I attended yesterday's live event in Raleigh. Read on for my thoughts on the show.
Vickie Guerrero interrupted Justin Roberts to start the show, saying that we came to respect her and it's her show, etc.. She's a GREAT heat magnet and works well in her role. Good to use her to get the crowd hot early.
The Usos and Brodus Clay defeated the Prime Time Players and Jack Swagger. The "US-" "O" thing was nicely over and the little kids loved Brodus getting the win. Nice face victory to warm the crowd up. PTP was nice and vocal, which I liked. Give them more experience and hopefully they'll be tag team champions down the line. I definitely wouldn't split them any time soon. This wasn't a particularly long match, so I didn't get to see what Brodus can do with more time. I'm very curious as to where his career goes if he has to move up the card and work longer matches.
Eve defeated Kaitlyn to retain the Divas Championship. Better Divas match than you see on TV. Kaitlyn is really coming along in the ring. I'm blown away by how far she's come since her debut. Both ladies pulled out some nice moves and worked hard.
Dolph Ziggler cut a promo about facing Cena. Usual good stuff from him. I definitely think he's a good enough talker/character to be in the main event.
Santino Marella defeated David Otunga. Otunga did a lot of posing before and during the match, getting a spotlight and special music a la Chris Masters during his entrance. At least he stands out with that. He was admittedly better than we see on TV, but still has a ways to go before I endorse him as someone to push as a wrestler. Both guys did well, with Otunga even teasing his finisher that we haven't seen in so long I had forgotten it.
Ryback and Team Hell No defeated The Shield via DQ when Roman Reigns used a chair. Ryback was probably the second most over face in the arena behind Cena, which is good. The Shield impressed, showing more than what we've seen so far on TV. Ambrose went the extra mile with the "intangibles" (hand motions, general ring style), standing out from a lot of members of the roster. Reigns was pretty vocal. All three looked like they belonged in the ring. For the faces, Bryan brought his A-game as expected. Kane and Ryback were Kane and Ryback, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. They do what they do well. The post-match shenanigans with Bryan hugging Kane and Ryback were pretty over.
Zack Ryder defeated Tensai in seemingly record time via Rough Ryder. I don't know why this match was so short. The post-match had Tensai forced to sing Rudolph. I'm not really into a lot of comedy in my wrestling so I was turned off by this. Tensai deserves better.
The New Age Outlaws defeated Team Rhodes Scholars. I like that this one got some mic time before the match. Rhodes Scholars cut off their music to do a promo about how we already know who they are, etc.. Sandow did the 3 questions bit with the third question being something about who the greatest tag team of all time was. Of course, this brought out the NAO who did their classic schtick. NAO was GREAT at involving the crowd in the match, starting a Cody's mustache chant. I wouldn't mind seeing them again on the regular as they still have "it" both on the mic and in the ring.
John Cena defeated Dolph Ziggler inside a steel cage. As much as I rag on how Cena's booked, he works his ass off in the ring. Cena was able to thwart Ziggler, AJ, and Big E to get a victory and send the fans home happy. I would have loved a Ziggler win, even a tainted one, to show he's in Cena's league. He definitely put in the work of a main eventer. Ziggler and AJ played off of each other really well. AJ has such a wide range of emotions. There's a reason she gets a lot of camera time.
I saw a lot of Cena signs and shirts, but also some for Punk, Kane, Miz, Ryback, and (somewhat surprisingly) Ziggler.
More wrestling coming up!
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