WWE Live Event (Las Cruces, N.M. at Pan American Center)
Report by Isaac Hernandez and ProWrestling.net
1. Sheamus won a 15-man battle royal to earn an Intercontinental Title shot. Other participants were Santino Marella, Kofi Kingston, David Otunga, Epico, Primo, Mason Ryan, Skip Sheffield, Drew Mcyintire, R-Truth, Alex Riley, JTG. I can’t remember the others. It seemed a bit obvious Sheamus would win. The last three were Sheamus, Otunga, and Sheffield. Otunga and sheffield worked together.
2. Cody Rhodes defeated Sheamus via DQ to retain the Intercontinental Title. Sheamus got himself disqualified as he was hitting Cody while he was in the ropes and the ref got the five count. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a match end that way. This was lame ending number one.
3. R-Truth defeated Jack Swagger in a non-title match. We found out afterwards that it was a non-title match. So Swagger cut a promo after Vickie Guerrero did her “excuse me” line and said he was supposed to fight Ryder but since he hurt him Ryder couldn’t wrestle and offered an open challenge. Truth came out and I don’t think anyone expected Truth to win clean because it was a house show. Truth got the clean pin and celebrated with the belt, there was a huge pop for the title change. Otunga came out and told Truth it was a non-title match and demanded he give the belt back for lame ending number two.
4. Kelly Kelly and Eve defeated Beth Phoenix and Natalya. My friend made me laugh by asking if Eve even has her own entrance music since she always comes out with someone else. The usual stuff, Kelly can’t hit the ropes. She won with her weak Famasser on Nattie.
Wade Barrett came out and cut a promo saying when Randy Orton comes back he’s gonna throw him down five flights of stairs. He said his match was a warmup against one of Orton’s old partners Ted DiBiase. DiBiase came out and just stood on the very cool new house show ramp and then Orton’s music hit. He ran to the ring, attacked Barrett and they brawled to the outside. Primo, Kofi, Epico, Santino, JTG, and I think Riley came out to break up the fight. Weird. Anyway, they made it back to the ring, Barrett escaped and Orton started handing out RKOs to the heels and Kofi. Santino ran out of the ring before he could get one. Orton posed and left.
5. The Big Show defeated Daniel Bryan by DQ in a World Hvt. Championship match. A horribly boring match with some lame spots. I’ve seen Big Show live a bunch of times and I just can’t get over how slow and boring his matches are at house shows. For some unknown reason, Drew McIntyre and Otunga came out to beat the crap out of Big Show and got Bryan DQ’d for lame ending number three. McIntyre and Otunga took a double chokeslam.
6. John Cena defeated Kane by DQ. Not a bad match. It’s impossible to tell if he gets more boos or cheers because its simply too loud to tell any difference in all the noise. Kane hit Cena in the gut with a chair and got disqualified. He gave Cena a chokeslam. Cena posed in the ring and Kane ran back down from the ramp and Cena gave him the AA so the kids could be happy with their hero. I know this because that’s all my son talked about after the show. This was lame ending number four. I would have been happy with Cena laid out after the chokeslam myself.
7. CM Punk defeated The Miz to retain the WWE Championship. Punk’s entrance is one of my favorites and was enhanced with the new stage. We were a little disappointed no one gave a promo before this match. Punk won with the GTS after Miz tried to hit him with the belt.
Notes: Even with the lame endings, this was the coolest house show I’ve ever been to. That stage just adds a TV feeling. This card was great on paper, better than the Summer Slam I went to two years ago. The talent on this card from top to bottom was very impressive (I predict Jericho wins the Rumble!).
