WWE live event
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Report By Dot Net reader Richard P.

A decent crowd dominated by C.M. Punk and John Cena shirts. The third section was all tarped up. The event started with the Canadian national anthem and some girl served the role as our announcer for the night.
 
1. Ryback beat Alex Riley. A decent pop for Riley even though he wasn’t on TV for a long time. David Otunga suddenly appeared on stage and received a lot of heat. He badmouthed Riley and personally Introduced his opponent, Ryback, who barely had a reaction. Ryback dominated the match getting some heat overtime. Lots of rests holds. A-Ry made a comeback, but Rybak managed to nail a Samoan drop followed by a sick spear. No heat after the pin. I didn’t like the match much personally, but Skip Sheffield (a/k/a Ryback) definitely seems like a powerhouse prospect in the company.
 
Otunga came out post-match and further ridiculed Riley. He told him to get out of John Laurinaitis’ ring. Riley looked like he was going to pound him but Otunga reminded A-Ry that he can call Laurinaitis on his cellphone at any time to punish him. Riley turned to leave which prompted Otunga to cheap shot Riley with what appeared to be his coffee mug. Riley got an applause when he started to leave.
 
2. Kelly Kelly and Eve beat Natalya and Beth Phoenix. Natalya came out with a box of tissues and handed them out to several people at ringside. The faces got a good pop during their entrances. They hit their signature spots early in the match until Eve was the face in peril after the heels got the advantage. During the match, Beth was chanting "USA" to get heat. Kelly got the hot tag and the finish by reversing the Glam Slam into a small package. Nothing notable, just a Divas match.
 
Jack Swagger entered the ring to decent heat. He cut a promo about himself and about how Zack Ryder was so injured that he couldn’t be here. He issued an open challenge to which R-Truth’s music hit to an okay pop. He mentioned Winnipeg several times for cheap pops and called Swagger the "All American Little Jimmy."
 
3. R-Truth beat Jack Swagger in a non-title match. An okay match with Swagger dominating most of the way. The finish started when Swagger attempted the Ankle Lock after missing his turnbuckle splash. R-Truth escaped the hold and hit the lie detector for the pin.
 
Otunga came out again and informed R-Truth that it had been a non-title match, which caused the crowd to boo. This was odd to me because I don’t recall anyone saying it was a title match anyway unless I missed during Swagger’s promo.
 
4. Cody Rhodes defeated Ted DiBiase to retain the Intercontinental Title. Little reaction for Ted while Cody got good heat. Multiple Goldust chants during the match which angered Rhodes at the start. There was a moment when Cody jumped over the guardrail interacting with some fan directly which was interesting. Good wrestling in this match. Cody nailed DIBiase with CrossRhodes after the ref was arguing with DiBiase about him choking Rhodes on the ropes.
 
5. Sheamus defeated Wade Barrett. Barrett cut a promo prior to the match. He addressed supposed rumors about Randy Orton’s grand return and mentioned that he would do a lot worse to him if he does. He then talked about winning the Royal Rumble and beating Bryan for the title. Sheamus entered with a good reaction. A decent match which showcased Barrett’s offense after he whipped Sheamus into the steel steps. Good heat and great pops to Barrett and Sheamus respectively throughout the match. Sheamus won with the Brogue Kick.
 
The announcer woman was going to plug merchandise until the lights suddenly went out. Enter Chris Jericho to a hometown/huge pop. He did his usual pumping the crowd shtick to which he finally grabbed the mic looking like he was going to speak. Before he got a word out, Otunga interrupted to a chorus of boos and told Jericho that he must take off his jacket because it might cause epileptic seizures in the audience. Jericho reluctantly complied and Otunga then ordered him to say that "I was right..."

After much badgering by Otunga and contemplation by Jericho, Jericho nailed Otunga with the mic and locked in the Walls of Jericho. Huge and frequent Y2J chants during this segment and on a personal note, it was great to see Jericho live for the first time.
 
6. Epico and Primo (w/Rosa Mendes) defeated Kofi Kingston and Mason Ryan to retain the WWE Tag Titles. Little reaction for the champs while Kofi got a good pop. This was essentially the bathroom break match which I am also guilty of taking. When I came back, Kofi was still the face in peril for a long time. When Mason got the hot tag, he received a small pop and hit a few clotheslines.

Rosa distracted Mason by slapping him, which allowed Primo and Epico to attempt BackStabbers each. It was hard to tell who’s who from where I was sitting but I think Primo failed first while Epico succeeded afterward and managed to get the pin on Ryan. Not much crowd reaction in the match, which I assume is because we were drained from Jericho’s segment. I also have to say, Mason looks extremely jacked in person.
 
7. Daniel Bryan defeated Big Show to retain the World Heavyweight Championship. Not much of a reaction for Bryan while Show got a good pop. Bryan was the cowardly heel who eventually gained momentum after Big Show ran into the turnbuckle steel from the outside. An okay match which featured Bryan targeting Show’s knee during his offense. Show nails Bryan with the Knockout Punch and prepped for the Chokeslam until Rhodes and Barrett interfered prompting the DQ finish.

Show chokeslammed Rhodes and Barrett, held the title, and lied it on top of an unconscious Bryan. Once Bryan got up, he was literally stumbling as he walked out of the ring while raising the title multiple times as if he earned the win. He received several boos as he left. I thought Bryan was freaking hilarious here.
 
The ring announcer woman plugged the Reunion (which surprisingly got a lot of boos.), the Royal Rumble, and merchandise. She announced an intermission. Crew members were setting up the steel cage during the intermission.
 
8. C.M. Punk defeated The Miz to retain the WWE Championship in a cage match. Miz cut a prematch promo about the return of the Winnipeg Jets and said that they sucked, which got good heat. He spoke about how he was going to beat Punk and become the new WWE Champ. Punk came out to great pop and we got official introductions for the title match.

A decent cage match with multiple escape teases by both men through the door and over the cage. They both utilized the cage to harm each other and had some good sequences which included reversals out of each other’s moves and finisher attempts. The finish came when Punk kicked out of the Skull Crushing Finale and after another reversal sequence, nailed the GTS for the pin. Punk celebrated in the ring and interacted with the crowd at ringside to close the show.
 
I was confused about why John Cena wasn’t present in the show even though the Canadian tour date commercials that ran during WWE programming featured him as one of the superstars. I don’t know about the last house show here in the ‘Peg but I was present at the show prior to that and Cena wasn’t in the building either. It does make me wonder—unless Cena was actually in the last show here then never mind.

This was my second WWE house show event and my first with my dad, who introduced me to wrestling at a young age. I was also looking forward to Zack Ryder and Dolph Ziggler but neither of them weren’t present unfortunately. Overall, an okay show, and I will be attending their next event here if they drop by again.
 
Best Pops:
1) Chris Jericho
2) CM Punk
3) Sheamus
 
Most Heat:
1) The Miz
2) Wade Barrett
3) David Otunga

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