surprisingly Orton was still pretty
popular with the kids. I don't want to be a backseat booker or anything, but if
they want to really get the young ones behind the idea of Orton as a heel again,
he should probably go on another punting spree.
2. Paul Heyman. You don't smack-talk the Canadian healthcare system in Toronto
and get away with it.
3. I couldn't nail down a #3 if I tried, since aside from Miz (who was near
universally booed, but not particularly loudly) no one else got a truly negative
reaction. Everyone from 3MB in the pre-show on up to The Shield had a ton of
cheers mixed in. Oh Canada, don't ever change.
All in all a pretty awesome show. Daniel Bryan vs Dean Ambrose and Goldust vs
Randy Orton were both excellent matches. The Cutting Edge segment as the top of
the show was awesome stuff, though I think I speak for everyone when I say I'm
really sad Edge didn't pop back up again later in the show. Not sure how it all
came across on TV (got home too late to catch the replay), but if you were in
the crowd it was well worth the ticket.
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