It was my roommate, another friend, and myself. The show opened with the usual video package, followed by awesome pyro. This surprised me since I had never seen them use pyro at a house show before. AJ came to the ring and welcomed everybody, then said she had some bad news. Before she could start, CM Punk and Paul Heyman interrupted her and came out. They got some cheap heat and started off saying AJ is a bad general manager because she is a woman. Funny.
Punk said he found out she is from New Jersey. Even funnier. He informed us that the "good" news is John Cena will not be there since he injured him so badly, and that he was going to take the night off. As he left the ring, AJ announced it would be CM Punk vs. Ryback in a Lumberjack match (they advertised a last man standing much, so I was a little bummed about it).
1. Santino Marella defeated Tensai. No Sakamoto unfortunately. I'm not usually huge on Santino's comedy as of late, but I found him to be especially humorous here. Decent opener. Santino got the win and did his trombone celebration.
2. Eve defeated Layla to retain the WWE Divas Championship. The video with Layla talking about her mom with breast cancer aired before the match. Layla came out first with pyro for some reason. Who knows? Some decent work, but nobody seemed to care. Eve got the pin. They showed so many breast cancer videos and talked so much about Susan G Komen that it just became annoying by the end. But I digress.
3. Michael McGillicutty defeated David Otunga. My roommate watches Raw every week with me. He had never heard of McGillicutty. David Otunga did some flexing in the ring before the match started. Most of the offensive was Otunga, but McGillicutty came back and got the pin. If he got a new name and some sort of character development, he could be great. Oh WWE, why do you do this to us?
Next out was Brodus Clay. If you haven't seen it before, Brodus's entrance can be fun live. I have seen it though and after watching him on TV so much, I am tired of it. One of the Funkadactyls slipped and fell as she came out. Funny stuff. He got a bit of pyro, but not the usual ring one.
4. Brodus Clay defeated Jack Swagger. Weird. Swagger quit because AJ was a bad general manager. I wish he stayed gone. He really was boring. Brodus got the pin, and had little kids dance with him in the ring.
Intermission was next. Lots of Cena fans as usual, but also a large amount of Ryback shirts. It is nice to see WWE put so much effort into new talent for once. The also asked the fans to text in whether or not Paul Heyman should be allowed at ringside during the main event. Oh God, don't mess this up people!
Back from intermission, Damien Sandow came out and enlightened us. The audience was booing like crazy, but I loved it. Everything he said was right! Then, to silence the bad guy, who else to the rescue but JTG! I could not contain my excitement, since JTG is probably my favorite wrestler of all time (insert sarcasm).
5. Damien Sandow defeated JTG. For some reason, JTG seemed like he had a chip on his shoulder, perhaps regarding his twitter comments a while back. Anyway, Sandow is great. He got the pin and did a cartwheel.
Daniel Bryan came out next to tons of YES chants. I attended WrestleMania 28, and the chants tonight were not nearly as loud as then, but it is still perhaps the most fun and interactive thing in pro wrestling right now. Kane came next, with stage pyro, no ring pyro. He and Daniel Bryan fought over who the tag team champions is. The crowd really supported Kane. Epico and Primo finally made their entrance, and boy do I love Rosa dancing.
6. Daniel Bryan and Kane defeated Epico and Primo (w/Rosa Mendes) to retain the WWE Tag Team Championships. This was a really fun match to watch, both because Bryan was in it and the wrestling was great. The fans love to say YES. At one point Kane and Daniel Bryan were shoving each other. They were about to hug though, as the crowd chanted "Hug it out!" Unfortunately, Epico and Primo didn't let that happen.
In the end, Kane got a chokeslam, and Daniel Bryan locked in the No Lock. I forget which one tapped, but Team Hell No won (should have been Team Friendship). After the match, Kane took both belts and played keep away with Bryan. After a few failed attempts to grab a belt, Bryan looked really sad and went to get out of the ring. Kane grabbed him, pulled him back in, and they hugged it out! YAYYY!! Then Bryan snatched the belts real quick and ran off. Hilarious.
7. Antonio Cesaro defeated Sin Cara to retain the US Championship. Cara came out first to lots of cheers. Cesaro got almost no reaction. It was sad really. At first I heard some people try chanting USA against Antonio, but then they realized where Sin Cara is from. Oops! Sin Cara had his usual flashy offense that the crowd ate up, but he also botched a lot, as expected. He needs to refine his move set and make sure he can actually do everything he attempts to. Though his moves were flashy, they all basically ended in just a basic arm drag. Anyway, Cesaro hit his finisher and retained the title.
CM Punk made his entrance with Paul Heyman. Heyman jumped and high fived Punk. Cute. He started badmouthing us for not respecting him, then AJ came out. She announced that the fans had voted that Paul Heyman will NOT be at ringside during the match. This was upsetting! Heyman jumped around the ring like a pouty 5 year old before being taken out by refs.
CM Punk said "No Heyman means no CM Punk." He went to leave the ring when Ryback's music hit. His entrance is pretty intense. He is just a beast. Punk got back in the ring, and the lumberjacks came out. Punk took off his shirt and pretended he was going to throw it to the audience, but then just tossed it lightly to the lumberjacks. Cesaro caught it and celebrated, then put the shirt on for the rest of the match. Funny funny.
8. Ryback defeated CM Punk by disqualification in a lumberjack match. Good back and forth. Lots of "feed me more" chants. Punk grabbed his title and hit Ryback with it, ending the match in a disqualification. CM Punk grabbed a mic and started walking away, proclaiming "and still your reigning, defending, undisputed WWE champion, CM Punk." The lumberjacks didn't like it too much and a brawl broke out. Daniel Bryan and Kane came out to throw Punk back in the ring. Ryback got back up and hit Punk with his finisher. After Punk and the lumberjacks left, Ryback stayed to play to the audience. He took a mic and announced that at Hell in a Cell, the WWE Championship is coming to Ryback. Nice to hear him talk for once.
Overall, a lot of fun. I do wish they had more star power at these house shows and didn't fill so much time with people we don't know or care about. This was my eighth WWE event, my fourth house show. I always would recommend going to a show if you get a chance. We got the cheapest seats they had. At a house show there are no bad seats. I think they are even more fun than taped shows sometimes, since there is more wrestling, and they are more interactive with fans. My roommate only watches Raw when I put it on and is mostly familiar with the storylines and characters. This was his first live event and he had a good time.
Most cheers:
Ryback
Kane
Santino
John Cena (and he wasn't even there!)
Brodus clay
Most heat:
CM Punk
Daniel Bryan
Damien Sandow
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